What Janie Saw(126)

                “I’m glad there’s no traffic,” CeeCee said. “Cute bear. Did you know a bear’s gallbladder can sell for as high as thirty thousand dollars?”

                Janie didn’t have a chance to respond. From behind her, someone rose and grabbed her around the throat and dragged her into the backseat.

                She fought for a moment, but the man was much stronger. One slap from him had her ears ringing. That was the least of her problems, though.

                She recognized him.

                From the drawing she and Amanda had created.

                It was Chad Ruskey.

                * * *

                RAFE CHECKED HIS cell phone for the fifth time. Ten after six. He punched the key that dialed Janie’s number and waited. It rang twice and then her voice mail came on. Unavailable. She’d been unavailable since he’d dropped her off. According to Katie, whom he’d called after he’d left his third message on Janie’s phone, Janie was helping around BAA and might have her phone off. The ringing sometimes disturbed the animals. It was a viable reason, but Rafe still felt a vague uneasiness in his gut.

                His chief of police had been to BAA just after three and saw Janie helping with the bear show. But, no one, at least that Rafe had spoken with, had seen Janie since then.

                Detective Nathan Williamson was still missing in action, too, which worried Rafe. Rafe had sensed something was off about Nathan and this case since Janie had read the art book. Maybe Rafe should have probed deeper into why.

                But Nathan was someone he’d worked with often, someone he trusted and had never before had a single issue with.

                Rafe pulled up in front of the police station and hurried in. Candy shook her head. She’d had no contact with Janie.

                “Her sister’s starting to worry, too,” Candy said.

                Rafe sat at his desk and pulled his notebook from his pocket. He’d spent most of the afternoon talking to a burglary suspect who Rafe suspected was guilty of more than stealing copper from the nearby elementary school. Then, he’d met with another officer over a civil matter. Used to be, Rafe had his finger in every pie and knew everything that was going on. This last month, though, he’d had to delegate a lot more, and he was quite impressed with how his officers—especially Jeff Summerside—had stepped up to the plate.

                After typing in his notes, which took all of twenty minutes, he quit trying to catch up on his work. He needed to get to BAA and find Janie.

                BAA was only ten minutes away. It was already closed. Which meant Janie had no excuse for not contacting him when she knew he’d be worried.

                He’d made it about one mile when his cell rang. Justin, sounding a bit frantic, said, “I’m out looking for Nathan. One of the kids I pal around with said they noticed his car out near Mailbox Mesa.”

                “Why is that important?”

                “Because he blew off at least three appointments, atypical, and that location is near the same farm where Crisco was found.”

                Rafe frowned. The land between Scorpion Ridge and Adobe Hill was unincorporated and fell under Rafe’s jurisdiction. At the very least, Rafe deserved a courtesy call if something was going down.

                “I’m heading up there now,” Justin said. “It’s fairly close to where Derek died.”