Finding Hope

by Krystal Shannan

  “Why would anyone want to take Addison Connelly? She’s just a vet.”

  The deputy’s nonchalant attitude was ridiculous. What the hell was wrong with him?

  “Nurse…” he said, turning back to the silent woman in blue scrubs.

  “Mary Keller.”

  “Mary, I need clothes, my personal effects, and a doctor to discharge me.”

  “Yes, of course,” she answered and scurried out of the room.

  “Deputy,” he started, meeting the small man’s gaze straight on. “I need a ride to your office. I will need to speak with the sheriff.”

  The deputy frowned at him and crossed his arms over his chest, which didn’t help his stance much, since Adrian was six and a half feet tall and the deputy was only about five- ten. “I think you need to just stay here and let the doctors fix you up. That head injury might be worse than you know.”

  Adrian grazed his forehead with his fingertips. Sure enough, a soft bandage had been affixed to the side of his head. He couldn’t feel anything. The pain meds they’d hooked up to his IV had removed any discomfort he might have otherwise felt from the crash.

  He stalked over to Deputy Miller and glared down at him. “I’m fine,” he growled, pleased when the deputy’s eyes widened.

  Called that bluff. Now what else are you hiding?

  “Officer Colter,” Mary announced, poking her head through the open door. “I have Doctor Helmsford here to check you. And I found your things, too.” She held up a folded pair of jeans, a flannel shirt, and his heavy leather coat. “They weren’t damaged, so we ran your shirt and pants through the laundry for you.”

  “Thank you, Mary.” He smiled and took the coat and clothes. His cell phone and wallet were on top of the stack. She nodded and stepped back, making sure not to make eye contact with the deputy before disappearing out of the room.

  “Good afternoon, Officer Colter. I’m so glad you’ve decided to rejoin us. Mary told me you desired to be discharged.”

  “Yes,” Adrian answered impatiently. “Addison Connelly is missing, and the police aren’t doing anything. I know this is a small town, but that’s no excuse for doing nothing.”

  The doctor listened silently, nodded, and then reached for the bandage on his head.

  “Things move a little slower here, especially during a storm, Officer. I’m sure the Sheriff and Deputy Miller will do everything they can to find Addi. In the meantime, I recommend you climb back into that bed and get some rest.”

  “I’m leaving.”

  “No,” Doctor Helmsford replied. “I can’t in good conscience let you leave. You could black out again, and where would that get Addison?”

  “Bring me the waiver to sign.”

  The doctor threw up his hands. “Fine. But it’s against my recommendation.”

  Adrian nodded and glanced back to the deputy, but he wasn’t there. Damn snake had slipped out while he was arguing with the doctor. Hell.

  After slipping into his clothes and signing the discharge papers, he walked quietly out to the nurses’ station. Mary sat typing at a computer. He waited until she looked up. The poor woman looked like she’d seen a ghost. She kept glancing at the elevator and then up at him.

  “Who are you watching for, Mary.” He didn’t need his years of detective experience to tell him that Mary knew something. And that she didn’t like or trust Deputy Miller.

  “Miller went downstairs while the doctor was checking you out.”

  He nodded.

  “Please don’t say anything to anyone.” She leaned closer, and he lowered his ear to her mouth.

  “My sister is dating Miller. When I texted and told her Addison was missing she said she overheard a conversation yesterday between him and someone from that cattle company trying to buy the ranch. She said Miller was telling them not to worry. She didn’t think anything of it then, but now…”

  No. Fucking. Way. Dirty law enforcement. No wonder these guys have been getting away with all the cows they’ve been rustling. They have a deputy covering their asses.

  “I need to talk to the sheriff…”

  “Tate. Sheriff Tate is her godfather. You can trust him. He and her gramps were best friends. They were even in the service together.” She kept her voice low. “Just be careful.”

  “Tell your sister she might need a new boyfriend.”

  A small smile tugged at Mary’s lips. “She’s been looking for an excuse to get away from him for a while. He’s not really an easy guy to dump.”

  “I can imagine.” He glanced at the elevator and then at the institutional clock on the wall. It was already three o’clock in the afternoon. The wreck had happened around nine in the morning yesterday. No one at the ranch was suspicious yet, because they were all out bringing in cows from the north pasture. The rustling had continued and they were being forced to bring the cows closer and closer to the house. Roger and the other ranch hands wouldn’t get back until later that evening. Whoever had planned this little kidnapping had done their homework.

  “Do you have the sheriff’s personal number?”

  Mary nodded and pulled her cell phone from her pants pocket. She scribbled it on a sticky note and handed it to him.

  “Please don’t tell anyone—”

  “I won’t.”

  He left the nurses’ station and headed for the stairwell. He had a sick feeling that whatever had gone down yesterday Deputy Miller knew all about it.

  He pushed open the last door at the bottom of the stairs and crossed the lobby to the main sliding doors. They slid open as he approached, and he stepped out into the winter weather. Nothing was going to keep him from finding her. Not even a dirty cop.

  The freezing wind caught under his coat, making him shudder. He snapped it closed and then pulled out his cell phone to dial the sheriff.

  “Sheriff Tate, what can I do for you?”

  “Sheriff Tate, it’s Adrian Colter. We met briefly at Mr. Connelly’s funeral.”

  “Oh, yes. Addi’s friend from Nashville. What can I do for you, son? Shouldn’t you be resting in the hospital? My deputy said you were in a nasty wreck yesterday.”

  “Has he informed you yet that Addison was in the same vehicle with me?”

  “What! Is she in the hospital?”

  The panic in the man’s voice brought up Adrian’s anxiety. “Sheriff, are you alone?” he asked, wanting to be sure the deputy wasn’t inadvertently tipped off by their conversation.

  Adrian waited through some shuffling. When he heard the sheriff’s breathing back on the line, he continued.

  “Someone took her from the truck while I was unconscious and made the scene look like she was never there.”

  “Why hasn’t anyone reported her missing at the ranch?”

  “They are out bringing in the herds, trying to save the stock they can from the rustlers. They won’t even know we are missing until tonight when they get back.”

  “Why take her now?”

  “I don’t know. The only thing we planned yesterday was the transfer of the estate with her lawyer. But we never made it.”

  “I’m coming to get you. Are you at the hospital still?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  ***

  The sheriff’s car rolled up to the front of the hospital entrance, and Adrian stepped out of an alcove toward it. The squad car stopped just long enough for him to slip into the passenger seat.

  “Checked with a friend at the hotel. Carson Whitehall and Judge Hardeman met yesterday. I assume that would have been for the reading.”

  Adrian nodded, wondering where they were driving too. The sheriff drove a mile or so and pulled into a small neighborhood.

  “My friend said it was strange though. After a while my deputy showed up with the CEO from Welmann Cattle, the group that’s been buying out ranches and has been bugging the Connellys to sell.”

  “Why would they have come to Addison’s meeting?”

  The sheriff shrugged. “One last attempt to convince
her to sell. I don’t know. But I’m pissed as hell that Miller is involved. If he hurt Addi, I’ll—”

  “Where are you going?” The subject had to get off of Addison. He couldn’t think about the possibility that Addison was hurt or worse. Right now he just had to focus on finding her.

  “Charlotte Keller’s house.”

  The last name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Then it hit him.

  The nurse. She’d said her name was Mary Keller and that her sister was dating the deputy.

  They turned after a couple more blocks and pulled to a stop in front of a small white-paneled house. Adrian’s fingers dug into the upholstery on the seat. The deputy was walking around, picking up fishing gear from the snow-covered front yard, screaming his head off at a perfectly calm, tiny, redheaded woman leaning against the front door.

  The smirk on the young woman’s face assured him she wasn’t in danger, but no man should behave this way toward a lady. Or in public, for that matter.

  He swung open the squad car door and stepped out, moving quickly to follow the sheriff up the sidewalk.

  “You fucking bitch! These lures cost hundreds of dollars. I’ll never be able to find them all in this—” The deputy looked up and met Adrian’s gaze for a second before glancing to the sheriff.

  “Afternoon, Sheriff,” Charlotte called and waved.

  “Thanks, Charlotte. You’re a doll.” The sheriff turned to Miller and frowned. “We, on the other hand, need to have a talk.”

  “You did this on purpose,” Miller hissed at Charlotte.

  “He thought you might run,” she answered, twisting a section of her hair around her finger. “Just so we’re clear, Bryan Miller. We…” She gestured to herself and then at him. “We are done. Over. Finished. You can haul all your crap back to the shack where it came from.”

  Miller dropped the fishing lures he’d gathered up and faced the sheriff. His eyes were wide, and Adrian wondered if he still might try to run. He’d seen a lot of guilty perps, and the deputy was acting just like one. Sweat poured from the irritated deputy’s forehead. It wouldn’t take much to crack this one.

  “Why were you and that damn Welmann character with Addi’s lawyer yesterday?”

  “It’s private, Sheriff.”

  The sheriff stormed toward Miller. “It’s not private when my goddaughter goes missing from the scene of an accident you handled! You’re coming back to the station, and we are going to call Welmann and ask him how private it is.”

  Miller went white as a sheet and shook his head, backing slowly away. “H-he doesn’t know any—”

  “But you do!” Adrian roared and lunged, yanking the deputy forward by his shirt. “Where is she?”

  He punched him in the face and then pulled him upright again. A quick glance at the sheriff assured him he should continue.

  “Where?”

  Blood dripped from the deputy’s broken nose. He moaned in pain, but Adrian shook him again. He didn’t deserve any mercy. Men who hurt women weren’t worth the ground they walked on. He wanted to bash the man’s head into the concrete, but that wouldn’t help the situation.

  A confession was what he needed, and dead men didn’t confess.

  “I’m pressing charges for assaulting an officer!” Miller cried, trying to wipe blood from his busted lip.

  “I’m an officer too. Doesn’t count,” Adrian growled, pulling his arm back for another swing. He didn’t care if Miller pressed charges or not. Answers were all that mattered right now.

  “They took her,” Miller confessed.

  Adrian threw his fist into the smaller man’s face and then kneed him in the gut for good measure. Coward. He shoved him toward the sheriff to handcuff. His stomach churned. Fear clawed at his insides. He couldn’t lose her.

  “How could you?” Sheriff Tate asked. “What could be worth ruining your life over?”

  “Money. I don’t want to spend my whole life waiting for you to retire.”

  The sheriff scowled.

  “Who took her? And where is she?” Adrian growled.

  “I don’t know, some hired goons. Welmann sent them. I’d never met them before,” Miller answered.

  “Where is she?” Adrian approached the deputy, fisting his hands. He wanted to hit him again. Hard.

  The deputy shook his head. “They will kill me too.”

  Adrian lunged, his right fist connected with the deputy’s check. A sickening crunch followed as Miller’s cheekbone cracked. The deputy moaned in pain, but just shook his head. Adrian hit him again. Still nothing.

  The sheriff shoved Miller into the back of the squad car.

  “He’s not going to talk, son.”

  Adrian met the older man’s gaze. The sheriff’s eyes were red and fear spilled from him like water through a sieve.

  No. He couldn’t win. He couldn’t.

  “Ms. Keller!” He darted to the porch. “Does he have an isolated place anywhere? They had planned this together. He had to be connected to wherever they were keeping her.”

  “Oh God!” she gasped, “He brought all this fishing stuff home a few days ago, which means the shack on Bear Claw Bay is empty.”

  “Shack?”

  “He and his dad go ice fishing every year when the bay on Lake Fort Peck freezes over. This stuff always stays at the shack once they’ve erected it for the season. It shouldn’t be here. I knew it was bothering me…” She rambled on, but Adrian tuned her out. The fishing shack had to be where she was. He prayed it was. They didn’t have time to be wrong. It could already be too late.

  “Charlotte,” Sheriff Tate hollered from the curb, “you take Adrian to the bay. I have to take Bryan to jail and possibly pick up more garbage along the way.”

  She saluted the sheriff and turned to Adrian. “Let me grab the keys to the Jeep.”

  ***

  “I don’t like this.”

  “I know, my lovely Artemis,” Pythia responded. “You must have faith.”

  “In you?” Artemis shook her head. “I don’t know you.”

  Pythia turned back and smiled. “We could change that.”

  Ares saw the wicked twinkle in her eye. The oracle always hungered more after something she wanted that was out of reach. The virgin goddess Artemis definitely fell into the out-of-reach category.

  “Why are they here? And who exactly is here?”

  Pythia’s expression sobered. The mischievous twinkle was replaced by irritation. “Your whole fucking family is here, and they brought me nothing.”

  “I did.”

  Her eyes brightened. “I know.”

  Ares swallowed and snuck a quick glance at Artemis. She looked a little nervous too. He was shocked that his parents had come to the Plain of Delphi without a gift. It was one of those unspoken rules. If a gift wasn’t presented, she could take anything. That wasn’t a good position to be in.

  Ahead of them, she pushed open the double doors leading to the main area of the temple building. “I told you I’d be right back.”

  The room was bare except for the four throne-style chairs in the center. In them were Hera, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. A single short pillar rose from the floor several feet from them. A barely glowing diamond, the size of a baseball, hovered in the air just above its surface.

  He held himself in check and refrained from moving toward the dying soul. The throbbing pain in his chest seemed to call him toward it, but instead he studied the thrones again. What were Poseidon and Hades doing here?

  “Release us, Pythia. You have no right to hold us like prisoners,” Hera spat out.

  She smiled and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “I have every right. You brought me no offerings.”

  Hera’s eyes darkened in anger before she turned to her husband. “Do something!”

  “If you hadn’t rushed this meeting, we wouldn’t be in this predicament,” Zeus quipped, shifting in his chair.

  “We all have things to do besides coddle your jealous butt,” Ha
des added. “You are dipping your toes into my territory stealing that soul.”

  “She’s too powerful, you ancient wraith,” Hera snapped.

  “I’m not any older than you, hag!” Hades shot back.

  “Shut up. You’re all idiots,” Pythia snapped. “I can’t believe the likes of you rule Mt. Olympus. Thank the universe I don’t have to deal with you very often.”

  Ares snorted, trying to swallow the laughter rising in his chest.

  Pythia sauntered over and jabbed a finger in Hera’s direction. “You started this. You meddled in Titan affairs and stirred both Olympus and the human realms into unrest.”

  “The Titan grows too powerful. She needs to feel her place,” Hera hissed at her.

  Ares stepped toward Hera, his anger heating the air in the room to an uncomfortable temperature. Pythia looked back and glared at him for a second, her eyes had turned white. She turned again, focusing her attention on his mother.

  “You seek to kill the Titan,” the oracle began. Her voice had changed. It was hollow and lower than normal. The oracle had risen within her to speak.

  “Of course I want her dead. We all do,” Hera sneered. Zeus chuckled next to her.

  “But when the Titans cease to be, so shall you all.”

  “What!” Poseidon roared from his chair. He struggled against the invisible bonds. “You lied to us, Hera. You said we could take Aphrodite’s power for our own. We only came here to talk. You said the oracle wouldn’t even know we’d come.”

  The oracle waved her hand, and the soul mate diamond flew from where it had been hovering over the column to her palm. She turned to Ares and held it out. “A gift for a gift,” her voice had softened. Pythia was back.

  “No!” Hera wailed. “You can’t just give it back.”

  “Did you not hear what the oracle said, mother?” Artemis snapped. “Are you ready to end all of Mt. Olympus because someone has more power than you? She’s always had more power than us.”

  “Shut up, Artemis!” Hera shouted, “and fuck you, Pythia,” Hera shouted.

  Pythia’s eyes flashed bright purple, and she smiled. “Been there done that, darling.”

  Hera seethed, her teal eyes glowing bright, but she kept her mouth closed. Probably the smartest thing she’d done so far.