Chapter Eleven
As Maya accelerated along the curving road, she glanced in her side-view mirror. Another plume of smoke had erupted and was
pushing high up into the air. This fire wasn’t going to be a monster. It already was. She focused on the road, hoping Agent
Kessler would call her back soon and reassure her that Abigail was in a holding cell where she belonged.
But there hadn’t even been a text since she’d left the pull-off area. Of course, she was also driving through areas with spotty
cell service. Some light green heavy-duty trucks going the other direction had crews of Forest Service wildland firefighters.
They were going to have a long couple of weeks or even months ahead. Or they could get lucky and if the weather cooperated,
they might get control over it quickly. Although with mop-ups the fire response could go on for a while. It was always hard
to know.
Maya arrived at the edge of town, driving past her Forest Service building to the sheriff’s office.
She made sure Juniper’s compartment was set at a good temperature and then climbed out of her vehicle.
Staring back in the direction she had just come from, she could see several plumes building and pushing their way into the sky.
If the winds shifted again, there might be a chance that Pinecone Junction would have to be evacuated.
She was glad that she and Josh had grabbed their go-bags.
If this fire burned through the town, Josh could lose his house. They’d been living together ever since Maya’s cabin in the
woods had burned down. That was also courtesy of Abigail. It had been her first attempt at killing Maya. From that, Maya learned
that Abigail liked to have other people do her dirty work. The kidnapping fit her MO.
She checked Juniper one more time. The Mal was curled up, napping away. Maya had no illusions that she would be tired for
long. Juniper was good at taking power naps and then being ready to go again. As she made her way to the front entrance, the
doors opened before she could get there. Josh.
As he came closer, Maya saw his expression with tight eyebrows and his mouth in a hard line. Maybe his first fire response
was getting to him. Of course, she probably didn’t have a different expression on her face. If anything, she was still wondering
about the events that had unfolded this morning.
Josh’s face softened as he came closer. He drew Maya into a quick kiss and ran his thumb over her cheek, caressing it and
making her heart beat faster. He seemed more like himself now, but Maya still wondered why he’d been so jumpy that morning.
They really needed a vacation and time to talk.
“What’s going on?” Maya asked.
“Let’s go inside.”
Now Maya was even more curious. “Okay. I have some things to fill you in on too. Kessler and some other agents are headed
this way along with a marshal.”
“Good.”
“Good?” Maya asked Josh. They entered the lobby and Josh nodded at the deputy sitting at the front desk as he used his key
card to let them through the doors to the back.
“Yes, good.”
“What’s going on?” Maya asked, stopping. She was done with not getting information and being kept in suspense.
“Let’s go in my office,” Josh answered.
She followed, still wanting answers. Her irritation grew. Josh closed the door and stared at her. “You’re scaring me.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t mean to. I’ve been busy with the fire response, but I think things are set there and going.
Have roads closed, working with state patrol and surrounding county deputies. The first fire crews have arrived and will send
reports soon.”
“Stop it,” Maya said, putting her hands on her duty belt. “What’s going on?”
“To add to the chaos, we had a person turn himself in,” Josh answered. He too had his hands on his duty belt. It was the cop
equivalent of hands on their hips or crossing their arms. His index finger tapped in a nervous twitch. Maya fought the urge
to tell him to stop being so fidgety.
“Don’t tell me . . .”
“Yes, it’s your father. Eric walked in here this morning and told the front desk deputy that he was turning himself in. Guy is new and didn’t know what to do for a minute. Finally cuffed Eric, patted him down and called your grandfather.”
“Where is Eric?” Maya asked.
“Believe it or not, Pops took the cuffs off and brought him to the conference room.”
“Talk about breaking protocol,” Maya muttered. “Why is he turning himself in now?”
“He said he’s been looking into a murder. He was afraid that once he was behind bars, he wouldn’t be able to finish this case.”
“He did say when he helped you this spring that he needed to go out of state for an investigation and when he was done, he’d
turn himself in,” Maya said.
“Eric said he has things to share with us about a homicide, but he believes that Abigail is going to try to escape. He’s heard
things from a friend at the police department that he keeps in touch with.”
Maya took a deep breath. This couldn’t be happening. What if Abigail was out?
“Then he said his friend told him his granddaughter has been kidnapped. Eric claims he knew he had to come here because we
would be the only ones who would listen to him. But we don’t know what to believe and didn’t want to radio you. You were out
of cell range too.”
“You could have texted me,” Maya snapped.
Then softening a bit since her emotions weren’t Josh’s fault, “Sorry. It’s just that there’s really a girl who’s been kidnapped.
A couple at the last campground saw her and thought something was off.
I ran a track with Juniper and found a smashed phone with a message typed into it asking for help. ”
“Shit,” Josh said. “I didn’t know how much to trust what Eric said and we had the phone number you gave dispatch to trace,
but we didn’t know the whole story.”
“I think the victim really is Eric’s granddaughter, my niece.”
“Crap,” Josh said.
“I know. I called the number that was entered for the text message. The text hadn’t gone through and I was curious who this
message was going to. I thought about your case with the teen who just wanted to get back at their parents. I wasn’t sure
who I’d get, but it ended up being a marshal by the name of Nick Torres,” Maya said.
Josh stared at her.
“I know, I was speechless at first too.”
“You think it’s your brother?” he asked.
“I do. He said the missing girl’s mother’s name is Isabelle. Those are the exact names Eric gave me when he told me I had
a brother and sister. Eric just conveniently left out the part about Nick being a marshal,” Maya said.
“What’s the girl’s name? I’ll call and see if I can get a status report on Abigail. I really hope Eric is wrong about that
and there’s some other explanation for why this girl might be here in Colorado.”
“Her name is Hope Dawson. I called Agent Kessler and he’s checking to make sure Abigail is still in prison. He’s also bringing some other agents to help us find Hope.”
“Good,” Josh said. “Even if Abigail hasn’t escaped, she could still be up to something. It’s not like it’s that hard to get
a cell phone in prison or get messages out. Sometimes friends just throw phones over the fence.”
“I know. In fact, prisons are starting to utilize K-9s trained to find electronics for that reason. I’m wondering what she’s
up to as well. It has to be her, doesn’t it? I mean, who else would kidnap a girl related to me and bring her here?” Maya
asked.
“I don’t like this,” Josh said.
“Neither do I.”
“Let’s go talk with Eric. Maybe he knows something we don’t and can help us fill in the missing pieces.”
“I hope he does have answers,” Maya said, following Josh out of the office.
They went down the hall to the conference room. Maya had made this walk many times, but this time, it seemed to take forever.
Her heart pounded faster the closer they came to the room. She hadn’t seen her father since March when Josh had been framed
for murder. To say she had conflicted feelings was an understatement.
She loved her father and was grateful to have him in her life after not knowing him growing up.
But he’d been a cop and done some dirty things.
Things Maya didn’t approve of. One of the things she’d learned though as she continued the twelve steps through Alcoholics Anonymous was that she couldn’t control someone else.
He had to make his own decisions and take responsibility for what he’d done. She’d wondered if he would do that.
They came to the doorway of the room. Eric sat with his back to the door. His dark hair was peppered with more white than
Maya had remembered from the last time she saw him. Eric sat hunched over staring at his hands. Pops sat across the table,
hands folded, gazing into space. Maya cleared her throat.
Both men looked straight at her.
“Eric . . . or uh, Dad. Pops,” Maya said. She still struggled with calling Eric her dad. Maybe it was because there was a
part of her that was the little girl who wanted a normal home life. Pops and her nana had tried to give her that and loved
her as both a daughter and a granddaughter. To call Eric Dad almost seemed like she was cheating on Pops.
“Maya,” Eric said, standing up and wrapping her in a hug.
Maya stood stiff and then awkwardly returned the hug. She was still getting used to Eric’s greeting.
“It’s good to see you,” Maya said. “Are you really turning yourself in?”
“I am. I made a promise to you and I’m keeping it.”
They stared at each other, Maya again conflicted.
Eric had eluded arrest several times. The daughter in her wanted to tell him to go.
Run. Get away. Then he wouldn’t serve time and she wouldn’t have to visit him in prison.
That maybe somehow they could have a relationship and get to know each other in a different way that had nothing to do with criminals—especially Abigail Harper.
She could know her father the person, not her father the fugitive.
The law enforcement side of her won out.
“I’m glad you’ve kept your promise,” she said. “But why now? And why here?”
“I’ve been looking into a case that I want resolved before I’m sitting behind bars,” Eric answered. “It has to do with Abigail,
of course. Probably no surprise there.”
There was still a part of Maya that was hoping somehow Hope’s kidnapping was all coincidence. That some random strangers took
her and just happened to be in the part of Colorado where Maya patrolled. Did Eric know about Hope yet?
Maya glanced at her phone. No call from Kessler. Abigail had to be locked up still. There was no way she could be out and
yet if anyone could find a way out of federal lockup, it was Abigail.
“You’re right, no surprise about Abigail,” Maya said. “You’ve never told me much about my niece, Hope.”
Eric stared at her, his gaze intense, but also questioning. “I haven’t. What do you want to know?”
Maya pulled her phone out and brought up the picture, showing it to Eric. “I already know this is her. Do you by any chance
know the people she’s with?”
“Oh my God . . . I do know them. They’re thugs from my town.
Arrested them a few times. I knew it. My source in my old department told me that he thought Abigail was stirring things up in prison.
I was hoping that wasn’t true. I’m worried Abigail is going to escape and come here. Use Hope to get what she wants.”
“How are they connected to Abigail?” Maya fired back. She wanted her questions answered first. In some ways, she felt that
Eric owed her that after everything they’d been through.
“I believe they’re on Abigail’s payroll. I don’t know for sure, but she did their last few arrests and suddenly they were
out. Abigail’s planning something big. I can sense it. That’s why I decided to come today. I thought about looking for Hope
on my own, but I don’t have the resources and I’ll admit, I’m getting tired of being on the run.”
Maya nodded, putting her phone away. She caught Eric up on the phone she and Juniper found along with talking with Nick. “This
has to be Abigail. But why? Why now? What do you think she wants?”
Eric hooked his fingers in his jean pockets. He too, having been a cop, did this like he had a duty belt on. Cops didn’t like
to cross their arms because they might need their hands free to defend themselves.
“Probably the case I’ve been looking into,” he answered.
“This one was important to me personally. I felt like I needed to make things right before I went and rotted in a cell for however long. I thought if I could bring the truth to light and add one more charge to Abigail’s long list, it would mean she’d never get out.
I have a feeling she found out I was asking questions.
I should have known better. I still have sources within the department who I trust to not narc on me.
She has lots of informants. Even without looking into this case, she would want revenge.
No one ever told Abigail no, much less put her away.
But I never thought she’d be so low as to take Hope.
I figured she’d come after us and leave everyone else alone. ”
“I want to hear more,” Maya said. “But before you tell me about the case, you never told me my brother was a marshal.”
“What can I say? The law enforcement gene runs strong in the family,” Eric said with a smile.
Pops cleared his throat. “I look forward to hearing more about Maya’s brother, but right now, I need to know about this case
and about Hope. There’s a fire out there moving fast and it’s going to limit our response to finding her. I need to know anything
you can tell me about this case and how it pertains to our missing girl.”
“Yes,” Eric said, sitting back down. “Time is of the essence. I’ll tell you what I know.”