Rancher Rescue. Barb Han
it happened.”
Sheriff Coleman tilted his head toward Katherine. His lips formed a grim line. “Start from the beginning and tell me everything you remember.”
She talked about the pumpkin patch.
“Do you have a picture we can work with?” he asked, looking up from his notepad.
Her head shook, her lips trembled, but she didn’t cry. “No. I don’t. Lost them along with my purse and everything else I had with me. Not that it would do any good. He’s only been living with me for a week. We haven’t been down to clean his mother’s apartment yet. I don’t have many of his things. A few toys. His favorite stuffed animal.”
She rambled a little. Not many women could hold it together under this much duress. Her strength radiated a flicker of light in the darkest shadows of Caleb. Places buried long ago, which were best left alone.
“Let’s go over the description then,” Coleman suggested.
“Black hair. Big brown eyes. Three and a half feet tall. About forty pounds. He’s beautiful. Round face. Full cheeks. Curly hair. Features of an angel.”
“And the men who took him?” he pressed.
“One of them had gray eyes and a jagged scar from the left side of his lip. He had a dark tan.”
“How big was the scar?”
“Not more than a couple of inches. It was in the shape of a crescent moon.” She sobbed, but quickly straightened her shoulders and shook it off.
The sheriff glanced away, giving her a moment of space. Caleb dropped his gaze to the floor, respecting her tenacity even more.
“He mentioned the name Kane. He said ‘Kane wouldn’t like it.’”
“We’ll run the name against the database.”
“I’m sorry. It’s not much to go on. My nephew is alone. Sick. Scared. If he gets too upset, he could have an attack. Without his inhaler or medication, he won’t be able to breathe.”
Silence sat in the air for a beat.
Coleman cleared his throat. If Caleb didn’t know any better, he’d say the sheriff had moisture in his eyes. In this small town, they didn’t deal with a lot of violent crime.
“We’ll do everything we can to bring him back to you safe and sound. That’s a promise,” Coleman said.
“Thank you.”
“What’s Noah’s last name?”
“Foster.”
“You said you haven’t had a chance to clean out his mother’s place. Where’s that?”
“Austin.”
“That where you’re from?”
She shook her head. “I live in Dallas.”
Caleb could’ve told the sheriff that. She had a polished, city look. The jeweled sandals on her feet were one of the most impractical shoes she could wear to the country aside from spiked heels.
“When’s his birthday?”
“March. The seventeenth.”
Caleb looked at her. He could see the tension in her face muscles and the stress threatening to crack, but to her credit, she kept her composure. Probably needed to be strong more than she needed air. Caleb knew the feeling for reasons he didn’t want to talk about, either.
He’d known she was different from any other woman he’d met when he’d showed up to help her and she’d thanked him with a makeshift knife to his ribs. Hell, he respected her for it now that he knew the circumstances. She’d probably believed he was working with whoever had taken Noah and that he’d showed up to finish the job. She’d bucked up for a fight.
When she pushed herself up, it took everything in him not to close the distance between them and pull her into his arms for comfort. No one should have to go through this alone.
If Katherine Harper wanted to do this her way, he wouldn’t block her path.
The sheriff asked a few more routine-sounding questions, listening intently to her answers. “You fight with anyone lately? A boyfriend?”
Caleb tried not to look as though he cared about the answer to that question. He had no right to care.
Katherine looked down. “Nope. No boyfriend.”
“What about other family?”
“None. My parents died during my freshman year of college.”
He didn’t want to think about what that would do to a person.
Coleman asked a few more questions about family. Katherine looked uncomfortable answering.
“I’ll notify my men to keep an eye out for your belongings. What were you doing out here with your nephew?”
“I wanted to take his mind off things. Get him out of the city. We planned our trip all day yesterday. He’d never seen a pumpkin patch. He loved the open space. I didn’t think much about letting him run around. We’ve been in my small apartment all week. Didn’t look to be anything or anyone else around for miles. He followed a duck out to the tree line. When I went over to take pictures, two men came from nowhere and snatched us. I panicked. Couldn’t believe what was happening. I remember thinking, ‘This can’t be.’ I fought back. That’s when I ended up tangled in the barbed wire and they took off. If only I hadn’t been so stubborn. If I hadn’t fought.”
“Don’t blame yourself for this,” Coleman said quickly.
“They told me if I came any closer or called the police, they’d kill him.”
The sheriff nodded, but Caleb caught a flash behind Coleman’s eyes. Caleb made a mental note to ask about that when they were alone.
“Ever see them before or hear their voices?” Coleman’s gaze was trained on his notepad as he scribbled.
“No. Nothing about them was familiar. They asked for a file, but I don’t have the first clue what they were talking about. Wondered if they’d confused us with someone else.”
Katherine continued, “I don’t remember tossing my purse or jacket, but I must’ve ditched them both somewhere along the way. Noah needs his medicine.”
“We’ll check between here and the Reynolds’ place.” The sheriff glanced at his watch. “Should have another half hour of daylight to work with.”
“My car’s still over there. Can’t move it until I find my keys.” She made a move to stand.
Caleb took a step toward her. The real estate between them disappeared in two strides. “You’re too weak. Matt can get your car as soon as we find your purse. For now, I’ll give the Reynolds a call. Make sure they don’t have it towed.”
Caleb phoned his neighbor and gave a quick rundown of the situation. He asked if anyone had reported anything or found a purse.
They hadn’t.
Caleb finished the call solemnly. There wasn’t much to go on, and time ticked away.
“I feel like I should be doing something besides sitting here,” Katherine said to the sheriff.
“Best thing you can do is wait it out. Let my men do their work. I’ll put out an AMBER Alert.” Sheriff Coleman shook her hand and then walked to the door. “In the meantime, sit tight right here in case I have more questions. Let me know if anything else suspicious happens or you remember anything that might be important.”
If Caleb heard things right, he’d just picked up a houseguest. Couldn’t say he was especially disappointed. “You’ll call as soon as you hear anything, right?”
“You bet.”
Caleb