Page 52 of The Missing Couple

Goose bumps crawled over Charly’s skin. “They were here.” Her words were nothing more than a whisper…a thought spoken.

Billie nodded. “We should call the sheriff now.”

“I think that’s a damned good idea,” a voice growled.

Charly whirled to find Kerrick Rogers glaring at them from the open door.

Charly had never been afraid of anyone—Alex had said it was her one weakness. But right now, with Kerrick holding a rifle aimed in their direction, she was very definitely scared.

“We’ve been looking for you,” Billie said calmly as if he’d been expecting the man.

Kerrick glowered at him. “Call him,” he said to Charly, averting his eyes from the beam of her phone’s flashlight. “Call Malone.”

“We can talk about this outside,” Charly offered as she lowered the beam to his chest, or more specifically, to the rifle. “Or at your house.”

Kerrick’s head moved firmly side to side. “We’re all staying put until Malone gets here.”

“Make the call,” Billie said to her. “We’re not the ones who have something to hide.”

“What the hell does that mean?” The barrel of the weapon shifted fully on Billie.

Charly ignored Kerrick’s response and did what Billie said. She tapped the number. Sheriff Malone was in her contacts. Had been for years.

“It means exactly what it sounds like,” Billie said without answering the question.

The sheriff answered and Charly turned away from the other conversation to give him a quick overview of the situation, including the fact that Kerrick was armed. Behind her she could hear the low rumble of Billie’s voice as well as the more threatening tone of Kerrick’s.

She ended the call as quickly as she could and shifted back to the situation growing increasingly tense.

“I don’t know what the hell you two are doing here,” Kerrick warned, “but moves like this could get you killed. I could have shot you.”

Charly cleared her throat. “Sheriff Malone is on his way. Let’s just cool down and let him handle this.”

“Fine by me.” Kerrick leaned against the door frame but kept his rifle aimed on Billie.

Charly drew in a sharp breath and moved closer to him. She was not allowing anything to happen to him. No way.

Marshall County Sheriff’s Department

Blount Avenue, 6:00 p.m.

“IT WAS MY IDEA,” Charly insisted for about the twentieth time.

Tully Malone leaned back in the chair behind his desk, his hands resting against his flat stomach, fingers interlocked. “I’m sure you’re well aware of the laws regarding trespassing and breaking and entering, Charly. Your daddy was a sheriff for how many years?”

“I swear,” she argued. No way in hell was he putting this on Billie. She had to make him understand this one was on her. “How do you think he even knew about that cabin? I took him there and suggested we have a look.”

Damn it. Sheriff Malone had separated them as soon as he and two of his deputies arrived. Sent Billie in the cruiser with the deputies while she was escorted to his vehicle. Once they arrived here they had been put in different rooms. Billie in an interview room and her in the sheriff’s office. Kerrick had been allowed to follow in his own vehicle and was God knows where.

“He says he found it via a special search app his agency has available.” The sheriff leaned forward, his forearms coming to rest on his desk. “That’s the thing about PIs, Charly. They don’t play by the rules. Now he’s dragged you into this and I know this isn’t your doing.”

She held up her hands. “How many times do we have to go over this? It was me.”

“You’ve never had any trouble with the law before,” he argued. “Why would you suddenly start now?”

She blew out an exaggerated breath. “Whatever you choose to believe, but I’m telling you I showed him where that cabin was. It took me over two hours to find it. But that’s irrelevant. What matters is that there are shackles and a cot in that cabin. More important, there was a necklace belonging to Briana Willard. That, Sheriff Malone, is what you should be looking into. What you’re doing—” she glared at him more fiercely as she said the next part “—is wasting time.”

He heaved a big breath—almost as overblown as the one she’d expelled. “You, of all people, should know these things take time. And it doesn’t help when folks start causing a stir that I have to stop my important investigative work to look into.”