Caleb shook his head. “Let’s just find your father.”
“Looks like he should be just around this next bend.” She leaned forward in her seat to peer out the front window. The road straightened in front of them, both sides of the highway tall pine trees that nearly blocked out the sun overhead. “There. I see his car.”
A dark blue compact had pulled over to the side of the road. This stretch of highway between their town, Breckenrow, and the neighboring town, Morriton, was nothing but tall peaks and pine trees. No one even lived out here as far as he knew and he hadn’t seen a turnoff for miles.
Caleb pulled over behind the compact. “The driver’s door is open. I don’t see anyone in the car or around it.” He reached to the back of his waistband under his jacket, pulling out his personal weapon.
He kept the car keys and slid the holstered gun onto the side of his belt. That movement made him feel more like himself than anything in the last six weeks. Ever since that building exploded around him and he’d hunkered down in the bathtub, barely protected from the fireball. Something about having a gun on his hip felt far more natural than being without it.
Tessa raced ahead of him. He caught up and snagged her elbow. “Hold up. We’re going to do this without rushing.”
“He isn’t here.” She looked around. “Where is he?”
“Walk all the way around the car and see if you spot anything.” He didn’t even really know what they were looking for, but it would give her something to focus on. “There could be fingerprints on anything so don’t touch unless you absolutely have to.”
“The Sheriff’s Department sends all their forensics to Bozeman. It takes weeks for test results.”
He glanced over at her. “How do you know about forensics?”
“I saw a news report about it on the local channel a few months back. About how they need so much more funding from property taxes to cover locally tested forensics. But no one wants to put the money into it.”
“Okay, that’s good to know.” Caleb figured he could get results faster than the police anyway. After all, if this wasconnected to his investigation he would only be working one case at a time. The cops covered the whole county.
He crouched beside the car. Along with the open driver’s door, the keys were still in the ignition. A wallet in the center console. She could flip through that and ensure it was her father’s, but she didn’t seem to think this was anyone else’s car.
Caleb spotted a stain on the steering wheel. Someone had slammed Tessa’s father’s head on the hard plastic. Possibly to incapacitate him. He headed for the front of the vehicle and saw twin tire tracks in front of the car. The depth indicated whoever was in the other car had sped away quickly.
He looked back at the blue compact.
“I need to call the Sheriff’s Department.”
Caleb nodded. “I think he pulled over because someone was on the side of the road. Maybe it looked like they needed help, and he stopped to render assistance.”
She looked up from her phone. “Then where is he?”
“They sped off in a hurry.” He pointed to the tire tracks. “Maybe they took him, too.”
“They kidnapped him?” Her jaw dropped open, shock and terror on her face. “Who would do that?”
The better question was whether it was connected to the contents of the envelope in the preacher’s safe. “Did they take him and then break into the house, or did they break into the house and not find what they were looking for—and then they took him?”
Her face paled. “Caleb, what’s going on?”
Caleb moved to stand in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders. He probably shouldn’t have voiced his question aloud, but it was out now.
“I’m going to figure that out. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.” He couldn’t promise he would find her father, or thatthe old man would be in one piece when he did. But he could promise her that he would do an investigation.
Another thing God might have brought him here for. So that he could use the skills he had to help Tessa and her father.
The local sheriff’s department probably wasn’t going to be super happy with a supposedly deceased DEA agent working a case in their jurisdiction, but they were just going to have to deal.
And not tell anyone that he was here.
She bit her lip, tears edging to the corners of her eyes.
Caleb didn’t really know what to do with a woman in the throes of an emotional reaction. But he had plenty of experience with witnesses and victims. “Now that we know something happened to him we can figure out who did this. I’m going to need you to tell me everything about your father and the last few weeks. But first we need to see what else we can learn right here.”
She nodded, and he walked around her. Something over here had touched on his instincts making him need to check it out. He wasn’t quite sure what it was that he’d noticed, but he didn’t entirely believe that whoever stopped had kidnapped her father. He just couldn’t have said why.
