Page 68 of Snowbound Threat

The sheriff extended his hand to Charlie. “Good to see you again. I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances.” He introduced her to Will before returning his attention to Ryan. “Did you get a look at the vehicle?”

Ryan shook his head. “It was gone by the time I reached the hiding spot. The shooter fired one shot from those trees.” He pointed to the place where the footprints started. “No shell casing. I’m guessing he took it with him.”

Boone scanned the countryside. “Whoever did this is familiar enough with the area to know where to park and not be spotted.”

Abby’s place bordered the national forest on three sides. There were only a few houses down this road.

“With national forest all around and thick snowdrifts, he’d have to have some type of four-wheel-drive vehicle to get out of here,” Will told them. “We didn’t see anyone on the road as we were coming in and it dead-ends into the forest a little past this place.”

“Makes sense. The vehicle was parked in the woods. He wouldn’t have wanted to risk running into a firefight with me by coming back this way.”

Boone grunted. “There’s a forest service road that crosses through the woods halfway past this place.” He turned to his deputy. “Will, go check it out. I’m guessing that’s how he got away.”

“Will do, Sheriff.” He headed to his cruiser and sped down the road toward the woods.

“Any sign of things being out of place inside?” Boone asked as he glanced up at the shell of the house.

“None. There are no footprints in the dust. The blue container was lying on the floor. I have no idea when the contents were taken.”

Behind them, Doug, the crime tech pulled in behind Boone.

“Good, we’ll have him dust the container for prints and see what he can come up with at the house.” Boone stepped away to speak with Doug.

“I’m going to reach out to Abby’s parents. I hate to bring all this back up but we need to know if they remember taking the contents of the container.”

He grabbed his phone and scrolled through the numbers until he found the one for Deborah Tucker. It had been years since he’d spoken to the family personally. They’d eventually stopped calling to check on Abby’s case. He believed it was just too painful for them to think about.

Ryan selected the number and hit call. He and Charlie stepped to the far end of the porch while he waited for Deborah to answer.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end didn’t sound like the cheerful woman he’d grown up knowing.

“Deborah, it’s Ryan McCabe.” The silence that followed had him wondering if he’d made a mistake by involving them.

“Ryan, it’s nice to hear from you. It’s been a while. Has something. . .?”

She didn’t finish but Ryan understood what she wanted to know. “There may have been a new development but I’m not sure it’s significant yet.” He paused for a much-needed breath before asking her about the container. “Did you or your husband empty its contents out before you moved?”

“A blue container? I don’t remember one. I’m sorry. I can speak to Jim when he gets off work. Why do you ask? What’s the significance of the container?”

Ryan stalled before mentioning the note Charlie found.

“And you think Abby may have left something in the container to identify who took her?” The hope in Deborah’s voice was hard to hear.

“We’re not sure.” He reminded Deborah of the mystery games Abby loved playing. “I’ll let you know if we find out anything more. If you could ask Jim about the container that’d be great.”

“I will, I promise.” She was silent for a long moment before adding, “Please, Ryan. Find out what happened to our daughter. We’d like to know the truth before. . .”

He swallowed hard. “I’ll do my best. We’ll talk soon.” He hadn’t told Deobrah about the shooting or the break-in at Pete’s place. The missing journals. Or the niggling feeling that Pete’s death might not have been from natural causes.

While Doug went to work inside searching for viable fingerprints, Ryan drove Charlie back to her room at Lila’s to get her car and then he planned to follow her back to Pete’s place.

A text message came in before they reached town. He scanned it. “Looks like they were able to get some prints on the container. Let’s hope one of them is useful. Oh, and Boone contacted the medical examiner. He’s going to run further tests on Pete.”

Charlie shifted in her seat. “That’s good.”

He hoped it would be. But even if they did find out Pete was murdered, they still had a long way from finding out who was responsible.

She continued to study him, picking up that something was troubling him. “What is it?”