Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jess, still worried that Raine was alone, was glad the meeting hadn’t taken long. With a professional eye, the architect had reviewed the sketches, made some tweaks that would retain the ambiance of the century-plus log home while incorporating the modern additions. Singing along with the radio, his thoughts were on enjoying the rest of the day with his bride before their rambunctious girls returned home. They’d certainly enjoyed the mini-honeymoon and his heart did a happy rat-tat-tat of anticipation thinking of the remaining can of whip-cream in the refrigerator.

Lost in heated fantasies, he meandered along the rural blacktop. With the spring-like temperatures, yellow and pink wildflowers reached for the sun. Tomorrow was Easter and a big celebration was planned. Jess wasn’t sure who’d had more fun decorating the yard and house before they’d left on their trip—him or the girls. Their Easter baskets, laden with all kinds of goodies, were hidden away until tomorrow. His whole being overflowed with contentment. Lost in happy thoughts, he gave the dirty van a cursory glance as it passed before a tingling warning said there was something vaguely familiar about the guy the ball cap couldn’t hide. It was probably someone he’d seen around town. He memorized the tag number, then forgot about it as his driveway came in sight.

Gloating at his success, Addison’s heart nearly gave out seeing the familiar black pickup coming toward him. Talk about going down to the wire! Reacting quickly, he slapped on a baseball cap and averted his face as much as possible. After the truck was past, Addison watched in the rear-view mirror until it was out of sight then floored the van.

When Jess walked through the door he was greeted with silence. Calling her name, all he got was more silence. A slight unease rippled through him. But figuring she was still at Cora’s, he headed there. Drawing near and hearing the music still blaring, relief flooded through him only to die a quick death the second he stepped through the door. Then it was gut-wrenching terror that consumed him.

“No! No . . . !” A howl of pure panic erupted at the scene before him. The place looked like an E-5 tornado had torn through it. Furniture was knocked over, shattered glass littered the floor, and somewhere in his head it registered the vacuum cleaner was running. Automatically he switched it, and the blasting stereo, off. The ensuing silence was almost as deafening. His mind spinning, Jess took in the chaos, zeroing in on three things: a manila envelope, photos scattered on the floor, and something glittering near the fireplace. Pain clawed at his insides as he picked up the glittering objects—Raine’s weddings rings. There was only one explanation why the place was a mess, why she was missing, and why she wasn’t wearing her rings. Addison! The son-of-a-bitch had slipped through their guard and now he had her!

Snatching up the pictures, the images set his head to reeling. Someone had taken these intimate pictures on purpose and given them to Addison. This time it was a cry of pure rage that erupted from the very depths of his soul as he tore back down the hill. Cooper! He had to call Cooper!

Cooper was just hitting the save button on his computer when his phone rang. Seeing the number, he managed a, “Hey . . .” then his mouth clamped in a grim line as he listened to a frantic Jess telling him what he’d found. Cooper’s own stomach twisted painfully for there was something he’d never heard from Jess in the all the time he’d known him. Fear—an undisguised, soul-aching black fear.

Jumping to his feet, Cooper went into battle mode motioning for everyone to gather around him. Every second counted in getting Raine back and knowing Jess, he would take matters into his own hands at any minute. “Jess! Don’t go anywhere until I get there. Stay put!” He ordered.

“I can’t! I have to find her!” Jess yelled through the phone.

“You wait for me!” Cooper ordered firmly.

“Go to hell! That’s my wife he’s got!” Jess yelled again. Disconnecting, he headed to his office where he did two things: locked the damning photos in the safe. Raine must have died a thousand deaths realizing Addison had them. But how had he come by them? The answer was simple. Addison had a spy. Well, he’d kill the spy, too, when he got his hands on him.

The second thing he did was get a gun from the gun safe. A line had been crossed. His woman, his wife, the love of his life, had been stolen and the man who’d taken her was going to pay. Just then his cell rang. It was Cooper. “I’m waiting! Get your ass out here!” He snapped.

Heaving an audible sigh of relief, Cooper empathized with his friend. Waiting wasn’t one of his strong suits, either. “I’m on my way.”

Guilt gnawed at Jess. The what-ifs slammed round in his head. If he hadn’t gone to that damn meeting, if he hadn’t left her alone, she’d still be here safe. Running a hand through his hair in rage-filled frustration he just couldn’t stand around twiddling his thumbs. He headed back to the cabin. Once there, standing amidst the mess, he could only imagine Raine’s terror coming face-to-face with Addison. The mere thought of what he could do to her left Jess deadly cold. Closing his eyes, he tried thinking of anything he might have missed, even the minutest detail that had slipped past him. Then it hit him like a sledgehammer between the eyes. The dirty van he’d passed only minutes ago! Immediately, he punched in Cooper’s number. As soon as Cooper answered Jess explained about the van then rattled off the tag number.

“That had to be them, Jess. They can’t have gotten far. We’ll alert all law enforcement agencies.” Scribbling as he talked, Cooper snapped his fingers at the officers gathered round him again. “Put this out to all agencies. Now!” To Jess he said. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. In the meantime, try to think of anything else suspicious that may have occurred during the last few days.” Lastly, he said, “just hold on Jess. We’ll find her.”

Knowing their friend needed them, Cooper called Belle, explained what had happened and to be ready to go, he’d swing by to get her. God forbid, but should Raine not come out of this alive, Jess would go off the deep end.

Less than five minutes after talking to Cooper, police cars, sirens wailing, swarmed the drive. Apparently, Cooper hadn’t wasted any time getting the word out. Jess answered every question fired at him while wanting to yell they were wasting precious time. But he kept his cool. It wouldn’t do any good to piss off the people who were there to help him.

At the cabin he was ordered to stay outside. His nerves on edge, he paced the length of the porch and frantically prayed. “Hang on, baby. Just hang on.” Maybe she could pick up his thoughts. “Please stay with me, sweetheart. I’m coming after you. I promise. And I promise you he’ll pay dearly.” Jess didn’t know if he was trying to assure her, or himself. Whatever, it sure as hell wasn’t working for him.

The twenty minutes it took for Cooper to get there were the longest minutes of Jess’s life. Several times he started to jump in his truck to go on the hunt. Because of his close friendship with Jess, Cooper was put in charge of the search. There’d been a brief meeting before picking up Belle. Now, they were ready to search for Raine, and support their friend.

Seeing Cooper’s vehicle pull into the drive, Jess raced back down the hill. They had barely stopped before Belle was running toward him with Cooper right behind. Reaching him, she wrapped him in a fierce hug. “We’ll find her, Jess. I know we will.”

“We’ve got every law enforcement agency alerted to be on the lookout for them.” Cooper hugged him, too. “They’ve got a description of what she looks like and if you remember what she was wearing I can add it.”

“Yeah,” Jess scrubbed his haggard face wearily, “she had on jeans with sparkly things on the pockets and one of my sweatshirts. It’s gray, has the Marine emblem on the front and is way too big for her. And tennis shoes.”

Cooper relayed the information to the station over the mike clipped to his uniform shirt. “Come on.” he urged Jess, a comforting hand on his back. “I want a look at the cabin.”

Following behind the two men, all kinds of horrible thoughts raced through Belle’s mind. She knew what Raine’s ex-husband could do to her. She’d confided some of the things he’d done and imagined there was far worse Raine hadn’t imparted. Just imagining it made her stomach pitched alarmingly. Of one thing she was certain—Raine Harper, helpless in this madman’s clutches, needed every prayer in the world if she was going to survive.

“This place is a mess, Coop. She must have put up one hell of a fight...” Jess choked up as he fought for composure. “We’ve got to find her. She’s full of grit and will fight him, but she doesn’t stand a chance. He’s hell-bent on revenge and he’ll make her pay with every last drop of blood in her body. Every minute that passes is a minute closer to him killing her.”

Grim-faced, Cooper was thinking the same thing. “At least we have a good lead. You actually saw the van, so we can’t be that far behind him. With the description and the tag number, a BOLO’s being broadcast statewide on all the emergency alert signs as we speak. There’s a good chance someone will spot the van and connect it to the alert. Now, start at the beginning and tell me everything. Starting with the van.”

Biting back his frustration, Jess repeated word-for-word the same details he’d given the other officers—about passing the van while returning home from the meeting with the architect to finding Raine missing and the cabin in shambles. The guilty voice in his head blamed him for not following the van.

Cooper’s cell rang just as he and Jess stepped onto the porch. It was the dispatcher. He had good news—and bad news. The van had already been sighted; then lost. Studying Jess’s anguished face, Cooper conceded he wasn’t going to be happy. At least now they had a general vicinity of where she could be.

“What?” Jess barked seeing the grim look on Cooper’s face. He was barely hanging on by a thread. “Cooper . . . I’m sor . . .”

Cooper cut him off with a wave of his hand. “I’d be the same way if I was in your shoes and Belle was missing. A white van matching the one you saw has been sighted.”

Hope flared in Jess’s heart. “Where the hell at?”

“A trucker going down I-67 saw the alert. Right about that time a white van flew by him like a bat-out-of-hell. He managed to get the tag number and exit number when it slowed to take the turn west out of town.”

Cooper might have sounded positive, but both had lived in the area long enough to know that if a body wanted to get lost and stay lost, there were plenty of places do so off the rural back roads. No matter, they’d search every nook and cranny until they found her.

It also didn’t go unnoticed by either that Addison had had time to scout out the area. A renewed sense of dread filled Jess. “That’s not good. If he holes up in the country it’ll be like trying to find a needle in haystack.”

“At least we’ve got a starting point.” Cooper left Jess on the porch. With a professional eye he took in everything including the drops of blood on the floor. Whose was it? He wondered, while praying it wasn’t Raine’s. Obviously, Jess hadn’t noticed the blood or he’d have already been in hot pursuit.