Rizzoli & Isles 8-Book Set

Doug’s pursuer been right behind him, moving ever closer?
    Is he now right behind me?
    She spun around, heart hammering as she scanned her surroundings. The trees seemed closer, as though they had somehow crept in on the road when she wasn’t looking. The sun’s glare left her half blind to the gloom under those heavy branches, and her gaze could penetrate only a few feet into the woods before the shadows veiled her view. She heard nothing on that silent trail. No wind, no footfalls, only the sound of her own frantic breathing.
    Get the skis. Get down this mountain
.
    She began to run, following the trail of Doug’s footprints. He had not been running. His stride continued as it had before, steady and even, his soles leaving deep impressions in the snow. At this point, he had not realized he was being followed. He was probablythinking only about the task ahead. About getting on his skis and starting his glide down the mountain. It would never occur to him that he was being followed.
    Her chest ached and her throat burned from the cold air. Every step she took seemed deafeningly loud as her boots cracked through the icy glaze. Anyone nearby would think that an elephant was lumbering through. A wheezing, clumsy elephant.
    At last she spotted the chain strung across the entrance to the private road. Almost there. She followed Doug’s boot prints the last few dozen yards, past the chain, past the RESIDENTS ONLY sign, and saw the Suburban, still tipped on its side in the ditch. One pair of cross-country skis was missing from the roof rack.
    So Doug had made it this far. She saw the parallel tracks left by his skis as he’d glided away down the road.
    She waded into the ditch, sinking thigh-deep in snow, and unlatched the second set of skis from the rack. Retrieving the ski shoes would take longer. They were inside the Suburban, and with the vehicle lying on its side, it was a struggle to lift the heavy door. When at last she managed to swing it open, she was out of breath and panting hard.
    Suddenly she heard a distant rumble. She went still, listening through the pounding of her own heart, afraid that she’d only imagined it. No, there it was—the sound of an engine.
    A snowplow was coming up the mountain.
    He made it. Doug made it, and now we’re going to be saved
.
    She gave a shout of joy and let the Suburban’s door slam shut. She could not yet see the plow, but the noise was louder, closer, and she was laughing and crying at the same time. Back to civilization, she thought. Back to hot showers and electric lights and telephones. Most important, back to hospitals.
    Arlo was going to live.
    She scrambled onto the road and stood waiting for her rescuers. Feeling the sun on her face, the joy coursing through her veins. Hereis where it all turns out right, she thought. Here is where the nightmare ends.
    Then, through the approaching rumble of the plow, she heard the soft crunch of weight settling onto snow. The sound came from just behind her. She sucked in a startled breath, and it rushed into her lungs like a cold wind. Only then did she see the shadow moving in to engulf hers.
    The watcher in the woods. He’s here
.

J ANE FOUND D ANIEL B ROPHY HUNCHED IN A BOOTH IN THE HOTEL’S empty cocktail lounge. He did not look up at her, but kept his gaze on the table, clearly signaling that he wanted to be alone.
    She sat down anyway. “We missed you at lunch,” she said. “Did you get something to eat?”
    “I’m not hungry.”
    “I’m still waiting to hear back from Queenan. But I don’t think he has anything new to tell us today.”
    He nodded, still not looking at her. Still giving off signals of
Go away. I don’t want to talk
. Even in the forgiving gloom of the lounge, he looked visibly older. Weary and beaten down.
    “Daniel,” she said. “I’m not going to give up. And neither should you.”
    “We’ve driven through five counties,” he said. “Talked on the air with six radio stations. Watched every minute of those surveillance videos.”
    “There could be something we missed. Something we’ll spot if we watch them again.”
    “She looked happy in those videos. Didn’t she?” He raised his head and she saw torment in his eyes. “She looked happy with that man.”
    After a silence, Jane admitted: “Yeah. She did.”
    The surveillance cameras had caught several glimpses of Maura and the blond man in the lobby. But the views had been fleeting, each time only a few seconds at the most,