Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
Lydia pressed her arms against her side, laced her fingers together and bit her lower lip. What had Eva discovered?
“Go ahead,” said River.
“I pinpointed the call to where that public land comes up against Gregory Larson’s property.”
“Are you sure? There’s nothing out there. The closest structure is that clubhouse over a couple of hills. There was no indication Elsie had been there.”
“It looks like the call came from between the clubhouse and the property line at the bottom of the hill,” said Eva.
Lydia thought about what River had said about Elsie and her abductor appearing to have been lifted into the air.
She touched River’s arm. What if they hadn’t gone up but down?
The realization caused her to remember why she thought she had seen Gregory Larson in a different context other than his real estate ads.
“Eva, I think Gregory Larson might be connected to the kidnapping,” she said.
“Years ago, he was involved in a custody suit with his ex-wife. It was on the local news. The wife was alleging that he had extremist views because he was into survivalist thinking, stockpiling guns and stuff. What if there’s a hidden bunker on his property and that’s where Elsie is? ”
River jerked in his seat and slowed the car down. “Lydia might be right. If the bunker is deep underground, that would explain why the dogs lost the scent.”
“Give me five minutes,” said Eva.
“Can you find out who on the task force is close? We need to go out and search that place again. I wonder if Gregory owns an older model tan SUV?”
“Because this is urgent, I’ll drop everything and get right on this.”
“Thank you, Eva.” River hung up.
“That has to be it,” said Lydia feeling a rising sense of hope.
“The bunker entrance must be really well concealed.” His words came out in staccato rhythm, as if his thoughts were racing. “I wonder if there’s a second entrance in that clubhouse.”
Lydia’s heart pounded. Was she finally going to hold Elsie again?
“I’ll drop you off at the police station.”
“That will eat up precious minutes. I’m going with you. If Elsie is hidden in those hills, I want my face to be the first one she sees.”
“This could be dangerous.”
“I don’t care. I need to know my daughter’s safe.”
River shook his head. “Somehow, I don’t think arguing with you is worth the energy expenditure. Hopefully, we’ll have two or three more armed officers. If I say you need to hang back or stay in the car, you need to comply.”
“I understand.”
River took the turn that would lead them out of town. The phone rang again. Eva. Lydia pressed the connect button.
“Eli and Maren are close by. They should be able to meet you up there within a few minutes. There’s no tan SUV registered to Gregory, and he’s not answering his phone.
I talked to his assistant in his office.
She hasn’t seen him in the last day, and he missed a real estate showing.
She hinted that his financials are not as good as they used to be.
He was heavily leveraged in a real estate venture that went belly up and his divorce cost him big-time. ”
“Good work,” said River. “Do you think that is probable cause for us to search his property under suspicion that he’s involved?”
“I’ll talk to Emmett. If you had a clear link between him and either Sheryl or Norm, that might help,” said Eva.
“Okay, thanks.”
Lydia stared down at the phone after ending the call. “I never met Gregory before we saw him at the clubhouse. Sheryl and Norm certainly never mentioned him.”
“I wonder what the connection is. Gregory had a financial need and maybe even some empathy because of his own custody battle. Did Norm like to shoot skeet?”
“I’m not sure he even owns a gun.” Something clicked in her mind. “He is a member of a drone club, though. There was a guy flying a drone that day we were up there. Maybe the club utilizes Gregory’s land.”
“That must be it.” River came to the turnoff that would lead to the dirt road and creek where the two properties connected.
As they rumbled up the dirt road, she took in a breath to try to release the tension that had invaded her muscles.
River pulled over and stopped the patrol vehicle. “Frankie and I are going to get out and have a look around while we wait for the others. You stay here in the car.”
She nodded. She watched as River led his K-9 around the area while Maren and Eli pulled up and got out of their respective vehicles.
Lydia continued to sit in the car while the three officers worked the area with their K-9s. River’s phone rang from where he’d left it on the console.
“Hi, Eva. It’s Lydia. River’s not in the car.”
“Let him know that Emmett said we do have probable cause to go on the land with the cell phone call having been made from there. Where the call was made from is triangulated off of towers, so it’s not exact, but I’m sending a map to his phone.
It’s only a short distance up the hill from the boundary between the public land and Gregory’s property. ”
“If this bunker is deep underground, so far down that the dogs would lose the scent, wouldn’t Sheryl have had to be above ground for the signal from her cell phone to work?”
“Maybe. I know mountains will often block a cell phone signal,” said Eva.
Search and rescue might have called off the search by the next morning when Sheryl made the call. River had said something about the search going through the night.
Lydia grabbed the phone and pushed the door open, running over to River with the news.
While the other handlers took off with their dogs, Lydia walked back and forth across a swath of land that had a lot of brush.
In one spot, her footsteps sounded different.
She whirled around and jumped up and down.
The ground beneath her had a hollow sound.
River and Frankie walked over to her.
“I think this must be where the bunker is. Listen.” She jumped up and down again.
“It could be,” he said. He turned one way and then the other. “There has to have been a mechanism to open the place up for them to have disappeared so fast—”
His words were cut off by the sound of gunshots. They both dropped to the ground as did Eli and Maren. The shots were coming from downhill, where their vehicles were parked. No way could they get back to them.
More shots were fired. Lydia and River, with Frankie taking up the lead, crouched and headed for a bush that would provide a degree of cover. “We need to get out of range,” said River.
The other two handlers were headed up the hill with their dogs as well. Maren and Eli moved from a cluster of trees to some brush. When Lydia glanced over her shoulder, she saw a man close to the patrol vehicles. Her breath caught. What if he disabled the vehicles? They would be on foot.
“I’m calling for police backup.” River seemed to know what she was thinking.
It would take the Ridge police at least twenty minutes to get out here. Did they have that kind of time?
A shot zinged over her head. Lydia dropped to her stomach, trying to still her breathing and slow her racing heart as she lay on the hard ground. River crawled over to her.
“The others are signaling that they will hold him off if he tries to get up this mountain. He’s at a disadvantage because he’s downhill from us. Frankie and I need to get you to where it’s safe.”
They moved up the hill. The clubhouse and the skeet shooting range came into view. There were no cars parked in the dirt lot.
River stared down the hill. “I wonder…”
Behind them, more shots were fired. She prayed for the safety of the other officers. “You wonder what?”
“That fireplace in that clubhouse. It looked like it had never been used.”
River and Frankie were already headed toward the clubhouse.
She ran to keep up with them.
When they got to the clubhouse, River yanked on the door. Locked. He stared at it for a long moment. “Simple lock.” He pulled a credit card from his wallet and slid it between the lock and the door frame. It opened.
Their feet echoed on the wood floor in the empty space. River dropped to his knees in front of the fireplace. Out of breath from running, Lydia leaned over, resting her hands on her knees.
“Let’s see what we have here,” he said.
* * *
Frankie pressed close to his side as River reached into the fireplace. The back wall was not solid, just two pieces of metal that came together in the middle.
Lydia straightened. “You need something flat and strong to pry it open.”
He could hear her pacing around the room and then retreating to the other rooms. She returned with a flathead screwdriver, which he pressed into the seam so he could separate the pieces of metal.
He pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. “Hello.” He could see a concrete floor and stairs.
Lydia squeezed his shoulder. “Elsie might be down there.”
“Yes, and we might be going into a firefight. Let me call Eli and let him know what we found.”
He pressed Eli’s number.
“Yes?” said Eli.
“We found a passageway in the fireplace of the clubhouse that might lead to a bunker. What is your situation?”
“The shooter appears to have retreated.”
“Can you and Maren get up here? I’m going to check this out. Someone needs to stay with Lydia.”
“Be there in five,” said Eli. “I’ll let Maren know.”
“Sounds good.”
Lydia stepped closer to him. “I’m going down there with you.”
“It could be dangerous. You need to wait up here with one of the other officers.”
“Elsie might be down there.” Her voice held a note of urgency.
Through the window that looked out onto the range and the parking lot, River caught a flash of motion. He turned. A car he didn’t recognize had pulled into the lot.
Lydia let out a breath and squeezed his arm. “What if he’s been sent by Gregory Larson?”
Now Lydia might be in danger if she stayed above ground. “We’ll go down the steps to hide.”