Fractured Sky (Tattered & Torn #5)(87)

Hayes gripped my shoulder, squeezing to the point of pain. “Shy’s strong. She’s gonna fight. Hell, she’ll probably find a way out of there before we get to her.”

But I didn’t want her to have to fight her way out. She’d done that for too much of her life. And I didn’t think Howard Kemper would let her get away this time. “He’s obsessed with her. He could do anything.”

Hayes’ jaw hardened. “We have to hope that means he’s keeping her alive and unharmed.”

But he’d harmed her before. Shiloh had just hidden how badly from her family. What he did to her now when she was a grown woman could be so much worse.

Hayes squeezed my shoulder again. “We have to hold on to hope.”

“It’s killing me. Ripping me apart,” I rasped.

“I know.”

“I love her so damn much. That hurts, too. But it’s the kind of pain I could live with. I can’t live in a world without Shiloh.”

Hayes’ grip on me loosened a fraction. “You won’t have to. It’s not going to happen.”

He moved then, pulling me into a hard hug. No one had made a move to touch me other than Shiloh in years. Even Lor didn’t try. The signals to stay far away were too strong.

This simple kindness almost broke me. Instead, I hugged Hayes back. We stood there for a count of ten, gripping each other’s shoulders with a ferocity that bled with our need to get Shiloh back, a determination for only that outcome.

I clapped Hayes on the back and released him. “We’re gonna find her.”

“Damn straight.”

“Is the doc talking?”

A muscle in Hayes’ jaw ticked. “He folded the second Ruiz picked him up. Wouldn’t stop talking the whole ride back to the station.”

I hoped that asshole fried. That he landed in a cell and never got to grace the outside again. “Were you right?”

Hayes nodded. “He helped Howard fake the seizure and then bribed a mortuary employee to put the tag from Howard’s body bag on a John Doe.”

“Tell me they got him, too.”

“They did. He lawyered up, but his boss at the mortuary was only too happy to give all the corroboration Ruiz needed.”

Kai butted my hand, and I gave him a scratch. “Does the doctor have any idea where Howard might be now?”

“Not a clue. He arranged for the mortuary employee to drop Howard off outside Wolf Gap, but he had no idea where he planned to go.”

I muttered a curse. “What about August Ernst’s bank records?”

“Nothing that points us to where they might be holed up.”

I wanted to hit something. We had to catch a break. Somewhere. Something.

Hayes ran a hand through his hair, tugging on the ends of the strands. “We’ve got officers searching the area around Ian’s ranch, another group searching around the cabin where August was staying, and more questioning every single person who has a tie to Howard, August, and Ian. Everyone who works for the department is out looking. Someone knows something. We just have to find them.”

God, I hoped he was right. It was nearly impossible to disappear without a trace these days. Not with cell phones, security cameras, and social media. Too many people were watching. But we lived on the edge of civilization. Someone could vanish into the woods if they knew where they were going and had help. We had to find a trail to follow.

Hayes’ phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket, answering it instantly. “Easton.”

The volume was high enough that I could faintly hear the other side of the call.

“Hey, Sheriff. A weird call came through dispatch.”

“What do you mean weird?”

“It’s like someone dialed in but isn’t talking. We can just hear the conversation happening around it.”

Hayes’ brows pulled together. “Does it sound like someone’s in trouble?”

The woman was quiet for a moment. “I thought I heard Shiloh’s name.”

The air around us electrified. In a flash, Hayes had his phone on speaker. “Trace the call and patch me through to the caller but keep our end on mute.”

“Yes, sir.”

An instant later, the line crackled, and faraway voices came over the speaker.

“Dad, let’s leave her for now. I want some time with you. I thought you were dead, for fuck’s sake.”

I instantly recognized Ian’s voice but couldn’t tell if he was the caller.

“You’re trying to manipulate me. I thought you said you trusted my vision for your life.”

The second voice had to be Howard’s, but he sounded farther away.

“I do trust you. But I’m also worried about you. This cabin is only five miles from Ramsey Bishop’s ranch. Anyone could figure out where you’re staying.”

I immediately pulled out my phone, tapping on my map app to search a five-mile radius around my place.

“You think I don’t know what I’m doing, boy?” Howard demanded, his voice louder now.

“Of course, you know what you’re doing. I just want you to be safe. Hayes has a hard-on for you, and he’ll have every cop in a thousand-mile radius out looking for you.”

Things were quiet for a moment, and then we heard a grunt and sounds of a struggle.