Elaine took a long breath and let it out. “I’m praying so. Now Stuart is waiting for the kidnapper to contact him. If he doesn’t, then Holly Jo’s chances aren’t good.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Charlotte could see the toll this had taken on her friend. Elaine was the strongest woman she knew. She’d only seen her this upset one other time. Both times had involved loss. She reached over and took her hand.
“That girl is strong and smart,” Elaine said, as if trying to convince herself. “She won’t give up. She can’t. We can’t. We’re going to find her.”
“And Holden is going to pull through. It can’t end like this.”
Elaine nodded but didn’t look any more convinced than Charlotte felt. She couldn’t bear the thought of that girl being gone and what it would do to Holden. Nor could she bear Holden dying. Even if he never forgave her, never loved her again, she had to know that he was still with her, even if at the ranch next door.
Even if she never saw him again.
“Please, I need to see him,” she said. “I promise I’ll make it quick.”
THE GOOD NEWS, the sheriff told himself, was that they didn’t find Holly Jo’s body at the abandoned milk barn or in the small old camper parked behind it or anywhere on the road on the way to Suicide Pass.
The coroner had come out and picked up Melanie Baker’s body after the crime techs had finished. Stuart had taken photos, searched the premises and found the room where it appeared Holly Jo had been held.
A plastic juice container had been bagged as evidence, along with the blanket, mat and bucket. He suspected they would find her fingerprints on the juice bottle and her DNA on the blanket. As he’d looked around the dark room, he’d thought about the hours she must have spent here, terrified that she wouldn’t be found, wouldn’t be saved. He tried to swallow the lump that formed in his throat as his cell rang.
Unknown caller. His pulse kicked up a beat.
Stuart stepped out into the beautiful Montana summer day and took the call, his heart a thunder in his chest.
“Hello, Sheriff.” The man’s voice was the same one Stuart had heard last night up on Suicide Pass. “I missed you last night.” The laugh was eerie, too high-pitched. “But at least I hit my target. Tell me he’s dead.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that. He’s going to pull through. Where’s Holly Jo?”
“I thought I was a better shot than that. As for Holly Jo, you still owe me money since I didn’t get the other million dollars.”
“I’m going to need proof that she’s still alive,” Stuart said.
“Sure.” He heard what sounded like the rustling of fabric, then “Say hello to the sheriff.”
“Sheriff—” That one word came out in a rush of emotion.
Stuart felt it knock the wind out of him. “Holly Jo—” But she was gone. The kidnapper was back.
“If you want her to stay alive, you will do exactly what I say,” Darius said.
Just hearing her voice had his heart pounding. She was alive! Scared. Still in trouble. But alive. No doubt she was wondering if she would ever be rescued. He wanted to bellow at the pain in his chest. She was alive! At least for the moment.
“Don’t hurt her.” The words came out between clenched teeth.
“Don’t threaten me. Just listen.”
Stuart took a breath and let it out slowly. “I’m listening.”
Once he disconnected, he checked to see if the call had been traced.
“Nothing. Maybe he’ll make another call closer to a cell tower. If he forgets to turn off his phone, we still might be able to at least get some idea where he is. That’s if there are cell towers nearby,” the tech told him. “We’ll keep trying.”
Stuart called his FBI agent contact. “The girl is still alive. He wants the rest of the money. He says he’s written an obit for Holden McKenna. He wants it published.”
“I thought the rancher wasn’t dead.”
“He’s not.”
“What about the exchange?”
“I’m meeting him this evening at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere. He definitely knows this area. He picks places where it’s impossible to set up an ambush,” the sheriff said. “This time he won’t get the money unless I get the girl.”
HOLLY JO HAD heard the sheriff say her name before the phone was ripped out of her hands. She’d cried out in frustration. There was so much she needed to tell him. But the kidnapper had slapped tape back over her mouth and pushed her against the passenger side of the pickup, where he tied her to the grab bar again. He’d fixed the door so she couldn’t open it or roll down the window, saying he couldn’t let her spoil his plans.
His plans were what she’d wanted to tell the sheriff about. The large cans of gas in the back of the pickup and what the man was saying he was going to do to the McKennas and their ranch house.
Last night, he’d left her tied up in a shed. He hadn’t come back until almost daylight. He’d brought a metal briefcase that he kept opening. She saw that it was full of money. He’d counted it. So much money, and yet he didn’t seem happy about it.
He’d started ranting about how he’d listened to Melanie. Trying to make her happy, he’d asked for the money, a mistake. He had just wanted the truth to come out. But now...now he wanted more. He wanted revenge.
She’d listened to him debate how to get to Holden in the hospital. After a while, he’d finally given up on that idea and pulled some old papers out of the glove box and a pen. She’d watched him scribble something onto the paper.
When he’d finished, he folded the paper and put it into his pocket. He smiled over at her. “I know just how to take Holden down,” he said more to himself than to Holly Jo. “I’ll destroy everything the man has built. Everything he holds dear.”
The look in his eyes when they focused on her sent a chill through her. If the sheriff didn’t find her soon, she was going to die.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHARLOTTE HATED THE hospital smell, the sounds of machines and squeak of nurses’ shoes scurrying around, but worse, she hated the worried, scared looks on people’s faces as they waited for news about their loved ones. She promised herself she wouldn’t break down even as tears burned her eyes. She pushed open the door to Holden’s room.
