coffee.
“You told McMaster where she was?” Cin couldn’t believe Robbie would do such a thing when he already had suspicions about the guy.
“Hell no!” Robbie was offended Cin would think so. “I told him I’d ask around and to give me a contact number. I figured he’d go away, but he rented a damn cabin for a week instead. I was going to talk to Jane and find out the truth when that tractor-trailer jackknifed on the 402 truck route, and it was all hands on deck for nearly twenty-seven hours. By the time I got back to town, Jane was missing.”
“She left town?” Cin asked, trying to figure out how Jason had gotten Lanie.
Robbie shook his head. “Henry said when he got back to the store yesterday morning, he saw that Jason guy pushing Jane into his car. She was screaming and fighting until he punched her in the face.”
Cin was furious that his suspicions were correct about what happened between Jason and Lanie. “What do you need me to do?”
“I don’t know.” Robbie was at a loss. “We ran the guy yesterday, but he comes back clean as a whistle. Jane Gordon doesn’t exist at all. Anywhere. Whoever Jane is, she’s got to be scared of this man, and I’m worried about her.”
“Do you know where McMaster is?” Cin was tracking the computer chip in Jason’s rental SUV while they spoke.
“No idea and I’ve got an officer at the rental cabin in case he comes back,” Robbie admitted.
Cin stood and faced the man he respected and had worked with before on a few bad cases over the years. “I like you, Robbie. You’re a damn good man. Because of that, I’m going to have to ask you to walk away from this one and let me handle it. Get rid of your officers at Jason’s cabin and pretend like none of this ever happened.”
Robbie looked up at Cin in shock. “Cin, I can’t do that. That poor woman needs help! I can feel it in my bones.”
“I know she does, and I’m going to give it to her,” Cin promised. “But you can’t be involved in it. No one can if we don’t want the feds crawling all over this place. This situation is much bigger and broader than you can imagine.”
“What the hell aren’t you telling me, Son?” Robbie stood and faced Cin. “I’m the damn Sheriff, and it’s my job to protect my people. Whether you like it or not, that includes you and this missing girl.”
“You are doing your job, Robbie. You’re turning it over to the person most qualified to handle this problem,” Cin assured his friend. “Give me twenty-four hours, and this whole situation should be resolved.”
Robbie slapped his hat against his pant leg and glared at Cin. “Twenty-four hours. Only because I got no other leads right now. But if this goes to shit and that girl gets hurt or worse, I’m kicking your ass.”
“No one is going to hurt that girl, Robbie,” Cin promised. “I swear that on my life.”
Chapter Ten
Cin walked Robbie out and had no sooner shut the door before a panicked Lanie came flying out of the spare bedroom. Her eyes flew around the room, looking for a way out before she saw the door to the deck. Cin stopped her right before she reached it.
“Stop.” Cin held his hands out in front of him non-threateningly. “If you go, you’re going to run right back into Jason. He’s still here, Lanie. Look.”
Cin turned on the TV and put on the satellite that was tracking the computer chip in Jason’s SUV. Lanie looked at it in shock and horror.
“He’s looking for me. Near here,” Lanie nearly choked on the last and fought back her tears.
“Yeah, he is,” Cindrac admitted. “Jason knows you’re strong and tough. He knows you’re alive, and you need a way out of town.”
Lanie looked up at Cin, suddenly terrified. “He saw you, didn’t he? Jason’s going to find you! You have to tell the Sheriff and let him help!”
Cin put his hands on Lanie’s small shoulders and shook his head. “You need to calm down. Jason will never find you here.”
Lanie was at a loss over what to do. Every bit of experience she had with Jason told her that she needed to run like hell from this place before he could get her again. But all of her instincts were screaming to trust this odd man, stop running, and make a stand.
“I don’t know