He strode back inside, grabbed his flashlight, and went back out the door. He swept the light around, but didn’t see any vehicle. Maybe it was just the wind, he thought, turning to go back inside when he heard it again. He jumped off the porch, and walked down the road, shinning the light on each side. Someone was out here and he was determined to find him or her. He hopped on one foot when he stepped on a sharp rock. Besides being hot and miserable, it was only two in the morning and he’d had a busy day bailing the hay he’d cut the day before. He wanted to get it done before it rained, and now he wished it would. Maybe it would cool off this blasted heat wave they’d been stuck in for more than a month. Jace heard the moan again and shone his light to the right. A woman’s body lay on the side of the road. He ran over and knelt down next to her, shinning his light in her face. “Good Lord,” he whispered, seeing the bruises on her face, the bloody lip, and the dried blood under her nose. “Miss?”
