Page 13 of In Her Mind

As Jenna steered the vehicle away from the Turner Road shoulder, Jake leaned forward, tracing the path on the map that sprawled across his lap, guiding Jenna toward the forgotten intersection with Old Orndorf Road.

“Left here,” he directed, and Jenna obliged, the squad car jostling its occupants as it transitioned from smooth asphalt to the uneven, neglected surface of Old Orndorf. The road was a relic, bypassed by time and progress, but the weeds in the center had been worn down by some kind of traffic. The overgrown branches that reached out were broken, also signs of at least a few vehicles passing.

A silent acknowledgment passed between Jenna and Jake; Old Orndorf road was still in occasional use.

Jenna’s hands gripped the wheel with determination as she navigated the bumpy route. When they rounded a sharp curve, a metallic glint caught her eyes—a blue SUV, solitary and askew, loomed ahead, its driver-side door gaping open like a wound.

“That's her vehicle. Plates match," Jake said. “You’re right, she must have used this road as a short cut.”

“Straight to her parents’ place.” She glanced at Jake, who nodded, their shared silence heavy with implication. “If Amber used this road regularly, she probably knew every twist and turn.” Jenna paused, her gaze sweeping over the deserted landscape—the position of the SUV as if hastily left. “There has to be a reason she stopped here.”

Jake surveyed the terrain, his face a mask of professional concern.

“But why leave her car?” he asked as they walked toward the abandoned SUV, its open door an unanswered question. “If it had been something like car trouble, surely she would have phoned someone.”

Although the vehicle looked deserted, they moved closer carefully, uncertainty clouding their steps. Jenna’s mind raced, piecing together fragments of information, intuition guiding her where evidence was scarce.

They checked the inside of the SUV quickly and found it to be definitely empty. Then Jenna stepped forward and peered at the ground in front of the vehicle. A second set of tire imprints marred the dirt just ahead of the SUV. Her pulse quickened as she pieced together the potential scenario.

“Someone else had pulled over here,” she said, pointing. “Amber must have stopped and gotten out of her SUV.”

“Doesn’t seem she would be likely to meet somebody out here by design,” Jake said. “But it could have been that classic ploy—someone faking trouble to get her to stop.”

“Someone who expected her to drive this way,” Jenna added. “Someone who knew her movements well.”

Without hesitation, Jenna reached for the radio clipped to her belt, summoning help with a practiced urgency.

“Colonel Spelling, this is Deputy Graves. Amber Stevens is missing, all right. We found her SUV abandoned on the side of Old Orndorf Road.”

A silence fell. Jenna knew that Spelling was struggling with his earlier skepticism.

“Are you sure?” he finally asked.

“Yes, sir. I understand you had doubts, but there’s no mistake. It’s the same vehicle make and plate number. It looks to us like she was might have been by someone who parked by the road and pretended to be in distress.”

“The oldest trick in the book,” Spelling growled softly.

“That’s right,” Jenna said. “We need for you to come here and see things for yourself.”

“I’ll be right there,” Spelling said, ending the communication.

Jenna clipped the radio back onto her belt and exchanged a glance with Jake.

“If Amber really was the woman in your dream …” Jake began anxiously.

“We may be dealing with something far worse than a simple disappearance,” Jenna said, finishing his thought.

They both walked around the SUV, examining it more thoroughly. Jenna bent down and saw a cellphone that had fallen under the chassis.

“That’s probably Amber’s,” Jenna gasped. “We need to have it examined by forensics.”

Jake lowered himself and stretched under the vehicle, reaching for the phone to take it into evidence. Meanwhile, Jenna was checking out the surroundings.

In her mind, she again heard the voice that had said, “Strange, nobody ever comes this way anymore.” There was no longer a shred of doubt in her mind—this was the place the mysterious woman had been talking about. But what about the train roaring toward them on this very road? She looked around anxiously, almost expecting it to manifest here and now, but nothing broke through the sunshine.

As she examined the dirt near the van, Jenna saw patterns that might have seemed random to an untrained eye, but her training and keen instincts read them like a book. Two pairs of footprints stood out against the earth; one set was smaller and lighter, the other larger, deeper, more forceful. They stretched along the road, telling a silent story of pursuit.

When Jake got back to his feet with the bagged phone in his pocket, he checked the footprints along with her.

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