Vengeance (Oak Grove Suspense Book 1)

by Reese A. Stephens

  “Of course. You can kick me off the force, but I won’t stop until Shayla is home safely. This guy isn’t the run of the mill kind of bad guy. He’s doing this to get at me. You’ll never find him.” I stare at the chief. I won’t back down. Not from this, there’s too much at stake.

  He grunts irritated. “You have no idea who this person is. There’s no proof. I suspended you; now get out of my crime scene before I have you arrested for interference.”

  I glare at him for a long moment, trying to reign in my temper. “You’ll regret this,” I say as I turn to storm off.

  “You threatening me, Jacobs?” he yells. I give him the finger and keep going.

  As my team climbs back into the SUV, I tell Marsh, “Go to the hospital. I want to at least question some people.”

  “You’re not worried this body is Shayla?” Jessica asks.

  I dry scrub my face before answering. “Yes, of course I’m worried, but I really don’t think it will be. Mathis, The Fox, he wants to get me back for everything I did to him. He won’t make this that quick or easy.”

  “Any idea where he’d take her?”

  “No. If we were back east, I’d say yes and give you about a dozen locations. Here, I don’t know. I mean, there’s lots of forest areas around here. There are plenty of abandoned hunters lodges this time of the year. It could be anywhere in a hundred-mile radius.”

  “Why don’t you drop me off at the house? I’ll get Riley to help me get started on a map listing all the hunters cabins or any other type of building, abandoned or not.” Jessica types away on her phone as she speaks.

  “Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks. I don’t know why the chief wouldn’t let me train you. You’re a much better detective than Nathan.”

  “Well, when you’re chief, just remember that.” She beams at me.

  I smile back. “I will.”

  We drop her off and I debate on going in to see Dylan, but opt to leave him be. I need to talk to some of the people she works with before the chief lets them know I’m suspended. Marsh parks on the level that Shayla was taken. I know the likelihood of finding something new is slim, but we search anyway.

  “There’s nothing here. Let’s go see who we can interview,” he suggests.

  “I know just who I want to speak with first,” I say as we head into the main lobby.

  We head to the OR area where Shayla would be working if she was here. I absentmindedly rub my chest. Each thought of her makes me hurt. We stop at the nurses station. I recognize Julie, the girl who I spoke to about the anonymous delivery.

  “Detective, what can I do for you? Dr. Thorn isn’t in today,” she says.

  “I know. Actually, I’d like to talk to a few of you. Shayla was taken last night on her way home. Were you working?”

  She gasps loudly, her hand going over her heart. “Oh, my God. I had no idea. I was off yesterday.”

  “Do you know who was working last night?” I ask.

  She nods and flips through some pages, before handing me a sheet of paper. “This is our schedule. D stands for doctor, N for nurse. It’s pretty self-explanatory. I’ll help you with finding whomever you need.”

  “Thanks. I see here that Dr. Daniels was working. Is he here today?”

  “Yeah, he came in a few minutes ago. He was late,” she explains.

  Red flags are flying everywhere. This guy is up to something. I find it hard to believe that his showing up late the day after Shayla was taken to be coincidental.

  “Point me to his office.”

  “I’ll take you.” She smiles broadly. I remember Shayla telling me Julie was one of the only nurses that couldn’t stand the guy. She knocks on his open door. “Dr. Daniels, Detective Jacobs is here to see you.”

  “He doesn’t have an appointment. He can make one,” Daniels says without looking up from his computer.

  “Sir, he’s right here. He needs to speak to you about a case.”

  Daniels glares at her and then looks over to us. “Come in,” he says tersely.

  We enter but don’t sit down. “Where’s Shayla?” I ask immediately.

  Marsh smacks my arm. “What my partner means is, have you seen Dr. Thorn?”

  “I saw her here, at the hospital, last night.”

  “Do you know what time?” Marsh continues.

  “Why? What’s going on?” Daniels asks.

  I take several deep breaths. This guy is trying my patience already. He’s so smug with a stupid smirk on his face. He thinks we can’t touch him. He’s dead wrong. If he’s involved with this at all, I’ll kill him.

  “Shayla was taken from the hospital last night. We’re looking for clues as to who took her or where she might be.”

  He looks a little taken aback. “Taken? As in abducted?” I nod. “Wow, um, I have no clue. I saw her yesterday around seven when I went into surgery. I didn’t see her after that. She’s not scheduled today, so I never thought anything about her not being here.” He sounds and looks sincere, but I have my doubts. From what Shayla has said about him, he seems to be good at hiding his true emotions.

  “Let us know if you hear anything or remember something else.” Marsh hands him his card and shakes his hand.

  “Let’s check her office,” I tell Marsh as we exit Daniels office.

  I try the door; it’s locked. I pull out my keys and use the spare key she had at her house. I’d grabbed it as I was leaving one day, wanting to plan a surprise for her.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “I don’t know. She gave me the notes. I don’t know what else could be in here. I’d like computer access, but I’ll have Riley do it. There’s too much red tape to go through. The chief would never agree anyway.”

  “I don't think anything’s here,” Marsh announces after we’d been searching a good fifteen minutes.

  We head back to the nurses station to question a few more people, and as suspected, no one noticed anything off yesterday or this morning. This was planned. The abductor knew she wasn’t working today.

  “Julie, who knows the schedules?” I ask.

  “Just the nurses and doctors, but I guess if someone new were to look, they could find it. I mean, we’re short on people during the night. So if one of the nurses was with a patient and another patient needed something, then no one would be at the station.”

  “What times are there only two people here?” I ask.

  “Between two and six. At six, two others come in and then at eight, we’re fully staffed. There’s between six to eight nurses on the clock during the day. We’re not all behind the desk, but between the OR’s and patients, we’re pretty busy. Normally, the desk has at least one person behind it all day,” she explains.

  “Thanks. You’ve been a lot of help. Here’s my number. If you remember anything or suspect something, call me,” I tell her. She agrees and we leave. We’re almost to the SUV when Marsh’s cell rings.

  “Marsh,” he answers. He listens for a few moments and then lets out a curse. “When?” He listens again. “We’re on our way. Keep me posted.” He hangs up.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Dylan’s gone.”

  I stop walking. “What do you mean gone?”

  Marsh runs his hand over his beard. “He ran away. Tyler and Faith are most likely with him. Tom is out looking for them.”

  “Why did they let Shayla’s dad go out alone?” My temper is skyrocketing. “Get me home now.” I slam the car door.

  We drive home in silence and as soon as the car comes close to a stop, I’m out and running into the house. “You were supposed to be watching him! It was your job to protect him! Why weren’t you watching him?” I demand looking at Riley.

  “We were. He snuck out. He said he was going to the bathroom. It was taking too long. When we looked, he was gone. Then when we came back, the other two were gone.”

  “That’s …” I can’t go on; I’m too angry. “How long has he been gone?”

  “About twenty minutes.
They took one of the maps we were charting. I think he’s going to look for Shayla.”

  “Which way did Paul and Jess go?” I ask, slightly more calm. This is my fault. I should have talked to him earlier.

  “Paul headed into the woods behind your house, Jessica to the street heading east, and Tom took the street heading north.” I nod then take off out the door.

  “Hey,” Marsh calls running to catch up with me. “We’ll find him.”

  “This is just what I need. My girlfriend is taken by a madman who would like nothing more than to kill her and Dylan up and runs off on some misguided mission to save his mom all because he doesn’t trust me. I mean, I can’t blame him. He barely knows me.”

  “He knows you. Words are said out of fear that aren't truly meant. He’s scared. He probably feels like it’s his fault. You saved him, not her. He probably has a lot of guilt that he doesn’t know how to process.”

  I don’t really want to hear Marsh and his psychobabble. “Save it. I’m not in the mood to hear any of this right now. My son ran off because he doesn’t trust me. I failed at my job. I’ve been an awful father his whole life. Why stop now?”

  “Ry,” he starts.

  “No, stop.” I stop walking and face him. “This isn’t helping me find my son. Why don’t you head east? I’ll go west.”

  “Fine. Just don’t forget who’s really to blame in all this. It’s Mathis, not you.”

  “He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.” I don’t let him say anything else. I dart off behind my neighbor’s house.

  We all search for hours, but come up with nothing. There are no tracks in the woods, so our assumption is they ran down the street to the gas station and possibly hitched a ride with someone, or took off down the road on foot. Either way, they’ve stayed close to the main road. I’m walking up my porch steps when my cell phone rings.

  “Jacobs,” I answer without looking at the ID.

  “Jacobs,” the voice snarls. I know it immediately.

  “Mathis.”

  “Nice of you to remember. Have you enjoyed my presents?” he asks with a cackle. I hurry inside to tell Riley to trace the call.

  “Where is she?”

  He laughs. “Who?”

  “Shayla. Where is she?”

  “Now, why would I tell you a thing like that? It would ruin all my fun,” he says with a sinister laugh. “I will say though; she is quite exquisite. I’ve never seen anyone with such … perfect skin. It’s not quite golden, but not pale either. You’d think you would have taken better care of her. Well, I suppose I’ll have to do that now, won’t I?”

  “You stupid son of a bitch! Tell me where my wife is right now!” I scream.

  He cackles manically. “She’s not your wife.”

  “What?” I ask completely confused.

  “Shayla isn’t your wife, but that makes things so much more fun for me. You really can’t live without her, can you?”

  I don’t remember saying that, but that’s what I want her to be. I’ve always wanted that. I’ve totally screwed up yet again. Now he knows exactly how I feel about her. He’ll use it to his advantage.

  “Where is she?” I ask again, trying to get back to what I want.

  “She’s safe … for now. She’s actually cooking dinner. She’s adjusting well to being here. She may like it better here than with you. Thank you, sweetheart,” he purrs.

  “Shayla!” I yell.

  He laughs. “Shay, give ‘ol Foxy a kiss.”

  “Don’t touch her!” I roar. I hear a kiss sound and I feel that I may throw up. “If you hurt one hair on her head, I’ll kill you.”

  “Now, Ryan, that’s no way to talk to the man who holds your would-be wife in his hands.”

  “What do you want?” I look over to Riley about the location of the call, but he can’t pinpoint it.

  “Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. It’s not me who wants anything with Shayla. She wasn’t my intended target. You ruined my plans for your son, but no matter. I think this works out better for me, even if I can’t kill her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t want to kill her, Ryan. I want her for … other things.”

  He laughs as he hangs up just as Tom Thorn walks in with my son, Tyler, and Faith.

  “Go to your room and don’t come out until you’re thirty!” I scream. He pales but turns and walks right back out of the door, followed by his friends and grandfather.

  “Ryan, talk to me, man. What’s going on?” Marsh asks.

  “We just got all the proof we need that Mathis has my girl.”

  “Did she talk to you?” I shake my head no. “Then we don’t know. He could have been playing with you.”

  “He wasn’t. That’s not his style. He said he wanted her. He likes how she looks.”

  “She matches the description of all the women he’s killed so far, of course he likes how she looks. She’s what he looks for,” Marsh reminds me.

  “This is different. He’s taken her from me. That’s what he wants. He wants to make her his so he can brag about it to me. He made her kiss him.”

  “He could have had anyone do that. Until we hear Shayla’s voice and know he has her without a shadow of doubt, we need to assume he’s lying and work like he’s not.”

  “I hate you,” I grumble. I really do. I hate that he’s always so calm and rational.

  He smiles. “I know. Now, go over there and make things right with your boy. I’ll work on a plan for our next move.”

  He’s right. I need to talk to Dylan. I just don’t know what I’m supposed to say. The thought of him out there without me scares me so badly I can’t think straight. I push open the side door and find Dylan, Tyler, Faith, and Tom all sitting at the table. He’s gotten them food and drink, and is chastising them for running off.

  Dylan sees me and pales. I hate that he has that reaction. “Can we talk?” I ask. He nods and stands. “Bring your food. You two stay put. I’ll call your parents.”

  “Dad,” Dylan starts, but I hold up my hand.

  “I can’t even begin to describe the sheer terror I felt when I learned you’d run off. I don’t even want to talk about it right now. I just want you to know, I’m sorry. I should be including you in this search so you don’t feel the need to run off. But I’ll tell you this; you don’t need to know it all. You need to trust me. I will and am doing everything I possibly can right now. Like it or not, I am your dad. I didn’t have a chance to be there for you growing up. I didn’t know you existed. I know I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life, but you were not one of them. I refuse to let you go on thinking that I don’t want you or that I don’t need you in my life. This is serious, Dylan. I need you with me on this or I won’t be able to find your mother. I can’t worry about you and search for her. Do you understand that?” I ask, finally ending my scattered thoughts.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left. I really thought they might be at the cabin we went to last summer.”

  “Well, after you eat and get cleaned up, you can tell me all about it. I’m taking you to school in the morning.”

  “What? Dad, no, I need to be here. I’m not safe at school.”

  “You will be. I’ll be sending Paul with you.”

  He makes a disgruntled noise. “Yeah, that’ll be terrific. A big military guy following me around all day. He won’t be noticeable at all.” He rolls his eyes.

  “I don’t care, Dylan. I don’t care what it looks like. You don’t need to get behind in class or miss practice. Being there will get your mind off of what’s going on here, plus I won’t have to worry about you all day.”

  “I swear; I won’t run off again. Can’t we just go get my books?”

  I shake my head. My cell rings and I answer it holding up a finger for him to wait. “Hello?”

  “Ryan?”

  “Shayla!”

  Chapter Twelve

  Shayla

  The first thing I notice upon waking is not bein
g able to move. My head hurts. I obviously have no clue how long I’ve been out, but at least I’m alive … for now anyway. I try to open my eyes, moving as slowly as I can. Thankfully, it is pretty dark in the room and my eyes adjust easily. I can make out that the walls are aqua blue and the ceiling is white popcorn. I turn my head to the left and see a vanity and on my right is a dresser. Both look like something out of the nineteen-fifties. I look above my head to see my hands are cuffed to the metal frame of the bed. I’m trying to stay calm, but the urge to scream is growing by the second. After a few swift tugs, I know I won’t be getting free without some serious pain. My legs are tied to the foot of the bed; it’s when I look down that I realize I’m not wearing my clothes. I’m wearing a white night gown, one like I’d seen my grandma wear multiple times. Someone changed me. Someone changed my clothes! What did they do to me? Did they touch me, take pictures for themselves, or the very worst of all, did they rape me? I can’t breathe. I know hyperventilating is not in my best interest. I try desperately to control my breathing. Slow deep breaths, Shayla. Calm. Calm. I do this over and over, but never feel one-hundred percent calm.

  The door opens and a man stands, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest. He laughs. “Struggling won’t get you anywhere, sweetheart.” I can’t see his face. The light behind him is too bright. “I have to say, this isn't really my style, but my cousin took a liking to you. If it were up to me, you’d be in a much … different situation.”

  I still can’t see him, but I know in my gut this is Jason Mathis. I also know I’m the type of woman he would normally seek out to kill. My only saving grace right now is this cousin he’s mentioned. For some reason he wants me alive. I’m thankful for that small blessing.

  Jason steps into the room, coming right up to me and staring down. He looks different from his pictures. He’s very handsome, but his blonde hair is now black and his skin is much tanner. It’s so tan that it makes him look Hispanic. He seems to be wearing contacts, because his blue eyes are now brown. Even with all these changes, I know it’s him. He reminds me of someone, but I can’t think of who that it is. I don’t really care who. I just want to go home.