Night Prey (14 page)

A flash of red caught his eye. At this distance, it was hard to see what kind of car it was, but as far as he knew nobody but Eddie, the guy who hit Jenna on the head, drove a candy apple red SUV. The car was headed toward Craig's property. A car had to slow to about twenty miles an hour over that road. It would be at least fifteen minutes before Eddie arrived at his destination. Another car came into view from around a corner. Keith lifted the binoculars to his eyes.

A bubble of panic formed in his stomach. Jenna's car was closing in on the red car. What was she doing? They had no idea what they were facing with this Eddie guy. Other than that he'd already shown himself capable of assault.

“Come on, Gramps. We need to get down off this mountain.” Keith explained what he had seen and the reason he was worried.

Norman rose from the rock where he had been resting. “We better get going, then.”

The road down the mountain was winding and slow. Jenna would maybe get to Craig's place ten to twenty minutes before Keith could get there. He said a prayer for her safety. He strode down the mountain, mindful that he needed to allow his grandfather time.

Already his heart hammered in his chest. What was she doing trying to handle this on her own?

They arrived at his grandfather's truck. Keith's Dodge was still in the shop being fixed. Keith climbed into the driver's side and turned the key in the ignition. The engine purred to life. As the road evened out, he pushed the speed up to forty. Time seemed to stretch out. He wanted to go faster, but he would be no good to anyone if he put the truck in a ditch.

Jenna was smart, but if she thought Eddie had anything to do with the death of her eagles, she might throw caution to the wind.

Keith turned toward his grandfather. “Can you get cell reception?”

His grandfather pulled his cell phone out. “Yep. Looks like it's coming in good.”

“Call the sheriff, fill him in and tell him to meet us at Craig Smith's place. And then try Jenna's cell.”

After Norman completed the call to the sheriff, Keith recited Jenna's cell number.

His grandfather put the phone to his ear. Keith could hear the phone ringing over and over. Tension wrapped around his rib cage. When she was out in the field, she carried the phone on her belt. She should answer right away.

Come on, Jenna, pick up.

Norman pulled the phone away from his ear and shook his head.

J
enna's Subaru hit a bump, causing all her equipment to shake and rattle, but the car stayed on course. The new tires Keith had put on had nice traction. She watched the speedometer needle press past thirty. She had to get to Craig Smith's place fast.

She'd been headed back from a call about a bird stuck in a chimney when she'd seen the red SUV. The car had to belong to the Eddie guy who had knocked her unconscious and slashed her tires. Fortunately, the bird she had gone out to rescue had freed itself and flown away, so she didn't have to worry about jostling a bird in a carrier at these high speeds.

She had no intention of letting Eddie see her. Their last encounter had not gone well. There was a good possibility that Eddie didn't realize she could identify him, but it wasn't a chance she wanted to take. She really wasn't in the mood for another headache.

All she needed to do was make sure Eddie didn't leave and fall off the face of the earth. If she could get to Craig's first, she could talk Craig into detaining him. She stared at her phone. As soon as she had her reception back, she'd call the sheriff.

She pressed the accelerator. Craig would have a phone she could use.

She'd have to risk a possible car accident if she was going to get there before Eddie. The front wheels hit a patch of gravel which acted like a bucket of marbles sending her car into a swerve. Her heart raced even faster as she muscled it back onto the road.

How much time did she have? If she couldn't beat the red SUV to the ranch, she would just have to block the road with her car and hope she could reach the sheriff and get him out here before Eddie left. A much riskier solution.

She turned onto the road that led to Craig's ranch. No sign of the red vehicle in front of her and nothing in the rearview mirror, either. Strange.

Concerned, she slowed her car. At the very least, she should see a dust cloud created by his SUV. She checked her phone again—still no service.

The water tower on Craig Smith's ranch came into view. She increased her speed until a flash of red in a ravine caused her to slow down. She pulled the Subaru over to a shoulder and braked. Jenna pushed open the door and trotted down the road. She shaded her eyes from the noonday sun and stared into the ravine.

Nestled in the junipers and boulders was the red car with its tail end pointed uphill. The car had left ruts where it had swerved off the road. She couldn't see Eddie anywhere. Fearing that he may be hurt and unable to move, she made her way down the hill, moving as fast as the steep incline allowed.

She slowed. What if this was some kind of trap Eddie had set for her? Maybe he had seen her car. She assessed
the area all around her. Except for the boulders and junipers at the bottom of the ravine, the landscape didn't provide very many hiding places.

She walked faster again. She'd have to take that chance. She couldn't leave a hurt man alone in a car regardless of what he had done.

She trailed a hand along the side of the SUV. The front end of it had smashed against a rock, crumpling the hood. She drew her gaze to the driver's-side window. Eddie's head rested against it. He must be unconscious. She tried the door. It had been smashed in such a way that it wouldn't open.

Jenna raced around to the passenger side door. It was bent, as well. She darted to the back of the SUV, opened the hatch and crawled through. She scrambled toward the driver's seat, leary of what she might find.

“Eddie.” He didn't stir. She leaned over the front seat. Fresh blood had stained the fabric. A pile of twenty dollar bills had spilled from an envelope and scattered. A coffee cup with the initials E.H. on it surrounded by a strange symbol sat broken on the floor of the car.

Eddie still didn't respond. Her fingers shook as she lifted them to his neck. No pulse. Paralysis set in as Jenna struggled for breath, encased in her own rapid heartbeat.

Eddie was dead.

She shook her head, fighting not to give in to the inertia that the panic caused.

She pulled Eddie's body away from the window. His shirt was soaked in blood. What could he have hit in a car crash that would make him bleed like that?

Her eye wandered to the smashed windshield. Uneven
concentric circles of crushed glass radiated out from a bullet-sized center.

Jenna backed out of the car as fear spread through her. Eddie had been shot. A million questions raged through her head, but it was hard to think clearly when she realized she had blood on her sleeves.

The breaking of branches and the crushing of undergrowth sent a new charge of terror through her. She stepped away from the car, her heart racing. The noise grew closer, louder. She was a sitting duck here.

Jenna leaped behind a boulder just as a cow emerged from the brush. The heifer wandered past her and back into the trees. Jenna whooshed out a breath and bent over.

She scrambled up the hill, falling twice and scraping her knee. Her shorts were ripped and she had blood on her leg. Her sleeves were stained with Eddie's blood. Unable to get a deep breath, she leaned against her car.

She pulled her phone out. Still no signal. She'd have to drive to Craig's place and call from there. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably. She lifted her head, staring at the high mountain and buttes that surrounded her. Maybe the shooter hadn't been close at all. What if Eddie had been shot with a long-range rifle from a high place just like the eagle? The thought that the killer might have been farther away gave her no comfort—with a rifle that powerful, she was still an easy target.

She couldn't think straight. She struggled to link one thought to the next one. It felt like her whole body was trembling from shock. Jenna took in a deep, prayer-filled breath and washed the images from her mind. All she
had to do was think of the next thing she needed to do and then the next thing after that. She could do that.

She needed to calm down, so she could get in the car and drive to Craig's place and call the sheriff. She slipped into her vehicle and flexed her fingers on the steering wheel. She still felt like she was being shaken from the inside. She had just straightened her back when she glanced in the rearview mirror where a cloud of dust was visible. Someone was coming up the road.

 

Keith's breath caught in his throat when he saw Jenna's blue Subaru pulled off the road. He sped up the truck and turned off onto the first available shoulder. He jumped out and ran the short distance to her car.

The driver's-side door opened and Jenna stepped out. There was a look of wildness in her eyes. She was in shock.

She pointed down the mountain. “Eddie…Eddie's been shot.”

That didn't make any sense. They'd been operating on the assumption that Eddie was the one behind all of this. “Are you sure?”

“There is a bullet hole through the windshield.” Her voice trembled with distress as she pulled away from him and ran a hand through her long hair.

First things first. He needed to keep Jenna from descending any further into shock. “Let's get you lying down.” Gramps had already brought the truck closer.

Norman King met them halfway. “Jenna, what has happened?”

“She's going into shock,” Keith said. “Can you grab
that blanket out of the cab, Gramps? She can lie down in the truck bed.”

The older man ran ahead, grabbed the blanket and brought the tailgate down.

When they got to the back of the truck, Jenna pulled away. “I don't need to lie down.”

Keith cupped her face in his hands. “Listen to me—you are in shock. We need to get blood back to your vital organs. Okay?”

“You're the medic.” A little bit of resistance colored her tone.

He led her to the rear of the truck and helped her crawl in. She lay back; the look of trust in her eyes floored him. Something deeper than friendship was growing between them, a bond that could weather a struggle. He pushed a toolbox across the metal of the bed. “I'm going to elevate your feet.” He hooked his hands under her ankles. He touched the bloody knee. “Got a boo-boo there, huh?”

“Is that medical jargon?” She laughed. “I did that one.” She glanced again at the blood on her sleeve, which made her shake her head and close her eyes. “But that isn't my blood.”

His hand brushed over her temple, pushing her hair away from her face. “Don't think about it, Jenna.”

She turned her head to the side.

“I found this in her car.” Norman handed him a coat. Keith took the coat and laid it over Jenna. It tore him apart to see her so emotionally distraught. If only he had gotten here sooner. “Take some deep breaths.”

Jenna locked onto Keith's gaze and breathed in and out.

She visibly calmed. He spoke to his grandfather who was resting his elbows on the side of the truck bed. “Keep an eye on her. I'll be right back.”

Keith glanced up and down the road. A man on a tractor was coming from the direction of Craig's ranch, but still no sign of the sheriff.

Keith trotted back toward the accident site. He studied the damage to the windshield of Eddie's vehicle. It did look like a bullet had gone through the glass. He peered inside the car. Eddie was slumped against the steering wheel. The glove compartment had been thrown open in the crash. Maybe that was where that money had come from. A broken coffee cup with a strange symbol and the initials E.H. on it indicated that the car may have rolled or at least hit something with substantial impact before coming to rest against the rock.

When Keith returned, Jenna was sitting in the truck talking to his grandfather. Craig had parked his tractor a ways down the road and was walking toward them. The tractor looked new. Hadn't Craig said he was strapped for cash?

Keith grabbed the first aid kit from his truck.

Craig came beside the truck. “What's going on here?”

“Was a guy from out of town named Eddie coming to see you?”

Craig's expression darkened. “Why?”

Keith sauntered toward Jenna and his grandfather. Craig followed, stopping when he saw the wrecked car at the bottom of the ravine. His mouth dropped open.

“Is that his car?”

“He had…an accident.” Keith elected not to tell Craig all the details.

“Is he—” Craig was visibly shaken.

Keith nodded. “At this point, the road leads directly to your ranch. There is no place to turn off and go anywhere else. Was he coming to see you?”

“I have never met the guy.” Craig's tone was clouded with defensiveness.

Keith was pretty sure Craig was lying. He opened the first aid kit, pulling out disinfectant and a Band-Aid.

Craig took a step back. “Look, I got work to do.”

“Sheriff will be here in a minute. This happened on your land. He might want to talk to you.”

Craig drew his mouth tight. “If he wants to talk to me, I will be waiting at my place.” Craig strode to his tractor.

Keith shook his head. Something was up with Craig. Why would he bring the tractor out if he was just going to turn it around and take it back to his place…unless he wanted it to look like he had casually happened upon the accident?

Keith held up the Band-Aid for Jenna to see. “For your boo-boo.” Once Craig was out of earshot, Keith said, “He said he never met Eddie, but I don't know.”

Jenna scooted to the edge of the tailgate. “He seemed nervous. I think I remember where I saw Eddie before. He was talking to Craig at the fundraiser.”

“Really?” Keith squeezed out some disinfectant onto Jenna's knee.

“Yeah, they were having a heated discussion.”

“Wonder what was going on?” Keith gently placed the bandage over her knee. “Better?”

Her smile shot a burst of heat through him. “Much,” she said. She glanced toward the ravine. “It all feels…so surreal.”

Combat hadn't made him immune to the impact of death, but he was probably better equipped to handle it than the average person. He brushed Jenna's soft cheek with the back of his hand. “It's never easy.”

She closed her eyes as if gathering strength from his touch.

After opening her eyes, she jumped off the tailgate and grabbed her coat. “I thought finding Eddie would answer questions, not create more.”

The sheriff's car came into view.

“We don't know for sure if Eddie was shot. Let's wait and see what the sheriff can find out.”

Jenna crossed her arms. “Maybe we had it wrong. What if Eddie was just one of the hunters?” She stared up the road where Craig's tractor was still visible. “Someone else must be organizing all of this.”

It did make sense that a local, someone who knew the area, would be the one dropping the caches and setting things up. He was probably charging the hunters a lot of money. Maybe Keith had not allowed that thought into his awareness because somehow it made it easier if it was an outsider who was doing all this. He hadn't wanted to believe that one of his neighbors was a criminal of this magnitude.

Jenna placed her hands on her hips and stared down the ravine. “The sheriff is going to have to get a tow truck out here.”

Jenna seemed to have recovered from the shock of finding the body. “Are you doing okay?”

She rubbed her bare arm and let out a shaky sigh. “As much as I can be.” She shivered. “I'll be all right. I just need a little time.”

Keith wrapped a protective arm around Jenna. If Eddie had been shot these crimes had gone to a new and frightening level.

The sheriff stopped his car and walked toward them.

 

Jenna brought her car to a stop outside her father's house. A flutter of anticipation zinged through her. She grabbed the stack of books she had already read that she thought her father might like. It was Sunday. The library was closed. She knew she would catch her father at home after she finished church.

The events from yesterday still weighed heavily on her. The sheriff had confirmed that Eddie, whose last name was Helms, had been shot, but the shooter was still at large. Yet worship had left her feeling renewed and the thought of reconnecting with her father lightened her step.