Colleen Coble (28 page)

“Sorry, I have to run. I don’t have anything new to report.” He went past them to his vehicle.

“Hold on,” Curtis said. “Raine is missing.”

Tom paused with his hand on the door of his SUV. “Missing?”

“I asked Heather Granger to take her to my house and wait for Edith to get back from surfing. They never arrived, and she’s not answering her cell phone.” Curtis spoke in a clipped voice.

“I’m on my way to Rocky Corner. A fisherman found Heather unconscious on the beach. When he revived her, she was babbling about some man who took the baby. Given what you just told me, I think we have to assume the baby she’s talking about is Raine.”

The words hit Amy hard, and she nearly sagged to her knees. Raine had to be all right. She had to be.

T
HIRTY

I
ts lights still flashing, the ambulance rested along the side of the dirt road parallel to the beach. Two paramedics tended to someone on a stretcher. Curtis leaped out before Amy’s car had rolled to a stop. Amy hurried behind him as he approached the young woman on the stretcher behind the ambulance.

A paramedic tried to stop him, but he brushed past him. “It’s my niece who’s missing.”

Heather’s eyes fluttered in her white face. Her hair and clothes were drenched, so she’d been in the ocean. He couldn’t make out the words she muttered until he leaned closer.

“Tried to shoot me,” she whispered.

He took her hand. It was ice cold. “Heather, where is Raine?”

Her head lolled from side to side, and her eyes were wild. “Took her. He took her.”

Curtis gripped her hand. “Who took her?” By some miracle he kept his voice strong and confident. He’d find her, and the man who had taken her would wish he’d never been born.

Heather’s eyes opened but were unfocused. “Boss. Boss took her. He tried to shoot me.” She tried to sit up and shook her head. “I was bleeding.” She stared at her arm. “See? He shot me.” She squeezed his hand. “Don’t let him get me!”

The bullet had dug a furrow in her arm, but it had stopped bleeding by now. “You’re going to be okay.” He glanced at the paramedic. “Can you give her something to bring her around? My year-old niece was in her care. I have to find her.”

The paramedic, a tall man in his thirties, shook his head. “Sorry, dude. We stabilize the patient and get them to a doctor in Nags Head. That will be the doctor’s call.”

Amy approached Heather’s other side. She smoothed her hair back. Her touch calmed Heather’s agitation. Her lids fluttered again, and she opened her eyes. They were clearer, more aware.

“Amy, don’t let him kill me.”

Amy rested her hand on Heather’s forehead. “You’re safe now. The paramedics are here. You’re going to be all right. No one is shooting at you now.”

Heather’s eyes filled with moisture, and tears leaked from them. She released Curtis’s hand, then gripped Amy’s arm and tried to sit up. “He took her! Bossman took Raine! It’s not my fault, I swear!” Her cries grew more frantic.

“Easy.” The paramedic tried to push her back against the pillow.

She fought him and sat up, then swung her legs to the side of the stretcher. “We have to find Raine. She wasn’t supposed to be hurt!”

Amy exchanged an alarmed glance with Curtis. “What do you mean she wasn’t
supposed
to be hurt? Did you take her somewhere?”

Heather began to cry in earnest now, and her face contorted. “He promised she wouldn’t be hurt. She was just supposed to get a paternity test.”

“What?” Curtis wanted to grab her and shake her. “Who wanted her to have a paternity test?” He glared at Amy. Had her parents arranged for this?

She gave a slight shake of her head. “Think, Curtis. They went
through the law. They wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize their chances of gaining custody. Thuggery isn’t my father’s style.”

“Then who? And why?” He wanted to shake it out of Heather, make her tell him where his Raine was.

Tom finished talking to the men who had found Heather. He joined them, and Curtis filled him in on what Heather had told them.

Tom stared past Curtis to where Heather was getting more upset. “I think you’d better let me question her.” He shuffled to the stretcher. “Who wanted the paternity test, Heather? What reason were you given?”

Heather hiccupped and rubbed her wet face with the back of her hand. “M-My boyfriend. He said he could make a lot of money on Raine’s parentage, but that he just had to prove it.”

Amy looked as stunned as Curtis felt. “But Raine’s father is dead. I should know since he was my brother. This makes no sense.” She stared at Heather. “Did your boyfriend intend to try to get money out of my parents?”

“I don’t know anything,” Heather wailed.

The way she cried reminded Curtis that she was just a kid herself. Though technically an adult, she was still in her teens. “What were you told to do?”

Tom shot him a glare. “Questioning the witness is my job, Curtis.”

“It’s my niece who’s missing,” he fired back. “
Who
, Heather?”

“I was supposed to meet Grant at the beach. He was picking us up on his boat. He’d take her to get the test.”

“Then what?” Tom asked.

“I—I assumed we’d give her back.” But her gaze wandered away from his.

Curtis’s stomach roiled, and it was all he could do not to throw up. “You’re lying. She wasn’t going to be given back, was she?” Where was Raine? This girl knew more than she was telling.

“I don’t know,” she said in a low voice. “Grant never really said. But he’s a good man. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”

“He had his goon try to shoot you,” Amy said quietly.

Heather straightened and shook her head. “Oh no, I’m sure he didn’t tell Bossman to do what he did.”

Curtis dug his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Can you call this Grant and ask what he’s done with Raine?”

“I—I don’t know the number. It’s programmed into my phone, and I never have to dial it.” She patted her pockets.

“Do you have your phone?” Amy asked.

“I guess I lost it in the water.”

Tom took out his notebook. “What’s Grant’s last name? We’ll track him that way.”

Heather looked down at the ground. “He told me it was Smith, but I don’t think that’s his real name.”

Curtis paced the dirt road. “Oh, come on! That’s pretty hard to believe you would swallow the lie and not ask him about it.”

“It’s true. We met at a party. He said, ‘Hi, I’m Grant. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.’ No one had ever told me anything like that. I only get to see him once a month or so. Last names just didn’t seem to be important.”

Amy put her hand on Heather’s arm. “Is he married?”

“Of course not!” Heather ducked her head. “I mean, I don’t think so. He never said he was, and he doesn’t wear a wedding band.”

“You poor, naive child.” Amy’s voice was sympathetic. “He’s manipulated you.”

Heather flushed. “He hasn’t! He loves me. When this was finished, we were going on a long vacation.” She blinked rapidly. “That’s over, isn’t it? He’s going to be in a lot of trouble. But it’s not his fault, really! Bossman took her.”

Curtis had had enough of pussyfooting around this girl, and
he grabbed her arm roughly. “No,
you
took her. You’re the one who’s going to be in a world of hurt. Kidnapping for one. You have to know where she is.” He wanted to shake the truth out of her.

“You gave her to me!” She struggled to get out of his grip.

“But you were supposed to take her to my house, not to meet some guy on a boat. You kidnapped her, Heather.” He glared at Tom. “Arrest her, Tom.”

Tom’s big head nodded. “I’m afraid he’s right, Miss Granger. You’re under arrest for the kidnapping of Raine Ireland.”

The salt-laden air lifted the curls off Amy’s hot neck. The distant roar of a Sea-Doo floated over the surf. She kicked a broken shell out of the way with her flip-flop, then glanced at Libby, who walked beside her. “I don’t know what we’re doing out here. We’re not likely to find anything.”

Her Raine was out there somewhere. And she did think of the child as hers. She already loved the little mite with the dimpled smile. They had to find her.
Please,
God, hold her in your arms. Protect
her and let her feel no fear
. Raine never seemed to know a stranger, so Amy’s biggest hope was that she wouldn’t be frightened.

Libby shifted her sleeping son to the other shoulder. “I know, but I wanted to do something. Maybe Curtis and Alec will find the boat. The Coast Guard is on it. They’d all be mobilized. An AMBER Alert has gone out too. They’ll find her.”

Amy shaded her eyes with her hand and looked out over the waves. “I bet the kidnapper is long gone. It wouldn’t take long to get to Kill Devil Hills or even the mainland. He had plenty of time to get to safe harbor.”

“You can’t give up hope.”

She’d seen too many horrific stories on the news, had witnessed
too much pain in the world. Though she knew God was in control, what made any of them think that they were somehow special and nothing bad would happen to them? She couldn’t speak past the constriction in her throat. What if they never found Raine, never knew what had happened to her? She couldn’t go through that again. Never being able to bury Ben was bad enough—they had to find Raine.

The sea deposited foam and kelp on the shore before rolling back for more. They walked close to the water’s edge and nearer to the rocks that jutted into the ocean. There were no clouds in the sky, but the air was heavy with humidity and thick with the scent of kelp.

“Hey, what’s this?” Libby stooped and grabbed an object in the sand. “It’s a cell phone. Does it look familiar?”

Amy took it from Libby. “Heather’s phone was similar. I don’t know if it’s hers or not. It doesn’t feel wet. Could she have dropped it before she got on the boat?”

“See if it comes on.”

Amy pressed the top button of the iPhone, and the screen came on. “It’s working!” The background was of Heather and another young woman Amy didn’t know. “And it’s Heather’s.” Her phone was a similar model, so she called up the contacts list and dragged her finger along the screen to see if there was a Grant listed. “Here he is.” Her pulse hammering in her throat, she touched the phone number. She would
beg
the man to return Raine. But the phone blinked off. “Oh no, there’s no signal here.”

Libby turned back toward the road. “Let’s get this to the sheriff. He’s probably going to have a fit that we touched it. I didn’t think about it being evidence when I grabbed it.”

“I would have done the same.” She held up the iPhone. “And I’m calling this number as soon as we get a signal.”

The women hurried to Amy’s car. She’d just buckled her seat
belt when her phone rang. Her gut tightened when she saw it was Curtis, and she quickly answered it. “Any sign of the boat?”

“The cutter out searching stopped a few fishing boats, but they didn’t find her.” Pain laced his voice. “We’ve flown all over the sound and along the shore and haven’t seen anything. We’ve called in the FBI, and Raine’s picture will be all over the news tonight. The entire state’s been mobilized. Maybe the AMBER Alert will get some calls.”

He didn’t have to tell her that all the effort in the world might not be enough. “Libby found Heather’s cell phone.” Maybe that news would encourage him.

“You’re kidding! I bet the FBI can retrieve some data even though it’s been in the sea.”

“It’s not wet. I think she dropped it on the beach. I tried to call that Grant, but there are no cell bars out here.”

“Don’t call yourself. You might scare him off. Meet me at the jail. We’ll get Heather to make the call while law enforcement is listening in. She’ll be able to get more information out of him. And if she can keep him on the call, they can triangulate his location. Hurry!”

“We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” She ended the call and started the car. As she drove to town, she told Libby what Curtis had said.

“The phone might be our lucky break.” Libby looked in the backseat. “Noah’s wide-awake and sucking his thumb.” She smiled at her infant son.

Amy’s chest constricted at the thought that she might never see Raine’s sweet smile again. “Do you want me to drop you off at Tidewater Inn? Alec will be home soon.”

“Are you kidding? I want to be right there when we find her.” She shuddered. “I can’t even imagine something as terrible as this. And besides, I’m sure Alec won’t be in until it’s too late to look for
the boat. He’ll be turning over every rock. I’m sure he’s hurting for Curtis.”

Amy shot her a glance. “I—I could use the support. I feel a little out of place. I love Raine already, but that whole custody thing is going on, and I’m not sure how Curtis feels about me now that my parents are involved.” She should have known better than to let her emotions get so involved.

Libby reached over and patted her hand. “Have you called your parents?”

“No, but I’ll have to. If they see it first on the news, they’ll be livid.” The clock on the dash glowed the time of 3:10. “It might already be on the news.”

“Will they blame Curtis for handing her over to Heather?”