“I’d like to stay the same, thank you.” She pulled into the parking lot and parked. “Let’s go look at the video.”
She needed to find Keith’s killer and get the part of her life she could control back.
* * *
This had better tell them something.
The mammoth screen nearly covered the wall. Reid logged into his Cloud backup from a computer at the police station and found the three video files Elliot had sent him. They were dated just this morning, May 11. Before getting started, he’d called to check on his videographer and had learned he’d been taken to Mobile and was in surgery. His condition was critical. Reid had also spoken with Elliot’s mother in Seattle, and she was on her way to the airport. She wasn’t due in until late tonight. He’d offered to let her stay at his house, but she planned to take a cab straight to the hospital.
Augusta passed around coffees from Pelican Brews, and he accepted one. “Thanks. I’ve got the files downloaded,” he told Jane and her team assembled in the war room. “Here’s the first one.”
The screen flashed to life, and there he was talking to Dex. The thirty-minute video held no surprises since Reid had watched it several times. He slowed it down in spots, but nothing jumped out at any of them. He queued up the next one and let it run.
“There!” Jane reached over and froze the frame. “Is that someone standing in the shadows?”
Reid squinted and nodded. “Maybe. If we had the stolen equipment, I’d be able to enhance it.”
“I can do it.” Nora moved over to the computer and emailed the video to herself. “It will take a little while. Let’s look at the rest of this in case there are more frames for me to enhance.”
They watched the rest of the second video, then moved on to the final one. Again, no surprises.
Nora rose and moved toward the door. “I’ll do what I can with the clip and let you know when I have it ready.”
She nearly collided with a young redhead in the doorway. Reid didn’t remember her name, but she often manned the front desk, and Jane had mentioned she was a temp.
She rushed into the room. “Chief, Olivia’s been in an accident! She could barely talk and is still connected with 911. She’s in the ditch a mile from your dad’s house.”
Jane jumped up. “How bad, Rachel?”
“I don’t know. The ambulance isn’t there yet.”
Jane ran for the door, and Reid was right behind her. He pulled out his phone. “You drive, and I’ll call your dad. He can get there before anyone else.”
He had Charles on the phone by the time they reached the SUV. Reid told him the situation.
Reid started to tell him not to take Will, but the boy would refuse to stay behind, and no one was big enough to make him now. Charles never left the house unarmed either, so his son should be safe enough in his grandfather’s care.
“We’re on our way, and the ambulance is ahead of us.”
“Leaving now.”
“Your dad is on his way.”
“You should have told him not to let Will out of the house.”
“I started to and realized it would be a waste of breath. Will wouldn’t stay behind any more than I would if you’d been in an accident.” He turned and looked out into the downtown lights twinkling in the dark.
There was no sense in hiding his feelings. She might not want his love, but he was powerless to take it back no matter how much she pushed him away.
“Megan is in the car too?”
“Your dad said Olivia picked her up fifteen minutes ago. The accident must have happened right after they left.”
“She seemed okay the past few days, but the stress might have worsened her condition. At some point she’ll have to quit driving.”
Reid could only pray it hadn’t been Olivia’s fault. If anything happened to Megan because Olivia shouldn’t have been driving, she’d never live with herself.
The lights on Jane’s vehicle strobed, and the siren drowned out all other sounds. The speedometer topped out at eighty miles per hour. The accident site was five miles out of town, and he soon saw the ambulance lights ahead. Jane accelerated even more at the flashing red lights, then slammed on her brakes and pulled in behind the ambulance.
She had her belt off and was out of the SUV in an instant. Reid rushed after her to find two paramedics tending to Olivia, who lay in the grass in the wash of light from her open car door.
He caught sight of two figures over at the tree line. Will and Charles. What were they doing clear over there?
Jane knelt at her head and put her hand on her cheek. “I’m here, Olivia. You’re going to be okay.”
The paramedic pressing gauze to a wound on her arm nodded as the second rescuer brought out the stretcher.
“Megan,” Olivia muttered. “He took Megan.”
Reid froze, and his gaze locked with Jane’s. He moved closer. “What about Megan?”
Olivia licked her lips and opened her eyes. “Tyler. He forced me off the road and took her.”
Jane’s eyes went wide, and she looked at the paramedic. “Is she lucid?”
“She has a cut from broken glass and a minor head wound that briefly knocked her out. There’s no one else in the car. You’re sure her daughter was with her?”
“Yes,” Reid said. “Charles said she picked her up from his house fifteen minutes before we heard about the accident.” He pointed to the dense forest. “Will and Charles are in the trees. I’d guess they’re searching for Megan since they didn’t see her, assuming she wandered off injured.”
“We’ll be transporting Olivia now,” one of the paramedics said.
Reid started for the woods and Jane followed. The dark woods welcomed him with the scent of pine from the fallen needles underfoot. An owl hooted off to his left. “Will, Charles!”
Charles’s gruff voice answered. “I’m here. The boy went that way looking for Megan.”
They moved toward his shadowy figure. Parker came to nose at Jane’s hand, and she petted him. “Tyler has Megan. He forced Olivia off the road and kidnapped her. Get Will to safety. I’m going to find Tyler and Megan.”
“He won’t go back until he knows she’s safe,” Charles said. “You might as well take him with you.”
“Will!” Reid called.
He started off in the direction Charles had indicated. Where was his boy?
Thirty-Three
He didn’t like grabbing a kid. He’d been watching from the woods when the Price boy forced the woman’s car off the road and took the girl. He could have stopped it, but it wasn’t his problem. His job was to eliminate the threat to the attack, and the girl’s fate held no reward for him.
But this . . . He watched the old man and the kid wander into the woods calling Megan’s name. The fortress was undefended now, and he could slip inside and root around for backups, but taking the boy seemed logical. His dad would do anything to protect him—even give up every byte of video taken aboard the oil platform. And his life.
And his job here would be done. Just one more day.
He hunkered behind a large tree and swatted at the mosquitoes buzzing his head. The boy wasn’t with his grandfather now, and the man calculated how far he’d have to carry the kid to his truck. Not fun but doable. Maybe he could coax him closer.
He rose and retreated toward his truck with as much noise as he could. Will stepped into a patch of clearing in the moonlight behind him. Should he call to the boy? No, not until he was sure they were out of earshot of the old man.
“Megan, where are you?” Will sounded frantic.
He stepped on twigs and leaves to attract the kid’s attention, and the boy started that direction. The sound was probably faint enough that he wasn’t sure what it was but only hoped it might be the girl.
When he was fifty feet from his hidden truck, he rummaged in his backpack and removed the sedative shot he always carried. He knelt on the ground by a log that might appear to be a prone body in the dim light.
&n
bsp; “Will, over here! I found her!”
The boy broke into a run and rushed over the uneven ground to where he knelt. “Is she all right?”
He stood and moved back. “I can’t tell. See what you think.”
When Will dropped to his knees, he plunged the needle into his arm. The boy yelped and grabbed his arm, then struggled to his feet and spun on his heel as if to run. The sedative began to loosen his muscles, and he stumbled for a few feet before collapsing to the ground and blinking.
He touched the kid’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Will. Go to sleep. It will all be over when you wake.”
He took the teen’s arm, and Will tried to shake off his grip but was too weak. Finally his eyes closed, and he slumped into a pile of dry pine needles.
He smiled and, grabbing Will under the arms, dragged him to the waiting truck. It took more work than he’d anticipated to heft the kid into the passenger seat and buckle him in, but he managed it. He arranged Will so he appeared to be sleeping, then went around and climbed behind the wheel.
He’d get him to a secure place, then make his demands to the dad. With any luck, he’d be out of this wretched town by morning.
* * *
She had to find her boy.
When Will didn’t answer their calling, Jane started deeper into the woods, fragrant with wildflowers and mossy scents, with Parker, Reid, and her dad. “Find Will, boy. Go find Will.”
Before she lost signal, she shot off a text to Augusta with details of what happened and told her to put out a BOLO on Tyler’s car.
Tail high, Parker barked and pranced in a Z pattern. He didn’t have the scent yet, but Will had been here. He’d get it.
“What’s he doing?” Reid asked.
“He’s an air sniffer. He’s trying to pick up the scent. It’s faster than sniffing the ground. There are skin rafts in the air he’ll be able to detect.”
Parker growled, and when his tail flattened, Jane’s pulse jumped. There was another scent here, one he perceived as dangerous. “Find Will.”
The dog woofed, and his tail went back up. He was off in a flash.
Jane ran after him. “He’s got the scent!”
Reid’s tension and worry was palpable, and Jane tried to stay calm. They’d find him. He’d just wandered deeper into the woods. Parker’s alarm was over an animal and nothing to worry about. But no matter how much she self-talked confidence, her fear mounted.
They could barely keep up with the dog, who bounded over fallen logs and plowed through low-hanging branches and bushes. She was scratched, sweating, and breathless when they broke through to a clearing.
Her dad knelt. “Footprints here, fresh ones. He went that way, toward the road.” He pointed to their right.
The dog had already darted that way, and they followed. In another smaller clearing Dad knelt again and touched a flattened spot. “Something or someone lay here.” He studied the ground more and made a sound of dismay. “Looks like something was dragged this way.”
“Something or someone?” Jane’s gaze met her father’s.
His mouth went grim. “Someone. I see heel marks to the road there.”
She and Reid trailed after Parker and her father to a spot beside the road. She saw the tire tracks before her dad said anything. “Appears like a truck parked here. The drag marks go to this side.”
“The guy put Will in the truck and drove off.” Her dad gestured to the dog. “He’s lost the scent.”
Jane nodded, and her mouth went dry. She reached for Reid’s hand.
His fingers closed around hers. “Keep the faith, Jane. I’ve been praying. Will’s going to be okay.” But in spite of his assurances, his voice wobbled.
Jane gave a jerky nod and squeezed his hand. “Tyler wouldn’t have been able to drag him anywhere. He’s not nearly as big or as strong as Will.”
Her dad swept a hand over the ground. “The footprints are at least size twelve. Tyler’s is about an eight. Has anyone called his father?”
Steve. Jane hadn’t even thought to notify him. Maybe he’d know what Tyler had done with Megan, and if they talked to the two of them, they might know who took Will. This scene was a dead end. She’d call Nora to search for evidence, but it would be hard to find in the dark.
“Not yet.” She checked her phone. “I’ve got a signal. Let me tell Augusta to be looking at trucks that might have Will.” She called her detective and told her what had happened. It was all she could do to keep her voice steady as she instructed her to put out the BOLO and to send Nora to the scene.
Who had taken Will? It had to be the same person who’d threatened him. The thought of her son being harmed nearly buckled her knees. He could be dead even now. But no, she couldn’t face that, couldn’t entertain the thought.
She found Steve’s number and placed a call, but it went straight to voice mail. Her terse message simply said Tyler and Megan were missing and to please call. He might be avoiding her because of the earlier pointed questions about his behavior with young women.
He called back in thirty seconds. “Jane? What do you mean Tyler is missing?”
“Have you seen him?”
“Not since this morning. He should have been back by now, but he’s been spending a lot of time with Will. I assumed that’s where he was.”
“We haven’t seen him since we got back in town.” She told him what she knew. “Do you know where he might have taken Megan? And why?”
“He’s not been himself since his head injury. He forgets they aren’t together any longer. It upsets him. I know he wouldn’t hurt her.”
Jane knew no such thing. “He hurt Olivia, Steve. She’s on her way to the hospital with injuries.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean to. He’s just a kid, Jane. You have to find him.”
“Where might he have gone? Does he have a favorite place? Do you have a cabin somewhere or a vacation home? A favorite camping spot?”
When Steve went silent, she would have thought she’d lost the signal except for the sound of a sports game in the background. “Steve?”
“I’m thinking.”
Was he figuring out where they might be, or was he deciding if he should tell her? “It’s best if we find him quickly, Steve. It will go easier on him.”
“He gave her his ring out at Dinosaurs in the Woods.”
Jane knew the place out by Elberta. She’d been there a time or two herself. “Thanks, Steve. I’ll let you know when we find them.”
“I’ll go look too. He’ll listen to me. I can talk him down off just about anything.”
Jane’s gut was to keep everyone else out and let her handle it, but Tyler was just a kid, and a wounded one at that. Maybe having Steve along would help. “I’ll pick you up on the way there.”
She ended the call and updated Reid and her dad. “Our best chance to find Will is to get to Tyler and Megan. They might know something.”
The hope was flimsy at best, but it was all she had. She looked down and realized she’d taken Reid’s hand again. Their clasped hands symbolized their promise to work together to find their son, and she would cling to the strength of their unity in this moment.
Thirty-Four
Rain blew in from an offshore storm and pummeled the SUV.
Reid held it together somehow as Jane’s SUV hurtled toward Dinosaurs in the Woods. Steve, Charles, and Parker were in the backseat, and the mood in the vehicle was as black as the night sky.
Will had to be all right. Must be. He and his son had faced many adversities together, and they’d weather this one. They’d be together again soon. A prayer for his son’s safety was on constant repeat in his head. Please, God, please.
The tires slid on the wet, narrow road as Jane squinted into the misty beam of the headlamps. “This wretched rain,” she muttered.
“What’s this dinosaur place?” Reid asked.
She turned right on Fish Trap Road. “There are four dinosaur statues there that Mark Cline made years ago.” She turned lef
t onto a road at a Berber Marina sign. The rain began to lighten. “Look there. That’s Bamahenge.”
He squinted in the distance. “I don’t see anything. What’s Bamahenge?”
“A Stonehenge recreation, also done by Mark Cline. The dinosaurs are just ahead.”
Steve leaned forward from the backseat. “Tyler likes the T-rex one the best.”
“It’s pouring down rain. I can’t see the kids out wandering in the storm,” Jane said.
Lightning flashed across the sky, and the shudder of thunder came. Her headlamps swept the road ahead as she slowed.
Steve pointed to their right. “That’s his car!”
The blue Toyota Corolla was half hidden in a spot off the road. As soon as Jane parked behind it, Reid leaped from the car, ignoring her call for him to hang back. Will was his boy. Yes, she was his mother, but she hadn’t spent every hour of her life seeing to Will’s needs like Reid had. He had to find his son no matter who was unhappy at his presence.
He checked the car and found it empty. “Tyler, Megan!” The rain, now more mist than anything, dampened his shout as well as his shirt.
Jane and Parker reached him. She led the dog around to the passenger seat and had him sniff around. “Search, Parker. Find Tyler.”
The dog whined and turned to trot around the road. He started down the beaten-down path. A T-rex rose in front of him, and Parker stopped to sniff around it.
“I think Tyler has been here. Parker has the scent.” Jane put her hand on Reid’s arm. “Reid, I need you to let me and Parker do our jobs.”
“I need to find Will.” His voice broke, and so did his composure. “They have to know where he is.”
She took his hand. “I’m going to find him.”
The warm press of her hand was his lifeline, but he forced himself to let her go and turn back to the pine needle path. Charles and Steve approached, but Reid left them behind and followed with Jane after Parker, who was moving toward the other dinosaurs. They found the triceratops near the T-rex. No one there either.
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