He twisted off the cap from his bottle of beer, then zinged the cap across the room to land hard in the trash basket under a scarred desk.
The police had questioned him for nearly an hour, then let him go…But still they tailed him.
He didn’t blame them for zeroing in on him, but it was a pain in the backside.
As he took a long pull from his bottle, he wondered who had been behind the attack? Who would want to destroy her property and nearly kill her?
He’d always considered Shannon Flannery his enemy, a woman who could seek out the daughter she’d given up thirteen years ago, a woman with the power to throw his life into total chaos. He wasn’t even certain that the private transaction through attorneys had conformed to all of the adoption laws of the state. For years, Travis had feared Shannon would change her mind, that she might find a way to try and reclaim her daughter and that Dani could be stripped from him.
After Ella’s death, his fear had been stronger, to the point of near paranoia, but now…observing Shannon Flannery in action, seeing her trying to save her animals, only to be beaten savagely, he found himself softening to her.
Maybe she wasn’t the enemy.
Then who was?
Who had his child?
He drained his beer and left the bottle on the nightstand. If he could only find his kid. That’s all he wanted. Just Dani back home.
His throat thickened and a muscle ticked in his jaw. He flipped open his cell and punched the speed dial button for Shane Carter. Though he was certain Carter would have called him had there been any news about Dani, Travis felt the need to check in, the need to hear something, anything.
One ring.
Two.
“Carter,” the sheriff answered.
“It’s Travis. Just wondering if there’s anything new.” God, he hated the sound of desperation in his voice.
“Nothing yet,” Carter said, then cleared his throat.
“No ransom call?”
“Nope.”
“No new evidence, no leads?” he persisted, wishing for just a glimmer of hope.
There was a bit of hesitation before Carter said, “Not really, but we’re checking on something.”
“What’s that?” Travis asked, his heart knocking in dread. Oh, God, please don’t let it be that they’d found the body of a girl, that even now the lab was trying to ID her. He squeezed his eyes shut and held the receiver in a death grip.
“Earl Miller, who works over at Janssen’s Hardware store, thought he saw a white van with out-of-state plates on the day that Dani went missing. He can’t remember anything else about the van, just that the license plate was from Arizona and that he thought, but wasn’t sure, that the van was a Ford. He didn’t catch a glimpse of the driver, but another person, Madge Rickert, was walking her dog and saw a similar vehicle parked on a side street not far from the school earlier that same day, around eight-thirty. She remembers because she was trying to keep her Chihuahua from lifting his leg on the back tire.”
“That’s about the time Dani got to school.”
“He could have been looking for her.”
“Jesus.” Travis’s lungs were so tight he could barely breathe. Even though he’d thought he’d prepared himself for the evidence that she’d been abducted, the news brought with it a soul-jarring, desperate fear.
“Look, Travis, we don’t know anything yet. This might not lead to finding her, but right now, it’s all we’ve got. We’re checking with Blanche Johnson’s neighbors again, asking if anyone saw an unknown van with out-of-state plates.”
Travis nodded. Neither of them believed it was coincidence that Dani had disappeared the day Blanche Johnson was murdered. “Keep me posted.”
“I will and in the meantime, you’d better think about keeping your nose clean,” Carter advised. “I’ve been getting calls about you from the Santa Lucia PD.”
Travis flicked a glance toward the window where the blinds were snapped tightly shut. He didn’t have to check. He knew the cop car was still parked near the curb on the other side of the street. “I figured.”
“I had to tell them what’s going on up here and why I think you’re in their town. Sounds like you got yourself into some trouble.”