Page 55 of Shelter for Tanna

“Some guys came here and were beating on the door. Mom made us hide behind the bed and close the door. She called the police. I don’t know what it was all about, but she was really scared.”

That didn’t make any sense. What was Daniel talking about? He needed to call the police, but he had another call to make first. “Daniel, it’s gonna be okay, buddy. Listen, I’m going to call my mom and Jessica and see if one of them can come and stay with you guys, okay? I’ll call you back in a few.”

“Okay.” He could hear the kid’s voice cracking. “What’s happening? I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either, but I’ll get to the bottom of it. You can bet on that. Let me make some calls and I’ll call you back.”

Twenty minutes later, Marsha and Jake were headed to Tanna’s house with a pizza and soft drinks so they could feed the kids and stay with them. After calling her phone half a dozen times and getting no answer, Braden called the police department next. Luckily for him, the officer who answered the phone was a guy he’d gone to high school with. “I don’t know what’s going on, but something’s wrong. She doesn’t just not come home, Adam,” he told the man after he’d related everything he knew.

“Yeah, I’m looking at the reports from last night. We had two officers go over there. She told them two men had been following her around and threatening her, that they’d come to the office once and Charlie had run them off, and they’d been there at her residence, beating on the door and yelling at her. We sent cars through there every thirty minutes for the rest of the evening and never saw anything.”

Braden could feel his blood pressure rising. He’d talked to her at bedtime and she hadn’t said a word. “She never told me any of this. Nothing today?”

“Nope.”

Braden didn’t know what to do. “Do you by any chance have Charlie’s home number?”

“Nope. I don’t know how to get in touch with him. Wait?I can get his address. Hang on.” Adam put him on hold and came back a couple of minutes later with the address. “You going over there?”

“Damn straight I am. I’ll let you know if I find out anything.”

“Good deal, and good luck.” Braden thanked him. He had a feeling he was going to need all the luck he could get.

After telling ElCapitan and the other guys what was going on, Braden jumped into his truck and drove like a maniac toward Charlie’s house. There was no one there when he arrived, so he drove to the company office instead. To his surprise, all the lights were on and there were two police cruisers out front. His heart sank into his stomach when he noticed Tanna’s little car sitting in the lot beside the building.

Braden slammed the Ford out of gear and ran inside. Charlie was sitting there, smoking a cigarette, as the two officers turned to stare at Braden. “Where did you send Tanna?”

Charlie shot him a look of utter contempt. “Who are you?”

“I’m Braden. Her boyfriend. Where did you send her?”

“Oh, so you’re her boyfriend. What’s she done with my truck?”

Braden stared at him for a few seconds. “What the hell do you mean?”

“I mean, the bitch stole my truck! She never brought it back! I’m reporting it to the police, and if you had anything to do with this, you’ll be?”

White-hot fury coursed through Braden’s veins. “Stole your truck? She’smissing, you fuckstick! She never came home! The truck’s not stolen! Those two guys who showed up at the office Friday?”

Charlie screwed up his face in disgust. “You mean the two scabby meth-sucking pieces of shit who came in here looking for their car?”

“Yeah. They showed up at her house last night with a gun and threatened her! They’ve beenfollowingher. I need to know where you sent her today. We’ve got to try to find her.” From his peripheral vision he could see both police officers digging around in their tablets, and he knew they were checking on the report from the night before.

Charlie shrugged as though he didn’t give a single shit. “I sent her on four runs.”

“Where?” Braden bellowed.

The tar- and nicotine-infused man’s eyes popped open wide. “I dunno! I write them down and hand the slips to the drivers! I don’t have a record ofwherethey’re going!”

One of the officers finally spoke. “So do you remember a general area where you sent, um, Ms.Hilliard?” he asked, looking at his notepad.

“Nah. Just some runs. I think one was out near… No. That was two days ago. Umm, let’s see…”

“Would youpleaseact like a decent human being and help us out here!” Braden begged, his heart threatening to slam out of his chest.

“Uh, um, okay. I know one was out by the high school. And there was one out on highway eighteen twenty-one. Blue Ford pickup, I think. No, Chevy. Blue Chevy pickup.”

“No idea of a house number?” the other officer asked.

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