Page 45 of Valor (Long Hot Summer: Christian Romantic Suspense #2)

GIBSON

“My guess is she was somewhere out here,” I tell the brothers and Deputy Brown as I brief them a few hours after leaving Lani. The last thing I’d wanted to do was leave her side, but my desperation to put this nightmare behind her for good was growing with every second I sat there.

So I left her with her parents and Tucker to watch over her, knowing they won’t let anyone close enough to hurt her. I’d driven up and down the road where I found her until I discovered a barely visible side road leading to some property about five miles out of town.

It’s shielded by a bunch of overgrown bushes, though there are fresh tire tracks in the dirt.

“Do we know who owns that property?” Bradyn questions, gesturing to the hundred-acre parcel about two miles north of where I found Lani.

“A trust,” Deputy Brown replies. “It’s been vacant for thirty years, ever since the owner died and left it to his grandson. As far as we can tell, he hasn’t set foot on the property for the last three decades.”

“Do we have a number for him?” I ask her.

She nods and tears a sheet off her notepad. “Name, address, and phone number.”

“Great. Thanks.”

“Do you want me to start working on a warrant to search the property?”

“Not yet,” I tell her. “Can you check out Lani’s apartment? See if anyone’s been back there since she escaped.”

“Sure thing, Sheriff.” She offers me a nod and says goodbye to the others. As soon as my office door is closed behind her, I turn to them.

“We’re not waiting for a warrant. As far as I’m concerned, we have probable cause. You on board with that?” I ask them, knowing they’ll agree. None of the Hunts are a fan of red tape. And frankly, I can’t disagree with them. Besides, it’s not as though I’ll get fired.

Bradyn responds without hesitation, “Absolutely.”

The others nod in response.

“Perfect. Thanks.”

Riley, Elliot, and Dylan head for the door, while Bradyn lingers behind. As soon as his brothers are out, he crosses his arms and fully faces me. “You doing okay, Gibson?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, I’ve known you your whole life. You’ve been best friends with Lani nearly as long, and in love with her for probably the same amount of time. I know how I felt when Kennedy had been taken, and how angry I was once I found out what happened to her. So I’ll ask again, how are you?”

“Angry,” I tell him truthfully. “Furious. Someone was in her apartment when I dropped her off, Bradyn. I sent her into that trap then left while she fought for her life.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“People keep saying that.” Fresh anger surges through my veins. “But I can’t believe it. I’m a cop. I should have known something was off. I should have insisted on walking her inside, then leaving. Or waited a few more minutes until I was sure she was safe.”

“You’re a cop, not a superhero,” Bradyn says. “You can’t see through walls or read the minds of others. And if you don’t start cutting yourself a break, you’re going to end up blind to what’s happening in front of your face. Stop being so angry at yourself, or you may miss the truth.”

I know he’s right. I need to let it go. If it were anyone else and this were any other case, I’d be telling them the same thing. But this isn’t anyone else—it’s Lani. And all I can think about is how terrified she must have been.

Was she waiting for me to come back as she fought?

Did she call out for me?

Bradyn steps forward and rests his hand on my shoulder. “You’ve always been a part of our family, Gibson. Don’t let this drive you crazy. You found her. You helped her get home.”

“God brought her home,” I tell him honestly. “I had nothing to do with it.”

“Maybe, but He chose you to find her. And that means something.”

* * *

Two hours later, I’m standing in the cabin where Lani was held. The abandoned shack is situated in the very center of that 100-acre parcel, with only one road in and out. Every window is boarded, with only thin cracks between boards where the sunlight sneaks in.

A ragged couch covered in stains is the only seating in the main room. There’s a bathroom off of one area, and what likely used to be a bedroom, though now the floor has fallen in.

The entire place appears to be one gust of wind away from falling right over.

I’d seen the ditch Lani told me she’d crawled through. The storm drain she’d hidden in. Bradyn and the other brothers had looked over the place, then left before I called in backup. Less people, less questions to be asked.

As it stands, I was able to say the reason I came in was because I noticed the drain Lani had described and had probable cause to check the property.

Someone could still call me on it, but given I was voted into this office and the people of this town trust me, I doubt they will. And even if they did, I’d make the same choice again and again. Lani matters more to me than any badge or position ever will.

The crime scene unit is combing the cabin now, but I’m rooted in my spot, staring at the dingy room Lani was held in for nearly three days. It’s little more than a closet, barely large enough for the hospital bed she’d been tethered to.

Three of the four bindings are open, but the one that held her right wrist is secured still. Which is the same wrist that Lani claims came loose first. Thank You, God. I don’t even question it. Because there is no other explanation. He freed her. Just as Pastor Ford said, He was with her even as she was being held here.

There’s no light, no fan. No chance of airflow aside from the small sliver of light that peeks in from the bottom of the door. I’d shut myself in here briefly, just to put myself in Lani’s shoes in hopes I’d see something that would unlock everything.

All it did was push that fury to a full-blown inferno. How terrified was she? Emotion burns my throat. She’d feared the dark as a child, then was locked in it as an adult. Trapped like a sardine in a can.

Before I level this house out of anger alone, I shift my attention to the rest of the room. There has to be something here. Some clue that I’m missing. I cross over toward the IV pole beside the bed and inspect the bag of saline hanging from it.

The fact that hospital equipment keeps popping up here only angers me further. Is it possible Dr. Pierce has something to do with it? Or a nurse perhaps? Someone in the maintenance department?

We have our list of names, and even though we ran everyone through and found nothing, I know we have to have missed something. I did text Tucker though, so he could be aware and ensure she’s not left alone—not even for an instant.

There’s a bin of waste in the corner. Urine-soaked bedding and gowns that her abductor must have changed when she’d been unconscious.

I clench my hands into fists.

I’m going to tear this guy limb from limb. Even if it means I get hit with murder charges and lose everything. It’ll be worth it, to see the same fear reflected in his gaze as I saw in Lani’s when she woke this morning. As she must have felt every second in this glorified closet-turned-prison cell.

“The place is clean,” Bill Wilson, head of our crime scene unit, says as he comes out. “We pulled prints, but my money is on them all belonging to Lani. Every other inch of this place has been wiped. Whoever else was here even used shoe covers over their boots so we couldn’t pull a type.”

“Any way to trace the equipment?”

“Sure, but we won’t need to. Pine Creek Hospital is stamped on the underside of all of it.”

Suspicions confirmed, I turn to face him, crossing my arms. “So it’s someone with ties to the hospital.”

“That or a ghost who can get in and out with a truckload of equipment and not get seen.”

“I’m betting it’s not a ghost.” Between this equipment and the fact that the emails were sent from inside the hospital—someone there is after her. But who? We interviewed everyone, so either her abductor is a fantastic liar or somehow, we missed someone.

“That would be my guess too.” He shakes his head angrily. “I can’t believe someone would do such a thing to another person.”

“You and me both, Bill,” I reply as I continue staring at the place Lani was hidden. It’s only a few miles outside of town. She’d been so close, trapped here, terrified, and unsure anyone would ever find her.

And I can’t help but wonder…if she hadn’t escaped, would we have found her?