AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cruz, dressed in worn jeans and a ratty t-shirt, wiped the back of his wrist across his forehead, smudging dirt on his sweaty skin. “I found something you’ll want to see.”
“What is it?”
Cruz cast Izzy a quick glance, recognition clear in his blue eyes, then focused back on Brooke. “Chains. Just like the ones we found a few months ago.”
Izzy’s legs weakened and she reached out to lean against Brooke as her world tilted on its axis. She’d seen the chains the police had uncovered before—had barely escaped them being slapped on her wrists and ankles.
And if those chains were back, so were the people who’d put them there.
* * *
The mosquito buzzing around Beau Davis’head refused to leave no matter how many times he swatted it away. But he couldn’t let it bother him as he trekked through the overgrown weeds toward the cabin where Cruz waited.
Anticipation zipped through him, humming as loud as the annoying insect that refused to leave him alone. Only two weeks out of the police academy and an exciting new case awaited him.
Okay, so not just him. Officer Cruz Sawyer had requested help at the crime scene, and he’d been the only one available when the call came. An opportunity he would use to his full advantage. Not only because he longed to prove himself on the Pine Valley, Tennessee Police Force, but because this case was personal.
This case involved Izzy Sterling.
Jogging up the busted porch steps, he pushed past the door that had been left ajar and approached the small group of people clustered together in the corner of the cabin. Cruz and Brooke stared at a set of metal chains bolted to the wooden floor, and Izzy slouched against the wall with arms folded over her chest and giant blue eyes fixed on her tennis shoes.
Nervous energy churned inside him. He cleared his throat, unsure how to announce himself and hating how self-conscious he felt. Especially in front of Izzy. He hadn’t expected her to be here, and all he wanted was to show her how he’d changed since the last time they’d seen each other. How he’d matured and grown into a good man that she could lean on.
Izzy’s gaze snapped up and met his, and the tiniest flicker of a smile lifted one side of her mouth. “Beau,” she said, her voice soft and wispy as if relieved to see him.
He nodded. “Izzy.”
Cruz straightened and faced him. “Officer Davis. Time to get your feet wet. Come over and take a look at this.”
He crossed the time-wrapped wooden floors and stopped when he was shoulder to shoulder with the officer he respected so much. He flashed a tight smile to Ms. Mather, then dropped into a crouch to study the chains. “These look like new chains. No rust. Even some flecks from the metal are scattered along the floor from when they were bolted down.”
“Exactly,” Cruz said. “Do you have any security back here?”
Brooke shook her head. “There’s nothing here to take, and after we caught those sonsofbitches using the cabins further in the woods before, I didn’t think they’d have the balls to come back. Especially since we started construction on the lodge last week.”
“You think it’s the same group of people?” Izzy’s voice cracked, a shudder shaking each word.
Beau rose to his full height and wished he could offer her a comforting hand, but no way that’d be appropriate.
“Might be the same traffickers,” Cruz said. “Your abductors never gave us other names or pointed a finger at a larger group or trafficking ring. That doesn’t mean one isn’t out there. To be honest, these operations usually have multiple enforcers, not to mention contacts who help in placing the victims.”
Izzy slouched further down on the wall as if to make herself as small as possible. “So what now?”
“We track the chains. See if we can figure out where they were purchased. Go through the woods and look for signs of how they approached the cabin. Find clues that lead us to them.” Confidence leaked into each new idea, but Beau chanced a glance to Cruz to make sure his logic was well received.
“All good ideas,” Cruz said. “Brooke, I can try and pull in more officers, but the force is small and stretched pretty thin. Or you can question your construction crew. Ask if they’ve seen anything—”
Brooke raised a palm. “Say no more. This is my land and I want in on this case. I may not be a police officer anymore, but I won’t sit by and let people use this place to hurt innocent girls. Izzy, you don’t need to be here for this. Do you want me to give you a ride home?”
Beau kicked himself for not thinking of offering her a lift. “I can give her a ride. I mean, if she wants it.”
Izzy set her jaw, and a fire he hadn’t seen in her since they spent the night together after graduation lit her eyes. “I want to help.”
“I understand wanting to help, but just coming here today was a huge step in facing your fears,” Brooke said, crossing the room to wrap an arm across Izzy’s shoulders. “But you don’t have to put yourself back in that place again. We’ve got this. We’ve gotyou. I promise.”
Izzy leaned against Brooke and a tear plopped over her cheek, twisting Beau’s heart. “The two people who grabbed me that night in December might be in jail, but they took more from me than just a couple hours of my life. They took my peace of mind. They took my courage. I need to find a way to get that back, and I need to make sure I do all I can to stop any other person from losing those things as well. Let me do this. Please.”
Anger at what Izzy had been forced to endure fisted Beau’s hands at his sides. He wanted to sweep in and accept her offer of help, to promise to work by her side until these assholes were caught. But that wasn’t his place and putting Izzy in a bad position could be detrimental to the case as well as her mental state.
