AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Seven
Brett gazed down from thehelicopter at the line of cars waiting to go through the roadblock. It had taken them longer to join the chase because they’d picked up Coop from the search teams.
Once on their way, BB had received a text from the sheriff’s office, and she’d read it out loud into the mic attached to her helmet. “A farmer ten miles south from the escape site reported a woman had stolen his clothes and driven away in his truck.”
“I knew it.” Coop growled. “If that sheriff would have listened to me and widened our search at the beginning instead of arguing, we probably could have caught her.”
Brett patted Coop’s knee. “Put it in your report.”
Coop clenched his jaw.
Brett empathized with him. Managing other officers of the law during a chase could be more than a little challenging. If it weren’t for the wealthy heiress case, he would have retired years ago. That had been a low time in the stellar marshal’s career. He worked on the cold case as often as he could but especially when the anniversary of the young woman’s disappearance came around. Though it was a couple of months away, he was already on edge.
“The farmer was upset, being as that vehicle was his family’s sole transportation,” BB continued. “However, a state trooper found the truck parked at a campground thirty miles from the farmer’s place. No one at the campsite knew where it had come from or where the driver could be.”
“Of course not. That would be too easy, and we can’t have that.” Brett hated the situation they were in.
He gazed out the window at the conga line of cars, and just as his eyes landed on a truck with a flat-bed trailer pulling an all-terrain vehicle, the rear passenger door opened. Someone was getting out. Hovering above, all he could see was long black hair just like Dania’s. Yes, there was a chance it could be someone else. But the feeling in his gut told him it was her.
He jabbed the chopper pilot and pointed down. Grabbing the helicopter’s microphone to the loudspeaker, he said, “Dania! Stop!”
She whirled around and peered up for only a split second before ducking her head and plunging into the forest.
Speaking into his headset, Brett told the pilot, “Land. Now!”
“Where? On top of a car? And there’s too many trees at the side of the road.” He piloted back to the end of the line of vehicles.
Brett turned to Coop. “You need to go to the head of the line and organize a search.”
Coop nodded.
Brett looked at BB. “Get in touch with Char and see what’s going on with the search for Big Bertha. I want Char to be available should we need her.”
BB gave him a brief thumbs up and started texting Char.
As soon as the chopper landed, Brett jumped to the ground. Jasper leaped after him. Holding his black Stetson on until he cleared the rotating blades overhead, Brett took off at a dead run.
Jasper sniffed the ground, then raced up the hill, thick with forest, fallen trees, and brush. Though the retriever wasn’t a trained search dog, he had a good nose. And the irony was the dog was chasing after the woman who had brought him into Brett’s life.
Dania.
On a cold and rainy night, she’d called Brett and asked for his help. When he’d agreed to take Jasper, she’d told Brett that he was agood guy.
He dodged through the trees in the direction where he’d heard Jasper.
Agood guy?
Really?
And now thisgood guywas chasing her. Man, how he hated the situation they were in.
He stopped and dragged deep breaths of air into his lungs as he surveyed the ravine below. He looked for a tree to sway or brush to move or even Jasper’s tail. But nothing.
“That darn dog. For all I know, he’s after a skunk.” He loved Jasper, but there were times when the canine tested his patience. A bark ricocheted through the trees. Not an angry bark or an I’ve-got-you-cornered one but a come-on, where-are-you type of howl that gave Brett a good idea which direction he’d gone.
Brett’s cell phone rang. Pulling it from his pocket, he stared at the name on the screen. Gabe. This could be about Olivia. He stopped and answered it. “Is everything okay?”
“Olivia is out of surgery and in the ICU. What’s going on with you?” Gabe sounded bone tired.
