He paused, then looked at both of them. “You talked to Gary, didn’t you?”
Colt nodded once. So did Brenna.
Wallace huffed again, annoyed or maybe resigned. “I’m guessing he told you about the call I made to him. That was amistake. Don’t read anything into it. I was pissed off and letting off steam.”
“About Naomi?” Colt asked.
“Yeah. She was running those damn articles about Timberline again. Dragging my niece, Jennifer, right back into the mess. Just when her parents were starting to find a little peace. Just when we were all healing. It made me mad.”
Colt watched him. “But you told Gary you knew something about Timberline. What was it?”
Wallace waved it off, brushing the air like he could erase the moment. “It was just about Naomi, about her digging it all up again. I figured if I could talk to a few people, maybe I’d find out why she was so hellbent on dredging it all up.”
He exhaled again and sat back in the chair. “I just wanted her to stop.”
Colt’s phone buzzed against his hip. He glanced down, saw Noah’s name, and looked at Brenna.
“It’s Noah,” he said, then turned to Wallace. “We’ll check in again soon.”
Wallace nodded, already looking tense again.
Colt and Brenna stepped into the hall, the door clicking shut behind them. Colt answered as they moved out of earshot.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“We’ve got a situation,” Noah said fast. “Jared’s gone. Abducted. Naomi just got a note saying we’ve got one hour to find him, or his captor says he’ll be executed.”
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Chapter Fourteen
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Brenna mentally repeated the news that Colt had just delivered. Jared, abducted. One hour to find him.
It sounded like a hoax, a twisted game. But with everything that had already happened, she couldn’t dismiss it. Not when so many had already died and others had come close to being killed. She hoped they didn’t have to add another body count to the tally.
With Colt behind the wheel of the SUV, they pulled into the lot of the sheriff’s office and hurried inside. One step inside, and Brenna could feel that the tension hung thick in the air.
Naomi was already there, pacing near the front desk, her arms crossed tight, face pale. She wasn’t wearing makeup and her hair was pulled back in a messy knot. The usual polish was gone.
“She came in trying to reschedule her interview,” one of the deputies told them quietly as they passed. “TV thing this afternoon. Sheriff wasn’t amused.”
The sheriff met them in the hall just outside the war room. “Thanks for coming. I’ve asked Crossfire for help. We’ve got forty-five minutes left on that deadline.”
Brenna nodded. “Do we know if it’s real?”
“We don’t know anything yet,” Sheriff Chase admitted. “But we’re treating it as real.”
Naomi looked up as they passed. Her eyes were red. “He’s like a son to me,” she said. “Please help him.”
Brenna didn’t reply. Not yet. Her mind was already racing ahead, trying to figure out who would take Jared… and why.
The sheriff led them all into her office and closed the door. A map of the city was spread out across the desk, push pins and notes already crowding the surface.
“Jared was taken sometime overnight,” she began. “We don’t know when exactly. No witnesses. No signs of forced entry at his apartment.”
Brenna frowned. “So he might’ve known the person?”
