Chapter 7 #2
There was a murmur of agreement throughout the faces on the call.
“Stay in touch,” Emmett said. “And be safe.”
“Will do.” Autumn ended the call, eyeing Jordan. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I know it’s not your fault, but it’s hard to accept the fact that these murders have been shifted into high gear now that another woman went missing.”
“I understand.” Autumn’s heart went out to him. “But keep in mind, finding Jenny helped us link all these cases together. We will get justice for you and the other girls’ families.”
He nodded then shot to his feet. “I need to get some work done.” He shrugged into his coat. “Come, Cutie. Leave poor Bear alone.”
“Come, Bear.” She called her K-9 to her side, watching as Jordan and Cutie left. There wasn’t anything she could do or say to make him feel better. Grief was a process she couldn’t navigate for him.
Autumn turned her attention back to the names of perps she’d arrested over the years. It wasn’t easy to switch gears from Mia’s case to her gunman, but she did her best.
The sooner she figured out who was behind these attacks against her, the sooner she could focus her energy on finding Jenny’s baby.
Hopefully, doing that will bring Jordan some peace.
* * *
Jordan headed out to the barn to care for his horses. Brushing and combing them were a good balm to his soul.
Listening as the task force members discussed the case of the three dead girls and the missing Mia had been more difficult than he’d anticipated. He wasn’t the only one who’d lost a loved one, but it also sounded as if the other two girls weren’t close to their respective families.
And that was likely why they’d been targeted.
Why hadn’t he handled things differently? Maybe he should have suggested a move-in trial for a few weeks. Would Jenny have gone along with that? He’d never know, and hated knowing his sister’s life had been cut short.
Cutie chased after a squirrel, barking like crazy when the furry rodent escaped up a tree. He wished again that the puppy would have enticed Jenny to move back to the ranch.
Enough. He knew it wasn’t healthy to ruminate over the mistakes he’d made. Staying focused on the current investigation was more important than looking backward, wishing he’d done things differently.
The phone number Jenny had called nagged at him.
The leader of the task force had mentioned their working theory was that someone had offered the pregnant young women help in some way.
He could easily imagine Jenny going along with someone who would give her cash and a place to stay.
Jenny had insisted she wanted to be independent, but even at nineteen she was just a kid.
Too vulnerable and willing to accept things that sounded too good to be true at face value.
Too bad the tech specialist couldn’t identify who’d purchased the burner phone.
He wondered if these abductors used a different throwaway device for each missing girl.
His heart quickened and he wished he’d thought of that sooner.
He made a mental note to let Autumn know, so Eva could check the phone records of the other victims.
Jordan cared for his stallion, Durango, last. The horse was feisty but had good bloodlines. His foals were highly regarded, and breeding mares with the stallion had provided his struggling ranch a financial boost.
Durango reared when he approached. “Easy, boy.” The horse was sensitive to the environment, more so than his gelding.
Jordan soothed the animal by brushing him, then took him outside to the corral.
Durango reared again, then ran around, tossing his head.
Leaving the animal to graze, Jordan headed back inside.
Autumn glanced up when he entered, her gaze searching his. “Everything okay?”
“Fine.” He forced a smile as Cutie ran toward Bear. “I was thinking of grilling chicken breasts for dinner.”
“Do you have chickens?” she asked in surprise.
He cocked a brow. “No, I bought them at the grocery store.”
She flushed, looking more adorable than ever. He shook off the thought. “Truthfully, I have been thinking of getting some chickens,” he admitted. “I started building a chicken coop, but then Jenny went missing…” His voice trailed off.
“Sounds like a lot of work,” Autumn said.
His life was nothing but work, Jordan thought. Shiloh had been right about that. Yet, he didn’t mind hard work. He just wished he had something more. Ironically, Autumn was making him realize how lonely his life had become and he wasn’t sure that was good thing.
When they’d found Mia and whatever had happened to Jenny’s baby, would he see Autumn again? Probably not.
Unless…
This wasn’t the time to think about his lack of a personal life. Shiloh had made it clear how much she would hate living in isolation at the ranch. And when he’d flat-out refused to sell, she left without looking back.
And that had been fine with him. Until now.
Now, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be given a second chance with Jenny’s daughter if—no, when—the task force found the stolen babies. He trusted that they would. And if he was given that opportunity, he would take it with both hands and make his family a priority.
No matter what.
For now, he needed to make dinner. When Autumn closed the laptop with a loud click, he turned to glance at her.
“I need to take Bear out again, and I need to get more dog food from the SUV.” She drew on her coat. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He was oddly nervous about her going out alone. Which was ridiculous, as she was an armed and well-trained cop.
Autumn had only been gone two minutes when he heard Durango neighing loudly. Hoping Bear hadn’t accidentally spooked the horse, he ordered Cutie to stay, grabbed his jacket and ran outside.
“Easy, Durango, easy,” he shouted. Then frowned when he realized Autumn and Bear were nowhere near the corral.
“What’s wrong?” Autumn hurried toward him from the SUV she’d left in his driveway.
“I’m not sure.” He raked his gaze over the area. “Durango can be temperamental, but I’m wondering if something caught his attention.”
Autumn rested her hand on her weapon as she turned to look around. “I don’t see anything.”
He frowned again, because he didn’t see anything either. After a long moment, he forced himself to relax. “Okay, it’s probably nothing.”
Autumn nodded and hurried back to the SUV to get the container of dog food. Bear had his nose in the air, sniffing intently.
Then the bloodhound turned and trotted toward the corral, his nose sniffing the ground, his long ears dragging along as he went. Jordan quickly followed, worried Durango would rear up and possibly trample the dog.
“Bear?” Autumn sounded annoyed.
Bear ignored her as he followed along the fence line toward the side of the barn. When Jordan caught a glimpse of a shadow, he realized Bear had alerted them to the scent of an intruder.
“Hey! You’re trespassing on private property,” he shouted.
The shadow broke away from the side of the barn. Jordan bolted after the figure in black, determined not to let this guy get away again.
“Stop! Police!” Autumn shouted from behind him.
The figure lifted a gun and aimed toward Autumn. “No!” Jordan threw himself forward, the tips of his fingers tangling with the edge of the intruder’s black hoodie.
He caught a glimpse of pale skin from a wrist, and what appeared to be a dagger-style tattoo. Then the intruder yanked free, turned and fired the gun his direction.
Jordan hit the ground, rolled to the side while praying that he wouldn’t be struck by a bullet. Was God watching over him? He wasn’t sure. The gunshot was loud enough to make his ears ring, but there was another voice, too.
“Jordan! Are you okay?”
He pushed himself upright, dismayed to see the figure disappearing around the side of the house. “Hurry, we need to get him!”
Bear followed the scent at a slow-but-steady-wins-the-race pace. The dog never flinched at the sound of gunfire, and he admired the K-9’s single-minded focus. He and Autumn followed in pursuit, and spread out to trap the assailant.
He ducked again at another crack of gunfire. He glanced over at Autumn, who lifted her weapon to return fire.
“Police!” she shouted. “Throw down your weapon and put your hands where I can see them!”
The figure in black kept going. The guy must have had experience with running, because he easily gained ground on them.
Of course, the way they had to keep ducking to avoid being shot didn’t help.
Then he heard the low rumble of a car engine. Not again! This guy was going to get away.
He put on a burst of speed in time to see a black sedan drive away. It took Jordan a minute to realize the assailant had parked down the road, then crossed to the house and pasture from there.
He bent over, bracing his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Bear trotted past him, continuing on the scent trail. Jordan couldn’t help but smile at the dog’s determination to follow the intruder to the very end.
Autumn followed her dog. Bear reached the edge of the road, sniffed for a long moment, then sat and let out a howl. Jordan was familiar enough with the tracking process to understand Bear was alerting on the scent that appeared to end at the road.
“Good boy, Bear. Good boy!” She tossed a rope toy in the air. Bear caught it, looking satisfied with a job well done. Autumn played with him for a few minutes, tugging on the toy.
Jordan caught up to them. “I should have had him back there.”
“I’m just glad he didn’t manage to hit what he was aiming at.” Autumn released the toy, glancing at him with annoyance. “You could have been killed!”
That shot had been too close for comfort.
“I know, I just didn’t want him to get away.
” He scowled and stared at the road the black car had taken.
“What I can’t figure out is how he found us here.
I mean, he knows who you are, but finding me here on the ranch?
” He shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense. ”
She sighed and bent to play tug-of-war with Bear for a minute. “Maybe he spotted my SUV in the driveway.”
“Maybe.” He didn’t like knowing the intruder had been on his property. And worse, he really didn’t like this guy knowing Autumn was staying there with him. “Let’s put your car in my garage.”
She tucked the rope toy into her pocket. “That’s a little like locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen.”
“Let’s go back to the house.” He fell into step beside her. “I have several trail cameras that I can put up so that we’re alerted to anyone getting close.”
She tipped her head to the side. “Why aren’t they up now?”
“My dad purchased them, then he got sick.” He flushed, thinking back to the argument they’d had.
He wished he’d been easier on his dad in those last months prior to his death.
“I thought they were a waste of money—it’s not like we’ve had trouble with trespassers.
I didn’t make it a priority to put them up. ”
“I see.” She glanced at him. “I need to call this in, so the attempt is on file. But now that he showed up here, it might be better if I head to a hotel. I don’t want to put you or your livestock in danger.”
A fist of panic squeezed in his chest. “Please stay. I won’t get any sleep if you leave.” They walked in silence for a minute. “Durango isn’t a bad watchdog. And we have Bear and Cutie to alert us to trouble, too.”
“I don’t know,” she murmured. “I’m the target here.”
The word target reminded him of the tattoo. “When I snagged the guy’s hoodie, the sleeve of his jacket rose enough for me to see a part of a dagger tattoo on his wrist.”
“A dagger tattoo? That’s great news.” She reached over to grasp his arm, her green eyes brightened with anticipation. “Can you draw it for me?”
“Sure, but it was a quick glimpse so don’t expect a lot of detail.”
“That’s okay. Whatever you can give me will help. I’ll run the dagger tattoo through the database to crossmatch with any of the people I’ve arrested. That should help identify him.”
“Good.” He wanted nothing more than to help Autumn put this guy behind bars.
And he was secretly thrilled she wasn’t packing up to head to town. He might not be a cop, but he was still determined to protect her, no matter what.