Chapter 14 #2
“Same.” Justin came back to her driveway with Stone at his side. “This was done intentionally to cover their tracks.”
Her knees threatened to buckle. If they were right, there was no doubt in her mind that the gunman had Ben.
All she could do now was pray the madman who had him kept her son alive long enough for the K9s to find him.
“Easy.” Joel slipped his arm around Trina’s waist. She’d gone deathly pale, the freckles across her nose standing out starkly against her skin. She swayed as if a strong wind would blow her over. He tightened his grip when she gratefully leaned against him. “We’re going to find him.”
“How?” Her voice was an agonized whisper. “How will you find him?”
It was a good question, and he glanced over to Justin for ideas. He’d caught the bleach smell early enough to protect Royal’s ability to track, but he wasn’t sure where to go from there.
“What did Griff say?” Justin asked.
“The Laramie PD hasn’t found Peter Thomas.” He frowned. “Although I have to be honest, I would expect Ben to put up a fight if he saw Peter.”
“Not if Peter had a gun,” Trina said grimly. “And Peter could have threatened to hurt me or one of your dogs.”
He nodded. “Okay, so Peter is still a possibility. But then, why would he use bleach on the road?”
“I’m starting to wonder if this isn’t the work of someone who lives in the area,” Justin said. “And it’s strange this gunman just happened to show up here when Ben sneaked out to get his game.”
“Are you saying there’s a tracking device on Ben?” Trina asked, her eyes wide.
“No, I don’t see how anyone could have done that,” Joel hastened to reassure her. “But it makes me think the gunman may have been keeping an eye on your home thinking we’d eventually return.”
“And used the bleach trick to throw us off,” Justin added.
Yeah, Joel had to admit he didn’t like this latest twist. That the gunman knew to use bleach in the first place to mess with their K9s indicated this was part of a well thought out plan.
And for all they knew, there were other areas nearby where bleach had been used to ruin the ability to track Ben’s scent.
They may not find it before one of the K9s took a large sniff.
“We have to do something.” Trina’s voice was thin. “What’s our next step?”
He glanced at his brother. But before he could say anything, his twin read his thoughts.
“I agree, we should start by canvassing the neighbors.” Justin gestured to the road. “I find it interesting that the bleach pretty much covers the front of the two houses on either side of this one. Someone must have seen something.”
“Fine with me, but let’s take a police officer with us.” Joel nodded to where the second squad had joined the first. “We need to consider the possibility we’re walking into a trap.”
“Roger that,” Justin muttered.
“My neighbors wouldn’t do this.” Trina sniffled and swiped fresh tears from her eyes. “They’re nice people.”
Maybe, maybe not. At this point, Joel considered just about everyone in the entire city of Cody to be a potential suspect.
“Who lives here?” Joel gestured to the house behind him.
“Martha and Frank Vine.” A flash of annoyance darkened her eyes. “They’re in their fifties, no reason for either one of them to take Ben.” She waved at the other house. “And Lisa lives alone.”
A chill snaked down his spine. “Lisa who?”
Trina sniffed again. “I don’t know her last name. She’s new, just moved in a couple of weeks ago.”
His gut clenched. “What does she look like? Blond? Pretty?”
“Yes, she’s blond and very pretty.” Trina pulled away from him to look at him. “Do you know her?”
“I might.” And if his gut instinct was right, this was about him, not Trina and Ben.
Justin’s eyes widened in alarm. “You’re not thinking Lisa Schilling is behind this?”
He nodded, his heart thumping against his ribs. “Simmons! Come with me.” He didn’t wait for the cop, but quickly crossed the lawn, giving the bleached area of the road a wide berth. Royal stayed at his side.
He pulled his weapon. To his surprise, Simmons didn’t comment on his gun. Either because he was a Sullivan or because just about everyone in Wyoming carried a sidearm.
There was no movement through the windows that he could see.
Was Lisa inside with Ben right now? They knew she was armed; she’d already fired at them several times.
He went up to the door and tried the knob.
It was locked. That alone was suspicious.
He pounded on the door. “Lisa? It’s Joel Sullivan. Open up!”
There was no answer.
He banged his fist on the door again. “Lisa, open up! It’s over! I’m here. You send Ben out safely, and we’ll talk.”
Still no response. He was fast losing patience and turned to Simmons. “Back me up, I’m going to kick the door in.”
“You can’t do that. We don’t have probable cause!” Simmons protested.
“Yes, we do. Lisa Schilling has been upset with me since I told her I’m not interested in dating her.
She has been calling or texting nonstop for the past three weeks since Justin and I rescued her from a hiking trail in the Bighorn Mountains.
The last time she called me was two days ago, the morning I was driving here to find Ben when he ran away.
I had no idea she lived next door to Trina and Ben.
I’m telling you, she’s been irrationally persistent.
” So much so that he’d almost blocked her number. Except he hadn’t needed too.
Because he hadn’t heard a peep from Lisa since that call he’d sent to voice mail.
When Simmons didn’t say anything, Joel made the decision on his own. He lifted his foot and kicked at the doorjamb. Once, twice... the third time, the door swung open.
Simmons muttered a curse under his breath as Joel stepped across the threshold, holding his weapon up in a two-handed grip. He swept his gaze and the nose of the gun from side to side, searching for Lisa and/or Ben.
Royal followed him into the house, then sat and barked.
He wanted to believe Royal was alerting to Ben having been there within the past hour. “Good boy,” he praised. But he didn’t reward the K9 with the beaver. “Search! Search for Ben!”
Royal went to work, sniffing around the kitchen table. Joel pushed forward. It only took a moment to ascertain the main living space was empty.
A sense of urgency hit hard as he moved farther into the room. Royal darted ahead of him, but rather than going into either of the bedrooms, his K9 stopped to sniff at the base of the back door.
Then he sat and barked.
“Clear the house,” he told Simmons over his shoulder. “Royal is telling me they went out the back.”
“Are you sure?” Simmons demanded.
“Yes.” He trusted Royal. Now that he knew Lisa was involved, he could easily imagine her surprise when she looked outside and saw Ben.
He figured Ben wouldn’t put up a fuss if she asked him to come to her place.
And maybe they’d even walked down the driveway and along the road.
Then Lisa had used the bleach to hide the scent trail.
Had she bailed from the house when the police arrived? He shoved open the back door and scanned the backyard. There was no sign of Lisa or Ben.
“Search for Ben,” he called to Royal. The dog wagged his tail and went to work, sniffing along the grass, picking up speed as they crossed the dew-laden lawn.
Joel followed his dog, aware that Justin and Stone had joined him. When Simmons didn’t immediately follow, as he was still clearing the house, he gave his twin a nod of thanks and let Royal take the lead.
How much of a head start did Lisa have? And was her anger really just because he hadn’t returned her calls?
No, more than that. It was because she was jealous.
Stupidly, ridiculously jealous. He clearly remembered how he and Trina had embraced on the hiking trail, moments before the first episode of gunfire had rung out.
And then Trina had hugged and kissed him when he’d been about to leave her house.
That had brought on the second episode of gunfire.
From there, he had to assume Lisa had simply lost her mind. Deciding to wreak havoc on Trina because she viewed the woman as a rival.
Royal abruptly switched directions, heading toward the hiking trail.
It was early enough that he hoped there wouldn’t be a lot of people out and about.
Much like the day he’d come to search for Ben.
Lisa was armed, and based on her escalating tactics, including how she’d set a bomb beneath the SUV, he didn’t doubt she’d resort to violence again.
He wasn’t sure where Lisa had learned about setting bombs. It was hard to imagine her doing such a thing. Unless she’d had help. It wouldn’t surprise him to learn she’d convinced some guy to do the dirty work for her.
Yet she must have been close by, as Royal had alerted on her scent near the creek.
He shoved thoughts of his mistakes away. The only thing that mattered now was finding Lisa and Ben. Keeping his eye on Royal, he jogged to keep up. He held his weapon in a two-handed grip, but he kept the muzzle pointed at the ground as he moved across the landscape.
Royal stopped near the narrow opening between the trees, sat, and barked. He frowned, assailed by a wave of doubt. Ben had come this way two days ago, was Royal alerting on a recent scent? Or an old one?
Trust your dog. The trainer’s voice echoed in the back of his mind.
“Good boy, Royal!” He caught up to his K9. “Good boy, search! Search Ben!”
Despite not getting his toy, Royal jumped up, his tail wagging, and darted through the trees. He followed, glad to know Justin and Stone were covering his flank. Hopefully, Simmons was bringing reinforcements too.
When they reached the hiking trail, Royal turned south. It was the downhill path, which made sense. There was more foliage, twists, and turns in that direction, whereas the northern route led to a parking lot and the possibility of other people being nearby.
Royal stopped again to sniff in a particular area but then continued on his path. As the dog picked up his pace, he heard a rustling in the trees. A sense of alarm hit hard.
“Royal, here!” His sharp tone stopped his K9 in his tracks.
“I had a feeling you’d find me.” The familiar sound of Lisa’s voice sent a chill down his spine. She emerged from the brush holding Ben in front of her with a gun to his temple. The boy had clearly been crying, but Joel couldn’t afford to let that distract him.
“You’ve seen Royal in action before, remember? When he rescued you.” He didn’t dare point his gun at her, not when she had her weapon pressed against Ben’s head. “It’s over, Lisa. Let him go.”
Her eyes flashed. “It’s over when I say it’s over.”
It went against the grain, but he nodded. “You’re right, Lisa. You’re in control here. How about you let Ben go so we can talk?”
“Talk?” She let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, now you want to talk to me? After ignoring my calls for the past ten days?”
“I’m sorry about that. It was rude of me not to take your calls.” He tried to hold her gaze, to connect with her in some way. “I treated you badly, Lisa. But that’s no reason to make a child suffer.”
“She’s the reason you ignored me, isn’t she?” Lisa’s eyes flashed with anger. “She’s not even pretty.”
Lisa was wrong about that, he was far more attracted to Trina than to this woman standing before him. And that was true even before he knew how crazy Lisa was.
“You don’t need Ben,” he said. “Take me. You can hold me at gunpoint, okay? I’ll trade places with Ben.”
Her eyes narrowed. Hopefully, she was considering his proposal. “Throw down your gun.”
He did so without hesitation. “Okay, I’m unarmed. You can hold your weapon on me. Just let Ben go.”
“Tell your dog to stay back.” Lisa scowled at the black lab who had barked at her and was now sitting and staring at her intently. Joel wished Royal was an attack dog, like Shane’s Bryce. But he didn’t want Royal to be hurt either. “Or I’ll shoot him too.”
“Even after he saved your life?” When she didn’t so much as flinch, he decided she was beyond reason. “Royal, heel.” The dog didn’t move for a long second, then he finally turned to trot to his side. “Stay, boy. Stay.”
Royal sat, looking up at him, then over to Ben.
“Take me, Lisa.” Joel took a step forward. And then another. “Take me. I’m the one you’re mad at. Take me and let Ben go.”
After what seemed like an eternity, she abruptly turned the nose of her gun toward him. “Fine. Run away, Ben.”
Ben darted away from Lisa, heading straight for Royal.
Joel took another hasty step forward, putting his body between Lisa and Ben. If she fired now, she’d kill him.
And that would be okay because he knew Justin would make sure to guide Ben back to Trina.
Saving Ben was all that mattered.