Disappearance in Dread Hollow, page 1
“There’s a stranger’s car out there,” Jacob said.
“What? What’s going on?”
His dad looked to his mom for a second then to Jacob. “Hide,” he ordered. “Hide in your closet. Behind the clothes.”
“Is it them?” his mama cried.
His dad nodded, his eyes so big Jacob thought they looked like the full moon he liked so much.
Jacob’s heart pounded the way it did when he rode his bike up and down the street really fast over and over.
His mama pushed him toward his closet. “Hide,” she repeated. “Don’t come out for any reason. No matter what you hear.” She hugged him. “I love you, Jacob.”
“What’s—” he tried to ask, but couldn’t get the words out. His heart pounded; his legs felt shaky. He was scared. What was happening?
DISAPPEARANCE IN DREAD HOLLOW
USA TODAY Bestselling Author
Debra Webb
Debra Webb is the award-winning USA TODAY bestselling author of more than one hundred novels, including those in reader-favorite series Faces of Evil, the Colby Agency and Shades of Death. With more than four million books sold in numerous languages and countries, Debra has a love of storytelling that goes back to her childhood on a farm in Alabama. Visit Debra at debrawebb.com.
Books by Debra Webb
Harlequin Intrigue
Lookout Mountain Mysteries
Disappearance in Dread Hollow
A Winchester, Tennessee Thriller
In Self Defense
The Dark Woods
The Stranger Next Door
The Safest Lies
Witness Protection Widow
Before He Vanished
The Bone Room
Colby Agency: Sexi-ER
Finding the Edge
Sin and Bone
Body of Evidence
Faces of Evil
Dark Whispers
Still Waters
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Tara Norwood—As the deputy sheriff in Dread Hollow, life is pretty calm—until a rash of burglaries evolve into missing persons.
Deke Shepherd—Can’t shake the way he feels about Tara. He wants her back. When the parents of one of his students goes missing, he and Tara are thrown together and the tension explodes.
Jacob Callaway—His parents are missing and he just wants to find them. But is he telling the whole truth?
Special Agent Jim Hanson—He’s waited a very long time to solve a thirty-year-old cold case, but can he escape the personal connection?
Wilma Hambrick—The town busybody. The woman wants Dread Hollow to become an official town with a real police department and a city council. Her motive is simple: she wants to be mayor.
Tarrance Norwood—Tara’s father was the sheriff of Hamilton County for thirty years, but now a disease is stealing his memories and his ability to think. Can he help Tara solve this case before it’s too late?
Jeff Callaway—What did he do that put his family in danger? Is the kidnapping his way of solving his financial woes?
I’ve lived in Tennessee for nearly twenty years. It’s a beautiful state. Setting a story here is always fun. I particularly love creating a small town and dropping it onto the map in one of my favorite locations. Chattanooga is a very unique city with a terrific blend of old and new. Lookout Mountain and the surrounding communities are equally unique. I’ve always been fascinated with the legend of Dread Hollow so I decided to create a community with that name. I’ve also taken certain liberties with my sheriff’s department substation. I loved every minute of it and hope you will as well! Happy reading!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Excerpt from Conard County: Code Adam by Rachel Lee
Chapter One
Valley Lane
Dread Hollow, Tennessee
Sunday, April 30, 7:00 p.m.
“Mama!”
“It’s almost done, sweetie. Five more minutes.”
Jacob stared out the window. It would be completely dark soon. They didn’t get many visitors, but there was a black car parked in front of their house. He had noticed it a few minutes ago when he went to the window to see if he could see the moon. He couldn’t remember if the full moon was tonight or tomorrow night, but he wanted to make sure he saw it.
“Mama!” he shouted again. “Come here!”
Jelly Bug raised her head and whined.
“It’s okay, girl,” Jacob said. He hadn’t meant to scare the dog with his hollering.
His dad wasn’t home yet. He was usually home by dark. Probably would be soon. He wouldn’t miss supper. Mama had said he’d gone to fill up his truck with gas. He always did that on Sundays. Getting ready for the work week, he would say. Except he usually did it earlier in the afternoon.
His mama came to his door. “What is it, son? Supper is done, and your dad just pulled up.”
Jacob peered out the window. Saw his dad’s truck this time. The black car was still sitting there. The windows were too dark for him to see inside. The windows had that tinted stuff on them. Maybe whoever was inside was coming in with his dad. Could have been waiting for him to get here. Jelly Bug nudged up to Jacob’s side. He patted the dog’s head and turned his face up to his mom.
“There’s a stranger’s car out there,” Jacob said, feeling like a grown-up since he’d pointed out a possible problem. His parents had taught him to be aware of strangers.
Tired, his mama sighed. She always looked tired. She worked too hard. Still, she walked over to his window. “What car?”
“That one.” He pointed beyond the curtain.
“Kris!” his dad shouted from the living room.
Jacob and his mama shared a startled look at the worry in his father’s voice.
His dad burst into Jacob’s bedroom. He looked scared. Scared real bad. Jacob’s heart beat faster like he’d started running when he was just standing still at the window.
Jelly Bug whined, and this time she shivered as if she understood something was wrong.
Jacob’s mama backed away from the window. “What? What’s going on?”
His dad looked to her for a second then to Jacob. “Hide,” he ordered. “Hide in your closet. Behind the clothes.”
“Is it them?” his mama cried.
His dad nodded, his eyes so big Jacob thought they looked like the full moon he liked so much.
Jacob’s heart pounded now the way it did when he rode his bike up and down the street really fast over and over.
His mama pushed him toward his closet. “Hide,” she repeated. “Don’t come out for any reason. No matter what you hear.” She hugged him. “I love you, Jacob.”
“What’s—” he tried to ask, but couldn’t get the words out. His heart pounded, his legs felt shaky. He was scared. What was happening?
Jelly Bug whined some more and barked softly.
“Stay in there.” His dad picked him up and set him behind the clothes in the back corner of his closet. “Don’t make a sound and don’t come out no matter what. Love you, son.”
“What about Jelly Bug?”
“Don’t worry about the dog. She’ll be fine.”
The door shut, but Jacob could still hear his mama making crying sounds. What was going on? Tears rolled down his cheeks. He didn’t understand. Why did he have to hide?
He wanted to run after them...to call out.
But they’d told him not to...he had to stay hidden and be quiet.
He held his breath, tried to slow the racing in his chest. Tried to control the sounds trying to escape his mouth. Be quiet! Be quiet!
Jacob curled into himself, his knees hugged to his damp face, and rocked gently. The way his mama used to rock him when he was little. Don’t make a sound. Don’t make a sound. Not one sound.
He stilled. Heard his dad’s voice. In the living room. He sounded far away, but that was because the door was closed.
Jacob stretched his neck, listened harder.
His dad was yelling now. His mama too, except her voice was quieter. She was afraid. It sounded like she was begging. Jelly Bug was barking.
Please...please don’t hurt my parents.
More voices. Not so loud but deep. Men. Definitely men. Didn’t sound like women.
Men from the black car. Strangers. People who wanted to hurt his family.
Jelly Bug was barking louder now.
Jacob closed his eyes tightly and prayed.
He prayed and prayed and prayed.
Then the house was quiet.
But he didn’t move. His dad had said to stay in the closet no matter what he heard.
&nb sp; The sound of Jelly Bug sniffing at his bedroom door had him daring to ease out of the closet. He crawled over and sat on his knees at his bedroom door for a while, listening, afraid to open it but wanting to let Jelly Bug in. Finally, he held his breath and just did it. He opened the door without making a sound. Whew!
Jelly Bug wiggled around him as if trying to tell him something or just glad to see him. He didn’t hear or see anything, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He quietly closed the door and crawled back to the closet, closed that door too and held Jelly Bug close. She licked his face. He snuggled against her, wishing his parents would walk into his room and tell him to come out, come out, the way they did when they played the hiding game. He liked playing games with his parents. He didn’t have any brothers and sisters, but he was okay with that since his parents played with him so much.
He stayed in the closet so long he fell asleep. When he woke up, his legs and arms hurt from being curled together so tight for so long.
He stretched. Groaned. Jelly Bug did the same.
For a long while, he listened but there was still no sound.
Being really careful, he reached up and opened the closet door. His room was dark now. He crawled out. Too afraid to stand up yet. If he didn’t move too fast, no one would see him in the dark. Jelly Bug stayed close.
It didn’t sound like anyone was here.
He wanted to call out for his mama, but he kept his mouth closed tight. He wasn’t supposed to make a sound.
At his bedroom door, he held still and listened again. The only sound was Jelly Bug’s panting.
The whole house was dark. And quiet.
He held his breath as he opened the door, then eased into the hall. Jelly Bug moved with him. Maybe while he was asleep the strangers had left and his parents had gone to bed.
He stood and took a few steps forward. His legs complained as he walked after being curled up so long. He moved quietly, careful not to make a sound on the hardwood floor. He went into his parents’ room, but it was too dark to see. He didn’t dare turn on the light. Instead he walked to the bed and climbed into it. He moved all around the bed, but it was empty. He checked under the bed and then in their closet to see if they were hiding.
Nope.
Then he walked soundlessly to the bathroom, then the living room and finally the kitchen. No one was in the house. Just him.
Had his parents gone with the strangers?
Maybe there was a job his parents had to do. Since he’d fallen asleep, maybe they decided not to bother him.
The supper sat on the stove. He could smell the beans and ham. His stomach rumbled. He climbed into a chair at the table and waited in the darkness.
When his parents came back, they would all have supper together and go to bed.
Jacob waited. Jelly Bug waited with him.
He waited a very long time. Drifted off to sleep once and almost fell out of the chair. He shook his head. Blinked over and over. He had to stay awake so he’d know when his parents came home.
He sat in the chair so long his butt felt numb.
His stomach growled so much he was sure the neighbors would hear it.
He was starving. His mama wouldn’t want him to be hungry. He hoped his parents weren’t hungry.
Eventually he couldn’t wait any longer. He pushed his chair over to the sink, trying to stay quiet, but it wasn’t easy. He got a bowl from the drainer where his mama put the dishes when she washed them. He grabbed a spoon too. Then he pushed his chair to the stove and filled his bowl with the beans and pieces of ham floating in the soup.
Jelly Bug barked and jumped around, so he made a bowl for her too.
He sat down in the chair right there by the stove and ate.
His parents would be home soon. They would be proud of him for taking care of his supper.
When he finished, he put his and Jelly Bug’s bowls in the sink and pushed his chair back to the table. He and Jelly Bug went into the living room and sat in the darkness to wait.
His mama and dad would be home any minute now. They had never left him alone.
Except that once...
Chapter Two
Dread Hollow School
School Street
Wednesday, May 3, 2:30 p.m.
Deke Shepherd could no longer deny there was a serious problem with one of his students. As a teacher, it was part of his job to pay attention to the well-being of his students. Part of that included making observations about a child’s general appearance and emotional state.
Case in point, last school term he noticed one of his students appeared to be having accident after accident. In October, it was a fracture of the humerus. December brought on a second-degree burn of the right hand. Then it was the mostly hidden bruises and lacerations. There came a point when Deke had to wonder if there was more than clumsiness at play.
Elementary-school students could be accident-prone or, perhaps more accurately, unaware of their limitations. Like trying out power tools or climbing ladders left unattended. Worse, playing with an unsecured handgun or rifle. Tragedy was often buried in good intentions or ill-fated distraction.
Fortunately, Deke’s current concern wasn’t anything nearly so heartbreaking—at least on the surface. Jacob Callaway had worn the same clothes to school three days in a row. It was obvious that he hadn’t bathed either. Judging by the way he scarfed down his lunch, he likely wasn’t getting breakfast at home. Sadly, there were children who were neglected all over the world. But Jacob Callaway wasn’t one of them—at least not usually. The child was always clean and well-fed. His homework was always complete and well-done.
Until this week.
Deke had decided this morning there was something going on that needed attention. Sometimes teachers had to put on a social-worker hat. It wasn’t always appreciated, but it was at times necessary.
The dismissal bell rang, and the rows of third graders buzzed to life, grabbing backpacks and scrambling to escape the confines of the classroom.
When Jacob hurried to the front of his row and would have followed the throng out the door, Deke said, “Jacob, hold up a minute.”
The boy froze. His wide-eyed gaze filled with uncertainty. “Am I in trouble?”
Deke felt instant regret for worrying the kid. “Course not.” He produced a grin. “You never get into trouble.”
It was true. Jacob was one of the most well-behaved nine-year-olds Deke had had the pleasure of teaching.
Deke propped a hip against his desk, adopting a more relaxed stance in hopes of putting the kid at ease. “Is everything okay at home?”
Jacob’s eyes shuttered. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Your mom and dad okay? Nobody’s sick or anything like that?”
The boy’s head wagged side to side in a no.
Deke considered a different avenue. “Have your mom and dad been working a lot of hours lately? Maybe getting home really late and leaving extra early?”
His shoulders went up as if he might shrug, then froze. “I...think...so.”
Deke had attempted to call first the boy’s mother, then father. The calls had gone straight to voice mail. He had decided a home visit was in order. Something was wrong here, and he wasn’t waiting another day to determine the problem.
“Why don’t I give you a ride home?” Deke reached for his briefcase. He’d already tucked away the papers he needed to grade and prepared for leaving at the same time as his students.
Jacob’s shoulders drooped. “’Kay.”
The boy didn’t ride a bus. He either walked or one of his parents picked him up. Since he didn’t mention the possibility that one or the other would be picking him up, Deke assumed that wasn’t going to happen.
He flipped off the classroom light as they exited. The school was a kindergarten through twelfth grade institution. It was small and Deke liked it that way. He’d put in his time at one of the big schools in Chattanooga. The move to this small community had been the best decision of his career. He paused at his truck and opened the door for his passenger. Or maybe it had been more about his personal life than his career. He’d been ready for peace and quiet. Whatever. Three years later, he was still happy with his decision.
