Page 124 of Deadly Revenge

She popped a K-cup in the coffeemaker. If the person who took her dad was the one with the listening device, maybe her dad could hear what was being said as well. A song from her childhood popped in her head, and she hummed the first few bars ... then she softly sang the first words.

“Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. Jer-i-cho—”

“Jer-i-cho ...” Max sang with her as he entered the kitchen. He swept the kitchen, stopping as the lights flashed like crazy when he passed it by the pendant light over the table. “Great song.”

She nodded, handed him the cup of just-brewed coffee, and put a K-cup in for herself. “Dad taught it to me when I was a kid.”

Her voice broke, and it wasn’t because she was acting. If anything happened to her dad ...

“You ready?” Max asked.

Jenna waited for her coffee to finish brewing then grabbed it. “I think I’ve figured out why there’s been no ransom note,” she said once they were on the road.

“Why?”

“Because Phillip is responsible for Dad being snatched—he has a lot more to lose from my photos than Sebastian. Phillip wants me to be so anxious that I’ll give him the photos, no questions asked.”

“You could be right.”

“And I’ll give them to him before I let anything happen to Dad.”

Silence hung between them the rest of the drive. Alex’s face was grim when they walked into the chief deputy’s office. It was even grimmer when they finished explaining what they’d found. Alex pushed a photo across her desk.

“I emailed Sebastian’s prison intake photo to Dani Collins and asked her to sketch him with a more muscular build. This is what she came up with.”

Jenna studied the drawing. It barely even resembled the man she remembered. “I haven’t seen him.”

Alex lifted her eyebrows. “Well, the person who duplicates keys at the Walmart in Sharpton has. He identified the person in this drawing as a customer who came into the automotive department Tuesday afternoon and asked him to make a key.Said he was giving it to his sister. The Walmart guy remembered him because he’s a body builder and asked the customer where he worked out, only he never got an answer. The customer mumbled something he didn’t catch.”

Jenna’s muscles tensed. Sharpton was only thirty miles from Pearl Springs.

“He’s working with my ex-fiancé, Phillip Ross,” she said quietly. How long were they going to make her wait before demanding she give them the photos in exchange for her father’s life? Not that she believed they would do what they said, but at least a demand would get everything moving.

“Have you checked out Tom Weaver’s list of rentals?” Alex asked.

Max nodded. “We’re almost finished. There’s one in particular that doesn’t fit the rental agreement. It would be the perfect place to hide Jenna’s dad ... I wish we could use thermal imaging.”

“Do you have enough for a warrant?”

“Afraid not. Just a hunch—the rental agreement states one person is using the cabin, but it looked as though several cars had been parked there, and they left in a hurry. Probably because the GPS tracker on Jenna’s SUV alerted we were headed in their direction.”

“Yeah, that’s not enough for a warrant. Drive back out there and surveil the cabin. If there’s only one vehicle, you can approach and interview the occupants, but if there’s more than one vehicle, back off.”

She turned to Jenna. “If you do approach, and your dad makes any kind of noise, you can enter the cabin under exigent circumstances since this is a kidnapping case. But I’m not counting on that happening.”

Alex walked to a map of the county. “Let’s assume this is the place. Give me the cabin’s location so I can get around-the-clock surveillance set up.”

Max gave her the address, and Alex found it on the map. “It’s not far from Eric Darby’s place. I’ll contact him and see if he’ll let us use his property as our base of operation. For now let’s assume he will.”

Alex quickly laid out a plan of action, pointing out where she would place deputies. “I’ll make sure everyone knows their role.”

Max nodded. “If we don’t gain access to the cabin, once the other deputies are in place, Jenna and I will check out Weaver’s remaining rentals this afternoon.”

“And we need to trade vehicles with someone,” Jenna said.

“Mark Lassiter and my grandparents won’t be getting into town until later this evening. His SUV is in the parking area. Use it. Marge has a set of keys for it.”

Twenty minutes later Jenna drove past Mr. Darby’s drive. “Do you think we should park here and go in on foot or do a drive-by of the cabin?”

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