35. Cash
Chapter Thirty-Five
Cash
I drive my own truck, because the second Jasper gives me something, I’m taking off on my own.
To his credit, he doesn’t fight me on that.
He’s also pretty efficient once we get there.
He puts out an alert to all law enforcement for the New Harvest van. He sends a deputy to collect Fred Bingham and bring him in to get some information. And he runs a property search for Jeb, which doesn’t bring anything up. He lives in a house owned by the church, but the van isn’t there.
“We’ll get a warrant to check the property.”
“What about any of his relatives?”
“I’ll keep hunting.”
My pocket vibrates.
I yank my phone out. My hands are shaking.
Ridge
Where’d you go? Still no sign of Haven, are you with her?
If tonight were any other night, I’d tell my brothers. Get them to help me right now.
But until we have a lead, I don’t want to ruin anyone else’s night.
I ignore the message and flip over to social media. I’ve looked at Jeb’s various accounts before. I’m nosy and look at everyone who crosses my path.
But now I search for the Pelleys. For the teenage brat who dragged Haven into this mess. And it doesn’t take long to find a youth trip she took last summer, the cabin location tagged.
When she was fifteen.
Fuck.
I need to stop blaming her starting this. She didn’t start this.
Jeb Martin did, almost thirteen years ago.
I recognize that cabin.
We went there, too. It belongs to a family friend or something, but I distinctly remember Martin bragging that it was like his own personal getaway. He took kids there all the time.
“My brothers are asking for an update,” I say slowly, making a show of going back to my text messages.
I let Jasper see that I’m messaging Ridge back.
Cash
Didn’t find her. Jasper is helping. On my way back.
But I don’t hit send.
When I head out the door of the sheriff’s office, I’m not going back to the fairground. I’m heading west, into the mountains, following the pinned location on a year-old social media post.
As far as leads go, it’s pretty fucking thin. But it’s all we’ve got right now.