Home to Whiskey Creek (Whiskey Creek #4)(14)
Author: Brenda Novak

She offered her hand to let him know what she preferred, and he acted as if that was the most he’d expected.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said.

She conjured up a pleasant expression as they shook. “So am I.”

Once she sat down, he sobered in apparent concern. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“Sure. Although there isn’t a lot to tell.”

He returned to his seat but didn’t pick up his cake or coffee. He took out a pad and pen. Whiskey Creek was pretty uneventful. A true abduction would be the case of a lifetime for a backwoods cop like Stacy—could make or break his career.

Too bad she wasn’t about to give him anything that might help him solve the crime. Even if, as a victim, she could be completely honest about what she knew and remembered, Adelaide wouldn’t pit him against a very wily kidnapper. He seemed long on confidence but short on experience. As far as she could remember, the most he’d ever had to find was a runaway horse or dog. A big day for a cop in Whiskey Creek was handling security for the annual Fourth of July parade or the Victorian Days festival every Christmas.

“Just start from the beginning,” he said.

Lacing her fingers together, she stared down at the fingernails she’d broken. “Before I went to bed, I opened the door in my bedroom—”

“The one that leads out to the street?”

“To the porch. Yes.”

“Because…”

“I needed some fresh air.”

He raised his eyebrows. “It’s fall,” he said.

Not wanting to blame Gran for her heavy hand with the thermostat, she glossed over that. “My room hasn’t been used much since I left. It was sort of…stuffy.”

“So you opened the door to air it out.”

“Yes. There was the screen door, of course, which was locked.”

“A screen provides little protection….”

As if she didn’t feel foolish enough. “I wasn’t too worried about protection. Not here at home.” It wasn’t until she’d disobeyed her grandmother, back in high school, and ventured to the mine that she’d gotten into trouble. And pointing out that she should feel secure in a town he was supposed to keep safe shifted the blame back on to him.

“Nothing like this has ever happened before,” he told her, backpedaling.

“Which is why I didn’t worry about it. But someone, a—a man, cut the screen, dragged me from my bed and drove me up to the old mine.”

“The Jepson mine, where Cody Rackham was killed?”

The fear that, at long last, she’d be implicated in Cody’s death, tied her stomach in knots. But she’d expected the immediate association. They’d had their tragedies in Whiskey Creek—when Dylan Amos’s father got into a bar fight and stabbed his opponent and when Phoenix Fuller used her mother’s Buick to run down her rival, to name two—but the popular, wealthy and handsome Rackham family had always generated a great deal of interest. “Where Cody…died. Yes,” she said.

“Did your abductor…” The way Stacy lowered his voice and shot a warning glance at Gran told Adelaide what he was about to ask.

She jumped in to save him the effort of formulating the rest of the question. “He didn’t rape me, no.”

His chest rose as if her answer allowed him to draw a deep breath for the first time since he’d arrived. He even left his pad and pen in his lap and reclaimed his coffee and cake. “I’m happy to hear that.” He took a big bite, then paused to give her a searching look. “You’d tell me if he did,” he said while chewing. “I realize there’s a certain…stigma that goes with that word, with the act itself, but I can’t help you if you’re not honest with me.”

Her mouth was so dry she could hardly speak. “He didn’t rape me.” But she could clearly remember the time before, when he had….

“So you were awakened in your bed and then what? Let’s go over it detail by detail.”

She cleared her throat. “He whispered that he’d hurt me and Gran if I screamed. Then he tied my hands, blindfolded me and forced me to walk out to his truck or SUV.”

“You’re sure it was a truck or SUV.”

“By the sound of the engine and how high off the ground it was…yes.” That was true, but she hardly saw it as revealing. Practically everyone in these parts owned a truck.

“Did you get the color, or the make and model?”

“No. The blindfold was too tight.” And when she’d tried to remove it, he’d panicked and struck her. That was the first time he’d hit her, but it wasn’t the most painful, just a glancing blow on the cheek.

“What about before the blindfold? Were you able to see him or any part of him?”

She wished she could tell the police chief to forget about the incident, but she knew that would only make him wonder at her reaction. She had to act as if she wanted her kidnapper caught. “Just that first glimpse.”

“And…”

She swallowed. “I’m afraid I can’t give you a description. It was so dark, and he was wearing a ski mask.”

Stacy frowned as he formulated another question. “Did he have any exposed skin? Any tattoos or birthmarks?”

“He was completely covered.”

“What was he wearing?”

“Black pants and a black sweatshirt.” That much was true, but the sweatshirt had a strange logo on it, a bright yellow logo with a website URL that was easy to remember. Thanks to the light of a full moon streaming through that screen door, she’d spotted www.SkintightEntertainment.com before he’d managed to blindfold her. But she was giving Stacy only generic information, information she felt safe providing. As far as she knew, that URL could be connected to where the culprit worked, could lead police right to him.

“Were his clothes particularly expensive or cheap?” Stacy asked. “I mean—” he leaned forward, beseeching her with his body language “—did you notice anything that might help identify him? What kind of guy was this?”

A guy who wore a brand of cologne she normally would’ve liked. She remembered that, too—but it was another detail she planned to keep to herself. “They were just your basic cargo pants and a plain sweatshirt. They could’ve come from any department store.”

He put his coffee down again so he could make a few notes. “Can you tell me how tall he was?”