Chapter 54
Howard worked his jaw. “I think I’ll keep my present job. And if you don’t need me any longer, I’m headed home.”
“Me too, but I need to see someone first.” Scott scanned the parking lot for Tori’s brother and located him talking to Ben Logan.
He jogged to where they stood. When he reached them, Scott held out his hand to Zach.
“Thanks again for helping us. You said earlier that you were here to ask about Drew. Did you learn anything from anyone in the bar?”
“Naw. Nobody’s heard anything, but the guys inside are ready to beat bushes, looking for him.”
“We’ll handle it,” Ben said.
Zack crossed his arms. “It’s not your son that’s missing. We already figured out he’s not being kept anywhere in town. We’re going to hit the back roads and before you ask, I haven’t had a drop to drink.” He jerked his head toward his buddies. “And neither have they.”
“Might not be a bad idea to let them,” Scott said.
Ben’s jaw muscle worked furiously, then he relaxed. “As long as you’re not armed, and I mean even hunting rifles, and you contact me if you find anything that looks suspicious.”
Zack studied the ground, then raised his gaze and nodded. “We can do that.”
Scott hoped he was telling the truth, but in a way he didn’t blame the man for doing anything he could to find his son.
Zack turned and walked toward a group of men waiting just outside the bar. Ben shook his head. “He’s as bad as his sister. Did you get a text from Tori?”
Scott’s stomach dropped. He yanked his phone from his back pocket. There was a missed call and a text. He quickly read it.
He blinked and shook his head to clear it. Tori seriously thought he was drinking? And she was going to contact the kidnappers? He looked at Ben. “What is she thinking? Once they get that data drive, they’ll kill her. Drew too.”
“She only said she was contacting them,” Ben said.
“But if they wanted to make an immediate exchange, she’d probably do it.”
Scott quickly sent her a text, then he checked her location. “She’s at her brother’s house.” But how did she get there? Scott checked the box in the location app for him to be alerted if she left her brother’s house, then he quickly called Caleb and put it on speaker. “Is Amy’s car there?”
“Let me check the camera feed.” A few seconds later, Caleb came back on the line. “Yeah, why?”
“Tori is at her brother’s, and I don’t know how she got there. Can you check the camera feed that covers the gate and road and see if you can tell when she left and how?”
Seconds later Caleb groaned. “A little after midnight, she walked to the road and slipped through the small opening between the gate and the fence. Looks like someone picked her up.”
Ben leaned toward the phone. “Can you tell who was driving or the make and model?”
Caleb took a few seconds to respond, then he said, “Too dark to identify the driver. Hold on while I zoom in on the vehicle.”
Scott clenched and unclenched his hands.
Tori didn’t trust him, not if she’d assumed he was drinking.
Just when he’d finally acknowledged she might be the one.
No might-be to it. He’d wanted her to be the one.
But without trust, they could never have a relationship.
He rubbed the back of his neck. Even more important, she didn’t trust God, and they definitely weren’t on the same page when it came to faith.
“The video is too dark to identify the vehicle,” Caleb said. “But let me keep working with it.”
Scott’s locator app trilled. “Tori’s on the move,” he said. “Hopefully headed toward Oak Grove. I want to see what’s on this data drive she’s found.”
“So do I,” Ben said. “I’ll meet you there.”
Ten minutes later, Scott keyed in the code at the gate, and Ben followed him to the house. Caleb met them at the front door. He looked beyond Scott. “Where’s Tori?”
“Isn’t she here?”
Caleb looked worried. “Hasn’t shown.”
They hurried inside and met Amy coming down the stairs.
“What’s going on?” she said. “Tori isn’t in her room.”
“I know. She was at her brother’s.”
Scott paced the foyer while Ben filled in the other two. “She’s supposed to be returning to Oak Grove.”
“I can’t believe she left without telling me,” Amy said. “I need some coffee.”
As they walked down the hallway, Scott checked his phone again. What was going on? “She’s stationary again not far from the last time I checked.”
In the kitchen Ben turned to Amy. “Do you know anyone she might call to take her somewhere?”
“Erin, maybe . . . but she would’ve asked me first.” She looked at Scott and grimaced. “Unless she thought I would try and talk her out of going anywhere.”
Scott turned around. “I’m going to Zack’s house.”
“Call her first,” Amy said.
He punched in her number and waited until it went to voicemail. “She’s not answering,” he said. “I’m going to Zack’s now.”