As Steve walked towards where Roman was standing, he could hear the police commander barking out orders.
"I want a team collecting every piece of debris between the first skid marks and where those footprints end at the road. Some of that debris has to be from the perpetrator's car and I want it found! I want anything that might give us something to help find this guy."
Steve watched as one group of officers walked away and Roman turned to another group.
"Get the word out on the local news stations and radio. I want to find anybody who might have been driving down this road tonight."
The second group moved away, with the lead man heading to the area where the press was waiting. Steve wondered briefly if Jack or Jennifer might be over there, but unless they knew where Kayla was, it did not really matter.
As he reached Roman, Steve looked over and saw a forensics team combing through the car. His heart clinched as he saw a man put a cloth soaked in red in a plastic bag. He knew that was a sample from the blood on the roof under the passenger seat. Kayla's blood, Steve was sure.
"What do you got, Roman?" Steve asked
Roman's head snapped around at the sound of Steve's voice. He shook his head and said, "A whole lot of nothing at the moment."
"Nothing?" Steve said incredulously. "Kayla and Kim are out there somewhere and you're telling me you have nothing?" Steve did not bother to hide the disgust in his voice.
"I don't like it any better than you do, partner," Roman replied evenly. "But the fact is that we have no witnesses, no description of a vehicle, and no idea of who might have done this."
Before Steve could respond, a member of the forensics team approached. "Commander Brady? We're going to take the first part of these samples down to the lab. The rest of the team will stay here and gather evidence."
"Fine," Roman replied, dismissively. "But I want those lab results as soon as possible."
"Yes, sir." The officer turned and left.
"What do you mean we have no idea who did this?" Steve said after the man left. "It had to be whoever's been after Andrew."
"Maybe." Roman turned and looked at Steve. "But if it was the same person who has been after Andrew, then why did he leave Andrew and take Kim and Kayla?"
Steve had no answer for that. For a moment he wondered if the ISA was behind this. Had they used Kayla to get to him? But then he remembered Andrew in the woods and Mike's body. The ISA were a lot of things but they were not cold-blooded murderers - at least not like this. This was far too messy for the ISA.
If it was not the ISA, that left Lawrence Alamain. But why would Alamain have decided to go after Kim and Kayla now? And why would he have gone after Andrew at all? Steve shook his head. None of this was making sense.
Steve looked up and caught Roman looking at him. Shrugging, Steve said, "I don't know. But this didn't just happen out of the blue, Roman."
Roman nodded. "I know. But from what I understand, this shopping trip was a last-minute idea. Whoever did this must have seen an opportunity and grabbed it."
Steve did not respond. Instead he walked closer to the wrecked vehicle. He walked around it carefully staring at each dent as if he could will himself to figure out what had happened to Kim and Kayla . . . and why.
How am I supposed to find you if I don't know who took you, Sweetness? There has to be a clue here somewhere. There has to be something I'm missing.
"We're going to find them, Steve." Roman's voice startled Steve out of his thoughts.
Steve nodded, not trusting himself to speak. For the first time since they had found the car, he felt the cold of the night sink into his bones. It matched the cold fear and desperation he felt in his heart.
Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Roman walk over to talk to some of the officers working on the wreck site. His thoughts again drifted to the blood in the car and his fear deepened as another thought struck him. If this was the same person who had been after Andrew and possibly Kim, then Kayla was never a target. And if Kayla had not been a target, then she was also an unneeded liability to whoever had taken her.
Steve tried to calm himself by focusing on the fact that whoever had done this had not just killed Kayla outright. That meant they had some reason for taking Kayla as well as Kim. But how long would that reason last? And how badly was Kayla hurt?
Steve jumped as he felt a hand clap down on his shoulder. He whirled around to see Roman looking at him apologetically.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."
Steve shrugged. "Do you have any more information?"
"Nothing new," Roman replied. The boys at the lab will be busy all night and there is nothing we can do here. Let's go back to Shane's house. Maybe Andrew's woken up and will have some information."
"I can't just go sit around and wait, Roman." Steve gestured into the darkness. "My wife is out there somewhere, and she's hurt, and I have to find her."
"And you - we - will find her, Steve." Roman's voice rang with certainty. "But it's not going to happen by standing out here in the cold all night. I've got Abe at the station and the lab has orders to call me at Shane's house as soon as they have any information. As soon as we get any leads, we'll track them down. But they're not here."
Steve turned away and stared back at the wrecked car again. His head told him Roman was right, that there was nothing to be gained from staying here. But his heart told him that this was the last place Kayla had been, and leaving here felt like he was leaving her.
"All right, Roman," Steve finally said. "Let's go back to Shane's for now. But if you get any information, you better share it."
Roman nodded and began walking towards Shane's car. Steve took one last glance back at the wreckage before following.
With each step towards Shane's car, Steve repeated a single thought. I'll be back, baby. I'm not going to stop until I find you, I promise.