Chapter 38
Where the hell was she? She wouldn’t answer her phone, and that sure as hell wasn’t normal. She always took Justin’s calls. The sun was setting, and he had a terrible, sinking feeling in his gut that he just couldn’t shake. He picked up his phone and called Chris.
“Hey, sir, have you heard from Blythe this afternoon?”
“No, I haven’t. Is she alright?”
“I’m not sure. She hasn’t answered my calls. She said she was running into town for some errands. I’m not even sure where, but I’m heading out to see if I can find her.”
“Okay, I’m going to call Toby and have him come watch TV with the girls. I’m coming with you. She doesn’t have any close friends in town, and she wouldn’t just go dark. How long has she been gone?”
“She left just before lunch. Something’s wrong, Chris. Meet me at Jensen’s. We can start there. If she needed anything from town, that’s where she would go.”
Justin hung up and slid his phone into his back pocket. His truck roared to life, and the tires peeled through the gravel as he sped toward town.
Both men drifted into the parking lot of Jensen’s Mercantile within a few moments of each other. When they got inside, they made a bee-line to the manager’s office.
“Hey, Lenny, could you ask the staff if my niece, Blythe, happened to come in here this afternoon? It’s important. She’s not answering her phone, and we can’t find her.”
Lenny reached under his desk and pulled out a brown, leather handbag.
“You’re in luck, my friend. Someone picked this up out of the parking lot and brought it in earlier this afternoon. I looked at the wallet inside, just to see whose it was, and it's hers. I figured she’d be back in for it soon. I was planning to call you if she didn’t show up. Her phone is in there.”
What the fuck was going on? Justin felt panicked.
Chris took the purse from Lenny. “It’s a damn good thing we live in a small town. It’s a miracle whoever took her was dumb enough to let it drop.”
Justin didn’t need to question why Chris knew she was taken. This was what he used to do for a living, at a top secret pay grade Justin couldn’t even fathom. Chris started to empty the contents of her purse onto a table in the tiny room.
“We’ve got her phone, her wallet, all her girlie shit and—” Chris pulled out a stick with a pink cap.
Justin’s eyes widened, his hands lifting to squeeze the brim of his hat as he took a step back. Holy shit, she was pregnant. He knew it was a possibility, of course, but it was a shock nonetheless. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to cry or punch the wall. Whatever deranged psychopath took her had not one but two pieces of his soul now, and the rage he felt was about to explode. He tried to steady his breathing and took in a deep, chestful of air through his nostrils.
Chris spoke directly. “Did you know about this?”
Justin let out every bit of air he’d just sucked in.
“No, sir, I did not. But she couldn’t have known long. It’s been just shy of a month since the first time.”
“Well, whoever has her has your future, too. Do you know the passcode to unlock her phone?”
Justin punched in the four digit code and opened her call log and text messages. Damn, did this woman ever delete anything? There were hundreds of texts, nothing significant as far as calls, but as he scrolled, he saw a name—one that only stoked the fire already burning inside of him. Justin flipped the phone to show Chris.
“It’s him. I know it is. That son of a bitch is here, and he’s got her.” Justin turned to speak to Lenny. “We need the security footage of the parking lot.”
How could he have been so careless? How could they have lowered their defenses? They had men watching Blythe’s every move and the ranch for an entire month and nothing suspicious had come up the entire time.
“Damnit!” Justin kicked the trashcan near his foot.
Chris put his hand on Justin’s shoulder. “We don’t know if it’s him, but we’re going to find whoever it is.” Chris put his phone to his ear. “I’m making some calls.”
Lenny pulled up the cameras and started scrolling through the footage from the afternoon. Chris hung up with whoever he was talking to and turned to Justin. “I’ve got some of my contacts in route.”
The two men hunched over Lenny’s chair, eyes narrowing at the screen.
“Stop!” Justin demanded. “Zoom in, then keep going.”
He watched as Blythe got out of her car and started walking toward the doors of the building. A black passenger van pulled up behind her. It was moving slow, and she seemed completely oblivious to it, probably assuming it was just another car coming into the lot. The vehicle stopped, and two men stepped out on either side. One man darted toward her, covering her mouth with his hand. She seemed to slump, and her purse dropped. Both men picked her up and tossed her into the back of the van before casually driving out onto main street. The vehicle turned left. That drag of highway went straight out of town, either to Silo Springs, the private airport, or the middle of nowhere Montana.
Chris was back on his phone.
“Dave, we know where they are. I’ll drop you a pin. Hurry.” He slid the phone into his pocket and pointed at Lenny. “Don’t call the police. Don’t say a word about this to anyone. I’ll make all the appropriate calls once we’ve secured her. We don’t need local PD racing in and screwing anything up.”
Lenny nodded that he understood. The people in town respected Chris Cole, and they knew his background.
Both men raced back out of the building to where their trucks were parked. Chris nodded to Justin.
“We need to roll in slow. We don’t want to spook anyone. We have to pray they’ve still got her there and not up in the air somewhere. Do you have your piece?”
Justin gave a nod that he did. He always had his weapon ready. Something Chris had taught him as a teenager. Always keep a gun on your person, in your truck, near your nightstand, and somewhere in your kitchen.
Justin prayed out loud as his tires left a trail of smoke, “ God, don’t let me be too late.”