What to do about Wilde? He would call back, Ethan knew that much. He’d probably been scared off by the farmer with the gun, too. Paying him off would be a mistake, he knew that in his bones. How could Wilde really know where Sutton was? It was a ploy, he was sure of it, and Wilde would simply come back again and again and again until the well was dry.

And yet, Ethan had trotted out to the field with the money in the bag to see.

Isn’t that love, wife? The risks I’m taking for you?

And then it hit him.

The missing $50,000, the money Sutton had taken.

It was the same amount Wilde asked for.

He stopped moving, sat down hard. Thought it through.

Wilde, claiming he knew where Sutton was.

Wilde, asking for money in order to share that information.

Wilde, threatening him not to go to the police.

Wilde had already hurt Sutton. It wasn’t hard to imagine him doing it again.

With a sigh, Ethan went to the phone and called Officer Graham.

She answered on the first ring. “Have you heard from her, sir?”

“No, I haven’t. I’ve been searching through our financials again, though, and I think I’m missing some money. It’s well disguised, but Sutton has withdrawn $50,000 from our accounts over the past three months.”

He could hear Officer Graham blow out her breath. “You’re sure? We’ve been running your financials and nothing stood out.”

He let that go for the moment. Having strangers poking around in his world made him more than uncomfortable. But he had to find Sutton. He knew now this wasn’t a stunt. This was a cry for help. She’d run from Wilde. Not from him.

“I’m sure. The withdrawals are coded, and each one has a T in it. T is her tax code for travel.”

“If your wife was trying to take money out of your accounts unnoticed, why would she bother coding them? Wouldn’t that give her away?”

“Yes and no. Withdrawals without a code, though, would set off all the alarms. She’s simply following her usual pattern, hoping it will cover her tracks.”

“Has she not been traveling, Mr. Montclair?”

“No, she hasn’t. She hasn’t been on the road at all since our son died. Nor have I.”

“T could stand for something else.”

“It could. Certainly. But my wife is a meticulous person. It’s almost as if she wanted me to find this and not be worried about her.”

“I don’t know, Mr. Montclair. Especially in light of this new information, perhaps we should just let things play out. Perhaps she has just removed herself from the marriage for a time.”

“Or perhaps she was pressured to remove the money, in payment of some kind, and when she couldn’t satisfy the demands of her kidnapper, she was killed.”

“That’s entirely possible.”