CHAPTER TEN

– PARKER –

"Want some pie?" I question.

Luke rushes into the kitchen and has wide eyes as he points at something.

"Yes, please," Cosima fires back. "Need my help?"

Following Luke, I notice what looks like a body on the ground near the road, right at the entrance of the ranch.

I glance over my shoulder and bellow at Cosima, "Nah, I got it," to make sure she stays put.

Luke and I rush out the door and I'm already palming my phone to dial Kathleen as I get closer. A feeling in my gut tells me this person is no longer alive. Why? Because the body is lying at an unnatural angle.

She picks up when I have my fingers on the cold neck of the woman's body and I instantly state, "Kathleen, you need to come down to Cosima and Eastlynne's place. We have a dead woman's body that seems to have been dumped here."

"Is she naked?" Kathleen asks.

"Yes," I slowly state.

A curse rumbles from her. "Make sure no one touches anything. I'll be right there."

She hangs up and I take a few steps back. "Kathleen ordered us to keep everything and everyone away from the body. She'll be right here."

"Do you think it has something to do with that serial killer case she mentioned?" Luke questions.

I release a deep sigh and wince at the sight of the body. "By the looks of it? Yeah."

We both fall silent. Concern hits me when I realize I've left Cosima on the back porch by herself. She shouldn't come here and see this. I mean, she'll eventually know, it's inevitable, but at least I don't want her to see it with her own eyes.

I jab the screen of my phone and call Walker, he picks up on the second ring. "Hey, mind going to Cosima? She should still be sitting on the back porch. We have a situation at the front of the house and I don't want her anywhere near it."

"You got it, VP," Walker rumbles and hangs up.

From a distance, I notice Kathleen approaching and it's then I hear Walker bellowing from the front porch, "VP, where is she?"

Confused I turn and jog toward Walker. "What are you talking about? Cosima was sitting on the back porch when I headed out front." I watch Kathleen park. "Go look in every room and wake Rourke, tell him in private so Eastlynne doesn't freak out, that there's a dead body on his old lady's doorstep. I'll be right back."

I jog in Kathleen's direction and give her a quick update on what happened when Luke signaled me to see the dead body until the moment she arrived.

It's then I tell her, "I need to leave you to it. Cosima was sitting on the porch when I walked out of the house and when I asked Walker to keep her there since he was working in the stables, he said she wasn't there and can't find her."

"Go," Kathleen orders. "I got this."

Rushing into the house, I almost run into Rourke.

"I sent Walker to the stables to check. There's no trace of her in the house. I just fired up the laptop to check the security feed," Rourke states.

Walker jogs into the living room while Rourke and I have our eyes set on the laptop.

"Nothing in the stables," Walker grunts.

"Where the fuck can she be?" I snarl. "She was sitting on the back porch, waiting for me to bring her coffee and pie. There's no damn way she would have left without saying something. Hell, she wasn't even fully dressed."

"I can see that," Rourke mutters as we all watch the screen to see Cosima strolling onto the back porch with a cup of coffee. "What time were you in the…oh, for fuck's sake."

Watching myself on the screen of the laptop while Cosima is sucking me off would be fucking awesome if she wasn't missing. Now, though? I bat Rourke's hand away to speed shit up and let the feed continue from the moment I step away to enter the kitchen.

We all watch how Cosima talks to me until I tell her I can manage without her help. Murphy appears from an angle that's a blind spot for Cosima due to the loss of sight in her right eye.

The fucker has a syringe and stabs her with it. He kept her immobile until whatever he gave her tainted her blood, making her sag into herself. Cosima was unconscious as he threw her over his shoulder and dragged her off in the direction of the stable. Rourke tries to get another angle, but it's as if the fucker disappeared into nothing.

"How the hell is that possible?" I snarl. "Why wasn't the alarm triggered? How did he sneak past our defenses? And where the fuck did he take her 'cause we don't see him walking off in any direction. He can't have gone into the stables. You checked, right?"

"Yeah," Walker states. "I just came from there and double-checked every stable. She's not there. Besides, I was working in the stable when you asked me to keep an eye on her, remember? That's why the alarm was off, we were all there walking around."

Frustration, fear, and despair hit me as I try to make sense of this shit. "Was he working with the fucker who dumped the body in front of the ranch?"

Without another word, I whirl around and run out the door and I hear Rourke bellow, "I'm gonna call Decker to ask if they've seen something coming their way. Maybe that fucker has somehow gotten onto our land through the pasture or by truck, who knows. The fucker can't simply disappear into thin air."

I don't reply but keep running. Kathleen is talking to someone on the phone. Her whole face is red from anger and she snarls something to the person on the other side of the line before she ends the call.

"Everything okay?" I question, not wanting to have a discussion since I have more fucking pressing matters at hand.

"No," Kathleen growls but instantly readjusts her voice when she asks, "Did you find Cosima yet?"

"We have a visual of Murphy taking Cosima. He injected her with something and she quickly fell unconscious. We tried to see if we could get a different angle that gives a visual of the side of the stables, but so far nothing. It's like they disappear into thin air."

Kathleen jabs the screen of her phone. "I'm letting my deputy know so he can send out an alert. Did you check the side of the stables?"

"No. Walker did check the stables, and he was there when Cosima was taken. He didn't hear or see anything." I glance in the direction of the house. "I'll double-check myself. What the fuck are we going to do?"

"Stay calm and find her," Kathleen firmly replies.

I give her a tight nod and hope to fuck she's right as I jog off to walk around the house in the direction of the stables. There's nothing other than the wall of the house, the stables, pastures, fence, nothing out of the ordinary. Whipping my head left and right I come up empty as I search for any tracks or clues.

From the corner of my eye, I notice movement and direct my gaze toward Wrench.

Luke jogs my way. "Kathleen told me to let Wrench sniff things out, but he's a cadaver dog, not a search and rescue. She called her father; he should be on his way with Sadie's dog."

I nod. It completely slipped my mind that Sadie is a search and rescue dog handler. She left the country two days ago with one of her dogs to help with finding survivors after an earthquake.

I jerk my chin in Wrench's direction. "Is he on to something or what?"

Wrench has his nose to the ground and is walking in a straight line, heading in the direction of the Iron Hot Blood ranch. Luke and I both follow at a small distance to give Wrench the room he needs to do his thing.

My fingers curl into fists. I don't think I've ever felt this useless in all my damn life. Fucking hell, I told her I'd protect her. How nothing will ever hurt her again, the way she suffered through the trauma of being assaulted a few months ago.

It took weeks for her to heal and then she finally regained half her sight back and only lasted barely two weeks of getting back to her full routine, and now this. Motherfucker, life can't kick a woman harder in the guts than this shit right here.

For a moment my mind wanders off to the fact that I saw her slipping into oblivion. She's not conscious and I hope to fuck Murphy keeps his damn hands off her. Anger unlike anything I've ever felt flows through my veins and I pick up my pace to keep up with Wrench.

The dog takes a hard left and picks up speed. He's heading straight to a small pond located at the far end of our property. It's a remote space where Wrench climbs on top of a large boulder and jumps off to start barking on the other side of it.

"Goddamn it," I grumble and jog around the thing.

Luke is right behind me when I come to a stop. I stare at Wrench, the dog must have lost his fucking mind because there's nothing here. The ground surrounding us is also untouched.

I fish my phone out of my pocket and hit Kathleen's number. "Your dog has lost his mind."

It's useless to let her know because I'm fairly sure she can hear him barking through the connection.

"Is he standing, sitting, or lying down?" Kathleen asks.

"Lying down," I reply.

"Fuck," Kathleen snaps.

My heart takes a plunge in ice-cold water.

"What's going on, Kathleen?" I grit while panic seeps through me, hoping Cosima is still alive.

"Hang on." Her words are muted, but I hear her talking to someone who is there with her. "Can you take over here? I need to check on something. No, asshole, small-town shit can't wait because I'm fairly sure my dog just found another body so I need to fucking check. Now, this serial killer case is all yours and even if it's in my town, you're going to take lead anyway so stay here and let me do my damn job." Her voice softens when she tells me, "Give me directions so I can come to you."

I let her know and we hang up. Luke jogs in her direction to make sure she doesn't take a wrong turn. A few minutes later Luke returns with Kathleen who is carrying a large bag over her shoulder.

Kathleen gives Wrench a ball and praises him as she walks to the place Wrench was lying. Taking out a shovel she gently moves some dirt around. All too soon she replaces the shovel with some kind of small broom and then she steps back.

She takes her phone in hand and says, "Marvin, I need you to let your guy watch over that crime scene and get your ass to me. Yeah, no shit. You need to see this. Wrench found a body. No, this one has been here a while. Yeah, bones, but I can still tell it's a woman. Okay."

Her eyes find mine. "Sorry. Clearly this isn't Cosima, but it might fit the profile of the serial killer. Marvin predicted the serial killer would come to this town since it fits his requirements. I do have to tell you that the search warrant came through on Bennie's house and Wrench found a body in the backyard. We're certain it's his missing wife but we're waiting on the official report. Bennie must have killed her when he caught her stealing money from the safe. Now, I'm sure Sadie's dog can do more than mine at this point so be sure to head back to the house. I have to stay here and handle this until Marvin gets here."

Kathleen has a pained look in her eyes and I know she's trying to do everything she can, but I'm starting to feel fucking helpless. How the hell can my old lady disappear while we have eyes all over the damn place?

Whirling around, I run back to the house to retrace my steps and glance at the video one more time to see if we might have missed something…anything. My heart squeezes painfully inside my chest. I have to get her back, I just have to. There's no way I could get back to living without the only woman who brightens my life and gives meaning to the sense of living.