Alicia gave his arm a quick pat and nodded. “I know you’ll do your best. See you tomorrow.”
She left the building, leaving only Thayne and his newest deputy, Kyle Baker, to man the sheriff’s office. Thayne would be bunking down here tonight instead of heading back to the ranch. He wanted to be there when Philip Andrews woke up. Right now the man was so wasted Thayne had barely been able to get a straight answer out of him.
He probably should’ve arrested him instead of letting him sleep it off in the back room at the sheriff’s office, but the guy hadn’t technically broken any laws. That he knew of.
At least Kyle was keeping an eye on him.
The bell on the door jangled, and Thayne turned to face whatever crisis was about to hit next. Riley strode through the door, Hudson at her side.
Thayne groaned at the sight of her stubborn, beautiful face. “What the hell are you doing across town and out of bed? You should be resting.”
“I feel fine.” Riley lifted her chin and met his gaze.
“You’re lying. You’ve got dark circles under your eyes, you’re pale as a ghost, and your hands are trembling. In short, you look ready to pass out in front of me.”
“I always look like this during a case.” She shrugged and tapped him on the cheek. “Besides, how could I sleep knowing what kind of killer we’re looking for?”
“And if you’re right, the killer may have his sights set on you.” She wasn’t taking her brush with death seriously enough. Thayne glared at his brother. “Why did you let her leave?”
“Have you ever tried to stop either one of the Lambert sisters from doing anything?” Hudson crooked a brow.
Thayne couldn’t deny they were the most stubborn, muleheaded women. “Point taken, but I’m not happy about it.”
Riley ignored both of them and headed to the conference room, where she placed her laptop on the table and turned it on. “I have some news you’re not going to believe. Andrews may be our murderer.”
Thayne followed her inside. “What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t check your email lately, did you?” She hit several keys and glanced at him over the keyboard. “Willow didn’t get a response from you, so she called me instead.”
He recognized that bright, eager expression in her eyes. Which meant he’d missed some important news. “I’ve been dealing with a very drunk Philip Andrews.”
“Willow found some very interesting travel information on him.” Riley pressed several buttons. “Last week he rented a car from his hometown of Milford, Iowa. He drove over two thousand miles—which happens to be close to the round-trip distance to Singing River—and returned the car two days later.” She paused. “But that’s not the most interesting part. Ask me when.”
The back of Thayne’s neck twisted with tension. “When?”
“He turned the car in the day after the Jordans were killed. It fits. Kim knew what he was, so he killed her.”
“And he may want to kill Chloe.”
Thayne’s hand hovered over his weapon. He stared toward the back room where the man lay passed out.
“You’re sure?” he asked. “No mistake. I didn’t peg him for a killer.”
“That’s what makes them good at their job,” Riley said. “They hide in plain sight.” She motioned him around the desk. “I found two unsolved murder cases in which the wedding rings of the victims played a key role. Serial killers learn over time, and I think these were some of his first kills. Both have missing wedding rings, and both were found holding hands. One unusual characteristic is odd. Having two in two separate cases a year apart is unlikely. They’re ten years old, but one has DNA. If we can find a match to him—”
“He’s in the back room right now.” Thayne unholstered his weapon. “His DNA is there.”
Thayne strode toward the back room. Even as he closed in, he could smell the sour scent of alcohol and vomit. The air reeked. The odor obviously came from the wastebasket; the bed was rumpled, but it was empty.
“Baker?”
The kid peered at Thayne from the doorway.
“Where’s Andrews?”
“The john. That dude is hurting. I had to help him in there.”
Thayne knocked on the bathroom door. “Andrews?”
He didn’t answer. Thayne jiggled the handle. Locked.
Maybe he was bent over the toilet, too nauseous to say anything. Thayne knocked harder, and still Andrews didn’t answer. This was beginning to feel a bit too familiar. He pounded on the door and yelled with an authoritarian voice he’d learned in SEAL training. “Open up!”
When he still received no answer, Thayne kicked in the door. The tiny bathroom had one toilet; a sink; and a narrow, small window . . . which was unlocked and open. The man was so lean Thayne didn’t doubt he could fit. “Damn it!” He rushed out of the bathroom and yelled at his deputy to follow. “Andrews is gone.”
Baker stuttered and stumbled after Thayne. “How? I swear he was in no shape to go anywhere.”
“He played you. He played all of us.” Thayne lunged into the street, looking right and left as Baker headed to the back of the station.
Riley joined Thayne at the curb, her face clouded with worry.
“Andrews got away,” he said.
“Chloe. She’s either a loose end or his endgame.”
Thane plucked his phone from his pocket, but before he could dial, the phone rang. It was Cheyenne. A cold shiver cupped his spine as he answered it. “Everything okay, sis?”
“No. Gram and Pops were watching Chloe. Pops went to the cafeteria for some coffee, and when he returned, they were both gone.”
Riley had never seen Thayne’s face lose its color so quickly.
“What do you mean they’re gone?” he said and started back to the station.
Riley’s chest tightened and she grabbed Thayne’s arm, throwing him a questioning look. He pressed the speakerphone icon, and Cheyenne’s voice came through the line.
“I mean Gram and Chloe aren’t here. I had everyone in the hospital search, thinking maybe Chloe had decided to get up and Gram went with her, but . . .” She started to cry. “They’re gone, Thayne.”
It seemed impossible. The one thing they had tried so hard to avoid had happened. They entered the station, and Thayne put his hand to his head. “This is my fault. I pulled Baker away from the hospital. Don’t cry, sis.”
At Hudson’s startled expression, Riley told him what Cheyenne had said.
“They can’t have gone far. Your grandmother doesn’t drive anymore,” Riley said.
Hudson let out a long sigh. “That’s not quite accurate. We don’t let her drive anymore, but she thinks she can. She asks Pops for the keys almost every day.”
“Pops, do you have your car keys?” Cheyenne shouted. After a few moments, his sister let out a groan. “They’re gone. He left them on the hospital tray. She must’ve taken them. Hold on.” Shouts sounded through the phone, a rustling and finally a curse Thayne hadn’t heard escape his sister’s lips. Ever. A minute later Cheyenne picked up. “Pops’s truck is gone.”
Thayne grabbed the radio and put out a BOLO on his grandparents’ truck. “It’s an ’89 dark-gray Ford F-150. Wyoming license plates.”
He turned back to his sister’s call. “I’m coming to the hospital.”
Riley grabbed his arm, shaking her head.
Thayne paused. He was the sheriff. He’d screwed up. He needed to fix it.
“Don’t,” Cheyenne said. “There’s no point. I can handle searching the hospital and my clinic. I’ve already got our security officer looking through the video footage. If he finds anything, I’ll call. You do your thing, little brother.”
Thayne let out a tortured groan, clearly fighting the need to go there. “Answer me this: Did you see a tall, thin man roaming the hospital this morning?”
“I’ll ask around. It’s quiet here. Any visitor would have been noticed.”
“Okay. Keep in touch.”
&nb
sp; He hung up and raked his hand through his hair. Hudson smacked him on the back. “We’ll find them.” While Thayne coordinated the search for Philip Andrews and his grandmother and Chloe, Hudson waved Riley to him. “I just got off the phone with Madison.”
She gave him a questioning look, and he lowered his voice so as not to draw Thayne’s attention. “If Gram drove anywhere, I think it’d be home. I asked Madison to keep an eye out for them. I’m heading out toward the ranch to see if I can find them. That old truck is a bear and is always giving Pops trouble.”
That made sense to Riley, if Gram and Chloe were the ones in control. If Philip Andrews had them . . .
They had to consider every contingency. There was another place Gram might go. “If you don’t find her at the ranch, try the road out toward the disputed land between your property and the Rivertons’. I have a feeling your grandmother knows the area well.”
Hudson gave her a questioning glance but then nodded toward his brother. “Keep an eye on him. He’s got an overdeveloped sense of responsibility. He blames himself already.”
“You can count on it.”
Thayne ended his call. “Dad’s coming out to head up the search from here.”
She nodded. “Okay. What do we do then?”
He paced for a moment, then banged his fist against the wall. When he pulled away, he left a bloody knuckle imprint. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Best guess. Do you think Andrews could have taken Gram and Chloe?”
“If he was exaggerating his condition, it looks like it,” she said gently. “He disappeared at the same time as Gram and Chloe.” She stared out the window at the empty parking spaces.
“He drove here once. I’ll bet he did again.” He glanced at her. “Did Willow mention a current rental car agreement in the email?”
Riley shook her head.
“That’s too bad. Sometimes skirting the rules is a lot faster.” Thayne sat down at Quinn’s desk, picked up the phone, and called the judge. Riley couldn’t help but be impressed. She’d never seen a warrant issued so fast.
She grabbed her laptop from the conference room and did a quick search of the car rental companies available near Milford, Iowa. She passed two numbers off to Thayne, and she took the other two. He smiled. “I should be nervous you read my mind so easily.”
Riley’s calls were dead ends, but on Thayne’s second call, he hit pay dirt. He grabbed a notepad. “Make, model, and license plate,” he barked into the receiver.
He scratched the data on the notepad and broadcast the information over the speaker while Riley called Hudson and gave him the description.
Thayne blocked off the back room. “I’ll have Quinn get DNA samples from the vomit. Maybe we can find proof linking him to the other deaths.” He threw his notepad on the desk and rubbed his hands across his face. “Of course, it won’t help until we find them.”
She crossed the room to him and held his hand in hers. She didn’t want to say anything, but she had to. She kept her gaze averted from his.
“If he killed his wife, a woman he once loved, it won’t take much for him to kill his own child. If he’s taken Gram and Chloe and he’s also our serial killer, having loose ends would drive him crazy. According to the files I found, each of the previous crime scenes were meticulously cleaned. There wasn’t a speck of evidence left behind. That’s a level of dedication few people can achieve.”
“Where would he take them?”
Whenever a case became overwhelming, she always went back to the behavior, to the psychology. People didn’t change. Not usually. She drew him to his feet and into the conference room. “There are too many mountains, too many places to hide. Let’s figure this out.”
She sat down, but he resisted her. He paced back and forth before glancing at his watch. “Dad should be here by now.”
“Thayne. Tell me about Philip. What kind of man do you think he is?”
Thayne took a couple of deep breaths and sat next to Riley. He met her gaze. “A contradiction. He smelled of alcohol, was drunk, but had a two-year AA coin. He said he met up with someone at the diner but hadn’t taken a sip of liquor. He looked . . . guilty. When I finally got him into my office, he claimed he needed to apologize to his daughter.”
Riley drummed her fingers on the counter. “Was he telling you the truth?”
“Hell if I know. With what you found, added to what Willow told us and his sudden escape, and Chloe’s disappearance, it looks like he’s guilty.”
Riley’s head ached. “Let’s look at it from another angle. He’s a father who says he wants what? Redemption? Would he kidnap his daughter to do it?”
“Does he even view it as a kidnapping? He’s her dad.”
“That might make sense,” she said and turned when the front door opened and Carson Blackwood entered the building. Dan Peterson followed closely behind him.
Carson nodded to her, but his focus landed on his son. “I’m watching Dan while Fannie and the girls put their heads together to find Gram and Chloe. They promised to keep you informed if anyone shows up. You go find your grandmother, Thayne. She . . .” His voice broke.
Riley went to him and gave him a hug. “It’s going to be okay.”
Thayne grabbed his rifle and hat. “Alicia’s on her way in to man the radio.” He motioned Riley over and placed his hand on her back when she drew near. “Riley and I won’t come back until we find them.”
Thayne met his father’s gaze and gave him a sharp nod before heading to the door. Search and rescue was a part of every rural sheriff’s job, but for it to be Gram and Chloe in the hands of a potential serial killer made Thayne’s blood run cold. “Let him be an overzealous dad,” he whispered.
Just before he closed the door, he looked back at his father using colored pins to mark the spot where Gram and Chloe had disappeared, as well as potential search sites, on the county map mounted to the far wall.
He jumped in the SUV as several groups of townspeople on foot headed toward the sheriff’s office. News traveled fast in a small town. Hopefully this wouldn’t end up being a multiday search. If it did, he feared they wouldn’t find Gram and Chloe alive.
Riley’s brow furrowed. “The search parties could get hurt if Andrews is involved.”
“Dad knows that. He’ll keep the search focused as if Gram and Chloe left the hospital voluntarily. We know Gram was involved with Kim. Maybe she’s trying to help in her confused mind. You and I will focus on the Andrews theories.” Thayne drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “You’re a newcomer,” he said. “Where would you hide?”
“Mountains. I’d find a dirt road that didn’t look like it was used much, and I’d disappear. The Wyoming landscape makes a car visible for miles.”
“I agree. Let’s head toward Fremont Lake. It’s at the base of the Wind River Mountains, and there are a lot of trails from there. Pops’s truck is a four-wheel drive. On a good day, the vehicle can get pretty far into those hills without too much trouble.”
The car went silent. They didn’t talk about what they might find. They both knew the truth. Most abductions didn’t end well.
They wound their way into the foothills and up by the huge lake. Few people ventured up there this time of year. A smattering of snow frosted the mountaintops. The surface of the lake mirrored the jagged peaks. “No sign of his truck.” Thayne pulled over and checked his phone. “No news, either.”
“If I were looking for a place to hide, I’d be nervous,” Riley said. “I’d take the first off-road I could.”
“We could try the dirt trail on the far side of the Riverton property,” Thayne muttered. “It’s deserted, but the truck could definitely drive it.”
He maneuvered over a cattle guard and headed down the mountains, cutting through a piece of land that would take them along a curved road and spit them out on the other side of town.
When they cleared the lake, Thayne’s phone rang. He hit the speaker button. “Blackwood.”
“Sheriff,�
�� Pendergrass said, his voice tight. “We just got a report of that rental vehicle. It went through the crash barrier on Highway 17 heading toward the Jordan place. It’s over the edge about thirty feet. Looks bad.”
Riley grabbed Thayne’s hand and squeezed.
“I’m sending the rescue team from Pinedale,” the deputy continued. “They’ll be there soon.”
“How many victims?” Thayne could barely form the words.
“They don’t know. They can’t get to the car without assistance.”
“I’m fifteen minutes away.” Thayne skidded to a halt and turned the car around. His hands gripped the steering wheel hard. “Damn, I wish Jackson were here. He’s an expert in climbing these mountains.”
“But you have equipment in the back. I’ve seen it,” Riley said.
“I can rappel, but I only have basic first aid knowledge.” He flicked on the lights and pressed the accelerator. “It’s got to be Andrews, right? What if he took Gram and Chloe in Pops’s truck and then switched cars? Or maybe Gram and Chloe aren’t even with him.”
She hated to see him torture himself. “We can hope they’re safe. And that I’m wrong about Philip Andrews.”
Thayne pushed the car even faster. “You being wrong doesn’t happen very often.”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “Nothing about this case feels right, Thayne. I’m in uncharted territory. I don’t have enough information to do my job. If it makes you feel better, Andrews’s behavior is erratic. Messy, even. That doesn’t match my theory of a meticulous goal-oriented killer.”
Too quickly they eased into the mountains. Deputy Ironcloud’s four-wheel drive was parked ahead. Thayne stopped the car and jumped out, not waiting for Riley. “What have we got?” he asked Ironcloud.
Ironcloud stood near the edge of the road, measuring the break in the barrier. He looked up when Thayne joined him. “No movement.”
Thayne peered over the side of the small cliff. An SUV was upside down, front grille facing toward them, steam spewing from the engine. He couldn’t see any motion, but the side window was painted with a stripe of blood.
Forgotten Legacy Page 19
