The Ruth Valley Missing by Amber West Page B

him.”
    I shrugged. “Glad you think so. I
don’t know that I was very helpful.”
    Jack grabbed my hand and gave it a
squeeze. “We all do the best we can, that’s all. I’m sure he appreciated you
being there.”
    My face felt hot as his hand
continued holding mine. I looked out the window and saw the little sign ahead
for Ruth Valley as his grip loosened and his hand slid away.
    ~~~
    “Emma?”
    I jumped out of the Jeep, seeing her
sitting red-faced on Jack’s front porch, and ran up to see what was wrong.
    “He’s gone, James. Something happened.”
Emma was sobbing, and she buried her face into my shoulder.
    Jack gently touched her shoulder.
“Let’s get you inside, and you can tell us what’s going on.”
    I sat down next to her on the couch,
while Jack sat opposite in the big armchair. He leaned forward and spoke
gently. “Tell me what’s going on, Emma.”
    “I went to Andy’s. I was worried
about him and thought I would stop in real quick to make sure he was ok. When I
got there, no one answered. I knew he wasn’t up to goin’ anywhere, so I peeked in
the windows. The place was a mess. Furniture turned over and everything.” Her
eyes welled up as she looked at me. “Why would someone want to hurt him?”
    “We don’t know that anyone hurt him.
Don’t get yourself thinking about things like that.” Jack stood up and motioned
to the kitchen. “I’m gonna make a call or two and James will make you some tea.
You just sit here and stay warm.”
    Emma sniffled as I hugged her.
“We’ll figure out where he is. It’ll be okay.”
    “I hope so.”
    I silently hoped the same before
heading to the kitchen.
    Jack was already finishing up a call
when I walked in and started filling the tea kettle.  
    When he hung up I turned towards
him, speaking in a hushed voice. “I have a bad feeling about all of this. The whole
hunting accident story never sat right with me. Did you know he’d never gone
hunting before? Why would he go for the first time in the middle of the night?
Something else happened to him. I tried to ask him about it last time I saw
him. You should have seen the look on his face. He was obviously scared to
death.”
    “I can’t imagine what he would have
gotten involved in, but you’re right, that does sound off.” Jack sighed as he
looked out the window, the last bit of daylight already long gone. “I’m gonna
go check out Andy’s place and see where it leads.”
    “Alone?”
    His serious face broke into a grin.
“Worried about me?”
    “Well, we don’t know what happened,
or who made it happen. It may not be safe.”
    He squeezed my shoulder, letting his
hand slide down the length of my arm. “I’ll be fine. Stay here and keep Emma
calm.”
    The shriek of the teapot broke the
silence and his stare, making me jump away from him. He headed out the door,
calling behind him. “I’ll be back. Lock up.”
    I prepared a tray with tea and some
snacks to take in the living room as I regained my composure, shooting the tea
kettle a dirty look before heading to the living room.

Chapter 19
    It was close to midnight when the
back door opened.
    “So? Any news?”
    Jack shook his head. “Not much.
How’s Emma doing?”
    “She’s asleep upstairs. After we had
a little dinner I convinced her to lie down for a bit. Hope you don’t mind, I
found the guest room for her. It’s a little chilly down here on the couch.”
    “No, of course that’s fine.” He
walked over to the stove and lifted the cover off a pot. “Dinner?”
    “Yeah, nothing fancy, just threw
some soup together. It probably needs to be warmed up.”
    He turned up the gas burner and
opened a cabinet, removing two small glasses and a bottle of whiskey. Sitting
down at the table, he placed the glasses in front of us and poured. “I think we
could both use a little.”
    I nodded, taking a long sip. “What
did you find at Andy’s?”
    “A knocked over TV tray, and a bit
of a mess. But to be honest, Andy didn’t