Darke Heat (11 page)

“Have you got the second set of ballistics on the dog?”

“Not yet. The Coroner sent them to Dayton. He said he’d put a rush on it.”

“Okay, what about the boat rental company? You happen to get their records for the past week?”

“Yep, those are on my desk. I was reading them over to see if anything stood out: mostly locals and a few men in for fishing. So far nothing has turned up. I’m cross checking boat rentals, with names of those who didn’t have a fishing license. It was a long shot, but I figured it was worth a cross check.”

“Actually, that was a great idea. Most folks around here are slow to get the license, but if you were fishermen coming in for the sport, you’d be more likely to get one. In case they all haven’t been put in the system yet, check with Emma at the hardware store. It’s the only place to get a license in Darke County if you didn’t get it from the
DNR
. Good work and keep me posted.”

“Will do.” The deputy left the office. Bryce sat there thinking of all the different loose ends he had and no suspects, just dead bodies with bullet holes. He needed to get more answers. He needed to ask Paige about putting in a surveillance recorder on her property. He dialed her number and got voice mail. Then he dialed Bill.

“Bill, this is Bryce. Do you know where Paige is? She hasn’t answered her cell, which she’s supposed to keep on her at all times.”

“No, Bryce. The last time I saw her she was out on the side porch looking at the woods.”

“Okay, can you go find her and have her call me back? It’s important.”

“Will do, Bryce.”

Bryce didn’t like it. Paige promised to be careful. Keeping her phone handy was being careful. Where was she? The phone rang a few minutes later.

“Bryce, this is Bill. I can’t find her. The boys and I looked everywhere. Her car’s still here and the dingy, so she must be here somewhere, but we can’t find her.”

“Keep looking. I’m on my way. Call if you find her.”

He hurried out of his office.

“Blake, come with me.”

“Sure Bryce,” Blake answered without pause.

“We’re going over to Paige’s place. No one seems to know where Paige is and her vehicles are still there.”

In minutes, they were en route. Bryce pulled into the drive, which was getting to be a habit, and parked behind Bill’s truck.

“We haven’t found her, Bryce,” Bill said before he could ask.

The vet, Shelby Tenmen, pulled in. Bryce watched as she got out of the car and called out Patches and Deeogee. She clipped their leashes on and they practically dragged her over to him.

“Hey, did Paige call you all as well?” Shelby asked the group of men.

“Shelby, did she call you? When?” Bryce asked.

“I’d say about fifteen minutes ago. She found a pit bull in a beaver trap. I told her to stay put, and I’d bring the tranquilizer so we could free it,” she explained. “I need to get it out of the truck, if one of you could take the dogs?”

“She’s missing, Shelby, and it doesn’t look good. I’d say she was the one being trapped,” Bryce explained.

“Point me in the direction she was looking when you last saw her, Bill,” Bryce said.

“I can do one better. She said she was at the edge of the lake inside the woods,” Shelby added.

He didn’t waste any time. He saw that Blake was already calling for back up, so he didn’t hesitate. Bryce grabbed Deeogee’s leash, and took off into the woods.

“Find Paige,” he said, and the dog took off, headed in the direction Shelby had already told them.

There was very little path for them to follow, but he could make out where someone had stepped. As he got closer to the edge of the woods, a deer trail opened up, and he could see the lake through the clearing. He followed Deeogee down the path. There, lying on the ground was a button, like the ones on the cotton top Paige had worn that morning. He followed the dog to the waters’ edge, and looked at the ground on both sides of the path. There, to the right, was the mark of a boat of some kind that had been pulled up on the shore. “Good dog,” he said, giving Deeogee a quick pat on the head. “Come on, boy. We need to hurry.” He ran back up to the house where Blake was organizing a search party with the deputies there.

“Blake, get on the horn and have someone at the boat rental bring over a couple of boats for us to use. I’m going to take Paige’s boat and head off in the direction of the Lockes. I’ll head south. Send the next group north, and then send a group out to the islands. Remember, there are possible pit bulls running wild out here, so take precautions.” He ran down to the dock where Paige’s small motor boat was tied. He hopped in, reached over to grab the dog and hoist him in, then untied the mooring line, started the motor, and took off.

Paige slowly woke up, feeling every joint scream as the blood returned to her muscles. She was lying on the ground in the dark, a cloth stuffed in her mouth. She’d never felt so helpless, not even when she’d lived with Sharon and Libby as a teenager. Back then, she’d had the dogs. They’d kept her safe. Now what was she supposed to do?

Paige lay there, thinking of the other time when men, wishing to do her harm, had chased her into the woods. They had been friends of Libby’s, high on drugs, and looking for a good time. She remembered how terrified she’d been. The wild dog she’d rescued from a trap, and had made a pet of, had come to her rescue. Deeogee, the grand sire of her current dog. The dog had bitten two of the men, and was ready to attack the third, when the man dragged his friends away. The only differences were that she hadn’t been tied up, and she’d had the dog.

She didn’t have any dogs to come to her rescue this time. She was on her own and it scared her spitless. She could hear her captors discussing Sharon and her being used by their boss. The foggy headache was starting to dim, so she could think. If only the panic wasn’t starting to choke her. She couldn’t afford to lose it. She needed to stay calm—to figure out a way to get out of there.

As she thought on what possible ways she could get away, she remembered her dog whistle. She needed to get to her dog whistle. With the gag in her mouth, she wouldn’t be able to blow on it, but she could breathe through her nose and maybe get some sound out that her dogs would be able to find. Water would carry the sound. She knew the water was close by the sound of the bullfrogs bellowing. At a guess, she figured she was on one of the small islands in one of the lakes. If
her
dogs didn’t hear, maybe another dog would. It was a long shot at best, but it gave her a way of doing something to aid her being found and rescued.

Using her chin, it seemed to take forever before she wiggled the whistle out from under the collar of her shirt. She moved her head, got behind the whistle, and breathed in and out next to the mouthpiece several times, hard through her nose, while trying not to hyperventilate. In the distance, she could hear dogs putting up a racket, but they weren’t her dogs. She continued breathing into the whistle, over and over again, until she had to pause and catch her breath. Then she started doing it again. Exhausted and light-headed from the effort of trying to breathe through her fear, Paige rested and promptly dozed off.

There were a couple of paddles in the boat should it run out of gas. Bryce was thinking he might need them to sneak up on whoever had Paige. It was starting to get dark and it would be harder to navigate. He’d grown up on the Lockes and knew where every access and dam was, so he felt pretty confident he’d be able to continue well into the night if he needed to. His heart beat loudly in his ears. His only fear was that he’d be too late.

After an hour of searching, the sun was low on the horizon, and he knew full dark was maybe fifteen minutes away. Thinking he’d get a better bearing if he could hear something, he killed the motor. Deeogee started barking and howling. The dog was responding to Paige. He wasn’t sure how the dog was able to find her, but that particular response was reserved for Paige.

He hushed the dog, needing him to be quiet. Deeogee obeyed immediately. As if sensing the seriousness of what they were doing, the dog remained calm. Bryce’s heart, however, was racing so hard in his chest, he wasn’t sure if he would hear anything.

The motor’s echo stilled and the cicadas took up their nightly chant in accompaniment with the mosquitoes and frogs. Pulling out the oars, he set them in the handles and began paddling. There was nothing coming in on his radio, so no one else had found her yet. Fear was a bitter taste in his mouth. There was a turn in the canal and up ahead he saw a distant glow. He knew it had to be the kidnappers. Very few people came this far out on the canal at night, except to do drugs and drink. But there was no sound of a party going on, so he knew that whoever it was, they were not wanting to be discovered.

He paddled slowly closer, the oars making barely any sound as they cleaved through the water. Even the dog was quiet. Bryce was able to steer the boat right up to a small out cropping of land undetected. Through the trees and brush, he could see the light from their fire. He eased himself into the water and walked the boat silently up onto the bank next to the other boat, then stopped to listen.

There were three men talking around the campfire, but no sign of Paige. He inched closer to overhear what they were saying. Deeogee looked at him with his ears back as if to question him if it was okay to make noise now. Bryce quietly shushed him to remain silent, so he could hear what was being said. The water conducted the sound of their voices clearly.

“I say the boss should have put a bullet in the Agent. He’s been nothing but trouble. He isn’t going to turn him to our way of thinking, like he did the other cop. And taking his lady friend ain’t going to do it either.”

“Shut up. You want to get a bullet to the forehead, you idiot?” The man with a shaved head was speaking to the one complaining.

“I’m just saying. If his ex-wife couldn’t get him to turn, what does the boss think kidnapping the dog lady is going to do?”

“The Agent ain’t ruled by his pecker is all,” said the other man who was stoking the fire.

“I hope the boss lets us have a turn with her before he pimps her out.”

“How come he knew the Agent was sweet on the dog lady?”

“He heard it from the man’s ex-wife. She used to be real tight with the boss. He’d get her high and she’d do anything he asked, with anyone he said.”

“Yeah, I remember that. She sure loved to party.”

“Too bad the boss had to put her down. She was starting to get a conscience.”

Bryce had heard enough. He needed to find Paige, and she wasn’t near the fire. He lifted Deeogee onto the soft ground and said Paige’s name in a whisper. The dog knew the tone to be one for stealth. For the dog, it was another game, an assignment. For Paige it could be life or death.

He moved around the perimeter with the dog in the lead and saw the hunting blind. It was just a camo-colored tent over a foxhole, if he had to guess. It was small, but perfect for them to hide a person in. In the distance, all kinds of dogs started barking, but not Deeogee. His ears pricked back, and he moved more quietly, intent on getting to the blind. Bryce followed Deeogee, crawled down into the foxhole and there she was, bound tightly, feet to wrists, and gagged.

He touched her and let her see it was him. There was just enough light coming in the tent opening for him to see her eyes filled with fear and tears. He placed a finger over his lips, motioning her to silence. Then he took his pocketknife and cut the ropes binding her. He knew it was going to hurt for her to move her limbs but he rubbed them to get the blood flowing again. She didn’t make so much as a whimper, though he knew his ministrations were causing immense agony.

They could hear the kidnappers still chatting about what they were going to do with the money they’d be getting. Since all the men were armed, he didn’t dare risk trying to arrest them now. He needed to get Paige out of there first. Then he’d come back for those scumbags.

From the conversation around the campfire, the sound of the dogs barking and howling in the distance was making the men nervous. Good, she thought. The shadows inside the tent moved. She saw the silhouette of someone who had entered. She froze in terror. The shadow moved closer and she could just make out the face in the meager light.

It was Bryce and he had Deeogee with him. The dog licked her face, still not making a sound. Dear God, they’d found her. Bryce used a knife to cut her bindings and motioned for her to stay quiet. She gritted her teeth in agony when he rubbed her aching muscles, which screamed in protest. She needed to get the circulation back if she was going to get out of there. When the stinging needles of pain were tolerable, she made the motion to Bryce to let him know she was ready to go. He indicated for her to follow him slowly and quietly.

Well duh. Like I’m going to be running screaming through the woods like the dumb girl in the scary movies.

As terrifying as the situation was, her anger had hit an all-time high. She was furious, and ready to scream her frustration. She wasn’t a kid with an abusive father anymore. This was the grown up world where she determined to be in control of what happened to her. She followed Bryce and fumed as she thought of every injustice she’d suffered since she’d come back. He signaled her into the boat, pushed off the bank, and made for the deeper water of the canal. She sat in silence, hugging Deeogee to her side.