“Will do.” Reese disconnected the call. “You think she’s here?”
“It’s damn sure not a coincidence,” Brantley grumbled, turning as he scanned the area around them.
“What’s her end goal?” Reese wondered aloud.
“She’s a crazy bitch. Who fuckin’ knows what she’s thinkin’?”
Reese calmed himself, took a deep breath. “How do you wanna handle it?”
Brantley continued to look around, shielding his eyes from the sun. “There’re too many people here. We have no idea what she looks like.”
“I can get the photo,” Reese told him.
“Even if we have that, we have no idea what she looks likenow. She’s a lot of things, but she’s not an idiot. If she’s brave enough to interact with these people, she’ll be wearin’ a disguise.”
Reese figured that, too, but he was hoping Brantley would talk through this, come up with a plan that would allow them to take the bitch down before something bad happened.
As it was, he knew everyone was getting lax the longer they were out here. Earlier he’d seen Kylie wandering around with her sister. Neither Gage nor Travis had been with her, nor had Jessie’s husband, Braydon.
“I’ll let the team know,” Reese said, pulling up a group text. At the very least, they’d have four additional sets of eyes keeping a look out.
His message read:Advised Juliet Prince seen exiting toll road nearly four hours ago. BOLO.
“We need to find Sheriff Endsley,” Brantley finally decided. “We need to let him know what’s goin’ on.”
“What about Travis and Gage?”
“They’re my first stop. You find the sheriff,” Brantley said as he started across the park at a quick jog.
“You heard him, Tesha. Let’s go, girl.”
Reese didn’t waste time, making a beeline to one of the deputy’s cars he’d seen parked nearby. Unfortunately, there was no one in or by it, so he had to continue his hunt until he found the sheriff chatting with Curtis on a bench on the corner of Main Street and Park Avenue, just outside the festival’s entrance.
He didn’t bother apologizing for the interruption, despite the fact it left him feeling awkward.
“Sheriff, there’s a potential situation we think you should be aware of,” he said, talking fast. “We don’t have visual confirmation as of now, but we do have reason to believe Juliet Prince, the woman who kidnapped”—he nodded toward Curtis—“his granddaughter, may be in the vicinity.”
Both men were on their feet immediately. The joviality he’d witnessed when he approached disappeared, replaced by what looked to be equal amounts concern and rage.
He went on to explain the conversation he’d had with Z as they walked across the park, heading toward the spot Curtis said he’d last seen Travis and Gage with the kids.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have any idea what she looks like, and with so many people, it’d be virtually impossible to spot her if she doesn’t want us to.”
Sheriff Endsley was on his radio, informing his deputies of the potential threat and putting them on high alert.
Reese’s heart was pounding, his blood humming beneath his skin. He hadn’t felt this sort of adrenaline rush in quite some time and he welcomed it.
As they walked, Reese continued to scan their surroundings. He tried to put himself in Juliet’s shoes, tried to think how she might. He knew she was cunning and evil. She’d had no qualms snatching a six-year-old from a group field trip. And she’d been the brains behind the explosion at JJ’s house, luring Travis there shortly before the thing had gone off.
In short, Reese wouldn’t put anything past her.
Gage sat on a bench, watching the kids chase one another around the swings, over to the monkey bars, back to the walking beams, then around their little obstacle course again. They’d been at it for an hour, the longest the kids had been focused on one single thing since they got there.
While he hadn’t expected this to be an easy feat—taking the kids to the park on a normal day wasn’t that—Gage hadn’t considered just how much work it would be. Not only had they spent two hours tending to five kids who wanted to do everything there was to do, they were now letting them get out some of the pent-up energy as they took a break from the festivities. Now they were watching their own kids, plus they were keeping an eye on others as Travis’s brothers and sisters-in-law stopped by. Their kids would start playing, refusing to leave, and at that point, it was easier to agree to keep an eye on them.
The good thing was, they’d gotten help from Kaden and Keegan, as well as Ethan and Beau, who were attempting to corral their eighteen-month-old triplets with Lorrie’s and Arlene’s help. Since the ladies were still smiling, Gage figured they had at least another hour in them.
Besides keeping an eye on them while they played, they’d also been dealing with the basic biological functions: hungry, thirsty, needed to go potty, and the occasional “I’m bored.” It was a never-ending cycle, and he was starting to wonder how in the world Kylie made it look so easy.
