So Dad had indeed known he was dying and hadn’t told her. “You knew about the cancer?”

  “He tried to use it to bargain with me to leave him alone. Didn’t believe him until he produced proof. But then he tried to burn me with the syndicate.”

  “How?” she asked.

  “He made me feel like such a loser that I got stupid. Thought if he realized how resourceful and successful I was that I could change his opinion of me. So I bragged about outsmarting the syndicate and skimming money from them. He recorded our conversations and was going to meet with them the day he came back to turn the file over to them.”

  “Why didn’t he do it before he took off? Why wait?”

  “He thought if he held on to the tapes that he could control me by threatening to turn me in to the police.” Dean’s voice vibrated with anger. “He knew I already had two strikes against me and another arrest would put me in prison for a long time. I wasn’t going back there.”

  “It worked, though, didn’t it?” She was surprised that she sounded proud of her father’s skills when she was beginning to see what a truly unethical man he’d been.

  “Until I put all of the syndicate’s resources to work and found him.” An evil grin slid over his mouth.

  “So this envelope contained tapes?” she said, hoping to get all of her questions answered.

  “Among other things. Like a mushy letter to you and Adam explaining what he wanted you to do with the tapes.”

  “Which was what exactly?”

  “He admitted that he never was going to turn me in to the police. That would tarnish his reputation. He only wanted to see me pay and figured the syndicate would take care of that.” A muscle ticked in Dean’s jaw. “So he hired an investigator to follow our delivery mules and figure out my superior’s identity.”

  Just like Lexie suspected. “And did he?”

  “Yeah, but he was worried that after he handed over the files, the syndicate would turn on him since he knew their identity, too. And he also thought they might still go after you and Adam.”

  “But they didn’t.”

  “Only because when he learned he was going to die, he wanted to live out his last months on his own terms, not looking over his shoulder and ending up some syndicate hit. So he held on to the information until nearer his death. Came back to town to give you a copy for leverage against the syndicate.”

  “I would have turned it over to the police,” she said.

  “He was banking on your love for Adam to stop you from giving up your insurance and putting his life in jeopardy.”

  She hadn’t thought of that. That was probably what she would have done. Either way, she was thankful she hadn’t had to make that decision. Still, it had put her in this situation. Endangered their lives. But why had Dean targeted her?

  She stopped walking and faced him. “None of this explains why you abducted me and Adam.”

  “Why? You want to know why?” His voice rose, stirring birds into flight. “Because even in death he found a way to cheat me out of my rights as his son.”

  “How?”

  “His stinkin’ will, that’s how. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it yet.”

  “I don’t want his money or things, so I haven’t asked to see his will, but how do you know what’s in it?”

  “He included a copy in the envelope with another stupid explanation for you. Of course he left everything to you and Adam, but he wasn’t taking any chances that the syndicate might not get rid of me.” Resentment darkened Dean’s tone. “He was afraid if I was alive, I could use DNA to prove my parentage and contest the will. So he named your aunt as the estate executor with instructions on how to handle the money. If at any point you could prove I died, the money would be disbursed to you.”

  She didn’t know how to respond, so she said nothing.

  He glared at her. “Everything was your fault. If he didn’t dote on you so much, he would have spent time with me. He might be dead, but I’m still going to get my revenge.”

  “How exactly?” she asked.

  “You’re so stupid you have to ask? How could he have loved you? I’m the superior one. I’m the one he should have loved.” He bared his teeth in a snarl. “No matter. You will die today, and I will have the last laugh. Now, get moving before I shoot you without letting you talk to your precious little brother.”

  “What are you going to do about Adam?” she asked, afraid to hear the answer. If Dean wanted the inheritance, he couldn’t possibly leave Adam alive.

  “It’s not about the money, you know,” he said as if reading her thoughts. “It was never about the money. I have plenty. Our snooty father despised Adam as much as me, so I have a soft spot for the kid.”

  Lexie doubted he had a soft spot for anyone or anything.

  “So I don’t care what happens to Adam. I didn’t let him see my face and didn’t tell him my name. Means I can let him go.” Dean fixed his gaze on her then fingered one of her curls. “But you, my dear sister, won’t make it through the day.”

  EIGHTEEN

  Gavin needed to be in the last place Lexie had been seen. He had no idea why, but he settled in the kitchen and ripped Dr. Grant’s will from his pocket to see if it did, in fact, hold a lead.

  His dad bustled in the door. “I noticed the truck was gone, so I called your brothers and sisters. None of them took it. Means Lexie must have grabbed the keys from the hook.”

  “So you think she left of her own volition?”

  “Either that or the truck was stolen. Not a likely scenario.”

  “But why would she leave?” Gavin asked.

  “No clue, but I’ve got Matt requesting a warrant for her phone records. I have to warn you, son, without any sign of a struggle here, we may not get it.” He stepped to the back wall and ran his fingers over the key rings dangling on the pegs.

  “Keys are gone, all right.” His father shook his head. “I should never have let your mother hang them up here. I’m the sheriff, for pity’s sake, and know criminals can smash a window and grab them. But with Dad around all the time...” He shrugged. “Still, it’s my fault.”

  “Remember we’re not playing the blame game,” Gavin said. “Let’s tear into Dr. Grant’s will.” Letting the envelope flutter to the floor, he started reading, his dad standing behind and peering over his shoulder.

  “No way.” Gavin pointed at a long clause. “Lexie has a half brother.”

  “Give me that.” Walt grabbed the paper. “Guy’s name is Dean Wilcox. Never heard of him.”

  “Say that again,” Gavin said before his mouth dropped open.

  “Dean Wilcox. You know the guy?”

  “He’s one of the cabin guests.”

  “Here? On my property?” His dad slammed the paper on the table. “How’d I let that happen right under my nose?”

  “How could you have known he was a killer?”

  “Couldn’t have, but still—”

  Gavin jumped to his feet. “We need to get over to the cabin. See what we can find.”

  “I’ll grab a set of keys from my office, and I’m right behind you.”

  * * *

  At the base of the oil tank, Lexie called out, “Adam, are you in there?”

  She thought she heard moaning and reached for the ladder.

  “Hold it right there, Lexie,” Dean warned. “Your brother’s waiting for you, but we need to get you ready first.”

  She spun. “If he’s in there, why didn’t he answer?”

  “Duct tape. Couldn’t have him screaming and alerting anyone who might be brave enough to venture onto the property.” He pulled shiny metal handcuffs from his pocket and crossed over to her. “Take off your jacket.”

  “But why?”

  “Just do what I say or I won’t release Adam.”

  She shed her jacket and let it fall to the ground, the cold instantly chilling her body.

  “Now, hold out your left wrist.”

  She complied and he clamped a cuff tight enough to cut off her circulation and bite into her tender flesh. She wanted to cry out, but pressed her lips together so he couldn’t see he’d hurt her.

  He pulled a ski mask from his pocket and slipped it on. Good. If he continued to hide his face, she’d be seeing Adam soon, and Dean would still let him go.

  “Now climb up the ladder and down the one inside.” He met her gaze. “Mention my name to Adam and the boy will die right beside you.”

  Eager to see Adam, she moved fast. She crested the rim and spotted him in good condition minus the tape on his mouth. Her heart soared at seeing him alive and peering up at her, but fell when she noticed his wrists were cuffed to a metal rod that looked something like a towel bar bolted to the wall on both ends.

  “Adam,” she cried out.

  He tried to speak but the tape muffled his words.

  She didn’t know why he didn’t simply slide his hands up the bar to remove the tape. “Take the tape off so I can understand you.”

  His eyes widened in fear and he shook his head.

  “I told him I’d kill you if he did.” Dean chuckled as he climbed the ladder.

  Adam slid his hands up the pole as if reaching out to her. She hated seeing his desperation. He may be as tall as a full-grown man, but he was still a boy inside. When she got out of this situation, and she would, she’d make sure Dean paid for hurting her brother.

  “Get moving, sis,” Dean said.

  She ignored his mocking endearment and maneuvered over the top to the other ladder. On the ground, she grabbed Adam in a hug and kissed his cheek over and over, her helplessness in not being able to free him almost more than she could bear.

  “I’m here, bud,” she said, making sure she sounded confident. “And I’m going to get us out of this.”

  “Ha!” Dean peered over the top. “Good luck with that. I’ve thought of everything.” He laughed, the sound reverberating off the walls. “Now, Adam, be a good boy and secure your sister’s cuffs to the bar. Make sure it’s nice and tight, as I’m going to come down there to check, and if you don’t do as I say, she dies.”

  Tears glistened in Adam’s eyes. She didn’t want him to have to suffer even more by securing her, so she arranged her hands above his to allow him to easily close the cuff. “It’s okay. Do as he says. We’ll still find a way out of here.”

  Adam clamped the cuff, a tear dropping from his cheek onto her arm.

  Her anger at Dean mounted. Turned to rage.

  She swallowed it down and jerked on her cuffs to show Dean that Adam had followed through. “Ready for your inspection.”

  He stowed his gun and moved into the tank. Once on the ground, he checked her cuffs.

  “What are you going to do with me?” she asked.

  “Simple. I’ll be filling the tank with water.” He backed toward the ladder.

  Water? No. He couldn’t possibly do that, could he?

  “Why go to all this trouble?” she asked. “You’ve got a gun. Why not just shoot me?”

  “Payback. My mother died from lung disease. She struggled to get her breath all the time. I watched her at the end. Her chest convulsing with the need for air. You’re going to see what that feels like.” His gaze locked on Lexie, hatred and bitterness oozing from his every pore.

  “By why this tank?” she asked, hoping to keep him talking to buy time for Gavin to realize she was missing and find her. “It must have taken a long time to make this watertight when a bathtub or lake would have done the same thing.”

  “You can thank dear old Dad and Grant Oil for that.” He sneered. “When Mom told me his name, I couldn’t believe it. One of his wells was pumping away on our rental property. Right in the backyard. Day and night, the pump jack’s swishing noise nearly drove me crazy.”

  Nearly?

  “Even worse—” he shook his head “—my mother wanted to feel the sun on her face, so we moved her bed by the window. As she suffered, I sat with her and looked out at that pump jack. At the sign boasting Grant Oil. Day after day. Even as she took her last breath, I imagined how wonderful it would be to have the good doctor die in a situation where he couldn’t breathe. So I prepared the tank. But he’s gone now. My fault. I couldn’t control my temper. No matter. You’re the sacrificial lamb, and you’ll bear the burden of his sins.”

  * * *

  Gun in hand, Gavin pushed the door open. Scanned the one-room cabin.

  “He’s not here.” He shoved his gun into the holster and started to enter, but his dad grabbed his arm.

  “Let me get gloves and booties from the car so we don’t contaminate any evidence.”

  As much as Gavin wanted to tear the room apart to find a lead, a few seconds to take protective measures for evidence that could help them find Lexie was well worth it.

  He snapped on the booties and started prowling the room. “No suitcase or clothes.”

  “He’s taken off.”

  “Could mean he has Lexie and has no need to come back here.”

  His dad’s jaw clenched. “I’ll get Tessa out here to process the space. Maybe she’ll find evidence we’re missing.”

  As he called her, Gavin inched through the room, looking for any lead. He spotted a piece of paper in the wastebasket by a small desk and flattened it on the desktop.

  “Tessa will be here in less than five,” his dad said. “What’s that?”

  “A receipt. For waterproof caulk. Ten tubes. Bought it at the hardware store in Cumberland five days ago. Paid cash.”

  “What could he be using all that caulk for?”

  Gavin shrugged. “Sealing something. But what?”

  “He might own property around here. Let me get Matt to run a background check on Wilcox and see what we can find out about him.”

  Gavin nodded and returned to his search. He had to find something. Anything to lead them to Lexie. Dear, sweet Lexie. In a killer’s hands.

  Gavin’s heart constricted and he could hardly breathe. Time ticked past. One minute. Two. Five.

  Hurry. Hurry. Find something. But what?

  Nervous sweat beaded along his neck even in the cold. He heard a car drive up and saw Tessa through the window. He raced to greet her but a drop of liquid near the front door stilled his feet. He squatted to figure out what he was looking at, but his mind was a jumbled mess of fear and panic and he couldn’t make sense of the liquid.

  “What do you think it is?” his dad asked.

  “Looks like oil. But, if so, it’s dirty. Like it came from used oil.”

  “Or crude,” Tessa said at the door.

  He shot her a look. “If you can tell that from up there, you’re better than I thought.”

  “I wish,” she replied. “I got a text on the way over. The oil from the overlook wasn’t refined, but crude oil.”

  A flash of hope took hold in Gavin’s heart. “Wilcox could be employed by an oil company. That could be the lead we needed.”

  His dad shifted his hat. “Makes sense. Those jobs turn over fast, and I can’t keep up with the workers coming and going in the county.”

  Gavin peered at Tessa as he came to his feet. “We found a receipt for ten tubes of waterproof caulk. So where would caulk and crude oil come together?”

  “An oil well, I suppose, but surely not with that quantity of caulk.”

  “Unless he performed maintenance on a large number of wells.” Gavin’s mind raced over the facts, lighting on them, then spitting them until one held. “You think he took Lexie to a well?”

  “If so, we’re looking at hundreds of wells in Lake County alone. Not to mention the surrounding counties.”

  Panic raced along Gavin’s nerves and he sought any answer to find her. “These wells just sit out in the open. He’d keep Lexie and Adam in a secluded location.”

  “Got enough abandoned shacks around here, too,” Tessa reminded him.

  “Like wells, these shacks are a dime a dozen,” his dad said.

  “Too many for us to check out in a timely manner.” Gavin kicked the doorjamb and thought about slamming a fist into it, as well. He was powerless to help.

  How could he have let this happen? How?

  His father rested a hand on his shoulder. “That’s what family and friends are for, son. We can split up the work and have Lexie home in no time.”

  Gavin nodded, but they had nearly five hundred square miles of county to cover. How could they possibly do so in a timely basis?

  * * *

  Lexie heard Adam quietly sobbing and could hardly bear his anguish. At least when Dean’s task was done, he would let Adam climb out of the tank.

  “What good little listeners you are.” Dean laughed.

  Lexie looked up at him. “Now let Adam go.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Um, about that. On second thought, he stays.”

  “What?” she shouted. “No. You promised.”

  “I did, didn’t I,” he said. “But then I saw the torment you felt when you saw him tied up. How much pain will you feel if I leave him behind, too?”

  Chuckling, he went for the ladder.

  “No! No! Come back here.”

  He didn’t listen but kept moving and cleared the rim. She soon heard water rushing from a three-inch pipe in the wall. At this rate, it wouldn’t take long before water covered their heads.

  Dear God. Please. I’m begging. If You’re there, send Gavin to help us.

  NINETEEN

  Gavin pressed out a county patrol map on the dining table. He was surrounded by his family minus Matt and Kendall, who were on their way to join everyone at the ranch.

  “My deputies know their districts better than we do, so I’ve already got them looking,” his father said. “We’ll help search the quadrants that are sparsely populated and too large for one deputy to search.”