WindSwept Narrows: #21 Charlotte Bell & Natalie Templeton

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  Jesse barely had the SUV shut down before he was out the door and headed to the shop, cut off by two police officers. His head swiveled around, taking in the faces. Especially taking in the face of the manager he’d come to know through Charlotte.

  But his redhead was nowhere to be seen.

  “Where’s Charlotte?” He demanded before the uniformed officers got within arms-reach of him. “Charlotte Bell,” he repeated firmly, his demand rough the next instant. “Where is she?”

  “Jesse!” Carla ran over to him, her head shaking.

  He stared down at the girl only a little older then Jenna. Her eyes were red and it looked like a few of the tears had slipped free.

  “Who are you, sir?”

  “He’s good!” She told the officer when he asked the question, her focus back on Jesse. “I don’t know what happened. She’s gone. I think…they’re pulling the video from the computer. A van backed in and I just thought it was a delivery. I didn’t…I was cleaning up…”

  “Charlotte is gone?” Jesse looked from the officers back to Carla.

  “Come over here, please, sir. Your name?”

  “Jesse Hunter,” dark intense eyes scanned the officers and the single plainclothes woman wearing a badge on her belt and talking to another officer, looking at a small computer pad in her hands. He broke from them and walked over to her. “Are you investigating this?”

  “The boyfriend,” the officer at her side said quietly.

  “Jesse Hunter,” his palm was up and taken by the woman. She was tall, probably his age or younger, her face drawn and hand withdrawing. “The boyfriend,” he confirmed without balking.

  “Natalie Templeton, Detective investigating the missing person of Charlotte Bell,” she turned the small computer she held toward him. “I pulled this from her security system. Anyone you recognize?”

  Jesse fully expected to be able to tell her who it was.

  “No. No…he’s too stocky for the…” Jesse shook his head. “We had a brief problem with a young man who was slightly infatuated with Charlotte. But…this isn’t him.”

  “Can you locate him for me? And his name?”

  “Rory Chambers. Of course,” Jesse had his phone out, tapping over keys and providing her with all the information.

  “Does he look like someone Charlotte knows, Mr. Hunter?” Natalie watched his expression, his head shaking again.

  “I don’t know. We’ve been dating a couple weeks. I’m sure there are a lot of people she knows that I’ve never met. You think this is someone she knows?”

  “I’m thinking out loud,” the woman answered with a sigh. “She went with him willingly.” She really wasn’t looking forward to this part.

  “She…are you sure?”

  She turned the computer and tapped a couple keys. They watched the brief encounter and listened to the conversation. Natalie watched his face turn white, his hand on the phone and button pushed and keyed in instantly.

  “Hi, daddy! What’s up?” Jenna’s cheerful voice came through the line, relief a visible thing anyone watching saw flood back into Jesse Hunter.

  “Where are you, Jenna?”

  “Outside class waiting for your son to bring our water,” she spotted her brother and grinned at the girls watching him. “He’s met a few girls already.”

  “Is he there? Are you alright?”

  “Dad, we’re fine. Last class of the day. What’s wrong?” Immediately aware of the tension in his voice.

  “Nothing. Just…stay together and wait for me or Chuck to pick you up. Keep your phone on and we’ll find you.”

  “Dad, what is wrong?”

  “Charlotte’s missing. Whoever she went with told her I’d only get you back if she went with him,” Jesse listened to the small gasp.

  “Oh, my god! Jasmine? Could it have been her? I’ll stay with Jamie and we’ll make sure we’re around other people, Dad. We know the procedures,” his daughter told him quickly. “They’ll find her, dad, I know they will.”

  “Go to class, Jenna. I’ll see you in an hour or so.”

  “Class? I can’t…alright…I love you,” she said softly, closing her phone and leaning against her brother.

  “I have your file on Jasmine Billings but we can’t seem to locate her,” Natalie looked at his without a change in her expression.

  “I don’t know how to reach her,” he paced and shrugged. “I have her cell number, but I don’t know how old that is,” he scrolled through his phone and told her the number.

  “Chambers has been in classes with Human Resources at the Resort all day,” Natalie looked away from her phone, staring out into the still waters of Puget Sound. “I’ll continue to look at him and see if he maybe had a friend help him. The van was stolen but we have an all points out on it. If you hear from her, Mr. Hunter,” she handed him one of her cards. “Please call me immediately. Or if anyone contacts you regarding her…”

  “I’ll let you know right away,” he looked at Carla and Gina both watching him. “I’d better…they’ve worked for her awhile but I’ll talk to them and close down the shop,” he said quietly, inhaling deeply before going to talk to them.

  “Seems awfully calm,” remarked one of the uniforms.

  “Only on the outside,” Natalie answered without looking around, turning to watch the video again, keying in commands to slow it down. “Give me something, Charlotte…anything…” She stared at the video, head tilting slowly and one corner of her mouth hitching higher. “Mr. Hunter! Your phone has GPS on it…do you have her cell number?”

  Jesse pulled his phone out again, nodding at the younger women and sent them to locking things down in the shop. He stared at the readout, turning it to face the detective.

  “She palmed it and stuck it in the van when she climbed in,” Natalie said after watching the video again, Charlotte’s eyes definitely meeting the camera eye on purpose, the small flat phone in her palm and then it wasn’t.

  “She was a police officer for a few years,” Jesse said quietly, looking up into a pair of violet eyes, dark hair surrounding her face.

  “I’m going to suggest you go home and wait, Mr. Hunter,” she said firmly, motioning to one of the uniforms and striding to slide into the passenger side of his vehicle. She sighed. “Alright, but if you get in the way, I’ll have you arrested,” she told him, teeth clenched tightly together.

  “You really didn’t think he’d go and sit quietly at home?” The uniform asked her, listening to the address she gave him.

  “Drive, Cohen,” she said, using the computer and calling up the files on Jasmine Billings and alerting any cars in the area.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jesse sat behind the wheel of his SUV, watching the police casually approach the van parked behind a shopping strip. He shouldn’t have been surprised that it was empty and her phone was brought back to him, his fingers busily working to locate relatives and friends of Jasmine’s. Asking questions and trying to pinpoint where she might be.

  He didn’t get out of his SUV until he saw large police van arrive, people with swabs and evidence bags going over the van. He walked behind the van, stopping when an officer held up a palm. But he’d already seen the blood on the door; on the outside of the door and on the inside where the hinge connected to the vehicle. He searched the gathering cluster of people, his eyes landing on the dark haired detective before he turned and went back to his car.

  Charlotte leaned against the cluttered wall of the work van, her eyes closed.

  She knew there was a good chance he was lying to her and that Jenna was safe at school with her brother. But she couldn’t take that chance and had climbed willingly into the back of the dark van. She managed to palm her phone and set the GPS before dropping it into the clutter. Not surprising, they pulled behind a strip of stores a few miles along the highway. Until she knew Jenna was alright, she didn’t do anything to upset him.

  But that didn’t include being quiet.

  “Where are you taking
me? Where’s Jenna? Can I talk to her on the phone?”

  “Shut up. You’ll know when I deliver you,” he answered shortly, casting a look over his shoulder before going back to ignoring her.

  “I never thought I’d be important enough for someone to pay someone else money and a pending length of time in a federal run facility,” Charlotte leaned against the wall, stretching her legs out, glad she’d worn jeans. She was going to miss lunch. “You’re making me late for my date. Seriously…who are you taking me to?”

  “If you want that kid, shut up.”

  Charlotte let her gaze sweep around the debris littering the floor of what she guessed was some kind of home repair van.

  “You stole this van, didn’t you? Some poor self-employed guy or girl…could be a self-employed girl,” she caught a glimpse of his mouth tightening and began lifting things and looking at them. There were a lot of things she could do to make him angry and totally piss him off, but not while she wasn’t sure where Jenna was.

  She kept going over all types of information from various mysteries she’d read but the only thing that came to mind was: Never eat or drink anything they offer. She eased to the corner where she’d dropped her phone, keeping her legs stretched out and hands low, picked it out of the clutter and tapped in the number she had for Jenna. Without calling her, she stared at the screen and knew the young girl was on campus, probably miles from where they were.

  She quickly repeated the process, verifying that Jamie was with her before she slid the phone back to the floor and let her head fall to the van wall.

  Relief. She could handle herself as long as she knew the kids were safe. Finding out who and why this was happening tripped to the top of her list, with only two people who would bother with something so incredibly dangerous and stupid.

  “Why are you willing to go to jail for this? Are they paying you a lot of money? I guess I can’t figure how it could be enough when you’re whole life is on edge because of this. Kidnapping,” she pushed a long, slow breath between her lips. “Not a smart move.”

  She realized after the fact that she should have grabbed up her phone, but when the van slammed to a stop and he stormed to the back doors, all she could think about was putting both feet against them and kicking. As hard as she could.

  She knew what would happen next, but at least she provided them with a little DNA before her head struck the inside hinge on the door when he backhanded her. Charlotte blinked several times, bright little lights shooting across her vision as she watched him through blurred vision, his palm up and rubbing over the blood streaming down the center of his forehead from the gash the doors had caused.

  She admitted to having had better ideas in her life. Living with Jesse had been one of her better ones, she thought wistfully, wincing at the hand gripping the braid she wore. He quickly taped her hands together before dragging her into the back door of one of the shops. It was empty and he shoved her into the bathroom and put something in front of the door, blocking her in.

  She slumped on the closed toilet, letting her head rest against her arms when she raised them and laid them on the sink. Not a whole lot of room to move around. She sighed and found the end of the tape with her teeth, pulling and shredding until she was pulling a few remaining strands from her skin with a wince. She hated duct tape.

  She really wasn’t keen on the idea of destroying some innocent property owners business. But she wasn’t going to wait around, either. Standing on the toilet, she pushed the ceiling tile to the side and levered herself into the opening. Charlotte worked not to breathe too deeply as she wiggled into the roof, crawling carefully toward the large slatted opening.

  She peered through the slats and knew she was breathing too quickly. She shifted position as fast as she could, wincing at the twist her left wrist took as she kicked and kicked again.

  Jesse had almost made it inside the SUV when splinters of wood caught his attention from the side. A huge lump formed inside his throat. He slammed the door and walked to the opening being beat in the wood above him, the familiar sneakers holding his attention.

  Charlotte heard the shouting and kicked harder, trying real hard to ignore the shout that he had a hostage. She flipped to her stomach and shimmied backward, feet exiting the small opening first.

  Jesse half listened to the shouting, the breaking of wood and sounds of metal and lastly, the gunshots and yelling. His hands swiped down his side to clear the sweating and reached up when she started out. He didn’t call out, didn’t want her distracted and falling before either of them was ready for it.

  “Let go, baby,” Jesse said softly when he had his hands raised and almost on her knees.

  Charlotte almost felt the relief flooding into her at the sound of his voice. Dust covered and gasping for clean air, she eased out far enough that she could feel his palms around her knees, sliding higher as she let herself hang for just a second before releasing her hold above her.

  Jesse braced himself for her weight and wasn’t sure which of them moved fastest. Him to get her in his arms, or her to spin and throw her arms around his neck. Neither of them noticed the police officer that came up beside them and gently urged them to the side, around the SUV and out of the rush of police.

  Jesse knew she was working hard not to cry.

  She was far too tough to cry.

  One palm held the back of her head, the other arm as tight around her middle as it could be without squeezing the breath from her. Her feet weren’t on the ground and her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck. He could feel her breathing against his throat, no words needed from either of them, he realized with a sigh.

  “You’re okay, baby. It’s over. Here I thought I was riding to your rescue,” he teased softly, his mouth brushing her shoulder.

  “I thought…he said he had Jenna…” She said finally, struggling to ease back to the ground. “Then I checked when he wasn’t looking…”

  “I know. I have your phone. I checked the last calls you made and knew you’d found out they were still on campus,” Jesse had to forcibly order his arms to relax, giving her a few inches of space to peer into her face. “You’re hurt,” his fingers grazed over the bruise on one side of her face and the long cut on her forehead on the other side.

  “I kicked the doors into his head,” she blinked, remembering and brought her fingers up to touch the stickiness that was still oozing. “He smacked me and I hit the side of the van.”

  “We have an MT here,” Natalie Templeton approached from the side, carefully clipping her gun into the holster she wore beneath her arm and under the light jacket. “Natalie Templeton…Charlotte Bell?”

  “Yes…thank you…I don’t know why or what he wanted…” She didn’t protest being guided toward a waiting young man beside the open back of the emergency vehicle. She sat down and sighed.

  “We’ve got his brother being held by security at the resort,” Natalie looked over at Jesse and then at the surprise on Charlotte’s face. “This is his older brother, Kyle. Evidently,” she pulled a sheet of paper in a plastic sheet from her pocket, a collection of letters spelling out instructions and addressed to J. Hunter. “They were planning to use you for ransom.”

  “His…he’s related to that engineer?” Charlotte looked from one to the other, the smoldering anger on Jesse’s face barely below the surface. “The twins?” She asked anxiously, her fingers tightening on his arm.

  “Chuck went to pick them up after class. They know. I checked in with them after we saw your security footage,” Jesse felt the slightest tremor in his fingers as he stroked them over her head, only just realizing how very important she had become to him.

  “I can’t…” Charlotte winced as the cut on her forehead was cleaned. She sounded more than a little exasperated. And her head was pounding. “I never dated the man. I barely had half a dance with him on a Friday night.” There wasn’t a trace of hysteria in her voice, in her tone. Instead, it was a low, heated anger.

  “He n
ever said anything to you?” Natalie asked.

  “He wasn’t talkative,” Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I tried getting him to tell me who wanted me…all I got was shut up or else,” she shrugged. “Once I knew the kids were safe, I really didn’t care.”

  “I’m getting it was a spur of the moment thing,” Natalie looked at the ransom note, her lips curling at one end. “It really makes it easy when they carry around evidence. I’ve people at his hotel room now. Seems there’re clothes both of them wore for the damage to your building a few nights ago. And leftover paint.”

  “We blamed Jasmine,” Charlotte shook her head.

  “I’ve been checking. Seems I’m not worth the effort after all,” Jesse remarked with a shrug at the look Charlotte offered. “Jasmine is in Montreal with some friends and has been for several days.”

  “I’ll need you to come to the station tomorrow or…I’ll bring some papers round to your place on Monday,” Natalie checked her wrist. “Signatures and complaints to be filed.”

  “I’ll sign whatever you need, Detective,” Jesse told her, his gaze never leaving Charlotte. “Can she go home?” He asked the technician, ignoring the slight frown from Charlotte.

  “Of course I’m going home. I feel fine,” she told them, looking from one male to the other.

  “No signs of concussion and it’s not deep enough for stitches. Might have a headache, but….yeah, she’s good to go. Ice pack and relax for a few days,” the younger man said with a nod, glancing over at Natalie. “Your turn.”

  Surprised and even startled that she was staring at the bright amber eyes watching her, Natalie blinked.

  “Me? I’m fine,” she shrugged and started to walk off only to find her palm gripped.

  “You’re leaking, detective,” he gestured to her arm before tugging her hand and pulling her to sit on the end of the vehicle. He stood tall in front of her, his hands moving without pausing to pull her jacket down one arm, her hand trapped at her hip.