The Sheriff of Sage Bend

by Brenda Mott

  Tori merely shrugged.

  “There were no e-mails from anyone named Alex, or to anyone named Alex. In fact, there was nothing at all to any guy who’d supposedly been harassing Shannon. Do you want to tell me now what Shannon’s e-mail to you meant—thanking you for helping her?”

  Tori began to tremble. “Oh, Lucas, please don’t be mad at me. I was only doing what I thought was best.”

  “Explain.”

  She took a deep breath. “Hang on a minute.” She went to the kitchen and came back with her purse. She pulled out an envelope. “I think I know what’s in this, but not for sure. Open it.”

  Lucas frowned and took the business-size envelope from her. Inside was a folded sheet of paper and several photographs. His blood turned to ice. In the letter, someone had threatened to kill Miranda and Paige if Shannon testified against Lonnie Masterson. As though to back up the threat, the two were photographed going about their daily business.

  Someone had been watching Miranda—watching her mom….

  “Miranda, get in here,” Lucas called.

  She hurried into the room, Paige on her heels. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  He laid the letter and photos out on the coffee table, pulling a pen from his pocket. He used the capped tip of the pen to move the items around, spreading them out. “Don’t touch these. Just look.”

  She did, and her face went pale. Paige let out a gasp.

  “Where did you get these?” Lucas demanded.

  “From Shannon,” Tori answered. Tears filled her eyes. “She told me about the threats, but I didn’t know what was in the envelope, Lucas, I swear. She just gave it to me and asked me to turn it over to you if anything happened to her.”

  “And you didn’t consider her disappearance to be ‘anything’?”

  “Tori, what is going on?” Miranda looked from her to Lucas. “Lucas?”

  Paige began to shake. “This isn’t happening.”

  “Mom, calm down,” Miranda said.

  “To hell with that, I want my daughter.” She slammed her fist on the table, making the centerpiece of dried flowers jump. “Who is doing this?”

  “I don’t know,” Tori said. “But Shannon is all right.”

  Miranda sat next to her friend. “I want to believe that, too, but considering that letter and those photos—”

  “No.” Tori shook her head. “You don’t understand. Shannon is fine, and I’m sure of it, because I know where she is.”

  Lucas bit back a curse.

  Miranda stared blankly at Tori. “What?”

  Tori gulped in air and started to cry. “I know where she is, because I helped her hide.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Miranda could only continue to stare stupidly at her friend.

  “Oh, crap.” Tori raked her hands through her hair.

  “Tori! What are you saying? Where’s Shannon?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “What do you mean, you can’t tell us?” Lucas demanded.

  Miranda wasn’t altogether sure her ears weren’t playing tricks on her. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, I’m serious. Shannon’s life is in danger, as you can see—” she gestured toward the letter and photos “—and so is yours and your mom’s. Lucas, please try to understand.” A look of misery contorted her face. “I really don’t know where to begin.”

  “How about with how you came to have the note and photos?” Lucas said.

  Miranda shook her head in disbelief. “Does this have anything to do with that guy she met online?”

  “There wasn’t any guy.”

  “What?” Miranda felt as if she was dreaming some horrible nightmare. She hoped she’d wake up soon.

  “I just had to make up something on the spot to cover when you found that e-mail Shannon sent me, Lucas. Shannon was really thanking me for helping her with this whole mess…helping her find a safe way out of it. At least, I thought it was safe.”

  “Okay,” Lucas said. “Start at the beginning.”

  Tori took a deep breath, but her voice was choked as she spoke. “I was the one who called Shannon the night before she disappeared. I used a disposable cell phone, so no one could trace it. Shannon just wanted me to check in one last time before…” Tori stopped and looked down.

  “But why wouldn’t Shannon show these to Lucas?” Miranda asked. Then it dawned on her. “Oh God. It’s Lonnie Masterson who’s threatening her, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Shannon got those pictures and that note, and she freaked out. She didn’t want you to know about it, and she was afraid to go to Lucas, so she contacted me. She didn’t know who else to talk to. She was afraid if she testified at Lonnie’s trial, his contacts on the outside would kill you and your mom. They told her not to go to the sheriff.”

  Miranda was stunned. “So she hid?”

  “She thought if she went undercover until the trial was over, she wouldn’t have to testify, and Lonnie would go free. Then he’d quit threatening all of you, and everything would go back to normal. Well, as normal as you can get with a murderer on the streets.”

  “You know that’s not realistic,” Lucas said.

  “No, but it was the best plan Shannon could come up with under the circumstances. She just couldn’t risk your lives.”

  “But if Shannon doesn’t testify,” Paige said, “she’ll go to jail for ignoring the subpoena and not showing up for the trial.”

  “Better to be in jail than to have her sister and her mother dead.”

  Tori looked so solemn, it scared Miranda. She’d never seen her like this before. “I can’t believe she’d do that…. I can’t believe you’d do this to me! Lie to me. You’re supposed to be my best friend.”

  “I am your best friend.” Now Tori looked hurt. “Why do you think I did all of this? It’s because I didn’t want to see you dead, either!”

  “Where is she?” Lucas asked.

  Tori hung her head. “I can’t tell you. Not until Masterson’s trial is over.”

  “Tori…” He looked at her, exasperated.

  “Wait a minute,” Miranda said. “You helped us search the day she vanished. How could you have been in two places at once?”

  “I didn’t join the search until later.”

  “Tell me how you helped Shannon disappear,” Lucas demanded.

  “I can’t give you any details.” Tori looked miserable. “Lucas, please trust me on this. I don’t want to put anyone’s life in jeopardy.”

  “Well, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing if you don’t tell me everything, including where Shannon is. Look, Tori, just because she doesn’t show up for the trial, there’s no guarantee Masterson and his buddies won’t go after her later. And you, too, and Miranda and Paige…Do you think their word means anything? You’ve got to tell me where she is.”

  “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way,” Tori sobbed. “Everything was supposed to work out so nobody got hurt.”

  “Tori,” Miranda said, looking her right in the eyes. “Please.”

  Her friend slumped against the couch cushions. “She’s at my grandpa’s cabin.”

  Of course! Roy Lambert had an old hunting cabin up in the high country.

  “With him in the nursing home, and me keeping the place up, we figured no one would think anything of it if they saw me coming and going.”

  She looked over at Miranda. “The night you asked me to the movies, Shannon was sick. I’d been up there earlier to check on her and take her a few groceries. She had a fever and a sore throat. I was delivering some cold medicine and aspirin when you spotted me.”

  “So you weren’t…”

  “No, I wasn’t going to see anyone else. There’s no married man.” She scuffed her foot on the floor. “I’ve turned into such a liar.”

  Miranda let out a sigh of relief. “I knew you were better than that.”

  “What married man?” Lucas asked.

  “I told Miranda—”

&n
bsp; “Tori said—”

  He held up his hand. “Never mind. We’ll get this all down in a formal report later. Just tell me one thing, Tori. How did you get Shannon to the cabin in the first place?”

  “I waited for her in Aunt Mae’s truck up on an old logging road above the creek, about a mile from where you found her hair scrunchie. It’s barely passable anymore, and we covered up our tire tracks with tree branches as we drove out. We had prearranged a time for me to be there. I took my four-wheeler with me, in the pickup bed. I drove Shannon up near the cabin, and dropped her off. She went in the rest of the way on the four-wheeler. That way she wouldn’t be completely stranded.”

  “And what about the blood on the rock and on her saddle?”

  “Shannon cut her palm with a pocket knife. She wanted you all to think she’d been hurt and kidnapped.”

  “I’m going to kill her,” Paige said.

  “She had to make it look believable. She’d ridden Poker hard enough to make him sweaty—she hated that part of it just as much as she hated deceiving you all.”

  “I checked the logging road,” Lucas grumbled. “I didn’t see your tracks.”

  “Like I said, we tried to hide them as best we could where we came out onto the main road.”

  “Well, apparently you succeeded,” Paige snapped. “Tori, I’m mighty disappointed in you.”

  “All right, that’ll do for now,” Lucas said. “We need to get Shannon and bring her home.” He took out his cell phone. “I’m calling dispatch to radio the state police.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Tori repeated. “I know this has been really hard on you, Paige.” She breathed in with a sob. “You have no idea how hard it was to keep lying to you. I feel just awful.”

  “They threatened me, too, you know,” Miranda said.

  “What?” Tori stared at her.

  “I got a note taped to my mailbox, telling me to butt out. And someone shot at me and Lucas.”

  Tori cringed. “I did the note. And I also fired those shots to scare you and Lucas. I didn’t want you to get hurt, so I tried to scare you away.”

  Miranda’s jaw dropped. “You shot at us?”

  “Not at you. Near you. I made sure I wasn’t close enough to hit you.” She lowered her gaze. “I got the idea the other night when you told me about your plans to ride out with Lucas. I drove up early that morning to a road the hunters use, in the general area where I thought you’d be. Then I hiked up to a point overlooking the trail and waited.” She shrugged. “After I fired the shots, I hightailed it back to the Truck Inn while the two of you were pinned down, hiding in the rocks.”

  “You do realize that’s called reckless endangerment?” Lucas said, closing his cell phone. “Tori, I’m afraid I have no choice but to write you up on that, as well as on lying to the police.”

  Tori looked so forlorn, it broke Miranda’s heart. She knew her friend’s intentions had been good.

  “I didn’t mean it,” Tori said, tears sliding down her cheeks. “I was only trying to keep you all safe. I knew if you kept poking around, you’d find Shannon, and then Lonnie Masterson and his low-life, scumbag buddies would be all over you.”

  “Never mind, Tori,” Miranda said. “Let’s just go get Shannon.” She let out a whoop.

  “Hold up,” Lucas said. “We’re not going to do this again.” He put his hand on Miranda’s shoulder. “This time you really do need to stay put. I’m serious.”

  “Lucas.” She gave him an exasperated look. Ignoring her, he used his cell to call Garrett and Mac.

  “I want to see my daughter,” Paige said stubbornly, as soon as he got off the phone.

  “You will,” Lucas said. “As soon as we get her, we’ll bring her home. Now we’re wasting time.” Lucas tapped his cell phone. “I’ll call you the minute we reach her. I promise.”

  Paige looked hesitant. “I don’t want to get in the way,” she said. “Cripes, this is hard.” She clenched and unclenched her fists, pacing. “Oh, all right. Just hurry, Lucas. Please.”

  “Be careful,” Miranda said with a sigh.

  Lucas nodded, then hurried outside when Garrett and Mac pulled in. Mac went inside to question Tori, while Garrett left with Lucas.

  “I don’t think I can sit still that long,” Paige said. She continued to pace the kitchen floor.

  “I know I can’t,” Miranda declared. She reached for her keys. “I’m going up there.”

  “Miranda, you heard the sheriff.”

  “Yeah, I heard him. But my sister’s been gone way too long. I’m not waiting another minute to see her.”

  “Be careful,” Paige said, echoing Miranda’s earlier sentiment to Lucas.

  “You know I will.” She hurried out to her truck and leaped into it, pushing the engine for all it was worth as she drove toward the cabin. Taking a shortcut, she managed to catch up with Lucas when she came back out on the main route a mile from the place.

  She knew Lucas would be ready to curse when he spotted her behind him in his mirror. She didn’t care. Nothing was going to stand between her and Shannon now. Miranda followed Lucas as he guided the Blazer up the narrow, twisting road.

  She still found it hard to believe that Tori had lied to her all this time, even going so far as to tell such elaborate stories like seeing a married man. It hurt that her friend had betrayed her, even if Tori had thought her reasons justified it. But Miranda knew that if the shoe were on the other foot, she would do the same to protect Tori, Fae and Mae.

  Miranda turned off onto a dirt road and parked as close to the small cabin as she could get, since the road ended several yards from the entrance. Lucas had already pulled over and stood waiting for her.

  “Damn it, Miranda, don’t you ever listen?”

  “No.” She gave him a challenging look. Then, pushing past him, she hurried toward the cabin.

  She could hear Lucas on her heels. She ducked between towering pine trees and straight to the front door.

  “Miranda, wait,” Lucas called, just behind her.

  He put his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged out of his grasp and flung the door open.

  “Shannon! It’s me.” She froze in her tracks as sunlight illuminated the room. “No.”

  Glass from a shattered window and broken dishes were scattered across the floor. A kitchen chair lay on its side, a carton of milk spilled next to it, still leaking a white, sticky pool across the hardwood floor.

  There was no sign of Shannon.

  LUCAS CURSED AS HE SURVEYED the room. Garrett paused at his elbow. “What’s wrong? Oh hell.”

  “You need to go back to your truck,” Lucas said to Miranda, knowing she wouldn’t listen. “Go home.”

  Without a word, she turned and ran to her vehicle, and he stared after her openmouthed. Surely Miranda wouldn’t comply this easily. Following, Lucas reached the open door of her truck just in time to hear her thanking Kyle Miller on her cell phone. He gritted his teeth. But then, calling Kyle out here might not be such a bad idea.

  “Lucas,” said Miranda, “please don’t tell me to go home.” Miranda shivered. “If anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself. I should’ve thought to look in this cabin sooner, but I never dreamed Tori would betray me.”

  “She didn’t really,” Lucas said. “I’m not saying what she did was right, but her heart was in the right place.”

  “I know.” Miranda pursed her lips. “But it’s still a bitter pill to swallow.”

  Kyle, who’d been staying in town to be close at hand, arrived in short order.

  Lucas supposed he had to admire the guy’s attitude. The state police should have been here by now. Lucas didn’t want to wait. “I’ll lead the way once your dog picks up Shannon’s scent,” he said to Kyle.

  “I’ll need something for that,” Kyle said. “I can start at the cabin.”

  “I have something here to get him on the right track,” Miranda said. From the glove box of her truck, she took out a pair of leather gloves. “The
se are Shannon’s. She left them in here the last time we were repairing fence line.”

  “Perfect.” Kyle took the gloves and waved them under Blackhawk’s nose, giving the dog encouragement and the command to go find. He let Blackhawk sniff a trail to the cabin, then back outside again.

  The shepherd picked up on Shannon’s scent leading away through the trees, and Lucas had to admire the dog’s abilities yet again. He imagined it took a great deal of skill and patience to train and work with such an animal, and suddenly he felt annoyed at himself for having ever been jealous of Kyle. The man had been indispensable. Lucas set off right behind him.

  Garrett had joined them, and he motioned for Miranda to go ahead of him. “I’ll take up the rear,” he said, “in case anyone backtracks on our tail.”

  They trekked along as silently as possible. Blackhawk led them through the trees to a narrow trail behind the cabin. And suddenly, a woman’s muffled sobs carried to them on the early morning breeze. Before Lucas could react, Miranda sprang forward.

  “Shannon!” she called. “Shannon, I’m here.”

  Cursing, Lucas drew his gun and hurried after her, Garrett beside him. He reached a bend in the trail just in time to see Miranda kneeling beside Shannon, who was bound and gagged. Tears streaked her dirty face, and she struggled to communicate as Miranda gathered her into a bear hug.

  “Oh, Shannon. Oh, thank God.” Miranda carefully removed the duct tape and wad of gauze from here sister’s mouth. “Who did this to you?”

  Shannon tried to answer, but only managed to cough and choke. Furious, Lucas holstered his weapon and began working to untie the ropes at her wrists while Garrett freed her ankles.

  “Never mind,” Lucas said, pulling out his pocket knife. “Let’s just get you untied and out of here.” He wanted to hurry—get everybody back to the cabin. Then he and Garrett would search the woods.

  “He’s right out there,” Shannon finally managed to gasp. Terrified, she raised her arm to point at the trees. “He heard you coming and hid. He was going to kill me.” She broke into sobs.

  Lucas drew his gun once more, peering through the trees. “Wherever you are, come out. Now!”