Temptation Trails - Page 161

The daylight was blinding, and I squinted against the brightness as I rushed outside and tried to orient myself.

There was shit everywhere out there, too.

Then it hit me. I’d been there before. It was Rich Pine’s property, where the pile of junk had fallen on me.

My detective brain tried to turn on, running through the possibilities. Was Rich Pine just out of town and his property was convenient? Or was there a connection between him and Phillip?

I had a feeling Phillip was using it without his knowledge, but I’d deal with that later. First, I had to find Harper.

Racing through the maze of junk, and ignoring the rocks and other shit digging into my feet, I made my way toward the front of the property. There were cars parked among the debris, but I doubted any of them ran. And hot wiring a car wasn’t in my skill set. Luke would probably know how, but—

Luke. I needed to call my brother.

Rich’s house looked empty. No lights inside, no cars parked in the driveway. And I was running out of time.

Could he have a landline?

There was one way to find out.

It had been years since I’d picked a lock, but I didn’t want to kick the guy’s door in. Plus, my body had already taken a beating. I gave myself sixty seconds to find something I could use to pick the lock. If I came up short, I was busting my way in.

Focusing on my breathing, I kept myself calm despite the rising panic. I hunted around, looking for something small. A paper clip had been my tool of choice when Reese and I had been up to no good as kids. But what were the chances—

In the trodden down grass, I found one. I actually found a fucking paper clip.

About time I got lucky.

I ran to the front door and it was just like riding a bike. In seconds, I was in.

“Hello? Tilikum sheriff’s department.”

No one answered, and no one would have believed I was a deputy, given my lack of uniform, badge, gun, and the fact that I was beat up, bleeding, shirtless, and barefoot.

The house wasn’t as cluttered as the yard, but close. Where would a guy like Rich keep a landline?

Kitchen.

Bingo. There was an old black phone, not even a cordless, on the kitchen counter, perched on a stack of old newspapers.

I picked it up and breathed out a sigh of relief. Dial tone. It was connected. I punched in Luke’s number and waited.

“Hello?”

“Luke, it’s Garrett.”

“Holy shit, where are you? I’ve been looking everywhere.”

“Don’t talk for a second. Just listen.”

“You said that last time.”

“Luke,” I barked at him. “Phillip Lancaster is on his way to abduct Harper. He ambushed me at the root cellar and locked me in a freezer in an outbuilding on Rich Pine’s property.”

“What?!”

“I know, it all sounds crazy. But he’s planning on killing her and framing me, making it look like a murder suicide.”

“Where’s Harper?”