I climbed behind the wheel, and Andrew slid into the passenger seat. I was silent as we drove, my hands clenching the steering wheel.
“You think something’s wrong, don’t you?”
My gaze flicked to Andrew for a brief moment before returning to the gravel road. “I don’t have a good feeling. But maybe I’m wrong. There’s been a lot going on, and I’ve been on edge.” I was never wrong about this kind of thing, but in this moment, I wished I were.
I pulled to a stop along the fence line. Phoenix paced back and forth by a spot near the fence. Not the gate, but the space where Jensen and I usually ducked between the rails to head for her boulder. Maybe Phee could smell her there or something.
Andrew looked at me, real worry creasing his face for the first time. “Her SUV isn’t here.”
I slid from the truck. “You get Phoenix, I’ll see what I can find.”
This time, Phoenix allowed herself to be harnessed. I held up a hand, stopping Andrew from placing her back in the pasture. “Wait just a minute. I want to see what tracks I can find. If you let her back in, she’ll just come straight over here.”
Andrew nodded. “I’ll hold her.”
I slowly walked towards the portion of the fence that Phoenix seemed so interested in. My gaze skimmed across the ground, and my steps faltered. Two deep ruts gouged the dirt about eight inches apart. Drag marks.
I pushed down the panic that wanted to surface as that muscle in my cheek flickered. I crouched. My eyes ran over the trajectory. About two feet from me, the drag marks stopped. Just stopped. There were so many footprints, I’d never be able to find much direction there.
My gaze ran back over the drag marks towards the fence, trying to follow the path, attempting to get my mind to paint the picture of what had happened. My vision stuttered on a crack in the fence.
I rose, striding towards the fence, careful to avoid the path the crime scene techs might be able to get something out of. I crouched again, studying the wooden rail. It sagged in the middle. Dipped because there was a crack almost all the way through it. And blood. And in that blood were a few strands of hair. Hair so dark brown it was almost black.
My chest spasmed with a flare of pain so bright it stole my breath.No. Fucking no.The scene that played out in my head of someone hurting my beautiful girl was too vivid. I could see the fall, hear the scream as though she were right in front of me.
It was the same sound I’d heard when Jensen was sixteen. I’d been home from college on break, and Walker, Jensen, and I had gone on a hike. Jensen had stepped just a few feet off the trail to snap a photo of the scenery with her phone and stumbled on a coiled rattler.
That scream had turned my blood to ice. I’d never moved so fast in my life, grabbing hold of her t-shirt and yanking her out of striking distance. She’d shook in my arms, taking a good half hour to calm down, but she’d been fine. Now, I had no clue.
I pushed to my feet, hitting Walker’s name on my phone.
Two rings. “Tuck. What’s up?”
I heard Noah’s giggles in the background.
Taylor’s voice. “Noah, if you eat one more scoop of ice cream, you won’t sleep tonight, and then your mom will never let me pick you up from karate again.”
The boy’s giggles turned to full laughter. “I won’t tell Mom.”
I opened my mouth to speak but couldn’t. The words wouldn’t come.
“Tuck? You there, man?”
“I need you to call in an APB.” My voice was hoarse, gravelly, as though I’d smoked two packs a day for most of my life. “It’s Jensen. Someone took her.”
44
Jensen
My entire bodyseemed to pulse in a sort of whooshing pain. I let out a small moan.What happened?
I tried to lift my head, but the pain that sliced through it had lights flashing behind my eyes and me biting back a cry.Had I fallen?I couldn’t remember, everything seemed so very hazy.
I kept my body still but slowly eased my eyes open. The space was entirely unfamiliar. Plywood walls. A single window that looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in the past decade. The floor was much the same—worn wood, dusty from infrequent use.
I needed more information. I braced myself and slowly rolled to my back. The pressure in my skull threatened to do me in. Above me were three slats of wood and a plastic-covered mattress. A bunk bed. I was on a bunk bed.
Nowhere I was familiar with had bunk beds. My heart rate picked up. Where was I?
