Chapter Twenty-Three

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

A S THE SHERIFF pulled in behind Birdie Malone's green SUV, he saw that she and Brand had actually listened. They were waiting in the vehicle. They got out as soon as he stopped. By the time he opened his door, they had climbed out as well.

"Down there," Brand said. "On the right side of the road in the weeds."

He looked to where the rancher pointed and saw a piece of cloth fluttering in the breeze. Even from a distance, he could see what appeared to be part of the top Holly Jo had been wearing when she was kidnapped.

Moving closer, he saw the splattered blood and swallowed hard. He'd feared there was a reason she wasn't in the kidnapper's pickup last night. Because she was already dead.

Stuart squinted up at the rugged mountains and the Jeep trail that led back into them. He felt a chill. "What made you drive back in here?" he asked Birdie. He'd known yesterday that she wasn't going to quit looking for the girl.

"Just a feeling," she said.

He nodded. "Have you two been out here all night?"

"Ran out of gas," Brand said. "After getting a flat tire."

"Then you haven't heard." Stuart cleared his throat, remembering that Brand was Holden's biological son. He had no idea how Brand felt about that. "Holden McKenna was shot last night during the ransom drop. He's in critical condition at the hospital in Billings." He saw Brand swallow and looked away. Birdie reached over and squeezed Brand's hand before letting go. "Thought you'd want to know."

"We should get going," Brand said, looking to Birdie, who nodded. She looked as discouraged as he felt as they left.

This time the sheriff had brought two deputies to help in the search. He bagged the torn scrap of Holly Jo's shirt and ordered a search for her body and any other evidence.

Holly Jo hadn't been in the pickup last night. This road where the scrap of fabric had been found would eventually lead to Suicide Pass. Stuart had little hope that the girl was still alive. He was still waiting to hear from the kidnapper, but feared he might not.

This morning he'd called the hospital. Holden had come out of surgery but was still in critical condition. He had not regained consciousness.

The sheriff couldn't help his desolation. Everything had gone so badly last night up on the mountain, and it seemed to be getting worse as his radio barked. One of the deputies he'd brought to help search the area had found something. Near an abandoned milking barn on private property belonging to an out-of-state landowner. The body of a woman who'd been shot numerous times.

Stuart listened as his deputy described Melanie Baker.

"There's an old camper hidden in the trees behind the barn," the deputy said. "I think this is where the kidnapper was keeping Holly Jo."

"I'll be right there," the sheriff said and called the crime techs. He didn't know what they could find that would help at this point. They knew who the kidnapper was. Darius Reed. They knew why he'd taken Holly Jo. They knew that he had already killed one person and wounded another.

What they didn't know was if Holly Jo was still alive, and if so, where she was. With her kidnapper? Or buried somewhere out here in the badlands or down in the fertile soil next to the Powder River?

B RAND DROVE BACK to town to the store where he'd left his pickup yesterday. The day was beautiful, all clear blue sky and sunshine. A perfect Montana summer day. Summer was so short this far north that this day felt wasted on them because neither was going to enjoy it the way they should.

"I need to pick up the supplies and take them out to the ranch," he said to Birdie.

She hadn't said two words on the way into town. He could see how she was feeling, much like he was. He'd actually hoped that Birdie's intuition would lead them to Holly Jo. She'd been right about the girl being in the area, not that it helped under the circumstances.

"Are you going to be all right?" he asked her.

"If Holly Jo is dead, it's my fault. If I hadn't followed the woman—"

"If you hadn't, we would never have found more evidence," Brand said. "We don't know that Holly Jo is dead." But the hollow-eyed glance Birdie gave him made it clear that she no longer believed that.

She looked away.

He desperately wanted to assure her, but he had so little to give at this point. "We can only hope that she'll be found alive and well. It's still possible."

Birdie gave him a skeptical look, but seemed to appreciate that he was trying. "Are you going to the hospital to see your father?"

"The timing doesn't seem quite right, but maybe. I haven't seen Ryder in days, and I haven't been taking his phone calls. I got a text that the supplies need to be picked up before noon. Also, I could use a shower and a change of clothes no matter what I decide to do. What about you?" He couldn't stand leaving her alone the way he knew she was feeling.

She cleared her throat. "I have a couple of leads on my father's murder that I was following up on yesterday before I saw the pickup go by. That is why I came to Powder Crossing to start with."

Brand didn't know what to say. "Maybe I'll see you later, then." It felt strange leaving her, both of them feeling down. Last night after they'd run out of gas, they'd both been tired and discouraged. They'd put their seats back and stared up at the stars through the moonroof and fallen asleep. He hadn't awakened her this morning when he left to find some gas, but even then, it was hard to leave her.

They'd been together so much over the past couple of days, he hated the thought of her alone and up to her own devices.

But it was a good reminder that she was still intent on proving his mother a killer. That emotional crevasse would be between them until Birdie found justice—or maybe even beyond that. Looking for Holly Jo had just been a short reprieve from what was bound to come. It was clear where her road led—out of Powder Crossing, once she saw her father's killer and her accomplice behind bars.

He climbed out of her SUV, leaving it running, and waited while she went around and slipped behind the wheel. He thought of their kisses yesterday as he closed her door and stepped back. He'd never become this attached so quickly. There was no denying the chemistry between them, even though they both seemed to be fighting it. Let her go , he told himself even as he worried about her. Who knew what kind of trouble she could get into on her own?

With a small wave, she drove away, and he headed into the store.

"T ELL ME HE ' S conscious and that he's going to make it," Charlotte said the moment Elaine met her at the hospital entrance. They took seats out of the way as Elaine provided what information she had.

"He's still unconscious, but his vitals are good, and the doctor is optimistic that he will pull through."

She had to fight the relief and took a moment before she said, "What happened?"

"He's Holden McKenna. He stubbornly went to make the ransom drop by himself. If the sheriff hadn't followed him against Holden's orders, he would have bled out in the middle of that mountainside road."

"And Holly Jo?"

Elaine shook her head. "No word on her."

"You think the girl is still alive?"

Elaine took a long breath and let it out. "I'm praying so. Now Stuart is waiting for the kidnapper to contact him. If he doesn't, then Holly Jo's chances aren't good."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Charlotte could see the toll this had taken on her friend. Elaine was the strongest woman she knew. She'd only seen her this upset one other time. Both times had involved loss. She reached over and took her hand.

"That girl is strong and smart," Elaine said, as if trying to convince herself. "She won't give up. She can't. We can't. We're going to find her."

"And Holden is going to pull through. It can't end like this."

Elaine nodded but didn't look any more convinced than Charlotte felt. She couldn't bear the thought of that girl being gone and what it would do to Holden. Nor could she bear Holden dying. Even if he never forgave her, never loved her again, she had to know that he was still with her, even if at the ranch next door.

Even if she never saw him again.

"Please, I need to see him," she said. "I promise I'll make it quick."

T HE GOOD NEWS , the sheriff told himself, was that they didn't find Holly Jo's body at the abandoned milk barn or in the small old camper parked behind it or anywhere on the road on the way to Suicide Pass.

The coroner had come out and picked up Melanie Baker's body after the crime techs had finished. Stuart had taken photos, searched the premises and found the room where it appeared Holly Jo had been held.

A plastic juice container had been bagged as evidence, along with the blanket, mat and bucket. He suspected they would find her fingerprints on the juice bottle and her DNA on the blanket. As he'd looked around the dark room, he'd thought about the hours she must have spent here, terrified that she wouldn't be found, wouldn't be saved. He tried to swallow the lump that formed in his throat as his cell rang.

Unknown caller. His pulse kicked up a beat.

Stuart stepped out into the beautiful Montana summer day and took the call, his heart a thunder in his chest.

"Hello, Sheriff." The man's voice was the same one Stuart had heard last night up on Suicide Pass. "I missed you last night." The laugh was eerie, too high-pitched. "But at least I hit my target. Tell me he's dead."

"Sorry, I can't do that. He's going to pull through. Where's Holly Jo?"

"I thought I was a better shot than that. As for Holly Jo, you still owe me money since I didn't get the other million dollars."

"I'm going to need proof that she's still alive," Stuart said.

"Sure." He heard what sounded like the rustling of fabric, then "Say hello to the sheriff."

"Sheriff—" That one word came out in a rush of emotion.

Stuart felt it knock the wind out of him. "Holly Jo—" But she was gone. The kidnapper was back.

"If you want her to stay alive, you will do exactly what I say," Darius said.

Just hearing her voice had his heart pounding. She was alive! Scared. Still in trouble. But alive. No doubt she was wondering if she would ever be rescued. He wanted to bellow at the pain in his chest. She was alive! At least for the moment.

"Don't hurt her." The words came out between clenched teeth.

"Don't threaten me. Just listen."

Stuart took a breath and let it out slowly. "I'm listening."

Once he disconnected, he checked to see if the call had been traced.

"Nothing. Maybe he'll make another call closer to a cell tower. If he forgets to turn off his phone, we still might be able to at least get some idea where he is. That's if there are cell towers nearby," the tech told him. "We'll keep trying."

Stuart called his FBI agent contact. "The girl is still alive. He wants the rest of the money. He says he's written an obit for Holden McKenna. He wants it published."

"I thought the rancher wasn't dead."

"He's not."

"What about the exchange?"

"I'm meeting him this evening at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere. He definitely knows this area. He picks places where it's impossible to set up an ambush," the sheriff said. "This time he won't get the money unless I get the girl."

H OLLY J O HAD heard the sheriff say her name before the phone was ripped out of her hands. She'd cried out in frustration. There was so much she needed to tell him. But the kidnapper had slapped tape back over her mouth and pushed her against the passenger side of the pickup, where he tied her to the grab bar again. He'd fixed the door so she couldn't open it or roll down the window, saying he couldn't let her spoil his plans.

His plans were what she'd wanted to tell the sheriff about. The large cans of gas in the back of the pickup and what the man was saying he was going to do to the McKennas and their ranch house.

Last night, he'd left her tied up in a shed. He hadn't come back until almost daylight. He'd brought a metal briefcase that he kept opening. She saw that it was full of money. He'd counted it. So much money, and yet he didn't seem happy about it.

He'd started ranting about how he'd listened to Melanie. Trying to make her happy, he'd asked for the money, a mistake. He had just wanted the truth to come out. But now...now he wanted more. He wanted revenge.

She'd listened to him debate how to get to Holden in the hospital. After a while, he'd finally given up on that idea and pulled some old papers out of the glove box and a pen. She'd watched him scribble something onto the paper.

When he'd finished, he folded the paper and put it into his pocket. He smiled over at her. "I know just how to take Holden down," he said more to himself than to Holly Jo. "I'll destroy everything the man has built. Everything he holds dear."

The look in his eyes when they focused on her sent a chill through her. If the sheriff didn't find her soon, she was going to die.