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Chapter Fourteen
Pushing Blaze away from the blood, Isabel opened the back door and looked more carefully. Sure enough, two more splotches of blood dotted the ground and a path of flattened grass led into the woods.
As if someone had been dragged.
Isabel put a hand over her mouth to stifle the sob threatening to rip from her throat. Coming unglued wouldn’t help Grandpa, but those blood spots weren’t small. How hurt was her grandfather when he’d been ripped from his home?
“Stay put,” Jackson said, after kneeling over the blood. “Call Donovan and tell him everything I told you about that archaeological team and Doctor Ward. Tell him we think they have Eugene.” He breezed by her, but she snagged his arm before he could enter the cottage again.
“Wait! Are we sure they have Grandpa?”
“They’re the only suspicious group that has suddenly shown up in this town,” he said. “Were you with Eugene the whole time I was gone this afternoon?”
She shook her head. “No. I tended to a few guest cottages after you left while Grandpa was in his office. Then we met up at the office, but he came back here. He was going to make us some healthy brownies to have after our lunch.” She opened the cottage door and entered, walking to the kitchen.
Isabel had only checked the kitchen briefly when they’d first arrived, looking primarily for her grandfather. Now that she stepped all the way into the room, evidence of Grandpa’s baking attempt was clear. The kitchen counter was littered with brownie ingredients. Almond flour, cocoa powder, eggs, coconut sugar. Several eggs were cracked, their gloppy insides smeared down the front of a lower cupboard. The bag of sugar had been ripped, grains crunching under Isabel’s sneakers. Dusty white fingerprints covered the edge of the counter as if Grandpa had been grabbing on to something to keep from being pulled away.
That sob came out now. The thought of Grandpa having to fight off someone was too much to take.
Strong arms came around her from behind. “We’ll find him, Isabel. I promise you.” Jackson tugged her away from the mess. “Call Donovan and don’t touch anything in here.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck then released her.
“Where are you going?” She pulled out her phone to call Donovan.
“I know where their camp is. I’m going to head there. I showed you where it is on the plot plan. You show the police.”
The smart thing to do was to wait for the police, but every minute Grandpa was gone was a minute he could be hurt. Or worse. She didn’t want Jackson to go, but if he stayed, Grandpa might be the one to pay the price.
A look passed between them. One that said I love you and be careful.
Jackson ran for the front door and shut it before Blaze could follow him. His jeep engine roared to life outside. She hated the idea of Jackson going anywhere near people who would hurt and kidnap an old man. That had her hitting Donovan’s contact right away.
“Hey, Isabel,” Donovan said.
“Someone has my grandfather,” she blurted.
“What?”
“My grandfather. Someone has taken him.” She launched into the story of the archaeological team, Doctor Leon Ward, and what Jackson had found in the woods when he’d followed some of them. She told Donovan about not being able to find Grandpa and the blood on the floor and outside. About the signs of struggle in the kitchen and the flattened grass behind the cottage. About Jackson going to the campsite by himself.
“Shit,” Donovan said. “I’m on my way. You stay put.”
He was the second Henley brother to tell her to stay put, but it was her grandfather who was missing. Her family. She needed to do something besides sit around. With his heart in tender condition and him recently overexerting himself, Grandpa was already in a compromised position. Being ripped from his cottage and dragged off certainly wasn’t good for him.
Blaze let out a whine by the back door. He paced to Isabel then back to the door, his ears twitching and his tail flicking. Australian Kelpies loved to have a job and Blaze had proven he was good at finding stuff like the first dagger.
Isabel grabbed his leash, clipped it to his collar, and the two of them burst out the back door of the cottage. Blaze’s nose led them right to the flattened grass and Isabel jogged along behind the dog. He veered off the trail a couple of times, but always came back to where the brush had been disturbed, twigs had been snapped, wildflowers crushed. She pictured her grandfather held by two assholes, one on either side of him, as his legs dragged, cutting this path. Had they knocked him out? Fortunately, she hadn’t seen more blood so hopefully her grandfather wasn’t severely wounded. Maybe it wasn’t his blood they’d seen back at the cottage.
Please don’t make it be his blood.
She’d been scared finding him passed out on his couch and having to take him to the hospital, but that was nothing compared to this. All the unknowns. Where was he? Who exactly had taken him? Was he going to survive? Isabel nearly crumpled to her knees over fear for her grandfather’s safety.
But she had to keep going. Blaze moved at a good clip, his nose clearly on a scent trail leading them somewhere. What would she do when she got to that somewhere though? She had no weapons and she wasn’t keen on the idea of using a weapon anyway. She’d have to let talking be her defense. She’d give them whatever they wanted as long as they gave Grandpa back.
Blaze slowed his pace, but his sniffing had grown more frantic, as if the scent had gotten stronger. A break in the trees ahead gave Isabel a glimpse into an area active with people. She tugged on Blaze’s leash and made the dog sit beside her. He pulled a little, wanting to continue forward, but when she rubbed his ear and whispered good boy, he settled a bit. His entire body was stiff though, ready to do whatever Isabel commanded.
Crouching behind a wide maple tree, she peeked at the scene before her. The campsite was as Jackson had described it with big tents and even bigger equipment. From what she saw, this team planned to desecrate the woods to find any hidden treasures. A completely different approach than Jackson had taken. In his respect for her grandfather’s land, he’d treated his find like a small-scale operation and now he risked losing it to these bastards.
Not happening.
