Chapter Thirty-One
Brian, Becca, and Todd jumped out of the police car onto the gravel driveway of the cabin.
The scene in front of them didn’t look good, not at all. The lights were on and the front door was wide open.
“Cait, Cait.” Brian ran up the steps of the porch, but Todd grabbed his arm.
“Wait. Let me clear the area.” He took out his service revolver. “Stay back.”
Brian was used to following orders from law enforcement and cooperating with them. He immediately shielded Becca. “Get behind the police car and don’t step on any tracks.”
“Let me take pictures,” Becca said. “It looks like a car was parked here until recently.”
“Maybe Cait’s parents came,” he said, grasping straws of hope, despite his heart telling him Cait was in danger. “Maybe she forgot to shut the door.”
Todd emerged from the cabin. “It’s clear. There’s no one inside but an injured dog.”
“Which one?” Brian raced into the cabin, wondering where Cait had gone.
Sierra lay against a wall, and her breathing was hard and rasping.
“We have to get her to the hospital,” Brian said. “But where’s Cait? Did she leave a note?”
“It looks like someone was hiding up in the attic.” Todd pointed his flashlight up the ladder where the trapdoor was left partially open. “The kitchen’s a mess.”
“Cait would never leave Sierra, unless she went to get help. And where’s Melia, the other dog?” His heart was sloshing in his belly by now. “I don’t have a good feeling about this. I hate not having phone service up here. This is crazy.”
He walked into his bedroom. Cait’s luggage was spilled open, and her clothes were strewn all over the bed.
“Someone’s ransacked this place,” Brian pointed to the nightstand. “They stole my cell phone and the locket I was talking about.”
“This looks like a robbery,” Becca said, taking pictures of the room.
“Then Cait’s in danger,” Brian said. “We have to send a search party. She wouldn’t have wandered off with Melia. I think someone found her here by herself, hit the dog, and took off with her.”
“They couldn’t have gone far,” Todd said. “The roads are almost impassable. The problem is to know where to look.”
Brian wiped his sweaty palms on his shirt and breathed in hard through his nostrils. If this were a fire investigation, he would be looking for clues. The perp had been in the cabin, and something must have been moved or knocked out of place.
“Let’s go through each of the rooms quickly, then take the dog to the vet,” Brian said. “I’ll tell you if something is out of place.”
He could see the way the room had been, and because of his oddness, he was a stickler for order and neatness. Anything out of place stuck out like a flashing beacon.
“Let’s start at the front door.” Brian marched back to the living room. “There are no keys on the hook, so either Cait didn’t use a key or she put it back in her purse. She usually hangs the keys up as soon as she opens the door. There’s a log dropped on the floor near Sierra, and the fireplace curtain is pulled back. Cait’s good at lighting fires, so she must have been about to light one when Sierra was attacked.”
He rubbed the dog’s head. “I’ll be quick. Hang in there.”
Next was the kitchen, where someone had obviously ransacked the refrigerator and ate their food.
“Grocery bags, with the food still in them, not put away,” Brian said. He peeked inside. “Mostly junk food, not Cait’s style.”
He moved onto the ladder leading to the attic. “The trapdoor’s still open. Someone was up there.”
“Let’s see what they disturbed.” Todd climbed up there, followed by Brian. He flashed a light at the corners of the attic. “Looks like someone was ripping sheets up here to use as ties.”
“What’s that?” Brian pointed to a folded rag.
The sheriff picked it up and sniffed it. “Chloroform. Someone used this to put someone out. We’re definitely looking at a crime scene.”
