Gone without a Trace

by Patricia Bradley

  Chase seemed unmoved by her words. It was like he’d built a wall between them. She walked back to the chair and sat down again. “There’s another reason I came back—I want my life back.”

  “That isn’t happening.” His words, cold and harsh, filled the room. A shadow darkened his eyes. “Until yesterday, I thought you were off ‘discovering’ yourself. That hurt. It did damage. Not only to me, but to Abby.”

  “I—”

  “Let me finish. Do you know what it was like around here after you left? Abby cried herself to sleep every night for six months. I walked around like a zombie. I’m sorry, but don’t think you can waltz back into our lives like nothing happened.”

  She jumped up. “But it wasn’t my fault.” The words came out sharper than she intended. “I wanted to come home. But things weren’t the greatest around here. You want me to be honest? I didn’t think you’d believe me, and if you did, you’d find a way to put the blame on me.”

  “Well, if you hadn’t worked—”

  “Fine. Blame me. I don’t care. But I don’t have to stand here and listen to you.” She wheeled out of the room.

  “Wait! I’m—”

  Robyn slammed the front door and flew down the steps. Why had she thought he would understand? At the edge of the driveway, it hit her that she didn’t have a way to leave, that she was supposed to call her mom to come get her. And when did it get so dark? She turned in a circle, searching the area. Seemed safe enough to walk home. Or she could call her mom and go back inside to wait for her.

  She glanced at the door, remembering Chase’s angry face. No. That wasn’t an option. She remembered the pathway through the woods. It was less than a quarter of a mile to the bed and breakfast.

  An outside light guided her to the edge of the yard, where she found the path. The wind moaned through the bare limbs overhead, sending a shiver down her back. She could still go back to the house and wait. A twig snapped to her left.

  Get out of here! She turned and bolted for the house.

  An arm snaked across her neck and jerked her back, pinning her to a rock-solid body. She screamed and the arm tightened. She couldn’t breathe. A sharp sting hit her neck as she struggled to free herself.

  “No!” She fought against the darkness that clouded her mind. Numbness started in her face and spread to the rest of her body until her knees buckled and unconsciousness covered her like a blanket.

  He grunted as he hefted her over his shoulder. He had to hurry. The Versed he’d given her wouldn’t last long. Adrenaline pushed him to move quickly to his truck parked on a dirt side road. By the time he made the half-mile hike, he was sweating. Now to get her to the farm without getting caught. He didn’t know how long he’d have before anyone realized she was missing, but he wanted to be at Johnny B’s when it happened. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Livy Reynolds’s face.

  The detective had done a good job of making herself look like Robyn, but the photo in the weight-loss simulator looked enough like Sharon to prompt him to edit the photo in another software program, changing the hairstyle and color.

  Robyn had come home all right, but she wasn’t the waitress at Johnny B’s last night. It hadn’t been too hard to figure out who that waitress was, and once he had Robyn safely stashed, maybe he’d go to the restaurant and take care of the nosy detective.

  A thought nagged him as he pulled out of the side road and sped toward the farm. Samantha Jo. What was he going to do with the two women? When Robyn didn’t show up at work, the whole town would be out beating the bushes. These women were becoming a liability. Maybe it was time to cut his losses. Dismantle the cage. Take Mama and relocate.

  Maybe it was time to take another boat ride.

  This time with two black bags.

  24

  Livy checked her watch. Ten after six. Where was her cousin?

  “Robyn, table six needs a menu and water,” Callie said as she passed her.

  She glanced toward the back of the room. “Timothy Nolan doesn’t need a menu, but I’ll get his water.”

  She grabbed a tray and filled the water glass, then saw Jason hold up his cup. “Coming,” she muttered and grabbed the coffeepot as well. Didn’t these guys ever cook at home? The only missing member of the Three Musketeers, as Robyn called them, was Bobby. And he’d probably show up any minute.

  She set the glass on Timothy’s table. “You want the usual?”

  “Nah, I think I’ll try something different. How about a rib eye?”

  She erased the burger and fries she’d scribbled on the pad and then cocked her head. “Celebrating?”

  “No, just hungrier than a sandwich.”

  “Sure. How do you want it cooked?”

  “Medium rare.”

  She took the rest of his order and then took the coffeepot to Jason’s table.

  “Thank you, Ms. Robyn.” The soft-spoken hunter folded a piece of gray paper and put it beside his plate.

  “Invite to a party?” she teased. The card looked familiar.

  He stuffed the paper in his pocket. “No.”

  A man of few words. After she entered Timothy’s order into the computer, she checked her phone. Robyn and Chase must be working things out. Maybe Robyn would answer a text, though. Her fingers flew over the keypad. Are you coming to work? And hit send. Then she went searching for Alex. She found him in the kitchen, behind on orders.

  “If you have time to come back here and jaw, you can help me,” he said.

  “No time. Just wanted to see if you’d heard from Robyn.”

  “She’s not here yet? Have you checked with Kate?”

  That was a good idea. One she should have already thought of. Before she could dial, her phone rang and Kate Adams showed on her ID. “I was just about to call you and see if you’d heard from Robyn,” Livy said.

  “She’s not there?” Panic edged Kate’s voice.

  “No. Isn’t she still at Chase’s?”

  “I just called him, and she’s been gone from there at least an hour.”

  Livy fought the panic that unleashed in her throat. “She didn’t call you?”

  “No. Chase said she left angry. Do you think—”

  “I don’t know. I’ll get back to you.” Livy pulled her apron off. “Robyn’s missing,” she said to Alex.

  He yanked his apron off. “Have you called Ben?”

  “You can call him while I drive.”

  She bolted from the kitchen, almost running over Callie. “I have to leave. And I’m taking your cook with me.”

  “You can’t. What will—”

  “I’m sorry. Johnny B can cook.”

  “But he’s not here.”

  Livy stopped. “What?” Johnny B was always here. Two of the regulars were missing. Bobby Cook and Johnny B. That was where they needed to start their investigation if they didn’t find Robyn in the next few minutes.

  Alex insisted on driving her SUV to the Martin farm, and she gladly relinquished the keys. Kate was leaving with Abby when they arrived, and the look on their faces sent Livy straight to them.

  “Aunt Livy, please find Miss Sharon!” Abby’s bottom lip quivered, and Kate looked like she was about to fold.

  Livy put her arms around Abby. “I’m going to try, honey.” It would do no good to tell either of them not to worry. She lifted her gaze to her aunt. “We’ll do everything we can to find her.”

  Kate swallowed. “Thanks.”

  Livy gave them both a hug. “Have you seen Ben?” she asked her aunt.

  “He just went in the house to talk to Chase and Allison.”

  She nodded and turned to go to the house.

  “Livy . . .”

  The heartbreak in her aunt’s voice echoed her own. She looked back at Kate.

  “Bring her home.”

  “I will.” As she trekked across the yard, lights scoured the ground near the wooded area where Ben’s deputies searched for any sign of Robyn.

  In the den, Chase slumped in the recli
ner. When Ben asked what time Robyn left, he shook his head. “I don’t know.” He glanced at his mother. “What time did you and Abby leave?”

  “A little after five. Robyn and I talked, and Abby showed her a picture she’d drawn.” Allison’s hand flew to her lips, and she turned to Livy. “It was of the man she saw lurking at school. She was taking it to Kate’s for you. I made a copy of it—I’ll get it.”

  Livy knelt beside his chair. “What happened?”

  “We talked, and everything seemed okay. Then . . . I don’t know . . .” He rubbed his forehead. “She didn’t think I believed her, and that made me mad. And I said some things. If he hurts her, I—”

  “We’ll find her, Chase. And you can tell her how you feel.”

  “We don’t know that he’s kidnapped her,” Ben said.

  Allison hurried into the room with a sheet of paper. “Here’s the picture she drew.”

  Ben and Alex crowded around Livy and the drawing that depicted a lanky man in camouflage. It was good for a ten-year-old. “Skinny shoulders, which lets out Bobby Cook if the guy lurking around the school is the kidnapper. I wonder if she saw him today?”

  “I asked her that when we were going to Molly’s Diner, and she said she hadn’t.”

  “Ben!” Wade Hatcher burst into the room. “We found this.” He held out a bracelet watch. “Do you know if it belongs to Robyn?”

  A strangled cough came from Chase. “It’s hers. I gave it to her for our anniversary.”

  Livy’s stomach lurched. “She had it on today.”

  “Hey! Are you okay?”

  Robyn groaned. Don’t shout. And please stop with the shaking. “Go away,” she muttered.

  “Wake up.” The voice was insistent.

  She cracked her eyelids, suddenly aware she was lying on something cold and hard.

  “Oh, thank goodness. I thought he’d killed you.”

  Why was her head so fuzzy? She rose to a sitting position, and everything whirled around her. Robyn closed her eyes and then slowly opened them. This time the room stayed still. Dim light covered the area from a naked lightbulb that dangled on the other side of wire bars. “Is this a cell?”

  “More like a cage.”

  She shifted her gaze to the speaker. A woman, actually a girl with long, red hair, knelt beside her. “You must be Samantha Jo.”

  She sat back on her feet. “How did you know?”

  “We’ve been looking for you. Do you know who kidnapped you?”

  “No. He wears a ski mask and baggy camouflage clothes.”

  “Has he—” Robyn couldn’t bring herself to finish the question.

  Samantha Jo hugged her arms to her stomach. “No. He made me dye my hair this awful shade of red. Said if I didn’t, he would. I couldn’t stand the thought of him touching me. I haven’t slept in days. I’ve been so afraid he’d come into the cage. I don’t even know how long I’ve been here. Are people really looking for me? He said nobody cared.”

  Robyn squeezed her arm. “I thought that once, and it cost me two years of my life. A lot of people care about you. Your family hired a private detective to find you. They found me instead, and I’ve been helping them.”

  She didn’t mention that a certain truck driver cared very much. For all Robyn knew, Jason could be their captor. “We’ve got to find a way out of here.”

  Samantha Jo’s shoulders slumped. “There’s not one. He takes the key to the door with him, and it’s the only way out.”

  “Does he bring knives and forks with the food?”

  “Yes, but he makes sure they’re on the tray when he picks it up.”

  Robyn examined the cot for springs—or anything she could use as a weapon. No luck. The bottom was made out of the same wire as the walls. She stood and examined their enclosure. The cage was in the middle of a barn. The steel wire stretched flush against the ground, too tight to crawl under. Wooden posts sunk into the ground served as cornerstones.

  A good ten feet away, a shovel and pitchfork hung out of reach on the wall. She paced the small enclosure, stopping to shake the side of the cage, her fingers barely fitting through the spaces between the wires. It was the kind of wire used to make dog cages. She lifted her gaze toward the ceiling, but she couldn’t tell how far it went. “Does this thing have a top?”

  “That’s why I call it a cage. The sides go all the way to the rafters. I thought about climbing to the top once to see if I could get out, but my fingers won’t fit through the wire.” She held her hands up. Samantha Jo had large hands.

  Robyn shaded her eyes against the lightbulb. She made out the rafters and estimated the height around sixteen feet. Maybe her rock climbing would be useful for more than exercise. “How tall are you?”

  “Five eight.”

  She was five six. Even if they used the cot and Robyn stood on Samantha Jo’s shoulders, she wouldn’t quite reach the top. She would have to climb the rest of the way.

  But she needed to practice before she climbed on Samantha Jo’s shoulders. She shed her socks and shoes. All the exercise and training Susan had drilled into her better pay off. She stretched her arms as far as she could and hooked her fingers through the bars.

  The steel wire dug into her fingers as she pulled herself up and tried to get a toehold. No! Her big toe wouldn’t fit through the wire. She dropped back to the floor. If only she had a rope. But all Robyn had was Samantha Jo and herself. She would have to get to the very top using only her arms to pull herself up. And even then it might be for nothing if he had secured the top as well as the sides.

  “Let’s try it. Get on your hands and knees.”

  Samantha Jo climbed on the bed and did as she was instructed, and Robyn eased onto her back. She reached as far as she could and stuck her fingers through the wire. The muscles in her arms protested when she pulled her body up long enough for Samantha Jo to stand, and then she put her feet on the girl’s shoulders. The two of them wobbled, and Robyn grabbed the wire. “You’re doing great, but focus on your breathing. It’ll help you to stand still.”

  The faint sound of a motor spiked her heart rate.

  “It’s no use,” Samantha Jo wailed. “He’s coming back.”

  “We have to try.” Once again she stretched her arms and hooked her fingers through the wire. The top was no more than a foot from her hands. Her muscles burned as she pulled herself up. Twisting her foot, she managed to get a couple of toes in the wire. She let go with one hand and reached higher, touching the top of the cage. Wire!

  She pushed, and it raised enough for her to slide her hand between the top and sides. She could almost grasp the rafter. She caught another toehold and pushed again. The wire panels separated. He hadn’t tied it down. Relief surged through her body. He probably never dreamed anyone could climb the wire. She slid one hand between the panels, then the other one, and grabbed the two-by-four rafter and pulled herself out of the cage.

  Robyn swung herself on top of the rafter and breathed.

  A car door slammed.

  “He’s coming. Hurry.”

  She climbed to her feet and walked the rafter to the hayloft and climbed down the ladder. If she could get the shovel, she could knock him out when he came through the door.

  A key rattled in the lock and she raced for the shovel and grabbed it off the wall.

  The door swung open, and she ducked behind a stack of baled hay as he came into sight wearing a black ski mask and camos.

  “Okay, ladies. We’re taking a little—where’s Robyn?”

  He turned as she swung the big shovel from overhead, aiming at his skull. It crashed down on his arm instead. He swore and grabbed his arm.

  She lifted the shovel again and lunged. He grabbed the end of the shovel and twisted it out of her hands. She turned and ran for the door. He caught her arm, spinning her around. She kicked at him. He backhanded her, and she staggered. He tackled her, and she hit the ground, feeling his knee in her back. Then the sting and burning in her arm.

  And
then nothing.

  Livy paced the conference room at the jail. “I don’t see why we can’t search their farms.”

  “Without a search warrant, we can’t go barging onto peoples’ property. You know that, Livy.” Ben folded his arms across his chest. “And if we don’t find something incriminating in these files, we can’t get a search warrant.”

  This was one time she’d like to be a rogue cop.

  Wade looked up from his computer. “Ben, I may have something. Didn’t Jason say he didn’t have a .22?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, according to county records, he bought one five years ago. Of course, he may have sold it.”

  “We have no evidence he did. And that will be enough for Judge Morgan to sign a warrant.”

  Livy stood up to go with Ben, and he shook his head. “Wade and I will cover this.”

  “Ben—”

  “Jason may not be our man. One of the companies that Timothy Nolan drives for faxed their records, and I need you and Alex to go through them, see if he was near any of the cities when the waitresses were abducted.”

  He made sense, but she’d much rather go with him. One look at Alex told her he felt the same way. After the two left, Livy picked up the stack of logs and handed Alex half. “If we find anything that even suggests he’s our man, I’m going out there.”

  “Livy . . .”

  “Don’t Livy me.”

  He laughed. “This from someone who dots every i and crosses every t? I’ve been a terrible influence on you.”

  “The man has my cousin, and I’m afraid he might be getting desperate.” She glanced at the first sheet. The start date was Saturday, a week and a half ago, ending date Sunday noon. Didn’t pertain to the time they were looking for. She discarded it and picked up a second sheet. Suddenly she reached for the sheet again. “Remember that first day when we talked to the truckers at Johnny B’s?” She took out her notepad and flipped through the pages.

  “Yeah. You talked to Timothy and Jason and . . . Bobby.”

  “What date was that?”