Madi had a hard time keeping her anger in check. Her frustration.
“I don’t know how, but someone made that call from my phone. Not me. I was just as surprised as anyone to find that woman. I have no clue what’s going on. Honestly, I thought it was you and your friend who were behind it after you came to the inn.”
The man shook his head.
“If we wanted to kill someone, it wouldn’t be as messy as all of this.” He motioned around the room. “I’m just here for answers, and I don’t believe for a second you don’t have them. All fingers point to you on this one, Madeline Nash.” Green Eyes reached into the inner pocket of his blazer. “Speaking of fingers.”
He pulled out a handful of what looked like paper straws. Why paper straws, she wondered.
“She doesn’t know anything,” Miller ground out, pulling up against his restraints. “You can’t make her talk about what she doesn’t know.”
That was when Madi realized the man was holding bamboo skewers. They were short but their pointed ends were enough to make fear roar through her.
“They say torture doesn’t work,” the man said, nonchalantly rolling the sticks between his hands. “But I don’t think of what I do as torture. That’s such an ugly word. What I do I view as more of an incentive plan. I ask a question and then give you a really good incentive to give an answer.”
He put the skewers on the bench next to her but kept one in his hand. Madi tried to move as far away from him and it as she could but her hands could only go so far. He grabbed the fingers of her left hand, flattening the back of her hand completely against the bench. In his other hand he held the one skewer.
“So let’s get to the incentive,” he said. “To keep this wooden skewer from going under your fingernail I want you to tell me what you did to Loraine and where she is now.”
Miller started to really struggle against his restraints. Madi didn’t hear what he was saying. Her vision blurred. Fear and panic were slowly consuming her. Being threatened by a gun was terrifying, but unless you’d been shot before, it was hard to imagine the pain of being on the receiving end of bullet. But something going under her fingernail? Something being pushed into her skin? That was a pain she could already feel. It turned her blood cold and at the same time made her sweat.
It also made stalling harder.
She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say.
Then Miller spoke. He didn’t look at Madi as he did so.
“We can take you to Loraine. But you’ll need both of us to get to her.”
The man twirled the skewer in his hand. He narrowed his gaze on the detective before moving it to Madi. She nodded to confirm the lie.
“Is she alive?” he asked.
“She is,” Miller said before Madi could make a sound. “She’s just hard to get to unless you know exactly where she is. That’s why we didn’t say anything. You don’t stand a chance to find her without us.”
“Without you two,” Green Eyes deadpanned. “You’re not working together. You hate each other.”
“It’s the perfect cover,” Madi interjected. “Who would ever suspect?”
He kept twirling that skewer around. Every movement terrified her.
Finally he stopped.
“Fine. I’ll bite.” He let go of her hand and put the skewers back into his inner blazer pocket. He went to the door and stopped. As if it was a playful afterthought he looked over his shoulder. He was nothing but smug. “I should warn you, if you’re lying, the incentives only become more enticing. So is there anything you’d like to add?”
Despite her fear, Madi surprised herself.
“If Nathan hadn’t outsourced his dirty work we would have all been fine.”
Green Eyes continued to stare.
Madi worried she’d lipped off to the wrong person. However, he finally snorted.
“It’s always the damaged ones who cause all the trouble,” he said. He left, shutting the door tight behind him.
Then they were alone with their lie.
* * *
DOROTHY NASH HANDED her revolver to Julian in secret.
“I follow the law,” she said in an almost whisper. “My husband was law, my children are law and I respect it. I also know that look in your eye and know that we both understand sometimes laws can be broken for the greater good.” She placed her hand on his and dropped her voice even lower. Desmond was out on the porch talking to someone on the phone. Through the open kitchen window Julian couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying but his body language was loud enough that he got the gist.
New information had come through the wire and it wasn’t good.
“Madi and I have butted heads time and time again but it’s only because we’re both stubborn, stubborn women,” she continued. “That baby of hers, of yours, will no doubt be the same way. So it’s best if you know now that there isn’t anything my stubbornness wouldn’t do for them. You get both of our babies home, okay? Whatever it takes. And here...”
Julian checked the gun and put it into the waistband of his jeans while she hurried out of the room. When she got back there was a Stetson in her hands.
“If it rains again this will help keep it out of your eyes.” Julian gave her a small smile and bent down so she could place the cowboy hat atop his head. It was a surprisingly good fit. “Not bad, Mr. Mercer,” Dorothy said with approval. “You look just like a local.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Nash. I mean it.”
“You’re family now,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “And call me Dorothy.”
Julian thanked her again. She embraced him in a hard hug.
“I’ve already told the boys but I’m going to tell you, too. The moment you hear anything, you let me know. I’ll be at Desmond’s with Nina, Molly and Clive. Everyone else who works on the ranch has been ordered to stay home until those awful people are caught.”
“Will do.”
Dorothy’s body language was rigid, worry slowly crushing her. Julian felt the same weight against him. Since pitching their theory about the photo album to Declan, twenty minutes had passed. Waiting had been one of the hardest things Julian had ever had to do. If Dorothy hadn’t come in for an update at the same time Desmond had gotten the call, Julian would have pressed his ear against Desmond’s phone if he’d had to just to hear what was going on.
Julian hurried outside, checking to make sure the gun was secure again, and stopped next to Desmond with his heart in his throat. The Nash triplet kept his expression blank. He held up his finger.
“Fine,” he said to the person on the other line. “Yeah. I get it... All right. Bye.”
Desmond was angry. That much was clear. But he wasn’t devastated. It was the only thing that kept Julian’s mouth shut until the man explained himself.
“I can’t believe it but you might have been right about Loraine and Ray being those kids in the picture,” he started. “At least, they weren’t always who they say they were.”
“Let me guess, their real names aren’t Loraine and Ray?”
“They are,” Desmond corrected. “But they weren’t always. Loraine apparently had her name changed five years ago, according to Nathan’s assistant. Though she didn’t know what the previous name was. Jazz is looking into that now. As for Ray, nothing on him has been found. Nothing. Zilch. He didn’t start popping up until three years ago when he got a job on a construction crew. Caleb talked to his boss briefly. He said all he knew about Ray was he had a serious girlfriend and a nasty scar covered with a tattoo. Caleb is trying to track the girlfriend down now. That’s all they’ve got so far but they’re still digging.” He sighed. “If they are in one of those pictures in the photo album, we don’t have any proof. None of those kids look like them. We might still be grasping at straws here.”
It was Julian’s turn to hold up his finger to ask for
patience. He turned on his heel and went to the dining room. There he grabbed the photo album. He flipped through it as he ran back to the porch.
“Since these pictures are older I’m not surprised that their quality isn’t the greatest. That, plus the fact that it’s hard to take a picture of a bunch of kids, made me think that this was an error made by human or camera.” Julian found the group picture and pointed to a boy near Madi. He moved his finger to focus on the boy’s right forearm. His entire arm was partially blurry. He’d moved as the picture was taken. However, there was a dark patch across it that disappeared around the elbow. “But now that you said it, don’t you think that could be a nasty scar?”
Desmond bent over the picture.
“Caleb said the scar was on his arm but didn’t specify where.”
Julian felt another surge of adrenaline waiting in the wings, prickling against his skin and mind. Ready to pounce when the next puzzle piece finally fitted. An excitement he seemed to be sharing with Desmond. His eyes widened.
“We need another picture of him. I know Madi put most of her stuff from back then in the loft but Ma had us sneak some of her old things into the Hidden Hills attic when she moved out there. Maybe there are more pictures there or something else we can use?”
“Or there could be more in the loft,” Julian had to point out. “Madi didn’t look through any of the boxes after she found this.”
“We need more time!”
Desmond ran a hand over the back of his neck, stressed.
Julian had to agree.
“Why don’t you go look through the loft boxes and I’ll go to Hidden Hills and look there? There’s not much we can do around here other than wait. We might just find something now that we know what to look for.”
It didn’t take long for Desmond to make up his mind. They floored it to the barn. Desmond hopped out and motioned to the driver’s seat.
“There’s a key to the inn on the key ring. The one next to the truck key,” he said. “Call me if you find anything.”
They didn’t waste any more time talking. Julian took off toward the inn. Every inch he sped across—every foot, every mile—he thought of no one but Madi and his unborn child.
When he saw Madi again he swore he’d never leave her side.
Hidden Hills had been crawling with lawmen the last two times he’d come to the end of the road. Julian half expected the same this time around. Instead there were only two cars. One was Madi’s. They’d been driving his SUV around when needed. The same SUV he hadn’t expected to see again. At least not parked outside Hidden Hills.
Yet there it was.
Julian hit the brakes.
He came to Hidden Hills looking for a clue that could lead to Madi. What better one to find than the vehicle that had disappeared along with her?
* * *
“WELL, ISN’T THIS FUN?”
Green Eyes was not amused, despite his word choice. Madi was right there with him. Miller, too. The three of them were in varying states of agitation standing in the entryway of Hidden Hills.
“Should I worry about more pink handcuffs?” he added, eyeing the stairs.
“Not unless that’s your thing,” Madi shot back. Her fear of torture had taken a momentary back seat. She hated being afraid in her own home.
Miller bumped her shoulder. The well-dressed man snorted.
“My thing is making difficult people tell me what I want to know.” He dragged his eyes back to hers and smiled sweetly. “And making them pay when they lie to me. Are you going to be one of those people, Blondie?”
“I already told you, I need a key from upstairs before we do anything else.” It was a lie. One she and Miller had cobbled together in the minute or so they’d been alone on the bench. Their goal was to create as many possibilities of escape, while also rolling the dice that they’d run into someone who could help them.
Madi had refused to lie about the ranch, as Miller had originally wanted. The man may have had bamboo skewers but that didn’t mean he wasn’t also carrying a gun. She wasn’t going to chance Nathan and his men happening upon her family or the workers on the ranch who might as well have been family.
Now, though, Madi felt like the circle around them was tightening. No one was at the inn and Madi didn’t know how to keep Green Eyes’s attention without being subjected to torture.
And she had to pee again, if she was being honest.
“Hey, Cap, how does it look up there?” Green Eyes yelled up the stairs. His partner, who had surprisingly kept his distance from them, appeared on the steps. He wasn’t as well dressed as his counterpart. Instead he had on a graphic tee of a band Madi hadn’t heard of along with a pair of gray cargo pants. Those pockets looked weighted. Madi was afraid to know what he was carrying in them.
“I checked everywhere. No one’s up there,” Cap said, annoyed. “I’ll take her up and you and the badge can make sure no one sneaks up on us here.”
Madi’s stomach twisted at the suggestion. Green Eyes might have been terrifying but there was something about Cap that made her skin crawl.
“Oh, so he’s the boss,” Miller said at her side. He chuckled. “I was trying to figure out the dynamic but I get it now.”
Cap snickered; his partner did not.
“Laugh it up, old man. I wonder if you’ll still be this funny when I start carving into you for lying. You do anything and I’ll gut her.” Madi yelped as Green Eyes grabbed the back of her shirt and pushed her to the stairs. “I’ll take them both up. Cap, you keep watch.”
Miller fell in line with a grunt. Madi’s mind was racing. While there was a key to her post office box in a desk upstairs, it wasn’t going to magically make Nathan’s men let her and Miller go. She didn’t know how long it would even help them stall. What lie could she tell to save them?
There was another key to where Loraine really was in the PO box?
Madi wouldn’t have believed it. She doubted the man at her side would, either.
“It’s in my room,” she said when he paused at the second-floor landing. The three of them shuffled into her living suite. The door leading into her bedroom was splintered. No thanks to the man next to her.
“You aren’t leaving through the window this time,” he warned once they were inside.
Madi’s legs started to shake. Her bluff was failing. She shared a look with Miller. He knew it was about to get bad, too. He cut his eyes around the room and then back to the man. Green Eyes was watching them both with a grin.
“What seems to be the problem?” He crossed his arms and stopped in front of them. He was so cocky. So smug. He was a man who was used to getting what he wanted. By force. No matter if his prey was innocent or not.
No matter if they were carrying a child or not.
The walk-in closet door was open behind him. The key she had alluded to was in her jewelry box inside.
Yet by the look in his eye, Madi already knew how that would play out. There was no lie she could tell to convince him to continue the wild-goose chase. He’d hurt her. He’d hurt Miller. Then Cap would join in.
They wouldn’t stand a chance.
Julian.
She missed out on her chance to get to know him the last several months because she’d been afraid to let anyone in. Now? Now it was a regret that rivaled her fear of the unknown.
Not only did Madi want to continue to get to know him, she wanted the chance to love him, too. She wanted him to know her and to be loved by him. She wanted their family to grow.
And she wasn’t going to let Green Eyes take that away from her without a fight.
“There’s no problem,” Madi answered. She slowly slid her right foot back to give her better balance. She could feel Miller’s eyes on her. Madi hoped his hands being bound wouldn’t throw off his survival instincts. “Because I just realized something you probably di
dn’t think to hide.”
The man’s eyebrow quirked up.
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
Madi’s muscles started to vibrate in anticipation. She glanced at Miller. She’d spent most of her life hating him, yet now she felt a kinship. An understanding. Whether or not he knew exactly what she was doing, he gave a small nod.
Madi stilled her nerves. She thought of Julian when she answered.
“I don’t think you have a gun.”
Miller threw his entire weight into the man. It pushed them both back into the closet. Madi followed, landing a kick to Green Eyes as they hit her hanging clothes.
“Cap,” he yelled out. Miller’s hands might have been bound but he did fast work of getting the man to the floor. Madi hovered, waiting for an opening. She didn’t want to hit Miller and she certainly didn’t want the man to get a hit in on her or her stomach.
“Cap!”
“Madi—” Miller grunted, swinging down at the man. “Go—go lock the door!”
Madi turned on her heel and ran for the suite’s main door. There were bullet holes in it. The lock was busted. She hadn’t noticed that detail before.
Footsteps thundered up the steps.
Madi felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu as Cap appeared at the top of the stairs with a gun in hand. He pointed it without hesitation. Madi tried to shield her stomach as a gunshot exploded through the house.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Waiting for the pain.
Instead all she felt was the rapid beating of her heart.
Then she heard a thud.
“Madi?” Miller asked, running in behind her. It forced her to open her eyes.
Cap was on the floor. His eyes were open but blood was already pooling around him. Miller bumped up against her shoulder.
“Get back,” Miller whispered, easing in front of her. “We don’t know who it is.”
“Julian?” Madi called, ignoring the detective.
Who else would have shot the bad guy?
Credible Alibi Page 17
