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Kaylee yelled at her mama. But she didn’t move or open her eyes. She shook her again, but the lady took her arm and pulled her away. Suddenly she was dragging her toward a van. Kaylee pushed back and yelled out but there was no one else around. Then she pushed Kaylee inside and locked the door.
“Shh, honey, it’ll be all right,” the lady said. “I’ll call someone to take care of your mama.”
Kaylee beat at the window and cried as the lady started the van and pulled away, leaving Mama behind.
Sixteen
Haints Bar
Twenty minutes after Emily had arrived, the silence in Lara’s house was grating with tension. Jasper still had not returned Lara’s call. Ellie read that as a bad sign.
While Emily busied herself making a pot of vegetable soup for Lara and Cord organized the search teams, Ellie put a trace on Lara’s phone in case whoever took Ava called. The woman didn’t argue, just seemed to slip into a quiet dazed shock. She’d gone into her daughter’s room a dozen times, touching her pillow and the other stuffed toys and dolls lined up around her bed. “She pretended they were her friends and kept them all around her to keep her safe at night,” Lara told her.
Ellie arched a brow. “Why didn’t she feel safe?”
“Just kids’ stuff. Some boy at school told her that monsters snuck in your windows at night and tried to snatch you. We used to play a game where I’d search the closet and under the bed and pull the curtains tight. I told her if they were closed, the monsters couldn’t get in.” Her voice wavered. “But now some real-life monster may have grabbed her in broad daylight.” Another sob escaped her and she rushed to the bathroom and shut the door.
Her gut-wrenching cries tore at Ellie.
Finally, Cord and the search team rolled in, ready to start the hunt.
Cord’s dark eyes met hers as she joined the men outside, a spark of pain in their depths as if he was remembering what had happened on the last case. Lola, the owner of the Corner Café, had been kidnapped and Ellie had gone after her. Both of them had been tortured by the Hunter, and Cord had been captured by the bastard as he was trying to save them.
Thankfully, Derrick had come to the rescue. The last month, she’d seen Cord around town with Lola and they seemed to be growing close. She was glad for Cord. He’d had a rough childhood and deserved some happiness.
“This is Ava’s bunny,” Ellie told Cord as she handed it to him.
He allowed Benji, his SAR dog, to sniff it then stuck it inside his pocket.
“She had a neon-green backpack with bunnies on it, too,” Ellie said, before describing the little girl’s outfit.
“I’ll pass her description and photo to all the rangers in case whoever abducted her disappeared with her into the mountains.”
Ellie shuddered at that possibility. There were hundreds of miles of off-grid areas where a predator could hide, places that even the seasoned hikers avoided.
As Cord and the team set out to search, she drove to Haints, the bar where Autumn Juniper worked.
The bar, overlooking a cemetery, had become a popular watering hole for law enforcement. Ellie’s lungs tightened as she glanced at the small tombstones in the section of the graveyard reserved for children. This time of year, with all the presents and Christmas trees the parents brought to the cemetery, made it look even sadder. She’d do everything possible to make sure that Ava would not wind up there.
Country rock music blared from the speakers and loud voices and laughter boomed as she entered the bar. Sheriff Bryce Waters liked to hang out here, and she spotted him at the counter. Irritation shot through her as she crossed the room to him. She and Bryce had a falling out in high school, and ever since he’d replaced her father as sheriff, he’d held his office—and his power––over her head.
But a little girl was missing, and she was determined to set aside her personal feelings.
“I thought you were looking around town for Ava Truman,” she said as she stopped in front of him.
His eyes narrowed as he looked down at her, but she shot him a look of disapproval. “Bryce, how can you sit here drinking when a child is missing?”
“I know you’re running the show,” he snapped. “And I was out looking for her but stopped to pick up dinner.”
Ellie shook her head. “I thought you might clean up your act now you discovered you have a daughter. Losing her mother has been hard for Mandy, Bryce. She needs security and a shoulder to lean on.”
Something dangerous flashed in his eyes, and he heaved a breath then grabbed the bag of food the bartender set on the counter. “I am trying. And for your information, I haven’t been drinking tonight.”
Ellie opened her mouth to speak, but he strode from the bar in an angry gush of air. Ellie shrugged it off. She didn’t have time to dwell on Bryce. Ava needed her.
She greeted the bartender. “Is Autumn working this evening?”
“No, yesterday she said she was taking off for a few days.”
