Already Gone (A Laura Frost FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1) by Blake Pierce (notion reading list .txt) 📗

the desks across thebullpen. Right now, each of them had a copy of the phone book, open to a newsection. Surnames A through J were already in use.

A source that contained both names andphone numbers. A place where you could find anyone with the right name. Eveneasier if you were going for surnames, like Frost. A listing for everyone inthe city, everyone who was registered.

This was it.

“He’s using the phone book, too,” Natesaid, his voice echoing and confirming her own thoughts.

“The third victim, Nadia Frost, she wascalled on her cell,” Laura said, hastily grabbing her own and looking up a pageshe’d already visited earlier on. “But she had her own online store—yes, hereit is! Her personal number is listed on the site, for potential customers tocall. He must have found her in the phone book, then looked her up online andseen this.”

“That’s amazing,” Nate said, grinning. “We’reon his trail.” But his smile faltered as he looked out across the room, at thedeputies who were only now starting their second calls. They were going to beat it all night. Even if they managed to call all of the women on the listbefore darkness fell—even if they got a press conference together in time—wasit going to be enough?

Laura pushed her hair back from herface, grabbing a scrunchie out of her pocket and sweeping it back into place. “Let’sjoin them,” she said, decisively. The only thing they could do now was try.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Laura bit the inside of her cheek as thephone rang and rang. Her fifth call, and just like the last two, it seemed likeit was going to go unanswered.

“Hello?”

“Yes, hello!” Laura said, sitting upsharply. She’d all but given up hope of connecting, and for a moment she almostforgot what she had to say. “Is this Alex Vardy?”

“Who is this?”

“My name is Special Agent Laura Frost,”she said. “I’m calling to—”

“You can prove that?”

“Excuse me?” Laura stumbled, findingherself cut off in her mentally rehearsed speech.

“You got any way to prove you’re FBI?”

“I…” Laura paused. “Not right at thismoment. But ma’am, no one is in trouble. I’m actually calling because we thinkthat Alex Vardy could be in danger tonight. If that’s you, I just want to keepyou safe.”

“There’s no Alex Vardy at this number,”the woman on the other end of the line said. “She moved out. Couple years back.No idea where she went.”

Laura opened her mouth for a follow-upquestion, but the line went dead.

She groaned with the horrifyingrealization that at least one of them was now out of reach. What if Alex Vardywas the Alex that Ed had chosen? Sure, he couldn’t call her at home, but whatif he’d found her online like he did with Nadia Frost and discovered her newlocation?

She looked up to the windows thatallowed light into the bullpen, and saw that they were now overpowered by theelectric lights overhead. It was getting dark. He would be striking soon.

This Alex, whoever she was, was about todie. And even though several more bodies had joined them on the phones, it wasn’tenough. It was never going to be enough. There was no way they could getthrough all of them, not in time.

Laura thought about the grim realitysetting in—the fact that she was probably about to find a fourth body, anotherwoman who bore the name of one of her family members—and it took everything shehad not to hurl the phone book at the wall.

The book. That was a thought. Ed wasusing one of these. She knew him now, knew who she was looking for. She wasgetting so much closer—she had to be. If there was any time a vision wouldcome, it had to be now. Right?

She glanced up surreptitiously, makingsure that Nate was engrossed in a call. All across the bullpen, everyone wasinvolved in their own journey through their section of the phone book, scanningpages or going over a hastily written script. At the far end of the room, thedoor to the sheriff’s private office was ajar, and through the window she couldsee him making his own calls. No one was paying any attention to her.

Now was her chance. She shut her eyes,flattening the palm of her hand against the phone book, hoping it would look asthough she was just saving her place. She took a deep breath, tried to shuteverything else out. Focused in on the feel of the book under her pages. Thetexture of the cheap, rough paper. The slight musty smell coming from it. Thesharp tang of coffee in the air, and the generally stale aroma of a room thatenclosed working law enforcement professionals for long shifts every day. Shelet it all filter through, the padding of the chair she was sitting on, thesharp edge of the desk drawers against the side of her leg.

Laura breathed deeply, letting all ofher senses in one by one. If she couldn’t do this, Alex was going to die.Whoever Alex was. And then Nate. And—

Laura tried to start again, recenteringherself. The rough pages. The musty smell. The chair. Come on, Laura.The sounds around her of voices, of tapping on phone buttons, of handsetsjolted back into receivers. Words. We need you to stay safe tonight, isthere anyone who can come and be with you? Or can you go anywhere? Aclattering sound from somewhere across the room; Laura didn’t know what it was.Someone being clumsy. They were wasting time. They needed to concentrate—

Laura gasped, letting her eyes fly open.It was useless. No matter how hard she tried, she was too anxious, too on edge.Those intrusive thoughts kept coming, reminding her that she was responsible.That she was the only one right now who could save Alex, save Nate, save Amy,get better for Lacey. Ironically, it was that same anxiety taking over her mindthat was stopping her from having the vision she needed to see this through.

She could have done with a drink.Something to take the edge off. But that was stupid. Apart from all of theother many, many reasons why she couldn’t have a drink right now, it would havedeadened the vision, too.

Laura’s mind drifted to her