Out Of Control (21 page)

Cole
made a fist and smacked his thigh. “Damn it. This time, I’ll find the bastard.
We won’t have another one of these things hanging over the county.”

“You
need to do something about that writer, too.” Tate took another sip of his
drink. “People are upset that she’s raking all that old stuff up again.”

Cole
tensed, a surge of protectiveness for Dana blindsiding him. He knew those
kisses would come back to haunt him. “You know I can’t run her out of town. She
hasn’t broken any laws. And maybe she’ll find something Nickels missed all
those years ago.”

“She’s
trouble, Cole,” he muttered over coffee. “Jed Nickels was a good lawman. We don’t
need anyone stirring up old memories best left buried. Who knows if all this
gave some other nut job ideas and Leanne’s just the first victim.”

“I’d
hate to think that. And I know Dana would be distraught if she thought that was
the case.”

“Dana,
is it?” Tate looked at him with shrewd eyes. “Not getting into bed with the
wrong people, are you, son?”

Cole
grunted. “Not anywhere near getting into bed.”

Except
that was exactly what he wanted, if he could just slay her demons. Cole had a
gut feeling it had to do with the old child murders. But what? What was the
answer to the riddle of Dana Moretti? He was determined to find the key to
unlock her secrets. But at the moment, he was ass over tea kettle in this
horrendous murder, and she had a wall around her ten feet high.

Except
those kisses…

He
wondered again if she might be right. If there was something everyone was
trying to keep swept under the rug. That was a hard concept for him to wrap his
mind around. He knew these people. None of them fit the profile of a vicious
killer, nor did he think it likely the parents who still mourned their children
would be willing to hide that killer.

“Cole?
Am I losing you?” Tate stirred his ice cubes with a finger, the clinking sound
snapping Cole out of his mental wandering. “Maybe this new homicide will scare
her away.”

“Not
her. She’s seen worse than this, I’m sure. Anyway, she’s fresh eyes and been
through this before. She just might see something everyone else missed.”

“I’m
just telling you…”

But
whatever he started to say was interrupted by the ringing of the cell on Cole’s
belt.

“Yeah,
Grace. What it is?”

“Sheriff,
you better get back here right away. We got ourselves a big problem.”

Cole
felt as if a stone had just dropped into his stomach. “What kind of problem?”

“Shannon
Fowler’s mama, Bootsie, just called in.” Grace’s voice was with filled with tension.
“The girl’s three hours late getting back from school.”

Cole
knew all the parents were skittish after what happened to Leanne. “She’s
probably just gone off with one of her friends. Anyway, school doesn’t get out
until three, right?”

“Not
today. They were supposed to be off all day, but they didn’t finish the testing
yesterday, so the principal made them all come in for two hours this morning.
She should have been home long before this.”

“Has
Bootsie Fowler called the school?” He knew that was a stupid question. Of
course, Shannon’s mother had called. Still, he had to ask it.

“Of
course she has. The buses left with all the kids more than three hours ago.
Andi was in the office and called some of her friends, and they haven’t seen
her, either, except to watch her get on the bus.”

“All
right. I’m on my way. Round up everyone you can and have them meet me in the
conference room.”

He
clicked off and pushed himself out of the chair. “I’ll have to miss Adele’s
smothered pork chops. We’ve got ourselves a missing teenager.”

“Damn
it to hell.” Tate set his glass down and stood up. “Who is it?”

“Shannon
Fowler. I’m praying she’s just off doing some stupid thing and didn’t call
home.”

“You
let me know what’s going on,” Tate said, clapping him on the shoulder. “And if
I can help in any way, just holler.”

“I
will. Thanks. Make my excuses to Adele, okay?”

He
covered the distance to his office in record time. Five of his deputies were
waiting for him, all of them wearing sick expressions.

“What?
Did someone find her?”

Andi
spoke first. “No. No body. But Sheriff, I tracked down the bus driver and he
swears he dropped Shannon off at the head of her road. She has to hike more
than a mile to her house and there isn’t another living soul on that whole
stretch. Only thing out that way is pastures and the Fowlers’ house.”

“Anyone
could have come along and taken her,” Mickey pointed out. “And if, like Leanne,
it was someone she knew offering her a ride, she’d hop right in.”

Cole
felt his stomach roil and a headache begin at the back of his head. He looked
at his deputies.

“I’m
assuming someone’s driven that road end to end and stopped to see Bootsie?”

Gaylen
Kleist, his senior deputy, nodded. “I did, boss. Grace knew I was out that way
and hollered at me to check it out. As soon as I got the call I went right
over.”

Cole
dropped into the chair at the head of the table. “And?”

“And
nothing.” Kleist shrugged. “I drove the whole length of the road, both ways,
real slow. Twice. Nada. Not a sign of her.”

“But
if the bus driver dropped her off at the head of the road, she disappeared
somewhere between there and her house.”

Andi
cleared her throat. “Sheriff?”

“Yeah,
Andi.”

“If
this is the same man, he could have taken her anywhere. How the hell do we know
where to look?”

Cole
was feeling sicker by the minute. Salado County covered a big area and there
were a lot of uninhabited acres. Much of it was ranchland, and he didn’t think
the perp would risk going onto land under the watchful eyes of cowboys. But
there were huge pastures of coastal hay and other grasses, not to mention
wooded areas.

“All
right. I think the first thing we need to do is call in Search and Rescue. Tina
Solize is the best there is. And besides the dogs, they recently got funding
for a helicopter, so they can search by air.” He shoved his chair back from the
table. “Mickey, get a map of the county and divide it into five sectors. We’ll
start with the area where the Fowlers live. I have a feeling he’ll dump her
close to home, just like he left Leanne near her friends.”

“He
wants us to find her, doesn’t he?” Andi commented.

“Yes.
I think he does. He’s sending a message. The bastard’s so arrogant he thinks he
can pull this off right under our noses and get away with it. He’s done it
once.”

“You
know, once the word gets out, we’ll be flooded with people,” Gaylen pointed
out. “Everyone will want to help and they’ll be trampling all over the place.”

“You’re
right.” Cole rubbed his jaw. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. Gaylen, where are
those two rookies I’ve got appointed to night shift?”

“Probably
home sleeping.”

“Wake
‘em up. Get ‘em down here. Have them report to me, and I’ll get them set up
taking calls and giving people instructions on what to do. Find out from Grace
who’s worked with SAR looking for lost kids before. We’ll need someone with
some smarts in each area.”

“Got
it. I’ll go call right now,” Gaylen headed toward his desk with a long stride.

Cole
turned to the others. “Mickey, make copies of that map after you draw out the
sectors. Give one to Gaylen and the others to me.”

“I’m
on it.”

“The
rest of you get your assignments from Gaylen.” Cole slid his chair back, his
frustration mounting with each ticking of the clock. He headed to his office to
contact Tina Solize.

“I’m
just back from a trip to South Texas, Cole.” Tina sounded a little ragged when
she answered the phone.

“I
hate to pull you out again with practically no rest,” Cole told her. “I wouldn’t
do it if it wasn’t an emergency.”

She
gave him a rusty laugh. “Cole, everything for me is an emergency. If it wasn’t,
no one would need me.”

“I
guess you’re right.” He explained how he was setting up the search sectors and
what Gaylen would do with the volunteers.

“Good.
Very good.” Tina stifled a yawn, then cleared her throat. “Okay, give me an
hour and I’ll meet you with my team. We’re racing the clock here so let’s start
with the sector containing her house.”

“Good.
I think this bastard wants us to find her so he probably dumped her close to
home.”

“Good
thing I’ve got that new chopper. We’ll need air support to cover the entire
county. My pilot can also fly a grid pattern over each search area, but using
it ups the cost.”

“I’ll
find the money to pay for it somewhere.”

“Okay.
I’ll call my pilot and get him going.”

By
the time Cole hung up, Grace was at his door with a mug of her poison. “I don’t
care how bad you think this is,” she told him. “You’re gonna need it. The word’s
out. We’re flooded with people who want to look for Shannon, and they’re all
pissed off.”

“Where’s
Gaylen?”

“Trying
to get everyone organized. He’s got the two rookies on their way in. He told
them come as you are as long as they got here ASAP. And the phone’s ringing off
the hook.”

“All
right. I’ll come out and give him a hand.”

He
fortified himself with the thick brew in the mug, found Mickey with the maps,
grabbed one, and then hurried to the front of the building. As he’d expected,
the news had spread faster than measles. This was not working out quite the way
he envisioned. The lobby was jammed with people, clustered around Andi, who was
trying to organize them. He spotted Gaylen on the front steps, trying to get
everyone’s attention in the front parking lot.

Cole
opened the door and eased himself out beside his deputy. “Go on inside and take
the phones from Grace until the rookies get here. I’ll talk to the mob.”

He
was immediately assaulted with questions.

“Where’s
Shannon?” someone shouted, the minute Gaylen moved inside.

“Why
can’t you catch whoever’s doing this?” came from another direction.

“Are
you letting our county go to hell?” a third person yelled.

Cole
held up his hands. “Hold it, hold it. If everyone will give me a minute, I’ll
give you a heads up on where we are.” He waited until the noise level dropped
to steady mumble. “Here’s the deal. We don’t know if anything has even happened
to Shannon Fowler. She could be off with one of her friends some place not even
aware of the uproar she’s causing.”

“Shannon’s
a good girl,” someone protested. “She’d never do anything like this. Cause her
folks to worry and all that.”

“I
didn’t say for sure that’s what happened,” Cole pointed out. “I’m just saying
we have to look at every possibility. Now. I’ve called in Tina Solize’s SAR
team. She’ll be here shortly, and we’ll start searching closest to the Fowlers’
home. That’s the last place she was seen. I know you want to help, and we can
certainly use you. We just need to do this in an organized fashion so we don’t
miss anything.”

“What
do you want us to do?” a man at the front of the crowd asked.

Cole
knew these were basically good people and he really needed their help. “Find
your neighbors here in the crowd. Then go back to where you live and start
searching your area. Work in groups of two and three.”

“Are
we looking for a body or a live person?” someone wanted to know.

“I’m
hoping a live person, but I’m preparing for any eventuality.”

“Hey,
Sheriff.”

Cole
turned at the shout. A man he vaguely recognized as a friend of Tate’s was
waving a hand at him. “Yes?”

“How
come it’s taking so long to find out who’s running loose in our neighborhood?”

Cole
swallowed the retort that bubbled up in his throat. “It’s been less than
forty-eight hours. Please keep that in mind. This is our only priority, and you
can rest assured I’m prepared to call in the Rangers at a moment’s notice.”

“What
can we do to help?” someone shouted.

“Hold
on just a few minutes. Someone will come out and organize you into groups and
tell you which sectors to hit. Thanks for coming.” He ducked back inside and spotted
the rookies who had obviously come in through the back entrance.

“We’re
flooded with calls,” he told them. “And I want to keep dispatch free. I’ll have
Grace set one of the phones so all incoming calls go directly to these phones.
If one line is busy, it will roll over to the other. If you get anything at all,
pass it along to Grace to put it on the radios.

He
left them to it and checked in with Gaylen.

“I
need to go meet Tina. Are you set here?”

Gaylen
nodded. “I’m good.”