Chapter 3 - The Discovery in the RainCaleb let out a low, guttural growl and lunged forward, his wet boots slipping on the muddy floor of the shed. He reached for my collar, his face twisted in a manic attempt to overpower an old man and hide his crime.
But he didn't know that before I became a real estate investor, I had spent twelve years working search and rescue in the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest. I knew how to handle panic, and I knew how to redirect weight.
I stepped inside his clumsy stride, grabbed his wet shirt collar, and drove my elbow hard into his chest. The air left his lungs in a sickening gasp. Before he could recover, I turned my hip and slammed him face-first against the wooden wall of the shed.
He groaned in pain, trying to scramble back up, but I grabbed his throat, pinning him to the wall with a grip of absolute steel.
"Don't move," I whispered, my voice holding a deadly, terrifying calm.
Outside, the brilliant blue and red lights of three state police cruisers finally cut through the pouring rain, their sirens wailing as they swept down the gravel driveway of the farmhouse.
Diane let out a sharp, hysterical shriek, falling to her knees in the wet grass as the officers jumped from their cars, their weapons drawn.
"State Police! Hands where we can see them!"
Detective Ramirez, a sharp-eyed investigator I had worked with on multiple land surveys, marched into the shed, his flashlight beam cutting through the dust. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Emma’s bruised, unconscious body on the floor, then looked at me holding Caleb against the wall.
"Frank," Ramirez said, his voice dropping into a serious, professional tone. "We got your silent distress signal from the Blackridge server. What happened here?"
"My daughter," I said, my voice cracking as I finally released Caleb. "He locked her in here, Ramirez. He beat her until she passed out."
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The officers immediately rushed forward, slamming Caleb onto the wet floor and clicking the heavy metal handcuffs around his wrists. Diane wept hysterically in the yard, her expensive clothes covered in mud as she was escorted toward the police cruisers.
I knelt back down beside Emma, wrapping my dry jacket around her freezing shoulders. "You're safe now, sweetheart," I whispered, tears finally blurring my eyes as the paramedics rushed into the shed with a stretcher. "Dad's here. I've got you."
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