Taken in Texas

by Susan Sleeman

  Kendall tapped her pen on the notepad. “Does she have a cell phone, or do you call the house?”

  “The house. She has one of those emergency phones, but she never turns it on.” He gave Kendall the cell and home phone numbers, as she would want to request the call records.

  She jotted them down. “Okay, so motive. You said no one wanted to harm her, but does she have a sizeable bank account that someone might try to get their hands on?”

  “I don’t know about sizeable, but she didn’t have to worry about money. Her husband, Oliver—Ollie to his friends—passed away three years ago. They never had children of their own. He made a good living in oil and left a generous insurance policy. Plus, she’s a retired teacher and has a nice pension.”

  And a wonderful woman he’d spent many weekends with growing up. Hunting and fishing with Ollie and eating Eve’s amazing cookies and playing board games with both of them. And then when Ollie passed, making sure Cord paid her back for everything she’d done for him by just being there for her.

  “We need to get a look at her bank account,” Kendall said.

  “Won’t be a problem. I have power of attorney. I’ll bring the paperwork back with me in the morning.”

  Kendall nodded, a quick, concise tip of her head that ended in a grimace of pain. She started to lift her hand toward her face but caught herself and stopped. “Is there anything else I should know?”

  He shook his head. “At least not that I know of.”

  She sat down. “Are you familiar enough with Eve’s belongings that you’d know if anything was missing?”

  “You thinking a burglary gone wrong?”

  “No. That wouldn’t explain why Eve is missing.”

  Unless...

  Kendall didn’t say the word, but her expression matched his gut feel as a detective. It could be a burglary if the intruder had hurt Eve and got rid of her body, then felt free to search the house because he knew she wasn’t coming home.

  It took a callous person to hurt an older woman and then invade her home. Callous and dangerous, making it even more likely that the creep could come after Kendall, and Cord would now have a second job in Lost Creek.

  Sure, he needed to find his aunt as much as he needed to breathe, but in addition to that, he would be watching Kendall’s back. Even if she balked at his every move.

  FOUR

  Kendall didn’t like the look on Cord’s face. She didn’t know what he was thinking, but he seemed determined about something, and with his focus fixed on her, she thought it must have to do with her. Maybe he was still freaked out about the potential for the intruder to return. Her dad and Cord had mentioned it. They were both excellent lawmen, and if they were worried, maybe she should be, too. Maybe worried wasn’t the word, but she should take care and keep an eye on her surroundings.

  “I’ll take a look around to see if I can spot anything missing,” he said.

  Kendall stood. “Unless there’s something else you want to mention, I’ll get started on dismantling the computer, and we’ll go from there.”

  “We’re good, and before you ask, I’ll be sure to tell you if I think of anything else.” He got up, too. “Good job.”

  “Say what?”

  “Your interview. It was thorough. Nice job.”

  A hint of satisfaction warmed her heart, but she washed it away before she let herself soften toward him. She headed for the living room and snapped on the light.

  “Whoa,” she said when she caught sight of contents from the built-in bookshelf strewn across the floor—books, knickknacks, picture frames and baskets. “Seems like our intruder was looking for something.”

  Cord’s eyes clouded with anger. “Or he did this to disguise his real purpose and make it look like a burglary.”

  She gestured across the room. “The shelves are dusty enough that we could try to put things back where they were. That way we can see if something is missing.”

  “Good idea.” He stepped toward the wall.

  “Tessa needs to take photos first,” Kendall warned.

  “Right.” He shook his head. “I need to forget I’m at my aunt’s house and remember it’s a crime scene. I’ll get Tessa to take the pictures. You start on the computer.”

  He was taking charge. Telling her what to do. In this instance it wasn’t a big deal and not a battle worth fighting. Plus she did want to get the computer ready for Tessa to take back to the lab so Kendall could get started on the image first thing in the morning. Or even tonight, if she could convince Tessa to take the computer to the lab.

  She crossed the room to the computer and sat in an antique ladder-back chair. As Kendall bent forward to grab her tote bag, her head felt like an elephant had raised a massive leg and kicked her. The aspirin hadn’t touched the pain at all.

  She wanted nothing more than to go home, curl up in her bed and sleep it off, but she wouldn’t miss even a second of her first investigation. Couldn’t miss it. If her brother Matt was in her situation, he wouldn’t run home to bed. She had to be as strong as him and couldn’t let her dad think she was weak at all. She’d worked hard for this job, where she could make a vital difference, and she wasn’t going to jeopardize her career over a bad headache.

  She heard Tessa come into the room and saw the camera flash several times, but Kendall focused on her own work. She photographed and sketched all wires and cables connected to the machine. After snapping on latex gloves, she labeled everything and then photographed it all with the labels attached. Next, she removed the power-supply cord from the back of the computer and from the wall outlet. Lastly she disconnected everything, bagged the cords and set them aside for Tessa.

  Hopefully, all of this was overkill, but unless they discovered that the blood wasn’t Eve’s and she was staying with friends, they had to assume something terrible had happened to her.

  Finished, Kendall swiveled to find Tessa had left the room and Cord was bending to retrieve items to place them in their matchings spots on the shelf. Her shock at seeing him had worn off, and she had to admit she was still utterly attracted to him. Most women were, she imagined, what with his thick head of hair, perfectly proportioned face and muscular build—not to mention his large blue eyes with crazy-long lashes. She could so easily be led astray by those eyes, and the few men she’d casually dated since then never had the same impact on her. Not that she dated often. Her career came first and she just didn’t have the time for a relationship.

  She sighed out a low breath to prevent him from hearing her and inhaled deeply for good measure before speaking. “Did your aunt ever go hiking or walking?”

  He turned his focus on her, and yeah, those eyes dug deep as usual. “She wasn’t an outdoorsy person. They bought the ten acres for Ollie. He was a big hunter and fisherman. She was actually talking about selling it and moving into town.”

  Kendall jotted that in her notebook. She wouldn’t forget it, but she had to look away from Cord, and that seemed to be the easiest way without alerting him to her discomfort.

  “You think that’s important?” he asked.

  “Not at this point, but you never know, right?”

  “Right.”

  “How about her memory?” Kendall asked without looking up. “Was she experiencing any memory issues? Maybe could’ve wandered off and might not be able to get back home?”

  “No. She was still very sharp.”

  Kendall wished they had more to go on, but what?

  She got up and strolled around the room, her focus landing on a lipstick tube poking out from under a chair. She glanced behind the chair. Eve’s purse lay on the floor, the contents dumped out.

  Kendall’s stomach dropped the way it did when she hit the bottom of a roller coaster ride. “You’ll want to see this, Cord.”

  He joined her, brushing her shoulder and peering over the back of the chair. �
�That’s not good. Not good at all. Eve might’ve dropped her purse and it spilled out, but odds aren’t good it would happen behind a chair.”

  Kendall gestured at the contents on top of the bag. “Looks like the guy dumped it out on the floor, then kicked the items under the chair and tossed the purse behind it.”

  “Tessa, can you come take some pictures so we can move a chair?” Kendall called out and instantly regretted it when her head pulsed in searing pain from her injury.

  “Be right there,” her sister replied.

  Cord stretched to bend over the chair. “Eve’s keys are here, too.”

  “Odd,” Tessa said. “The place was locked up tight.”

  “Maybe her house key isn’t on the ring.”

  “Maybe,” Tessa said. “But if her car key is there, we can check out her vehicle.”

  Tessa entered the room. “Which chair?”

  Kendall stepped back and explained their theory.

  “I’ll take the pictures, then you two can lift off the chair and I’ll shoot the items.” Tessa moved to the other side of the chair, and her bootie-covered feet whispered over the floor. She placed numbered evidence markers near the chair and the lipstick.

  As she snapped pictures, Cord went back to putting items on the shelf.

  “Ready for you to move the chair,” Tessa called over her shoulder.

  Without speaking, she and Cord carefully lifted it to keep from disturbing evidence.

  “Eve’s wallet is here,” Tessa said as she focused her camera. “Cell phone, too.”

  Kendall would love to look at the phone. “Hopefully the phone is unlocked.”

  Cord looked up. “Eve didn’t have a password when I set it up for her a few years ago, but things change.”

  Tessa snapped picture after picture until she stood back and studied the scene. “Okay, that’ll do it. You can look at these things, but be careful. I don’t want any smudged prints.”

  Cord seemed offended that Tessa was lecturing an experienced detective on evidence preservation, but she was like Kendall when it came to her job. They both played by the rules.

  Kendall grabbed a Faraday bag from her supplies and bent to retrieve the phone. The multilayered conductive mesh bag was coated in a rip-stop nylon and prevented any phone stored inside from being externally accessed and altered.

  Cord picked up Eve’s wallet and flipped it open. “Fifty bucks in cash and one credit card. I doubt she had more than one. But we can confirm that when we go to the bank tomorrow.”

  He drew his eyebrows together and let out a long breath. “Where could she be?”

  Without thinking, Kendall took his hand. She wished she wasn’t wearing latex gloves and could feel the warmth of his skin, but this way was probably better. “We’ll find her, Cord.”

  “Yeah, I know, but in what condition?” His voice broke, and his gaze darted around like he was a wounded animal seeking help.

  She couldn’t stand to see his anguish and reacted automatically to reach up and hug him close. He didn’t let even a moment pass before he circled his arms around her back and drew her closer. She inhaled his musky scent, that hadn’t changed, and her heart remembered how much she had once cared about him. Familiar yet foreign emotions crashed through her body as she warred with how to handle the surprise feelings.

  Did she pull away and let him see how he could still get to her? Or hang in there for a moment to provide the comfort he so obviously needed?

  He’d had such a rough time of late. Losing his family. Becoming a dad unexpectedly. Now this, with Eve. How could Kendall pull away and leave him to grieve alone? She rested her head against his shoulder and listened to his heart beat soundly under her ear.

  This is just platonic compassion I’m feeling, she told herself. Just because she’d broken up with him didn’t mean she didn’t still care about him and didn’t wish things had been different between them.

  Right.

  She’d been in his company for only a few hours. He’d already proved he hadn’t changed, and she was struggling to fight her interest in him. It didn’t help when he had his powerful arms wrapped around her. If she wanted to find his aunt, she had to think with her head, not her heart.

  She pushed against his chest and stepped free. “Sorry. That probably wasn’t such a good idea. But I wanted you to know that I care about what you’re going through, and I’ll do my best to find Eve.”

  He didn’t shift his focus. Not a fraction. “Maybe just tell me that in the future.”

  “You’re right.” Of course he was. Why couldn’t she be so level-headed about him?

  Her cousin Seth McKade stepped through the front door, and she was thankful for the distraction. He was tall and muscular, with blond hair that was cut short on the sides. He didn’t resemble the McKade side of the family but took after his mother, her aunt Isabel.

  Seth had joined the force after Cord had moved, so Kendall introduced the pair. They shook hands and eyed each other up like most law enforcement officers would when first meeting.

  Seth shifted to face her. “The search didn’t turn anything up. And Radar didn’t pick up a scent.”

  “Seth’s a K-9 deputy for one of our tracking K-9 teams,” Kendall told Cord. “Radar’s his dog.”

  “The rest of the team will do another search in daylight,” Seth continued. “But I trust Radar’s nose and can say without doubt that your aunt isn’t on the property.”

  Cord gave a clipped nod, his emotions clearly locked down tight, and Kendall couldn’t begin to tell what he was feeling, leaving her frustrated.

  Seth looked at Kendall again. “I just reported that to the sheriff, and he’ll be heading up the morning search.”

  Kendall found it odd that Seth referred to her dad as the sheriff when he usually called him Uncle Walt, but maybe he was putting on a show for Cord.

  “Thanks, Seth,” she said. “How’s your mom doing?”

  He frowned. “Wish I had good news to report, but her latest round of chemo really knocked her out.”

  Kendall squeezed his hand. “Tell her I’m praying for her, okay?”

  He swallowed hard and nodded. “Catch you later.”

  Kendall watched Seth leave, her heart filled with anguish for him. She wished she could do something for her aunt Isabel. Oh, how she wished she could. Isabel had been struggling with breast cancer treatments for months now. They didn’t catch it until she was stage four, and the prognosis wasn’t good. It hurt like crazy to see her suffer. To see the family so worried and in emotional pain.

  It did help her understand Cord’s situation a bit. Losing his whole family? She couldn’t even imagine the anguish and wanted to offer comfort again. She shoved her hands in her pockets instead. Of course, Cord was watching and tilted his head in question. No way would she share any personal feelings, so she waited him out.

  “I finished the bookshelf,” he finally said. “Looks like the missing item has a round base.”

  Kendall crossed the room to look at the large circular spot on a middle shelf. “Something pretty large. Maybe a big vase.”

  “I don’t remember what was there.” Cord clasped his hands together and stared at the wall. “How many times have I been here, and I can’t remember? Eve’s counting on me to help her. To find her. I’ve got to do better.”

  “We’ll find her. I promise.”

  “You can’t make a promise like that.”

  She couldn’t but she was reaching for anything to help reduce his anxiety. She bent to grab Eve’s car keys. “Ready to check out the car?”

  He nodded, but it was wooden, his eyes glazed.

  She forced herself to leave his pain alone and led the way outside. The temperature had dropped a few degrees, but oppressive humidity still saturated the air. The kind of humidity that dampened her clothing the minute she stepped
into it.

  She unlocked the front car door and clicked the other locks open. She leaned in the driver’s side, Cord the passenger side.

  “Your aunt keeps a clean car,” Kendall said, thinking about the candy-bar and fast-food wrappers that often littered her personal vehicle.

  Cord looked up at her, and his lips quirked up. “Something I’m sure you can appreciate.”

  She rolled her eyes good-naturedly at his teasing and was thankful he was able to find a bit of humor. They worked together to check the glove compartment and under the seats but located nothing of interest.

  Kendall glanced at the dash and frowned. “No GPS. Means we can’t track her recent trips.”

  “Car’s too old.”

  “Then all that’s left is the trunk.” Kendall backed out of the car and unlocked the trunk. She was almost afraid to lift the lid, but she held her breath and tugged.

  Other than the customary spare tire and jack, she found only a reusable cloth grocery bag sitting in the back. She pulled on a handle to drag it closer. The bag tipped over and the contents spilled out.

  Kendall’s mouth dropped open.

  “What in the world?” Cord asked.

  Shock traveled through Kendall, and she gaped at the one-hundred-dollar bills rubber banded in neat packs and lying on the carpet. “This is so bizarre. I wonder if this is what the intruder was looking for.”

  “Likely, but what in the world was my aunt Eve doing with so much cash?” Cord opened the bag that still contained stacks of money.

  Kendall kept her focus on the pile. Where did this much money come from? Just where? And how could Cord be so calm after this discovery?

  He quickly calculated the value. “There’s got to be like ten thousand dollars here.”

  What on earth was Eve doing with this money in her car? Just what? “Maybe Eve didn’t trust the banks.”