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His teammates rounded the far corner of the parsonage an instant later, both heading straight for the pastor’s prone body.
“He gonna make it?” Bridger asked while he watched Kate and Fenn check him for vitals. Red-faced and slack-jawed, the unconscious man was barely breathing. Vomit trickled from the edge of his mouth.
“I think so.” Fenn grabbed a penlight from the med kit in his backpack and checked the man’s pupils. Then he shook his head, staring up at Kate. “Pupils are dilated, response is sluggish.”
She bit her lip. “Getting him outside should have helped.” She looked up at Bridger. “I think he’s been drugged.”
That made sense. Myles hadn’t been restrained in any way, and there was no indication that he’d taken a blow. Unless he’d been incapacitated somehow, he would have simply walked out of the house at the first sign of a major gas leak.
Tai toed the man’s foot. “Not gonna get any answers from him anytime soon.”
“No.” That was unfortunate. Myles held the key now. He’d know who lured him back to the bombed-out parsonage. And why. He might even know what the killer had planned next. Was Jane still on the perp’s radar?
The back of his neck tightened. He dug the heel of his hand into the taut muscles. “Time to contact the sheriff.”
Tai wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve and pulled the paper out of his pocket. He scanned it quickly, then handed it to Bridger. “Handwriting looks the same as the note Peckham threw through Jane’s window.”
Yeah, it did. Thick and disorganized, the letters marched unevenly across the paper.
You have defiled the bonds of matrimony. The time is now. The punishment: death.
Tai tookthe note from his hand. “You should go. We can handle the sheriff.”
Bridger nodded, his gaze on Kate and Fenn, still ministering to Zach Myles. Whoever wanted Myles dead clearly hadn’t planned on him being found before the propane asphyxiated him. A smart way to commit murder, if it had worked. By the time the preacher was discovered, the killer could be hundreds of miles away.
He paced the dirt lot, trying to calm his racing mind. Leaving Myles to die alone helped with an alibi. It also worked if a killer had more victims in mind. Like Jane.
He tapped Tai on the arm. “I have to get to Jane. You got this?”
“You bet. Git.”
He headed for the Jeep at a full run. If Peckham was the killer, he clearly thought Jane and Myles were adulterers.
Either way, Jane was still in danger.
He leapt over a frost-tinged sage, activating his comlink before his feet hit the dirt. “Yo, kids. Our perp’s in the wind. Might be heading in your direction. Stay on full alert. I’m on my way.”
35
While they waitedfor word from Bridger, Jane tried to keep busy. The kitchen was already spotless, the counters and sink polished to a mirror finish. She opened the fridge and pulled the condiments out of the door. Maybe she should arrange them by color?
She did a mental eye roll and set the first jar back exactly where it had been. She couldn’t stop thinking about Paige’s discovery. Why would Vangie Myles get a burner phone? And why would it be in Redemption Creek when she was supposed to be in a secluded place hours away?
Randall slumped at the dining table and picked at his cuticles. “It’s hard to believe Billy Peckham could have gotten to Vangie. He’s not that smart.”
Paige squinted in thought. “Crazy doesn’t mean stupid.”
“True.” Jane couldn’t disagree. Billy had been smart enough to complete divinity school. Clearly, the mental illness hadn’t drained away all his intelligence.
She lifted a pickle jar to the light, trying to remember when she’d last opened it. The waiting was awful. She expected to hear an explosion any second. If they’d even hear it five miles away. The only explosives she’d ever come in contact with were the sticks of dynamite ranchers used to blow apart stubborn tree stumps.
Randall’s fidgeting didn’t help. One long leg pumped up and down, and he picked at his fingers, so intent on his task it was a wonder the man had any cuticles left.
When the communication came, it was obvious. Both Paige and Mason looked like they’d been shocked with a jolt of electricity. They shared a long look.
“What?” Randall asked, half rising from his seat. “What’s happening?”
Mason ignored him. “Copy that,” he said over the comlink.
