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Jenna glanced over her shoulder as she backed out of her driveway. With all her concentration on the rear of her vehicle, she didn’t see what slammed into her front windshield until it bounced on the seat beside her, coming to rest on the backpack she’d jammed full of the items she’d returned home to collect.
Adrenaline spiking, Jenna slammed on the brakes, shifted into park and looked around for the person who’d thrown the burnt-orange brick at her vehicle.
Nothing moved, and the shadows were darker than she remembered and sinister.
Based on where the brick had hit her windshield, it had to have come from close to the south corner of her cottage, shrouded in the low-hanging branches of the giant blue spruce she needed to have trimmed or cut down.
She reached beneath her jacket, her hand closing around the pistol grip. Raising the weapon, her thumb hovered over the safety as she studied the shadows beneath the trees. The passenger side of the windshield was shattered with a huge hole through it where the brick had crashed through it.
Had the brick hit the driver’s side, it would have landed on Jenna’s head.
Heart pounding, Jenna made a conscious decision to remain in her car. Leaving the relative safety of the Jeep exposed her to further flying bricks. She might not be so lucky the next time.
Jenna dug through her back pocket for the detective’s business card. It was close to six o’clock. Surely, he’d be awake, getting ready for work. Up or not, he needed to know what had just happened. If the flying brick was in any way related to the attack on her sister—and Jenna suspected it was—the detective needed to know.
Detective Schwope answered on the second ring. “Detective Schwope.”
“Sir, this is Special Agent Jenkins. I hate to bother you so early, but I needed to report an incident that might relate to the missing baby case.” She told him about returning to her house for her laptop and having a brick fly through her window. “I’d get out and look through the bushes myself, but I don’t have backup. As it is, I want to get back to my sister before her doctor does his rounds.”
“I’ll send a couple of officers to look around,” Schwope said.
“Thanks.”
“By the way, I’m glad you called. I just got word from dispatch that uniforms found the truck.”
“Where was it?” Jenna demanded.
“Parked behind a distribution warehouse on the west end of Bozeman,” the detective said. “The back door was open, and the laundry cart was flung onto the ground. Everything in the back was dumped, flung and turned over as if someone was looking for something or very angry. Maybe both.”
“Why would the abductor turn the contents of the truck upside down?” Jenna asked.
“Maybe he lost the baby in all the sheets? We don’t know. They dusted for prints. No hits yet, but we’ll keep you posted.”
“Thank you. I’m headed back to the hospital if you need me. The brick will be in my vehicle if you want to send someone to collect it and place it in evidence.”
“Will do,” the detective said.
Jenna ended the call and drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly while willing her pulse to slow.
“What the ever-lovin’ hell?” she said aloud.
First, her sister had been attacked and her baby taken. Now, Jenna had been targeted as well. Was this more than a play for the baby? Was Larry getting back at Brittany for leaving him by threatening the people she loved?
Or was the wealthy Mr. Waters orchestrating this chaos to make it look like someone else was guilty of taking the baby and terrorizing Brittany and Jenna?
What if they were missing the guilty party altogether?
With her passenger side windshield shattered with a gaping hole through it, a sinister brick as her front passenger seat, Jenna drove across town to the hospital and parked. The gray light of dawn crept into the darkness, giving shape and definition to the fuzzy shadows.
Soon, Jenna would be able to do her own interviewing and information gathering. Hopefully, the Brotherhood Protectors computer techs would find something as well.
After a long night of inaction, Jenna was ready to attack this case and bring her baby niece home.
She prayed they weren’t too late.
CHAPTER 6
The moment Jenna had left the hospital, Cliff had taken her place, pacing the length of the room. He’d been with Jenna since he’d run into her in the stairwell. With her gone, he couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom.
