Page 5 of Captive at Rescue Ridge

“We all did,” Travis agreed. The rash of crimes was disturbing, to say the least. As acting sheriff, Travis would be the most concerned with keeping the town’s residents safe. Having spent his entire life in Saddle Junction, he cared on a personal level. One of the best benefits of small-town life was supposed to be the lack of criminals. It was common for folks to leave their cars running while they ran into the post office to drop off mail. Or, at the very least, leave the key inside after they cut the engine off to save on gas. Windows down on nice days, no one thought twice about whether their possessions were safe. Folks looked out for each other. For some, it was out of neighborly concern. For others, it was to keep up with the latest gossip. Either way, the town had been lulled into a sense of safety until recently.

“I can jimmy open one of the windows.” It was the best offer Archer could think of on the spot. “But if someone was inside, would they lock the door behind them?”

“It’s possible.” Travis shrugged. “My experience says it would be unusual. Most criminals would want to keep a quick exit option. Stopping long enough to unlock a door could be the couple of seconds law enforcement or a homeowner needed to get the upper hand.”

“Do you have a tire iron?” Archer asked as the sounds of gravel crunching underneath tires preceded a dust cloud bigger than a tornado. They had company. Noisy company. If someone was inside, they had to know a cavalry had arrived. If Archer's intuition could be counted on, one or more of his siblings had caught wind of what was going on and had decided to see if they could help. “Never mind.” One of them would most likely have the master key.

The first vehicle broke through the cloud. Sure enough, Chloe sat in the driver’s seat. Her lead foot had caused her to beat both Kade and Conrad.

She pulled up next to Travis’s vehicle and exited her sedan in two shakes.

“Where’s Grayson?” Travis asked after a quick greeting.

“With Maryanne.” Chloe turned her attention to Travis. Her gaze bounced from the cabin and back. “What caused the two of you to take off like you did?”

“Pickpocket,” Archer said before Travis could. “Do you have the spare key to the cabin and my truck?”

“Me?” she asked, wide-eyed. Her jaw nearly hit the ground. Questions danced in her eyes. Her gaze darted to the house again. This time, understanding lit her eyes. “No. But I bet Kade does.” She jogged toward their brother’s truck as it parked next to hers.

A quick conversation happened between the two.

Kade nodded and then grabbed a keyring before joining Archer and Travis. Their sister was a firecracker who could hold her own, thanks to growing up with five brothers. So, Archer wasn’t surprised she was right behind Travis and ready to go inside after Kade unlocked the door. Travis knew better than to try to stop her.

Guilt for moving as far away from the family’s horse ranch as he could at the ripe age of eighteen stabbed him. Chloe was the youngest, and they’d left her to fend for herself. No matter how tough she was, he would always carry responsibility for leaving her to fend for herself with Beaumont.

As a swarm of people descended on the cabin, Archer couldn’t help but wonder what anyone would have to gain from a break-in. He didn’t keep money in the house. Hell, there were barely enough groceries to get through a couple of days. The place wasn’t much, just a couple of bedrooms with enough furniture to keep him comfortable. There was no expensive artwork on the walls. Nothing worth picking his pocket for. He’d explained all this to Travis after climbing in the sheriff’s service vehicle.

No one was in the house, and not one piece of furniture was out of place.

“What’s really going on?” Chloe asked after they’d covered every inch and cleared every nook and cranny. The panic in her voice didn’t come as a surprise after everything she’d been through.

He caught everyone up in a few quick sentences. “I’m guessing no one has heard from Owen or Hudson today.”

Heads shook.

“Don’t stay here tonight,” Chloe said.

“Why not?”

“The person who stole your keys might come back later when you’re asleep,” she reasoned. “We don’t know what they wanted with the place and until we hear from our brothers, we need to keep our guards up.”

“There’s nothing of value here.”

“Except you,” she argued.

Travis joined them in the open-concept living room, dining room, and kitchen. “Your sister makes a good point. The bastard could wait until nightfall or until they know you’ll be gone.”

The person must know Archer would realize his keys were missing at some point this afternoon. Would they assume he would be prepared? Chloe’s line of thinking wasn’t unreasonable, even if he wanted to argue against it. If the bastard showed, and that was a big if, Archer could handle himself. He was on alert now and had the benefit of being a light sleeper. If the cabin so much as made a settling noise in the night, he’d wake up ready.

Another thought struck.

Maybe the person who’d stolen his keys didn’t care about getting to his cabin. Maybe they wanted to ensure he couldn’t follow them.

Had it been Black Hat?

Annalee tightenedher grip on the key fob in her hand. Archer would know soon enough that she’d pilfered his pocket. That was the thing about crowded gatherings; they made her job a little too easy.

Becca had taught Annalee the tricks of the trade at the tender age of eleven, explaining that Annalee would get a slap on the wrist if caught, whereas her mother would go to jail. Tell an eleven-year-old that all she had to do was grab someone’s keys or wallet to save her mother, and she would do it without thinking twice. The ethics of training your kid to be a thief before she was old enough to get her first pimple had not made Becca Copeland Mother of the Year material.

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