Page 73 of Little Ballerina

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Naomi tensed.

It was time.

Time to fight for her life.

She heard footsteps approaching, then bright light flooded the trunk as it was popped open. Automatically her eyes scrunched closed in protestation of the sudden bright light.

Little by little she cracked them open.

The features of the shadowy figure looming above her morphed slowly into a recognizable form.

Naomi gasped.

“Gene.”

* * * * *

1:50 P.M.

“So, you finally IDed the stalker?”

“Yes,” Sam answered Allina Bennett’s question with calm, cool detachment. He could no longer think of Naomi as the woman he loved. If he was going to have any chance at finding her, he was going to have to treat her as just another case. Luckily, he had spent his entire life compartmentalizing his feelings. He was well trained at feeling nothing, and that skill was finally going to come in handy.

His anger at Naomi was also helping him keep himself emotionally disconnected.

“It’s her stepfather,” he explained.

“I thought he was in prison.” Rylla Franklin looked confused.

“Apparently, he got out. I want in on this case,” he announced. There was no way he would go and sit around his house and wait for someone else to find Naomi.

“Me too,” Nick piped up. Since he had been a detective up until six months ago no one questioned that. However, all three of the cops in the room shot him doubtful stares.

“I'm not sure that’s a particularly good idea, Sam,” Allina spoke up.

“Jonathon worked Clara’s case. Nick worked the case involving Aggie’s family. I'm in,” he stated firmly.

“You’re too emotionally invested,” Rylla protested.

“And you’re not? You're Naomi’s best friend,” he shot back. “And right now, no one is angrier with her than I am. I’m perfectly capable of remaining objective and working this with you.”

Exchanging glances, Allina finally nodded. “Don’t make me regret this, Sam,” she warned.

“Jonathon is staying with Clara and Aggie, just in case the stalker decides to double back. It’s unlikely but given that Clara is pregnant and was attacked once already he would rather play it safe than sorry,” Nick explained.

“Since the stalker is Ruth’s father, it makes sense that he left her alive. It was one thing to kill people Naomi cares about, but another to kill someone he cares about,” Matthew said.

“But why go after Naomi at all?” Allina asked.

“And why in such a melodramatic manner?” Rylla added.

“Presumably, all he had to do was call her and she would have gone to see him. I mean, he is her stepfather, so why go to all this trouble to get her to give herself up?” Matthew asked.

“Maybe she knows something about him that we don’t,” Sam suggested quietly. If he got a chance, he was going to rip Gene Sullivan to shreds. Maybe he really was too emotionally invested to handle this case. Not that he was walking away. There was no chance of that.

“Anything violent in his history?” Nick asked.

“He went to prison for blackmail and extortion, nothing violent about his crimes,” Sam said. “But apparently once he was in prison things were a different story. He ended up having his sentence extended for committing a number of violent assaults. It seems he developed quite a hair-trigger temper, would go off at the drop of a hat.”


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