TWENTY-EIGHT

BOLO

“Jack!” Bailey shouted when I arrived at the mayor’s house. She was waiting for me on the front steps, so I climbed out of my truck and watched as Barry, Grady, and Phil pulled in next to me. When I reached Bailey, she was a bundle of nerves, shaking and crying, so I grabbed her and held on while she buried her head in my chest. “Bailey, I need you to talk to me so we can find Jenn.”

She pulled back, wiping her face with the backs of her hands. She nodded and took a deep breath.

“Mom and I were people watching; I commented on some blond bimbo, and she panicked when the woman looked at us, and then hurried me downstairs to get away from her. She’s some ex of yours.”

“Amber?” I questioned, and she nodded.

“When we got downstairs, Mom ran into the mayor; he was putting the moves on Mom, and she was trying to move away when Amber came downstairs, saw the whole thing and called Mom a slut. So I got pissed, and Mom told me to stop and to go get our coats. She said we were leaving, and that’s the last time I saw her. She never came looking for me, and now I can’t find her anywhere.”

I looked over at Grady and the boys and ordered, “Search the grounds, inside and out,” then I turned back to Bailey. “You said someone saw her walking with a man?”

“When she didn’t come for me, I went looking for her, found the mayor and asked where she went. He said she was chatting with some man and left with him.”

I felt my anger spike at the thought of Jenn talking with another man, but shut it down; I didn’t have time to react. I needed to keep my head on straight and look at the evidence. Jenn wouldn’t leave her daughter stranded for a man; something wasn’t adding up, and I needed to find John and make him talk.

Inside the mayor’s house, I noticed no one had stopped with the festivities. A woman was missing, and everyone was drinking and eating like nothing had happened. I felt my temper spike higher and looked around for John. I caught a glimpse of him with Amber in the corner and headed their way. When I reached them, Amber turned to me and sneered, then with her claws bared, attacked.

“Heard that slut of yours left with another man, abandoning her daughter just to get laid? You sure know how to pick ‘em, Jack.”

“Considering Jenn’s the best thing to ever happen to me, by a long shot, I’d say that’s a compliment.” Amber flinched and turned her eyes from me. My bulls-eye had hit dead center, so I moved on like she wasn’t there.

“Mayor, Jenn’s missing, and you’re the last person who saw her. You wanna fill me in on this man she was talking to?” His arrogant demeanor turned cold and calculated as he responded, choosing his words carefully for maximum effect.

“Jack, be a man and accept when a woman leaves you high and dry for another one. Don’t use your authority as sheriff to eliminate the competition.” The mayor openly laughed, repeating my own words from two weeks before. And it took everything I had not to touch him. But then I decided, fuck it, and lunged, shoving him into the wall. I pressed my arm into his throat, cutting off his air, and got right in his face.

“Jenn is missing; she didn’t abandon her daughter. Now tell me who the fuck she was talking to, or I’ll arrest you for obstruction of justice.”

I kept my forearm on his throat and watched as he looked around, and then I noticed the silence. The room behind us had gone quiet; we had an audience, and I didn’t give a shit if it got me answers, so I didn’t back down. John looked back at me and raised his shoulders in a shrug, answering my question, but giving me nothing.

“Never seen him before.”

“You got a description; hair color, eye color, height, weight, tattoo, anything that will lead us to him?” I ordered.

“Average height, average weight, dark hair, decent looking, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, not in costume, no visible tattoos and from the reception she gave him she knew him.” That piqued my interest.

“You could tell she knew him?”

“Yeah, she said, “Fancy meeting you here.?” I pushed off John, glaring, and turned to Bailey, who’d been waiting and watching the whole time.

“Bailey, did Jenn indicate she knew any of the people here?”

“No, we hadn’t been here that long. We got food and were just people watching.” Her head jerked, and she looked at her phone, reading something on the screen, a puzzled look on her face.

“What is it?” I ordered, noticing her confusion.

“I posted a pic on Facebook of the food table, and a friend just posted a response, asking, “Who’s the creepy guy staring at you?”

I moved to her side, ordering, “Show me the picture, honey.” Bailey went to the camera function on her phone, found the picture and then blew it up so we could look. A picture of a table filled with food was on the screen and you could see a man staring across the room in the background; it looked like he was staring right at the camera. Dark hair, jeans and a white t-shirt, and the look on his face was one of longing. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

I grabbed the phone and shoved it in the mayor’s face. “You know him?” John looked at the picture, then back at me and nodded.

“That’s the man she left with.”

I shoved him back in disgust before I drove a fist into his face, and turned to leave. Grady entered on a run. I moved to him and snapped, “Talk to me.”

“Got a witness out back who says he saw a man carrying a woman to his car, silver sedan, and Wyoming license plates. Said he thought she was drunk and even helped the man put her in the car. Description matches Jenn. She was out cold, and they put her in the back seat so she could sleep it off. Left heading north about an hour ago.”

Christ, north led to highway-50 which took you to the interstate, and that meant he had an hour’s head start and could be anywhere by now.

Bailey heard the conversation and broke down. I didn’t have time to comfort her; I needed to hit the road, and I needed to do it now, but I turned to her, pulled her in my arms and held her tight for a minute.

I whispered in her ear, “I’ll find her, I promise you. I will find her,” then I kissed her head and turned to Grady. “Keep an eye on Bailey for me. I’m heading out and I’ll call in the state police. You take Bailey to the station, and I’ll keep in touch.”

Grady nodded once, moved to Bailey and put his arm around her. She face planted into his chest and then broke down. The sounds of her cries sent me off as I exited the house to find Jenn.

“This sonofabitch is dead,” I mumbled to myself as I threw open the door to my truck. I saw the other door open, and Barry climbed in.

“Just fucking drive, Jack,” Barry snapped, not waiting for a response to his presence. I nodded once, started the engine, and grabbed my handheld, calling the station.

***

Hang in there, baby, I’m coming, I thought as I accelerated onto the highway and headed west on 50 that would take me to interstate 70. Wyoming was north, so my instinct said that was where he was going. Sirens blaring, speeds hitting 100, I kept my eyes peeled for a silver sedan with my woman in the back seat. I’d radioed the station and told Amy that when Grady got there, he needed to take Bailey’s phone to one of the computer guys, have them clean up the picture, and put out a BOLO (be on the lookout) with the guy’s picture and description of the car over the wires. Who was this guy? How the hell had one tiny woman attracted two whack jobs in five months? Someone knows this bastard. If Jenn knew him then maybe Ben knows him as well?

I pulled out my phone and dialed Ben while trying to stay on the road at my high rate of speed. Ben answered on the third ring, sounding tired and confused.

“Jack, this better be good!”

“Jenn’s gone missing, Ben. Some guy snatched her from the Witches Ball. I need you to go to the station and look at this guy’s picture and tell me if you know him.”

I heard Ben’s breath catch, and he whispered, “Missing?” He recovered quickly, though, and continued, “I’ll be there in forty minutes.”

I hung up the phone without another word, pushed the pedal to the floor and kept driving into the night.

***

One hour later….

“Base to Gunnison, you there, Jack?”

“Base, this is Gunnison, talk to me.”

I was still heading north, pushing my truck’s speed and praying like hell for a break. Barry kept an eye out and spoke with the state police as I barreled down the highway, hoping I wasn’t going the wrong fucking direction. This guy had an hour’s head start, but I was convinced he wouldn’t want to bring attention to himself by speeding. With the posted 55 miles per hour, because of the hills and two lanes the highway narrowed to, if he was on this road, I’d catch him by doubling my speed.

“Jack, Ben Gates was here and looked at the picture. He was positive he knew the guy and made a phone call. We just confirmed the suspect’s name is Charles Marcus Walker. Jack, we ran his name: he grew up in Wyoming, moved here three months ago, and his father was Gerald Marcus Walker. He’s been bartending at The Wooden Nickel for the past six months.”

“Son of a bitch!” I roared. That whacked-out fuck had borne a whacked-out son. It was like a damned horror movie with Jenn starring as the damsel in distress running for her life. Only this time, she was passed out cold in the backseat of the car at his mercy, and I didn’t have a fucking clue where they were.

Breathing fast and trying to concentrate, I weighed my options. Turn back and start over, or keep driving north and pray I wasn’t wrong? Barry was staring out the window, his eyes searching, saying nothing. I put the handheld to my mouth and, going with my gut, responded, “Understood, base. Traveling north on 50, will update you in an hour.”

I kept driving, searching, Jenn’s face in my head, thinking about her laugh. The look in her eyes when she was pissed, that brilliant light that shone from her face and drew people in. I was so lost in my thoughts that I missed the vibrating of my phone. After the third time, I picked it up and saw “Jenn Calling” on the screen, and I almost wrecked in my haste to answer.

“Jenn!” I shouted.

“Jack, oh, God, Jack…Help me. I was kidnapped and I’m in the back of a car.”

“Where, baby? Tell me where, and I’ll come get you.”

“He stopped for gas. The sign says Clinton’s Truck Stop.”

“Good girl, I know the place. I’m just a few miles behind you. Can you stall him?

“I’ll try, but I can’t move very well. He drugged me.” My jaw clenched when I heard that. This guy was dead. No reason to apologize for thinking it. I’d kill him, pure and simple.

“Swear to God, I’ll rip his head off when I get there. You hold on, do you hear me? I’m coming, Sweetness, I’ll find you.”

I waited for a response but didn’t get one. “Jenn?” Dead air, she was gone. I didn’t know if she hung up, or if he found her phone. All I knew was I needed to get there. I grabbed my handheld and called base.

“Base, this is Gunnison, come in.”

“Gunnison, this is Base.”

“I need you to call the state police and tell them we have a kidnapped victim in the back of a silver sedan, Wyoming license plate, at Clinton’s Truck Stop outside of Delta on highway 50. Suspect is considered armed and dangerous. Last-known was two minutes ago. Tell them we’ve had contact from the victim, and she is attempting to stall him until help can arrive. Male suspect is wearing jeans, white t-shirt and has dark hair. Victim is wearing…shit…Victim is wearing a stripper’s costume, with the name Sheriff on the back…. And tell them to bring some clothes for her as well.”

“Roger that, Jack, contacting now.”

I heard Barry chuckle and speared him with a “don’t fucking test me” look. He threw his hands in the air, and I turned my head back to the road. I heard my radio crackle to life and then dispatch reported:

“Gunnison, this is Base. We have two highway patrols in route, and they’re two minutes out.”

“Roger that.”

I saw a sign up ahead that said gas next exit, Clinton’s Truck Stop, and I relayed it to dispatch.

“Base, I’m coming up on the exit for the truck stop in one mile. Tell patrol to come in quiet. I don’t want him to run if he hears the sirens.”

“Roger that, out.”

I took the exit and could see the lights of the truck stop up ahead. My heart was thundering while I looked at all the cars at the pump. Red, blue, where the fuck is the silver sedan?

“There!” Barry shouted and pointed to the last pump closest to the truck stop. I pulled in behind it and threw my truck into park. Reaching under my seat for my weapon, a 9mm Colt Defender, I checked my rounds, flipped the safety off and then opened my door. Barry had done the same and was now exiting his side of the truck.

I walked up slowly, looked in the back of the car, and saw the hat and glasses Jenn had worn lying on the seat. I looked up and saw two patrol cars coming in fast, but not hot. I pulled my badge out of my pocket and flashed it as they came up on the car. They nodded, and I pointed to the truck stop indicating they were inside. Both cars drove to the front of the building, and I motioned to Barry I was going around back to make sure he didn’t get away with Jenn through the back exit.

Once everyone was in place and any customers who were trying to enter were sent back to their cars, I put my radio to my mouth and clicked three times to indicate we were going in on my three. I counted down and then pushed the button and held it, commanding “Go, go, go.”