Jake pulled into the driveway and followed the same dirt path. He could see a truck with big tires parked right outside the barn. Someone else was already here. Eddie Cowens? He had to presume. The guy probably had a gun. How would Jake make his move, up against a weapon? He didn’t know, but that wasn’t slowing him down. His adrenaline was spiking. Beth was already out of the Explorer. Jake pulled over into the grass so he wouldn’t get too close and put her on alert. He opened his door, got out, and began hustling as quietly as possible toward the barn.
The scream he heard come from inside the barn stopped him cold in his tracks. And it wasn’t just one scream—it was continuous screaming. Someone inside was in absolute hysterics. Jake took off running full speed toward the barn. His whole body was pulsing with fear. Was it Piper? Had something happened to Piper? Without hesitation, Jake raced inside the open barn door. Beth was on her knees in the dirt in the wide-open space of the barn in front of him. She wailed uncontrollably. Stepping forward, Jake could now see why. Eddie Cowens was lying on his back in front of her, blood completely covering his face. There was a hole square in his forehead. The guy’s eyes were open, but he wasn’t moving an inch. Just beyond Eddie was another person down. This was an older woman. She was lying sideways on the ground, but it also looked like she’d been shot through the head. Both were clearly dead. Absolute terror gripped him. Was Piper dead, too? Was he too late? Had he broken his promise to always be there for her?
Jake ran over to Beth, grabbed her forcefully by the arm. She seemed startled by his sudden appearance, as if she hadn’t even heard him enter the barn.
“Where’s my daughter?” Jake yelled at her.
Beth was sobbing and barely able to respond. “I . . . don’t . . . know.”
Letting go of Beth, Jake raced over to each of the barn stalls, but there was no sign of Piper in any of them. He then rushed over to what looked like storage rooms. He yanked the first door open. It was filled with stacks of old bags of horse feed. A second room had a workbench and metal shelves lined with junk. No Piper. Jake went for the last door. He noticed a lock and chain lying in the dirt right in front of the door. Jake grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. God, please. But Piper was not inside. The room was empty except for one wooden chair and an old camping cot. There was a blanket and pillow on top of the cot. And there were a couple of fast-food bags wadded up on the dirty floor next to the chair. Piper had to have been kept inside this room. But where was she now? Who had killed Eddie and the other woman? Had they also taken Piper?
He returned to Beth, who was still hunched over her dead brother. She looked up at him. Beth was still crying hard but had caught her breath a little.
“Do you know who I am?” Jake said, kneeling in front of her.
She nodded. “I’m . . . so . . . sorry.”
“Who did this?”
“I don’t know. I was supposed to meet my brother and my mother here to leave the city together. But I don’t know who could’ve done this to them.”
“They had my daughter here?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
Jake wanted to unload all his anger on this woman, but he knew that wouldn’t do him any good right now. Beth probably would crumble on him. He needed to stay calm to get information out of her. “Beth, I need you to tell me the truth about everything. Right now.”
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I swear. It just . . . it kept escalating until everything spiraled out of control.”
“You’ve been having an affair with Steve Kingston?”
She seemed reluctant to answer.
“Answer me!” Jake screamed at her.
“Yes! For about eighteen months. He was supposed to leave his wife. He promised we would get married this next year.”
“Was it your brother who killed my wife in the car wreck last year?”
She bit her lip. More tears hit her eyes. Then she nodded.
“Why?”
She visibly swallowed. “Steve had taken a lot of money from the firm. Sarah discovered it and confronted him with it. She said she was going to tell their father. Steve thought he was going to lose everything. He thought his father might turn him in to the police and send him to prison—that’s how much Steve believed his father hated him. Steve had been supporting me financially. The house, the car—all of it. I told my mom and my brother what was happening. If Steve lost everything, that meant me and my family would also lose everything. That’s when Eddie decided to take matters into his own hands.”