Chapter 53
As Micah sped down the road, Naomi’s phone buzzed.
She glanced at the screen. It was Gio.
Gio? Why was he calling? Why now?
She hit Decline and put the phone face down on her thigh. She couldn’t deal with him right now.
Immediately, the phone buzzed again.
She declined the call again.
“Someone’s persistent.” Micah glanced at her.
“Gio.” The name left a bad taste in her mouth.
Micah’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t comment.
Then the buzzing stopped. There was a pause. Then a different alert sounded.
A text notification.
Naomi almost ignored it, but something made her pick up her phone.
I was driving out to see you this morning when I saw what happened to you on the road. I knew better than to try and approach to help. I would have been useless against armed men. So when those men left, I followed them instead. I know where they went.
Naomi stared at the screen, unsure if she was reading the words correctly. “Micah.”
“What is it?”
She read the text to him.
“What?” His voice rose. “Call him.”
Naomi pulled up Gio’s number and put the phone on speaker.
He answered on the first ring. “Naomi. Are you okay?”
“Where are they, Gio?”
A beat passed, almost as if he’d expected something else from her first. “A property about two miles off Harlan Road. There’s a dirt access road—easy to miss. I followed them from a distance. They don’t know I’m here.”
“You’re still there?” Her voice sharpened. “You’re sitting outside this property right now?”
“I parked off the road. They can’t see me.” He paused. “I couldn’t just drive away.”
Micah reached over and took the phone from her hand. “Gio, this is Sheriff Sutherland. I need you to stay in your vehicle. Do not approach the property. Do not engage with anyone you see. Do you understand?”
“Understood.”
Micah ended the call and handed the phone back without a word. He was already reaching for his radio.
Then he stopped.
Naomi watched his expression shift into something careful and calculating.
“What?” she asked.
“This address.” He said it slowly. “It’s not the same one Deputy Knox called in.”
Naomi turned the words over in her mind.
Two addresses. Two possible locations.
“So either your deputy has the wrong location . . .” she started.
“Or Gio does.” Micah’s eyes cut to hers. “Or Gio is purposefully sending us somewhere we’re not supposed to be.”
The thought sat between them cold and heavy.
Naomi looked down at her phone. At Gio’s name on the screen.
She thought about the way he’d shown up unannounced. The way he’d watched her on the porch.
Then she thought about that text. I knew better than to try and approach to help. I followed them instead.
“He didn’t have to contact us,” she murmured.
“No,” Micah agreed. “He didn’t. But his clue, if he’s being truthful, means we need to head in the opposite direction.”
They had maybe two minutes before he had to decide which direction to head. If they picked the wrong one . . . then Grace’s abductors could get farther away.
Naomi looked at him. “What do you think?”
His eyes stayed on the road. “I think we have a baby to find.”
He reached for the radio.
Micah sent two deputies to the address Knox had called in. Then he turned toward Harlan Road.
It wasn’t the decision he would have made twenty-four hours ago. Trusting Gio Moretti wasn’t something that came naturally, and he doubted it ever would. But Naomi’s logic had been sound—a man trying to mislead them had easier ways to do it than this.
So he drove.
The turnoff came fast—a gap in the tree line he would have missed if he hadn’t known to look for it. A dirt road, rutted and narrow, curving away through the trees. And at the entrance, half-hidden by overgrown brush, a rusted gate hanging open.
Micah slowed to a crawl.
“There,” Naomi murmured.
The dark SUV sat in a clearing ahead, pulled up close to a low clapboard building. Same vehicle. Same plates.
Gio had been telling the truth.
His car was there, parked in the shadows about thirty yards ahead. As Micah drove past, he caught a glimpse of Gio inside—watching the property, phone in hand.
Micah pulled off the road behind a thick stand of trees and cut the engine.
He climbed out and crossed to Gio quickly.
Gio rolled down his window. “Sheriff.”
“Stay in your vehicle,” Micah said. “Do not approach the property. Are we clear?”
“Clear.” Gio glanced toward the building, then back at Micah.
Micah turned back toward his SUV. He reached for his radio and gave his deputies the updated location, told them to redirect and approach silent, no lights.
Then he turned to Naomi.
Before he could speak, she said, “I want to go with you. Please. I’ll follow your rules. Just don’t leave me here. I don’t want to feel helpless.”
He opened his mouth to argue. Then he realized there was a good chance she would follow him anyway. At least if they started out together, he wouldn’t be taken by surprise.
“Fine,” he finally said. “But you have to stay behind me.”
“I will. I promise.”
As she climbed out, he double-checked the sidearm Knox had given him.
Then he and Naomi began moving through the trees toward the property, staying low and using the tree line for cover. Closer to the house, he assessed the situation.
One man was visible near the SUV, leaning against the hood, phone in hand.
Then from somewhere behind the building—distant but unmistakable—a dog barked.
“That’s Good Boy,” Naomi murmured.
Micah listened. The dog barked again—agitated, insistent.
He looked at Naomi.
They had Grace here.
And they had Good Boy.
There would be no holding Naomi back.
He turned back to the property and tried to decide on their next move.