Texas Sheriff's Deadly Mission

by Karen Whiddon

  “It makes sense,” she agreed. “And that’s completely up to you. However you want to work it. I just have a feeling I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

  As soon as she got home, she left a message for the FBI agent, SAC Prado, who’d been her point of contact, filling him in via voice mail on the latest development. When she’d finished, she asked for a call back with any pointers he might have.

  Inside the house, she found Wanda and Lauren engrossed in a movie. Even though it was way past her daughter’s bedtime, Rayna went around and perched on the edge of the couch next to Lauren, pulling her close for a hug. She smelled like baby shampoo and sweetness, her beautiful daughter.

  “Mom...” her daughter protested, squirming away. “I’m trying to watch the movie.”

  “Okay, okay.” Rayna got to her feet and held up her hands. “I just wanted you to know I love you.”

  “I know,” Lauren said, her attention already back on the television.

  “She knows,” Wanda chimed in softly. “We’ve already eaten and she’s had her bath. I left a plate in the refrigerator for you to heat up. Go ahead and change and eat. We’re fine here.”

  “Thanks, Mom.” Reaching out, Rayna squeezed Wanda’s shoulder. “It’s been a really rough day.”

  After changing, she ate and joined her family in time to catch the ending of the movie. After putting Lauren to bed, reading her favorite bedtime story and kissing her before she turned out the lights, Rayna contemplated turning in herself.

  “So early?” Wanda protested. “I was hoping we’d have a few minutes to talk. How about I pour us each a glass of wine and we do that?”

  Rayna eyed her mother. Did Wanda seem slightly nervous? “Sure. But just one glass. I’m totally wiped out.”

  Nodding, Wanda actually checked her watch. “That’ll be just about perfect. I’m expecting company in half an hour.”

  “Company?” Rayna eyed her mom. “This late?”

  Instead of responding, Wanda grabbed the electric corkscrew and opened a bottle of Shiraz. After pouring them each a glass, she carried them over to the kitchen island. “Do you want to talk here or go sit outside on the patio?”

  “You’re making me nervous,” Rayna said. “This sounds serious.” And after the kind of day she’d had, the last thing she needed was more heavy news.

  But this was her mother and she owed it to Wanda to listen.

  “Might be,” Wanda drawled, taking a long sip of her wine. “Sam and I are seeing each other.”

  “Sam?” Whatever Rayna might have expected, it certainly hadn’t been this. “You and Sam are dating?”

  Wanda blushed and took another sip of wine. “Yes.” Looking down, she played with the bottom of the glass. “We actually started seeing each other before he moved down to the coast.”

  Shocked, Rayna nearly choked on her wine. “You were? How is it that I didn’t know?”

  “We didn’t see the point of making anything public since we both knew it wasn’t going anywhere.”

  “I get that, but I’m not just anyone. I’m your daughter. Why’d you feel the need to keep it a secret from me?”

  With a shrug, Wanda downed the rest of her glass and refilled it. “I don’t know. I mean, you were working for him at the time and it seemed...odd. And then you got elected to sheriff and neither of us wanted to give people any reason to gossip. You know how it is here in Getaway.”

  Slowly, Rayna nodded. “Wow,” she said. “Just...wow.”

  “It’s not a big deal,” Wanda insisted. “We’re just having a little fun before he heads back to the coast. Neither of us are looking for anything serious. You know, kind of like you and Parker.”

  “Point taken.” Rayna leaned over and kissed her mother’s cheek. “As long as you’re happy, that’s what matters.”

  “I am.” Wanda’s phone chimed. She glanced at it and smiled. “Sam is here. He doesn’t know I decided to tell you.”

  Rayna jumped up and grabbed her wineglass. “I guess that’s my cue to make myself scarce. Have a good night, Mom.”

  Once she reached her room, she closed her door. After scrubbing off her makeup and changing into her pajamas, she finished off her wine. She brushed her teeth, briefly considered watching TV, but decided to go to bed early instead. It had been a long day and tomorrow would most likely be the same.

  The next morning, she woke early, feeling slightly refreshed. Since Lauren and Wanda still slept, she slipped out of the house with only a cup of coffee, figuring she’d grab breakfast at a drive-through along the way.

  Barely after sunrise, she decided to stop at the café and enjoy a leisurely breakfast with a few farmers and truck drivers as company. By the time she paid her check and left, she felt restored and much more confident of her ability to face the day.

  The minute she set foot inside the sheriff’s office, her phone rang. Special Agent in Charge Prado. Answering, she waved at Mary and went straight to her office, just in case she needed to take notes.

  “What about setting up a sting operation?” Prado suggested. “Have someone pose as a high school girl and interact with this guy. She can agree to meet up with him. Of course, you and your officers will be there waiting so you can take him down.”

  “I love that idea,” she replied, remembering how she and Parker had discussed it. “But this is a small town. Everyone knows everyone else. That, combined with the tiny size of my law enforcement force, means I don’t have anyone who can pretend to be a teenager.”

  Prado laughed. “We do. Let me do some checking and I’ll get back to you. Once I select an agent for the task, I ought to be able to send her down this afternoon or tomorrow. I’ll try to make sure she meets the same physical criteria as the others. We’ll need the full cooperation of the school, as well as their agreement to secrecy. She’ll enroll there and pretend to be a student.”

  “Which means this could take some time.”

  “It might,” SAC Prado agreed. “Then again, it might not. Whoever this unsub is, he might see someone new as ripe for the bait. I’m thinking he’ll probably jump right on it.”

  “Let’s hope so. Please give me a call when your agent is on the way.”

  “Will do.”

  Rayna felt much better once she finished the call. At least they had a plan of action. She couldn’t wait to tell Sam.

  Buoyed, she went and poured herself a cup of coffee and carried it back to her desk. Until she heard back from SAC Prado, she’d need to see what else she could dig up on the case.

  In between that and lunch, she dealt with five phone calls, all from parents who had daughters at the high school. They’d heard about the person using Parker’s picture making contact with their kids. At least this time they had their facts right. Instead of demanding Parker’s head on a stake, they wanted to know what she planned to do about keeping their daughters safe.

  She’d just finished answering the last parent’s questions and hung up the phone when Larry tapped lightly on her office door. Rayna looked at him standing in the doorway, his expression warring between sympathy and resolve. “Sorry to bother you, Rayna,” he said. “But I just got off the phone with Bertha Abernathy. Seems Donella didn’t come home from school today. She isn’t answering her phone and none of her friends have seen her.” He checked his watch. “I know it’s only been a few hours, but Bertha’s worried. Says this isn’t like her daughter.”

  A chill snaked up Rayna’s spine. Ignoring it, she remained calm. “She’s a senior, right?”

  “Yep. Bertha said she just turned eighteen.”

  “Okay. This in itself doesn’t seem too alarming,” Rayna said. “You know as well as I do that teenagers are apt to disappear sometimes, especially if there is a member of the opposite sex involved.”

  “True.” Larry scratched his head. “But considering what’s been going on ar
ound here, I figured this time it might be something more serious.”

  Worse, Rayna corrected mentally. Worse than serious. Donella could be the serial killer’s next victim.

  “Since she’s eighteen, even if we can find some sort of evidence that could prove she’d been abducted,” Larry continued, “Donella technically would be considered an adult, so we couldn’t send out an Amber Alert.”

  “Correct.” A dull headache began.

  “I told Bertha we’d do some checking around, even if Donella can’t be considered a missing person until twenty-four hours has passed.” Larry scratched his neck. “Hopefully, she’ll turn up and all this worrying will be for nothing.”

  “Hopefully so. So far, whoever has been killing those young women has stuck to grabbing nonlocals.”

  “I heard about Parker,” Larry added, plopping down into one of the chairs across from her desk. “To be honest, I never really believed it was him. Call it a cop’s instinct or whatever. But Parker didn’t seem the type.”

  She nodded, and then winced as pain shot through her head. “I agree.” And then she repeated her conversation with SAC Prado.

  “Great idea!” Larry bounced up out of the chair, expression animated. “And it just might work.” His expression darkened. “I just hope it’s not too late.”

  “Let’s hope so. I can only pray Donella simply took a joy ride to Lubbock or something. Since the other vics were all outsiders, I’m keeping my fingers crossed this mystery person didn’t let things escalate so quickly.” Though privately, she considered this highly possible, given that he’d been contacting high school students while posing as Parker.

  “You and me both.” Larry sighed. “It’ll just about kill Bertha if anything happened to her baby.”

  “That’s what’s driving me crazy about the other victims,” Rayna admitted. “How awful it must be for their families.” She thought of Parker, refusing to give up on Nicole. “Nicole Wilson’s older brother is dying of cancer. She was heading to Dallas to visit him when she vanished. I can only pray we’re able to pull out a miracle in her case.”

  Larry nodded. “Since Parker’s not here, I’ve been meaning to ask you what you think. Considering how long she’s been missing, Nicole Wilson is probably dead, isn’t she?”

  Now it was Rayna’s turn to squirm. “I hope not, but it seems highly likely. Both of these women were in their early twenties. Nicole had just turned twenty.” She swallowed. “I’d prefer if you didn’t mention that to Parker Norton, though. Not until we have some sort of lead.”

  “Understood.” Larry grimaced. “I sure as hell hope this serial killer hasn’t grabbed Donella. I’ve known that girl since she was four years old. Her parents are friends of ours, have been for years.”

  “I’m sorry.” Rayna stood and approached Larry. She squeezed his shoulder. “If it helps any, I honestly don’t feel like the serial killer took her. That would mean not only would this killer be deviating from his or her usual pattern—women in their early twenties who were not from around here—by taking someone whose family would immediately report her missing, running a much higher risk of being caught. You know that’d definitely turn up the heat.”

  “Which it has,” Larry said. He’d straightened, a purposeful gleam in his eyes. “If she’s around here, I’ll find her. I’m going out to start looking now.”

  “You do that.” Rayna shook her head. “I’m spending my afternoon fielding calls from the press. They’ve been sniffing around ever since we found the second body. I shudder to think of what will happen when they get wind of this.”

  “When it rains, it pours. Right, boss?”

  “Right.” Rayna shooed him out of her office. “You’d better get busy looking for Donella. Please give a call when you find her.”

  “Will do.”

  Once Larry left, Rayna went back to work editing her written statement for the press conference she planned to call for the next morning. Now that too would be on hold until they hopefully located the missing teen. If they didn’t... She didn’t even want to think about that possibility.

  Sam pulled in right before Mary was about to go home for the day. He came directly to Rayna’s office. “I heard about Donella. Hell, the entire town is up in arms. Bertha and a bunch of the other parents are organizing a search party. They wanted me to ask you if Parker Norton has an alibi. Despite everyone knowing it was someone else using Parker’s picture, they still are suspicious of him.”

  “An alibi for when?” she asked, resisting the urge to rub her aching temples. “Does anyone know the exact time Donella went missing?”

  “Bertha said she got up and got ready to go to school, just like always. She walked to the bus stop, but they checked with the bus driver and she never got on the bus. Bertha didn’t know she was absent until she didn’t show up at home after school. That means the time frame would be yesterday between seven and seven fifteen, when the school bus got to the stop.”

  “Have you asked him?” Rayna wanted to know. “I imagine he was either asleep in his room or having breakfast at the café. Either way, he’s not really a suspect.” She outlined what they’d learned from his phone.

  “Rayna, you’ve got to find this missing kid and quickly. If this person is growing more determined and grabbing locals, he or she is going to kill her much more quickly.”

  The dull ache started again. “I know, Sam,” she said quietly. “The only problem is that we don’t have a single credible suspect. Even the FBI is stumped. They’ve given us a profile, so all we need to do is find someone who fits it.”

  “Yeah.” The grimness in Sam’s voice matched her mood. “Thanks for sharing that with me. I’ve started a list.”

  “Thank you,” Rayna said. “Larry’s doing the same. When you’re done, why don’t you and he compare notes?”

  “No problem. I’d best get back to working on it.” Sam crammed his Stetson back on his head and left.

  Alone again, Rayna took a look at the notes she’d made for the press conference.

  “Rayna?” Mary stuck her head in the office, her eyes wide. Seeing the normally composed dispatcher so rattled had Rayna jumping to her feet.

  “What’s wrong?” Rayna asked. “I thought you were headed out the door. Are you okay?”

  “I was. But Serenity is here.” Mary swallowed hard. “She says she has some important information for you about the missing-girl case.”

  A chill traveled up her spine. “Bad news?” she asked, figuring she might as well brace herself.

  Mary frowned. “She didn’t say.”

  “Send her back.”

  “Will do.”

  A moment later, Serenity appeared. Today, she wore some kind of ceremonial robe, made of pale yellow silk, embroidered and edged in tiny white beads.

  “What a beautiful dress,” Rayna said, standing. “How are you today, Serenity?”

  “Exhausted,” the older woman said with a sigh. “So many visions and visits from spirits. They wouldn’t leave me alone until I came to give you the information.”

  “Have a seat.” Indicating a chair, Rayna asked if she’d like anything to drink. “We have water and coffee. There’s even a soft drink machine if you’d rather have something from that.”

  “I’m fine.” Serenity lifted a flask. “I have ginger tea.” She settled into one of the chairs, arranging her elaborate robe around her carefully.

  “You’ve heard about the missing teenager?”

  Serenity nodded. “Donella. She’s alive and with Nicole.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. I’ve seen them, huddling together on a mattress on a concrete floor.”

  Rayna took a deep breath. “Did you happen to see where?”

  “No. My visions don’t work like that. I wish they did. I tried to push for more information, like seeing their captor�
�s face or the outside of the building. Instead, the vision just faded away.” Serenity shrugged. “The lesson is that I should be grateful for what I’m allowed to see. I’m just given information in flashes.”

  “I understand,” Rayna said, struggling not to show her disappointment. “If you see anything else, please let me know.”

  Standing, Serenity moved gracefully toward the door, her regal robe flowing as if a queen wore it. She turned, studying Rayna with sobering intensity. “I have one more message,” Serenity said. “And this is for you personally. A certain kind of love only comes once in a lifetime. It’s an amazing gift when you find it.”

  Not sure how to respond, Rayna nodded.

  “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Serenity continued. “If you’re not careful, you will lose the greatest love you’ll ever have.” With that, she sailed away.

  Watching her go, Rayna let herself drop back into her chair. Parker. Serenity had delivered a message about Parker. Time to be brutally honest with herself. She really cared about the man. Loved him even. But was that enough to risk everything?

  Because thinking about that in the middle of all this other craziness made her head hurt even more and her stomach ache, she focused on the rest of what Getaway’s local psychic had said. Because Serenity had been right more than she’d been wrong, Rayna made a conscious choice to believe her. Donella had been taken by the same individual who’d grabbed Nicole. And both were still alive. Hope—a rarity in the kind of work Rayna did.

  A joyful thought, but also an unsettling one. She didn’t know how long they had, but knew if they didn’t find the girls soon, the odds were they wouldn’t both stay that way.

  Chapter 13

  Parker couldn’t help but notice the way people looked at him now. Like he’d already been tried and convicted. Venturing downtown, he’d straightened his shoulders and kept his head held high. He’d made sure to meet the gazes of everyone he spoke with, almost wishing someone would actually say something so he could respond.

  He’d done nothing wrong. And he refused to hide in his motel room like a guilty man. He and Sam had gone to breakfast together. Parker supposed that helped, since if people wanted to acknowledge Sam, they had no choice but to do the same to him. Sam took care of that, refusing to let any of the people he knew try and get away with pretending not to see Parker.