Page 42 of Fear for Her Life

Touched by his concern, but knowing if she gave Carter an inch, he’d take a mile, Jenna nodded slowly. “If you insist. I’ll remain here with Raven just in case Margos raids the building, gets past Maggie, and I suddenly forget how to shoot my weapon.”

“Good.” Carter grinned, ignoring her sarcasm. “I figured you’d see it my way.” He pointed to an old industrial area on the outskirts of town. “We’ll start there. Jo drove your cruiser into town, so we’ll take that.”

“I figure Margos will be heading toward Blackwater.” Styles stabbed the map. “We know his vehicle, so he’ll need to swap it out or change the plate. We’re heading to the vehicle recycling yards. There’s a good chance he’d drop by and take the opportunity to steal one. They’re usually up on the walls, like trophies. There are old factories there as well, a good place to hole up.”

“The problem is, out there you won’t get any bars.” Rowley rubbed his chin. “All the businesses in that black spot use landlines. You’ll be out of contact between here and here.” He pointed on the map.

“Gotcha.” Styles nodded and pointed to a meat processing plant. “So if I make it to here, I can make a call?”

“Yeah.” Rowley shrugged. “For some reason that small black-spot area wipes out everything, even satellite phones, GPS. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle of Black Rock Falls.”

“How wonderfully spooky.” Beth grinned at Styles. “Maybe we’ll drive through and end up in another time.”

“It doesn’t wipe out vehicles, does it?” Styles frowned.

“It hasn’t yet.” Rowley chuckled. “Or we couldn’t drive to Blackwater.”

Jenna’s phone chimed and she waved everyone from the room but placed the phone on speaker for Raven’s benefit. “Norrell, how good to speak to you. How are things going? You must be snowed under?”

“You could say that.”Norrell’s footfalls on tile echoed through the speaker.“I’ve prioritized the autopsies, so you’ll have the findings ASAP, although Wolfe will want to oversee everything when he gets back, so no bodies will be released until he is satisfied. I called mainly to tell you I have a positive ID for Romero. He has extensive injuries, a broken neck, massive head trauma. His body is so distorted we couldn’t fit him into a body bag. He is in a cold room storage area until rigor passes and I can straighten him out. So we have positive IDs on all the victims, even the foot found at the first ranch. I used Serena Lee’s DNA to match him as her grandfather.”She swallowed hard.“Jenna, those pigs, they’re not going to be used for human consumption are they?”

“No.” Raven leaned forward in his seat. “Raven here. Rio organized for them to be collected before Norrell searched the pigpen for body parts. They were taken to a pet-food processing plant.”

“Oh, that’s good.”Norrell cleared her throat.“Have you heard from Dave?”

Jenna kept her gaze on the desk. “Not yet. I’m guessing they’re busy.”

“Okay.”Norrell blew out a long sigh.“Call me if you need me, and remember, it’s time to pack your hospital bag.”

Smiling, Jenna nodded.“Already done and sitting in the Beast. Catch you later.”She disconnected and looked at Raven. “I’m putting on a fresh pot of coffee and then we can update the files.”

“Oh, goodie.” Raven rubbed his hands together. “I mean about the coffee. I hate filing.”

FIFTY

At five after eleven, Jenna’s phone chimed a message. Chills ran down her spine as she stared at the screen. “Oh, no! We have a kidnapping.” She held out the phone to Raven. “It says: I have Wendy. Leave your office alone and follow instructions or she dies.”

“Wendy who?” Raven stared at the phone. “No caller ID.”

Panic gripped Jenna. “It must be Wendy from Aunt Betty’s Café. She’s a friend.” She called Wendy and it went to voicemail. “She’s not picking up. I’ll call Aunt Betty’s. Hi, Susie, is Wendy working today?”

“She was due in at eleven and always comes by early. I’m waiting for her to arrive.”Susie Hartwig, the owner-manager of the eatery, sounded alarmed.“Has something happened to her?”

Forcing herself to keep calm, Jenna raised both eyebrows and looked at Raven. “I have no reason to believe something has happened to her, but I need to know where she is right now. If she comes in, can you ask her to call me, please?”

“Not a problem.”

The moment she disconnected, Jenna’s phone chimed again. She stared at it. “No caller ID. Call Kalo to trace the call, and I’ll keep them on the line for as long as possible.” She put the phone on speaker.

“Now you know who I’m talking about. You have exactly five minutes to leave the building alone. Climb into your vehicle and drive to the convenience store. I’ll call you again once you’re there. Leave now or Wendy dies.”

Stomach clenching, Jenna shook her head. “That’s not going to happen. For a start I can’t drive the truck. Who is this? If you’ve kidnapped someone against their will and this is a ransom demand, I need the terms before I leave the building.”

“Are you dumb or just plain stupid? You know darn well this is Mason Margos. I’ll trade Wendy for you, for a start.”In the background she could hear a muffled scream.“Wendy doesn’t like me very much. Go figure.”

Trying to remain calm, Jenna sucked in a deep breath. Margos was unhinged and not thinking straight. “I don’t like you either, and what do you want with me? If you figure holding a sheriff hostage will get you out of prison, you’re sadly mistaken. I would be collateral damage if it meant getting you back in a cell.”

“I’m not going back to a cell.”Margos chuckled and Wendy screamed again.“You care about the people in your town. That much I know about you just by speaking to the townsfolk. You know not one of them recognized me and I’ve been close by all this time. I’ll swap you for Wendy. You’re valuable and your deputies will release Callahan and Romero in a trade for you.”

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