are you?” Colton asked after a perfunctory greeting. Colton was the county’s sheriff. A call from him most likely didn’t signal good news.
“Getting close to my exit on the highway. Why?” Cash didn’t like where this conversation was headed.
“My office just got a call from our town’s newest resident on Cherry Street. Seems there was an attempted kidnapping involving her six-month-old daughter. Sounds like you’re closer to her street whereas I’m forty minutes away. There are no deputies in the area, either. Any chance you’d be willing to stop off and take the report?” Colton had no idea the day Cash had had.
“This bad guy still in the area?” Cash asked.
“It’s a possibility. Dispatch said they could barely make out what Ms. Smith said for a baby’s cries,” Colton said.
“I got your back.” Duty called and duty had always taken a front seat to Cash’s personal life. Besides, how much worse could his day get?
There was also something in Colton’s voice that didn’t sit right. Cash put the phone on Speaker and navigated back onto the highway.
“Everything good with you?” he asked Colton.
“It’s Mother. She’s probably worrying over nothing.” Colton paused a beat. “Pops isn’t answering his cell.”
“Is he out on the property?”
“I keep reminding her about the dead spots on the property and he’d last been around Hunter’s Rock,” Colton supplied.
“That place is the worst. I never get service out there.” The O’Connor ranch was vast and there were plenty of dead zones when it came to cell service. “Have you noticed that she’s been acting weird ever since Pops’s checkup last year?”
“I have.” Static came through the line, making it sound like Colton was on the move. “She’s been keeping Pops on what he jokes is a short leash.”
“I had the same thought.” Even so, Cash figured their father had gotten winded somewhere out on the property and was taking a minute to rest. It wasn’t too surprising that their father hadn’t answered any calls, considering all the patches of land with no cell service.
“This time, she’s not letting it go. She begged me to put together a team to go out and search for him. That’s the real reason for the call. She’s worked herself into a panic and I don’t think it’s a good idea that I leave her alone right now even though she practically tried to shove me out the door.”
“Did you call Gayle?” Their neighbor and Mother had been best friends for decades.
“She’s on her way now,” Colton admitted. “But if there is a kidnapper and he’s in the vicinity, you know better than anyone that time is always the enemy when it comes to criminal cases.”
“True,” Cash agreed. “You stay put. I’ll take the call. I’m almost there already. Keep me posted on Pops.”
“I will,” Colton promised. He supplied the basic details of the complaint.
The two ended the call as Cash pulled in front of 724 Cherry Street.
Cash walked up to the two-story farmhouse, surveying the quiet street for signs of anything out of the ordinary. The suspect might still be lurking, waiting for an opportunity for round two.
No two crime scenes were alike. No two calls the same. Variety was part of the reason Cash loved his job. But attempted kidnappings always made him think of his sister, Caroline.
He white-knuckled his cell phone as he cleared the porch steps, thinking about the impact the crime had had on his parents. It was strange how a ripple could affect so many lives after it was felt.
At least in this case, the kidnapper had failed. Even so, Cash knew firsthand just how much crime changed people, how much it had changed him.
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