She took the bills he offered. "Thanks. I'd forgotten all about my purse. Any idea how long you'll be gone? Depending on how Jeff is feeling, I might want to take a cab to the hotel. Maybe I should just go with you to the SUV and get my purse."

Luckily, Ben had made reservations online before they'd left Omaha and they'd checked into the Ritz Carlton before meeting Parillo at the warehouse. He handed her his keys. "Just take the SUV. I'll go upstairs with you. Maybe I can catch a ride with the detective. If not, I'll call Tanner. If he can't pick me up, I'll take a cab to the station." He put his hand in the small of her back and guided her toward the elevators.

When they got to Jeff’s room, Detective Boyer told Lane that even though they'd made an arrest at the warehouse they were stationing a guard outside Jeff's room. “We’ve told the guard that you and Ben are the only people allowed in the room.”

Ben spoke with the detective who agreed to give him a ride to the station.

“What can you tell me about what happened to him?”  She asked as they stood just outside Jeff’s room.

The detective smiled.  “I’ll let him tell you about it, Mrs. Parker.”

“I’ll see you later at the hotel.”  Ben said as he brushed a kiss on Lane's cheek then turned and followed the detective toward the elevators.

Lane nodded a greeting to the uniformed police guard and opened the door to Jeff's room.

"Hi, Jeff."

"Aunt Lane. I suppose you have questions too."

Lane smiled at him. "I sure do, you've been missing for over a week. But, if you're not up to talking, I'll understand. I'll leave it up to you."

"Have you talked to Mom?" He looked younger than his 25 years. She imagined her own son, Jake, lying helpless in a hospital bed.

"Yes. The first flight she could get leaves at 6:00 in the morning. She'll be here before noon tomorrow. Do you want to talk about it, or would you rather wait until Maggie gets here tomorrow?"

Jeff sighed. "Maybe it'll start to make sense the more I talk about it, because it doesn't make a lick of sense to me right now."

Lane sat down in the chair next to his bed and patted his hand. "Let me tell you what I know and you can fill in the blanks. Would that help?"

She told him what Maggie had related about the breakdown of his truck and about Blake talking to the Triple A driver who had jump started his truck, about pinging his phone and finally about Tanner finding him in the warehouse.

"I was in Gretna checking out a building site. I missed my turn to get on the interstate and ended up on a gravel road. My truck died. The battery on my cell was dead too, so I felt pretty lucky that the truck died close to a farmhouse. I walked to it and knocked on the front door. There was no answer, so I went around back and knocked. No answer there either." He paused and took a drink water. “I tried the doors and windows to see if anything was unlocked. You know, so I could go in and use the phone. When I was sure there was no way in, I walked back to my truck and opened the hood."

He gave a little laugh. "I really don't know why, I don't know much about car engines. I had just closed the hood and was wondering how far and in what direction I needed to walk to find a phone. I looked up and saw an SUV had stopped a few feet behind my truck. I walked back to it and a really hot blonde was behind the wheel. She offered to give me a ride.”  He smiled. “I remember thinking that I really shouldn't get in a vehicle with a stranger no matter how pretty she was, so I asked if I could just use her cell phone. But, she said she didn't have any bars. And so I got in the SUV with her." He took another drink of water. "She drove me back to Gretna. The gas station didn't have a pay phone, but I was able to buy a charger for my phone. I went into the bathroom to use the electric outlet there to charge it."

Lane had decided just to let Jeff tell his story and she didn't ask any questions.

"After a while, someone banged on the door, so I had to leave the men's room. Luckily, the phone had charged enough for me to call Triple A. I'd gone outside to wait where I found another outlet. That's when I sent Mom the e-mail. I guess I waited about half an hour before the tow truck showed up and gave me a ride back to my truck. He checked everything out and jumped the battery. My truck started, so the guy followed me back to Interstate 80." Jeff took another drink.

"After the jump start, the first thing I did was charge my phone. Since the cops said that's how you found me, I guess I'm glad I did. I headed toward Omaha on Interstate 80. I was only about ten miles away from my house when I saw what I thought looked like the SUV that had stopped and given me a ride. It was totally dark out by then, so I wasn't sure, but I slowed down as I passed it.”  He shook his head, and continued.  “Sure enough, it was the same girl who'd given me a ride and now her SUV was stopped on the side of the road. I stopped and walked back to talk to her. We had a laugh about karma. I offered her my phone to make a call, but she asked if I'd just give her a ride to her friend's place." Jeff laughed again. "You know what they say about kids and stranger danger? If the kid has seen the person before, the kid doesn't think of them as a stranger. That goes double for guys where a good-looking girl is concerned. I didn't think twice about saying yes. So, I followed her directions to a neighborhood in southwest Omaha. It had been about 15 minutes since I'd picked her up when I'd stopped in front of the house she'd indicated." Jeff smiled sheepishly. "We'd been chatting sorta casually and so I asked for her number, you know? She reached into her purse to get a pen. Only what she came out with was a gun and a syringe. She jabbed me in the thigh. As everything went black, I remember thinking all she had to do was say no." He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I was out of it a lot. I'd come to, they'd feed me give me something to drink, but mostly I was out of it. Once when they thought I was still out, I thought I heard a couple of guys taking about a meth house. I have no idea how or when I ended up in Saint Louis. I guess they drove me here in my own truck. I have one of those wireless charger pads, you know. Whoever brought me here must have thought my phone was dead still. The police suspect that my truck broke down near a meth house and that they kidnapped me because they thought I'd seen something or could identify someone. Joke's on them. I didn't see a thing."

The poor kid, Lane thought. She knew Interstate 80 was a drug corridor, but that sure didn't explain how or why Jeff had ended up far from Interstate 80 in a warehouse in Saint Louis. She looked at her watch. It was nearing 11:00 and she was sure that Jeff needed to get some rest. She smiled at him.

"Well, Bud, you had some week. Look on the bright side; you have a story to tell your grandkids someday. Did the police tell you they had a guard outside your door?" Jeff nodded. "Bud, you look like you're worn out. You get some sleep. I can stay here if you don't want to be alone." She knew that no matter how harrowing the ordeal had been that Jeff would man up and tell her to leave.

"You probably need to get some rest too, Aunt Lane. You go to the hotel. Like you said, there's a police guard outside my room. I'll be fine."

Lane bent and kissed his forehead. "Your Mom's flight should get in around 11:00. I'll pick her up and we'll see you tomorrow." She wrote her cell phone number down. "The nurses and the police have my number, but I want to be sure you've got it too. Call me if you need anything before I get here."