Gavin nodded and their gazes locked. He’d have to be blind to miss the burgeoning look of hope and pride in his father’s eyes. Another good reason for Gavin to go to town. He could start repairing the rift with his dad, too.

  Emotions raced through Gavin and he cleared his throat to ward them off. “Unless, of course, you have something else you need to do.”

  “Of course not. I’ll do whatever I can for that little girl. You know that, right?”

  Gavin nodded.

  “It’s none of my business, but you ever think maybe it was a mistake to let her go?”

  “I didn’t let her go. I wanted to try for a long-distance relationship until Adam went off to college, but she didn’t want to have anything to do with me.” Gavin couldn’t believe he was sharing the details of his breakup with his father, of all people.

  “I can see that.” He quickly held up a hand. “Not that I’m judging you for your decision, but after the way her daddy hurt her, your leaving had to do a number on her.”

  “Yeah,” he said, but didn’t know what else to say.

  Fortunately, Lexie poked her head into the room.

  His dad smiled at her. “Sounds like you and I are going to hold down the fort for a little while.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “Hey, no problem.” His dad was doing his best to sound cheerful, but a hard edge rode under the tone, giving Gavin reassurance that his father was taking this duty seriously.

  “I just need a piece of paper to write out a letter authorizing Gavin to pick up the will,” Lexie said.

  “Still keep paper in the top drawer?” Gavin asked as memories of coming in to get paper to draw as a kid assaulted him.

  “Yep.”

  Gavin pulled open the drawer and it hit him then how very much he wanted God’s help to reconcile with his dad and regain his relationship with his family. It would have to wait until they brought Adam safely home and the killer was behind bars, which he prayed they would do, but wanting the change was half the battle, right?

  * * *

  Lexie couldn’t sit there staring at the phones. Walt was in the office taking care of whatever business Larry had called about. The sheriff loved coffee, so she went to the kitchen to brew a pot in thanks for his support. She set the phones on the table and got the coffee brewing. While she waited, she decided to load the dishwasher with baking dishes that Betty had left behind in her rush to leave.

  Lexie soon completed her task when her phone chimed. She turned to discover her phone lit up and rushed to the table. She found a new text with a video but no message from a number she didn’t recognize. She opened the file. It started loading, a circle spinning on the screen as fast as the thoughts in her head. The video cleared, and at the sight of the image filling the screen, she gasped. Weakness invaded her body and she dropped the phone.

  “No, oh, no.” She scrambled to pick it up. “Please let it work.”

  She tapped it and the screen came to life. “Thank you!”

  She watched the short video of her brother gagged and handcuffed to a bar on a worn, slatted wall.

  Her brother. A captive. Prisoner. She thought she might be sick and dropped to the chair. Panted to catch her breath. To think.

  There was no message, sound or request—why? Maybe to torment her more. Was that even possible?

  She sat staring. Playing the video over and over, trying to make out the location. Willing the phone to chime again. When it did, she jumped.

  Don’t tell anyone about this text. Come alone to meet me, and I’ll let Adam go. If you’re not here in thirty minutes, he dies.

  A chill pierced her heart. He was going to kill Adam. Kill him if she didn’t join him. Her brother. Her poor little brother. Bound. Gagged. Needing her. Needing her now!

  She’d bolt out the door right now if she thought Walt would let her go, but if he heard her, he’d come after her. Just the opposite of the kidnapper’s demand, likely ensuring that he would kill Adam.

  She thumbed in a response to buy time to think.

  Can’t get away. The sheriff’s being extra vigilant.

  Are you sure? I made sure the sheriff and his men are far too busy to notice you.

  What in the world did this guy mean? Did he know something she didn’t?

  She had to check on Walt. She silently crept down the hall.

  He paced his office, his phone to his ear. “What do you mean Vickson’s old house exploded? Why would someone blow up an abandoned house? Are we looking at a bomb here?”

  A bomb. A perfect distraction—and it fit with the profile of the guy who blew up the plane. A guy who now had her brother. Her heart constricted and she glanced at Walt one more time.

  He was indeed distracted, and she had to believe the kidnapper had set the explosion for that very reason.

  She was free to go to Adam. To save him. She grabbed her jacket from the foyer peg and rushed back to the kitchen to text the kidnapper, asking where she was to meet him.

  He provided a rural address not too far away.

  On my way, she replied, her fingers trembling so hard she had to use autocorrect to send the simple message.

  Calm down, she warned herself. Adam needs you calm. Not a basket case.

  She pulled in a deep breath. Let it out. Took another and then grabbed the keys for the ranch truck from the holder by the back door. She quietly slipped out of the house and ran for the truck. Near the stable, she paused to lift her face.

  God, please. Please let me be doing the right thing and make sure the kidnapper releases Adam as he promised.

  She climbed into the truck, and thankfully, it fired on the first try, so maybe Walt hadn’t heard it start.

  When she made it to the narrow, rutted road leading to her destination and no sirens sounded behind her, she heaved a sigh of relief that she’d gotten away without being detected. She drove for several miles then pulled off the road onto a weed-infested lot. She got out and childhood memories came racing back.

  The property owned by an oil company held abandoned drilling equipment. Most notably, an old, wooden oil storage tank that Lexie estimated at twenty feet high. One of her classmates had gotten stuck in it when she was in second grade. The oil company had put a lid on the open tank the next day and removed the ladder. They claimed it was cheaper than cleaning up the oil residue. They’d also fenced the property with barbed wire, but as Lexie approached, she discovered the wire had been cut.

  She spotted a Honda Accord parked farther in. It had to be the car Gavin had seen at the overlook. She made her way down a path of knee-high grass flattened from foot traffic. The sound of a generator or pump drew her attention to a small storage shed. The door opened and a man stepped out.

  “Where’s Adam?” she screamed at him.

  He faced her, a gun in his hand. She instantly recognized him from when she’d passed the fire pit at the cabin. He was staying at the dude ranch. He’d been there right under their noses all along. Right next door.

  Anger started flowing through her body. “Where’s my brother?”

  “All in due time.”

  She gasped. It was him. The man from the airfield. The killer. Standing right in front of her. A murderer, and he had Adam.

  “My brother?” she demanded, though fear invaded her every cell.

  “Like I said, you’ll see him soon.”

  She had to believe him, as thinking that he could have killed Adam wasn’t something she could bear. “Who are you?”

  “Name’s Dean Wilcox.”

  Fear fought to take control, but she swallowed hard. “Is your name supposed to mean something to me?”

  “Not likely, but it should. I’m your brother.”

  “Brother? You’re nuts. I only have one brother.”

  “That you know about.” He scoffed. “Dear old Dad got my mom pregnant before he married your mother. Left my mother in a lurch. Alone and penniless.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Figured you’d be just like Dad.” He pulled a folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket. “Had to show him the DNA results, too. Not that it mattered. He still didn’t care and wouldn’t acknowledge me.”

  Dean handed over the paper and she took a long look at it. He could have faked the document, but he was angry enough for her to believe him. She looked at him then. Really looked at him. Saw her father’s aquiline nose. His stance with the uneven shoulders and bowlegs. How had she missed that at the airport? Shock. Fear. So many reasons.

  “You look like him,” she said.

  “Not that I want to resemble that jerk, but yeah, I do.”

  “How could you kill him? He was our father.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “How do you know I killed him?”

  “I was there. In the building shadows. I saw you shoot him, take the envelope that he tried to give me and then ride right past me.”

  A shock of surprise lit his face. Then his lip curled like an angry dog. “So he was planning to betray me that night. I should have known.”

  “You said he didn’t want to have anything to do with you, but obviously you were connected somehow.”

  “Yeah, because of his stupidity,” Dean snarled.

  “Explain, please.” She tried to sound calm but her heart was racing as fast as Gavin’s stallion could move.

  “He abandoned Mom, and me, and we had very little to live on, but we got by. Then when I was in high school, she developed a chronic illness. I had to find a way to provide for us. To pay her medical bills. But how? I was just a kid. So I got involved in dealing drugs.” He snorted. “Turns out I was good at it. Worked my way up in the organization. Until I called the shots.”

  Was he part of the drug syndicate? If so, he was a very dangerous man and she had to be careful not to make him mad. “I’m sorry you had to resort to that, but what does this have to do with killing Dad?”

  “My mom said if he’d stuck around, our life would have been easier. I begged her to tell me who he was so I could contact him, but she refused to tell me until she was on her deathbed.”

  “But why?” Lexie asked as she looked around for any hint of Adam. “He could have helped you.”

  “Ha! He wouldn’t have lifted a finger and she knew that. She said he wouldn’t have anything to do with me, and she didn’t want me to face rejection on top of being abandoned.” His voice caught and he fisted his hands.

  At his intensity, Lexie’s fears rose.

  “She brought him up all the time to tell me how horrible he was so I wouldn’t pine for him,” Dean continued. “And she was right. He said acknowledging me would ruin him. He couldn’t tarnish his precious reputation. I hated him.”

  “Then why did you contact him?”

  “Why?” He sneered. “Because when she died I was left all alone. With no one to rely on but myself. I had to give him a piece of my mind. But you wouldn’t understand. He babied you and your brother.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about! After my mom died, we lived with our aunt and he didn’t spend much time with us.”

  “But he acknowledged you!” He spit on the dirt and ground it in. “That’s what he thought of me. Told me to my face.” He glared at her as if he was staring right through her.

  She didn’t want to believe her dad could have been so cruel but losing her mother had changed him. A bitter man, he’d lived for his reputation. And also money, as she’d learned in the last few days. This guy had threatened that, so she could see her father rejecting his son.

  A car drove by on the road and Dean snapped out of his trance. “Enough talking. Time to act.”

  “But you didn’t tell me about the syndicate.”

  “Why would I?”

  “So I can understand my father.”

  A slow, snide smile slid across his lips. “No point. Not when you won’t be long for this world.”

  SEVENTEEN

  Gavin wanted to tear open the envelope and read the will, but he set out for the ranch so he wouldn’t be gone from Lexie any longer than necessary. Especially with the explosion that had recently occurred on the outskirts of town. His dad would be chomping at the bit to get to the scene, and Gavin didn’t blame him.

  Eager to see Lexie, he climbed the stairs and pushed open the door. His dad came charging out of the office, his hand on his service weapon. “Good. It’s you.”

  Gavin was thankful his dad was taking Lexie’s safety seriously by checking out who was entering the house. Gavin glanced in the family room. Found it empty. “Where’s Lexie?”

  “She was making coffee and doing the dishes when I last checked on her.” He glanced at his watch. “That was about fifteen minutes ago. Been tied up on the phone. I’m sure you’ve heard about the explosion.”

  Gavin nodded but his gut felt unsettled. His dad had come running when he’d heard the front door open, but what if someone had come to the door in the kitchen? Would he have heard that from his office?

  “I’ll just go check on her.” Gavin’s apprehension got the best of him, so he charged for the kitchen. Found it empty. Spun and returned to the hallway. “She’s not in the kitchen.”

  “Then where...?” His dad’s face paled.

  “Lexie!” Gavin climbed the stairs two at a time, though he had no reason to suspect she’d be upstairs. “Where are you?”

  He glanced into the bathroom then flung open all the bedroom doors. She was nowhere to be found. He bounded back down the stairs. “Not upstairs.”

  “She could’ve gone out to the stables,” his dad said.

  Gavin took off running, calling for her on the way. He heard his father charging after him. Gavin did a quick inventory of horses in the corral. All present and accounted for, and she wasn’t anywhere nearby. He fumbled with the latch on the fence and charged into the stable, but quickly determined it was empty.

  “Dear God,” Gavin prayed in desperation, “where can she be?”

  He couldn’t stand around to wait for an answer. He raced outside.

  “Son?” his father said as he joined him.

  Gavin shook his head and couldn’t speak aloud the words that Lexie was missing and the killer could have taken her, too.

  “Man, oh, man.” Looking panic-stricken, his dad started to pace. “How could I have been so stupid? I should have been more vigilant. I really let you down.”

  Gavin opened his mouth to snap at his father as he once would have done, but what good would it do to rail at him? To blame him, when he’d done nothing wrong. Gavin would have let Lexie do the dishes and gone about his own business, too, as the ranch was a secure location. They were all people. Fallible people. This could have happened to any one of them.

  He met his dad’s distraught gaze. “I’m upset that she’s missing, but I understand how it could happen.”

  Tears filled his dad’s eyes. If Lexie wasn’t missing, Gavin might say something more, but she was gone. “Pull yourself together, Dad. We have to find her and Adam.”

  Nodding, his dad squared his shoulders and then clapped him on the back. “We’ll find them together, son. You have my word.”

  “Together,” Gavin said, but had no clue where to start.

  * * *

  Gun at her back, Lexie moved deeper onto the property. She needed more information from Dean. Like why he wanted to kill her. Hopefully asking more questions would also distract him long enough to figure out how to get away and free Adam.

  “While we walk,” she said, “you can at least tell me how my father got involved in the syndicate.”

  “Our father,” he snapped.

  She stopped to look back at him. He shoved her and her feet tangled in the long grass. She lost her balance and hit the ground hard. Dean stood over her, sneering, but she wouldn’t say a word. She simply got up and straightened her clothes.

  “Our father,” she said. “How did he get involved with the syndicate?”

  “Started with him treating me like dirt. Less than dirt. Pond scum. So he had to pay.” He gestured with his gun for her to keep moving.

  She’d rather watch his face to see his emotional state, but she stared off slowly. “You wanted him dead.”

  “Not back then, but I did want to see him ruined. To shred the reputation he thought more of than me.”

  “So you planned to release the DNA results?”

  “Are you kidding? That wasn’t enough. I wanted him to beg me to help him first. So I had a colleague sucker him into our Medicaid fraud scheme. He had no idea I was behind it all, and he took the bait. Figured he would, what with his love of money.”

  “And then you blackmailed him, so he had to peddle your drugs.”

  Dean laughed. “I wasn’t quite ready to reveal myself, but yes, that’s exactly what my associate did. Once dear old Dad was in too deep to get out, I made sure he knew I was behind it all. That I now had control over ‘his royal highness.’”

  He stopped talking and she glanced over her shoulder to see him frowning.

  He caught her gaze then pushed her forward as if taking out his anger at their dad on her. How odd it was to think “their dad” and mean someone other than her and Adam. Totally surreal.

  “But then Dad took off,” she said to keep Dean talking while she looked around for a way to get the drop on him. She caught sight of the old oil tank in the distance, the top removed and a tall ladder on the side. That had to be where he was keeping Adam. She frantically searched for a weapon to use to take Dean out.

  “I had to admit I didn’t see that happening,” he continued on his own, and she listened while surveying the area. “I could never have predicted that he would get a tumor and not have long to live. That he’d want to go somewhere and lick his wounds to die.”