Part 32 (1/2)
She looked at him, realization upping her fear to terror. ”You're stalling me.”
”What?”
”You sent Colton and Hunter out there so they could warn you in case-” She bit off the thought, but Dominic's guilty flush told her she was right.
”I didn't want you rus.h.i.+ng over there to find something you don't need to see.” His quiet honesty stilled her rising anger.
”You had no right to do that,” she whispered.
He narrowed his eyes. ”I thought . . . I was just trying to protect you. I thought maybe it would be best to make sure Hunter and Colton got there first.”
Serena went silent, her thoughts churning, gut swirling.
That was something her father would have done. And something she would have to consider later. After she found her parents safe.
She turned her attention back to the ringing phone now going to voice mail. Hanging up, she redialed.
He looked up at her as he opened the door for her. ”Anything?”
”No.” She clenched her jaw against the worry surging through her. ”Answer the phone,” she muttered as she hit redial.
Then she tried her father's office, remembered it was Sat.u.r.day, and hung up. She dialed her mother's number once again as Dominic started the car and took off.
Dominic's phone rang and he s.n.a.t.c.hed it from the cup holder and put it on speakerphone. ”h.e.l.lo.”
”Colton here. We're at the Hopkins residence. There doesn't appear to be anyone home nor any sign of foul play.”
Relief nearly made her weep. She'd pictured their dead bodies sprawled out on the den floor with bullet holes in their foreheads. But . . . ”Then where are they? Why won't they answer their phones?”
”Wait a minute, I've got a gray BMW pulling up.”
”That's my dad's car.”
Serena and Dominic were still almost twenty minutes away from her parents' subdivision.
”He's pulling into the driveway now.”
”Go easy, don't alarm them,” Dominic said. ”But don't let them go into the house without checking it out first. I'm about fifteen minutes out.”
”Got it.”
Dominic hung up and Serena leaned her head back against the seat, uttering prayers of thanks to G.o.d that her parents were safe.
The next fifteen minutes seemed to last a lifetime, but they finally were waved through by the guard at the gate when Dominic flashed his badge. When they pulled up at her parents' house, she saw her father standing next to the police car.
Dominic parked and Colton walked over to greet them. Serena bolted from the car to her father. ”Are you all right?”
His pale face said he'd gotten the details about what Colton had learned. He nodded. ”I'm fine, but I can't seem to get in touch with your mother.” He raked a hand through his hair, an action Serena had never seen him do before. ”She was supposed to be waiting on the alarm company rep, but Colton here tells me they don't have any record of a troubleshooting report.”
”Did you call them or did they call you?”
”They called us.” Her father's quiet words echoed around them.
”What do you mean?” Serena asked.
”The alarm was flas.h.i.+ng trouble on the pad. A few minutes after I noticed it, the phone rang. I took the call and the person identified herself as a representative with the alarm company.”
”Herself? A woman?”
”Yes, I believe so. She had me give the pa.s.sword and then told me a few b.u.t.tons to push to reset it. Walked me through the entire process and said they would send someone out to make sure it was working properly.”
”Today.”
”Right.”
”And did someone come?”
Her father looked helpless. ”I don't know. I had a meeting this morning with my campaign manager and was just now coming home.”
”Why didn't you answer your cell phone?” Serena demanded.
He blinked and pulled the phone from his front s.h.i.+rt pocket. He shot her an apologetic glance. ”I had it on silent.”
Outraged, Serena stared at him. ”After what I told you about being stalked by a serial killer? And the fact that you and Mom might need some extra protection?” Tears of anger welled in her eyes. ”How could you?”
He narrowed his eyes, his body stiffening defensively. ”Serena, I had everything under control. This was an extremely important planning meeting. I didn't want to be disturbed.”
”Didn't want to-” She chomped down on her tongue. She would not say anything she'd regret later.
This was her father.
She'd thought he was changing, becoming more open to the fact that things wouldn't always go the way he thought they should.
And he still thought he had everything under control.
”Where's my mother?”
The defensive posture slackened. ”I don't know.” He looked at the house. ”She was supposed to be here.”
”Well, she's not and she's not answering her phone.”
Dominic looked at Colton. ”Let's start canva.s.sing the neighborhood. See if anyone saw Mrs. Hopkins this morning.” He switched his gaze to Serena's father. ”Sir, could you give us her cell number? We'll put a trace on it and see if we can get her location.”
”Sure. Yeah, but she probably forgot about the alarm company coming and went to meet a friend for lunch.”
”Give us a list of names of friends.”
While her father pa.s.sed on that information, Serena walked over to her father's car and pressed a b.u.t.ton on the remote.
”She didn't go meet anyone, Dad.”