Alibi (Brantley Walker Off the Books #5) - Nicole Edwards Page 0,15

that was what had tipped Juliet into crazy land. Now she had a vendetta against Travis, who she claimed was personally responsible for all of it. Which was the very reason she’d kidnapped Kate, hoping to strike a death blow to Travis. It had worked, no doubt about it. Those two days Kate had been missing had nearly leveled him and his family. Having to watch Kylie and Gage suffer had been almost as brutal as not knowing where his little girl was.

Bottom line was, she had to be stopped before she could do any more damage.

“I’ve put my deputies on alert,” Sheriff Endsley told them. “Unfortunately, we don’t know what she’s drivin’, but we’re keepin’ an eye out for out-of-state plates and rentals. We’ll run a cursory check if we come across somethin’.”

Travis refrained from telling them it wasn’t nearly enough. He could see by the look on the sheriff’s face that he already knew. But Jeff was right. They had nothing more than an image of the bitch’s face behind the wheel of what was possibly a blue car at some point today. The photo was snapped through the windshield, giving them nothing else to go on. Where she’d gone after that picture was taken was anyone’s guess, although Travis’s gut was telling him she wasn’t far.

“Daddy-O, why do we hafta leave?”

Pulled from his thoughts, Travis peered down to see Kade standing at his side, tugging on his shirt. Those blue-gray eyes so much like his own were pleading and intense.

Travis absolutely detested Juliet for doing this to his family, for targeting them, for making Travis a nervous wreck. And most importantly for making his kids look at him like that.

“We’re not leavin’ yet,” Gage said, drawing Kade’s attention. “We just wanted y’all to take a break. Have a drink and a snack.”

While Gage and Kaden began distributing snacks to curious munchkins, Travis focused his attention on others. He watched interactions between husbands and wives, moms, dads, kids. Nowhere did he see a lone woman slinking through the throng of people.

Not that he expected it to be easy.

Where was she? He knew she was out here. She had to be. Today was the perfect day and this was the perfect place for her to make a move. The question was, who would she target?

And while he searched for Juliet, Travis scanned the area for Kylie, knowing his heart wouldn’t return to its normal beat until he laid eyes on her.

Five minutes passed, then ten, then fifteen.

Didn’t Kylie know he was going to have a heart attack? At the very least a panic attack? He hated not knowing where any of them were at any given moment.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Gage said quietly. “Probably finishin’ up her coffee with Jess, enjoyin’ her last bit of peace and quiet before joinin’ the fray.”

Sure. Probably. But the rationality didn’t help to slow the rapid beat of his heart.

Travis reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone but stopped suddenly when the air was rent with a horrific sound. The revving of an engine, the eerie screech of tires, followed by a sickening crash, then a crescendo of screams and shouts.

All eyes shifted to Main Street, instinctively following the sound. The same place the masses were headed, many pulling out cell phones, some making calls, others turning on cameras.

Without thinking, Travis took off running.

He wasn’t sure who was behind him, and in that moment, he didn’t care. He probably should’ve thought about his children, ensured someone had remained back to keep an eye on them, but something in his chest was ripping open, and he was merely trying to keep his heart from leaping out of his throat.

“Call 911!” someone yelled.

“Oh, my God! It hit her! The car! It hit her!”

It took only a few seconds to make it to the scene, another to navigate through the crowd. He tried to be gentle, nudging people out of the way, desperate to—

“Help! Please! Someone help my sister!”

That statement sent a flash of ice-cold fear through Travis’s bloodstream. He recognized the voice.

When he broke through the last of the crowd, he came up short, all the air in his lungs slamming out of him at the sight of his wife’s crumpled body on the concrete. Behind her was a small SUV, the backend smashed in, clearly having been hit by another car. And if the scene told him anything, it was that his wife had been pinned between that vehicle and the one responsible