Page 98 of Rescued Dreams

Finally, Elam shrugged. “My father had a lot of properties all over town.”

“I’ll run a search.” Kane strode out, probably going to meet Maria. Whatever he had in that backpack of his, Ridge prayed it was tech that would enable them to get Amelia back.

With no one in the room, he let out a breath, braced a hand on the glass, and hung his head. The persistent ache in his ribs flared to life again as if increasing simply because he was acknowledging it rather than skillfully pretending it didn’t exist.

When he drew his hand back from the glass, it flexed. Not glass, thick plastic. Basuto glanced over his shoulder, one brow raised.

He turned back to Elam. “So this stalker ex has her, and you want us to go on a wild-goose chase through every property your father owned just to find her? She’ll be dead by then. Or he’s already put her on a plane. He’ll take her somewhere no firefighter will ever find her.”

Ridge groaned.

Basuto knew he was in here.

“Find her.” Elam shrugged. “Don’t find her. What do I care? I’ll have my money to retire with.”

Ridge went to the door and let himself out. In the bullpen, Maria and Kane bent to look at the same laptop screen, Aiden standing nearby. A couple of uniformed officers sat in the break room, drinking coffee.

“Anything? Because Elam is giving them nothing.” He told them what had been said.

Aiden nodded. “Basuto has a point. A wild-goose chase is a waste of resources. We need intel and probable cause so we can get a warrant and go kick a door in.”

Ridge sucked in a long breath.

“We’re looking at options.” Kane didn’t even glance over.

Ridge paced down the aisle between desks and then back over. He’d never felt so helpless in his life as he did right now.God, how do I get her back?

He prayed Amelia wasn’t hurt or in imminent danger of being hurt.

That things didn’t get worse before they got better.

And he prayed she would find peace in Jesus so that she wasn’t alone. If she cried out to Him, she would find safety in His arms. No matter what the outcome would be.

That was the promise he believed in.

Aiden said, “I’ll be right there.”

Ridge twisted around to the sergeant’s desk, where Aiden set the phone back on its cradle. “It’s okay if you need to go.”

“You’ll want to come with me.” Aiden slid his holstered weapon onto his belt and grabbed a set of keys. “A call just came in from one of your neighbors. There’s a disturbance at your house.”

Ridge ran for the entrance as fast as he could.

The twins.

THIRTY-THREE

Amelia caught a glimpse of headlights on the front window. The temperature in the house had descended far enough that she couldn’t stop shivering.

Cherry said, “He’s back.”

Amelia shifted in the cage and tried to look, but twenty feet away from the window, there wasn’t much to see. “He’s back.”

Maybe they both needed to state the obvious, grasping for the truth. Not reality so much. Just a clear handle on what was happening. He’d been gone a while, maybe an hour—possibly two. Long enough that they might be outside of town. And the PD jurisdiction. They could be in an area overseen by state police.

Cherry started to cry quietly.

Amelia was going to face him with her chin high, or she wouldn’t be facing him at all. She was so different from the broken, scared woman who had left Benson and come back to Last Chance County with nothing. That woman hadn’t seen the signs until it was too late. She’d wrapped her self-esteem and her confidence up in Nicholas and allowed him to dictate everything.