Silence in the Dark

by Patricia Bradley

  “You trust this Bailey Adams?”

  “I have no reason not to.” He did more than trust her. The beautiful teacher intrigued him, and at some point, he intended for her to be more than a friend. But that was not something Edward needed to know.

  Edward puffed on the cigar. “So by the time you got inside the hotel, Bailey and Maria were gone. Do you think the men took them, or did they magically evade them?”

  He flinched at the sarcasm. “Danny Maxwell was with them. I saw them speeding away in a dark-blue SUV.”

  “Why did you not say this in the first place? Instead you raise my blood pressure.” Edward nodded. “Danny is a good man, but could he evade Calatrava men by himself?”

  Now, he hesitated. It was not good to be the bearer of bad news to Edward Montoya.

  His boss stared at him, his pale blue eyes cold. “Spit it out, Joel—whatever it is that you do not wish to tell me.”

  Joel averted his gaze. “There was another man with him.”

  “Must I drag it out of you? Who?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe your nephew, Angel.”

  Edward rocked back in the chair. “Impossible. Angel is dead.”

  “I’m just telling you what I saw. I certainly don’t want it to be Angel.”

  “You saw wrong. I would know if he was alive.” Montoya flicked the ash on his cigar in the crystal ashtray. His cell phone rang, and he glanced at it before answering in Spanish. After a few minutes, he disconnected and leveled his gaze at Joel. “It seems you may not have seen wrong. That was Sergeant Chavez of the Federal Police. There was a shootout at a small airfield, and two men were killed. The survivors swear the man who did one of the killings was my nephew.”

  Angel. Alive. Joel’s blood turned to ice. “Where has he been for the past two years?”

  Montoya leveled his gaze at him, not looking any happier about the news than Joel. “That’s a good question. Just hope you don’t get close enough to him to ask.”

  “What happened was not my fault.” Joel paced the room.

  “I doubt my nephew feels the same way. One other thing. You were right that the men were Calatrava.”

  If Edward intended to make him feel better, his news did just the opposite. It was looking more and more like the man he’d borrowed money from was Calatrava. If Edward found out . . . He licked his parched lips.

  “They probably want Maria so they can extort money from me.” Edward ground the cigar in the ashtray. “Back to my nephew. Evidently Angel has learned patience, but he is not the only one who knows how to wait. Chavez indicated Danny Maxwell’s plane was at that particular airport this morning, and now it’s gone. If Miss Adams and Maria were with Maxwell at the hotel, it’s safe to assume Maria left on that plane. Where would he take her?”

  Focused on his own problems, Joel barely caught the last of his boss’s question. “Probably to his hometown—Logan Point. That’s where Bailey is from as well, and my parents live within a hundred miles.”

  “And Angel is with them.” Edward steepled his fingers. “He is sadly mistaken if he thinks he can whisk Maria away from us. He lives too dangerously to be a part of her life. We must go after her. Do you have an address for Miss Adams’s home in Mississippi? We will go and get my niece and bring her back to Mexico.”

  “No, but I can get one. We’ve been in contact by phone. Maybe she’ll answer my call.” He dialed her number, wishing he’d known Angel was with them. He could have warned her that the man was dangerous. The call went straight to voicemail. “Something must be wrong with her phone.”

  “They’re in the air—she has no service.” Edward waved his hand. “Never mind. Logan Point is small, and Bailey Adams shouldn’t be too hard to find.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “I’d like to leave right now, but I have a few things I need to tidy up this afternoon. I’ll contact Phillip Maxwell to move our meeting scheduled for later this month to the present. We’ll leave first thing in the morning for Mississippi.”

  That would give Joel time to visit the jeweler and get a duplicate necklace . . . and also to get a temporary passport. “Thank you for everything you’re doing.”

  “We must get Maria back.”

  The intensity in Edward’s voice took him aback. He’d known Edward had grown fond of Maria, just not to the extent of disrupting his schedule to go after her. He just hoped they didn’t encounter Angel Montoya.

  The man hated his guts. With reason.

  “We’re approaching McKinney Airport just north of Dallas and will be landing in a few minutes.”

  Danny’s voice startled Bailey, and she glanced out the window, impressed that he was putting the plane down in darkness. He’d impressed her a lot today, the last time being when she listened through the earphones as he persuaded the Customs and Border Protection Agency to let them reenter the States.

  After a lengthy conversation, he provided the documentation needed and convinced them they were not illegally trying to cross the border. He gave a thumbs-up when the person gave him a time that a customs agent would meet them.

  Bailey had never seen Danny so . . . in charge and commanding. She had to keep reminding herself why she’d returned his ring. It would be easier to remember once she was home and he wasn’t around.

  With a bump, the plane touched down on the runway and taxied to the terminal building.

  “Sit tight until customs gives us the go-ahead.”

  Finally they were given the okay, and she waited while Danny and Angel climbed out, then Solana. A cold March wind sent shivers through Bailey as she climbed out on the wing and handed Maria to Danny. She wished for their coats that had been in the suitcases. Danny handed Maria off to Angel before he turned back to help her down.

  An overhead light bathed him in a soft glow as his lopsided grin speared her heart. For a second, the question of why she broke up with him resurfaced. What had sent her running to Mexico? Oh yeah. Fear. Plain and simple. Fear that he would wake up one day and leave. Fear that she couldn’t depend on him. Fear that he would turn into someone she didn’t know.

  She wanted to believe none of that could happen. Desperately wanted to, but wanting to didn’t make it so, didn’t change that she couldn’t trust him. And he deserved better than that.

  Bailey conjured a smile for Danny and held out her hand. After she was on the ground, she asked to borrow his phone.

  “For . . . ?”

  “To call Maria’s grandparents and let them know I won’t be bringing Maria to their house tonight.”

  He pressed his lips together, and a frown creased his brow. “Angel and I were talking, and we think you shouldn’t contact them. What if the wrong people got the grandparents’ phone and discovered my number? They could track us wherever we are.”

  She hadn’t heard him and Angel talking. “Did you turn my headset off?”

  At least he had the decency to look embarrassed. “It was Angel’s idea.”

  She glanced toward the terminal. Solana stood beside the man in question. He’d placed Maria on his shoulders, and the little girl was laughing for the first time since all of this started. Even Solana smiled. Bailey chewed the inside of her cheek. Angel was an enigma. Something about him was off-kilter. “Why is he here? And why should his opinion matter?”

  “Bailey, he saved our lives. What’s your problem?”

  “How well do you know him?”

  “I don’t really know him, so I’m keeping my eye on him. But my gut instinct says he’s a good guy.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe he has his own agenda.” Shivering, she folded her arms across her chest and rubbed her arms. “I’m going inside.”

  As she hurried to the terminal, Danny caught up with her. She tilted her head at him. “How did you meet Angel, anyway?”

  “He was at the restaurant this morning. When you disappeared, he helped me search for you and Maria.”

  Danny pushed the door open, and warm air wrapped around her. But her mind was still on Angel. “S
ee? That alone should make you suspicious of him. What was he doing at the restaurant? How do you know he’s not part of those men at the hotel or the airport?”

  “Even if he has his own agenda, he’s done nothing but help us.” He shook his head. “Besides, why would he shoot one of his own men? Maybe he just likes excitement. Solana acts like he’s some sort of hero.”

  Solana did seem to know him. And admire him. But Bailey still wasn’t comfortable. “Once we’re in the air and Maria can’t hear us, I want to ask him a few questions,” she said, keeping her voice low. “And don’t you dare turn off my headset again.”

  “I won’t. Just don’t take his head off. Okay?”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “All right. But I don’t agree that I shouldn’t let the McDermotts know we won’t be coming tonight. They’ll worry.”

  “Let’s see if we can find a pay phone.”

  “Are you serious? No one has pay phones anymore. I don’t understand the problem with me calling her grandparents.”

  “There are plenty of pay phones still around. It’s not about calling them, it’s about calling them from a number that can be traced back to you. And when you do call, don’t tell them where you are or where you’ll be.”

  Her shoulders slumped. Sometimes she didn’t grasp what a deep mess they were in, and he was right. If those goons showed up at the McDermott house, it would be better if the grandparents didn’t know where they were. “Do you really think those people will follow us? Or if they do, they’ll know who Maria’s grandparents are?”

  “Do you think they’ll give up just because we’re no longer in Mexico? If they follow us, trust me, they will know who the McDermotts are and where to find them.”

  She massaged the back of her neck. Since eleven o’clock this morning, getting back to the States meant safety, but evidently that might not be true. “At least let me call my mom and let her know I’ll be arriving early.”

  “Tell her you’ll be staying somewhere other than the bed-and-breakfast.”

  “You don’t think—”

  “Do you want to take a chance? It’s your family that would be endangered if someone comes after Maria.”

  “Where will we go?”

  “My cabin.”

  It was clear he’d given this thought. She chewed her bottom lip. A person would definitely have to know where they were going to find Danny’s cabin on the lake. “I don’t like it that there’s only one way in and one way out. And unless you’ve done some work on it, that road into your cabin is narrow and the woods are dense. Anyone could be hiding in them, and you wouldn’t know.”

  “I’ve put in security cameras where you turn off the main road, as well as around the cabin. If anyone comes my way, I’ll know it.”

  “Isn’t your cabin in Duncan County?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “That’s out of Ben Logan’s jurisdiction. I don’t even know the sheriff over there.”

  “I’m telling you, my cabin would be the safest place. And I know the sheriff in Duncan County. Maybe not as well as Ben, but he’s a good guy.”

  “And I’m telling you, I don’t think it is. I think we’d be safer in Logan Point with Ben.”

  The muscles in his jaw twitched, and his lips pressed together. “Do you think your mom has extra rooms available?”

  “For?” Surely he didn’t intend to stay at her mother’s bed-and-breakfast.

  “Me . . . Solana and Angel. Where else will they stay?”

  He definitely intended to stick close to her. She’d nixed going to his cabin and had hoped once they were in Logan Point and under Ben’s protection, Danny would simply fade away. She needed him to fade away. Today’s events brought back all the reasons she’d fallen in love with him in the first place. He’d been her knight since she was ten years old and he’d come to her rescue when a Doberman had her cornered on the school playground. She tried one more time.

  “Really, Danny, there’s no need for you to stay. If Ben thinks there’s danger, he’ll put a deputy at the house.”

  He crossed his arms. “Ben doesn’t have that kind of manpower. I’m staying. Inside the house or outside, but I’m hoping it’ll be inside.”

  She held up her hands. “Okay, I’ll ask. It’s the middle of the slow season, so she probably has room.”

  His shoulders relaxed. “If she does, we’ll try it your way, but the first sign of danger and we’re going to my cabin.”

  “Agreed. Now, can I use your phone to call my mom?” He handed it over, and she dialed her mother’s number, smiling when “Bailey’s home phone” showed up in his contacts list. So he hadn’t taken it out of his phone. When the call went to the answering machine, Bailey left a message asking her mother to call back.

  “Satisfied?” she asked as she handed Danny his phone.

  “Yep. In the morning, I’ll pick you up a phone, but I need your account password.”

  She eyed him. “I can get my own phone.”

  “I want to do this. I’m the one who destroyed your other one, and it’s one less thing you’ll have to do tomorrow.”

  She hesitated. He was right, as usual. She gave him the password, then she walked toward the counter near the front of the terminal.

  “Where are you going?” Danny called.

  “To find a pay phone.”

  “I’ll go with you—I need to buy fuel.” He followed her to the front.

  He probably didn’t trust her not to tell the McDermotts where she was and wanted to listen to the conversation. Men. She waited while he wrote out an order for fuel and handed it to the man behind the counter. The name “Greg” was stitched over the pocket of his shirt.

  “Be about ten minutes before I can get to it,” Greg said. “I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks.”

  Danny moved, and she stepped closer to the counter. “So Greg, do you have a pay phone?”

  “A what?”

  She gave Danny an I-told-you-so look. “I lost my cell phone and need to make a call.”

  He pointed to the phone on the counter. “Use that one.”

  It surprised her that he didn’t think it a strange request. If it’d been her, she would have wondered why one of the people with her wouldn’t loan her a phone. “It’s long distance.”

  “No matter.”

  Bailey found the card Joel had given her with his parents’ number on it and dialed. After several rings, she finally disconnected. Evidently they didn’t have an answering machine. She checked the time. Where could they be? It seemed strange that they wouldn’t be home, given it was close to the time she should have been arriving with Maria.

  “Happy now?” Danny asked.

  “Not really. I think that was their home number, and they weren’t there. I should have their cell number.” She scanned the information Joel had given her. He hadn’t listed another number. Maybe there was a number on one of the other papers in the bag with the prescriptions. “I need to go back to the plane to get Maria’s bag.”

  “I’ll get it.” He jogged back to the plane.

  When he returned with the bag, she rummaged through it. No number. Maybe they didn’t have a cell phone. She’d try their number again after she reached her parents’ house. If she didn’t get through to them tonight, she would have to figure out something in the morning. Right now she was too tired to think it through. She started to zip the bag closed and noticed the photo of his parents that Joel had included. She’d barely glanced at the photo when he’d given her the bag, but now she took time to really look at it. She sensed Danny behind her rather than saw him.

  “That’s the grandparents?”

  “Yep.”

  “I don’t know, Bailey . . .”

  His tone of voice echoed her own feelings. She hated it when he was right. White haired and plump, the McDermotts looked to be a good ten years older than Bailey’s own parents, who were in their sixties. No match for the men who had chased them today. But maybe the men wouldn’t chase
Maria all the way to the States.

  Maria. She’d been with Angel and Solana when she saw her last. Bailey whirled around, her heart in her throat as she searched the terminal for the girl.

  How could she let the child out of her sight?

  9

  Why did Solana have her passport with her? The question had nagged Angel ever since she’d handed it to Danny so he could give the information to the customs agent. Could she be a mule? One of those who ran drugs over the border? He hated being so cynical and suspecting her of such a thing. No. He thrust the idea from his mind. There had to be a logical explanation.

  “Want one?” Maria held up a cracker.

  “No, you better eat it.” Angel brushed crumbs from her cheek. The vending machine’s choices ranged more to the sugary snacks except for one offering of peanut butter and crackers. He turned to Solana. “Are you sure you don’t want something?”

  “No. The soda is fine,” she answered in her soft voice.

  “Are we going to stay here?” Maria asked, looking up at him with Claire’s blue eyes.

  Part of him was glad she did not favor him—so far no one had connected that he was her father. But every time she looked at him with those eyes, he longed for his wife. If he had not gone to that meeting with the Federals that day . . .

  “Are we?” She tugged on his pants leg.

  “No, we’ll be flying again soon.” He bent down to her level and pointed to her necklace. “This is pretty.”

  “Uncle Joel gave it to me. It has my mommy’s picture in it. Do you want to see?”

  His heart almost stopped. Joel had given her a locket with Claire’s photo? Just when he had it settled in his mind that Joel was a sleazeball, he did something nice. “Could I?”

  She fumbled with the locket.

  “Here, let me.” Angel’s fingers shook as he opened it and stared at the photo. A thousand memories bombarded him as he blinked back tears. He cleared his throat. “She’s very pretty. You look like her.”

  “I do?”

  Solana limped to stand beside them. “May I see?”

  Angel tilted the locket.