“Did he just leave the pharmacy?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see his car?”
“Yes, Katie, the instant I saw that blood I knew. When I heard his car, I peeked out the front window. He was driving an old van, light gray I think, but it was hard to tell with all the rain.”
Katie nearly held her breath. “License number?”
“I just got part of it. He screeched out of here pretty fast. It was a Virginia plate, the first three letters were LTD—you know, like that old Ford sedan—LTD. I think the next one was a ‘three’ but I can’t be sure.”
Katie wanted to leap through the phone line and kiss Alice. “That’s just great,” she said. “Now, was there anything about the man that was unusual, something that would make you remember him as opposed to another man?”
Silence, then, “He was wearing a necklace, you know, a gold chain with some sort of pendant or stone hanging off the end of it. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Oh yes, his two front teeth overlap.”
“Alice, do you want to be sheriff when my term is over?”
Alice Hewett laughed. “No, Katie, it’s all yours. Just looking at that guy made my stomach cramp up. Besides, I’m too young to be sheriff, I just turned twenty last week.”
Katie was pleased, as was the rest of the town, that Alice was no longer a teenager, particularly since Abe Hewett was fifty-four years old and had three grown boys all older than their stepmama. “Well done, Alice. Thank you.”
“Let me know, won’t you, Katie?”
“You bet.”
Katie called Wade at home, got him between spoonfuls of his wife’s special pork stew. “I’m really sorry about this, Wade, but—”
“I knew you’d call, Katie. I sent Conrad over to talk to Alice, see if she remembered anything else. Man, this stew is the best.” A long silence, then Katie heard Wade’s wife, Glenda, say something in the background.
“Tell you what,” Katie said, “stay put. Just keep close to your phone. Call Jeffrey and have him update the rest of our people, including our three volunteer deputies. Keep an eye out for that van—we’ve got a partial plate. It’s Virginia and it’s LTD three something. I’m going to call the FBI, let them check it out.”
“You don’t want me to go out right this minute?”
“Nah, stay put. I’ll call you if something comes up.”
She called the Knoxville FBI field office because she knew the Johnson City field office just didn’t have the staff for this sort of thing. She got Glen Hodges, the special agent in charge, pretty fast and told him what was going on. Then she dialed Agent Savich’s cell phone. He picked up immediately.
“Agent Savich?”
“Yes. Is this Sheriff Benedict? Is Sam all right?”
“Yes, he is, but listen to this, please,” and she told him about the kidnapper’s visit to the pharmacy. “Alice thinks they’re driving a light gray van, Virginia license LTD with a possible next number of three.”
“Got it. I’ll call Butch Ashburn, he’s the agent leading the kidnapping investigation. He’ll find out who the van belongs to.”
“I called Agent Hodges from the Knoxville field office, told him what was going on. He’s on his way here.”
“Good. You have Sam with you?”
“Yes, he’s still sleeping. He’s just fine.” It was then she heard the deep rumbling noise. “You’re in an airplane?”
“Yes, it’ll take us a couple of hours since we’re in a Cessna. Sheriff, I don’t like the fact that the kidnappers are still local. What else is happening?”
“Here’s the deal, Agent Savich. I don’t like the fact that those two guys are still hanging around here either. I’m hoping that Fatso—that’s the name Sam gave one of the kidnappers—is hurt bad and that’s why they haven’t hightailed it out of here. But if he was badly hurt, then why not take him to a doctor? We have two doctors in town. Both of them call me from home every hour so I’ll know they’re okay.”
“Well done,” Savich said.
“Yeah, but you know, the truth is, I don’t know what to make of it. They’ve got to know that everyone is looking for them. Why would they stay local?”
“You’re basing this on one witness?”
“Yes. Her set of eyes is just fine.”
“You shot Fatso in the arm?”
“Yes, that I’m sure of. Then I fired several more times while they were running back into the forest. Maybe I shot him again, I just didn’t see, all I heard was a yelp.” She drew a deep breath. “I know where they were keeping Sam. Agent Glen Hodges said he and his people will dust the place for prints when they get here.”