After several unsuccessful attempts to eat that day, I made a quick turn into a drive-through on our way to the sheriff’s office. “Sorry, but we don’t have time for anything else.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Renz said. “I’m good with a couple of burgers.”
I ordered four burgers, two large fries, and two iced teas. It would hold us over until breakfast tomorrow, and my mind wasn’t on food anyway. I mindlessly ate as I drove, and my thoughts were on the kids who might still be on that property.
It was late in the day, and I didn’t know how quickly the sheriff could get a warrant for access to the ranch. Renz called Burke, explained where the ranch was, and asked him to look in the plat book to see whose name or entity was listed as owner. He said we were on our way back and needed a warrant as fast as humanly possible.
At ten till five, I squealed to a stop in the sheriff’s office parking lot. Most government offices closed at five p.m., so I hoped the sheriff was successful in his attempt at getting through to a judge. I ran around the SUV, helped Renz out, and handed him the keys.
He frowned. “Why are you giving these to me?”
“Because I’m going to Cassie’s room to see if she can draw or describe the layout of the ranch.”
“Great idea. We’ll check the plat book. Call me if you need anything.”
I took off again in our windshieldless car and headed to the hospital. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow when we would have a different vehicle. Inside the building, I charged down the hallway and asked if I could speak to Cassie. I’d told the staff earlier that they could stop calling her Jane Doe, but we still didn’t have a last name for her. I was told to go ahead.
At Tara’s room, I knocked before entering. She said to come in, and they both smiled when they saw me.
“Agent Monroe. I was just telling Cassie how hard you and Agent DeLeon are working to bring those criminals to justice.”
“I am, but now I need your help, Cassie. It’s really important, honey. Do you think you can help the FBI?”
Her eyes widened. “If I can.”
She was beginning to string words into sentences and that was an improvement.
“Good.” I opened my briefcase and smiled. I was thankful that years ago, Kate had instilled in me how important it was to always carry drawing paper and pencils with me, and now was the time I needed them. I took a seat next to Cassie’s bed and pressed the button to raise the back higher for her. “What I need you to do is draw the exact layout of the ranch, however you remember it looking, as viewed from the road.”
She frowned. “I don’t know a road.”
“Okay. You climbed the mountain when you got away, right?”
She nodded.
“Do you know how the ranch looked from the mountain?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Can you draw it for me, or if you want to point and tell me, I’ll draw it.”
She took the paper and pencil from me and with a shaky hand began to draw. The buildings weren’t pretty or even shaped right, but as long as I knew which building was which, that was good enough. The first building was large and oblong. Near it was another but smaller building.
“What are those buildings?” I asked.
She pointed at the first one. “House.”
“Good, and that one?” I tapped the drawing.
“Shed.”
“Okay, you’re doing great. Are there more?”
She continued, and she drew four more buildings several inches to the right, all of them large. She drew lines to the right of those buildings that went on forever, standing side by side.
“What are those buildings and the lines, Cassie?”
“Help barn, kid barn, cow barn, machine barn.”
“And those sticks?”
“Fences.”
“Ah, now I understand. Are there more buildings?’
She shook her head.
“That’s how they were positioned when you saw them from the mountain?”
She nodded.
“You did a great job, Cassie.” I took a picture of her drawing and quickly texted it to Renz with a note. This is how Cassie saw the ranch from the mountain. After putting my phone in my pocket, I looked at Tara. “How are you two getting along?” My question was directed at her since I was sure she’d initiated the conversations.
“We’re getting along just fine, and I’m sure over time, I’ll get to know Cassie much better.”
I wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but I needed to get to the sheriff’s office, so I didn’t ask. I promised to come back the next day, thanked Cassie again, and left.
An idea popped into my head as I drove. We had about an hour and a half of daylight left, and we needed to hurry.
I rushed into the building and found Renz, Sheriff Burke, and Deputies Smythe and Knight in their cafeteria. It was the largest room in the sheriff’s office and was used as a multipurpose room, mainly for meetings and eating.
“What did you find in the plat book?” I asked.
Renz shrugged. “The property is owned by a trust, and that trust is owned by a subsidiary of—”
“Let me guess—Full Circle Enterprises.”
“Exactly. Another dead end as to the name of the actual person behind the cloak of anonymity.”
I sighed then made my suggestion after noticing a copy of Cassie’s drawing on the table. Renz said they’d been reviewing it closely, and from our perspective from the road, we didn’t have the right angle to see all of the buildings she had drawn.
“Sheriff Burke, how about using that drone again to hover over the foothills at the edge of the mountains and have it face the ranch? That would be about the same bird’s-eye view Cassie had when she escaped.”
“That’s the best chance we’ll have of seeing if that’s the place Cassie drew. Luckily, I haven’t returned the drone to my friend yet. I was just telling Lorenzo that I spoke to the county judge, and without proof that the red van was the one driven when Mr. and Mrs. Philips were ambushed, such as the plate number, he can’t issue the warrant.”
“Damn it. Then we have to use the drone. If the layout of the ranch matches the drawing Cassie made, well, that gives us probable cause to move in.”
Burke nodded. “It sure as hell does.”