That Dark Place

by W. Franklin Lattimore

  A terrifying thought struck him. What if the call happened as a result of Elizabeth? Had she given a rescuer the phone number?

  Again, he slammed on the brakes.

  What was he going to do?

  If there was someone waiting at the house, he couldn’t just give himself up. Could he?

  But what if the call had not come as a result of someone having contact with Elizabeth? That would mean that she was still injured and locked up in a darkroom.

  He couldn’t just let her sit there.

  Drew tried to think of a location on his mom’s street which would allow him to hide his car. He could certainly check if anyone was at the house where that nearest mailbox was. If not, maybe he could park there for a few minutes and sneak over to see what might be going on at his mom’s property.

  He was nervous. So nervous.

  Getting the car moving and back up to speed took a lot of willpower. But what other option did he really have?

  If Elizabeth was alone, he might have to sit with her to figure out something with her. She had things to hide too.

  BRENT’S PHONE RANG. It was John Eldredge.

  “John, tell me something good.”

  “First, I tried the cell phone that Mark Johnson was using. The cell rang a couple of times then went to a message about a voice mail box that hadn’t been set up. A bit suspicious for a modeling photographer, I would think. Turns out that the phone is a burner. Nothing to track. Not yet, anyway. I’ll try to get someone to check for a tower location on it.

  “As for Elizabeth’s phone, it was pinged out in Wayne County. The closest that they could get us was a rural area between Medina and Lodi.”

  “Tell me you’ve got something more precise than that.”

  “Based on what I received, I can get you into an area a mile square. The phone is in there somewhere.”

  “Where the phone is?”

  “Yeah. Didn’t have to check call records with the carrier. The phone is still active.”

  “And it was used not too long ago!” Brent got excited. “Eldredge, you know me. I’m hopping into my cruiser and heading out that way. Give the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department a call and let them know I’m going to be in their jurisdiction. I’ll give Morelli a call on my way. Send me a text with the location information.”

  “Already did. I’ll call Wayne County now.”

  “Call State too.”

  “On it.”

  “Good work, John.”

  “Brent? Kim Townsend is sitting here with me. We’re both coming out to help you.”

  “Only if the sheriff is okay with it.”

  “See you out there.”

  Brent disconnected the call. Of course Eldredge would go out there, permission or not. He wasn’t too sure of the impression they’d be making on Townsend, though.

  Chapter 74

  J

  amie overhead the conversation. His adrenaline was spiking, probably like his dad’s.

  He moved from being in earshot of what was being said in the dining room to where he now stood, dead center in the living room. His mom and sister were walking toward the dining room as his dad gave Officer Larkin some final instructions.

  But Jamie wouldn’t budge. His dad was going to know his determination to conduct the search with him.

  His dad exited the dining area and looked at his mom and Jenna.

  “We’ve got a lead. I’ve got to go look into it.” He kissed them both and headed to the front door.

  His dad looked at him, understanding coming to his eyes.

  “Jamie, I’m sorry. I can’t. Not during something like this.”

  “Dad, I can—”

  “I can’t, Jamie. I’m proud of you for your courage, but this isn’t going to happen. Now, I’ve got to go.”

  His dad walked around him to the door. Jamie didn’t feel like he could budge. But when he heard the front door open, his dad called to him.

  “Jamie.”

  He turned to look at his dad.

  “You’re a good man. A brave man. I love you.”

  And with those words, his dad walked through door and toward his patrol car.

  Despite the letdown, his dad’s words had spoken to his heart like few other things ever had.

  His soul felt bigger than it had just a minute before.

  As he listened for his dad’s departure, Jamie began to wonder if there was anything that he could do to help.

  What if they’re all driving out to a dead end? What if it’s not where Elizabeth is?

  Jamie had already proven valuable in the investigation, having provided the information needed to locate Elizabeth’s car. There were people from the Millsville P.D. there now, looking for other clues.

  But what could he do now? What could he….

  Wait! The envelope in the BMW! 133 and 069!

  He knew the idea was a long shot, but he ran up to his room to get on his laptop.

  Jamie remembered that the envelope he’d seen in the BMW next to Elizabeth’s car had been postmarked. So, it was likely that whoever the driver was had picked up his mail that day before heading to Millsville.

  The problem was that he’d only seen two parts of the mailing address. Two numbers. And one of those was a partial.

  After the insufferable amount of time that it took to boot up, Jamie opened up the browser, then Bing Maps.

  In the search area he typed 44069, as 069 was at the lowest position on the envelope. He hoped it was a zip code.

  “Hey,” came a voice from behind him.

  Jamie turned to see Jenna.

  “Are you hungry for anything while we’re waiting?”

  “Umm … no. I’m good.” He turned back to his laptop.

  Footsteps told him that Jenna had just broken his no-girls rule from about five years ago.

  “What are you looking for?”

  Jamie clicked ‘Go’ to run his search.

  “Hallisburg,” he said, staring at his laptop screen. “Looks like it’s really small and in the country. Ever heard of it?”

  “I don’t think so. Why?”

  “Hold on. If this is anywhere in the vicinity of where Dad and the others are about to search, we may have a destination of our own to check out.”

  He was making up plans for both of them on the fly, because Jenna had both a license and a car.

  “For us to check out? Jamie, we can’t—”

  He raised up his hand to stop her. He had to look up where Hallisburg was located.

  His heart slammed in his chest when he discovered that it, too, was in Wayne County, near the border with Medina County.

  He zoomed into the town on the map. There was one last detail that he hoped to be able to find.

  And there it was.

  Jamie grabbed his phone from his pocket and opened Google Maps. He typed in ‘Rural Route 133, Hallisburg, Ohio’ and clicked Start.

  “Jenna, all of a sudden, I’m really, really hungry.” He turned and smirked. “For restaurant food.”

  Jamie could see that she wasn’t appreciating where this was headed.

  TARA DIALED KAREN for the second time. After what Tara had told her the first time, the woman had made it clear that she would not stop interceding until Elizabeth was found.

  It dawned on her while the call was ringing that she really ought to call Brent’s mom too. She’d do that after she was—

  “Tara! What’s going on? Has anyone found anything about Elizabeth?”

  Tara loved that Karen was in no way being casual or cavalier about the situation.

  “Yes. They have a lead. The police in Pittston had the phone pinged. They found its location. Tracy said that it’s still on.”

  “Tracy?”

  “Tracy Larkin. He’s a Pittston P.D. officer too.”

  “Oh, that Tracy. I do remember him.”

  “He’s here at the house. Brent just took off to an a
rea where the phone may be. The problem is that they can’t pinpoint exactly where it is. Tracy just told me that the area sounds small, but it’s actually quite large; one mile square.”

  “That’s huge! Do they even know if it’s in a house, a building? A field?”

  “No idea.”

  Tara’s heart sank. She was realizing that this search for the phone wasn’t going to be nearly as easy as one mile sounded.

  “Well, it’s something. More than you had just a little bit ago.”

  “Karen, thank you for pouring your prayers into this! I’m desperate. My heart is hurting for her. If the guy that the police—that Brent—is looking for is a predator.…”

  She couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “I know, Tara. I know. Now, go.… Get some more people praying. You know I won’t stop.”

  “I love you, Karen!”

  “I love you too!”

  Tara clicked to end the call. Next, she called Pastor Jonathan and updated him. He promised to update his prayer chain, as well.

  The final call was one she didn’t want to make.

  Sharon Lawton was already taking care of Brent’s dad. The man was becoming more and more lost in a world of his own. She didn’t want to add to her burdens, but she couldn’t not tell her.

  She pulled up the number and hit Send.

  After a couple of rings, she heard, “Hello?”

  It was her father-in-law.

  “Hello, Dad,” she said, trying to sound happy.

  “Oh, Lydia! How are you?”

  “It’s Tara, Brent’s wife.”

  “Hi, Tara. When did you get married? I think Brent is up in his bedroom.”

  She was grateful to hear a voice in the background.

  “Ken, is that for me?”

  “It’s that pretty girl that Brent likes. Sara.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful! May I speak with her?”

  “Bye, Sara. I’ll let Brent know you called.”

  The call disconnected.

  Tara’s heart was sad. They were losing a wonderful man. And Brent’s mom had finally gotten to the point where she was saying she’d need to get in-home help soon.

  About fifteen seconds later, Tara’s phone rang.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Hi, Tara. Sorry about that.”

  “No reason to apologize. Just give that man a hug for me. Okay?”

  “I will, sweetheart.”

  “Mom, I’ve got some rather scary news to share with you. With all you’re already going through, I didn’t want to add anything, but you need to know.” She took a breath. Here goes. “Elizabeth may have been kidnapped.”

  “What?! Kidnapped?”

  Chapter 75

  J

  amie tucked his laptop into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. Halfway down the stairs, he realized that the perfect escape scenario had materialized for him and his sister. His mom was in the kitchen, talking with his grandmother by phone.

  Jamie tasked Jenna with going in there to say that they were heading out to grab a bite to eat. After all, of the two of them, Jenna would be the one least likely perceived as trying to pull the wool over their mom’s eyes.

  When she came back into the living room, he said, “So?”

  “She just nodded that she heard me and waved goodbye.”

  “Great. Let’s go.”

  “Not liking this, Jamie,” she said in a harsh whisper.

  When they got into Jenna’s car, Jamie put his phone into her phone holder on the dash and plugged it into a USB port.

  “Do you want the GPS voice turned on?”

  She shook her head.

  Jamie had wanted to be the one in the driver’s seat, but Jenna insisted that if they were going to do this, she was going to be doing the driving. He didn’t even comment. He knew that Jenna was the better driver.

  To Jenna’s credit, she didn’t continue complaining about what they were doing. But the look on her face told him that she was quite nervous about what lay ahead.

  With a drive of about a half hour, they had some time to talk.

  “Tracy found something on her laptop.”

  “I figured that’s what they were whispering about,” Jenna said.

  Although Jamie didn’t have anything to say beyond that, Jenna obviously thought he did.

  “Well, you were standing closer to them than I was. You did hear what it was, didn’t you?”

  It was less a question and more a challenge to get him to confide information.

  “Actually, no. Tracy said something to Dad that I couldn’t hear which caused him to get up and walk into the kitchen. That’s when I walked away. Didn’t want Dad rounding the corner into the living room and seeing me standing there.”

  But the whispers meant there was something they didn’t want heard. And that something must have been on her laptop.

  Now Jamie and Jenna were left to their imaginations as to what that something might be.

  Could it be that they found e-mails between her and the guy she was with?

  Was she out doing whatever it was of her own free will? Or was she being coerced?

  Everything about this was bothering Jamie.

  He shared his thoughts with Jenna.

  Jenna thought it all through. “It just doesn’t sound like her to be seeing some guy behind our backs, especially lying to us about her car breaking down in order to … to what? What could possibly be the benefit of lying about leaving her car in Millsville?”

  “So, that goes back to what Dad found at the diner. Maybe she really did take off with the guy in the BMW.”

  “Actually, based on what Dad told us, we can’t know for sure that that guy did anything other than have lunch and talk with her. That BMW might not even belong to him. And that means what we’re doing could just be a wild goose chase.”

  She was right, of course, on all accounts.

  “Hopefully, we’ll find some answers. That is, if we can even find the right place to look. Route 133 stretches for a little while. Didn’t look like there was much out there.”

  “I saw that.”

  Both were silent for a couple of minutes as they drove the nighttime streets of Millsville.

  Jamie hoped that he had brought the only thing needed to skulk around some strange property at night in the middle of nowhere. All he could quickly think of was his flashlight with two-settings: bright and ultrabright. He hoped it was enough.

  It dawned on him just then, how he was dressed. If there was one thing he was not, it was camouflaged. Donned in a pair of sneakers, the pants of a karate uniform, and a gray T-shirt, he felt a bit mismatched and very noticeable.

  I should have changed. God, please don’t let us get caught because I didn’t take an extra minute to change into something all dark.

  Jenna, on the other hand, was never mismatched. Dressed in stylish denim shorts and one of her beloved scroll-work T-Shirts, she was at least wearing darker clothes than he. However, if they were to encounter any poison ivy or thorny bushes, he’d be the one coming out on top.

  “Jamie, do you think they found something else on her laptop? Stuff worse than e-mails? Stuff she’d be afraid we might ever find out?”

  He thought carefully about what she had just asked. He was sure that by the using the word “stuff,” Jenna was trying to soften in his mind the mental picture she had in her own.

  “You mean like looking at porn?”

  Jenna just shrugged.

  “I thought girls weren’t really into that.”

  “Wish that were true.”

  That comment made him want to ask a question that he just couldn’t compel his lips and tongue to verbalize.

  Had Jenna just hinted at her own involvement in looking at it? For his own mental well-being, he had to ask something about that comment.

  Heart beginning to race, he came back with the least direct question he could must
er. “What do you mean?”

  “I knew quite a few girls at school who would talk about it.”

  Hallelujah.

  His heart rate began to diminish.

  She stole another glance at him but didn’t say anything as she redirected her eyes to the road.

  I think she just asked me the question I didn’t want to ask her.

  “Dad talked with me late last year about the whole porn thing.”

  Jenna laughed. “Sounds like Dad and Mom set up coordinated attacks on us both.”

  “Mom and you? Really?”

  “Yep. To be honest, I had gotten really curious about it. But when Mom took my hands and prayed with me about the subject, I just felt like I couldn’t let her or God down.”

  “Dad prayed with me too.” He deliberately paused. “We didn’t hold hands.”

  Jenna laughed again. “You’re a dork.”

  Jamie felt like he could breathe again. The tension they’d left the house under was eased a little bit.

  Anyway, he knew the chances were that they would be returning home with only some fried chicken and no information to share with the others.

  DREW TURNED THE headlights off and crept along Rural Route 133. Nearing the property that bordered his mom’s, he pulled his car onto the shoulder of the narrow country road and came to a stop.

  He got out of the vehicle and crossed the road.

  Except for the sound of crickets and frogs, all was quiet.

  The lights were out at the neighbor’s house. He couldn’t see clearly if there was a vehicle near the garage, so he began walking alongside the gravel driveway to find out, making sure to stay near the tree line.

  As the garage was partially hidden by the small home, Drew had to get really close to the structures before seeing two things. First, there was no car to be seen. There could, of course, still be one hidden in the small garage. Second, there was a key box attached to the handle of the side door to the house.

  This was good. Maybe the house is up for sale, Drew thought.

  He looked into the yard but saw no ‘For Sale’ sign. Either way, it appeared that no one was going to be visiting the residence that evening.