Chapter 44
RYDER
Pacing the hospital waiting room, I racked my brain for anything that might help the police.
So far, they had no leads as to who would attack them on the side of the road. It could be random, but the guy had a gun. He shot Jeff and took Ellie. That couldn’t be random. It wasn’t a carjacking, and he didn’t take anything from Jeff. This was all about taking someone hostage.
But why?
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and when I checked the caller ID, I cursed under my breath. I’d forgotten all about Bianca at the airport.
Shooting off a quick text, I got JR to pick her up and take her to the ranch, ignoring his scathing reply at my orders.
“Hey,” Michael said, interrupting my thoughts. “We can see Jeff in a few minutes.”
I nodded, still stuck on my current line of thinking. “It couldn’t have been random.”
“What?”
“The attack wasn’t random. It couldn’t have been.”
He was silent for a moment, and I glanced up, seeing the truth in his eyes. He already knew.
“Wyatt said there were nails in her tires. Too many. She just had her tires changed.”
“I know. I took her for them.”
“And you didn’t drive through any construction sites or—”
“Wyatt replaced them.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is this Wyatt? Some part of the feud?”
“Ellie isn’t part of the feud,” he reminded me.
“No, but she was with Liam,” I argued.
“Okay, hold on,” he hissed, grabbing my arm and dragging me aside.
“Before you start accusing people of this, let’s look at the facts.
Jeff and Ellie were attacked on the side of the road by a man with a gun.
Wyatt was back at his shop. He was called to the crime scene and examined the tire.
He’s the one who came here and told me he didn’t think this was an accident.
Now, either he’s the stupidest criminal ever, or he didn’t do this. ”
I shoved my fingers through my hair in frustration. Maybe he was right, but that didn’t mean this wasn’t a targeted attack.
“Okay, but someone was still after Ellie.”
“I agree, but until we talk with Jeff, we have nothing to go on.”
Unless this wasn’t a one-time crime of passion.
“It’s an escalation,” I murmured.
“What?”
“The rock through the window. The graffiti on her Jeep. Then the shop was destroyed. We assumed it was someone in town with a grudge against Ellie because of her involvement with Liam.”
“Right,” he agreed. “The attacks stopped after you cleaned up the shop. Bailey walked in and made the town see that she didn’t hold a grudge.”
“Exactly, but what if whoever this was—”
“Was just biding his time,” he finished for me.
“Jeff wasn’t supposed to be in the Jeep with her. I asked him to drive with her. She would have been all alone on the road.”
“The perfect spot for an ambush.”
“And when Ellie wasn’t alone, he had to take things further, to make sure he wasn’t caught.”
Michael’s eyes slid to meet mine. “Except Jeff didn’t die.”
“And if he can tell us anything, we’ll not only get to Ellie, but find out who’s been behind the attacks all along.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me. “It’s a stretch.”
“But not by much.”
“Michael?” Caroline said, walking out from behind the sliding doors. “You can see Jeff now.”
“I’m going with you.”
“Whoa, hold on a minute—”
“Don’t even fucking think of stopping me,” I hissed. “I’ll stay out of your way, but I will be in that room.”
He glanced over his shoulder at his parents, then back to me. I knew I was taking liberties I didn’t have, but Ellie was missing. I wasn’t going to stand around and wait my turn when her life was on the line.
“Fine, but you stand there and stay quiet.”
With a jerky nod, I followed him back to Jeff’s room.
A burst of energy rushed through me at the idea of finally getting some answers.
I was crawling out of my skin, thinking of all the things Ellie might be going through.
I didn’t want to think about what she was suffering right now, but pretending the worst hadn’t already happened would be foolish.
Jeff was laying upright in bed, his eyes blinking blearily as we walked into the room. “Mike,” he croaked, holding out his hand.
I did as he asked, staying further back, but I was itching for anything he had to say.
If he even remembered.
“Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Ellie,” he croaked out. “She’s gone.”
“I know, man.”
“The guy…” He swallowed hard, coughing harshly as Michael rushed over to the table to grab some water.
Caroline came into the room, hurrying over to Jeff, grabbing a spare pillow out of a drawer. “Here. Hold this against your stomach when you cough.”
Jeff took it, but he already looked worn out.
I bit my thumbnail, trying to stay back, fighting the urge not to leap forward and demand he tell us everything he knew.
“Tall,” Jeff croaked out. “About six-two. Muscular. Dark hair.” He sucked in a breath, wincing as he pressed the pillow to his stomach. “Work boots.”
“Okay, that’s good,” Michael soothed, pushing the cup to his lips again.
But it wasn’t enough. That wouldn’t help us find this fucker. Everyone around here wore work boots.
I glanced down at my own shoes.
Except me.
Still, this was Montana. Ranchers were everywhere.
Jeff’s hand shot out, grabbing Michael’s shirt. “Tan F150,” he winced. “With a brown stripe. Thick.”
“A thick stripe?” Michael urged.
Jeff nodded. “You know, the old ones. Like from the 80s.”
“That’s good. Anything else?”
Jeff shook his head, his eyes already slipping closed.
“Get some rest, brother,” Michael whispered, resting his hand on Jeff’s head before turning to me.
I followed him out of the room and down the hall before he suddenly turned to me.
“That should be enough to find him, or at least narrow down the search drastically.”
“Okay, what can I do?”
I already knew what he was going to say before he said it.
“Don’t tell me to stand aside and let you do your job. Ellie’s out there!”
“I know, but you can’t—”
“At least let me go to the station with you. I’ll sit there and keep my mouth shut, but I can’t just go home and fucking wait to hear whether or not you found her.”
I was on the verge of tears, the panic and anger working their way to the surface, along with what I could only describe as absolute terror that I would be too late, and when we found Ellie, she would already be dead.
Or worse, we would never find her at all.
“Alright, but no interfering.”
A calm washed over me for the first time since Ellie went missing. This was more than I could have ever hoped for when we first found out she was missing. It wasn’t a name or license plate, but a truck that old would narrow down the pool significantly.
We were going to find her.
I chose not to think about what her mental state would be when we did. One step at a time. Anything else, we could work through.
Except death.
I shoved that thought aside and followed Michael out of the hospital, and did my best to focus on the things we could deal with right now.
The rest would drive me insane if I thought about it long enough.