While the paramedics assessed her mother and Michelle, Rachel stood back, watching and listening to them. When her gaze fell on the empty highchair with crackers still on the tray, tears welled into her eyes, and she turned away, feeling helpless. Mom and Michelle were in good hands. She had to find her daughter.
Rachel left the kitchen. Dallas came toward her, his expression one of determination—and a warning for anyone who got in his way.
“How are Michelle and your mom?”
“The paramedics are checking their vitals. Michelle opened her eyes but didn’t say anything. They’re going to take them to the regional hospital. How about Dad and Rob?”
“Rob’s in bad shape. The paramedic had to put in a breathing tube. Another team of EMTs are transporting him to the emergency room. Your dad is groggy and doesn’t know what’s going on.”
One of the EMTs from the kitchen passed them in the living room, glanced at them and said, “I’m getting a gurney.”
As he left, Deputy Jones came into the entry hall with Owens and Carson.
Rachel closed the space between them. “Katie is gone. We’ve searched the house and she isn’t here. My dad’s protocol to keep Katie and Michelle safe was to make sure either he or Rob was with them at all times. Even when they all went to the barn, he turned on the alarm, so no one could sneak into the house while they were gone. But the kidnappers must have gotten in somehow, and when they left they locked up, they turned the alarm back on, so my dad wasn’t alert something was wrong.” She stepped out of the path of the EMT with the gurney who made his way to the kitchen.
“We should go out onto the porch and let them take care of Michelle and your mom,” Dallas said.
The three deputies, nearer to the door, exited first.
Dallas clasped Rachel’s hand and stopped her, leaning in to whisper, “I want you to go to the hospital. Let me oversee this. One of us should be here.”
“But what about Michelle?”
“We don’t know who to trust. I’ll call Mom, and she’ll be at the hospital for Michelle.” Dallas looked toward the living room. “I’m not leaving until I know the place has been processed correctly.” He released Rachel’s hand and walked to the gurney with his daughter on it. After he picked up Michelle’s hand, he bent over and said something to her, then helped the EMT take the gurney out the front door. When he passed Rachel, he asked, “Okay?”
She nodded and followed them out onto the porch while another paramedic took an empty gurney into the house for her mother. She joined her three deputies. “Dallas will be in charge. He’s staying. I’m going to the hospital. Call for a deputy to meet me there.”
“I will.” Frowning, Deputy Jones watched Michelle being put into the ambulance. “What happened here?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.” As her mother was being taken out of the house, Rachel walked beside her to the last ambulance. Right before her mother was loaded into the back of the vehicle, she said to her, “I’ll meet you at the hospital. You’ll be okay, Mom.”
“What’s...going on? Where’s—” Her mother’s words slurred together as though she was drunk.
“That’s what I intend to find out.”
Rachel quickly ran to her sheriff’s car. She wanted to keep the ambulance in her view all the way to the emergency room.
Her cell phone rang. She answered it quickly, thinking it was Dallas, but the second she murmured hello, a mechanical voice said, “You can save your daughter if you mess up this kidnapping case. If you come after me, I will kill her.”
* * *
Later, after processing the crime scene, Dallas paced outside the room where Michelle and his mother were waiting for test results at the hospital and talked on his cell phone. “Taylor, anything on your end? The kidnappers took Rachel’s daughter. We have to find out who is behind this. Now!”
“I’m working on it. The person who rented the accounting firm office space went through several shell companies. They’re good at hiding their tracks, but I’m good at hunting them down.”
“The quicker the better, man.”
“I’ll call you the second I do.”
Dallas disconnected the call and had started back to Michelle when he spied Rachel coming out of a room. “Rachel.”
She stopped “Dallas! How long have you been here?”
“I just got here and checked on Michelle.” He closed the space between them. “How are your parents and Rob doing?”
“We’re still waiting on test results for Mom and Dad, but I’m pretty sure they were given roofies.” She gestured to the room she came from. “I was checking with the doctor about what Rob’s test results were.”
“How is he?”
“Hanging on. It’s been touch and go, but the doctor thinks he’s stabilized now. He had Rohypnol in his system but also something else—an opiate. The doctor found a recent mark on his neck. He thinks that’s how the drug got into his body. If we hadn’t gotten to him when we did, he probably would have died.”
Dallas tensed, thinking of the possible lethal effect of mixing the two drugs together. “Are there needle marks on the others?”
“They haven’t found any.”
He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Taylor thinks he’s close to finding out who rented the office space next to Knit n’ Pearl.”
Rachel looked up and down the corridor then said, “I got a call from the kidnapper on my way to the hospital. I need your office to trace the call. It’s probably a burner phone. I don’t think it’ll lead anywhere, but we need to try.” She withdrew her phone from her pocket and slipped it into his hand, using her body as a shield. “I don’t trust my department to do it—not until we find out how the kidnappers seem to know our every move.”
“What did he say?”
“I don’t know if it was a he. The voice was a mechanical one. I’ll be using Dad’s cell phone in the meantime. I want you to be the lead on the case, but I’ll be working on it behind the scenes.”
“I understand. You’re too close.”
“No, you don’t understand. In public I need you to step in and announce because of the conflict of interest with Katie’s kidnapping, you have removed me from the investigation and taken over. But I won’t let any unknown suspect tell me to sabotage this case. I won’t.”
He saw a nurse leave a room and walked her way. “Is there a place we can talk privately?” He flashed his Texas Ranger badge.
The older woman nodded. “This way. I don’t think anyone is in the chapel right now.”
Dallas went in first, checking that the room was empty, then glimpsed Rachel studying the chapel sign next to the door. He took her hand. “It’ll be quiet in here.” And private. Rachel was barely holding herself together.
He led her to the front near the simple altar with a white cloth draped over it and a cross on the wall behind it. The chapel was quiet and dimly lit. She sat on a padded folding chair, and he took the one next to her. She clasped her hands in her lap and stared at them.
“Rachel, what did the person on the phone say to you?”
For a long moment, she didn’t reply, then in a whisper, she said, “‘You can save your daughter if you mess up this kidnapping case. If you come after me, I will kill her.’ I’ll never forget those words, but more importantly the way he said it, as though he meant every word.”
“As the news gets out that your daughter has been taken, it’ll be understandable that you remove yourself from the case, and therefore can’t mess up the evidence. I recommend you back away.”
Her head jerked up. “I can’t back away. Not now. Do you really think I’ll see my daughter again if I follow those directions? The least they would do would be to sell Katie. If I sat around doing nothing, I would never forgive myself.”
“And if the person kills her?”
“I�
��d never forgive myself, but at least there would be a better chance of finding her if I help. No one will be more dedicated. I’ve already been thinking of clues we need to follow up on.” Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Do you have any idea what I’m going through? My daughter is in danger because of me.”
He grasped her shoulders. “No. She’s in danger because there are evil people in this world. And, yes, I know right now you’re blaming yourself for everything. I did that on Monday with Michelle. I should have protected her somehow. That’s what parents want to do, but we can’t always, no matter how much we try.”
“She’s probably crying right now. She won’t understand what’s happening to her.” Tears coursed down Rachel’s face.
He wrapped his arms around her and brought her close against him, sheltering her the best he could. If only they had arrived at the ranch thirty minutes earlier, they might have been able to stop the kidnapping and the terrorizing of their families. He wasn’t even sure if he should be on the case anymore, because he had a score to settle with the people responsible—for Michelle, Rachel, Katie, Brady and their families.
But there was no way he would walk away from it. Rachel depended on him to find Katie.
As her sobs wet his shirt and tore at his heart, he cradled her closer, wishing he could take her pain away. He closed his eyes and sent up a prayer to God. Lord, You can do anything. Please show me the people responsible for this crime. Please help me bring Katie, Brady and Chris home safely to their parents. I can’t do this without You.
When Rachel quieted, she leaned back and looked up into his eyes. “Will you and Michelle still stay at the ranch? That will be the only way I can work on the case without anyone knowing but family.”
Something bothered him about what had happened this evening. Why had Rob been given an opiate and not the others? “How about Rob?”
Rachel pulled back, squaring her shoulders. “What are you implying?”
“We’ve been thinking that one of your deputies has been feeding information to the ring. What if it’s Rob? You and Bill are close and y’all talk over your cases and what’s going on in the county.”
“I’ve known Rob for a long time. He worked with my father for twenty years. Why would he betray our family?” Rachel surged to her feet.
When she started to turn away, Dallas grabbed her hand and stopped her. “I hope I’m wrong, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t look into him as well as your deputies. I have my office checking your staff. I’ll be questioning him as well as having your home scanned for bugs.”
The tension in Rachel drained from her. “Definitely, but if there are any, they could have been planted this evening. Did you keep an eye on my deputies as they processed the crime scene?”
“Yes. I know how to do my job.”
“As I know how to do mine. Did you find anything?”
“So far, nothing. There are fingerprints but most of them can be ruled out right away. Deputy Jones is looking into Rob, but I’m also having Taylor do the same.”
Rachel shook her head. “Is this what our job comes down to—question everyone, doubt everyone?”
“I don’t doubt you.”
“But you question me.”
“Only because you can’t separate yourself from this case, not with Katie’s kidnapping. We have to look at every angle, every possibility.”
“I’m going back to see how my parents are doing.” She whirled around and marched toward the exit.
He needed to get back to Michelle, too. But not before he begged the Lord for guidance. So much was at stake. He couldn’t do this alone.
* * *
The next morning, Rachel’s eyes popped open, and she shot straight up in bed. Bright sunlight streamed into her room because she’d forgotten to draw the drapes when she got back to the ranch at three in the morning. She glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand. Nine a.m.!
She jumped out of bed and quickly threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and slipped into her tennis shoes. At least she would look like she wasn’t going to work. Last night she hadn’t checked the table in the den. Had the kidnappers taken any paperwork? So much had happened that all she’d concentrated on was making sure her parents and Michelle returned to the ranch with a clean bill of health from the hospital. She was thankful they were okay and home now.
One of her deputies was posted outside on the front porch and another was protecting Rob in the hospital. He still hadn’t woken up when she left, but the hospital would call her when he did.
Or rather, they’d let Dallas know. The hardest thing she had to do was look like she wasn’t doing any investigating. As the sheriff and mother of a kidnapped child, she couldn’t just sit around and do nothing.
The scent of coffee perfumed the air as she descended the stairs to the first floor. She needed to drink some and maybe supercharge her brain. She had to find Katie today. When she entered the kitchen, she came to a halt. With his back to her, Dallas filled his mug, then another one sitting on the counter.
He slowly turned toward her and held out the second mug. “I heard you coming down the stairs.”
“I thought it was really quiet upstairs. I’m glad they aren’t up just yet. There are a couple of things that need to be followed up on, and we haven’t had a chance to go over it with all that’s been happening.”
“Let’s go into the den.” Dallas walked a little behind her down the hallway. “I had the house swept for bugs this morning. The house is clean now.”
“How many were there?”
“One in the kitchen, one in the living room and one in here.”
“Then Rob isn’t the leak.”
“Are you sure? How did the bugs get in here in the first place? He could have planted them, or if they were trying to get rid of Rob, they replaced him with the bugs. Who else could have done it? Your deputies weren’t in here before yesterday and only with me last night.” As they stepped into the den, he gestured toward the table where they’d worked. “Everything was moved around, but nothing was taken that I can tell.”
“That means they know everything we’re looking at. You need to go to the Lone Star Tavern and see if anyone recognizes the female kidnapper. There’s a good possibility Lynn Davis was killed because she realized where she saw the kidnapper, especially since we were bugged.”
“I agree. Taylor hasn’t found any background information or bank records to indicate she was part of the ring. I didn’t want to leave until I talked to you. I’d feel better if you or your dad were up. I’m worried about Michelle. We haven’t had a chance to really talk. She was still groggy when she went to bed, but she kept telling me to find Katie and Brady. I don’t want her to blame herself anymore.”
Rachel laid her hand on his wrist. Dallas was torn between doing his job and being a parent. She certainly understood that feeling. She wanted to actively search for Katie, but she needed to appear as though she were taken off the job by the Texas Rangers due to conflict of interest. “I’ll take care of her, and Dad and I will go through all this information again. I want to make sure we haven’t missed anything. Keep me informed of anything else you find.”
“I will. If my schedule changes this morning, I’ll let you know. I’m stopping by Lenora’s on the way out of town. Then I’m meeting Taylor at the shopping center. We questioned people yesterday, but there were some we missed and others who might have remembered something to help us. After that, when the Lone Star Tavern opens for lunch, I’ll be there.”
“Talk to Jan Thomas again at Baby and Things. She’s the cashier who’s there most days. When I showed her the photo of the female kidnapper, like Lynn Davis, she thought she looked familiar but couldn’t tell me why or where she saw her before.” She sighed. “I wish I could come with you.”
“Do you think she’s holding something back?”
Sh
e shook her head. “No, I don’t think so, but she may have seen something that she didn’t realize might be important to us.”
Dallas rose. “I’m sorry about last night in the chapel. I don’t question you or doubt you. You know that. I’d work with you anytime.”
Before Rachel could say anything in response, he walked out of the den. She started to go after him but wasn’t sure what she should say. She cared about him and was desperately trying not to have any more feelings for him.
After Justin broke her heart, she wasn’t sure she could ever risk her heart again.
TWELVE
At a little after ten, Dallas parked in front of the accounting office at the Chesterfield Shopping Center and called Rachel. “I wanted to let you know my mother is coming to the ranch to be there for Michelle.”
“When?”
“She said something about bringing lunch for everyone, so probably in an hour or so. Is anyone up?”
“Yes. Mom’s in the kitchen throwing away what’s left of everything they ate last night. Deputy Jones told me he got samples of it all yesterday, and it’s being tested. I checked on Michelle. She’s still asleep. Dad is sitting here, trying to remember anything about last night. He’s quite frustrated with himself,” Rachel said in a low voice.
“I just arrived at the shopping center. I’ll let you know if I find out anything that might help us. I called the detective on Lynn Davis’s case. Nothing of interest was found at her apartment, but guess where they found the compact car? Behind the apartment building. It was impounded. The police are going over it.”
“Great.”
“Talk to you later.” Dallas ended the call and climbed from the SUV.
They had discovered only yesterday that a Wi-Fi signal from the planted cameras in Baby and Things had been transmitted to a computer at the desk in an otherwise empty space behind the partition between the reception area and the rear part of the space at the accounting firm. He remembered looking in the window with Rachel that first day. They could only see what looked like a receptionist area. It had been empty at that time or possibly the person going through the video footage had been in the rear of the office. If only they had known, Katie and Chris Rand wouldn’t have been taken, and they could have located where Brady was.
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