Her flashlight flickered over a pale hand lying stark against the blacktop. Janet’s heart thundered and chills raced down her spine. Oh, God, no. It hadn’t been a nightmare.
The closer she ran, the more her light revealed. Ankle boots covered in mud and grass, soaked slacks, and a pale silk blouse. The woman’s wrists were rubbed raw, the skin broken and bloody, and a large purple bruise bloomed on her cheek.
Janet’s knees hit the pavement with bone-jarring force. Her whole body trembled. She placed her fingers along the smooth column of the woman’s throat.
She couldn’t find a pulse. A sob rose in her throat. She yanked the cell phone from her pocket and dialed 911.
Her phone beeped. And then nothing.
She had no signal. Tears ran down her face, mixing with the rain. She hit the buttons again. “Come on, come on!”
Fingers grasped her arm. Janet gasped and tumbled back. The flashlight fell from her hand and rolled a short distance before coming to a stop.
The woman on the road groaned.
Panic gave way to heady relief and Janet ripped off her jacket, spreading it across the woman’s torso. It was poor protection from the rain, but it was something. The woman grabbed her arm again, her chipped and jagged fingernails digging into Janet’s skin. Her dark eyes were wide. Desperate. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out.
“You’re hurt.” Janet’s voice came out steady and sure, a far cry from the tangled emotions inside her. “I’m going to get help.”
She glanced back at her SUV. Her cell phone didn’t work, but she had an in-vehicle safety and security system. It was able to contact emergency services, even in most dead zones.
The woman tugged on her arm again, yanking Janet toward her. Up close, the lines on her face were visible. Her hair was gray at the roots, as if she normally dyed it but hadn’t in several months. Again her mouth moved. Janet couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“You’re going to be okay.” She worked her hand free. “I’m going to call for help, but I’ll be right back.”
In the distance, a dog barked. Lightning lit up the sky, as bright as day. The woman’s gaze flickered to something behind Janet. Her eyes widened.
Janet was yanked backward, lifted off the ground against a wall of hard muscle. A scream rose in her throat, muffled before it could pass her lips by a cloth closing over her nose and mouth. A pungent, musty odor filled her nostrils. The arm across her waist trapped her hands next to her body. She flailed her feet, landing a solid kick with her tennis shoe into a shin. Her attacker grunted. The dog barking grew furious.
The vise around her waist tightened, the man’s hold unrelenting. She couldn’t breathe. Her vision darkened. Janet bit the fabric covering her mouth, but only got cloth and not the flesh of her attacker’s hand.
Everything went black.
Two
Todd wiped a bit of grout off the backsplash, his attention drifting toward the window in the back door and the empty carport nearby. The deluge had relented to a steady drizzle. A tree branch had fallen on the far side of the yard, narrowly missing the storage sheds. It lay discarded in the grass, the jagged edge dangerously sharp, pine needles quivering in the wind. A silent testament to the dangers of being out in a thunderstorm. Todd’s hand tightened on the cloth.
Where was Janet?
She’d left the hardware store before the storm, but even if she pulled over to wait it out, she should’ve been back by now. He unhooked his cell phone from his belt and dialed her number. No answer.
His pulse elevated and his stomach grew queasy. This was the third time he’d tried to call and she hadn’t answered. The image of his parents’ destroyed sedan, the body dented and damaged, being pulled out of a ditch flashed in his mind. They hadn’t made it out alive.
Todd closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to be reasonable. The county was full of dead zones. Janet could be driving through one, or she’d made another stop somewhere and lost track of time. There could be any number of reasons why she was late. Even as he talked himself through it, he was moving toward his truck in the driveway.
The springs protested when his weight landed in the front seat and the engine wheezed and rattled like it was on its last breath. Probably was. Todd could afford to replace it many times over, but sentimentality held him back. The old beast had carried him through thousands of miles while he crisscrossed the country, seeing every nook and cranny. The restless feeling plaguing him after his parents’ death only let up when he was on the move. The army had been good for travel, and after the service, he’d never spent longer than six months in any one place.
That was until Sweetgrass.
He’d been here eight months, most of it spent working on the West family ranch. He should’ve left months ago, but seeing the condition of the old farmhouse, he’d known Janet would need experienced help. Todd justified it because it meant earning extra cash, but his bank account didn’t need the padding. No, he’d been unable to leave for a far simpler reason. He hadn’t wanted to let go of their friendship yet.
At the end of the drive, he hesitated. There were two roads leading from Janet’s property into town. One was more commonly used, better paved and connected with the freeway. The other was worn and tired, more of a farm road, but it was a shortcut from the hardware store.
He headed for the farm road. If she’d had an accident, it would take forever for someone to notice her there. His windshield wipers swiped away the drizzle. Clouds hung low and dangerous, promising the reprieve from
