CHAPTER TWENTY
By the time Selena and Connor returned to the sheriff’s department, the search for Marlene Schmidt had spread across Harlan County.
Radio traffic came in broken pieces from every direction.
A deputy is checking the creek road. A highway patrol unit is moving toward the county line.
Arnold reporting from the neighborhood behind Victor's house, breathless from walking through brush and backyards.
Someone had seen a woman matching Marlene's description near a drainage ditch, then the sighting fell apart when the woman turned out to be an elderly neighbor looking for her escaped spaniel.
No street cameras had picked her up, though that part of the county had very few.
Selena stood near the dispatch counter with a fresh ache pulsing under the dressing at the back of her head.
Cheryl glanced at it more than once but said nothing. That was rare enough to count as concern.
Connor stood in the middle of the room with a county map spread across the front desk, hat pushed back, sleeves rolled to his forearms. The anger that had driven him at Renee’s house had been sealed away for now.
In its place was a clipped, practical command Selena had not seen enough of since Victor’s murder.
“Arnold,” Connor said into the radio, “take Carter Lane and split off toward the ditch behind the old feed store. Don’t go into the woods alone. You hear me?”
Arnold’s voice crackled back. “Copy that.”
“Chuck, where are you?”
A heavier voice answered. “Just cleared Harper Road.”
"Good. Work the houses between Harper and Mason Pike. Knock on every door. Ask if anyone saw Marlene on foot, missing one shoe, gray sweater, dark pants."
“Understood.”
“Don’t spook people,” Connor said. “We need sightings, not rumors.”
Chuck gave a dry laugh. “In this county? I’ll do my best.”
Connor leaned over the map and marked a point with his finger. “Cheryl, call highway patrol again. Tell them to add eyes on both approaches to Route 32.”
Cheryl already had the phone in her hand. “Right away, Chief.”
Selena watched him work.
This was the version of Connor that people trusted.
Not the man who stormed out rather than hear Marlene's name spoken as a suspect.
Connor moved the department around the county like he understood every road, field, and back path because he had learned them with his boots and tires across half a lifetime.
Competence did not erase reckless judgment.
It only made it harder to dismiss.
Connor looked at the map again. “Marlene knows these streets. She grew up two blocks from Victor’s place. She’ll avoid main roads if she’s thinking straight.”
Selena stepped closer. “Is she thinking straight?”
“No.”
“Then she may head somewhere familiar instead of somewhere smart.”
Connor glanced at her. “Her mother’s is too far.”
“Friends?”
“Half the county, if you go back far enough.”
Cheryl hung up and turned from the desk. “Highway patrol’s got two units out. They’ll watch the exits and check vehicles if they get a reasonable match.”
“Good.” Connor looked toward a young deputy by the side door Selena hadn’t seen before. “Dennis, you stay here. If Marlene calls, if anyone calls saying they’ve seen her, I want it logged and sent to me immediately.”
Dennis nodded. “Yes, Sheriff.”
Selena said, “Do we have anyone at Marlene’s house?”
“Deputy Wilkes,” Connor said. “Front and back covered. If she circles home, we’ll know.”
The radio popped again.
Arnold said, “Chief, we found a shoe behind the fence line. Looks like it could be hers.”
Connor picked up the handset. “Where exactly?”
“About fifty yards past the Schmidt property. Near the creek trail.”
“Photograph it. Bag it. Keep moving but don’t trample the area. If she cut across there, she may have doubled toward Porter’s Road.”
Selena looked at the map. “That gives her woods, a creek bed, and old lanes.”
Connor nodded. “And a lot of places to hide.”
Cheryl’s pen scratched across the logbook. “I’ll notify Chuck.”
“No, keep moving,” Connor said. “I’ll do it.” He changed channels. “Chuck, possible movement toward Porter’s Road. Shift north. Keep your eyes open.”
“On it.”
For the next ten minutes, the department moved in a rough rhythm. Calls came in. Cheryl sorted them. Connor rejected the useless ones fast and chased anything with shape. Selena fielded a report from highway patrol, then corrected a description when someone said Marlene was blond.
“Dark hair,” Selena said into the phone. “Mid-forties. Gray sweater when last seen, possibly torn. One shoe missing. Frightened and possibly injured, but do not assume harmless. She assaulted a federal agent.”
Across the room, Connor looked at her when she said it.
Selena held his gaze until he turned back to the map.
Arnold came through again, his voice lower this time. “Chief, we’ve got nothing past the creek. Trail’s dry. Too many prints to make sense of anything.”
“Keep searching,” Connor said. “But stay paired. I hate to say this, but she could be dangerous.”
“Copy.”
Connor set the handset down and looked around the room. “All right. We widen. Arnold and Chuck keep canvassing. Highway patrol covers the roads. Dennis stays here with Cheryl to field calls. Selena and I will take the streets between the Schmidt house and downtown.”
Selena nodded. “I’ll start near Porter’s Road.”
“I’ll take the east side.”
Cheryl folded her arms. “Both of you need to eat something.”
Connor picked up his hat. “We find Marlene first. We eat later.”
“That sounded noble in your head, I’m sure.”
“Well, I could stand to lose a few pounds.”
For half a second, the corner of Cheryl’s mouth twitched. Then the worry came back.
Connor pointed toward the radio. “Call me if anything changes.”
“You won’t go missing this time?”
Connor paused. “I’ll stay in touch.”
Cheryl held his gaze. “See that you do.”
Selena took her keys from her pocket and walked out with Connor. Morning had warmed into hard sunlight. The lot outside the sheriff’s department shimmered at the edges. A truck passed on the road, slowed as if the driver might learn something by staring, then moved on.
Connor headed toward his SUV. Selena moved toward her car.
A phone rang.
Not the radio. Connor’s personal phone.
Selena stopped.
Connor looked at the screen and went still.
That was enough. Something had happened.
“Who is it?” she asked.
He did not answer. Instead, he turned slightly away and accepted the call.
“Chase.”
Selena watched his shoulders.
No greeting followed. No irritation. Just silence.
Then Connor said, “Where?”
Another pause.
His head lowered.
“Is she hurt?”
Selena’s hand tightened around her keys.
Connor listened for several seconds. His mouth set into a hard line.
“No,” he said. “You don’t touch her. I’m coming.”
He ended the call.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Selena crossed the space between them. “Who was that?”
“No one you need to worry about.”
The answer came in that voice again. The one she knew when Connor was holding back.
“Try again, Connor.”
He opened his SUV door. “Selena, I need to handle something.”
She stepped closer, blocking the door with one hand. “If this is about Marlene, I need to know as the Federal agent on site, Connor. No more going against procedure.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“It never is with you!”
His eyes flashed. “Now isn’t the time.”
“You’re always holding back from me! When we were married, now this!”
The words came out sharper than she intended, and old enough to wound them both.
Connor looked away toward the street. A patrol car went by with no siren, only speed.
Selena lowered her voice. “I’m not talking about fifteen years ago. I’m talking about this case. You disappear to see Morimer. You go silent. You decide what I’m allowed to know. We can’t work that way.”
Connor looked back at her.
The struggle lasted only a second, but she saw it. Habit against trust. Pride against fear.
“Morimer has Marlene,” he said.
Selena felt her chest tighten. “What?”
“He has her.”
“Where?”
“At his place. Two of his guys found her on the edge of the woods. He wants me to go personally to deal with it.”
“God.” Selena looked toward the sheriff’s department, then back at Connor. “We need units there now.”
“No.”
“No?”
"I'm too deep in this. He wants me to come. I will go. If we turn up with deputies and a federal agent, it will make things more complicated than they have to be."
“He has a fugitive in an active murder investigation.”
“He says she came onto land controlled by one of his people. His words.”
“And you believe him?”
“I believe he has her. Maybe she thought he could help her. I don’t know.”
“Connor...”
“He said she’s alive and unharmed.”
“Because crime bosses are famously reliable when they give comfort over the phone.”
Connor’s jaw tightened. “I’m going in to get her.”
Selena shook her head. “We’re going in.”
“No.”
Selena stared at him. “You have got to be kidding, Connor!”
“They won’t let an FBI agent on the property.”
“They don’t get a vote.”
“I’m trying to protect you from my dealings with him! Can’t you see that, Selena!?”
The line stopped her before she could answer.
Connor stepped closer, voice dipping lower again. “Listen to me. Morimer likes rules when they’re his. He called me because I went to him. Because I paid him. Because right now, whatever this is, he sees it as his arrangement with me.”
“That’s exactly why you shouldn’t go alone. He’ll extort you for something!”
“If you come, he’ll turn it into a confrontation. Federal agent on his land. Jurisdiction. Warrants. He’ll make a show out of it. Or worse, he won’t let us through the gate at all and then say Marlene escaped just to piss us off”
“Then we get a warrant.”
"On what probable cause? My phone call with a man who'll deny every word? By the time we get paperwork, he'll be sitting empty-handed, talking about "Marlene who?" He likes to play games. If I have to play it to keep things going smoothly, then so be it. "
Selena looked at the sheriff’s department window. Cheryl stood inside, watching them through the glass.
“Connor, this is Morimer. You said it yourself. He doesn’t do anything for free.”
“I know.”
"No, you don't. You think because you paid him, you control the terms. You don't. I can contact my boss. She could alert the investigating team, and they could go and get her..."
"I can get her without making this worse.
If your colleagues turn up, for all I know, he'll make out like I've done worse.
Like I'm on the take. Marlene'll be scared…
She might have murdered Victor, but I've known her for years.
She deserves better than being held in a crime boss's house with God knows who hanging around gawking at her. "
The heat pressed around them.
"Selena," he said softly. "If the FBI have that place bugged, I don't want you to somehow become complicit in my mistake.
Please. Besides, you said Meg didn't want you going in there and messing with their investigation.
You come in with me, and you'd be disobeying a direct order.
I know how much the FBI means to you. I don't want to jeopardize that. "
Selena searched his face. The anger was still there, but it had been joined by something less volatile. Fear for Marlene, yes. Guilt, certainly. Also calculation. Connor knew this county in ways she did not. She hated that it mattered. She hated most that he was trying to be noble for her sake.
She wanted to say screw it and call Meg. Let her know what was happening. Let her make the hard choices. But the look in Connor’s eyes. A pleading. She couldn’t resist it. She never could.
Why am I letting him do this? She thought. That was the mystery inside of herself. All Selena knew was that she was going to let him win.
“For God’s sake! What’s your plan, then?” she asked.
“I drive in. I talk to him. I bring Marlene out.”
“That’s not a plan. That’s you driving straight into his hands.”
"You overcomplicate things, Selena."
“I can trail you, at least. Then if he gets difficult, I can...”
“No. He has men on the roads before the gate. You won’t stay invisible. I’d rather not complicate things.”
She hated that he was probably right.
Connor softened his voice. “Give me one hour.”
“No.”
“Selena.”
“If you’re not out in forty minutes, I’m coming.”
“That may make things worse.”
“Then come out in thirty-nine and make contact with me.”
A flicker of something moved in his eyes. It was not amusement. Not quite gratitude either. But something close to it.
“I’ll call you once I have her,” he said.
“You’ll keep your phone on.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll answer me.”
“Yes.”
“And if Morimer asks for anything else, anything at all that might be used against you in the future, you don’t agree. You walk out. Remember the house may be bugged.”
Connor did not answer quickly enough.
Selena stepped nearer. “Promise me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“That isn’t a promise.”
“All that matters is getting Marlene safely into custody without Morimer playing games so he has something over me and the department.”
For one moment, the argument seemed ready to start again. Then the radio at Selena’s belt crackled, Arnold reporting another dead end near the creek trail.
The search was already behind the truth.
Marlene was with Morimer, and no one else knew it.
Selena moved away from the SUV door.
Connor opened it, then paused. “I know you hate this.”
“I hate most things about this.”
“I’ll get her out safely.”
“You’d better.”
“Don’t tell anyone until I contact you. I don’t want my deputies coming in guns blazing, thinking I’m in trouble when I’m not.”
Connor climbed in and started the engine.
Selena stood in the lot as his SUV backed out.
At the exit, he stopped long enough to look at her once through the windshield.
Then he turned onto the road and drove away from the sheriff’s department, heading toward the roads that led to Morimer’s private gates and whatever price waited behind them.