Friday Afternoon, June 27th, 2014
Troutman didn’t want money. I knew that much for sure. He wanted my ass. Even if I’d had any of my settlement money in my account already it wouldn’t have done any good to withdraw any of it and take it to him.
I had to figure out a way to get both Hannah and I out of this alive. I thought about calling Mel or calling the state patrol but, until I knew where I was going for the meet up, both options would be pointless.
A thought occurred to me; if Noland Troutman had Hannah, then that meant he’d snagged her at the park today or on her way to work. He might know I’d been with her there. Hell, someone might be watching me now! No matter what, I’d have to go to a bank and make it appear as if I was complying with his request.
I checked my back-up pistol and also got my service pistol out of Mel’s den closet. I took the extra underwear, shorts and tops out of the little duffle and put only my service weapon in it. Then, I took the medication and toiletries out of the backpack and stuffed a couple of hard back books in. I’d transfer them to the duffle after my stop at some sort of bank and make it look like the duffle held packs of hundred dollar bills.
Ready, I hobbled back out across the deck and down the stairs into the yard. My skin crawled like there were a hundred eyes on me.
###
Mel watched through the slit in the curtains and waited until Dana was nearly to the barn before she rushed down the stairs and outside. The summer heat hit her full force and a wave of nausea rose from her stomach. She willed it away.
She wasn’t sure where Dana was going. She didn’t want to follow her in the truck but she didn’t have any other options. She waited and watched until she saw the little SUV pull out onto the main road through town and turn north before she pulled out of the driveway.
Following along as far back as she could, Mel didn’t see any other pursuers. She realized they were headed into Zanesville when Dana turned west on 146. She couldn’t imagine Troutman, if that’s who it was, holding Hannah inside of the city limits. He had to have her in some remote place well out of town. So where was Dana going?
Twenty minutes later, Mel had her answer as Dana pulled into the parking lot of a national chain bank. Mel didn’t think she’d gotten any settlement money yet but there Dana went toward the front door like she didn’t even know that money was the last thing Troutman wanted.
Horns honked behind her. Mel drove the truck forward and rounded the block, coming back alongside the bank again. The Escape was still parked where Dana had left it. Around the block she went again. It was still there.
Her duty phone buzzed on the seat beside her. It was Holly. She pulled over and answered, “Sheriff Crane.”
“Sheriff, I’m so sorry to bother you when you’re sick.”
“It’s okay. I’m miserable but I’m actually in town on a mission of sorts. What did you need?”
“Patrol just collared Kelly Rice, Mel. She was hanging out at Putnam Hill Park. They’re bringing her in.”
Mel didn’t say anything.
“Sheriff? Are you there?”
“Sorry Holly, I was just thinking. It’s awesome that they got her but it puts me between a rock and a hard place right. I have to take care of something. Have them put her in holding. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Um, okay. I mean, roger, Sheriff.”
Mel hung up, pulled out and finished circling the block. The Escape wasn’t parked at the bank anymore.
“Damn it!” Mel smacked her steering wheel. She looked in every direction but she didn’t see it. She thought about what to do. If she put an APB out for it, anyone apprehending it would find the warrants on Dana. She couldn’t let that happen. She had both Dana and Hannah to think about.
Mel dialed Dana’s cell number. It rang several times and then rolled to voicemail. She left Dana a message to call her before she did anything to try and save Hannah. She hung up and then texted Dana the same thing. If her phone was on, she’d get one or the other message right away. She sat and waited for several minutes but she got no response.
Mel called Holly back. When her assistant answered she told her, “I need two things ASAP in this order, one, I need a GPS trace on this cell phone number.” She reeled off Dana’s number to Holly. “Do whatever you have to do to make that happen and let me know as soon as it’s tracking.”
“Roger Sheriff. Stand by.”
Moments later, Holly came back on the line, “What else did you need?”
“Where are they with Kelly Rice right now?”
“Not here yet Sheriff.”
“Can you patch me through to the arresting officer or whoever is transporting her?”
“Cell or radio Sheriff?”
“Cell first, no broadcast.”
“Roger Sheriff. Treadway’s doing the transport. Wait one.”
Joe Treadway was one of Mel’s best Deputies. She had confidence that everything was under control whenever he was involved.
Holly came back on the line “Sheriff, you’re connected.”
“Thank you. Please get on that other issue.”
“In the works Sheriff. Out.”
“Treadway?” Mel asked.
“Copy Sheriff.”
“You’re transporting Kelly Rice?”
“Affirmative.”
“What’s her demeanor Joe?” He was quiet.
“Joe did you copy that?”
“Affirmative Sheriff. Not all there.”
“Okay, I’m getting that she’s in a rough mental state and she’s there so you can’t talk.”
“Affirmative.”
“What’s your ETA to the station?”
“Five mikes Sheriff.”
“Bypass booking Joe. Put her in interview. We have even bigger problems.”
“Roger. Out.”
###
Dana
I texted Hannah’s phone:
Me: I have the money. Send me directions from downtown Zanesville.
Hannah’s Phone: No cops!
Me: Agreed. No cops.
Hannah’s Phone: Head south on I-60 out of Zanesville. Take county road 6A from that onto SR 555.
Hannah’s Phone: On 555, one mile past the used car lot and the junkyard. Pull in at the Baptist church.
Hannah’s Phone: Turn your phone off now. No tracking!
I did a double take at both the thought of Troutman being holed up in or near a church and at him wanting my phone off. This doesn’t bode so well for me... I popped the phone off but not before I noticed that Mel had texted me to call her. She knows I’m out of the box and up to something. I decided to leave the phone on until I passed the car lot and junk yard and I turned it back on but left it down out of view.
###
“We have a problem.” Mel leaned across the interview room table from a standing position and got right in the face of Kelly Rice.
“We who?”
“You and I. Don’t play dumb with me. Your fiancé has kidnapped a teenage girl and is holding her for ransom. We all know he doesn’t want for money so you tell me, what’s he up to Kelly?”
She shrugged a slim shoulder and smiled a shit eating grin. “Your guess is as good as mine. It wasn’t my day to watch him.”
“Is that right? You seem to make quite a habit of watching people. I’ll bet you know exactly where he is and what he’s doing, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t. The bastard dumped me.” Mel was taken aback momentarily but Kelly sailed right on and didn’t seem to notice. “I’ve spent all my time trying to help him win an election against you and you mess things up at every turn. The stuff you charged me with?” She leaned right back across the table at Mel, “it was all at his direction. This crap,” she waved her hand in the air, “is the thanks I get!”
“We know you were watching the girl he’s got at Putnam Hill Park today. Help us to find him before...”
“That just proves that you don’t know squat! There wasn’t anyone at the park today. Oh, he went by there but he didn’t stay there!”
Mel sat back in her chair and thought about where to go next. “Kelly, this will go a lot easier for you if you help us to nail him now. Let’s start at the beginning shall we?”
No response came from the other side of the table.
“Kelly, did Noland kill Terri Sweeting?”
“I want my lawyer.”
“Fine. We’ll stop those sorts of questions and you can call him. Hell, I’ll call him for you but understand this, in the meantime, Noland has the girl and he’s using her as bait to lure Dana Rossi in. He’s going to kill them both Kelly and their blood will be on your hands too.” Mel let that sink in for a minute.
Kelly looked all around the spare room; everywhere but at Mel. Finally she spoke, “Noland’s great grandfather had an old hunting cabin in the Brush Creek area that’s still there. That’s probably where he took the girl.”
Mel tried not to seem too anxious, “How do you get there?”
“I can’t give you specific directions but I was there once,” she shuddered at the memory, “and I know I could find it again.”
“You worked in dispatch and patrol and you don’t remember street names?” Mel shook her head in disgust.
“It’s not that! The place is old and deep in the woods off of marked roads. You’ll never be able to find it. You’ll have to take me with you.”
Mel got up and stepped out of the interrogation room. Treadway was watching and listening at the one way outside. “You heard that right?” The deputy nodded. “Get the hostage team together and gear up for anything. Who knows what we’ll be dealing with out there.” He nodded again and exited the outer room and then Holly entered it.
“Mel, we traced Dana’s cell to a spot on State Route 555 and then it stopped tracking.”
“Thanks Holly, that lets me know that at least I’m on the right track with this one.” Mel jerked her thumb toward the interrogation room.
###
Dana
I reached out and turned off my cell once the car lot came into view. I hoped Mel had thought to track it since she seemed to know I was on the move because, if she hadn’t, I was as good as dead. It wouldn’t take Troutman long to figure out I had no money with me and there was little I could do to defend myself or Hannah in my physical condition.
I looked around. The junkyard I was passing was massive. It seemed to be a graveyard for state and county vehicles and old school buses in particular. Once by it, I continued on down the road, scanning both sides for a Baptist church. When I found it, I pulled into the lot and parked. I didn’t know if I should sit and wait in the vehicle or get out. No other cars were in view. The church was still and quiet. I opted to stay in the little SUV and wait.
My wait wasn’t very long. After a couple of minutes, a man stepped out from behind the building. He looked all about and then he came around to the driver’s side window and motioned for me to open my door.
“You Dana?”
I swallowed hard and nodded. He was in his low to mid-30s with dark hair – not the Noland Troutman that I knew from pictures. This was someone else entirely. “Get down nice and slow and get back in on the passenger side.” His voice wasn’t familiar to me either.
“I-I’m injured. I can’t walk without my crutches.”
“I know, damn it! That’s why I’m here in the first place!”
Slowly, without the aid of my crutches, I got out of the driver’s seat and onto the ground. I was standing on my good leg. My left foot was touching earth but I was bearing no weight on it.
The man grabbed me and turned me in one swift motion and then pushed me brusquely into the side of the vehicle. He searched me while I whimpered at the barbs of pain that shot through my left leg. He took my back-up pistol and tucked it into his waist band.
“Shut up! Work your way around to the other side and get in the truck.”
While I did as he requested, he got into the driver’s seat, pulled my crutches out from the passenger side and tossed them into the back seat. Once I was in the passenger seat, he reversed out of the parking spot, turned right out onto the main road and, just past the church, turned right again on what was little more than a footpath through the trees.
A few minutes and what must have been a mile or so of bumping along down a dry but rutted track later, we reached a tiny cabin in a small clearing. We parked next to a very out of place looking light gray Nissan sedan. The man got out of the Escape, grabbed the book bag that I’d forgotten to take the books out of and then he came around and yanked me out of the truck. My service weapon was still in the duffle which was on the floor behind the driver’s seat. I was completely defenseless.