Jake MacNamara was missing. He’d been sent on a lead toward Brownsville and hadn’t been seen since. Elliot had been looking for him since the last time he and Turner had spoken.
Nothing.
“Any word?” Turner asked quietly as he settled into the chair across from the TSP police chief.
Elliot shook his head. “Not yet. There was a text sent to Callum, but nothing more than that. And nothing helpful. We can’t even be certain it was from Jake at this point.”
“It’s getting worse.” Turner looked through the photocopies of the threats that had been delivered to his office on the desk between them.
It had been the one Elliot Marshall’s father had sat at when he’d held the position Elliot Junior did now.
The desk had been swept up in the tornado when the TSP had been hit. It had been found in the parking lot at Finley Creek County Hospital, three blocks away, with Elliot’s letterhead still inside.
There were a few more dings and scratches over the surface, and one door had been missing when it had been found, but Elliot’s brother Chance had cleaned it up for him and had it delivered to his brother himself.
Turner thought the desk symbolized a great deal. It had stood through generations of TSP chiefs, and it would stand through this one as he worked with Turner to rebuild their city.
Turner had learned early on to respect the desk.
“When did these roll in?” Elliot lifted the first photocopy. Turner knew exactly what the crude warning tied to a brick and thrown through the window of his temporary office said. “‘Back off, Barratt. You won’t like what happens next.’ Real original.”
“No kidding.” Turner had received six threats since the day the two thugs had attacked him in his own driveway. And he was almost certain he’d been followed twice since. “They’re out there, trying to intimidate me. I just don’t know if it’s because of this asshole ring or because of the Boethe Street Initiative. Or next year’s election. Neither one of those projects are making me any friends.”
“Except for sweet little Annie Gaines. I heard all about what she said that night in your defense.” Elliot’s expression was rueful. “Her sister told Syd, Syd told Mel, Mel told Jillian, Jillian told Brynna, and Brynna told Gabby…”
Turner just gawked at the other man. Hell, Elliot was serious. “They played the telephone game?”
“Texted, I believe.” Elliot just shook his head. “Annie’s a close friend of Gabby’s, Turner. They all keep close tabs on each other, the women of W4HAV. They say it’s a safety thing; and I completely agree. But we have other things to worry about.”
Turner nodded. It was time to get started.
He’d deal with what was going on between him and Annie later. Right now, they had to figure out what had happened to Jake MacNamara.