Chapter 5
5
A n hour before Chloe’s shift, Grayson popped a fever. Kade nursed a cup of coffee as Chloe called her boss, then asked him to hang out through dinner to keep her company. He agreed. Two hours ago, he’d texted Bree, asking if they could meet up and talk later that evening. He tried not to take her lack of response as an insult. Then again, she’d been the one holding onto a devastating secret for the past nine months, or however long it took to cook a kid and then drop the bomb on him.
Did she have a right to ghost him?
Not in his book.
Dinner came and went. Kade cleaned the dishes while Chloe gave Grayson a bath. Three-year-olds went to sleep early. By eight o’clock, the kid had his Spiderman pajamas on. Not a half hour later, he was tucked in and on his way to Dreamland. Good. Kade wanted to run a few things past his sister. Maybe even talk to her about what it was like to become a parent. Could he without giving himself away?
The minute Chloe returned to the kitchen, where he sat staring at a beer, not in the mood to finish it, her cell buzzed. She walked over to the counter and glanced at the screen. “It’s Hannah. I can call her back.”
“Go ahead and take it,” he said. “Dishes are already done.” A distraction would give him a few more minutes to consider his approach to the parenthood topic.
“Okay,” Chloe said before taking the call and putting it on speaker. “Hey, what’s up?”
Hannah started right in. “Have you heard from Bree? My dad said her truck was found on the side of the road and asked me to call around to see if anyone has heard from her.”
“What makes you think I would know anything about Bree?” Chloe asked. Concern caused her face to wrinkle. You never had to wonder what Chloe was thinking. Her face gave her away.
“Her truck was abandoned on the farm road headed toward the ranch, the back window was cracked, and the passenger door was left wide open,” Hannah said. “My dad called her cell to check on her, but Odin said she left in a huff, saying something about heading to the Sturgess ranch. She’s not responding to anyone’s texts, either.”
Hearing Bree’s name at the start of the conversation had caught him off guard, but the rest of the information was a sucker punch to the solar plexus. He tried not to give away his reaction. Instead, he studied Chloe’s face as she responded. His thoughts were all over the place, everything from the possibility of her being stranded and hurt to having jumped out of the vehicle after a teenager threw a rock.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Chloe said.
Kade set the beer down and gripped the side of the table. “Am I on speaker?” Hannah asked.
“Yes,” Chloe said.
“Take me off, please,” Hannah said.
“Sure.” Chloe covered the phone’s microphone with one hand. “This doesn’t sound good at all.” His sister moved her hand as panic seized in his chest. She said, “I don’t have any idea why she would’ve been headed to the ranch. She was there earlier to speak to my brother, though. He’s here right now. I can ask what she wanted.” Chloe paused for a few beats. “Okay. Hold on a sec.”
Then she tapped the screen, no doubt placing the call on mute, and turned her full attention to Kade. He was still trying to process the word missing.
“Do you know why Bree was returning to the ranch?” Chloe asked.
Kade shrugged. He didn’t specifically know the reason. “Could’ve been to talk to me. We left our conversation…unfinished.”
He waited for Chloe to ask why Bree had stopped by to speak to him in the first place. Instead, she returned to the call. His relief was short-lived. Something had happened to Bree.
Or was everyone blowing this out of proportion? Was it possible she was simply out of cell phone range? Knowing Bree, she could have stopped because a deer was on the road. She might have chased it away, following it into the woods to make sure it was far away from the road, and then got turned around.
No. The smashed window meant something bad had happened. Right?
Kade picked up his phone and checked to make sure she hadn’t responded. Still nothing.
“He doesn’t know,” Chloe said into the phone and then listened. “I’ll be sure to call if I hear from her. Please let me know if she turns up.”
“I have to go,” Kade said to his sister as he stood and picked up his cell phone. He then fished for his keys.
“I’m sure she’s grieving the loss of Zeke,” Chloe said. “Probably just turned her cell phone off.”
“At this late stage of her pregnancy?” he asked as he made a beeline for the door. “And with damage to her back window?”
“You’re right, except you know how old her truck is,” Chloe said. “The crack might have already been there. You know?”
He hadn’t seen it earlier at the ranch, so he couldn’t say one way or the other. “I guess.”
Chloe’s face twisted with concern. “I’d go with you, but I have to stay here with Grayson.”
“There’s a lot you can do from home. Like reaching out to everyone Bree knows to find out the last time they heard from her.”
Chloe nodded.
“Let me know if Hannah calls back, okay?”
“Of course,” Chloe said. She shot a sad, knowing look. One that said he wasn’t responsible for the pregnant girlfriend of his dead best friend.
Chloe had a lot to learn about this situation.
But she’d been right earlier. Bad news always traveled in threes.
“She’s been dealing with a lot,” Chloe said, stopping him at the door.
“More than the obvious pregnancy and death news?” he asked.
“Ever since her father’s diagnosis, she’s been stressed. Maybe she headed out early for Round Rock to spend extra time with her extended family before the holidays.” She didn’t make eye contact, which meant she was essentially throwing ideas against the wall to see if one stuck. Plus, they both knew she wouldn’t have abandoned her truck on the side of the road.
“What?” He hadn’t heard anything about her father having a medical problem. Then again, Zeke wouldn’t have talked about Bree or her family any more than absolutely necessary. He had enough respect for Kade not to constantly throw the relationship in his face.
“She’s been upset, understandably so,” Chloe reiterated. “Go find her and make certain she’s okay.” Chloe clamped her mouth closed before adding, “If anyone can locate her, you can.”
“I’ll let you know when I do,” he said before stepping out into the cold night. He probably should have worn a coat since he had a feeling he was going to be outside for a while.
The thought of anything bad happening to Bree or the baby, or both, sucked the air out of the universe.
He hopped into his truck, figuring he could return the rental by morning and headed toward the ranch. Rather than let his mind churn over what might have happened to her, he focused all his energy on tracking her.
Would she still be in the area?
The temperature had dropped fifteen degrees once the sun descended. It would take forty minutes to get to the farm road leading to the ranch, where she might be.
His brain snapped to wishing this was all one big misunderstanding. Shock was a liar. It tried to trick the brain into thinking a situation wasn’t real. That there was some other logical explanation. Compartmentalizing his emotions had been his survival mechanism growing up and during his military service. The skill helped tuck emotions into a box reserved for opening later. The stash in his head said it would be more like an explosion, but he’d deal with the consequences when they came.
Right now, he needed all of his powers of concentration to find Bree.
The forty-minute drive to her truck took twenty-five at his rate of speed. The sheriff was gone, so he slowed down as he passed the truck and parked fifteen feet ahead. What had she named it? Weezie .
The damn thing looked like it broke down more than it ran. The busted-out window sent a jolt of anger through him. Weezie was a piece of junk. Why hadn’t Zeke given her a vehicle to use while he’d been overseas?
The answer came almost immediately. Bree was proud. She wouldn’t have accepted it, which didn’t make sense, considering they’d planned to marry. Would she stick to her guns until the wedding day? Only then allow her husband to do things for her? Wouldn’t she want to drive a safer vehicle while pregnant?
Weezie had earned her name. She chugged and coughed worse than a forty-year, two-pack-a-day smoker. He remembered the sound vividly because it had signaled her showing up to the borrowed fishing cabin during their fling. It had also alerted him to the fact she was leaving.
A thought struck. Zeke might have loaned his vehicle to Bree. Once she’d received news of his death, she might not have felt right taking his property.
Damn.
Bree couldn’t see a thing through the darkness enveloping her, shrouding her, making her feel like she couldn’t breathe. Moving made her head hurt as she tried to blink her eyes open. A few more unsuccessful attempts to push out of the mental fog were worthless.
And then she heard the scuff of a boot loud and clear. The panicked feeling inside her grew like tree branches on steroids.
Was he back? Had he come to kill her as promised? Or toy with her a little while longer in his twisted game?
When she’d first noticed the sedan stopping behind her, she should have taken note of the license plate and called the sheriff. What the hell had she been thinking?
You were upset. You weren’t thinking straight. Plus, the high beams were blinding and folks stopped to help each other out in this town.
Nothing sinister had ever happened in Saddle Junction to her knowledge. Did her town have its problems like every other small town? Of course. Was it perfect? No. But murderers and serial killers didn’t even make the list.
So, yeah, she’d let her guard down.
And now? She feared she might be dealing with the serial killer she’d read about who’d been traveling around the state racking up victims. A man dubbed Razorblade Reaper had carved so-called art pieces into his victims before…
Bree shuddered at the thought of why they’d called him the Reaper. She forced her mind away from that grisly topic. Her first thought needed to be figuring out a way to save the baby. The thought that followed was what this might do to Kade. He’d lost a best friend. And now he was about to lose the baby he’d just found out belonged to him. Had he freaked out? Absolutely. But he was a good person. He was honorable. And once he made peace with fatherhood, he would have stepped up. There was no doubt in her mind, only regret that she hadn’t realized it sooner.
She’d been torn, then, about tying him down. About forcing him to be connected to her for the foreseeable future.
Now?
All she could think of was how awful the news would come down if this was Razorblade and he carried out his intention. The urge to bolt overwhelmed her, but lifting her arms felt as possible as uprooting a hundred-year-old oak with her bare hands.
Nothing happened when she tried to move her legs, either. Frustration grew inside her until she felt like she might burst if she couldn’t get to her feet and run the hell out of there.
Her life couldn’t end like this.
Determination took root inside her. She had to calm down or risk going into labor. Since she had no idea where she was, she couldn’t tell if there was any form of help nearby. A house. A hospital.
A face—well, not so much a face but more a shadowed figure—popped into her thoughts. It was fuzzy and blurry, and she couldn’t make out any distinct features. Had he been wearing a mask?
Could she scream? She desperately needed to let someone know she was here. Or would that give her away and tell him she was awake and alert? Perhaps it would cause him to give her more of the substance on the rag that rendered her unconscious. She couldn’t risk that happening.
She commanded her arms to move. Why didn’t her body obey? The foggy haze tugged at the edges of her mind. It was trying to suck her under. She’d be damned if she could fight against it let alone stop it altogether.
Another face broke through the cloud in her brain. Kade.
Bree fought to stay awake as darkness descended around her. She needed to get out of there to find Kade before it was too late.
Fight, she thought. Break free from the weights pressing down on her limbs and making them so heavy that she couldn’t so much as wiggle a finger. Kade would help her.
Do something, she thought .
No amount of mental cajoling seemed to work. Dusk crashed down on her anyway. And just before she closed her eyes for what she feared might be the last time, the scuffing sounds came closer.