"You didn't find anything, did you?" he said flatly.
"Lilly called her dad," I replied, purposefully avoiding the question to keep from having to lie. "He'll be here soon. He's gonna help us find her."
Rob buried his face in his hands. When he spoke, his words were muffled, but the pain in them was obvious. "What could have happened? Did someone take her? Who would do that? It's not like we have money for ransom or anything."
I looked at Lilly and she shook her head. This was not the time to tell Rob about the Bible. Once the sheriff arrived, I'd have Lilly take him around back. Then, and only then, would I tell Rob what we found. That way, if he took off, the sheriff would already have the evidence. But either way, at least Rob wouldn't have to hear about it from someone else. He deserved that much. Plus, the sheriff would hopefully be able to keep him calm and ask some questions that maybe Lilly hadn't thought of. I just hoped her dad would move fast. Something told me that if a follower of Garret's had been waiting this long for revenge, things were going to escalate pretty quickly, and that would be bad for Melanie. Still, I had a feeling this was only the beginning.
The sheriff arrived, lights flashing, less than ten minutes after Lilly had called. Two more cars pulled up behind him and a handful of deputies climbed out, two of them with bloodhounds. The sight of the dogs relaxed me a little. He wasn't going to waste time before starting a search.
"Travis, you and Royal take that side," he said, motioning to the left. "Burton, you and Callahan go to the right. I want you to circle around, crisscrossing this entire area." He glanced down at Rob. "We're going to need something of Melanie's for the dogs to track."
I looked over at Lilly. "Go ahead and take your dad through the house while I talk to Rob. You can bring something of Melanie's back with you."
She nodded, the look in her eyes saying she knew what I was going to do. Then Rob raised his head. "Why do you need to talk to me?"
I took a deep breath as Lilly and her dad walked by and disappeared into the house. "Lilly and I checked every room in the house, and then out back. Did you check out there?"
"Of course," Rob said, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Did you see anything on the back porch?"
"No." He shook his head. "But I wasn't exactly looking. It didn't take more than a minute to look around the yard and see that it was empty, and the gate was latched from the inside."
"That's what we saw too," I said, swallowing hard. Again, I fought the urge not to vomit. Just the thought of what a follower of Garret's might do to Melanie made me sick. "But there was something else. On the porch, next to the door, we found a Bible."
Rob frowned. "A Bible? The one Melanie and I have is in our bookshelf in the living room. I don't understand."
"There was a note inside. It said . . . Your sin will find you out, and it was signed – Garret." I braced for the inevitable response.
Rob stared back at me, a stunned expression on his face. I stood silently, waiting, giving him time to process, but my concern grew as seconds turned into minutes. Then, suddenly, he jumped to his feet and ran into the house. I followed quickly, grateful that the sheriff was already back there. By the time I reached the porch, Lilly's dad had his arms around Rob, pulling him back from the Bible, while Lilly used the crime scene camera to snap photos.
"You can't touch it." The sheriff's voice was firm but not mean. "It's evidence, Rob, and we'll need it to find Melanie. So stay back."
"Is it him?" Rob's eyes were bulging. "Is it Garret? Did he do this? Did he take Melanie?"
One Way or Another
Start from the beginning
