The tire tracks indicated that a car had very recently been driven into the garage. The doors were locked. Lucas looked at Blake, who was studying the building intently. And then he glanced at Wade, who was wearing a resigned expression that seemed to indicate he knew he was either going to have to stay out of the way or arrest someone. Namely Lucas.
Lucas had seen that look before—usually justbefore Chief Packer had hauled him off the jail.
Without another word to his brother-in-law-to-be, Lucas turned and kicked in the side door to the garage.
He heard Wade’s curse, but he didn’t wait around to discuss the finer points of trespassing. He entered the building, snapping on the overhead light as he entered.
Three covered vehicles sat inside the garage. A stack of cardboard boxes were piled against one wall. An interior door was set into the back wall. Lucas tested that one, finding it locked.
There was no one inside the garage, no sign that Rachel had ever been there.
Nosing around, Blake pulled the cover off the vehicle nearest him, revealing a 1950s-era pickup truck. Moving slowly, as if he knew better but couldn’t resist, Wade uncovered the second vehicle, which turned out to be an orange two-seater. From where Lucas stood, he could see that the glove box hung open, and a pair of sunglasses lay on the passenger seat.
Turning to the third vehicle, Lucas took hold of the cover. He snapped it off with a flick of his wrist.
He stared at the vehicle he’d revealed, feeling as though someone had just hit him in the gut with a sledgehammer.
“Rachel’s?” Blake murmured.
Unable, for the moment, to speak, Lucas nodded, then looked at Wade. Why would Rachel’s car be hidden in Sam Jennings’s garage? And where was she? If anything had happened to her...
Just the thought of losing her devastated him.
A quick, muffled sound from behind the door at the back of the garage made him go still.
A moment later, he lifted his booted foot again and slammed it against the locked door. The lock broke with a loud crack, and the door flew inward. Someone tried to rush past Lucas. He reached out and caught the guy with one hand, slamming him up against the garage wall.
“Get the hell off my property,” Sam Jennings shouted, his florid face beet-red with fury and exertion. “Davenport, get this man away from me or be prepared to lose your badge.”
Lucas gathered Sam’s jacket in both hands and lifted him higher against the wall. “Tell me where Rachel is.”
“I don’t know what you’re...”
“That’s her car!” Lucas shouted into the man’s face. “Where is she?”
“Davenport!” Sam’s voice was strangled as he clawed at Lucas’s hands. “Call him off.”
“Damn it, Lucas.” Wade yanked at Lucas’s arm. “Let him go. I’ll question him.”
Lucas’s voice was cold and controlled when he spoke. “If he’s hurt Rachel, I’ll kill him.”
“Davenport!” Sam roared.
Lucas slammed the sweating man against the wall again. “God damn it, Jennings, where is she?”
“Could be you’ve caused her death, just as you did her brother’s,” Jennings snarled. There was pure hatred in his eyes as he glared up at the man who loomed so threateningly over him.
“I had nothing to do with Roger’s death,” Lucas answered, tightening his grip.
Jennings’s voice was thin from lack of oxygen when he replied, refusing to surrender. “It was because of you that he was snooping around into the past, into things that didn’t concern him. Because of you that Rachel was doing the same thing. You might as well have killed them both.”
“Lucas, he’s turning blue.” Wade pushed again against Lucas’s shoulders, trying to break his grip on the other man. “Let him go, or I’m going to have to arrest you.”
“If he’s done anything to Rachel, you’re going to have to shoot me to keep me from killing him.” Lucas’s voice was cold. Flat. Utterly sincere.
“Lucas.” Blake was still standing by Rachel’s car. “I think I heard something. From the trunk...”
Lucas almost threw Jennings at Wade, who staggered, but caught Sam, restraining him when he tried to break away.