The Heat Is On

16

WHEN JACOB GOT BACK to the shop, it was empty. He went upstairs and knocked on Bella’s door.

Across the narrow hallway, Willow’s door opened and she poked her head out. With tears in her eyes, she shook her head. “She’s gone.”

“What?”

Willow handed him a note. “This was taped to my door.”

Thanks, Willow, for the lovely memories. I’ll never forget you, but it’s time to move on.

Willow sniffed. “Lord, I’m going to miss that girl.”

Jacob’s heart had pretty much stopped at the “she’s gone” but he read the note again, looking at the hand writing. Neat, and legible.

His heart started again, with a dull thudding that echoed in his ears.

“What is it?” Willow asked.

“It isn’t Bella’s writing.” Or if it was, she was trying to tell them something. He ran down the stairs and found Tom in the lot. “Did you see Bella leave?”

“No,” Tom said. “I just got here. Hang on, I’ll check with Scott, who I relieved.” He pulled out his cell.

So did Jacob, and immediately called Ethan. “We have a problem.”

“That’s okay, being as I’m the solution king today,” Ethan said. “Did you know that the marina started fingerprinting people to store their boats? The chief told me just today. He found out when he went to store his new boat. It’s a new security system, letting people in the gate by their prints.”

“Fascinating, but-”

“So the chief puts his fingerprint in, and starts to think. The first shooting, we found that tread, with the marina sand. We canvassed the docks, all the hotels and motels on the marina, ran the boat owners, and found no one connected to Bella. But the fingerprint list doesn’t just include the owners, but anyone they allow to use their boat. I’m only half way through the log and I’ve already found two of the Edible Bliss’s regular customers, the coffee shop guy who was Bella’s fourth date, and her coworker, Trevor Mann.”

“Trevor,” Jacob repeated slowly, just as Tom hung up his phone.

“Yeah, his stepfather owns a thirty-two-foot Morgan,” Ethan said.

“Trevor and Bella left twenty-five minutes ago out the front,” Tom reported. “We were watching for unauthorized people going out only-”

“Tom says Bella left with Trevor,” Jacob told Ethan. “And there’s a note here from her saying she’s leaving town.”

“On Trevor’s sailboat?”

“Doesn’t say, but I can tell you if the note was written by Bella, it was written under duress.”

There was a beat of silence. “You sure?”

“I’d bet my life on it,” Jacob said.

“Okay, so she’s a missing person.”

“Yeah. I’ll meet you at the marina.”

BELLA WATCHED AS THE MARINA came into view, and her stomach cramped. This wasn’t going to be good. “I still don’t get why you’re doing this.”

“Don’t you?” Trevor asked.

“No!”

“You were meant for me, Bella.”

She stared at him. He looked so normal. How could someone who looked so normal be so insane?

“Breathe, Bella,” he reminded her gently.

“Look, if we go back now, I’ll talk to the police for you. I’ll help explain that you need help, and that-”

“I don’t need help. I got what I wanted, and that’s you.” He stroked a finger down her jaw and she shuddered.

“Don’t worry,” he said very softly. “It’s going to be okay.”

She sincerely doubted that. She really wished she’d finished those self-defense classes. If she had, she’d probably have been able to come up with a better escape plan then having an overdue panic attack.

“Turn here into the parking lot,” Trevor told her.

She wondered if she could slow down enough to jump right out of the car. Maybe. But an older man was walking along the sidewalk. What if she jumped out of the car and it ran him over?

“Ten points for the old guy,” Trevor said lightly, a small smile in place. “You’re sick.”

“Aw. I’m just a guy in love.”

“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “This just doesn’t make sense. If you wanted me so badly, why didn’t you ask me out?”

“I did.”

“No, you joked about it, I never thought you were serious.”

“Your mistake.”

No kidding! “Why did you stop the shooting spree? You only hit three out of eight.”

“I shot Seth because you liked him. A lot.”

Oh, God, Bella thought, sorrow nearly choking her.

“I shot B.J. because he kept calling you and asking you out. I tried to shoot Tyler just because he was bugging the shit out of me with all that snooty talk. How could you stand him?”

When she didn’t answer, he went on, unperturbed. “None of the others posed a threat until Jacob. Goddamn perfect Jacob.”

Bella took her eyes off the road to stare at him with a mirthless laugh. “He only started coming around because you started shooting people! How did you get the information on my eight dates?”

He shrugged. “I know one of the coordinators, and he let me get on his computer to let me do some research. I neglected to tell him the research was you. And later, Jacob.”

“Oh, my God. If you would have stayed sane, I’d never have seen him again.”

“Yeah.” Trevor let out a long-suffering sigh. “Maybe I made a mistake there. But it wasn’t necessarily his feelings for you that got him shot.” He paused. “It was your feelings for him. With Jacob around, screwing you senseless, you didn’t give me the time of day.” He looked at her solemnly. “You’ll have to forget him now, Bella. He might be the big, strong, silent type, but there’s a limit to a guy like that. He’ll never be romantic and sweet and loving. I’ll be that guy for you, I swear it.”

“No, you won’t,” she told him. “I love him. I love him for exactly who he is. You can kidnap me and force me to be with you-” Only until she got a chance to run like hell. “But I will not stop loving him.”

“Yes, you will.”

Resisting the urge to thunk her head into the steering wheel and put herself out of her misery, she pulled into the parking lot, brain racing for a plan. Maybe she could keep him talking until…until what? No one was going to save her. She’d been seen leaving with Trevor, who no one had ever considered a threat.

But maybe…maybe if Jacob went back for her like he said and saw the note that Trevor had made her write, maybe he’d realize that she was trying to leave him a clue…

“We’re going to go sailing on a nice, long vacation,” Trevor said. “And live the way you’ve always lived, taking each day at a time. It’s how you love to do things, right? No ties, no hold to anyone or any place.”

That was true, that’s how she’d always lived. But that no longer made her happy-not that she planned on sharing that life-altering epiphany with Trevor. “You can’t make me stay with you.”

“We’ll be out on the open sea, you won’t have a choice. If we stay out long enough, you’ll fall in love with me the way I love you.”

The way he loved her was koo-koo crazy, but she kept her mouth shut.

“Park here,” he said, pointing to a spot. “Out of the car.”

She got out of the car, and extremely aware of the gun, she kept silent.

For now.

Trevor stepped out, as well, his eyes on her. His hand was in his pocket.

On the gun. “Slowly, Bella,” he said. “We’re going to walk to the building. No funny stuff, we don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

She bit back a sharp laugh that probably would have sounded hysterical anyway and tried to appeal to reason, assuming he had any left in his addled brain. “Trevor, this is ridiculous. Jacob isn’t going to believe I just up and left without a goodbye.”

“He’ll move on to another woman easily enough. He wasn’t looking for anything permanent, remember? You were just a quickie, a one-night stand that extended a few extra nights, that’s all.”

Only yesterday she might have been willing to believe that, but she’d seen the look in Jacob’s eyes this morning. She’d heard it in his voice, and when it counted, he’d given her the words.

He loved her.

“I’m never going to love you, Trevor. I’m going to escape at the first opportunity and you’re going to go to jail for murder and attempted murder two times over, not to mention kidnapping.”

His jaw tightened. “You need to be quiet now.”

“Murder, Trevor,” she repeated. “You’re going to sit in jail and-”

“Christ, I said shut up!” He accompanied this by putting the gun right in her face.

She gulped and closed her mouth, hoping that someone would notice the insane guy with the gun, but naturally there wasn’t another soul anywhere to be seen.

Trevor shoved his gun back in his pocket and took Bella’s hand. “Better. Now we’re going to walk into the marina, smile, then get on my boat and sail away. You’re going to behave.”

“I don’t tend to ‘behave.’” Well, actually, there’d been that one night, when Jacob had handcuffed her to the bed and they’d spent some fun role-playing bad cop/bad girl, but she was pretty sure that wasn’t what Trevor meant.

Surely there would be someone inside that she could recruit to help her…

They walked into the marina building, hand in hand like lovers. The large reception area on the right was filled with open seating facing huge wall-to-wall windows that revealed the docks and the ocean beyond. Another wall was lined with vending machines, and a third was wallpapered with a map of the planet.

The place was empty except for a teenage girl sitting behind the reception desk. She was reading Cosmo and texting at the same time, her thumbs a whirl of motion.

Bella looked at her and felt the first wave of despair. She couldn’t involve this girl and risk Trevor getting trigger happy with her, not when he’d proven how easily he could kill.

So Bella said nothing as Trevor pulled her over to the far double glass doors. There, he pressed his thumb to a small screen, and the doors clicked open. “New security,” he said proudly, and pulled her through. “You have to be a boat owner or on file as a guest to get to the docks.”

Bella dragged her feet along the dock. All she knew was that she didn’t want to get on the sailboat. If she did, and Trevor was able to get them out to sea, she was in big trouble. Maybe she could fall into the water, or just start screaming. Or-

“Don’t,” Trevor said in her ear, his hand gripping hers hard.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You’re thinking it.”

She was. She was also thinking if she shoved him hard enough, he might fall in, and-

“I’ll shoot you on my way down.”

Yeah. Yeah, he probably would. Note to self: next time try to wade the psychos out of your friendship pool. “How do you possibly imagine you’re going to be able to keep me on the boat?”

His eyes gleamed. “I have my ways.”

Oh, good. He had his ways. Lucky her.

“Don’t forget, Bella. You will behave.”

Uh-huh. She’d get right on that.

His Morgan sailboat was in the sixth of eight slots, with the last two being empty. No help there. It was blue and white with teakwood trim, and looked well loved and cared for.

“Home sweet home,” Trevor said.

She eyed the door that led to belowdecks, where there was undoubtedly a place he planned on restraining her. Her stomach cramped at the thought.

Now or never, Bella…

“Get on,” Trevor said.

Stall. Run. Make a scene! “I’m hungry,” she said, albeit a little wildly. “We should go back and get some food-”

“Get on now.”

“But we need-”

“I have everything you’ll ever need, Bella. Trust me.”

Like hell. “I need sunscreen-50 SPF. I bet you didn’t get 50 SPF-”

“Get. On.”

He added a little shove to this command and it was either fall into the water or board.

She took a big gulp of air, hoped a bullet couldn’t travel through water-probably if she’d paid better attention in high school physics class she might know this-and jumped off the dock.

JACOB MADE IT TO THE marina in five minutes by running just about every red light and hitting Highway 1 at seventy-five miles per hour.

When he pulled into the parking lot, Ethan was just getting out of his car, and they met up with a handful of others led by Ramon Castillo.

“Trevor Mann’s boat is in slip D06,” Ethan told them, consulting his pad.

The marina was large, and had five rows of docking that stretched into the bay like fingers. There were hundreds of boats, but not nearly as many people-the place looked completely deserted.

As they stormed their way into the building toward the docks, a shot rang out in the air, echoing over the water.