Holden remembered feeling guilty about leaving Margie to raise Treyton alone. He swore he’d do what he could to help her, but he had to be with Lottie.
Unfortunately, when he’d reached home that day, she had her own news. She was pregnant. Her father and his own were at the house, everyone celebrating. Margie’s father was in such a celebratory mood that he was giving them more of the Smith Ranch. Holden’s father couldn’t have been happier to hear that.
Holden hadn’t been able to tell Margie he was leaving because he’d known then that he couldn’t. He felt trapped. The next day, he didn’t show up at the creek to meet Lottie as he’d promised. He was too ashamed because he couldn’t go through with leaving Margie.
She had been so excited about the baby. None of this had been Margie’s fault, he’d told himself. Worse, he’d been a coward. No wonder Lottie hadn’t told him that Brand was his when she realized that she was pregnant. No wonder she’s never been able to forgive me. What he’d done to her and Margie had been unforgivable.
No wonder he’d thought Charlotte might be behind the kidnapping, even as he’d felt guilty for thinking it.
AFTER TALKING WITH TREYTON, Stuart stopped by the McKenna house to see Holden. He’d been upset when his deputy had called to say that the rancher had left the house and had only just returned.
“What if the kidnapper had called?” Stuart demanded once he and Holden were alone in the man’s office.
“Elaine would have handled it,” the rancher said. “She would probably have done a better job anyway.”
Stuart could only shake his head. “Holden, what could have been more important than talking to the kidnapper and finding Holly Jo?”
“I had something I needed to take care of” was all he said.
Stuart could well imagine. The rancher had gone to see Charlotte about Brand. He let it go, still riled up about Lulabelle and why she’d said what she had about his mother. Talking to Treyton had left him even more keyed up.
He studied Holden for a moment, finally seeing how much worse the man looked. Holly Jo’s kidnapping and the shock of Brand’s parentage were taking a hard toll on the man. Stuart couldn’t help feeling sympathetic. He’d made his own share of mistakes. Some had come back to haunt him. One had almost killed him. He had no right to judge.
“Do you know where Treyton is living?” he asked, reminding himself what was at stake. A young girl’s life. “I thought I heard he’d bought some property?”
“He did.” Holden’s eyes widened. “You think he has Holly Jo?”
Did he? “I don’t know.” He thought about a raid on the place if Holly Jo wasn’t found soon, but his suspicions lacked evidence of wrongdoing. He didn’t like Treyton, he didn’t trust him, and he figured the eldest McKenna was up to no good, but he couldn’t see him taking the girl, could he?
The truth was that he didn’t feel any closer to finding Holly Jo. He’d interviewed everyone on Holden’s list and had come up with nothing. Holly Jo had been missing for almost twelve long hours. He feared the kidnapper wasn’t going to contact them again. The ransom note hadn’t said anything about not involving the local law, which surprised him. But he worried his involvement might be what was holding things up.
Or the kidnapper could have changed his mind, had second thoughts, regretted what he’d done. Which meant he would release Holly Jo. Or kill her.
The FBI tech had already warned them that the call might be hard to trace. A call coming from a landline could be traced immediately with the new technology, the tech had explained to Holden. Even a cell phone. “What about the new burner or drop phones, the kind used only once?” Stuart had asked.
“That becomes more difficult to trace. When the number isn’t associated with the person we’re looking for, we have to triangulate their position off of cell phone towers,” he said. “Unfortunately, Montana does not have good cell reception. Roughly sixty-seven thousand square miles have limited access to cellular data. The state has less than three hundred cell towers—but even fewer in your part of the state because of the sparse population of Eastern Montana.”
When the call came through on the ranch landline twenty minutes later, Stuart realized they’d all given up hope. No wonder they were startled when the phone finally rang and it was the kidnapper. “We need to clear everyone out of the room except Holden.” The sheriff had already given the rancher a script to follow, telling him exactly what to say with the help of the FBI.
The landline rang again. Stuart informed the technician. Holden took the call. The voice on the other end was obviously disguised, making it impossible to tell whether it was a man or a woman. Without preamble, the kidnapper began to read from his own script.
“You will notify news media and hold the announcement at the ranch. It will be televised as well as announced on the radio. You will admit what you did. You have twenty-four hours. If you don’t do this, you will never see the girl again.”
Stuart nodded to Holden to say what he’d been instructed.
“I’m going to need proof that you have Holly Jo and that she is okay.”
“What do you want? A toe? Or maybe a finger?”
“I wouldn’t suggest that,” Holden said, going off script. “Not if you want to keep breathing.” The sheriff shook his head fiercely at him.
“You would dare threaten me?” The fury in the kidnapper’s voice turned Stuart’s blood to ice. He motioned to Holden to fix this.
“I need to know that Holly Jo is all right,” the rancher said. “She’s just a child.” This time his voice cracked with emotion, although he appeared to be gritting his teeth. The sheriff worried that Holden couldn’t take much more without alienating the kidnapper. The rancher’s free hand was fisted at his side.
Stuart pointed to the script he’d given him. Holden said, “I need a photo of her with today’s paper to prove that she is all right.”
The laugh was eerie and frightening. “And where would I get a newspaper?”
“I’ll give you my cell phone number.” He read it off. “You can send me a photo from your phone that shows today’s date.”
Silence, then finally, “If you don’t go public within the twenty-four hours after you get the photo, you know what happens.” The kidnapper was gone.
“Did you get him?” Stuart asked when he contacted the technician.
“Tried to triangulate, didn’t have much luck. All I can tell you is that he or she is still in the Powder River Basin. Used a burner phone. But should be able to send a photo on it that will show the date.” Stuart hung up.
“I’m sorry,” Holden said to him, clearly still furious. “That bastard has Holly Jo and is putting us all through hell. That son of a bitch is going to pay.”
“I can see how hard this is,” the sheriff said. “But the object is to get Holly Jo back, and then we’ll deal with the kidnapper.”
“The kidnapper’s right. Where would he get a newspaper if he has Holly Jo somewhere around here?” Elaine said. “Printed newspapers are scarcer than hen’s teeth nowadays. With luck, he might be able to find a Billings Gazette, but wouldn’t be able to buy a recent one in Powder Crossing.”
“Which is the good news,” Stuart said. “It could mean that the kidnapper has Holly Jo somewhere close—and he knows the area.”
The sheriff told himself that if Holly Jo was all right, they should be getting a photo of her soon. Otherwise... He refused to think of otherwise.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
