Page 27 of Fear for Her Life

“Nope, all quiet here.” The man narrowed his gaze. “Everyone is on alert. We’ll know if they wander onto our land.”

Nodding, Jenna noticed the schoolhouse had closed shutters. “I see you’ve kept all the children at home.”

“Indeed.” The man nodded. “Everyone is at home with the doors locked until these men are caught.”

She waved as Raven headed into the res. Jenna gave him directions to Blackhawk’s cabin. “Have you been here before?”

“Nope, but I was due to come by soon.” Raven headed past cabins and up a road surrounded by forest. “Atohi has a litter of pups we are planning to train as K9s. Once they are old enough to be trained, we’ll both be working with them. It’s a joint business.”

Glad to hear that Raven had a partner, Jenna smiled. “That’s great. Atohi is an amazing dog trainer. His tracking and hunting dogs are known all over for reliability, as are his horses. I’m very fond of him. He is part of our family.” She pointed. “There he is.”

“You should be at home.” Blackhawk shook his head, an expression of disapproval crossed his face. “Dave told me you’d be at home. It’s not safe for you in the forest.”

Giving him a hug, Jenna frowned. “Apparently, it’s not safe for me anywhere while Souza is free. I have Raven and an FBI agent with me. I’ll be fine.” She indicated toward his cabin. “Is Serena here?”

“Yeah, but she’s been staying with her grandma. Her mom is here too.” Blackhawk trudged up the front steps to the porch. “They came here when I called them and told them you’d be coming.”

Jenna loved the coziness of Blackhawk’s home. He lived with his mom, who had a cabin of her own, currently occupied by Atohi’s two cousins, but she liked the company of living with her son. The home was open plan and filled with comfortable furnishings and a handcrafted wooden coffee table before a local stone fireplace. Many craftsmen on the res produced beautiful wooden furniture and it was evident inside the cabin. They also produced exquisite silver turquoise jewelry and leather goods to sell at the res tourist store or in a store in town. She’d commissioned one of the artisans to design Kane’s belt buckle. She smiled at the young girl sitting on the sofa, her head bowed over a tablet.

“There you are.” Blackhawk’s mom waved them to the long wooden kitchen table. “This is Kaya, Serena’s mom.”

Jenna noticed her red-rimmed eyes. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.” Kaya sniffed. “Serena came so close to being killed by those terrible men.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them and make them pay for killing your father.” Raven dropped into a chair, his face grim.

“I have coffee and fresh baked cookies. Rest awhile. You all look exhausted.” Atohi’s mom raised her voice. “Serena, the sheriff would like to speak to you.” She went about pouring coffee.

After Jenna had introduced Jo and Raven to the young girl, she explained why they were there and set up her phone to record the interview. This girl was a witness to a murder, and Jenna needed as much information from her as possible. “How many men did you see at the cabin?”

“Two, but I could hear more voices.” The girl’s eyes carried fear. “There was a woman there as well. I didn’t see her or hear her at first. When I was riding into the forest, I heard her screaming. I figure they might have killed her too.”

Shaking her head, Jenna kept her voice low and conversational. “No, she is fine. Her name is Amy Clark. She is one of the prison guards who were with the men in the bus wreck.” She took an array of photographs out of her folder and splayed them across the table in front of Serena. “Do you recognize any of the men who were at the cabin in these pictures?”

“Yes.” Serena pointed to Callahan and Romero. “Those men dragged my grandpa to the pigpen. I could see he was dead. His eyes were just staring at nothing. It was terrible. I could hear the pigs rushing toward him when the men tossed him over the fence. I had to get away but I was too scared to move.”

“We understand how terrible it was for you, Serena.” Jo leaned forward in her chair. “Did you hear someone shooting your grandfather?”

“Yes, I did.” Serena gripped her hands together on the kitchen table, her eyes stricken. “I know the sound of my grandpa’s shotgun. It is very loud. The other noise was softer but loud enough to make the birds fly out of the trees. Grandpa had told me to go and hide in the henhouse because he didn’t recognize the people coming out of the forest. He told me to run to the next cabin and get help if anything bad happened.” A big tear ran down Serena’s cheek. “Something bad happened and I couldn’t find the next cabin in the dark. I couldn’t go past the front of the house on the horse—the men would have seen me—so I went into the forest and tried to go around in a big circle to get back to the fire road but I got lost.”

Glancing down her list of notes, Jenna met the girl’s eyes. “So you remained in the forest overnight alone?”

“I was with Thunderbolt. He would let me know if anyone was coming or if any wildlife came close.” Serena dashed a hand across her cheeks as if annoyed to be crying. “As soon as it was light we kept moving, but the men had left the cabin, and no matter which way I went, I could hear them. I rode around for a long, long time and then I saw a man wearing a jacket that hadfbion the front. He was with another man who was dressed as a deputy. I rode up to them and told them what had happened. Atohi’s cousin Chaska sneaked me along secret paths to the res. I was glad to see my grandma.”

“Are you having nightmares?” Jo looked at Serena.

“No, but I think about what happened to Grandpa all the time.” Serena pointed to her head. “It feels like it is stuck in here and won’t go away.”

“It will go away.” Jo patted the girl’s clenched hands. “When you start having those thoughts about what happened, try and think of something nice. Do you like flowers or seeing horses running through the paddocks? Think about them. It might help.”

Appreciating Jo’s kind words, Jenna nodded, but in her opinion, Serena needed professional help, and she would make sure she received that through the Her Broken Wings Foundation. Assistance was available to everyone who needed it. “Thank you, Serena. We’ll talk to your mom now. You’ve been very helpful. Don’t worry, we’ll catch these men very soon.”

When Serena returned to her game on her tablet, she turned to Kaya. “You’ve both been through a terrible experience and we have people available who can help you in Black Rock Falls.” She handed her a card. “It doesn’t cost anything to speak to one of our counselors and any treatment either of you require will be free.” She paused for a beat as Kaya read the card. “I would ask you to remain here on the res if possible. Serena is a witness and those men are still at large. As far as we are aware, they don’t know she exists, and we would like it to remain that way for as long as possible. The media will know that your father was shot by them, and if they happened to mention Serena was at the cabin at the time, she could be in danger of her life.”

“Don’t worry, my husband is taking his vacation and will be arriving here this afternoon.” Kaya’s lips quivered into a small smile. “My family will keep us safe. Thank you for offering to help Serena get over her bad thoughts. Once this is all over, if she is still troubled, I will take her to Her Broken Wings Foundation and ask for their advice.” She nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off Jenna. “It is a nice thing that you and your husband do. I only hear praise about your foundation, and you never turn anyone away. You must have a good heart to want to save so many damaged people. I hope the sun always shines brightly upon you both.”

Moved by her lovely words, Jenna blinked back unshed tears. “Thank you.” She inhaled the smell of cookies and smiled. “I’m going to need the recipe for these cookies. They smell mighty fine.”

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