Ominous

by Lisa Jackson

  Heart rate accelerating, Kat moved closer and picked up a piece, turning it over in her hands. She recognized the pattern. “Found something!” she yelled jubilantly.

  “I’m coming!” Ricki called back.

  She appeared a few moments later, her rapid footsteps thunking on the wooden planks. She leaned down beside Kat, and they examined the pieces. “That’s it, but not a lot of it.” She then stood and looked around. “I suppose anybody could have gathered up strands at any time.” She picked up the largest pieces.

  “They’d have to have access to your father’s ranch,” Kat said. A distant part of herself was glad the bits of wire had been found where it was expected, on Dillinger land, not Kincaid. Not that it proved anything, but still …

  “Who would know to steal it? Someone who worked here? Had access? Did they just come across it and decide to take it?” Ricki glowered at the thought. “There’ve been a lot of hands through here over the years. Need to narrow it down some.”

  Kat said, “Dad has a list of suspects he compiled about the missing girls from fifteen years ago. His top three left about the same time the girls stopped disappearing, but all three of them are now back in Prairie Creek.”

  Ricki squinted at her. “Rafe Dillinger fits that category. He on the list?”

  Kat nodded.

  “Rafe drinks too much, and he’s a mean drunk, but I don’t know. Doesn’t seem like him. Ira tried to straighten him out when he was in high school, and it didn’t take.” She dusted her hands on her jeans. “Who are the other two?”

  “Cal Haney and Skip Chandler.”

  “Chandler’s name just keeps coming up. I’m not sure either one of them has ever worked at the Rocking D, but they could have been around.”

  “There are more names on his list. I know them by heart. It’s been Dad’s obsession. I can write ’em down for you.”

  “All right. Sam should be back by now. Let’s go talk to him.”

  Ricki gave a curt good-bye to Ira as she and Kat traversed the lodge, in through the back and out the front. Delilah and Sabrina were still upstairs, and Kat heard the baby fussing and Delilah’s soft cooing as she shut the front door behind them and climbed into Ricki’s Jeep.

  On the way back to the station, Kat’s brain was cluttered with thoughts of the wedding, Blair, and the baby, and she forced them aside with an effort. She was deeply involved in this investigation, and her personal life needed to be put on hold. “Ruth has a list of suspects too,” she said. “Mostly the same names as my dad’s, but a few extras.”

  Ricki wheeled into the back lot. “We’ll put them together, toss around ideas, and see what shakes out. Sam went to interview Debra and Jeremy Donovan again, and Addie’s boyfriend, Dean Croft. Volunteers are still walking the fields, but there’s been no sign of Addie. She might have been transported by vehicle, and her abductor could have gone back on the road and be miles from Prairie Creek by now.”

  Kat didn’t feel like he was that far away. But then she had the information Ricki didn’t know about yet. “I want you and the sheriff to hear a tape I recorded this morning from Ruth. It’s about a crime that took place fifteen years ago. A man attacked Ruth and raped her.”

  Ricki’s head swung around. “That’s what she was coming in about?”

  “I was there too, and so was Shiloh. He snapped a Polaroid of us skinny-dipping, and we all ran. But he caught Ruth.”

  “What?”

  “I know. We fought him off her, but he chased us. He wore a mask. We never saw his face. We were kids, and we swore to Ruth that we wouldn’t tell,” Kat said grimly. “We kept that promise, but Ruth has finally come forward. Listen to the tape. It’s all there.”

  “Okay.”

  “Ruth thinks her rapist is still around, and that there’s a strong possibility he’s related to Addie’s disappearance and Courtney’s kidnapping. I don’t think she’s wrong.”

  Ricki gave Kat a long look but apparently decided to let the matter lie for the moment. Kat didn’t elaborate. Soon enough the whole world would know anyway. As soon as the PLAY button was pushed on the recorder.

  Chapter 23

  Sheriff Sam Featherstone punched the OFF button of the recorder and then sat back in his chair. Ricki and Kat were in chairs across from him. He had already slid the black-and-white photo of the three girls from its gold envelope, which had made Kat clench her teeth in embarrassment, then slipped it back inside once he’d taken the measure of it. He’d also looked at the one Shiloh had given Kat, its matching envelope now beneath Ruth’s. The pieces of barbed wire Ricki had picked up from the Dillinger outbuilding were sitting on his desk next to the recorder.

  Sam said, “We’ll fingerprint the envelopes, but it sounds like they’ve been well handled, and it’s unlikely our doer would be careless enough to leave prints.”

  It wasn’t really a question, but Kat nodded. Sam then reiterated what she had told him when she and Ricki had first walked into his office, his eyes on Kat. “You and Ruth both think her attacker from fifteen years ago is involved in Addie Donovan’s current disappearance and Courtney Pearson’s death.”

  “Shiloh and Ruth got those pictures recently, so he knows where they are and dropped those envelopes in their mailboxes. Courtney was reported missing about a month before the attack on Ruth. Erin Higgins and Rachel Byrd disappeared earlier. Everyone concluded they were runaways.”

  “Your theory is they all were kidnapped,” Sam said.

  “Yes. Now. Shiloh wasn’t kidnapped, she just left town, so it seemed like maybe those other girls left on their own too … but Erin and Rachel had no history of running away. Courtney was wilder, but even she hadn’t left home, according to her mother. Ruth was attacked about that same time, and now we discover Courtney’s body just after Addie Donovan disappears… Yes, I think there’s someone out there kidnapping women and holding them hostage.”

  “As their own personal sex slaves,” Ricki said softly.

  Sam’s face was grim as he picked up a strand of barbed wire. “Courtney could have been held somewhere on forest land behind where she was found. There are lean-tos and sheds all over hundreds of miles of acreage. Not supposed to be built, but they are, and hunters use them.”

  Ricki said, “We’re already checking into the backgrounds of anyone who worked for or was somehow connected to the Rocking D.”

  “Your father always believed those girls weren’t runaways,” Sam said to Kat.

  “He compiled a list of suspects, and Ruth made her own list.” Kat pulled Ruth’s small notebook out of her purse and handed it across the desk to Sam.

  He glanced at the list of names in the notebook. “Ruth thinks one of these is her stalker, and the man who attacked her fifteen years ago?”

  “She believes it’s a strong possibility. My dad is the one who really knows this case.”

  He handed the notebook back to Kat. “Go ahead and talk to Patrick.”

  Kat was relieved to get the okay from the sheriff himself. They discussed the case a bit more, then Ricki and Kat returned to Kat’s desk, and they went over Ruth’s list, comparing it to the names Kat knew on Patrick’s.

  “Dad doesn’t have Jimmy Woodcock on his list,” Kat said.

  “Find out why Ruth added him,” Ricki said.

  “Ruth hinted that one of her clients should be on the list, but she wouldn’t name names.”

  “Well, we’ll start with these and see how far we get.”

  Ricki was called away by the arrival of the ME’s report on Courtney Pearson. Alone, Kat picked up her desk phone to call Ruth, who answered right away. When Kat posed the question about Woodcock, Ruth explained about his obsession with porn and how it was often seen with sexual predators.

  “You mentioned a client that you thought should be on your list,” Kat nudged.

  “You know I can’t reveal his name. I’ll think about how I want to handle him.”

  “Well, don’t do anything rash.”

  “Don�
�t worry.”

  Kat’s attention was grabbed again by the red velvet cupcake, still sitting on her desk. She’d hardly noticed it since getting back from the Dillingers, but now her stomach trembled. Damn, this was getting old. “I wanted to ask you, how’d it go when you told your parents?”

  Ruth made a disparaging sound. “I didn’t expect them to understand, and I was certainly right. But at least it’s out there. Other girls need to be warned. We have to stop him, catch him, put him away for good.”

  “We will,” Kat told her with certainty.

  After she hung up, her phone rang almost immediately. It was Ricki. “They’re pretty sure Courtney’s death was a suicide, but the barbed-wire manacles were there a long while. Handcuffs. Looks like she was held against her will. Probably the reason she killed herself.”

  Her eyes drew back to the cupcake. It sat there … sweet … red …

  “Lividity shows the body was moved, otherwise all the blood would have pooled in one area, and it didn’t. She may have killed herself, but someone transported her to where she was found. Could have trucked her from anywhere across that forest land.”

  Blood red …

  “So, maybe he’s here and maybe he’s not. We’re looking, but there are thousands of acres behind where Courtney was found. A lot of property butts up to Forest Service land, a lot of makeshift roads. If she was kept hidden somewhere in those acres, it’s going to take a while to find where, maybe a long while.”

  Ricki signed off, sounding somewhat down. Kat felt the same way. She swallowed hard, feeling her throat tighten. She swept up the cupcake, walked quickly toward the break room, and veered toward the bathroom. Without hesitation, she tossed the confection in the trash.

  Then she ran for the toilet and vomited again and again.

  Shit.

  *

  “Who do you think this guy is that’s going to see Ruth professionally?” Patrick asked Kat two hours later. She’d called him on her cell as she was heading back to her apartment and told him about Ruth’s list, so they were comparing names. Most were the same, but Ruth had added Bryce Higgins to her list, Erin Higgins’s brother, who’d been big and burly since puberty, and had been loud and angry, damn near obnoxious, when his sister went missing, then later on had acted as if the deed had never happened, as if all his earlier actions were just posturing. Her father had decided to move Scott Massey up on his list because he was an avid hunter whose property was remote and nestled up to Forest Service land on a trajectory to where Courtney Pearson’s body was found.

  “I don’t know who he is, and she wouldn’t say.” Kat reached one hand into her glove box as she drove and came up with a pack of gum. She pulled out a stick, unwrapped it, and folded it into her mouth, proud of her one-handed dexterity. “She’s professionally bound.”

  “Her office is right across the street from Goldie’s Used Furniture,” he said reluctantly. “I could stop in and see her. Ask her a few things.”

  Kat could have laughed out loud. Goldie Horndahl was one of Prairie Creek’s snoopiest, most gossipy women. Anything you ever wanted to know about anybody, and a lot that you didn’t, came flying out of Goldie’s mouth every time you ran into her. She’d also been sweet on Patrick Starr for as long as Kat could remember. “You’ll just encourage her, and she’ll never tell you anything that matters.”

  “Bet she knows every one of Ruth’s clients.”

  “I’m not taking that bet.”

  “I could take her out to dinner, see what she says.”

  “You’ll never get rid of her,” Kat warned.

  Her father humphed. “On the list there are the guys who left Prairie Creek and came back, and there are the ones who were here the whole time. I’m starting to lean toward the guys who’ve been here the whole time. Courtney was held somewhere around here all those years.”

  “We don’t know that,” Kat said. “He could have brought her back. She’s been missing a long time.”

  “Why would he bring her back? Doesn’t make sense. He was getting rid of the body.”

  “I’m inclined to agree with you. I just don’t want to jump to conclusions and make a bad decision.”

  “You couldn’t make a bad decision if your life depended on it,” Patrick said with a chuckle.

  Oh, boy. She hadn’t told him about Ruth’s rape and the events that led up to it yet. She’d only mentioned that Ruth had compiled a list of names based on her own recent encounters with Cal Haney, Rafe Dillinger, and Skip Chandler and her experience as a therapist.

  Wait until he finds out about the baby …

  “Kat?”

  She realized she’d missed whatever he’d just said. “Yes?”

  “I asked who you wanted to interview first.”

  “I’m not sure.” In truth, she had much still to do at work. Some texts on Addie’s phone to her boyfriend, Dean, had sounded like they were planning to secretly meet, although they were mostly from Addie and could be hopeful yearnings rather than a serious plan. Nevertheless, Ricki wanted to talk to Dean Croft again, and Kat did too.

  Her father said, “I’ll take Rafe Dillinger.”

  Kat just managed to keep from rolling her eyes. “You still don’t believe me that Rafe was the one who got Darla Kingsley pregnant,” she accused.

  “Doesn’t hurt to follow up.”

  “Ricki’s already talking to him. He’s a Dillinger.”

  “I’ll take Massey then. I know where he lives, and I’ll check on him.”

  “Maybe I should go with you.”

  “No. Dad.” She fought her annoyance. Everything seemed to irritate her these days. “This is what I do for a living. I’ll make sure Ricki and Sam know who I’m interviewing and when. And Massey’s married. I don’t see our kidnapper having a wife in the picture. You’re the one who needs to be careful during interviews. You’re not a cop anymore.”

  He grunted. “It’ll work in my favor. Less official.”

  She knew he didn’t really believe that. He missed being on the force, but she wasn’t going to argue further. “Ricki and Sam have got their eyes on Skip Chandler, among others.” She’d told him about Skip’s interaction with Ruth’s daughter, Penny. “I’m not planning on doing anything tonight. I’m just heading home.” All she wanted was a hot bath and something to eat, though she wasn’t sure exactly what that was going to be.

  “Guess I’ll give Goldie a call.”

  Hearing the reluctance threaded through his voice, Kat said, “You don’t have to. The department’s all over this. You and I both have enough suspects to hold us for a while.”

  “No time like the present.”

  She shook her head. Her father was nothing if not tenacious. It’s what had made him such a great detective. Her mind touched on the picture of the three of them skinny-dipping that Ruth’s rapist, and possibly Courtney’s killer, had sent to Shiloh and Ruth, and she said, “I think Addie’s been kidnapped by the same man who kidnapped Courtney.”

  “We both do.” They’d already been over that.

  “This guy left Courtney’s body close by because he wanted us to find her. Maybe it was convenient. Maybe that’s why he chose the spot he did. He had to get rid of her. But he also likes to taunt. And he may be the same guy who stalked Ruth a few nights ago at her home.”

  “He’s gone active again.” This too was something they’d gone over. “That’s why I don’t want you seeing Massey alone.”

  “I’ll make sure Joleen’s there. But I’ll stop by your office, and we’ll talk before I go out there. Right now I’m going home.” She pulled out her wad of gum and stuck it inside its leftover wrapper. It had helped slightly, but she was still feeling uncomfortable in the midsection.

  *

  It turned out that Kat missed a half day of work the next day, and a full day the next. She blamed it on the flu, but in truth, she was pretty sure it was her pregnancy keeping her in bed. On the third day, she dragged herself to work and was at her desk, catching up, wh
en Shiloh breezed in and plopped down in the chair opposite her.

  “I want to help,” she said determinedly, her blond hair a braided rope down her back, her face sun-kissed, her blue eyes hard. “Stop freezing me out.”

  “I’m not freezing you out. I haven’t been at work.”

  “Did you see today’s paper?” She tossed a copy of the Prairie Winds onto Kat’s desk, and it sailed into her lap.

  “What is it?” Kat asked, picking it up and scanning the front page. Jimmy Woodcock’s headline writing was as sensational as ever: THERAPIST VICTIM OF RAPE HERSELF. “Oh no.”

  “Apparently word leaked from your department here, and Woodcock ran with it, although there’s not much there, just that it happened a long time ago and she was finally coming forward.”

  Kat quickly read the article. It was more innuendo than fact, but it did mention Ruth’s name. “Woodcock put in that Ruth thinks there’s a link between her rape and the missing girls from past and present.”

  “Kinda throws it all out there,” Shiloh said.

  “This is what we all wanted, but it’s still hard to see it in the paper. Good thing Ruth already told her parents.” And my brother.

  Shiloh grimaced. “Hope she handles it okay.”

  “Yeah,” Kat said soberly.

  “Woodcock also says Courtney Pearson’s death was a suicide and the investigation is ongoing. Beau and I talked it over, and we want to be a part of it.”

  “Thanks, but we’re good.”

  “This is what I mean. You’re freezing me out.”

  “I can’t talk about the investigation. You know that, and I already got my hand slapped once.”

  “Why? What do you mean?”

  “Nothing.” Kat shut that down right away. She didn’t need Ricki, or anyone else on the force, overhearing her talking to Shiloh about the case. She’d already had enough trouble with her father. “There’s nothing for you to involve yourself with.”