All He Has Left(30)

There was an opening in the barn. As he quickly approached, Jake spotted another vehicle inside the small building sitting in the dirt with no tires. Looked like an old Buick. Stepping up to the opening, Jake took a cautious peek around the corner. His shoulders sagged. It was basically empty. Only two metal shelves filled with junk sat along one wall and a stack of hay squares in the corner. No Piper. He searched the entire barn to see if he could spot any signs that his daughter might have once been held inside. But nothing stood out to him.

Leaving the barn, Jake hustled back over to the RV. He stepped up onto a small attached patio to move toward the front door. Again, he paused to listen. Still no sounds coming from inside. He knocked on the door, gripped his metal bar fiercely in his right hand, ready to strike. But no one came to the door. He pounded again, even louder. Still no response. Reaching down, Jake tried to turn the doorknob, but it was locked. He had no plans to let that stop him from getting a look around inside. Using the metal bar, he shoved it into the crack between the door and the doorjamb. Then he started jimmying it as hard as he could. The door held for a moment, but it was cheap material. The more Jake worked the metal bar with his full strength, the looser the door got. Until it finally tore the lock apart from the doorjamb. He was inside the filthy trailer a moment later. It smelled something terrible. Like stale food, dirty socks, and marijuana.

Jake quickly scanned the area. A tiny kitchenette and bathroom to his left. A sitting area and a small bedroom to his right. It looked like the place had never been cleaned. Clothes were strewn all over the place. The kitchen counters were covered with dirty plates and fast-food wrappings. Jake did a quick search around to see if he’d find anything helpful. There was a framed photo of a man and woman on the kitchen counter standing somewhere together. Jake picked it up and examined it. Looked like they were at a rodeo or something. They were both probably in their mid-to late twenties. The guy had a goatee and a cowboy hat. His arm was wrapped around the girl. Staring at him, Jake thought by body type it could definitely be the same guy he’d seen at the hit-and-run crash and at his niece’s house last night. He put the photo down and kept searching.

A table in the middle held three overflowing ashtrays, a stack of car magazines, and a huge pile of mail. Jake started picking through the mail and confirmed this was indeed Eddie Cowens’s trailer. He quickly riffled through the various envelopes, some of which had never been opened. Most were bills. Utilities, credit cards, gas cards, a few pay stubs for A & Z Wrecker and Recovery. On the floor next to the table was a cardboard box piled high with more mail. Bills, junk mail, magazines. But then he found something that stopped him cold. He pulled it out, held it in his suddenly trembling fingers. A glossy photo of Sarah, his wife. He immediately recognized it as the same photo used on her profile page on Kingston Financial’s website. He flipped it over, felt a shiver push straight through him. Their home address was written on the back. So were the make, model, and license plate number of her Lexus SUV.

Jake cursed. Sarah had been the target?

He could feel his heart begin pounding.

But why? Who would’ve wanted to harm her?

And why had they taken Piper a year later?

Jake quickly rummaged through the rest of the box but found nothing else of interest. He wondered what to do next. Should he wait around for Eddie to come back home? Would the man show up around here at some point today? Jake could hear the sound of the tractor from up the street growing louder outside the trailer. Pushing open the door, he noticed the man on the tractor driving along the dirt road. Stepping out, Jake hustled over to flag the old man down. The tractor driver looked to be in his seventies with a long white beard and wearing blue jean coveralls. Spotting Jake, the man came to a stop in the dirt road, turned off the tractor, and peered down at him.

“You all right?” the old man asked.

“Yes, sir. Sorry to stop you like this, but I was wondering if you knew the man who lived here in the trailer.”

“Eddie? Sure, I know him. He’s been here about two years.”

“Have you seen him around lately?”

The old man shook his head. “Not in the past couple of days. He comes and goes. Sometimes I don’t see him for a while.”

“Any idea where he goes when he’s not here?”

The tractor driver shrugged. “No clue. He mostly keeps to himself. We chat here and there, mostly about nothing. I don’t really know Eddie too well.”

“But you for sure haven’t seen him in a couple of days?”

“Nope. And I drive up and down this here dirt road on my tractor every single day. Eddie in trouble or something?”

“Nah, I’m just an old friend trying to find him. I sure do appreciate the help.”

“You bet. Have yourself a good day.”

Jake stood there as the old man drove off on the tractor. For a second, he thought about calling the phone number listed for Eddie on the contact list he’d gotten from the tow company earlier. If Eddie answered, could he possibly bargain for the release of Piper? However, Jake had only about a hundred bucks left in his pocket. Not much to bargain with, and he didn’t have access to his bank accounts without the debit card in his wallet. Plus, he feared that if Eddie recognized he’d been exposed, he might do something drastic with Piper. Jake didn’t want to take that chance. But if Eddie hadn’t been around his trailer for a couple of days, Jake also didn’t have any motivation to wait around here for him to return.