"Tell me, Chip, what happened to your sister Natalie?" Jane stood in front of the wreck of a man.
"What happened?" Chip looked confused, shaking his head as if he hadn't fully recovered from the effects of some substance.
"Which white guy did that tramp hook up with this time? She said she'd bring me food the day before yesterday, but she never showed up."
"Smack!"
Jack, enraged, slapped him hard, cutting off whatever else he was going to say.
"Ugh!" Chip was knocked into the snow, blood trickling from his nose and mouth. The guy kneeling next to him flinched and quickly shuffled away on his knees, moving as far away as possible.
"She said she was coming to see you, and when she didn't show up, you just stayed here comfortably in this hellhole? You weren't even a bit worried?"
Jack grabbed the kid by the collar, lifting him off the ground. His right fist clenched tightly, but he hesitated, worried that a single punch might kill the little bastard.
"Jack, stop, we still have questions to ask," Jane tried to pull his arm, but found she couldn't move it at all.
The old sheriff rushed to help, but even with their combined effort, they couldn't budge Jack's arm. Finally, Jack snorted and let go.
Chip collapsed into the snow like a pile of mud, coughing violently before spitting out two blood-stained teeth.
"The town is at least 20 miles from here. Did she say how she was planning to get here?"
Perhaps that slap had sobered him up. The kid struggled to his feet and looked at the old sheriff.
"What did he mean? What happened to my sister?"
"What does he mean? What does his words mean?"
Seeing that no one was answering him, Chip's voice began to break, as if he was finally realizing something was very wrong.
Jack ignored the idiot and walked aside to send a message to Elia and Braxton.
The reservation only had 3G signal, and moving away from populated areas made the signal even worse. Texting was more effective than calling.
"What happened to my sister?" Chip's voice had turned into a scream. Jane and the old sheriff exchanged glances, both at a loss for words.
Cory Lambert, who had been silent until now, suddenly pointed northwest, his voice low.
"I found her. She was raped and killed there. That's why we're here looking for you, kid."
"No, no... that's impossible!"
Chip shook his head frantically and looked at the old sheriff, who avoided his gaze. Chip broke down, banging his head against the ground, crying out in anguish.
—
The ambulance eventually arrived, but they were only there to take away the body inside the house. Braxton brought Elia along as well.
When Elia saw the state her brother was in, she grabbed a snow shovel from behind the house and started beating him with it. Chip lay on the ground, not daring to make a sound.
Jack didn't pay attention to the sibling interaction. Instead, he approached Cory, who had been staring into the distance thoughtfully, and asked, "Natalie didn't have a car. If she was coming here to see her brother, how do you think she would have gotten here?"
"I need a map," Cory said, extending his hand toward the old sheriff. The sheriff rolled his eyes but went back to his car, returning with a plastic map, which he spread out on the car's hood.
"This is where I found Natalie, near the treeline in the mountains." Cory confirmed a spot with his finger, then traced it to the lower right corner of the map.
"This is where we are now, the nearest house, about 4 miles away."
"There are no buses at night. If she was hitchhiking, she likely would have taken a ride to Landtown, and the driver would have dropped her off here if they didn't want to detour too much."
His finger landed on a nearby north-south highway. "This spot is closest, less than two miles away. It's barely manageable on foot."
"I suspect she was kidnapped near the highway or right after getting off, but it's been two days, and with several snowstorms, any traces would have been wiped out by now."
Jane's finger traced a fine line on the map. "Where does this side road lead?"
The old sheriff glanced at it. "That's a drilling rig camp for a Texas energy company. They built a dirt road there with mobile homes for workers, but no one's there until late spring because it's too cold now."
Jack measured the distance between the drilling rig and where Natalie's body was found, realizing they were at least 6 miles apart, nearly 10 kilometers.
He felt he'd found his target, but something didn't quite add up. When Natalie was found, her feet were bare, indicating she had fled in a hurry, not even having time to put on shoes.
An 18-year-old girl running barefoot for nearly 10 kilometers in the snow at below-freezing temperatures, only to die from pulmonary hemorrhage instead of freezing to death, didn't sound humanly possible.
Even if he had to do it, Jack thought, he'd probably have to cast a healing spell or two on himself along the way to make it.
But then Jack remembered what the hunter had said earlier. "Mr. Lambert, do you remember what you said yesterday when you showed us the body? You said that girl was a tough fighter."
Cory suddenly looked up at Jack, his expression becoming extremely serious.
"You think she might have..."
Jane covered her mouth in disbelief. "But it's at least 6 miles apart!"
Jack didn't respond to her, instead turning to the old sheriff. "Are you sure there's no one there?"
"There should be a few security guys, watching over the expensive equipment during the winter. A bunch of drunks, always causing trouble in town."
The old sheriff looked at the map, his tone becoming more confident. "It seems the situation is becoming clearer. Cory, I want you to come with us to the drilling camp tomorrow. I remember they installed a lot of cameras around there."
Cory nodded, then shook his head. "Hunting among a pack of wolves is not a good idea."
Jack looked thoughtful at his words, then glanced over at Braxton, who was standing not far away, still torn between whether to break up the fight or help his wife beat up her brother.
What if you had a tiger in wolf's clothing ready among the pack?
Thinking this, Jack raised his hand and waved to Braxton. "Braxton, I remember you said you used to work as a security contractor for a mining company around here?"
Braxton's eyes lit up. Ever since he'd returned to this godforsaken place, he'd been holding in his frustrations. Was it finally his time to shine?
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