Page 12 of A Future To Remember

“Wheaton,” I said in a soft pitch that should’ve scared him. “Where’s the evidence from the car?”

He scowled and turned his back on me. “Sid’s collecting it.”

I blinked at his back, thinking I must’ve misunderstood. “What do you mean, ‘Sid’s collecting it’?”

“I mean, he’s lettin’ the car dry out and then he’ll detail it for us and turn over anything he finds.”

My head automatically swiveled to Oscar and I mouthed, “Is he serious?”

Sensing the danger—to Wheaton’s life—Oscar took a half step forward. “Sheriff, you need to call Sid and tell him not to open up the car if he hasn’t already. If he has, you need to tell him to stop immediately and inform him that we’re on our way.”

For emphasis, Oscar tapped the badge at his belt.

Wheaton looked like he was about to pull his “This is my jurisdiction!” bullshit again when Oscar held up his hand and added, “Now that the evidence points to a possible abduction, we’ll be taking over the case.”

I let out the first breath of relief I’d had since this whole thing began. The Bureau wasn’t liked or trusted around here. It had as much to do with the locals seeing the feds as part of the Deep State swamp as it had to do with the arrest, back in ’96 of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.

He’d been arrested just a few miles south of Lincoln, and, although nobody wanted a domestic terrorist in their community, his legacy found more than a few of the locals sympathetic to Kaczynski’s cause.

“What evidence are you talkin’ about, Hernandez?” Wheaton spat. “All we found was the SUV.”

“Were the windows up?” I asked.

The sheriff turned his scowl to me. “Yeah, but the rear window had a hole in it.”

“How big was the hole?” Oscar asked.

Wheaton held up his fist. “About that big around.”

“And she wasn’t in the car,” I pressed.

“Nope. Opened up the vehicle myself. Nobody there.”

Oscar nodded. “So, she was abducted, and the SUV was dumped.”

“Or she was murdered back at the cabin, her body was buried somewhere out in the wild, and the SUV was dumped once we stopped lookin’ for it.”

I shook my head and snarled at the sheriff before taking out my phone and connecting to the station’s Wi-Fi. I got the location for Sid’s shop, showed it to Oscar, then turned to head toward the door. Behind me, I heard Oscar say, “Sheriff, I’m not gonna tell you again. Call Sid and tell him not to touch the car.”

The second I hit the outdoor air, I sucked in a deep breath, feeling like the weight of a stone had been lifted off my chest. We had something to go on. Finally. Some fucking evidence.

If the SUV was found without Abby’s body in it, then there was hope. And it was a lot more solid hope than I’d had fifteen minutes ago. Tilting up my face, I whispered, “I’m comin’ for you, Edgar. Hold on for me. Just hold on.”

CHAPTER 5

her

I felt someone squeeze my shoulder and jolted awake with a gasp.

“Whoa, sorry, Maddy. You okay?”

I blinked and rubbed my eyes. For a second, I didn’t remember where I was. And then I took in the dim lighting, the hospital sheets, the closed curtains on the window, and Cash’s concerned expression as he hovered over me.

“What’s happening?” I asked. I was so groggy and fuzzy-brained. The painkillers they had me on were dulling my mind.

“You were talking in your sleep.”

I turned onto my back, but I moved too fast for the three ribs that were almost healed but not quite yet. “Ow, shit!”