Page 32 of In Her Dreams
Jenna turned the key in the ignition but didn’t put the car in drive.The headlights cut through the growing darkness, illuminating nothing but an empty parking lot.
“Let’s talk to Frank,” she said finally.“He’s been in this town longer than either of us.If anyone might have insight into all this, it’s him.”
“Good idea.Frank’s seen just about everything Trentville has to offer, the good and the bad.”
As they pulled out of the parking lot, Jenna couldn’t shake the feeling that they were missing something crucial.The dreamcatchers, the phobias, the sleep issues, Dr.Walsh’s nervousness—all pieces of a puzzle that refused to form a coherent picture.And yet she felt certain that if she didn’t figure it out soon, there would be more threatening dreamcatchers, more terror… and more death.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“I was wondering when you two would show up,” Frank said when he opened his front door to Jenna and Jake.“Figured you’d be by after what happened at the mine.”
Jenna wasn’t surprised.News traveled fast in Trentville, especially news involving a sheriff’s department rescue operation.As usual, she felt a sense of relief at seeing her mentor again, as sturdy and dependable as ever.The retired Sheriff was in his mid-sixties now, and his short white hair and gray eyes matched his gruff appearance.Jenna had served as his deputy before becoming Sheriff and could depend on him for both kindness and good advice.
“Come on in,” Frank said, stepping aside.“Just made some tea.”He led the way to the kitchen and set three mugs on his counter beside an old ceramic teapot adorned with faded blue flowers—a remnant of his late wife’s touch.
“Chamomile,” Frank said, answering Jenna’s unspoken question as he poured the steaming amber liquid.“I’m sure we could all use something calming tonight.”
Jenna and Jake both said thanks as they took their mugs.Then Frank gestured toward the kitchen table, and they settled into the familiar mismatched wooden chairs.
“So,” Frank said, his gray eyes moving from Jenna to Jake and back again.“Tell me about those people you found in the mine.”
Jenna wrapped her hands around the warm mug, drawing comfort from its heat.“Two women were held captive in an abandoned shaft.Apparently, there had been others … it was lucky that we found them when we did.”
“Luck,” Frank repeated, arching one bushy eyebrow.“Or something else?”
Jake shifted in his chair.“Jenna had one of her...feelings about that place.She rousted me out before dawn to get to them.”
Frank’s gaze sharpened.“A dream?”
“Yes,” Jenna acknowledged.“A man who said that someone was collecting people in the old mine.He said he’d been cut up and sold.”
“The Harvesters,” Frank said quietly, the name of the trafficking wing not new to him.
“The FBI told us about them,” Jake said.“They’ve taken over the case.”
“There was something more,” Jenna muttered.“One of the victims, a woman named Jill...there was a strange moment … she looked at me and said, ‘It’s you.You’ve come back.’But I’d never seen her before.”
Frank’s expression softened with understanding and concern.He knew that if that recognition was not of Sheriff Jenna Graves, it could be of someone who looked exactly like her.“You think she might know something about Piper?”
“I don’t know,” Jenna admitted.“Jill slipped back into unconsciousness before I could ask.I visited her at the hospital, but she was heavily sedated.The doctors say she’s suffered severe trauma, both physical and psychological.”
“And the other one?”Frank asked.
“Also dehydrated, malnourished,” Jake interjected.“Ginger Lomax.She’s been moved to a hospital in Kansas City, closer to her family.She gave me no reason to think she recognized my face.It was really just Jill.”
Frank’s expression clouded.“These Harvesters...they were operating right here.”
Jake replied grimly, “We don’t even know how long they’d been using that location.”
“But that’s not the only reason we’re here,” Jenna added.
She set her mug down carefully, organizing her thoughts.“You’ve heard about Richard Winters and Anita Palmer?”
Frank nodded slowly.“A heart attack, from what I heard—at least for Richard.Tragic, so they say, but natural causes.”
“That’s what everyone thinks,” Jenna said.“That’s what the preliminary reports suggest.But I’m not convinced.”
Jake leaned forward, his mug cradled between his palms.“Richard Winters died of cardiac arrest—technically natural.But Melissa says the state of his body indicates extreme terror at the time of death.And Anita Palmer had the same expression on her face.Pure terror.I saw both faces—Richard’s in the morgue and Anita’s shortly after she died.They were just frozen like that.”
