Claiming the Enemy: Dustin (Porter Brothers Trilogy 3)

“You don’t want to go in there.” Knox stared down at him meaningfully.

Groaning, Asher went to his knees, and Holt brought his hands to his shoulders, then sank down next to him.

Knox cleared his throat. “I hate to ask, but do you recognize this?” Raising his hand, Knox lifted a plastic sleeve for Asher and Holt to see.

Holt looked up, his face twisting in agony. “It’s Jessie’s. She has a necklace that she wears every day that has beads like those.”

Dustin pressed his face against the brick wall, unable to deal with the grief he was experiencing. “She wears it every day?” he managed to ask.

“Yes. I gave her the beads when we were just kids.” Holt rose like a broken, old man, helping Asher to his feet. “Knox, my sister is not dead. I want her found.”

“The state police are bringing a canine unit. One of the deputies found some clothes along the side of the road toward Jamestown. Drake is organizing a search party in that area. The whole town will be looking for her. It could have been just some clothes that were thrown out. The deputy already looked around and didn’t see anything, so I want to concentrate my men here until we see if the canines get a hit.”

Dustin straightened himself from the wall when a deputy came around the corner with a woman.

“Sheriff, this is Victoria Carsen. She’s a tenant on the same floor as Jessie and said she saw Jessie in the laundry room on Friday night.”

The woman stepped forward at the deputy’s urging, her eyes going to the group of men. “She was drying her clothes when I left.”

“Do you know what time it was?” Knox asked.

“About eleven. The news was just coming on.”

“Do you remember what she was wearing?”

“A pale blue T-shirt and gray sweatpants.”

“You remember that from a few days ago?” Knox raised a brow at her as he made notes.

“Only because she joked about my clothes. She thought I looked too dressy for washing clothes on a Friday night. She invited me over for iced tea.”

“Did you go?”

“Not that night. I knocked on her door Saturday and Sunday around three p,m., but she never answered.”

“You see anyone hanging around after you left the laundry room?”

“No, I’m sorry, I didn’t. If that’s all, I need to get back to school. My planning period is almost over. I only ran home to get a book I want to lend to one of the students.”

“Go ahead. We have your name and number that Ned gave me. If you remember anything else, call the sheriff’s office.”

“I will,” she assured him. “I hope she’s all right. She seemed nice, and I’m looking forward to getting to know her.” Her lips lifted in a smile at Holt and Asher, who were obviously upset. “I told her to call me Tori. I usually only let my friends call me that. I don’t know why I did that with her.”

“I do,” Holt said gruffly. “Jessie has a heart of pure gold. Only an idiot wouldn’t see it.”

Dustin looked away when he saw Holt staring at him. Putting his hands in his suit pocket, he walked off the concrete walkway to stare out at the grassy field behind the apartment building. He knew the officers thought that was where they were going to find Jessie’s body, but Dustin didn’t think so. Whenever Jessie was nearby, he always sensed her, even when she was across the street or in the grocery store. Even when he was with Samantha and Jessie had come anywhere near, he had known. It was like he was a lightning rod and could feel her current passing through his body.

“They left,” Greer said, coming up behind him. “If I hadn’t been wearing this uniform, I would have shot Asher for saying that to you.”

“I should have left.” Dustin turned to face his brother. “It’s hard enough with what they’re going through without having to see us. There’s no love lost between us.”

“Isn’t there?” Greer mentioned a topic that they had never discussed before. “You and Jessie used to be thick as thieves when you were little and Pa had to put a stop to it.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“Don’t kid a bullshitter. I saw your face when you found out Jessie was missing, and I thought you were going to pass out when I came down to the laundry room.”

“Greer,” Knox called out.

Dustin and Greer hurried back to where he was standing.

“They found more clothes. Virgil was on his way to work at the jewelry store when he saw them from his car window. When he got out, he found a bra and a shirt.”

“Fuck. Virgil lives on Pine Mountain. We’re going to need more searchers.” Greer reached for his phone. “I’ll call Tate and Cash. If she’s there, they’ll find her. Tate and Cash could track a white rabbit through a winter’s storm.”