Sneaking Suspicions (The Tharon Trace Mysteries Book 1) (11 page)

CHAPTER 12

Helm glanced at Tharon, unable to see in the darkness if she was suffering as much as he was.  He locked his fingers as tight around her hand as their gloves would let him.  Her firm grip and unflagging pace gave him comfort and courage.  If she could do this, so could he.

He worried what to do for shelter for the night.  The scrapes on his knees hurt and his feet were numb.  He knew Tharon must be cold too, but if she was, she didn’t let on.  “What time do you think it is?” he asked, though he was making his own mental calculations.

Kaid slowed to a walk.  “The clock in the service station said six forty-five,” Kaid said, “and we’ve been running for at least fifteen or twenty minutes so it must be after seven.”

Helm smiled to himself thinking that if he wanted a break from running, all he had to do was ask Kaid a question.

Darkness enveloped them so deeply that Helm only kept the trail by the feel of the gravel under his feet.  He looked at the skyline; ahead in the distance streetlights marked another street crossing; on the right, warm windows winked at the night from houses crowded close together; on the left pine trees towered over them and stretched all the way to the distant crossing.

He knew Tharon must have been thinking the same thing he was when she said, “We’ve gone far enough to stop.  Let’s take a break for a few minutes to try to figure things out.  We could rest and eat something and take a look at the map.”

Helm was grateful for her suggestion.  He didn’t know about Kaid, but he was cold and hungry, and not about to whine about his discomfort as long as Tharon didn’t complain.

They wandered deep enough into the woods to be hidden from view—at least they hoped they were hidden.  Tharon sat down with her ankles crossed in front of her and leaned her back against a tree.  Helm sat on her right and Kaid on her left.  They scrunched up close to each other for warmth and heaped their purchases on the dried needles in front of them.

Tharon picked up the flashlights and looked for an easy way to open it.  “Blast.  It’s one of those packages sealed so tight you need a blow torch to open it.”  She took the knife from her pocket. “Will one of you open it?  I’m likely to get us all cut if I try.”

Helm took the flashlights and the knife and slit open the package.  He tested the small flashlight and handed it to Tharon before loading the batteries into the large flashlight, “Wow that is bright.”

Tharon handed Kaid the peanut butter cups and opened a canister of potato chips.  “Oh my goodness these taste good.  I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”  She offered the chips to Helm and spread the map out in front of her.

Kaid wolfed down the peanut butter cups and Tharon wondered if he even tasted them.

Helm poured the last cup of cocoa for them to share.  “So where do you think we are?” He shined the large flashlight on the map as well.

Tharon traced her finger along the rivers until she found the bridge across the Saint Joseph River on Main Street.  Next she found the railroad tracks.  “I think we’re here.  I’m pretty sure the road up ahead is Lindenwood.”

Helm picked up a stick and dug at the needles in front of him.  “The thing is, no matter how fast we walk, we aren’t going to make it home tonight.  We need to start looking for a place to stay.  It looks like a snowstorm is coming in.  At least I hope it’s snow.  If it’s freezing rain, I don’t think we’ll make it through the night.”

The three were quiet.  Tharon said, “I haven’t been to Fort Wayne much.  Do either of you know of a safe place to find shelter?”

Helm studied the map closer and pointed to a spot, then traced his finger back to where they were.  “My parents took me to see the Korean War Veteran’s Memorial on O’Day Road last Memorial Day.  If we take the next railroad track that crosses this one it will take us close to it.”

Kaid yawned. “Is there a picnic shelter there to get out of the rain or snow?”

Helm tapped the map. “Better than that—there’s a building.  We can break into it if it’s locked.”  He looked at the map legend and estimated the distance, “It might take another hour or more to get there.”

Tharon fought the yawn reflex and lost.  She yawned wide and said, “That’s sounds like a good plan.”  She opened the jerky and shared it with her friends before she loaded their meager supplies into the backpack.

While she munched she thought again about what they overheard.  “No matter what happens, one of us has to make it home to tell about the plan to attack our friends and the invasion.  But I want you both to promise you won’t say anything about them wanting to take me.”

She dragged in a deep breath before she continued, “And I want you to promise if we are going to be taken, that you will leave me and save yourselves.”

The carpet of needles muffled sound, lending an eerie silence to the air.  Helm held the edge of the flashlight beam so it touched Tharon’s face. “Didn’t we just promise earlier today that no one would split us up again?”

She shrugged. “Yeah.  But that was before we found out someone wants to invade the state.  If we get taken, they will kill you.  It would be better if we are going to be captured that you let me be taken alone.  For some reason they want me alive.  If that happens, you have to promise to leave me and tell my dad.  He’ll find me.  I know he will.”

Helm’s firm and steady voice pierced the quiet night, “Then we’d better not get taken, because I won’t ever leave you.”

“Kaid, you understand, don’t you?  Tell him.  You both have to leave.  How could I live knowing you died just to keep a promise I forced on you?”

Kaid shook his head.  His voice caught in his throat, “How could we live if you were taken and we ran away?”

Helm stood up and held a hand out to Tharon.  “None of us is going to die and none of us are getting caught.”

She gripped his hand and he pulled her to her feet.  “But—”

Helm whispered in her ear, “I will never leave you.  End of discussion.”  He led the way back to the tracks.

In the quiet of the pines, Kaid heard the whisper.  He had also heard what Helm said before he stepped between Tharon and Marty’s knife.  He followed them as they walked hand in hand, their silhouettes highlighted by the flashlight.  It was obvious how much Helm liked Tharon.  Did she like him as well?  Had she chosen between them after all?

Blast Veronica and Tracy.  If it wasn’t for them the seed of moving beyond friendship might not have been planted in his head and his stomach wouldn’t be churning.

Then again, the combination of peanut butter cups, cold cocoa and beef jerky wasn’t helping either.

CHAPTER 13

Dana examined the building and grounds as Max drove past the property owned by the Payne brothers and turned around at the street’s dead end.  No movement.  No sign of life.  A single security light hung from a pole and bathed the building in more shadows than light.  A closed sign hung lopsided on the door at the end of the building.  Cars and trucks—some without tires, doors, hoods, engines—dotted the parking lot.  The chain link fence sagged in places and no care was taken to gate the entrance to the parking lot.

Toward the front side of the gray pole building, a hodgepodge of boards were nailed over blue plastic on what must have been double glass doors at one time.  A flap of plastic billowed at a large gap on the bottom right side of the opening.  “I think I can get through there then open the door at the other end for you.”

Max frowned. “You don’t know who’s in there.  I can’t let you go in there alone.”

Dana pulled a small but bright flashlight from her pocket.  “We can at least take a look.  Why else did we come?”

Tom suggested, “I’ll go in.”

“No,” both Dana and Max said in firm unison.

Max parked near the open gate.  When they got out he told Tom, “Dana and I will check the entrance.  You keep watch out here and tell us if you see anyone.”

Tom pulled a flashlight from his backpack and slipped the pack’s straps over his shoulders.  He positioned himself inside the gate where he had an unobstructed view of the entire side of the building.  With a turn of his head he could see traffic passing on Lake Avenue.

Dana pulled her gun and held it at her side as she followed Max to the opening.

Squatting down, he pulled the blue plastic aside and turned on his flashlight to look through the opening.  A gray tabby cat burst out and swatted at his face.  Max jerked away barely avoiding the claws.  He lost his balance and crab-walked backwards.  The cat arched its back, hissed and snarled with its tail pointing straight up.  It bounced twice on the pads of its feet before running to the other end of the building, leaving bloody footprints in its wake.

Max managed to stand and brushed the dirt from his hands.  “Blasted cat nearly gave me a heart attack.  Shall we try that again?”

Dana panned her light along the foot prints, “Looks like blood.  Be ready,” she said as she anchored her stance and aimed her gun at the opening.

Max nodded as he again lifted the flap and shined his flashlight into the opening.  “There’s a pool of blood just inside the door.”  He bent lower and scanned the entryway with his flashlight beam.  “There’s a body in there.  From the pictures I found online, it looks like Carl Payne.”

Dana cast the beam of her flashlight in front of the opening.  Even without Tom’s practiced eye at tracking, she thought she recognized the bloody shoeprint as Tharon’s.  “Tom, come over here.  There are some footprints here by the door I need you to look at.  Stay to the side, some of them are bloody.”

Panic blanched Tom’s face as he bolted toward the doorway.  Max regained his footing in time to help Dana stop him from barreling through the door.

Dana tugged on his arm. “Tom, stop.  Think.  We have to protect the evidence.”

His voice choked. “Evidence?  I have to protect my daughter.”

Dana shined her light on the footprints. “Look at this.  I don’t think she’s in there.  The prints are leading away.  Is that from Tharon’s shoe?”

Tom crouched and added his flashlight beam to the ground and studied it.  “Yes, that’s Tharon’s.  The boys were with her too.  They were running.”  He stood and followed the prints out to the street.  He paused a block away and called, “Are you coming?”

Dana frowned at Max. “Follow him or check out the blood?  Your call.”

Max watched Tom running down the street and made a split decision.  “You go with him.  I’ll call this in.”

Dana didn’t like leaving Max alone—for all they knew the killers were still in the building—but she was less inclined to let Tom run off armed and alone, maybe to find three dead children on the trail he followed.  “I’ll let you know what we find.”  She took a few steps towards the road and turned back to Max. “Don’t try to be a hero and go in there alone.  Wait for backup.”

Max nodded as he pulled out his phone, “You watch out for yourself.  The Sheriff will have my hide if you get hurt.”

Dana gave him a puzzled look and sprinted after Tom, who was already nearing the dead end.  She walled off all feelings and thoughts of Simon in those safe and hidden corners of her heart and mind.  The only thing that mattered was to bring the children home safely.  She caught up with Tom at the wire fence at the end of the road.

He scanned the ground and followed his flashlight beam west along the fence and paused to study their trail.  “The three of them were together.  Look here, cowboy boots was about fifteen minutes behind them.”

Sprinting to keep pace with him, she asked, “Can you tell how long ago they came this way?”

“It’s just a guess but I’d say one to two hours ago, maybe more,” relief flooded his features.  “They were all three alive and together.”

He tensed again when they came to a tube gate across the entrance to the water treatment plant.  Tom swept his flashlight beam along the sandy gravel and studied the foot prints.  “Cowboy boots—”

“We think he’s Burt Payne.  Max and I saw a body in the building back there.  We think that was his brother Carl.”

Tom nodded at the prints. “He followed them but came back out the same way.”  His jaw clenched. “Their tracks only go in.”  Tom vaulted over the gate and ran, easily following the trail through the dried weeds.

He paused by a tall maple tree then turned and followed their trail to a chain link fence which was topped with barbed wire.  He ran, scanning the ground, until he reached the gap under the fence.  He sighed, “They got out—all three of them.”  He shined his light on the trail outside the fence.  “I don’t see anything on the trail, but I’m certain they got through.”  He swept the beam in circles behind them to reassure himself.  “Yes, there are no other tracks.”

He pulled the backpack off and rifled through the outer pocket.

Dana raised an eyebrow, what was he doing?  There was no way his wide shoulders could fit through the gap.  “Look, I think I can fit under the fence if I take off my jacket.  You can run back and skirt the fence to meet me on the trail.”

Tom pulled a tool out of his pack and opened it.  “I’ll be able to fit through it, too,” he said as he unfolded it into a set of wire cutters and cut the links to widen the opening.  He bent it back to let Dana through and then squeezed through to join her on the other side.

He shook his head. “I still don’t see anything on the paved surface but they should know to head west.”

He ran with long strides.

As Dana struggled to keep up with him she was instantly grateful for her choice in footwear.  In spite of her personal rigorous fitness routine, she found herself winded as Tom’s pace never slacked.  They rounded a curve and Dana quickly dodged to the right to keep from running into Tom as he came to an abrupt stop.

A section of trail was roped off with crime scene tape.  The streetlight glow and portable spotlights lit up the half block of pavement.  Blood stains covered the trail and a uniformed officer stood guard while a crime scene investigations van was parked on the street next to the trail.  A technician dug a bullet out of a tree on the river side of the trail.

Tom’s face blanched and a hard expression clouded his features.

Dana pulled out her identification.  “What happened here, Officer...?”  He looked young.  She wondered if he even had to shave every day yet.

“Brandt.” He supplied as he examined her credentials and said, “Whitley County.  Aren’t you a tad out of your jurisdiction, Deputy?”  He stretched out the syllables of deputy with a note of disdain, as if she were nothing more than a cartoon character.  His smooth cheeks were sprinkled with freckles and the gap between his front teeth gave his voice a slight lisp.

She snatched back her badge.  “We’re tracking three children who were abducted this morning from our county.  The men who took them are armed and dangerous.”

Brandt waived at the scene behind him in dismissal. “No kids here.  An old lady and her dog got shot this evening.”

Tom skirted the outside edge of the tape and examined the tree lined bank that dropped off steeply into the Maumee River.  He dropped over the side clinging to a tree trunk and leaned out far enough to shine his flashlight where the children had hung.  “Deputy Donovan, I found some tracks.”

Dana, Officer Brandt and the technician rushed to the edge of the trail.

Tom pointed with his flashlight beam along the bank as he spoke. “Tharon was here, Helm there and Kaid over there,” he paused and looked closer at the gouges in the bank.  “It looks like Kaid slipped and Helm caught him.  See where he shifted and dug his feet in.  Tharon moved over too, and must have grabbed Helm to help keep the boys from falling in.  It looks like Helm dug in with his knees and toes.”

Officer Brandt sounded skeptical when he spoke. “You can tell all that just from looking at scratches in the dirt?”

Tom reached higher and swung up to the side of the trail.  He towered over the youthful looking policeman and examined the dirt at Brandt’s feet.  “I can, as well as I can tell you that you wear a size ten shoe.  You turn your left foot in as you walk and tend to walk on your heels.  My guess is you’re developing bunions or hammer toe.”

Brandt’s mouth dropped open.  “I’ll call this in and get more help for your search.”

Dana touched his hand and stopped him from pulling out his radio. “You can’t report anything about the children over the police channels.  We’ve identified Burt and Carl Payne as persons of interest in the case.  Burt was a volunteer policeman.  He’s probably monitoring the channels for information to lead him to the children.”

Brandt looked perplexed. “Then what am I supposed to do?”

Dana was still annoyed by his initial pompous attitude.  She said each word slowly, as if he were a touch dim witted. “Do—you—have—a—phone?”

She pulled out her own phone and rang Max. “Just checking in.  We followed their trail to the river greenway.  It looks like the kids might have witnessed another shooting, probably the one your friend Randy told you about.  Tom and I are going to go on and see if we can find where they went.  What’s happening there?”

Max’s voice sounded tight. “Randy’s here with me.  We found the brother, Carl Payne, dead with a knife wound to the back.  No knife on the scene, though.  Someone else was cut by the door but there are no other bodies.  We found the van hidden in the shop, half painted black.  Look sharp, Donovan.  I have a feeling Burt and the other man are out for blood.”

Dana said, “You do the same.  Let me know when you finish up there and I’ll tell you where to meet us.”

“It looks like our first victim worked for the Payne brothers.  I’ll check with the dealership and see what I can find out about him.  I’ll call when I’m done,” Max said before disconnecting.

She put her phone away.  Brandt had just finished his own call.  He turned to the crime scene technician and said, “They need you pronto over on Lake Avenue.”  He turned back to Dana.  “How can I help you, Deputy Donovan?”

Dana arched an eyebrow. “Do you have a phone number?”

He fished a card from his shirt pocket and handed it to her.

“I’ll call you if I think of something,” she said as she ran to catch up to Tom who was a full city block away searching for signs of the children.  Dana ran to catch up with him as she stuffed the card into her hip pocket.  She glanced back at Brandt who watched her with his head cocked to the side.  He gave her a sheepish grin and a small wave before turning back to the crime scene.

Dana ran west following Tom until they came to the bridge on South Anthony over the Maumee River.  She watched as Tom searched the trail and sidewalk until he found an arrow that seemed to be pointing back towards their right.

His mustache ruffled as his face broke into a wide grin.  “This way.  Tharon left a mark showing which way to go.”

Dana hesitated.  “But the arrow is pointing back there.”

Tom excitedly motioned her to follow. “It’s a code that Tharon worked out years ago.  The right side of the arrow is the direction she’s actually going.  We used to play a wilderness scavenger hunt game together.”  Running across the bridge, he waved for Dana to follow.

Dana ran full out to keep up with him.  She wondered how long he could maintain that pace—and worried even more how long
she
could maintain it.

On the other side of the bridge Tom found another mark on the sidewalk.  “They’re following the railroad tracks.”  He stepped off the curb and almost walked into oncoming traffic.

Dana grabbed his arm and the back of his jacket and jerked him to safety.

The passing motorist blasted his horn at Tom and flashed him the universal gesture of contempt.

Her heart raced and she gulped in air as she said, “You’re not going to do your daughter any good if you get yourself killed in the process.  We’ll find her but we need to stay safe, too.”