A Reason To Breathe (28 page)

Using my head for once, I grabbed Bailey’s hand and starting walking towards the staircase, Bailey laughing as she followed. “Wait do you know them?” She asked, and I whispered as we made our way down the stairs. “That’s my boss and the bimbo is an old girlfriend of Jack’s. She doesn’t like me, as in she hates me, so let’s go downstairs,” I replied moving fast down the stairs. When we got to the bottom and turned the corner; I ran straight into Mayor Hall.
Swear if I didn’t have bad luck I’d have no luck at all.

“If this is what the Sheriff’s department is hiring these days, I’ll make sure to increase the budget for more.” Bailey being my daughter, of course, sensed he was a player the minute he opened his mouth.

“You must be the Mayor, Jack’s, mentioned you,” Bailey interrupted.

“And you must be Jennifer’s daughter, you’re just as beautiful as your mother.” John’s eyes made their way to her chest then her legs, and I instinctively stepped between them, grabbing his arm and moving her out of his line of sight.

“Mayor nice to see you again, and thank you for the invitation.” John leered at me, his eyes moving now to my chest. He tried to put his arm around me, so I stepped back, right into Amber Welsh, fucking, fucking hell.

“I see while Jack is working, you’re out enticing all the other men in Gunnison. I knew when I laid eyes on you in Mike’s you were a slut.” I sucked in a breath, and then heard Bailey suck in a breath, and before I could shove the pointed toe of my boot up her ass, Bailey stepped in.
Oh, dear lord I hate when Jack is right, I shouldn’t have come.

“Bailey,” I snapped and grabbed her arm before she defended my honor. She turned back to me, pissed the hell off, and I couldn’t blame her, but I needed to defuse this situation now.

“Get our coats, Ok, I’ll be right with you.” Bailey looked between us both then nodded and headed for the coatroom at the front of the house. I turned to John and Amber and speaking through my teeth said, “Pleasure as always seeing you both, if you’ll excuse me, we’ll just be leaving.” Without a backward glance, I turned in the direction my daughter went. I’d made it three steps when I bumped into someone. Stumbling back, I turned my head and smiled.

“Fancy meeting you here.” I laughed.

“Follow me, I saw the altercation and I know a short cut.”

*
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Jack

        Finally finished for the night, I was heading to my truck, I had a wayward woman to find, and I’d better find her ass at home if she knew what was good for her. My phone buzzed in my pocket, so I grabbed it and saw it was Bailey calling. If she thinks I’m letting her off the hook for that stripper outfit she put her mom in, she better think twice. If she wasn’t heading back to school, I’d tan both their hides and ground her for a month, then again?

“Tell me where you are, and I’ll considered not grounding you for a month.”

“Jack, oh god, Jack, help me, Mom’s missing.”

Chapter Twenty-eight

BOLO

        “Jack,” Bailey shouted, when I arrived at the Mayor’s house. She was waiting for me on the front steps, so I climbed out of my truck and watched as Barry, Grady, and Phil pulled in next to me. When I reached Bailey, she was a bundle of nerves, shaking and crying, so I grabbed her and held on while she buried her head in my chest. “Bailey, I need you to talk to me so we can find Jenn.” She pulled back, wiping her face with the backs of her hands, nodding and taking a deep breath.
 

“Mom and I were people watching; I commented on some blonde bimbo, and she panicked when the woman looked at us, and then hurried me downstairs to get away from her, she’s some ex of yours.”

“Amber?” I questioned, and she nodded.

“When we got downstairs, Mom ran into the Mayor; he was putting the moves on Mom, and she was trying to move away then Amber came downstairs, saw it, and called Mom a slut. So I got pissed, and Mom told me to stop, and go get our coats, we were leaving, and that’s the last time I saw her. She never came looking for me, and now I can’t find her anywhere.” I looked over at Grady and the boys and ordered, “Search the grounds, inside and out,” then I turned back to Bailey, “You said someone saw her walking with a man?”

“When she didn’t come for me, I went looking for her, found the Mayor and asked where she went. He said she was chatting with some man and left with him.” I felt my anger spike at the thought of Jenn talking with another man, but shut it down; I didn’t have time to react, I needed to keep my head on straight and look at the evidence. Jenn wouldn’t leave her daughter stranded for a man, something wasn’t adding up, and I needed to find John and make him talk.         

Inside the Mayor’s house, I noticed no one had stopped with the festivities. A woman was missing, and everyone was drinking and eating like nothing had happened. I felt my temper spike higher and looked around for John. I caught a glimpse of him with Amber in the corner and headed their way. When I reached them, Amber turned to me and sneered, then with her claws bared, attacked.

“Heard that slut of yours left with another man, abandoning her daughter just to get laid? You sure know how to pick ‘em Jack.”

“Considering Jenn’s the best thing to
ever
happen to me, by a
long
shot, I’d say that’s a compliment.” Amber flinched and turned her eyes from me. My bulls-eye had hit dead center, so I moved on like she wasn’t there.

“Mayor, Jenn’s missing, and you’re the last person who saw her. You wanna fill me in on this man she was talking to?” His arrogant demeanor turned cold and calculated as he responded, choosing his words carefully for maximum effect.

“Jack, be a man and accept when a woman leaves you high and dry for another one. Don’t use your authority as Sheriff to eliminate the competition,” the Mayor openly laughed, repeating my own words from two weeks before. And it took everything I had not to touch him…then I decided fuck it and lunged, shoved him into the wall, pressed my arm into his throat cutting off his air, getting right in his face.

“Jenn is fucking missing, you piece of shit. She didn’t abandon her daughter, now tell me who the fuck she was talking to, or I’ll arrest you for obstruction of justice.”

I kept my forearm on his throat and watched as he looked around, then I noticed the silence. The room behind us had gone quiet; we had an audience, and I didn’t give a fuck if it got me answers, so I didn’t back down. John looked back at me and raised his shoulders in a shrug, answering my question, but giving me nothing.

“Never seen him before.”

“You got a description; hair color, eye color, height, weight, tattoo, any fucking thing that will lead us to him?” I ordered.

“Average height, average weight, dark hair, decent looking, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, not in costume, no visible tattoos and from the reception she gave him she knew him.” That piqued my interest.

“You could tell she knew him?”

“Yeah, she said, “fancy meeting you here.” I pushed off him, glaring, and turned to Bailey, who’d been waiting and watching the whole time.

“Bailey did Jenn indicate she knew any of the people here?”

“No, we hadn’t been here that long, we got food and were just people watching.” Her head jerked, and she looked at her phone, reading something on the screen and looked puzzled.

“What is it?” I ordered, noticing her confusion.

“I posted a pic on Facebook of the food table, and a friend just posted a response, who’s the creepy guy staring at you?”

I moved to her side ordering, “Show me the picture, honey.” Bailey went to the camera function on her phone, found the picture and then blew it up so we could look. A picture of a table filled with food was on the screen and in the background you could see a man staring across the room; it looked like he was staring right at the camera. Dark hair, jeans and a white t-shirt, and the look on his face was one of longing. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I grabbed the phone and shoved it in the Mayor’s face. “You know him?” John looked at the picture, then back at me and nodded. 

“That’s the man she left with.” I shoved him back in disgust before I drove a fist into his face, and then turned to leave. Grady entered on a run, and I moved to him and snapped, “Talk to me.”

“Got a witness out back who says he saw a man carrying a woman to his car, silver sedan, Wyoming license plates. Said, he thought she was drunk and even helped the man put her in the car. Description matches Jenn. She was out cold, and they put her in the back seat so she could sleep it off. Left heading north about an hour ago.”

Christ, north headed to highway-50 which took you to the interstate, and that meant he had an hour’s head start and could be anywhere by now.

Bailey heard the conversation and broke down. I didn’t have time to comfort her; I needed to hit the road, and I needed to do it now, but I turned to her, pulled her in my arms held her tight for a minute, then whispered in her ear, “I’ll find her, I promise you, I will find her,” then I kissed her head and turned to Grady, “Keep an eye on Bailey for me, I’m heading out, I’ll call in the state police, you take Bailey to the station, and I’ll keep in touch.”

Grady nodded once and then moved to Bailey, putting his arm around her, she head planted into his chest and then broke down. The sounds of her cries sent me off, as I exited the house to find Jenn.

“This sonofabitch is dead,” I mumbled to myself as I threw open the door to my truck. I saw the other door open, and Barry climbed in. “Just fucking drive, Jack,” Barry snapped, not waiting for a response to his presence. I nodded once, started the engine, and grabbed my handheld calling into the station.

*
                            *                            *

        Hang in there Baby, I’m coming.
 
I thought as I accelerated onto the highway, and headed west on 50 that would take me to interstate 70. Wyoming is north, so my instinct said that was where he was going. Sirens blaring, speeds hitting 100, I kept my eyes peeled for a silver sedan with my woman in the back seat. I’d radioed the station, told Amy when Grady got there, to take Bailey’s phone to one of the computer guys, have them clean up the picture, and put out a BOLO (be on the lookout) with the guys picture, and description of the car over the wires. Who was this guy, how the fuck had one tiny woman attracted two whack jobs in five months?
Someone knows this bastard? If Jenn knew him then maybe Ben knows him?

 
I pulled out my phone and dialed Ben, while trying to stay on the road at my high rate of speed. Ben answered on the third ring sounding tired and confused.

“Jack? This better be good!”

“Jenn’s gone missing, some guy snatched her from the Witches Ball. I need you to go to the station and look at this guy’s picture and tell me if you know him.” I heard Ben’s breath catch, and he whispered, “Missing?” then, “I’ll be there in forty minutes.” I hung up the phone without another word, pushed the pedal to the floor and kept driving into the night.

One hour later….

        “Base to Gunnison, you there Jack?”

“Base this is Gunnison, talk to me.”

I was still heading north, pushing my truck’s speed and praying like hell for a break. Barry kept an eye out and spoke with the state police, as I barreled down the highway hoping I wasn’t going the wrong fucking direction. This guy had an hour’s head start, but I was convinced he wouldn’t want to bring attention to himself by speeding. With the posted 55 miles per hour, because of the hills and two lanes the highway narrowed to if he was on this road, I’d catch him by doubling my speed.

“Jack, Ben Gates was here, and he looked at the picture. He was positive he knew the guy and made a phone call. We just confirmed the suspects name is Charles Marcus Walker. Jack we ran his name; he grew up in Wyoming, moved here three months ago, and his father was Gerald Marcus Walker. He’s been bartending at The Wooden Nickel for the past six months.”

“Son of a bitch,” I roared. That whacked out fuck had borne a whacked out son? Fuck me; it was like a goddamned horror movie with Jenn starring as the damsel in distress running for her life. Only this time she was passed out cold in the backseat of the car at his mercy, and I didn’t have a fucking clue where they were. “God-fucking-dammit,” I shouted.

Breathing fast and trying to concentrate, I weighed my options; turn back and start over, or keep driving north and pray I wasn’t wrong. Barry was staring out the window, his eyes searching, saying nothing. I put the hand held to my mouth and responded going with my gut. “Understood, base, traveling north on 50, will update you in an hour.”
  

I kept driving, searching, Jenn’s face in my head, laughing. The look in her eyes when she was pissed, the look on her face when she came while I thrust into her. That fucking light that shone from her face that drew people in. I was so lost in my thoughts that I missed the vibrating of my phone. After the third vibration, I picked it up and saw, “Jenn calling,” on the screen, and I almost wrecked trying to answer.