Left to Vanish (An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book Eight) by Blake Pierce (books to read for 13 year olds .txt) 📗

The person spoke perfect French. Adele tried not to let herfrustration show, as she insisted, “No, I’m not joking. Please, this isimportant, who is this?”

“Gabriel Danis. Candace is my wife,” said the voicetestily. “Is she okay? I was supposed to see her tonight. What’s going on?”

“You’re not with her?”

“My wife travels for work. Who did you say this was?”

“Agent Adele Sharp. I’m with DGSI. The agency works oncrimes that—”

“I know what DGSI is. What’s the matter with my wife?” Thevoice on the other end cracked now with anxiety, some of the frustrationreplaced by fear. “What happened? Is she okay?”

“Sir, as far as I’m aware, your wife is fine. But we haveto find her. I can’t repeat how important that is. We have to find her now.Where is she?”

Aswallow. “I’m not sure where she is. She likes tostop by the apartment after work but is supposed to meet me in Aquitaine tonight,”the man said, hyperventilating now on the other end. “I’m already on my way. Iwas at the airport. Look, where is she? What happened?”

Adele paused. This was the worst part. The uncertainty ofit all. Still, she had to keep focused. “Nothing has happened yet, sir. Pleaseremain calm. We’re contacting your wife. Do you have a phone number for her?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Could you please text it to this number, right now. Thesame number I’m calling you on.”

Adele heard muttered curses, but the voice faded, suggestingthe phone had been taken away from the man’s ear as he complied with therequest. Adele waited patiently, allowing the man a moment, likely withtrembling hands from adrenaline and fear, to type out the information.

A few seconds passed, and then her phone buzzed.

Adele glanced at the number, exhaling slowly. “Sir,everything is going to be okay. Please, just remain calm.”

“This isn’t a joke?”

“No, I’m sorry. Look, you have an apartment in France?”

“It’s just outside of Bordeaux.”

Adele shivered. “Outside of Bordeaux? How far?”

“We have a summer home in Aquitaine too. It’s about an hourdrive.”

Adele gritted her teeth. An hour was a long time. “Please,sir, can you give me the address. Text it to me as well.”

“Hang on, wait. Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine, sir. Please don’t call her. We’re going to havesomeone with the police do that, to make sure she’s safe.”

“Safe? She works in finance. What couldn’t be safe?”

“We have reason to believe she’s in danger. But it’s allgoing to be okay.” As she said it, Adele felt a jolt of guilt. Would itall be okay? Did she dare promise something she didn’t have control over?

She could feel the fear emanating on the other line. And soshe doubled down, staving off her own sense of guilt. “It’s going to be okay. Ipromise. Just calm down. Your wife is going to be fine. I’m sorry for scaringyou, sir. But we need to reach her. Text me that address. Now.”

The man cursed some more, but then another buzz suggestedhe’d sent the message.

“Look, can you just tell me—”

“I have to go, sir. Sorry. Everything is going to work out.”She hung up, feeling another jolt of unease and frustration. No time foremotions now, though—now she had to act.

Ahead, she spotted the small precinct through thewindshield. Agent Paige had brought them back to the station. The silver-hairedagent was holding her own phone, staring at it and muttering to herself.

“Is everything okay in Spain?” Adele said, switching herattention and trying to calm her rising sense of nerves. She’d made a promise,one she couldn’t keep if she didn’t play this perfectly. There was no time forwasted energy on doubt or fear now. All that remained was action.

“The Spanish are on their way. Jackie Eymard should be safe,”Paige said, firmly. “What about you?”

Adele glanced at the address that had been sent, clickedit, and it displayed a location outside Bordeaux. She shook her head slowly,plotting the route on her phone. “Far. Two locations. About an hour separatingthem. The summer home is one, and another apartment near Bordeaux.”

Paige huffed in frustration, shaking her head. “We have tosplit up. I’ll take the summer home.”

“Her husband seems to think she’s at the apartment, but isgoing to be meeting him here. So she might be in transit right now.”

Paige shook her head, pushing out of the car and swinging thedoor open all the way, steadying herself against the frame. “All right, thenyou go to the apartment. I’ll take a couple of police to stake out the house onthe coast. You call if you need anything. I’ll arrange a police presence at theapartment.”

Adele felt a flicker of anxiety. Would the police be ableto stop this killer? He’d already avoided three security systems, traveled pastport authorities, and made a fool of the locals… Adele felt a shiver of fear atthe thought. Police presence or not, she had to be there herself. “Can you geta ride?” she said, urgently.

Agent Paige nodded, turning to glance toward the precinctand then back at Adele, “You better hurry. He’s been out there for a while, andit’s getting late. He likes to kill at night.”

Adele glanced at her phone, realizing it was now reachingevening. She had time, didn’t she? She had to have time.

As she thought it, though, she considered the third murder.He hadn’t attacked at night then. He’d been lying in wait during the day,attacking Elke Schmidt outside her barn while she had been walking with hercoffee. No guarantee he’d wait to strike again.

Muttering darkly, she slid across the car into the driver’sseat Paige had abandoned, slamming the door shut and nodding quickly. “Stakethe summer home, bring backup. I’ll contact you if I need anything.”

Paige gave a single, severe nod. “Hurry,” she said.

Adele was already putting the car in gear, tearing out ofthe parking lot, the tires screeching as she pulled onto the street, glancingat the GPS on her lap and placing her phone in the seat next to her, turningthe volume hastily to maximum.

She felt her heart hammering, feeling her own wordscatching up with her. How dare she promise everything was going to be okay?What if it wasn’t? What if she had just given