Page 50 of Anything for You (Veterans of Silver Ridge #7)
CHAPTER FIFTY
Dorian
I hadn’t heard a peep from Dove by nine the next morning.
Not that she’d said when she expected to be up, but she was naturally a fairly early riser. Since I was, too, we both enjoyed the pattern of a touch more sleep on weekends followed by breakfast and a lazy morning together.
I’d made quiche and a loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. I generally preferred the brighter flavors of spring and summer, but the fall pumpkin and spice and richer palates were undeniably cozy.
By ten, I’d gotten restless. When no answer to my text came, I wondered if maybe she’d been out later than I’d realized.
I’d passed out from exhaustion around eleven and she hadn’t gotten home.
Usually, we texted goodnight, and when I woke up and saw she hadn’t said anything in response when she arrived, I didn’t let it bother me .
Except it did bother me because it was unlike Dove. Granted, if she’d stayed out late or maybe had a little too much champagne with her girls, maybe she was sleeping it off at someone’s house. It hadn’t happened before, but who knew?
Her friends would, and since I had Jo’s number, I messaged her to check in.
When she confirmed Dove and Catherine had left All Booked Up around ten, I figured maybe she’d gone to Catherine’s.
I didn’t know her as well, so when I asked Jo if she wouldn’t mind making sure they’d made it to Catherine’s house okay, she was kind enough to do just that.
But she didn’t hear anything.
And when, a half hour later, she called me to say she’d driven by Catherine’s place and didn’t see her car, I knew something was wrong.
My pulse spiked, and I had to take a seat and breathe through a blast of panic before I grabbed my keys, wallet, and Bear, and we ran to the truck. On the way, I called Kenny and in eleven minutes, I was pulling up in front of Saint right as Bruce’s SUV and Luc’s car arrived.
“Kenny’s almost here, and Adam’s already inside,” Bruce said, clapping me on the shoulder. “We’ll get this figured out.”
On the drive, I’d alerted the Silverton PD and called Sheriff Ryan’s personal cell to let him know. The obvious threat was Dove’s brother and that meant the Patriot Ridge compound.
Inside, Beast ran a trace on Dove’s cell to no avail, which meant it was off. Once Doc got Catherine’s number, they did the same, and same problem. The last pings on both phones had been downtown Silverton, which gave us no help .
“Call your contact at Patriot Ridge. Whoever you’ve talked to about farm stuff in the past,” Jaws said, his tone taking on full mission-command tenor.
Relief and focus hit. I could do this. I could focus on tasks in front of me instead of sinking into the worry absolutely gutting me as I thought about what might be happening to Dove.
She’d been through more than any person should ever have to endure.
The fact that her brother might be contributing to her pain, might be making her life harder or scarier or worse in any way, had me gritting my teeth as I connected the call.
“This’s Pole.”
The clipped tone came through as usual. Polard Smith had been my primary contact since Cordy and Maybell had been forced out of the commune months ago.
He wasn’t particularly helpful, but the fact that he’d responded and confirmed they didn’t have Elise had put him in more favorable light… until now, when they likely had Dove.
“Do you have her?”
A beat of silence. “Who, now?”
“Dove Jensen. I believe you know her brother, Hawk Jensen. Her friend, Catherine Hewitt, was with her. Don’t lie to me, Smith.” The edge in my voice emerged in a gritty tone.
“Hold up there, bud. I don’t know no Dove or Catherine or nobody, and I ain’t keen on the way it sounds like you’re accusin’ me of something I ain’t even heard of let ’lone done.”
Jaws, and now Barbie, who’d arrived a few minutes ago, modeled taking a deep breath, so I did just that.
“My girlfriend and her friend are missing. I have reason to believe they’re at the commune. I understand you probably don’t want the police to obtain a warrant to search the premises, but they will begin working on getting one if you can’t help me out here.”
The ambient noise in the background of the call muted and all of us waited. This was the moment of truth when he’d either double down that he didn’t know anything or he’d cave to avoid police involvement. Little did he know, there was going to be police involvement either way.
After an interminable wait, the line crackled and Pole’s voice came through. “The nurse is here. They both came willingly. Nobody steps foot on the property or we stand our ground.”
The call went dead and more than one person swore.
Jaws spoke into a phone. “That they did, Chief, but they’re saying she went willingly.”
A few minutes later, his face was a mask of resolve.
“Chief said they can’t go without probable cause she was abducted and that he’s saying she went willingly complicates matters.
He’s going to work on a warrant to search the place, but since it’s a Sunday, it’ll take longer than we want to wait.
” He blinked, looking at the circle that’d formed around him.
Next to me stood Barbie, Cookie, Oak, Eddie, Saint, and Elizabeth.
Beast was still working the computers, likely trying to figure out anything else he could to give us intel.
“So, what? Are we going in to get her?” Barbie asked, verbalizing the question I hadn’t managed to voice.
Jaws heaved a sigh and gave a nod to Saint, who held his gaze, then turned to me. “If you think she’s there under duress, we go. We do it smart, we do it fast, and we do it as aboveboard as we can so they can’t prosecute for trespassing even if we get proof they took her.”
“Technically illegal.” This from Oak.
“It is. But so is kidnapping,” Elizabeth said, jaw flexing. “And frankly, I think they’ve messed with the wrong women.”
“Damn right they have,” Eddie said, nodding in agreement.
“Can’t say anything but thank you, then. I was going in to get her with or without you guys,” I admitted.
Beast slung an arm around my shoulders and squeezed briefly. “No, brother. Not without us. We’re with you, no matter what.”