Read Online Vendetta by Lisa Harris - Free Book Online

pressed against her chest. He might be okay, but she also knew how he still sleptin the guest bedroom. How he hadn’t finished remodeling the master bathroom. She knew about Liam’s nightmares. His fear of water, even taking a bath. Neither of them had set foot on the Isabella since the accident. A couple of months ago, she’d finally convinced him to start turning the baby’s nursery into a playroom for Liam. They stripped off the pink wallpaper and packed away the unused baby gifts before painting the room in bright yellow and lime green, adding bookshelves, and setting up a tepee she’d found online.
    For a man who’d spent so much time defending his country, he hadn’t been able to escape the scars Katie’s and their baby’s deaths had left behind. Sometimes pain stacked up, its weight crushing. Lifting it off to put life back together felt impossible.
    â€œNikki?”
    She nodded, the decision made. “Let me go speak to the other officers, then as soon as Jack and Gwen get here, I’ll be ready to go.”
    Tyler squeezed her hand. “We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.”
    She slipped quickly back into her professional mode. Organizing. Directing. Trying to ensure everything that could be done was being done. Once volunteers started to trickle in, they’d need to be briefed. Tasks would be assigned in order of importance, then added to as new leads were uncovered. They needed to move quickly, but if Bridget was in the park, they were going to be up against thousands of acres of daunting wilderness.
    â€œAgent Boyd?” Ranger Anderson was walking toward her. “You’re going to want to see this. One of the rangers found this in the women’s restroom.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Tyler asked.
    Nikki felt her heart stop as she picked up the photo in the evidence bag. She didn’t have to ask that question. It was a Polaroid photo of Bridget.
    â€œSomeone must have dropped it.”
    She shook her head. It wasn’t dropped. It was his signature. One she hadn’t seen at a crime scene for ten years.
    â€œNikki, what’s wrong?” Tyler asked.
    Nikki turned around slowly, the photograph in her hands. No one used Polaroid cameras anymore. But he had.
    Her mind flashed to another crime scene, the last time she’d seen his signature. Yellow tape surrounding the forested area. Officers working, cameras flashing. The crunch of the pinecones under her shoes. The smell of decaying flesh in the distance, the rain against her cheek . . . Each and every nuance of that afternoon had been embedded into her brain. None of those memories had completely faded away.
    â€œNikki?” Tyler asked.
    â€œI know who’s behind this.”
    â€œWho?”
    She’d been hired by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation because she’d memorized each and every abductor’s signature. She’d studied every detail and pattern. Anything that might one day help her discover the identity of her sister’s abductor. Anything she could do to stop the same thing from happening to someone else’s daughter.
    They were all looking at her. Waiting for her answer. Waiting for her to tell them what she knew about the significance of the photo.
    Instead she stood there, the photo frozen in her hand. Terrified. Terrified he was out there, mocking her. Stalking her. Except that couldn’t be true. He didn’t know her. Didn’t know she’d been looking for him for the past decade. Didn’t know she’d dedicated her life to saving girls like the one he’d stolen from her family.
    â€œI’m sorry, I need some air.”
    Nikki escaped through the front door of the visitor center.Officers were interviewing tourists and handing out flyers with Bridget’s photo. She had to find a way to get ahold of her emotions. Calm down and stay focused. Six hours had passed since Bridget had gone missing, and she