“My father went to you with evidence of murders and you did nothing about it?”

“I have no defense, Gianna, but your father no longer had any credibility. And he didn’t show me this evidence . . . he only claimed it existed. The man who came to talk to me looked like a beggar. He hadn’t shaved or had a haircut and I don’t think he’d showered in a week. I thought he was nuts.”

Tears streaked Gianna’s face. “I would have taken care of him,” she whispered.

Chris saw wetness drip onto her shirt.

“He had no one,” she said softly.

“According to Saul, he liked it that way,” said Leo. “He said your father preferred to be alone. He wasn’t lonely. He chose to live that way.”

“Saul let him hide away because he was ashamed of him. And you were no better, Leo.” Her words whipped through the air.

No one spoke for ten seconds.

“Right now my main concern is helping you find Violet,” Leo said slowly. “Over the last two decades, I’ve hired some employees that were strongly recommended by my foreign investor. Some of them have been great engineers or salespeople, but I suspect others were trying to get out of the country.”

The hair rose on the back of Chris’s neck. Gianna met his gaze.

“Why did you think that?” she asked.

“They rarely came into the office to sit behind a desk, and I wasn’t allowed to fire them,” Leo said grimly. “Their employment was a sham. I swear he’s started using me as a halfway house to get rid of some of his problems.”

Gianna gasped. “Leo, the police just showed us an image of the Escalade driver,” she said. “He’s enormous. He’s a younger blond guy with a cocky walk.”

“Damn it,” muttered Leo.

“What?” asked Gianna.

“I think I know who that is,” said Leo. “I was ordered to hire him a while ago. He’s the son of the South African owner, so I’ve had no control over him. I heard that the guy can be brutal when pushed, and I believe he had to leave the country.”

“What’s his name?” Gianna asked.

“Reid Kruger.”

“I’m going to give you Detective Hawes’s phone number,” said Gianna. “Tell her everything you just told us.”

Her uncle’s and Leo’s descriptions of her father wouldn’t go away. Gianna kept seeing a pathetic, lost old man. Someone who stumbled around through life, confused by the world around him. Sometimes aware of his past and other times living in a haze.

She didn’t know if she could ever forgive Saul for keeping them apart. He should have overruled her father.

The right to choose to be involved in her father’s life should have been hers, and hers alone.

The snow grew deeper on the sides of the road as they gained elevation, but the pavement was wet and clear as they pushed on toward the national forest. Slushy bits of snow mixed with the rain on the windshield. It was a different world from a few days ago when they’d struggled to get out of the forest. Now they were rushing back in.

Where’s Violet?

She prayed the county sheriff would find her at one of the cabins.

But why would Reid Kruger take Violet up there?

It made no sense. Her phone buzzed and she paused before answering the blocked number.

“Is this Gianna?” asked a male in an accented voice.

Shock raced through her nerves. “Yes.” It’s him.

“I have your daughter. Where is the thumb drive?”

“Who is this?” She turned to meet Chris’s questioning gaze. She pulled the phone away from her ear and turned on the speaker with shaking hands.

“That doesn’t matter. Where is your father’s thumb drive? Where did he hide it?” The connection crackled in and out.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “Let me talk to Violet.”

The phone went silent. She stared at the time ticking on the screen; the call was still connected.

Violet screamed, and Gianna dropped the phone in her lap. She snatched it back up, holding it in a death grip, terrified she’d lose the connection to her daughter. Blood pounded in her ears and the scream abruptly stopped.

Along with Gianna’s heart.

“Violet?”

“That’s her polite way of asking you to tell me where it is. Would you like to hear it impolitely?”

His voice curdled the liquid in her stomach. “Don’t hurt her.”

“Too late.”

Gianna felt the truck surge as Chris pressed on the gas, recklessly passing a car on a curve. His hands were white on the steering wheel, and the tendons in his neck bulged as he clenched his teeth.

“Don’t hurt my daughter,” she whispered, not taking her gaze from Chris. “I don’t know anything about a thumb drive. My father didn’t give anything to me or tell me anything about it. You killed him before he could.”

A harsh laugh came over the line. “That old man. All he did was piss me off. He was like a greased pig trying to hide and sneak around. I knew if I watched you long enough he’d come crawling out of his hiding place at some point. At first I thought I’d missed him, so I went through your house looking for it.”

This slime was in my house? She thought of the missing lingerie and shuddered.

“I finally spotted him when I followed you to the mountain. He was so fucking easy to catch.” He snorted. “Old useless man.”