Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Darby still trembled when the deputy led her into a quiet room at the Courtland County Sheriff’s office.
The space felt cozy—too cozy for the nightmare she’d just endured.
A couch, a fridge, a cupboard of snacks.
With shaking hands, she grabbed a bottle of water and sank into the cushions, pulling the jacket tighter around her.
Agent Walker’s jacket. His scent—crisp aftershave and something darker, woodsy—clung to the fabric. Somehow, it steadied her. He’d saved her. Dragged her out of that van like something out of a movie. She hadn’t expected anyone to come.
She hadn’t expected to live.
The urge to call someone swept through Darby like a reflex, but she had no one to call.
Her parents—gone. Grandma—buried. No siblings.
No close friends. Just employees who depended on her and didn’t need her trauma spilling into their lives.
She’d been missing David but now was grateful he was away at camp… away from the danger.
She blinked back tears. Agent Walker’s heroic moment—when he’d thrown open those van doors—replayed in her mind like a loop. The look in his eyes. Focused. Fierce. As if she mattered.
Darby could never express her gratitude to Agent Walker for his quick action. She’d probably be dead if it hadn’t been for him. No one else had witnessed her abduction.
She recalled his words. Someone placed a hit on your life, Darby. The idea that anyone hated her enough to want her dead made her shudder.
The door opened and a stocky man about fifty entered, wearing a sheriff’s uniform and carrying a tablet.
Agent Walker followed, still dressed in the jeans, tee shirt and boots he’d worn when he’d rescued her.
Taller than the sheriff, his sandy-brown hair and stubble held a hint of gray, and his brown eyes had a hard edge.
A wave of gratefulness crashed through her for what he’d done.
“Mrs. Foster, I’m Sheriff Malone. You holding up okay?”
She forced herself to pull her gaze from Agent Walker. “I’m not injured, Sheriff. Just … processing.” She’d refused to go to the hospital at the scene. Aside from a few bruises from her two abductors manhandling her, she hadn’t been injured. Just very frightened.
She took a long swig of water then fumbled to replace the lid as both men’s eyes studied her.
“Glad to hear that.” He pulled up a chair and sat. “Agent Walker here told me what happened. You’re lucky he was around and witnessed the abduction.”
“I know.” She stole a glance at Agent Walker, who stood a few feet away, his eyes on her. He didn’t acknowledge his heroism. “Did you find out who those men are?”
“Based on a sketch Agent Walker gave us, we’ve identified them as Jacob Morton and Tom Winters.” He tapped the tablet and showed her booking photos of both men.
She recognized them immediately. “That’s them. The two men who grabbed me and threw me into the van.”
“Do you know them?”
“I’d never seen them before today. I expected my usual delivery men. When I saw it wasn’t the regulars, I knew something was wrong.”
The sheriff turned the screen off. “Both men are well-known to local law enforcement, including this agency. Most of their crimes have been minor assaults, like bar fights and robbery—nothing like abduction.”
“Not until now,” she said, finishing the thought. “Did you capture them?” The idea of them still out there running loose terrified her. Agent Walker’s promise to find them returned to her.
His expression darkened and she knew the answer.
“We’ve got people searching around the spot where they abandoned the van. No luck yet. However, we’ve issued a BOLO on both and we have their last-known addresses.”
“What’s a BOLO?” she asked.
Agent Walker answered. “It stands for Be-On-The-Lookout. It’s a way to get these men’s information out to local law enforcement.”
The sheriff nodded at his explanation then continued.
“We’re collecting prints and DNA from the van and running down their known associates.
Don’t worry, we will find them. We’re also looking into the van to find out where it came from.
I called Merrick and none of their vehicles are missing.
It’s possible they copied the logo just to fool you into feeling comfortable enough to open the door. ”
“That seems like a lot of work just to get close to me.” Another darker thought chilled her.
They knew enough about her to know where and when she ordered her supplies.
And she had to go home alone while those men still roamed the streets.
“Why would they want to hurt me? I don’t even know them. Do you think they’ll try again?”
The sheriff glanced at Agent Walker who stepped forward and finally entered the conversation. “Darby, the FBI’s Cyber Division discovered a notice on the dark web. The person was solicitating a murder for hire.”
Shock rolled through her and she stared at him as this unthinkable revelation sunk in. “Are you trying to tell me that someone…” She struggled to finish her sentence.
“Someone paid to have you killed.” Walker stood and laid out everything he knew.
“Yesterday, my colleague Agent Cooper Lang contacted me. He discovered a dark-web user who was offering money for anyone willing to end your life. The poster contacted multiple sites and even stated that one attempt had already failed. Cooper quickly intervened and accepted the job, hoping to ferret out the user. However, he discovered the suspect had placed the offer on thirty-seven sites. With this many potential takers, your life was in even more danger.”
His words felt like a gut punch. Someone had already tried to kill her.
And she’d had no idea. Had they tried while David was home? Had his life been in danger too? Panic gripped her as the thought of what might have happened seared through her.
“That’s when he contacted me. My job is to keep you safe until Cooper can identify who made this offer. Or at least to remove it from all the dark sites.”
She looked at him, barely able to catch her breath. “I don’t understand. Who would—?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.” He pushed a pad and pen to her. “We’d like you to make a list of anyone who might want to do you harm. Anyone with a grudge.”
Darby couldn’t even process this information, much less come up with names.
But she didn’t have to. “I can think of only one person. My ex-husband, Brent Foster.” Tears pressed her eyes as she spoke his name aloud.
She fingered the bottle in her hands then moved it aside.
“Our divorce was anything but amicable. Ever since, he’s tried to get his hands on money that I was able to freeze him out of. ”
“He thinks you stiffed him in the divorce? Did you initiate it?”
“Yes, but I had reason.” She’d struggled over the decision, but his behavior had finally reached her breaking point.
“Brent was a good husband and father until he got caught up in gambling, which led to alcohol abuse. He turned our lives upside down to feed his addictions, but I stood by him as long as I could.”
The sheriff gave her a sympathetic nod. “That’s a tough spot to be in. I’ve seen addiction tear up families way too often.”
“When I discovered the other women, I’d had enough. He lost nearly everything we’d built together during our twelve-year marriage. Around the time our divorce became final, I learned my grandmother had died and left me a sizable inheritance.”
“Murder for money,” Agent Walker noted. “Not the first time we’ve seen that.”
“Brent knows about it but he can’t touch it because it’s protected by law, and I never deposited it into our joint account. My lawyers say he’s not entitled to it, I’ve changed my will. If something happens to me, our son, David, will inherit.”
Agent Walker nodded his understanding. “Since your son is a minor, your ex would have access to it as his custodial guardian.”
That was it exactly. “It’s no coincidence that David was gone when this happened. Brent knew he was going to that Christmas camp.”
Anger burned through her. Once, she’d loved Brent with all her heart, but his actions had shattered their relationship. He’d done nothing but blame her instead of facing up to his own consequences.
“I tried to protect David from the fallout of Brent’s addiction.”
But it had been severe. Yet Brent had continued the gambling and tried to pull her under through all his frivolous lawsuits as he tried to extract money from her.
A few hours ago, her greatest worry was that he might succeed in one of them, and she would lose everything. Now she worried for her life. Brent had crossed a line he couldn’t come back from.
“I’ll call Cooper and have him dig through your ex’s finances,” Agent Walker stated. “If he’s behind this, we’ll find out. However, if anyone else has a grudge against you, we need to know about it.”
Both men walked out and left Darby to make her list, but she struggled to come up with names.
It was difficult enough to write her ex-husband’s name on the lined legal pad they’d given her.
But to list others too? She sighed, realizing that, although Brent had been the first one to come to mind, she had no shortage of names for a grudge list.
Of course, she didn’t believe anyone in her life could hire someone to murder her.
But someone had.
Brent
Her ex, of course, had earned a first-line mention. He wanted her money so he could feed his addiction. But would he make their son motherless to make it happen? She wasn’t sure, even though he’d fallen hard and fast into a deep spiral.
Recently, he’d tried to play on her sympathies by claiming to owe money to dangerous people.
Maybe someone he owed wanted to get their hands on the money he owed through her?
She closed her eyes and shook her head as the depth of Brent’s actions continued to affect her and David before picking up the pen and adding to her list.
2. Unknown bookies Brent owed.