by Hope White
Everything started to make sense.
If the criminals thought Shannon was stealing, they’d demand their product be returned. If she pleaded ignorance, because she had no idea what they were talking about, they’d find another way to pressure her into returning the stolen product, like threatening someone she cared about...
That’s why they’d been after Zoe from day one. Not because she could identify the kidnapper, but because they could use Zoe as leverage against Shannon.
Jack and Romeo had to find Zoe, and they had no time to spare. They couldn’t do it alone so he sent two text messages, one to Sally Frick and the other to Detective Perry.
“This could be dangerous, buddy,” he said to his dog who sat patiently in the back seat.
Jack pulled away to convince anyone who was watching him that he was leaving, giving up.
But he’d never give up on Zoe.
* * *
Hiking.
Zoe was hiking again. Up into the mountains.
The last time she went hiking, she’d been with...
“Shannon?” she said, as she put one foot in front of the other.
“She’s meeting us up ahead,” a man’s voice said.
Zoe felt like she was floating, her boots light, her mind cushioned by a purple cloud of happiness. Yes, she was very happy, ecstatic because she was going to see Shannon.
Her friend had been lost for days. Search-and-rescue teams had scoured the mountain.
“Romeo?” she said, looking for Jack’s dog. Jack and Romeo must have found Shannon and were waiting for Zoe.
Someone nudged her from behind, she stumbled and nearly fell onto the snowy trail. She giggled, thinking how silly she would have looked falling down like a child.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw a large man wearing a ski mask pulling up another man who had fallen.
“Up!” the big guy shouted.
The man struggling to stand had a kind, furry face and bloodshot eyes. Zoe helped him up. “Upsy-daisy.” She looked at the guy with the ski mask. “Why are you being so mean?”
“We’ve got to get to Shannon before the weather breaks.”
“Oh, okay.” She turned to the man who’d fallen, and remembered who he was—Shan’s boyfriend, Randy. “Didn’t you hear him? Shan’s waiting for us. Come, come.” Zoe encouraged Randy forward.
She hadn’t a clue where they were going, but as long as Shannon would be there, it didn’t matter.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she spotted the fire lookout. Shannon had mentioned seeing God’s beauty from there. This had to be the place where she would meet Zoe and Randy. Zoe could hardly contain herself. She’d been so worried about her friend...
...Because why again?
Because she’d gone missing. And then authorities were saying horrible things about Shan, things Zoe refused to believe.
Zoe approached the last rocky bit of trail.
Her ankle turned and she lost her balance, but Randy grabbed her from behind.
“Thank you,” she said, stepping onto the porch surrounding the lookout. She went around to an open door.
“Shannon?” She stepped inside.
Shannon, who sat in the corner of the one room structure looked up. “Zoe?”
Zoe rushed to her friend and they embraced. “Randy’s here, too.”
“Randy?”
“Isn’t it great?” Zoe said.
“What’s going on?” Shannon said to someone behind Zoe.
Zoe turned and spotted a man she recognized. A police officer.
“Oh, Sergeant Peterson, thank you for finding my friend,” Zoe said.
Randy stumbled and fell onto the floor. Shannon went to his side. “Are you okay?”
The big man stepped into the lookout.
Shannon pulled Randy away and clung to him.
“Shannon?” Zoe said.
“Zoe, get out of here!” Shannon cried.
Zoe glanced at the big guy and then at Sergeant Peterson. “It’s okay, Shannon. Sergeant Peterson is here. He’ll protect us.”
The sergeant tapped his fingers against his belt.
“How could I have been so stupid?” Shannon said.
“What do you mean?” Zoe said.
The big guy grabbed Randy’s arm to pull him away from Shannon.
“No!” Shannon cried.
“Tell us where it is, or I’ll slice him up right here in front of you.”
“Stop,” Sergeant Peterson said.
Zoe sighed with relief.
“We’re waiting on orders,” the sergeant said.
“You don’t need orders to arrest a bad guy,” Zoe offered.
The sergeant looked at her.
“Use your gun, show him your badge.” Zoe motioned with her hands.
“Oh, Zoe,” Shannon said softly.
“What?”
“He is one of the bad guys.”
Zoe was confused. She looked at Shannon, then at the sergeant. Zoe couldn’t process what it was all about, but she knew one thing for sure. She wished Jack were here.
The sound of footsteps echoed against the wooden platform. Curt, the resort manager, stepped inside.
“Curt?” Shannon said.
“Yes, Shannon, it’s me, the man you’ve been betraying for the past three months.”
“I don’t know what—”
“Stop!” Curt stepped closer to Shannon. “Did you honestly think you could steal from me and I wouldn’t notice? Do I seem that stupid?”
“Steal what? Specialty linens?”
Curt burst out laughing. The other two men stood there, stone-faced. Zoe hugged herself. Something terrible was happening.
“You have my drugs and I want them back,” he said.
“I didn’t take your drugs. I didn’t even know I was transporting drugs.”
“Police found a stash in a bunker on the north face of the mountain,” Sergeant Peterson said to no one in particular.
“Tell me you didn’t store my drugs in a damp bunker,” Curt said to Shannon.
“I didn’t take and never had your drugs.”
“No?” Curt nodded at the big guy.
He crossed the small space toward Zoe and grabbed her arm.
“No, don’t!” Shannon charged and he backhanded her.
“You jerk!” Zoe bit the big guy’s hand that clung to her arm. He tossed her aside and she hit the floor, hard.
As she lay there, head throbbing, she decided to pray: for her life, for Shannon’s and Randy’s life. For Jack to come find her.
The sound of a dog barking gave her hope. Romeo.
“Did you hear that?” Sergeant Peterson said.
To mask the sound of Romeo barking, Zoe started singing “Amazing Grace,” rather loudly.
“Where are the drugs!” Curt shouted at Shannon.
“‘...to save a wretch like me...’” Zoe sang.
“No! Leave Randy alone!” Shan shouted.
“‘...Was blind but now I see...’”
“There’s someone out there,” the big guy said.
“Check it out,” Curt ordered, then turned and started kicking Randy.
“She doesn’t care about the boyfriend. She cares about this one.” Sergeant Peterson grabbed Zoe.
She yelped and stopped singing.
Romeo’s barking echoed across the mountain range.
Sergeant Peterson released Zoe and went to the window.
The barking continued.
He withdrew his firearm from his holster and cracked open a window.
“Nooo!” Zoe charged him.
The gun went off.
The sergeant shoved her aside and aimed his weapon at her.
A gunshot rang out
. Zoe automatically dropped to the wood floor and pinched her eyes shut. It didn’t hurt. Nothing hurt. How was that possible? She hugged herself and rocked back and forth.
“Freeze!”
She cracked open her eyes...
And saw Sergeant Peterson sprawled on the floor in front of her. Detective Perry stood in the doorway aiming his weapon.
What just happened?
Perry entered the lookout and someone pushed around him to get to Zoe.
Jack. He rushed to her and pulled her against this chest.
“You found me,” she said.
“Romeo found you.”
“Is he okay?”
“Romeo, right here!”
The dog darted into the lookout and rushed up to Zoe. “Help her,” Jack said.
Romeo nuzzled Zoe’s leg and licked her hand.
“Oh, Romeo, you’re my hero.” She glanced up into Jack’s rich blue eyes. “You, too, Jack. I love you both.”
FIFTEEN
As they sat in the conference room at the sheriff’s office, Zoe wondered why Jack wasn’t making eye contact. He’d been acting more aloof than usual since they’d returned to town. Was that it? In his mind, once the case was over, was their relationship over, too?
Or was he embarrassed that she’d professed to love him back at the lookout? She couldn’t stop herself. She’d been under the influence of the drugs they’d given her and had completely lost her filter.
The truth was she did love Jack or was starting to love him or... Whatever, it didn’t matter anyway.
“I made good money transporting supplies for the resort, extra money I donated to the community center youth programs,” Shannon said. “I had no idea I was smuggling drugs.” She shuddered. “So I was like a mule or something?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Agent Trotter said. “Curt Underwood was the leader of this operation, with support from Sergeant Peterson.”
Detective Perry clenched his jaw.
“I still can’t believe it,” Shannon said. “I volunteered with him at Angie’s Youth Club. That’s why I called him, why I trusted him above everyone else.”
“We all trusted him,” Detective Perry said.
“How did he get involved in this?” Zoe said.
“His son is seriously ill and needed treatment at Children’s Hospital,” Agent Trotter said. “Peterson ran out of money. Curt found out and made him an offer. Peterson felt he had no choice.”
“That’s so sad,” Zoe said. “So that’s why Curt’s men always knew where I was, because Sergeant Peterson told them?”
“That and because Kelly was tracking your phone. She’d also cloned Shannon’s.”
“That’s how she was able to send text messages that looked like they were coming from Shannon,” Jack said, leaning back in his chair.
“Once product started disappearing from your shipments, Curt hired Vic Jones to kidnap you, threaten you and convince you to turn it over,” Trotter said to Shannon. “But you didn’t, so they came after the people you cared about.”
“Randy and Zoe,” Shannon said softly.
“I’m okay,” Zoe said, glancing at Jack.
“He also had a second man working for him, the one who broke into Shannon’s house, and was killed trying to break out of jail. We suspect Curt was the other man at the scene.”
“But why blow up my house?” Shannon asked.
“To convince authorities you were involved with a violent drug cartel,” Trotter said. “Curt sent Kelly Washburn to cut the gas line and leave a candle burning, which set off the explosion. Kelly was who you saw fleeing the scene wearing a jacket similar to Shannon’s. Everything she did, she did with the intention of making it look like Shannon was a criminal.”
Shannon shook her head. “Why would she get involved in this? I mean, she didn’t have a sick child or anything.”
“Some people don’t need a noble motivation. They just like money,” Trotter said. “She knew Curt was having you smuggle product against your knowledge and decided the fact you two look similar could work in her favor. She was skimming off your shipments so she looked clean to her boss. Then, pretending to be you, she’d sell product to customers. She made a nice chunk of change.”
“That’s why Jeanie thought I was selling her drugs. Because Kelly was pretending to be me,” Shannon said. “And to think I kicked her out of the club because she kept demanding I get her more stuff. I had no idea what she was talking about and she became hysterical.”
“What about Jeanie?” Zoe asked.
“She’s home and safe with her father,” Detective Perry said. “If you want to press charges—”
“We don’t.” Zoe glanced at Jack, but he was still avoiding eye contact.
“Not only had Kelly been selling to kids at the community center, but she also took the lead on throwing us off course during the investigation,” Agent Trotter said, addressing Shannon. “She left the bloodstained clothes in the bunker to convince us you were too injured to survive, and she left drugs there as evidence against you.”
“What about the woman who died in the mountains?” Zoe asked.
“A customer of Kelly’s,” Trotter said. “The young woman had Shannon’s name written on a piece of paper, but it had the number for a burner phone probably belonging to Kelly.”
“Kelly Washburn did everything in her power to convince authorities you were the mastermind of this drug operation,” Perry said to Shannon.
Shan looked at Zoe. “Did you think...?”
“She didn’t,” Jack said.
Everyone in the room turned to him.
“Not for one minute did she believe you could be capable of smuggling or dealing drugs,” Jack reiterated. “She used your journal to try to prove your innocence. That’s how much she believed in you.”
Zoe offered a smile. He still wouldn’t look at her.
“Shannon, why didn’t you notify police sooner when you found out what was going on?” Agent Trotter said.
“I didn’t find out until after I’d been kidnapped. The kidnapper kept demanding to know where it was. I had no idea what he was talking about. Even after Randy told me not to trust anyone, I called the one person I thought was solid, Sergeant Peterson. That blew up in my face.”
“You couldn’t have known, honey,” Zoe said.
“No, but I should have,” Detective Perry said. “My apologies, Shannon.”
“Thank you. I’m glad everyone’s okay.” She glanced around the table.
Zoe noticed Randy wouldn’t make eye contact with Shannon either.
“I’m still amazed you survived out there for so long,” Zoe said.
“Me, too. I actually escaped that first day, but he caught me again and kept me hidden in a bunker on the east side of the mountain. Then Randy found me and helped me escape the second time. Randy?”
He finally looked up.
“Thank you.”
He nodded, and lowered his gaze.
Shannon turned to Zoe. “I’m sorry you got dragged into all of this.”
“Hey, it’s not your fault. Besides, I met some exceptional people while in town.” She cast a quick glance at Jack, who was studying his phone.
Her heart sank. Case over; relationship over.
“We’ll need both of you to testify against Curt Underwood and his men,” Trotter said.
“Of course,” Shannon said.
“Why do you need Zoe?” Jack said.
Again, everyone looked at him.
“She’s been in enough danger for one lifetime,” Jack offered.
“The players have all been arrested. There’s no one left to pose a threat to her,” Agent Trotter said.
Jack nodded but didn’t look satisfied with the answer.
Okay, so he wouldn’t even look at Zoe, but he was wo
rried about her safety? How...inconsistent.
They wrapped up the meeting and Shannon turned to Zoe. “I’ll be right back.”
Shan followed Randy outside to talk to him. Zoe watched the intense exchange from the doorway.
“Are you okay?” Jack asked, approaching her.
She turned to him, trying to read his shuttered expression.
“Sure,” she said.
“You don’t sound so sure of your sure.”
He was joking with her?
“I’m still processing it all,” she said.
“It can take weeks or even months to recover from a trauma such as the one you’ve experienced this past week. Wait, why am I telling you this? You’re the counselor.”
She nodded. “That’s right, I am.” Yet she had no idea how to communicate with the man standing in front of her.
“I’ve heard good things about something called EMDR for trauma victims,” Jack said.
“I’m familiar.”
“You could also—”
“It’s you, Jack. You’re what’s upsetting me right now.”
“Okay, I’ll leave.” He turned and she grabbed his arm.
“No, not you, the person. It’s your behavior.”
“Did I say something rude again?”
“No, that’s the point. You’re not saying anything. You can barely look at me.”
“I can’t help it. I’m going to miss you.”
“We can remedy that. We can—”
“No, we can’t.”
“See, I’m confused. I thought you felt—”
“I do. I feel a lot...about you. Which is why this can’t happen.”
“For a smart guy you’re making absolutely no sense here, Jack.”
“I can’t give you what you need.”
“And what’s that?” She crossed her arms over her chest, wondering where this was going.
“I will never be able to fulfill your needs emotionally, so instead, I will remove myself from your life so you can find someone who can. It was...” he hesitated “...amazing, knowing you, Zoe Pratt, spending time with you, even under the circumstances.”
He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Again.
