“Damn. But, Lucas, you can’t go out to Sam J
ennings’s place. He’s liable to shoot you on sight—whether he knows anything about Rachel or not.”
“That’s why I’m calling you. Will you meet me?”
“Where?”
Lucas named an intersection that was close to the tumoff to Sam’s place. “I’ll be waiting for you at the Exxon station there. Hurry.”
“All right. And, Lucas—wait for me. I don’t want you talking to Sam Jennings without me there. Remember, it’s possible he has no idea where Rachel is.”
“Just don’t take too long to get there.” Lucas ended the call and started his car.
HE REACHED the service station ahead of Wade, and sat drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, anxious to be on his way. He was giving Wade five minutes, he told himself, and then he was leaving without him.
He needed to find Rachel.
It wasn’t only his imagination making him worry now. Rachel had told him to pick her up at eight. Even if she’d stood him up—and he didn’t believe she would, no matter how he’d treated her in the past—she wouldn’t have given her grandmother cause to worry. She wouldn’t have been gone four hours without calling to check in.
Not if she was able to call.
That thought went straight to his gut. He couldn’t wait any longer. He had to know if she was at her uncle’s house. If she wasn’t...well, he would deal with that fear when it was justified. He reached for the gearshift, then paused when a familiar dark Jeep turned into the service-station lot. The Jeep pulled up beside him, and the driver’s window lowered, revealing Wade and Blake inside.
Lucas lowered his own window. “It’s about time you got here.”
“I came as fast as I could. Blake showed up just as I was leaving and wanted to come along. He said he had a feeling something was going on.”
Lucas wasn’t discounting anyone’s “feelings” at the moment. He had a bad one of his own to deal with. “Let’s go,” he said.
Wade wasn’t letting Lucas out of his sight. “Leave your car parked here. We’ll take mine.”
Lucas grumbled, but turned off the engine, pocketed the keys and locked the doors. He didn’t like taking orders. But right now, his only concern was for Rachel.
Wade didn’t have to ask where Sam’s house was. He drove to it unerringly, pulling into the driveway and parking close to the front door. Lucas was out of the car almost before the engine died. Wade caught up with him, and insisted that Lucas let him go first.
No one answered when Wade rang the doorbell, Lucas and Blake hovering close behind him. There were a few lights burning inside, but the curtains were drawn. There was no way of knowing if anyone was inside.
Growing impatient, Lucas took a step backward. “I’m going to look around.”
Blake turned. “I’ll go with you.”
“Now, wait a minute, you two. We don’t have a warrant. We can’t just start searching Jennings’s property.”
Lucas didn’t slow down. “I’m not a cop.”
“No, you’re a trespasser. Lucas—”
Blake was right at Lucas’s shoulder as Lucas headed for the back of the house. Lucas heard Wade mutter something unintelligible and then he fell into step behind them.
Two storage buildings were secured with heavy padlocks.
“I could break those if I had a crowbar,” Lucas muttered.
“Don’t even think about it,” Wade warned him. “Maybe we should call Rachel’s house. See if she’s checked in yet.”
But Lucas was watching Blake, who was headed for the detached garage. A tiny penlight in his hand illuminated fresh tire tracks in the ground, which was still damp from the heavy rains of the past week.
Lucas frowned and followed the P.I.