Page 51 of Justice Denied

Emily shook her head but didn’t bother asking what she would regret. She would not halt her search for the truth, not while she still had breath in her body. Despite being snatched from her rehab room, she could sense no ill will from her captor, only a sense of frustration overlaying another emotion she couldn’t identify. What was clear was that this person needed something from Emily, something that could only be obtained from a face-to-face encounter. “If all you wanted to do was threaten me, why kidnap me? Seems like quite a risk to warn me off.”

The figure rose, pacing to the other side of the small space and keeping their back to Emily. “I shouldn’t have underestimated you.”

The hushed words made no sense. Emily hadn’t made much progress in proving Jay’s innocence, but maybe Seth and Jetta had? Jetta had been coming by to see her when Emily had been taken. The person whipped around, the dark eyes visible above the surgical facemask blazing with fury. “But you shouldn’t have meddled with Topher Robotics.”

The increased anger shocked Emily. Before, when discussing the embezzlement, her captor had seemed almost pleasant, but now their fury blasted her like a hot oven, sizzling her entire being. “I’m only looking into who could have embezzled the money.”

“Liar!” The person narrowed their eyes to slits. “You have been poking around Project Z. Don’t bother to deny it. I saw through your minion’s pathetic attempt to gather information. It was clever of you to use someone close to Ryan for the job, less likely to run into questions from the staff. But you miscalculated they wouldn’t report the unusual request to the boss himself.”

Emily shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. What’s Project Z?”

For a moment, her captor stared at her, the tension rising like flood waters coming closer to swamp her. Without another word, the person left the room, slamming the door so hard, the windows rattled. The snick of a deadbolt brought Emily a measure of relief that her tormentor wouldn’t be returning soon. But the questions being asked made her tremble in fear for herself and for Jetta and Seth. For she caught a glimpse of something bigger than embezzlement going on at Topher Robotics. And she feared they would be caught in the crossfire.

ChapterNineteen

Seth sorted through the photos from his last assignment before selecting three for Fallon’s final approval. He wrote captions for the pictures, then hit send. He’d already written up the shooting as a short news piece, leaving out his presence at the scene as requested by Fallon. Now he picked up his cell to check to see if Jetta had called or texted. She hadn’t responded to his text about the timing of dinner, and he hadn’t seen any other communication from her. It had been several hours since he’d sent it, so worry took up residence in the corners of his mind. Some people might think he was overreacting, but his gut told him otherwise. He’d learned from an early age to always listen to his gut. It had saved him and his mother more times than he cared to recall.

“Ready for tomorrow?” Brogan slapped the top of the cubicle with a notebook.

Right, the Topher Robotics interview. “Yes. Should we meet at headquarters or drive in together from the office?”

“Headquarters. I’ve got an appointment at noon.” His colleague appeared to be suppressing news by the way his fingers tapped out a rhythm that had a familiar cadence to it.Da, dum-de-dum. Da, dum-de-dum.

The sappy grin gave Seth the final clue. “You’re picking up an engagement ring.”

Brogan’s smile widened. “I knew you’d figure it out.”

“Have you asked Melender yet?”

“No, want to have the ring first.” Brogan waved a hand. “And no, I didn’t ask what kind of ring she wanted. I figured that out for myself.”

“Good for you. When you do plan on asking her?” Seth admitted Brogan and Melender’s sweet romance had given him hope he might one day find his own happily-ever-after. Connecting more with Jetta had given fuel to that hope, although his confidence in their own happy outcome wasn’t as high as Brogan and Melender’s must be.

“Saturday. I’ve planned a hike in Shenandoah National Park. She knows about the hike but not exactly where or the special picnic I’ve planned when we get to the waterfall.”

“Sounds romantic.” From what he knew of Melender, it would be the perfect spot for a proposal.

“It should be, if the weather holds. Right now, it’s showing a cool, sunny day, but that could change in an instant in the mountains.” Brogan gave the cubicle top a final tap. “Gotta run but will see you tomorrow at 9:45 in the parking lot so we can get our strategy set before the interview.”

“Sounds good.” Seth waved bye, his thoughts returning to Jetta’s silence. Rather than continue to stew about it, he would call her. The phone rang once, twice, three times.

Then Jetta answered. “Hello?”

The pain in her voice cut him to the quick. “It’s Seth. What’s wrong?”

Sobs greeted his query. He gave her a few minutes to regain control before softly voicing his question again.

This time, she managed to reply. “It’s Mom.”

His heart dropped to his toes at the despondency in her voice. Surely Emily hadn’t died? He waited for her to explain rather than pepper her with the questions swirling in his brain.

“She’s missing.” Jetta cleared her throat. “Someone’s taken her!”

“She’s been kidnapped?” Seth was on his feet and moving toward the door. “I’m on my way.”

“No.”

The single word stopped him in his tracks, sending his heart plummeting to the bottom of the ocean. She was regretting their kiss and was regulating him once more to mere friends.

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