Jennie raced off the porch, her sides heaving as sobs shook her. She tried to call for LJ, but she was too distraught. She knew what kind of monster Steve was.
“Jennie!” Luke ran up beside her and grabbed her hand.
She turned to face him, her whole being quivering with terror. “Luke,” she finally managed to sob out. “He has LJ and Theresa. I know he does! We have to find them!” Inside she was struggling not to give in to despair. There was still hope that they would find LJ on the property.
Luke leaned in and put his forehead briefly on hers. “Lord Gott, please, help us find our son.”
A simple prayer, but one she felt deep down in her spirit. “Amen,” she choked out.
“I’ll go out back, search the pastures.”
She nodded. “I’ll look out front and in the side yard.”
He squeezed her hand one final time, then he was off. His gate was uneven on the snow-covered lane, but Jennie didn’t watch for long. She pivoted and ran, pumping her arms for additional speed. As she whipped around the corner of the house, her white kapp flew off her head. She didn’t pause. LJ needed her.
He wasn’t in the front yard. She ran between the tractor and the equipment, peering underneath everything. Nothing.
That left the side yard.
The yard that seemed so peaceful in the morning when she came out to pray now appeared desolate. In some ways, it even seemed to have a menacing edge—all the rocks, plunging down at such a sharp angle.
LJ wouldn’t come out here, she told herself. He knew it wasn’t a safe place, and she had told him often enough that he wasn’t allowed here. He would not have disobeyed her.
But he was four. What four-year-old boy could resist the lure of the forbidden?
She stepped closer to the edge, peering down the cliff. At first, she didn’t see anything. She almost left, relieved that he hadn’t fallen down.
But something urged her to look again.
There. Beneath two slabs of rock, a sheet of paper jutted out. Her breath caught sharply when she saw her name printed in large blocky letters on the top of the page.
Someone knew she was here.
Edging down the slope a couple feet, she slipped on the icy terrain and caught herself on her hands. They stung where the skin was scraped off. She ignored the pain. Reaching the paper, she pulled it out from between the rocks. When she climbed up to the top, she opened the folded sheet, vaguely aware of the blood from her hands smearing the page.
Jennie. Such a pretty place you’ve found to walk in the mornings. I like watching you.
She shivered, remembering the feeling that someone had been there. Oh, why had she ignored that? Just because she hadn’t seen anyone! A tear slipped out of her eye. She brushed it away with angry fingers.
I have your little boy and the girl. Cute little thing. He’s not hurt. Yet. If you want him to stay that way, you will do exactly what I say.
Ditch the Amish people you’re with. Come down to the end of the drive and follow the bike path across the road. If you bring your friends with you, your son and your friend will pay for your disobedience.
There was no signature, but it didn’t matter. She knew exactly who had sent it. Steve. No one else would want her dead this badly.
She had no choice. How she wished she had one last chance to see Luke. She had no doubt Steve would kill her. But maybe Luke could still find LJ and Theresa. If Steve released them.
Carefully, she bent and placed the letter under a rock on the dirt portion of the driveway, leaving it so it wouldn’t blow away, but neither would it be hard to see.
Following the directions, she strode down the lane, looking behind her to make sure no one was following. She didn’t want Luke to find she was gone, not yet. If he did, she didn’t know what would happen to LJ or Luke’s sister. Their safety had to be her first and only priority.
When she crossed the road, she found the neglected bike path. None of the Amish in the area would have used it. Luke had told her once a long time ago that their bishop didn’t let them ride bikes or anything with rubber wheels. The path grew dimmer with each step she took under the overgrown trees.
A movement to her left startled her. With a small shriek, she spun, her hand flying to cover her heart.
Brenda, the clerk from the bank, emerged from the trees, a cold smile on her face.
“Brenda?” Jennie gasped. The idea that she could be involved in something so heinous was unbelievable.
The other woman laughed, a sound that scraped against Jennie’s raw nerves. It was a bitter, angry sound. “You have been more trouble than you’re worth. The tracking device under your car was supposed to make you easy to find. But then you left your car behind. It’s taken too much time finding you again.” Brenda tossed her head, her eyes narrowing to slits. Jennie was reminded of a snake. “If you’d died like you were supposed to, none of this would have happened.”
Jennie’s head swam, unable to process what was happening. “But why? I never knew you until I moved to Meadville, did I? What did I ever do to you?”
Brenda grabbed her arm, shoving Jennie in front of her and forcing her to walk. “To me? Nothing. But to Steve, plenty.”
“How do you know Steve?”
“Keep moving,” Brenda snapped when Jennie’s steps slowed. “I wrote to him in prison. We fell in love. He told me how you framed him, how you had schemed against him.”
Jennie had heard of women falling for men who were in prison before. She’d never put much credence to such stories before. Now she knew better. “I didn’t—”
Brenda gave her arm a fierce yank. Jennie cried out in pain. “I don’t want to hear your lies. If Morgan hadn’t screwed up, you’d be gone and I could start my life with Steve. Now I have to wait until you’re taken care of.”
Jennie tried to keep up. Morgan. Randi’s brother. The one who’d been stalking her on Steve’s orders.
“Morgan’s dead.”
Brenda laughed. It reminded Jennie of a coyote howling, hungry and without mercy. She shivered. When Brenda laughed again, Jennie knew her fear amused the other woman. “You didn’t think we could let him live, not after he almost destroyed everything we’d worked so hard for?”
“Steve killed him? His own friend?”
Now Brenda snorted. “Morgan Griggs was nothing to Steve. How could he be? Nothing but a low-life loser. I actually enjoyed pulling the trigger.”
“You!” Jennie tripped in her shock.
“Keep going,” Brenda snarled in her ear. “I’d love to shoot you right here, but Steve wants that pleasure for himself.”
Jennie’s hands and feet were becoming numb from the cold. Her heart felt like a frozen lump of rock sitting in the middle of her chest. She’d been so wrong about Brenda.
How blind had she been to never see the net Steve had put in place, closing in around her? Morgan. Brenda. Zane. All people she’d known but hadn’t really paid any attention to. Had there been any others?
If she ever got out of this mess, how would she go back to her life? The idea of raising a child in that world filled her with horror.
If Luke found her message and managed to rescue LJ and Theresa, at least she would know that her baby would grow up in a world that valued life and honored God.
Brenda led her down the path to a waiting car, engine running. She slipped handcuffs on Jennie’s wrists and forced her onto the back floorboard. Jennie scrunched into the small space, her back twisted funny.
Leaning her head against the back door, she closed her eyes. There was no way out for her. Not right now. She’d have to keep watch to seize her opportunity.
She could pray. With silent tears running down her cheeks, she begged God to protect her family. To spare LJ and Theresa, and to protect Luke as he came after them. Lastly, she pleaded that God would send someone to save them all.
Exhaustion overtook her. When she awoke, the car was stopped. Where were they?
She tried to see through the opposite window, but all she could see was sky.
The door she was leaning on opened. She was grabbed from behind and dragged roughly from the car. When she was on her feet, she was spun around to come face-to-face with the man who had haunted her dreams for years.
“Well, if it isn’t my darling stepdaughter,” Steve snarled, his breath hitting her face. She blinked and pulled back. He chuckled. She shivered. “I’ve been waiting a long time to meet up with you again.”
“LJ!” Luke shouted his son’s name as he tore into the barn. His son loved the animals. Maybe Theresa had taken him in to see the new puppies. He found the animals in the back with their mother, but there was no sign of his son. Or his little sister.
If he lost either of them...
He wouldn’t go there.
“Luke, did you find them?”
Raymond and Simon bolted into the barn.
“Nee, not yet. Help me search.”
Without a word, both brothers took off in different directions, one searching the fields, the other heading into the woods. Luke was grateful for the assistance. His daed met him in the yard. “Your mamm went to the neighbors’ haus to ask for help. What can I do?”
Luke clapped a hand on his daed’s shoulder and blinked the moisture from his eyes. “Help me search. And pray, Daed.”
“Always.”
The men fanned out and continued to call for LJ and Theresa. There was no response. A lead ball settled in Luke’s gut. If Theresa heard him, she’d respond if she could. He checked the shop, although he doubted his son would disobey and go in there. And he knew that his sister would never take him in there. She knew that their daed had dangerous tools and equipment there. It was no place for a child. LJ had been warned not to venture inside without an adult, and up to now, had never once tried to test the rule.
It was colder now than it had been when Luke had first run outside. The sky would be growing dark soon. Maybe Jennie had found them. He hoped and prayed it was so as he dashed to the side of the haus. Rounding the corner of porch, he halted, confused. Jennie’s kapp was near the base of the stairs. He picked it up and shoved it in his pocket.
Jennie, however, wasn’t there. Had she already headed inside? If she had found LJ, she would have come to let him know. Or she would have sent Theresa to him. He knew that she wouldn’t leave him searching in suspense. So where had she gone?
A chill fell over him as he looked at the slippery rocks near the top of the incline. Jennie loved this area. Maybe she’d gotten too close and fallen down. Dread bloomed in him as an image of his beautiful Jennie lying injured at the bottom of the rocks popped into his brain. No!
Running to the edge, he looked down, nearly falling to his knees when he looked clear to the bottom and saw neither Jennie nor LJ lying there. He frowned. But where had she gone? He started to turn away.
A flutter on the driveway caught his attention. A paper was stuck under a rock. The way it was positioned, he knew someone had left it there on purpose. When he moved closer, he saw Jennie’s name on it. As he bent, he saw the red smears. Blood.
His throat closed. Grabbing the note, he read it over, then read it again, horror freezing his veins. He knew exactly what had happened. Steve had kidnapped his son and his sister, and his brave Jennie had gone as a sacrifice to save them.
But she’d left the note for him, so clearly she expected him to come to her rescue. Jennie wasn’t one to run toward danger if she had any choice.
Clenching the paper in his hands, he bellowed for his brothers and his daed. His daed arrived first, dragging in huge gasping breaths. He must have run all the way. The thunder of approaching footsteps alerted him to his brothers rounding the corner.
“Jennie’s stepfather has them both, and now he has Jennie, too.”
Raymond took the letter from him and read it out loud for everyone’s benefit. Hearing the words again sent daggers of fear and agony shooting through Luke’s heart. His spirit cried out to Gott, begging Him to have mercy on them and protect his family.
“We have to contact the police,” Simon stated. “It’s the only way we can do this.”
Luke knew his brother was right. He chafed against the time that would be wasted waiting for the police to arrive. But there was nothing he could do against those who didn’t blink at the thought of killing others.
He ran to the phone in the workshop and dialed 911. The operator assured him that a police vehicle was en route and would arrive within the next ten minutes.
Ten minutes. It seemed an eternity to wait while his family was in mortal danger.
He snatched up the leash for Buster.
“What are you doing?” Raymond latched onto his arm. Luke shook him off.
“Ach, you know what I’m doing. I’m going after my wife and child. The police won’t let me come, but I can’t stay back. Buster will be able to find LJ. Give them the note.”
Without waiting for a response, he ran to the haus and grabbed the shirt LJ had worn the day before. Racing from the haus, he burst into the garage and attached the leash to the dog.
“Come on, girl. Let’s go get LJ.”
The dog woofed as if she understood what he was saying, though it was probably wishful thinking. Luke let her sniff the shirt. With a growl, the pup started sniffing the ground. When she moved, she pulled Luke toward the forgotten bike path across the road.
Luke followed the pup down the path. His other hand was clenched tightly around Jennie’s kapp. It was his one link to her now. Please, Gott, lead me to her.
It was going to be dark soon. He arrived at the end of the trail. There was no sign of Jennie, LJ or Theresa. Buster whined. He patted her head.
Discouraged, he went home. The police had arrived. It was a strange sight to see their vehicles in his drive, lights flashing. The neighbors across the road were huddled on their porch, whispering together.
He barely registered them, his mind mired in his grief and anxiety.
Thankfully, the troopers didn’t lecture him about going after Jennie.
“We’ve put out a BOLO,” the trooper in charge informed him. When Luke stared at him, he explained, “That means Be On the Lookout. We’ve released pictures of Jennie and LJ from Jennie’s Facebook page, as well as a picture of Steve Curtis. The hope is someone will see them and call in.”
Luke swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump in his throat. “What do we do while we’re waiting?” He didn’t dare ask what happened if no one called in. The idea that he might lose three people so dear to him at once was overwhelming.
“Easy, son.” The trooper placed a hand on his shoulder. “I know you’re anxious. We’re going to do everything possible to find your loved ones. Right now, we’re going to organize a search of the area. Gather all your neighbors. There’s a chance that the kidnappers are still in the area.”
“What if we see something?”
“Don’t, I repeat, do not under any circumstance approach. Steve Curtis is dangerous. It will help no one if one of you get yourselves killed.”
The trooper gave him a pointed glance. Apparently, he had decided that if anyone would act rashly, it would be Luke. Luke refrained from voicing the retort that hovered on his tongue. Sparring with the police wouldn’t help them find his family.
For the next hour, the neighbors searched the area. Unusual tracks had been spotted past the bike trail. Someone had driven a car back there. Luke knew in his heart it had been Jennie’s kidnapper.
A call came in on the police radio. Someone had spotted a man who fit Steve Curtis’s description. Luke held his breath as the police gathered around.
“There’s a possible sighting of the suspect at the abandoned Schwartz barn, three miles outside of town.”
“That’s hard to reach,” one of the troopers called out. “The bridge is out.”
“There’s a back way,” Luke burst out, interrupting the conversation. “The Amish use the road all the time. We can show you the way.”
The chief scowled, his brow furrowed in thought. Luke hoped he wouldn’t tell him to stand back now, not after letting him and the neighbors join in the search. When the trooper’s gaze landed on him, Luke suspected that the man already knew Luke wouldn’t stay home. He was going to search for his family, whether the police wanted him to or not.
“Fine,” the man bit out. “Let’s hurry, though.”
Luke ran to the cruiser and got in before the trooper could change his mind. Soon they were on their way. Luke wanted to tell the trooper to speed up, but bit his tongue. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, he might have enjoyed the irony that he was the one who wanted the Englisch man to go faster.
As it was, he was struggling to hold on to his hope with all the strength of his soul. He prayed for all he was worth that Jennie, LJ and Theresa were alive and would be safe.
Hold on, Jennie. I’m coming to get you.