Page 96 of No More Lies

Sam left the room and Steve sank back down in his chair, Donnie sat silently beside him.

“Can you send me the video?” Steve asked Kelly. “I want to watch it again.”

Seconds later it popped up on his screen and he hit play. Donnie was watching it from beside him but didn’t comment. It was as tough watching it the second time as it had been the first. There had been no mention of Megan. Did Diane know Megan was safe? Did she know Volkov had tricked her? Or was Volkov claiming to have Megan somewhere? He briefly took in the fireplace behind Diane, but he couldn’t take his eyes from Diane’s face. The redness and bruising screamed at him. Her eyes didn’t stop moving, the fear in them was too much. He needed to do something. Sitting here on their assess wasn’t what they were good at. They were an assault team, and he damn well wanted to go and assault Vladamir Volkov. Abruptly he stood up.

“You OK?” Donnie asked.

“Yeah. I need a minute.” He walked from the room, sensing everyone’s eyes on him. He headed to the kitchen and leaned against the counter. His heart racing in his chest. The video had made the thought that he might never see her alive again very real. Fuck, he shook his head, taking a deep breath to calm down his heart. This was not helping Diane. However afraid she was, she would know he and Onyx would be looking for her. He couldn’t let her down again. He had to find her.

When his phone pinged, he took it from his pocket. A text from Agent Jessica Adams. He opened it to find the picture Megan had been drawing, now finished. Steve stared at the picture, remembering Megan explaining who was who. Doughnut the cat now had brown fur and green eyes. Steve paused, staring at the picture. Cat.

He ran back to the war room and burst through the door. Everyone looked at him.

“Steve? What’s happened? Is Megan OK?” Dex asked.

“Yeah, she’s fine. Pull up the video. I think I might have worked out where they are.”

As the video played, Steve watched it through silently, standing right in front of the video screen. When it ended, he said. “Play it again.” No one said anything and the video started again.

“Freeze it there.” Steve stepped forward. “Can you zoom in on the mantel.”

As the mantel became larger, Steve turned and faced the team. “Cats.”

They all looked at him with puzzled looks.

“There’s a cat ornament on the mantel, and the photo is of a cat.” He pointed to them onscreen.

“OK. And?” Dex asked.

“I thought Diane’s eyes were darting around because she was scared. But she wasn’t. She was looking at the cats. I told her about Arnold Janssen being dead. She asked me about his family, and I told her apparently it was just him and his cats.”

The team looked skeptical.

“She was sending us a message,” Steve said. “They’re at Arnold Janssen’s house.” He felt more hopeful than he had since the moment he discovered she’d been taken.

Within seconds, Mackie had a photo of Janssen’s house up on screen. “It’s thirty minutes away, on the mainland.

“FBI already processed that house. They could be there,” Dex said.

“They are there,” Steve insisted. “I’m telling you. It’s why she’s looking at the damn cats.”

“How the fuck did you suddenly see that?” Donnie asked.

“With a little help from Megan and a cat named Doughnut,” he said. The team stared at him, but he didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t important. They needed to be moving right now. Dex appeared to be on the same page.

“Sam? We good to go?” Dex asked.

Steve sighed in relief when Sam nodded. “I’ll call Dale. Go.”