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“I’d be interested to know if the killer injured them.” Carter’s eyes narrowed over his mask. “I don’t believe a man would allow his wife and kid to be tied up without a fight.”
Jo’s attention had moved to the refrigerator. On the shelf sat two lunchboxes. Two pink lunchboxes. She walked around the table and stared at them. “Webber, did you get shots of the lunchboxes?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Webber nodded at her. “I captured everything in here including the open drawer and the knife block. If someone broke into their home, they had knives here so why didn’t they fight back? I found a gun locker under the stairs. It’s fireproof and untouched. No one had a chance to go for their weapons.”
“Maybe they knew him.” Carter shrugged. “We’ll check all the locks and see if any show signs of forced entry but it will be difficult to prove after the explosion.”
An overpowering feeling of dread slid over Jo as she turned to Carter. “Two pink lunchboxes. Only one child. Where’s the sheriff?” She turned and ran out the backdoor.
She found the sheriff leaning up against his cruiser. “How many people lived here?”
“Four. Mr. and Mrs. Wood and two daughters, Jody and Sophie.” The sheriff wiped a handkerchief over his sweaty brow.
Chills ran down Jo’s neck. “How old are the girls?”
“Let me see. Jody would be about five and Sophie maybe fourteen, I guess.” The sheriff frowned. “Why?”
Jo stared at him through the Perspex shield covering her face. “We have one missing.”
Five
The Whispering Caves
Sophie wanted to die. Trapped deep inside the catacombs, there was no escape. The dark tunnels dripped water, and wind rushed through them like a thousand souls screaming for redemption. The catacombs breathed, moving air back and forth in waves, bringing with it the touch of unseen hands over her flesh. The sensation terrified her. Cold crawled from the rock and all she had was a filthy blanket for protection. He’d taken everything, her family, her decency, and left her curled in the dirt like a filthy naked worm. A living, breathing shell remained, devoid of hope. The filthy mattress under her reeked of urine and everywhere she turned, the stink from the animal scat covering the hard ground accosted her. Rats skittered by and if the lamp went out, they’d eat her alive. She wanted to block out the horror but the moment she closed her eyes, the image of her family tied to the chairs and the explosion spun through her mind in relentless torment.
She’d cried until her head threatened to split open in agony but the man who’d taken her didn’t care. He’d make it clear it was his decision if she lived or died and slapped her face so hard her teeth ached. She moved her dry tongue over the cut on her lip and a metallic taste filled her mouth. The thought of him touching her again made her retch. He’d left her after adjusting a trail cam and told her he’d be watching her every move. If she screamed, or tried to escape, he’d know. Her cries would bring the bears roaming the caves and he’d enjoy watching them eat her alive. He’d left her nothing, no food or water, and tethered her by linked zip-ties to a metal loop hammered into solid rock. The tie around her ankle cut deep into her flesh but she’d become dead inside. She had no room to move and lay back staring at the dancing bugs surrounding a small pool of light from the lamp hanging above her.
Cobwebs fluttered in the breeze and a fat spider weaved a cocoon around a struggling moth. She’d die here just like the moth. There was no hope of escape. She was deep in the Whispering Caves, a place closed to the public. Nobody came here and people told tales of ghosts haunting the tunnels in hushed voices. Everyone who’d cared for her had perished in the fire. Not a soul knew what had happened to her.
A beam of a flashlight followed by the crunch of footsteps had alerted a colony of bats and they dashed past her, shrieking in a cloud of black flapping wings. The light blinded her but she recognized the voice of her tormentor and pulled the blanket around her and looked away. The sight of his dark eyes peering at her through the holes in the balaclava terrified her. When he stopped in front of her, she wet her lips. “Why are you keeping me here?”
“Do you feel like a puppy?” The man grasped her chin forcing her to look at him. “Taken from your mommy to be owned by someone?”
Unable to control a sob, Sophie trembled. “You can’t own people. You don’t own me.”
“Oh, but I do. I can do whatever I want with you.” He chuckled. “I can cut you into little pieces if I want. You can’t stop me but if you cooperate, I’m willing to trade.”
Sophie stared at him in disbelief. “I have nothing to trade. You’ve taken everything I own.”
“Oh, but you do.” His gloved fingers stroked her cheek. He pulled a small bottle of water from his pocket and one half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “What will you trade me for this?”
Six
Black Rock Falls
Jenna leaned back in the seat of the Beast, Kane’s unmarked vehicle, and considered the afternoon. She’d spoken to the car thief and made it quite clear she didn’t intend to play games with him. Sometimes young guys figured her as an easy sell until they met her face to face. After dealing with serial killers, interviewing a smart-mouthed car thief was a walk in the park. She’d discovered his name was Harvey Haralson. His story was, he’d found the vehicle abandoned not far from the Triple Z Bar north of town and rather than wait for the bus, had decided to drive into town and then dump the sedan on Main. She’d appointed him a lawyer, and as he’d admitted to stealing the vehicle, she’d charged him and arranged a ride to county for him to await a court hearing. The rest of the afternoon had dragged and by five, she couldn’t leave the office fast enough. She’d been looking forward to going out to dinner with Kane for weeks.
It turned out to be a beautiful evening. The rain of the previous week had left everything fresh and clean. The grasslands and people’s gardens seemed to have suddenly come alive with color. She stared out the window as they turned into Main. A crowd of people, dressed for a night out, were making their way to the opening of Antlers, the new western bar. The town had needed a place where regular people could eat a meal, cut a rug, and have some hometown fun any day of the week. She glanced at Kane and grinned. “I’m sure glad we made reservations for a table a week ago.”
“Not everyone in town can afford the Cattleman’s Hotel prices, and with all the tourists dropping by, we needed something better in town than the Triple Z Bar.” He chuckled and joined the line into the parking lot. “It was pure genius to insist they gave the sheriff’s department reserved parking. I can still see the owner’s face, when you insisted it was in his best interest if we had a place to park in times of trouble.”
Jenna grinned. “Yeah, well all bars have fights and this place being smack in the middle of Main, we needed a place to park.”
“It’s going to be good to have somewhere to let our hair down in town.” Kane slid into the reserved parking space and turned off the engine. “I’d forgotten how much I missed dancing until Jake’s wedding. We had a ball that night and in truth, we needed a few days snowed in to get over it.” His lips curled into a smile. “This place will be perfect.”
“Of course, the twenty-two-ounce prime ribeye they have on the menu has nothing to do with it?” Jenna laughed. “Oh, look, Jake and Sandy are right behind us.”
“Hey, big turn out.” Rowley gave them a wave as he climbed out of his truck. “I hope we don’t have to wait too long to be served, I’m starving.” He held out his hand to his wife, Sandy, and they headed toward the bar.
