Abruptly suspicious, Robinson’s eyes narrowed. “I thought this was about a couple of joyriders. Is there something you’re not telling me, Kessler?”
“Not necessarily. This car belongs to Ranger Thomas. She’s a person of interest in another ongoing case. I need to find out where they stole the car from and if they saw anything that might help in that other investigation.”
“I don’t suppose you’re at liberty to tell me what that other case is, are you?”
From the way she worded the question, Jamison knew Robinson didn’t expect her to be especially forthcoming. She shook her head. “Sorry.”
“Uh huh, I thought so. Fine, I’ll keep them at the station. It makes no difference to me.”
“Thanks, I owe you one.”
Robinson carefully checked the road for oncoming traffic and then turned back toward Harmon. Jamison wasn’t far behind, but veered off as soon as they hit the city limits. She knew Brenda Thomas lived in the trailer park near the south-west edge of town. Minutes later, she pulled up behind the sheriff’s department issue patrol car and turned off the lights and engine. Macke greeted her as soon as she stepped out of the truck.
“About time you got here. We’re freezing our butts off.”
Jamison ignored her, but didn’t miss the amusement in Detective Hex’s eyes. Looking around the area, Jamison didn’t see how a search of Ranger Thomas’s trailer was going to help. “Lee won’t be here.”
“I agree,” Sheriff Macke responded. “The neighbors are too close for her to get away with dragging a kidnap victim inside. Someone would have seen something.”
“That doesn’t mean they’d report it,” Hex pointed out. “Most people avoid getting involved.”
Jamison shook her head. “Not here. This isn’t New York and these people know each other. If a strange car parks on the street for more than an hour, someone calls it in.”
“Regardless, we’re not getting anything accomplished standing here and I didn’t wait for you all this time to just walk away. Besides, even if they haven’t been here we might find something inside that will point us in the right direction.”
Jamison didn’t agree with Sheriff Macke, but they had little else to go on. Her expression grim, she followed the other two up onto the small porch and waited for the sheriff to knock.
“Harmon County Sheriff’s Department, Ranger Thomas. We have a warrant. Open the door.”
No one responded. The curtains didn’t flutter from an unseen observer and the setting seemed preternaturally silent in the early dawn chill.
“Think she’s playing possum?” Detective Hex asked in a stage whisper.
Jamison strained to hear the slightest sound. All she could hear was the wind in the trees. “No, the place is empty.”
Macke tried the door but found it locked. Before the frustration finished forming on her face, Jamison raised one booted foot and kicked the door open. She didn’t have time to play with humans as they fumbled for another way inside. To her credit, Sam didn’t say a word as Jamison led the way into the trailer. She saw the barrel of Macke’s drawn pistol out of the corner of her eye as the sheriff broke away to her left. Hex headed the other direction toward the back of the trailer, where Jamison assumed the bedrooms to be.
Jamison’s eyes adjusted quickly. What she saw in a scant few moments was enough. “This is nothing more than a crash pad. Thomas doesn’t live here.”
“I agree,” Hex shouted from the master bedroom. She spoke again as she headed back up the hallway. “There’s not a stick of furniture in the place and not one photo on the wall.”
“More fun, still. There’s not so much as a cube of ice in the freezer.” Sam re-holstered her Glock. Now what, Kessler? If this is a wild goose chase...”
“It’s not. I didn’t imagine that note or Lee and Cleo’s disappearance.”
“But how do you know it’s Thomas?” Hex clearly didn’t want to question Jamison, but it was important.
“A lot of little things that don’t add up,” Jamison admitted. “Besides, I know Thomas’s handwriting and she was the one who wrote that note.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “That’s really thin. I hope you’ve got more than that because it isn’t exactly incriminating evidence.”
Jamison started and reached into her hip pocket. She’d forgotten about the slip of paper.
“What’s that?” Hex asked, leaning over Jamison’s shoulder to see.
“I’m not sure. I took it from Thomas’s locker at work.”
Sam walked over beside her and glanced at the page. “Huh, looks like some kind of property deed.”
“What makes you think that?” Jamison asked sarcastically. “The words ‘Title Deed’ printed at the top?”
“Now just a damn minute, it’s not my fault your partner is missing.”
Sam’s hands were fisted at her sides, a sign of rising temper with which Jamison was unfamiliar considering the source. Sheriff Macke prided herself on maintaining self-control and her obvious tension was enough to make Jamison think twice. It wasn’t that she worried that Sam could best her in an altercation. The outside signs of forced restraint just reminded Jamison that the entire community was on edge. People they all knew and cared for had been injured recently. They were going to have to put aside their differences and work together to find Lee.
Jamison deflated like a balloon pricked by a needle. “You’re right, I’m just worried. Anyway, it looks like this deed is for a small plot inside the Adirondack Park.”
“Let me see that.” Hex snatched the deed from Jamison’s hands, studying it intently. “Look at this, Kessler. Now, technically the whole area is Adirondack Park but this property looks like it’s inside the national park boundaries.”
“How can that be?” Sam asked. “I thought there weren’t any private residences inside a park.”
Jamison briefly considered the conundrum. “There used to be. A long time ago, before the state set aside the land, cabins and homesteads filled these woods. When the park was established most of the cabins were purchased by the state.”
“Most?”
“Yeah.” This time Detective Hex answered the sheriff. “There are always a few hold-outs though. If this deed is valid, one of the owners must have held onto their property and passed it down through the family. Since Thomas’s name is on it, she either inherited the land or purchased it outright.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t the government have seized the land if they wanted to establish a park, whether someone wanted to sell or not?”
Hex looked at Sam like she’d lost her mind. “You do remember the Bill of Rights? No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process?”
Sheriff Macke snorted. “Right, and that was from the same government that herded Native Americans onto reservations and seized their land.”
“Are you always this suspicious or is it a social disorder?”
“No, I’m always this suspicious. It’s part of my natural charm.”
“If this is charm, I’d hate to see—”
“Hey!” Jamison interrupted. “As cute as this banter is between you two, save it for the honeymoon. Bigger fish, people.”
With her cohorts duly chastised, Jamison took advantage of the silence to study the deed. At the bottom corner of the old title was a tiny map intended to outline the boundaries of the property. Under the map, she could just barely make out some small print. “Edward Anson addition. It could be a few square acres or a few hundred miles.”
“I’ll give Seaver a call and have her run it through the computer,” Hex offered. “Let me see it so I can get a lot number off it for her to reference.”
With Hex on the phone, Jamison had nothing pressing to occupy her mind. Each time she was left without something to concentrate on in the moment, she felt like she might lose it. Fortunately, Hex didn’t take long.
“She’s on it. I told Chase to be ready to join us just as soon as we know wher
e to start looking.”
“Good idea,” Macke approved. “I should call the station and have some deputies standing by for a grid by grid search.”
Jamison remembered Deputy Robinson’s parting words when she’d picked up the inebriated teenagers. “Great, Robinson is going to love me.”
“What’s Robinson got to do with anything?”
“She picked up the joyriders for me and booked them into lockup. Robinson made a comment about looking forward to getting off shift on time.”
“If Deputy Robinson has ten sixteens,” Macke said, using the police code for detainees, “then she’s going to be too busy to help us out. Besides, I’m not sure an exhausted deputy is going to be much good to us anyway.”
“Especially if this area is where I think it is,” Jamison added, studying the deed.
“What do you mean?”
Rather than answer, Jamison handed the page to Hex. “Does that look like the Devil’s Rim area to you?”
Hex looked over the page, a baffled expression on her face. She shrugged. “From the legend, I’d say so but I don’t really know the area. What’s the problem?”
“Oh nothing much, except that the Devil’s Rim section of the park was closed to tourists years ago. It’s full of unexpected drop offs, sheer cliffs and heavy undergrowth. It’s far too dangerous for weekend campers or novice hikers.”
“Sounds like the perfect place to hide out with a captive,” Sam pointed out.
Jamison shook her head. “How would she get in there? The area isn’t maintained.”
“Are there any roads going into Devil’s Rim,” Hex asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Well, you’d better find out. Even if the area isn’t maintained, Ranger Thomas has access to park vehicles, doesn’t she?”
“Yes,” Jamison said slowly. “She does, and they’re all equipped with four-wheel drive. Maybe that’s why she didn’t need her car—she traded up.”
“You did say they passed you as you were leaving the park,” Sam said. “I know it’s not the height of camping season, but a couple of high school kids wouldn’t care about that. Chances are they were out looking to have a bonfire or something in the park and found the car with the keys still in it. Either way, we need to narrow down the search.”
“At least we have a place to start. The Devil’s Rim and Devil’s Peak areas are on the northeastern edge of the park. The region is hard to get to, but I think I know just the person to give us a bird’s eye view.”
“Who?” Detective Hex asked.
“Do you think she’ll do it?” Macke questioned.
“Of course, Lee is practically her sister in law. I’ll call to fill Dinah in on what’s happening.”
Jamison reached for her cell phone as the sheriff filled Hex in on the family situation. She had dropped her phone into the coat pocket earlier while speaking with Deputy Robinson, forgetting that she’d grabbed Lee’s cell off the phone table earlier. Both phones resided in the same pocket and one of them began to ring just as she touched it.
“Hello?” Jamison listened as a nervous woman began to speak. From her voice she sounded young, perhaps in her late teens or early twenties.
“Hi, you don’t know me but I found a beagle in the woods and this number was on the tag.”
“You found Cleo?” Excitement caused her to speak loudly as the blood sang in her veins. Macke and Hex stopped talking and watched her expectantly. “Is she okay?”
“Yeah, I guess so. I was just out on a day hike and the poor little thing ran right up to me. She’s soaked to the bone and cold, but I don’t see any injuries.”
Jamison felt so relieved that tears pricked her eyes. She had to clear her throat before asking, “Where are you now?”
“At the base of Colbert Mountain. I just finished the M22 loop trail and was heading back for my car when I saw the dog.”
Loop M22 wasn’t far from the old Myers logging road, out of use since the area was named a national sanctuary. It also wasn’t far from the remains of a town, abandoned in the late 1800s. Jamison didn’t think any of the original structures still existed, but that didn’t mean that a few of them hadn’t been rebuilt in the centuries since. That area was well within the borders indicated on Thomas’s deed. If Jamison could get Dinah to investigate from the air, they might be able to hone the search grid to something more manageable.
“Can you meet me at the Paul Smith’s Visitor’s Center? I’m in Harmon right now but I can meet you there in...” Jamison checked her watch. “Fifteen minutes?”
“That’s fine. It’ll give me time to warm up a little. Can you believe this weather?” Jamison rushed the young woman off the phone, belatedly realizing she hadn’t even asked for a name. “I’ve got to get Cleo, but I can tell you that we’re on to something. She must have either escaped or Brenda let her go. I’m betting she didn’t expect anyone to find her. In any case, Cleo couldn’t have walked far in the woods. It helps us narrow down the area.”
“Right, Detective Hex and I will start searching where the dog was found. You take care of the dog and then meet up with us.”
“I have a better idea. I think it’s time to split up. Do you have a hiking map of the park, Sheriff Macke?”
“Of course, what kind of police officer would I be if I didn’t have a map of something near my jurisdiction?”
“Good question,” Jamison allowed. “You and Hex start at the western trailhead of the M22 loop, that’s where the girl said she found Cleo. Have Chase meet you there. As soon as we hear from Seaver we can narrow the search parameters.”
“What are you going to do in the meantime,” Hex asked.
“I’m leaving Cleo at the visitor’s center and I’m going to start from the north. There’s an old logging town in the area and I’m guessing that Thomas has Lee down there somewhere.”
Hex pulled a notebook from her hip pocket. “Draw me a map. You’ve worked here for years and probably know the area better than anyone. Instead of wasting time starting miles from anywhere, we’ll start searching as close to that site as we can get.”
“Sounds good to me,” Sam said. “If we don’t find anything there, we can always fan out.”
“Just be careful. You won’t be able to go far on foot and if you get split up, someone is liable to end up lost. We don’t need more people to search for.”
Chapter Eighteen
JAMISON SCRIBBLED FURIOUSLY on the pad before she pressed it into Detective Hex’s hands and rushed out of the door. Fate had returned Cleo and along with her, a hint as to where Brenda had taken Lee. Foregoing all caution, Jamison dialed her sister with one hand as she pulled away from the trailer park. Her hands felt numb from a combination of the cold and the dread that had settled in her heart.
Before Dinah finished answering the call, Jamison began to speak. She filled her sister in on everything that had occurred in the last few hours. Barely pausing for a breath, Jamison outlined what she needed in order to get her partner back safely. Dinah’s reaction was not what she anticipated.
“Are you crazy? I mean seriously, that’s the only possible reason you didn’t call me before contacting the local police.”
“Dinah, I hardly think this is the time.”
“It’s exactly the time. You should have put the Panthera patrols on this as soon as it happened.”
Dinah was right. As a medicine woman for the community, Panthera protocol dictated that their own people would jump in if anything happened to Lee. They had some of the best investigators on the planet and their enhanced senses of sight, smell, and incredible strength were attributes not to be ignored. Jamison only wished things were so cut and dried, but living with humans set the stage for unpredictability.
“I didn’t have time. Honestly, since I found out about this I haven’t slowed down. Besides, this is a human killer and not an out of control shifter like last year.” Jamison realized she was babbling and took a steadying breath. “That’s not important righ
t now. Will you help me?”
“Of course, she’s my family too you know. Give me five minutes to throw some clothes on. I’ll call Mom and have her get the hunters into the park.”
With Dinah covering details that she couldn’t even wrap her mind around at the moment, Jamison felt the first bit of hope that she had all night. “That’s a great idea. I’d call the patrols myself, but I think they’ll mobilize faster if their Caber issues the order.”
Dinah actually chuckled. “Would you go up against Mom when she gets her dander up?”
“Not a chance.”
“Exactly, and when she hears what this is about she’s going to go postal. I think she loves Lee more than she does both of us.”
The comment elicited a laugh, but it ended on a sob. “I can’t lose her, Dinah. I love her so much.”
“You won’t. Lee just became a part of our family and we aren’t about to let that happen. Right now, she needs us to be strong so pull it together, Elder.”
Jamison nodded unseen by her sister. “Okay.” She took another breath. “Okay, I’m all right now. I guess I’m just freaking out a little.”
“Anyone would in your place. We just have to focus on getting her back. Where are you headed now?”
“A woman called. She found Cleo wandering in the park. I’m going to meet her and find out exactly where she was when that happened. It’ll give us a starting point for a ground search. In the mean time, I need you to start from the air and help us narrow the area down. We think Thomas found somewhere to hide out near that old logging town.”
“Shipper’s Village? Is there anything left standing there?”
“There must be. Her trailer hasn’t been lived in and I don’t see her as the type to hole up in a cave. Fly around the area and look for any signs of life, smoke from a fire...anything. That area is off limits so if you see something like that, that’s where she’ll be.”
“Got it. Keep your radio on you and I’ll contact you as soon as I know anything.”
Under Devil's Snare (Under Series Book 2) Page 21
