Forgotten Secrets (12 page)

“That boy sounded so young. What’s happening to him?”

“You don’t understand. This is our home. The place we belong. Micah will learn.”

The words were rote and unemotional.

Cheyenne touched Ian’s arm. “Are you OK?”

His bloodshot eyes met her gaze, and he gave her a quick nod. “How’s Bethany?”

“She has a high fever. I need antibiotics. Soon. Or she won’t make it.”

He walked slowly across to the bed, his movements stilted. He rested a hand on Bethany’s cheek. “We can’t survive without her,” he said softly. “We need her.”

Cheyenne placed her hand on his shoulder. He sucked in a sharp breath and shrugged away.

Oh no.

With a sick stomach, Cheyenne braced herself and tugged the neck of Ian’s shirt to the side ever so gently. He didn’t stop her.

A series of circular scars dotted his shoulder, most several years old. Red, angry skin peeked from just above his shoulder blade. The round burn mark had erupted in blisters. Very recent. Just below the newest injury, a series of long, thin scars crisscrossed his upper back. These marks were much older.

“Ian.” Her eyes burning, Cheyenne couldn’t bear to accept what this teenager had gone through—still was going through.

“It was worth it. For Bethany.” He pulled away from Cheyenne’s grip and faced her. “You’ll have the antibiotics soon.”

Steel glinted out of Ian’s eyes. How could a sixteen-year-old kid show so much strength? Easily answered, of course. Ian had lost his childhood long ago.

“Can you get to Singing River? Go to my brother, Thayne. He’s a deputy sheriff. He’s a Navy SEAL. He can help.”

Ian shook his head. “You don’t understand. This is our home. The place we belong.”

“I understand, Ian.” Though in truth, she didn’t. She had to get through to him. Bethany’s chances were infinitesimal if she didn’t receive antibiotics, and even then, Cheyenne could only give her a fifty-fifty shot. “You must know what’s happening here is wrong. Hurting you is wrong. So is keeping Bethany locked up with me when she needs a hospital.”

“We’re a family. We have to stick together. If we don’t—”

“Listen to me. Please. Please send my brother a message. Maybe we can save her. Together.”

Ian stepped away from her and knocked on the door. “I can’t do any more,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

Cheyenne’s hopes fell. Ian might love Bethany, but was he afraid enough to poison their food or water? Cheyenne couldn’t be sure. Until she knew who was responsible, she’d simply have to avoiding eating and drinking.

The door opened. Father stood just outside the door. Ian straightened his back. “We’re a family. We stick together.”

The sheriff’s office went silent, except for the humming of a printer. Thayne would’ve liked nothing more than to shut Ed up permanently. The drunk gripped the bars, a cocky grin Thayne would have gladly slapped off.

By his side, Riley stilled. She slowly faced Ed. Thayne could see the wheels turning in her mind, but something else glinted in her eyes. He only prayed it wasn’t hope.

Ed rested his head between the steel bars of the jail. “I recognize you. FBI. The one searching for Carol’s daughter. Well, I know what happened to her. I’ll tell you if you get me out of here.”

Thayne gripped Ed’s shirt through the bars. “Quit flapping your gums. You have no idea.” He paused. “Unless you had something to do with Gina going missing? Maybe you showed a little too much interest in Carol’s daughter? Maybe things got out of hand?”

“That’s sick,” Ed spat. “I ain’t no pervert, but I got information. ’Cause Carol talks in her sleep.”

Riley clutched Thayne’s arm, her nails digging hard into his flesh. He glanced over his shoulder at her face. Calm. Almost devoid of emotion, counter to her tight grip. She cloaked herself in that FBI profiler mask of hers—but her emotions ran deep.

“I’m always interested in information, Mr.—”

“Zalinksy. But you can call me Ed.”

Thayne grunted at the pathetic attempt to charm her even as Riley smiled at the bastard. He released Ed. “Have it your way. But he’s a perpetual liar.”

Riley tilted her head as if studying Ed. “It may be because I’m an outsider.” She shot Thayne a pointed look. “But I get the feeling you’re in the know about pretty much everything that goes down in this town, Mr. Zalinksy.”

“Oh yeah. Lived here all my life. I know all the secrets, including quite a few about the
good
deputy here. Some secrets hide in plain sight. Some are forgotten. But I got them all right up here.” He tapped his head. “Lots of folks talk too much in the bar. And I can hold my liquor. I remember.”

“I’m sure you do.” She smiled at him.

Damn, Riley was playing Ed like a Stradivarius. She really was something.

Thayne leaned against the wall to observe the show. To Ed, Thayne would appear relaxed, but he could intervene in seconds if the guy tried to hurt Riley.

“What do you think happened to Carol’s daughter?” Riley asked, taking out a thick red notebook from her satchel.

“It was that drifter who got her pregnant.” Ed smirked at Thayne. “And that’s all you’re getting from me unless you let me out of this cage.” He sauntered to the back of the cell, slumped onto his cot, and turned his back to them.

“You’re looking at aggravated assault, Ed. You aren’t going anywhere.”

Ed glanced over his shoulder. “Carol needs me. She won’t testify.”

“I will,” Thayne said.

“No one got hurt.” He shrugged. “I was a little drunk. And I got an in with the mayor. I’ll get probation if anything. Might as well let me out now.”

“We’ve got a hell of a lot more important things to do today than dance to your tune, Ed. Forget it.”

Thayne clasped Riley’s uninjured arm and led her into the main office. He closed the door leading to the jail cells behind him. “He just wants out.”

She nodded but didn’t take her gaze off the door.

“Maybe,” she said, her voice pensive. “Did your father talk to Ed when Carol’s daughter went missing?”

“Of course. He was a suspect for a while, but Dad cleared him. Had a solid alibi from Deputy Pendergrass. The guy was in jail when she was taken, and he denied knowing anything.”

“So part of his story could be true,” Riley said.

“I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

Riley gripped Thayne’s arm. “It’s the first potential lead on my sister’s disappearance I’ve had in more than a year, Thayne.”

He couldn’t look away from her tortured eyes. She’d visited Singing River for the first time because she had a crazy theory that her sister and Carol’s daughter were linked. Thayne’s father had been skeptical, but he’d agreed to meet because Gina’s disappearance still gnawed at his gut. Otherwise he wouldn’t have kept running the print they’d found at the scene through the Feds’ Integrated AFIS database.

The conference room door opened, and Pendergrass motioned to them.

“Let him stew for another day,” Thayne said. “He might talk. If he really knows anything.”

“I agree. He’s too cocky to trust right now,” Riley said under her breath, walking with Thayne to the conference room. “What do you think he’s got on the mayor, though?”

Thayne raised a brow, and his lip quirked. “I was wondering the same thing.”

Deputy Pendergrass motioned them to have a seat.

“You have something?” Thayne pulled out a chair for Riley.

She shot him a surprised look, and he shrugged. Gram’s etiquette lessons couldn’t be unlearned, even by ten years in the Navy.

“An update on the blood evidence.” Underhill took the lead from Pendergrass, shoving a couple of papers across the table to them. “Like we suspected, the blood type on the floor matches Cheyenne’s, A-positive. Your grandmother’s blood was found on and near the wall. She’s O-positive. Another match. We expect DNA to confirm—”

“Not news,” Thayne interrupted.

“Well, the last sample gave us quite a surprise, since the place had been wiped so clean we didn’t expect to catch a break. We almost missed a small smear on the edge of the waiting room desk. It isn’t your grandmother’s or sister’s, Deputy Blackwood.”

“Could it belong to a patient?” Thayne asked.

“We checked the books. The blood was AB-negative. Very rare. No one with that type has come into the clinic for days.”

Thayne leaned forward. “Do you have a big enough sample to test for DNA?”

Underhill nodded. “We’re running it now. We’ll let you know if the CODIS software gets a hit against the military database or the National DNA Index System.”

The conference room door slammed open.

“Thayne!” The dispatcher raced inside. “Just got a call from the search party. They found something.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

If Riley ever wanted to disappear, this isolated spot in the Wind River mountain range would be a good starting point.

She and Thayne hadn’t received much detail prior to leaving the sheriff’s office. Only that the search-and-rescue team had discovered evidence of Cheyenne near the National Forest. Since then they’d been out of communication. Cell reception in these mountains was spotty at best.

They’d not only left the paved road for a dirt one, they’d abandoned their vehicle at the base of this mountain. Of course Thayne trudged through the terrain like he was half mountain goat; Riley slapped away a pine branch, her legs and lungs burning in the high altitude.

The dirt trail narrowed, the pines creating a tunnel of evergreen, blocking out the morning sun. The air was nippy, even in August. Riley ducked beneath a tree, and by the time voices filtered through the trees, the so-called path beneath her feet had disappeared below the ground cover.

“I can hardly see the sun to get my bearings,” she muttered.

Thayne glanced over his shoulder but didn’t stop moving. “Which makes these woods especially dangerous. My brothers and I got lost over the next ridge when I was about thirteen,” Thayne said. “Took Pops and Dad a day to find us, and we
wanted
to be found.”

“Easy to get lost,” Riley said quietly.

“Easy to disappear.” Thayne broke through the forest into a clearing, and suddenly the loneliest stretch of wilderness in the world turned into a search-and-rescue convention.

A half-dozen volunteers stood at the perimeter. With the open sky above, the mountain range loomed to the east, and Riley caught a glimpse of Gannett Peak. She’d read it rose to thirteen thousand feet. One thing about Wyoming, everything in the vastness of the land appeared closer than it actually was.

“Ironcloud,” Thayne shouted.

The deputy raised his hand in greeting but didn’t move. He’d planted himself next to a couple of yellow flags.

“At least they’re protecting the evidence,” Riley said, hurrying across the grass.

She sighted a woman’s purse at the same time Thayne stilled. Strewn beside the bag were a tube of lipstick, a small photo album, and a brush.

“Cheyenne’s?” Riley sent Thayne a sidelong glance.

He nodded, clearing his throat before kneeling next to the items. Riley snapped a series of photos before tugging on a pair of gloves. She crouched beside the purse and reached out her hand.

“You’re supposed to wait for DCI,” Ironcloud said. “Underhill
ordered
us not to disturb the scene.”

His tone communicated what his words didn’t. Deputy Ironcloud had the same opinion of Underhill she had.

Judiciously, she picked up the purse. “I’ll speak to him. I took photos, but we need to know what’s inside and hopefully what’s missing.”

“We’re running out of time, Michael,” Thayne said to the deputy. “I couldn’t care less about protocol at this point if Riley gives the OK.”

Michael Ironcloud raised his hands. “Not going to argue. Underhill’s a pompous windbag.”

Riley unclasped the purse and opened it, fingering through the items as carefully as possible. “Her wallet is still here, ID, business cards, cash, credit cards. Car keys, spray perfume. Definitely not a robbery, and they obviously didn’t care if we identified her things.”

Because they don’t plan on us ever finding her.

She didn’t want to look at Thayne, but she chanced a brief glance. His lips had tightened, and his eyes held a haunted truth. He understood the implications, and she didn’t have to say a word. She placed her hand on his arm. “They took her for a reason, Thayne. I still believe they wanted her specifically. And they wanted her alive.”

He gave her a quick duck of his head, but she didn’t know if he believed her. Not surprising, since with every hour that passed, Riley couldn’t stop the pessimism from bubbling in her gut.

“Why would they bring her out this far?” Thayne asked. “There’s nothing nearby but a few long-abandoned mining shafts.”

“To disappear,” Ironcloud said, stepping forward. “Truth is, we’d never have searched here if the sheriff hadn’t ordered us to expand the grid another couple of miles in each direction.”

“Good call.” Riley replaced the purse exactly as she’d found it. “The bag hasn’t been here long, not since yesterday. Otherwise the animals would have scavenged it.”

“Thayne!” Jackson’s shout carried from behind the tree line. He barreled through the branches, breathing hard and fast. “I found a footprint.”

Thayne took off running, and Riley sprinted right behind him. A few hundred yards through the thick pines, Jackson skidded to a stop. He pointed at an indentation in the earth barely visible through the ground cover.

She had no idea how he’d even seen it. She stood back, knowing they’d surpassed her area of expertise.

Kneeling beside the track, Thayne studied the print. “Combat boots. Guy weighs at least two twenty.” He motioned to Riley. “Do you have a photo of the track Dad and I found at the phone’s dump site?”

She slipped an image from her satchel, and Thayne took it, placing the photo beside the boot print.

Even Riley could see the large gash in the tread. “A match,” he said with a grim smile. “Gotcha.”

Jackson strode about a dozen feet along the prints. “From his stride, he’s at least six feet two.”

“He didn’t camouflage the tracks?” Thayne followed his brother’s path. “There’s only one set of prints.” He didn’t disguise his disappointment.

Riley could tell from the tone of his voice, the realization worried him. “If we go with our assumption there are three perps, what about the others who took Cheyenne? Did they split up? And where is she?”

“He’s not carrying her,” Thayne said. “Not enough depth to the tracks.”

“Maybe there’s a rendezvous point up there.” Jackson stared into the distance. “The bastard could lead us to her.”

“How do we find him in this thick vegetation?” Riley asked.

“If he’s moving line of sight, he’s headed toward the caves,” Thayne said. “They’d be a good place to hide someone.”

For the first time since Thayne had picked her up this morning from the B&B, a flash of hope sparked in his eyes. Her heart thudded a bit faster. Maybe . . . just maybe they’d caught a break. And a mistake.

“That’s a gigantic
if
, bro.” Jackson narrowed his gaze. “Why wouldn’t the kidnapper switch course, lead us in the wrong direction? He’s been ultracareful until now.”

“Maybe he’s in a hurry?” she said.

“Or he could be setting a trap.” Thayne stared into the distance.

“How far are the caves you mentioned?” Riley took a swig of water from the canteen Thayne had thrust into her hands when they’d abandoned their car.

“At the base of the ridge,” Thayne said, pointing toward a rocky hill. “Every year the local Boy Scout troops camp out here. They hike in to search for arrowheads and silver nuggets. Sometimes Wyoming jade will pop up.”

“And you know this because the Blackwood brothers were all Eagle Scouts, I’ll bet.”

“Hudson and Jackson were. Me, not so much.” Thayne picked his way over the rocks.

Jackson grinned. “What my brother is trying to say is that he kept Hudson and me from getting into too much trouble. He distracted our parents on a regular basis. Made us seem tame and well behaved.”

Thayne ignored Jackson’s obvious attempt to lighten the tense mood and looked at her over his shoulder, a frown furrowing his brow. “All the roads were built in the fifties and are long grown over. If he’s up there, he’s familiar with these mountains.”

The implication of his words stopped Riley cold, but she had to be sure. “You don’t get any mountain climbers or hikers?”

While Thayne zigzagged across the landscape, his brother faced her. “Not around here. Most visitors start at the base of Fremont Lake and climb in the National Forest. We’re on private property now. The Riverton family owns most of the land as far as you can see.”

A low whistle escaped her. “So we’re in the middle of nowhere, and kids from Singing River have been coming here for years. Is there a more out-of-the-way place he could hide?”

One look at Thayne’s profile, the hard set of his jaw, the fury spitting from his eyes, and a harsh foreboding returned to Riley.

Thayne met his brother’s gaze. “The big cave?”

“Good idea,” Jackson said. “It’s barely visible, well hidden, and very few people know about it.”

“How many people?”

“I could count them on one hand,” Thayne bit out through clenched teeth.

“But you have someone in mind,” Riley said, more certain now than ever.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Maybe. But it doesn’t make sense. Kade wouldn’t take Cheyenne. We grew up together.”

“Fannie’s nephew? The one Cheyenne’s been helping?”

Thayne nodded. “And he knows the land.”

“Your grandmother mentioned a boyfriend. Are Cheyenne and Kade dating?” This fit in with the second scenario Riley had considered. A relationship with Cheyenne explained a lot. Including the reason Helen was still alive and the perfect timing of the abduction.

Thayne met his brother’s gaze. “If you’d have asked me yesterday, I would have said no, but now I don’t know.”

“If Kade took Cheyenne, will he let her go easily?”

“
If
he’s kidnapped her and hurt Gram, then he’s out of his head.” Thayne looked over to her, and the lethal expression on his face made her shudder. “He’s deadly.”

A loud hoot sounded to the west. Riley jumped, and Thayne turned to the half-dozen searchers milling around behind them.

“Jackson and I will follow these tracks,” he said, his voice raised. “Deputy Ironcloud will wait with you until we determine if it’s safe.”

A grumble hummed through the circle.

“I’m warning every one of you, I catch any civilians without a sheriff’s escort and I’ll toss you in jail and forget about you until we find my sister.”

The men went silent, and Riley lowered her head so they wouldn’t see her slight smile. Thayne knew his town.

He nodded to Ironcloud, and the deputy met up with them. “Don’t tell my father about what we’ve found,” Thayne said. “I don’t want to get his hopes up.” He unholstered his Glock. “And keep these guys from tramping all over the woods. We don’t know what we’re up against.”

Ironcloud nodded and moved away to corral the onlookers.

Thayne turned to Riley. Before he could open his mouth, she shook her head and pulled her weapon. “Don’t even think about it. I have the training, and you need backup.”

Despite the flash of irritation in his eyes, he gave her a sharp nod. “Then keep us in sight at all times.”

Thayne sidestepped the tracks and headed for the woods. After about ten feet, he stopped. “The guy’s injured. His gait is uneven. He’s putting more pressure on his right leg.”

“Maybe that’s why he needed a doctor,” Riley offered.

“If he’s up and walking now, though . . .” Jackson’s voice grew thick.

No one finished the thought. If the kidnapper didn’t have use for Cheyenne, he might have gotten rid of her already. They could be looking at recovering their sister’s body at the end of the trail.

For a half hour, they pushed through the wildest terrain Riley had ever seen. No trails, no signs of civilization.

Thayne moved in complete silence. Even Jackson stepped on cracked branches here and there.

“Like a ghost,” she muttered under her breath.

“Did you say something?” Thayne asked.

She flushed. “No.”

Jackson sidled up to her with a conspiratorial wink. “Now you know how he snuck out every weekend during high school.”

“I assumed he learned the skill during SEAL training.”

“Nah, he was born sneaky. And invisible.”

They trudged a few more minutes, passing a grove of aspen. The leaves quivered, creating a melodic tune within the forest. Riley’s muscles shook, though she refused to ask them to take a break. If they could keep going, so could she.

Suddenly Thayne halted and held out an arm to block Jackson. He didn’t speak but raised his hand and motioned for them to stop. He knelt down and ran his finger along the ground cover. Within seconds, he revealed a thin wire.

Booby trap,
he mouthed.

They backed up the way they’d come. Thayne leaned in to Jackson. “Get to Ironcloud. Have him contact any other search parties in the area. Warn them to stay put.” He turned to Riley. “You should go with him.”

“You need backup.”

She could almost hear the growl rumbling in his throat.

“I’ll go as fast as I can,” Jackson said. “Don’t shoot me when I come back. And bro, don’t get dead.”

With a quick glance back, Jackson disappeared the way they’d come, moving fast.

“Walk precisely where I walk,” Thayne hissed. “Man, I wish I had a green laser or even some Silly String.”

She must have misheard him. “What?”

“Silly String is great for detection. It falls to the ground unless there’s a trip wire.”

Hopefully she’d never need to use that bit of information. She mirrored his footsteps. He carefully followed the thin metal to an old dynamite charge.

After a few moments studying the explosive, he pulled a utility knife from his vest pocket and snipped the wire.

“I’ll send some guys out to handle it. The dynamite looks a half century old. If there’s a crate of explosives up there, it could be unstable depending on how much the nitroglycerine sweated.”

He stood with catlike intensity, but didn’t move. Riley waited, unsure of what he saw or heard.

“I’d send you back if I could, but I can’t chance it. Stay right with me, Riley. If I say run, you don’t hesitate, just do it. You got me?”

Even if she’d wanted to salute Thayne at that moment, the deadly determination in his gaze would have stopped her.

Thayne picked his way through the woods, stopping regularly, silent, still, and waiting. Following exactly in his footsteps, pausing when he paused, Riley couldn’t see or hear anything but a few birds and the skittering of what she assumed were animals.

Slowly, painfully, they moved forward toward the caves. With each step, each time she placed her foot on the ground where Thayne had hiked, her gut knotted.