Chapter 64

64

Max turned to her. "If there are listening devices in your house, whoever put them there will be expecting you to talk about your dad ..."

"You're right."

She waited on the porch while Max retrieved the bug detector and swept it around his truck, kneeling once to pull out a small box like the one that had been under her bumper.

He put it back where he found it and jogged to the porch. "That was the only one on the truck. When we leave here, we'll go by the sheriff's office and swap your vehicle."

Jenna grinned. "I like it—that way whoever is tracking us will be following the wrong person."

He adjusted a knob. "I'm turning the sound off so they won't know we're scanning for listening devices. The lights will flash to let us know if the device picks up on one. And while I'm in another part of the house, shut off your computers—they'll cause the device to alert."

"Do you really think someone may have put listening devices in my house?"

"It would explain why the Armstrong place emptied so fast they didn't have time to move the marijuana plants."

Jenna hoped it was a coincidence. Just the thought of someone hearing everything they'd said ... she couldn't wrap her mind around it.

Once they were inside, Jenna said, "Let me check my email, then I'll make us a cup of coffee before we leave to see Alex."

"Sounds great." Max started with the living room and moved to the bedrooms. By the time he reached her office, she'd shut her computers down. He ran the detector over her framed commendation from the Chattanooga mayor. Nothing. He placed the detector next to a USB charger. Again nothing.

"I'll be glad when the picnic is over," he said and moved to the modem. The device lit up like a Christmas tree. Max gave her a thumbs-up.

Even though Jenna expected Max to find bugs, the reality of being violated swept over her anew. It was all she could do to not throw up. How was she going to carry on a normal conversation when all she wanted to do was find this person—who probably had her father as well—and ... Arresting him wasn't enough. She wanted to pound him into the ground.

Max tipped her chin toward him. "We'll find him," he mouthed.

She drew in a deep breath and forced lightness into her voice. "I'll go make coffee."

"Make it in to-go cups, and we'll drink it on the way to see Alex. She's waiting for us to finalize the security measures for tomorrow's picnic and political rally," he replied and squeezed her hand.

Come on. Get it together. Jenna pushed her shoulders back and strode to the kitchen. If only there was some way to let her dad know she was looking for him.

She popped a K-cup in the coffeemaker. If the person who took her dad was the one with the listening device, maybe her dad could hear what was being said as well. A song from her childhood popped in her head, and she hummed the first few bars ... then she softly sang the first words.

"Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. Jer-i-cho—"

"Jer-i-cho ..." Max sang with her as he entered the kitchen. He swept the kitchen, stopping as the lights flashed like crazy when he passed it by the pendant light over the table. "Great song."

She nodded, handed him the cup of just-brewed coffee, and put a K-cup in for herself. "Dad taught it to me when I was a kid."

Her voice broke, and it wasn't because she was acting. If anything happened to her dad ...

"You ready?" Max asked.

Jenna waited for her coffee to finish brewing then grabbed it. "I think I've figured out why there's been no ransom note," she said once they were on the road.

"Why?"

"Because Phillip is responsible for Dad being snatched—he has a lot more to lose from my photos than Sebastian. Phillip wants me to be so anxious that I'll give him the photos, no questions asked."

"You could be right."

"And I'll give them to him before I let anything happen to Dad."

Silence hung between them the rest of the drive. Alex's face was grim when they walked into the chief deputy's office. It was even grimmer when they finished explaining what they'd found. Alex pushed a photo across her desk.

"I emailed Sebastian's prison intake photo to Dani Collins and asked her to sketch him with a more muscular build. This is what she came up with."

Jenna studied the drawing. It barely even resembled the man she remembered. "I haven't seen him."

Alex lifted her eyebrows. "Well, the person who duplicates keys at the Walmart in Sharpton has. He identified the person in this drawing as a customer who came into the automotive department Tuesday afternoon and asked him to make a key. Said he was giving it to his sister. The Walmart guy remembered him because he's a body builder and asked the customer where he worked out, only he never got an answer. The customer mumbled something he didn't catch."

Jenna's muscles tensed. Sharpton was only thirty miles from Pearl Springs.

"He's working with my ex-fiancé, Phillip Ross," she said quietly. How long were they going to make her wait before demanding she give them the photos in exchange for her father's life? Not that she believed they would do what they said, but at least a demand would get everything moving.

"Have you checked out Tom Weaver's list of rentals?" Alex asked.

Max nodded. "We're almost finished. There's one in particular that doesn't fit the rental agreement. It would be the perfect place to hide Jenna's dad ... I wish we could use thermal imaging."

"Do you have enough for a warrant?"

"Afraid not. Just a hunch—the rental agreement states one person is using the cabin, but it looked as though several cars had been parked there, and they left in a hurry. Probably because the GPS tracker on Jenna's SUV alerted we were headed in their direction."

"Yeah, that's not enough for a warrant. Drive back out there and surveil the cabin. If there's only one vehicle, you can approach and interview the occupants, but if there's more than one vehicle, back off."

She turned to Jenna. "If you do approach, and your dad makes any kind of noise, you can enter the cabin under exigent circumstances since this is a kidnapping case. But I'm not counting on that happening."

Alex walked to a map of the county. "Let's assume this is the place. Give me the cabin's location so I can get around-the-clock surveillance set up."

Max gave her the address, and Alex found it on the map. "It's not far from Eric Darby's place. I'll contact him and see if he'll let us use his property as our base of operation. For now let's assume he will."

Alex quickly laid out a plan of action, pointing out where she would place deputies. "I'll make sure everyone knows their role."

Max nodded. "If we don't gain access to the cabin, once the other deputies are in place, Jenna and I will check out Weaver's remaining rentals this afternoon."

"And we need to trade vehicles with someone," Jenna said.

"Mark Lassiter and my grandparents won't be getting into town until later this evening. His SUV is in the parking area. Use it. Marge has a set of keys for it."

Twenty minutes later Jenna drove past Mr. Darby's drive. "Do you think we should park here and go in on foot or do a drive-by of the cabin?"

"Let's drive by first," Max said. "There may be a side road closer in."

Jenna slowed as they drove past the cabin, and counted four vehicles parked in the drive and on the grass. "Can you see any license plates?"

"A couple," he answered. "I'm writing them down."

Maybe they'd get lucky and one of the vehicles had been reported as stolen. That would give them a perfect reason to storm the cabin.

"I'm texting them to a fellow TBI agent. He agreed to be on standby in case we need him."

They pulled off the road to wait. A few minutes later, a text came back that none of the vehicles had been reported as stolen. "They're checking registrations to see if they belong to any of Sebastian's known associates."

Jenna gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white. "I just don't understand why we can't use thermal imaging."

"We can't use it without a warrant, and we have no proof your dad is in there or that Sebastian even rented the cabin. Unfortunately, our gut feeling isn't enough for a warrant."

"But—"

"I want to get Sebastian as much as you do—"

"No, you don't." Her heart jackhammered in her chest. She glared at him. "It's my dad he has, and right now I don't care about the law."

"I understand. You think I don't want to bust in there and rescue your dad? The thing is, we have no proof he's even in there. Or that Sebastian is, either."

Jenna closed her eyes against his words. "God has this, sweetie." How many times had her daddy said those words? And Granna ...

She sagged against the seat and pressed her fingertips to her closed eyes. "I just want to get my daddy back."

"I know, and we will—but within the law. We don't want Sebastian to walk free because we violated his right to privacy."

"Why do we have to play by the rules when the bad guys don't?"

"You know why—we're better than them."

Jenna released a pent-up breath. "I know." She sat up straighter. "Sorry for the meltdown."

He squeezed her hand. "If it was my dad, I'd feel the same way. Don't ever forget God's on the side of justice. He has this."

She managed a small chuckle. "Yeah, that's what my daddy always says. So what do we do now?"

"We wait for the surveillance team then we check out the remaining cabins on Weaver's list."