At his tone, her heart chilled. He totally meant the horrendous words. Isabelle opened the passenger door and slid into the seat. “What now?”
“Hold out your hands.” She did so, and with one hand aiming the weapon at her, he reached with the other into his pocket and pulled out a zip tie. “Link your fingers and slide your hands through.”
Isabelle wanted to refuse, but the picture of her sweet kids at the mercy of this man made her swallow hard. She obeyed, clasped her fingers and kept them stiff so her palms were slightly separated. She prayed he wouldn’t notice. He pulled the tie tight then handed her the seat belt buckle. “Buckle up.” She stared at him, sighed, then pulled the strap across and fastened the device. He slammed the door.
She considered making a run for it once more, but again, the thought of him making good on his threat to hurt the children or her parents stilled her. Besides, she’d never be able to get the seat belt back off and open the door before he—
He climbed into the driver’s side, shut the door and looked at her. “It’s nothing personal, Isabelle.”
“Funny, it feels pretty personal to me.”
He scowled and cranked the old truck she knew he only used for his home like hauling mulch or moving furniture.
“Tell me how you plan to get away with this,” she said. “You owe me that at least.”
“I don’t suppose it will hurt. When you were talking about the trouble the baby’s father was causing, I decided to piggyback on it and use him as the fall guy. Then Donna said he almost ran her down in the crosswalk, so I thought if I did the same, the police would connect the two. It was working perfectly until he got caught.”
Isabelle listened, her jaw tightening against the words she wanted to hurl at him. “I thought you were my friend,” she whispered. She’d had no inkling of the darkness in him. How had she been so blind to that? “How do you think you’re going to get away with this?” She couldn’t fathom it.
“You’re in trouble financially,” he said. “Everyone knows you need the money from the fundraiser to stay afloat. If you were to lose that, you’d go under.”
“We raised the money.”
“Ah, but no one has to know that. All of those checks never have to reach the bank, do they?” He patted his pocket. “I knew they’d be in your desk just waiting to be deposited on Monday morning. All I have to do is say we had a deal.”
“What kind of deal?” Keep him talking. It wouldn’t be hard. He actually sounded quite proud of himself.
“I’d buy the land from you and let you live on it and keep running it, so that the kids would be able to stay in a secure home.” He shrugged. “Only now that’s impossible because you’re gone and I don’t need the land. My only option is to unload it.”
“But people know they wrote checks. Surely, when they’re not deposited, they’ll wonder why?”
He shrugged. “That’s something for the authorities to work on. By the time they figure it out—if they ever do—I’ll be long gone.”
“You’re a monster,” she whispered.
His hand fisted and for a moment she thought he might hit her. Then he spun the wheel onto a side road and took a deep breath. When he glanced back to her, his eyes had hardened to the point that she wondered if he even had a conscience anymore. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”
“Like I said, it’s nothing personal.” He swallowed and looked away, giving her a slight hope that maybe she’d been wrong. Maybe she could reach him.
“It’s not too late, Travis. You haven’t hurt me. Just let me go and we can chalk this up to a bad choice with a happy ending.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “Sorry, Isabelle, but I can’t do that. I’m too far into this.”
“I see. And if I don’t sign over the property to you?”
He studied her. “You’ll sign.”
Chills skated up her spine and a sickness grew in her gut. “Why do you say that?”
“Because you love those kids and you don’t want to see them get hurt.” His icy gaze met hers once more as he braked for a curve. “And I will hurt them. One by one until you give me what I want. But truly, you and I both know it won’t come to that.”
He was right. She’d never let it go so far that he even came close to one of the kids. She pressed her bound hands to her head and silently prayed.
NINETEEN
Mac paced the porch of Isabelle’s home. Creed must have friends in high places because he already had a crime scene unit going over the inside. The place felt empty. Abandoned. The horses were in the barn, the cows in the far pasture. Even the dogs were gone, traveling with Cody Ray and Ms. Sybil. Isabelle’s absence was distinct, and his heart pounded with fear for her.
Creed stepped up beside him. “I don’t know who could have taken her,” he said, his voice soft but tense. “I literally don’t have a clue.”
“We need to talk to her friends. What about Regina?”
“She said she had no idea, either, but she’s put a list of people together that talk to Isabelle on a regular basis and is going door-to-door to see if they know anything, while we try to find something here.”
Mac pressed his hands to his eyes. “Drew Baldwin confessed to trying to kill Isabelle, right?”
“He did.”
“Obviously, he lied. Why? What makes a guy willing to take the hit for a murder he didn’t have anything to do with?”
“I can only think of one thing,” Creed said.
“Money?”
“Yep.”
“Maybe we need to talk to Baldwin again,” Mac said. “I hate to leave here, but I don’t think she’s coming back and I need to be doing something proactive like Regina.”
Creed nodded. “I’ve already put a call out to the media and the news is running a special report that she’s missing and asking for information, but I’m with you. Let’s go talk to Baldwin once more. Want to ride with me?”
“Sure.”
Mac followed the man to his cruiser and climbed into the passenger seat. His heart thudded and fear threatened to swallow him. Who wanted to hurt Isabelle so bad and why? Nothing made sense. God, please don’t let me lose her. I know she’s not officially mine, but You and I both know I’m head over heels about her and I really need her to be okay. Please, God, let us find her so I can be honest about how I feel. And yes, I realize that might be a totally selfish prayer, but just...please...
Creed slid behind wheel and radioed his deputies to let them know what he was doing. Just as he cranked the SUV, his phone rang. He answered it with the Bluetooth. “Creed Payne.”
“Creed? It’s Regina. I’ve been talking to Valerie Lovett about Isabelle and I think you need to hear what she has to say. Can you meet us at the station?”
“I’m on the way there now to talk to Drew Baldwin.”
“We’ll see you there.”
Ten minutes later, Creed wheeled the vehicle into the designated parking spot and Mac followed him into the station.
Regina met them at the door. “I put her in the conference room. She said she had some information that might help us find Isabelle.”
“She tell you what it was?”
“No. She said she needed to tell you.”
He frowned and nodded. “All right. Mac, you can listen in behind the mirror.”
“Thanks.” Mac made his way to the area he’d shared with Isabelle the last time he’d been at the station. Impatience clawed at him. He didn’t want to be in the station; he needed to be searching for Isabelle.
His fingers rolled into fists as he stepped up to the window to see Valerie Lovett seated at the table, her fingers twisted around a manila folder.
Creed walked into the room and tears formed in her eyes to spill over her lashes. The sheriff went to her and pulled her into his arms. “Aw, Val, come on, now. It’l
l be all right.”
She nodded against his shoulder, sniffed and swiped her eyes. He handed her a tissue from the box and she drew in a deep breath. “I need to tell you something, but I don’t know how to do it. Everyone’s going to hate me.” She stifled a sob on the last word. But instead of breaking down again, she firmed her jaw and looked Creed in the eye. “I lied, Creed.”
“About?” Creed settled into the chair across from her.
“About the car. Travis and I have been having some issues and I’ve been very angry with him about a lot of things. But this time—”
“Go on,” he said when she stopped.
“I don’t know where Isabelle is, but I think Travis had something to do with her disappearance.”
Creed straightened, and Mac’s heart pounded harder.
“What do you mean?”
“Travis said he sold the Cooper Hill house over on Highway 21. He said he used that to buy me the little red sports car. Which is stupid because I’ve never wanted anything like that, nor asked for it, but he was so happy about it that I did my best to thank him and be thrilled that he wanted to spoil me like that. But then he drove it to the restaurant to meet Isabelle and the others that morning when they were going to talk about the Day at the Ranch details. A short time later, he texted and said the that the car had been stolen, but he didn’t want anyone to know it had been stolen from him. He said it would be better for insurance purposes if I told them the car had been stolen out of the driveway.” She rubbed her eyes. “Honestly, I didn’t see what the difference was. I mean if the car was stolen, it was stolen, but he said he had his reasons. However, I didn’t feel right about lying.”
“But you did.”
“Yes.” She sighed. “I did. He told me what to say and I called the station and said it. Later, when I learned the car had been used in the hit-and-run, I nearly had a stroke.”
“So, why didn’t you come forward then?”
Her chin wobbled before she got it under control. “I confronted Travis about it and he told me to leave it alone, that if I pressed him or changed my story, he’d be out a ton of money and we would be in major trouble. I didn’t understand, but obviously, I knew something wasn’t right.” She pressed her lips together, then said, “I kept thinking and thinking about it and I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that the car had been awfully easy to find. I mean, who steals that kind of car and just leaves it on the side of the road in perfect condition? And then I had the thought of what if—”
She pressed her fingers to her eyes. “Go ahead, Valerie. What if—”
Valerie swallowed and Mac wanted to shake whatever she was trying to say out of her. But that wouldn’t help the situation.
“I woke up tonight to see Travis slip out of the house,” she said. “I couldn’t leave the kids to follow him, but I called my parents and told them I was having an emergency and I needed them to come stay the rest of the night. I wanted to see what he was up to. When I couldn’t find him, I came home and went through his office, hoping there would be something that would tell me what was going on with him.”
What did all of this have to do with Isabelle? It was all Mac could do not to burst into the room and demand she get to the point.
“Answer me this, first. You say you don’t know where Isabelle is,” Creed said.
“No, I don’t.”
“Then I’m confused.”
“I know. I’m getting there.” She slid the manila envelope across the table. “I think Travis may be trying to force Isabelle to sell her property to him.”
Mac flinched and Creed jerked. “Force her?” he asked. “How so?”
“By scaring her into selling, maybe? I’m not sure. I have a hard time believing he’d hurt her, but... I just don’t know and that means I can’t keep silent.” She nodded to the folder. “Everything’s in there. I made copies in case I needed them later, but then Regina showed up and—” She waved a hand. “There’s a contract on the property with a condominium developer and a copy of a check from that developer for a hundred thousand dollars of earnest money.”
Creed ran a hand down his face. “Where’s Travis now?”
“I don’t know, but when Regina said Isabelle was missing, my first thought was this. He’s in this too deep to have it fall through. If this deal doesn’t happen then he’s finished.”
“Which makes him desperate,” Mac whispered.
* * *
About five miles outside of the town limits, Travis made a sudden turn onto a dirt road between towering trees, and Isabelle tensed even more. This was it. This was where he was taking her. Nausea swirled in her gut and she had to swallow several times before she could speak. “Where are we?”
“A place where we can conduct our business without worrying about interruption.”
The winding road led through the thick wooded area and finally opened up into a small clearing just big enough to hold a small log-cabin-style home. “Whose house is this?”
“No one’s right now.” He pulled in front of the cabin and parked. “Stay put.” She obeyed, watching him and surveying the area at the same time. He climbed out of the driver’s seat and walked around to open her door. “Get out.”
It took three tries with her bound—and almost numb—hands, but finally, Isabelle unhooked the seat belt and hauled herself out of the seat. With dread, she realized he’d chosen the location well. Even if she could get away from him and run, where would she go? She could walk the five or six miles back to town with no trouble, but the only problem was, he’d know that was exactly where she’d head and would know the route she’d take.
He put a hand on her back and shoved her toward the door. “Stand to the side.” She did so while he used his phone to unlock the lockbox.
“This is one of your listings, isn’t it?”
He glanced at her. “Yeah.”
He twisted the knob and Isabelle lifted her bound hands then brought them down on the side of his head. He cried out as the momentum of her hit sent him slamming into the partially opened door. Isabelle bolted down the porch steps and darted toward the trees. Even as she ran, she knew it was a hopeless attempt, but she had to try. She needed to try. She knew her parents and the kids—and Mac—would all want her to try.
She dodged limbs and trunks and undergrowth, her feet churning, slipping every so often, but somehow, she managed to keep her balance.
“Isabelle! Stop! There’s nowhere for you to hide!”
She kept going, breathing hard, looking for a place she could hunker down until he gave up.
Her foot caught on something and she went down hard. A cry slipped from her, then her head bounced against a solid object. Stars danced before her eyes and she lay there panting, blinking, mentally ordering herself to get up.
Travis’s footsteps crashed closer and she was out of time. She shut her eyes and forced herself to go limp. He nudged her with a foot and she flopped over onto her back.
When his hand touched the wound on her forehead, she refused to react. “Great,” he muttered, “just great.”
How long could she pretend to be knocked out before he became suspicious?
With a grunt, he hefted her into a fireman’s carry. She hung facedown over his shoulder and couldn’t stop the grimace at the pressure the position put on her pounding head. But she bit her lip and stayed as loose as possible.
“You’re going to pay for this one, Isabelle,” he muttered. “Trust me, you’re going to pay.”
TWENTY
Mac raked a hand through his hair for the umpteenth time. He’d be surprised if he had any left by the time they found Isabelle. And they would find her. There was no other option.
“Where would Travis take her if he’s the one behind this?” Creed asked.
Valerie shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, I guess he could take her to a hotel
or something. We have a beach house, but my parents are using it this week.”
Her phone beeped once more from the recesses of her purse, and again, she ignored it.
“Can you call to make sure? While you do that, I’m going to take care of another matter.”
She nodded and Creed walked out of the room. Mac met him in the hallway. “What do you think?”
“I think I want to talk to Baldwin and see if he can tell us where Travis might take Isabelle.” His phone buzzed and he glanced at the screen, then looked up with a tight smile. “That’s Ben. I sent him to get a warrant signed by the judge in Asheville to let us pull Baldwin’s financial records. He just got back and is working on pulling the files. We should have that shortly.”
“Excellent.” Timber Creek might be a small town, but Creed knew his stuff and Mac was relieved he was in charge of Isabelle’s disappearance.
“Hang tight. We’re going to find her.”
“I know.”
Mac returned to the viewing room and paced the floor. As soon as Drew Baldwin was led into the room opposite the one Valerie was in, Mac simply turned his chair around to watch.
He could hear Valerie talking to her mother in the background.
Baldwin sat at the table, hands cuffed, nails bitten to the quick. “Okay, Drew,” Creed said, leaning forward, “we know you changed your story and confessed that you were the one in the red car that tried to run down Isabelle. Why’d you lie?”
“What are you talking about?”
“We know it wasn’t you in the car.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because we know who was really driving. We also know you got a phone call at the jail. Who was it?”
Baldwin shrugged. “My mother.”
“Your mother’s dead.”
The prisoner blinked, and Creed’s lips tightened a fraction. “I’m not a stupid man, son. I didn’t get this badge at a local yard sale. I know how to do my homework and I did it on you. Who was the call from?”
Peril on the Ranch Page 16
