by Sheryl Lynn
“Penny is my responsibility. I won’t let you do anything that can harm her.”
His green eyes gleamed. “You have my word, Frankie. I will do everything in my power to get Penny back safe and sound.”
INSIDE HONEYMOON HIDEAWAY Cabin B, Colonel Horace Duke stood with his hands locked behind his back. He studied Julius’s corpse. The Colonel was shaved and groomed and dressed in a dark blue sweatshirt, pressed-and-creased blue jeans and a fleece-lined denim coat. Despite having left the army years ago, the old man still rose every day at 4:30 a.m. His mind was always as sharp as his appearance.
“Might I see the note, Mr. McKennon?”
McKennon placed the paper on the bed in a position where the Colonel could read it. “The fewer people who touch it, the better, sir.”
“Understood.” He scanned the note. His mouth compressed into a thin, unyielding line. “Humph. We shall assume, then, these miscreants are both serious and dangerous.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Have we any indications as to the identity of the miscreants? Or where they may have taken Penny?”
“Not yet.” McKennon pointed at the floor in front of the door. “There’s no sign of a struggle. Frankie and I stayed on the gravel, so we didn’t track mud. The tracks belong to the kidnappers. They come in, they go out. No smearing. They left the door unlocked.”
Frankie took a good hard look at her surroundings. The cabin was as luxurious as any five-star hotel, with plush carpeting, wallpaper, antique furnishings, flower arrangements and romantic art hanging on the walls. McKennon’s observation made her realize it was quite neat as well. Julius and Penny had obviously used the wet bar, and their luggage and clothing were tossed about in untidy stacks. Still, other than a few muddy footprints—and a dead groom—the kidnappers had left no sign of themselves.
“No sign of forced entry,” McKennon added.
Frankie easily imagined Julius cringing and cowering before even the mildest threat, but Penny? She looked as fragile as a fairy child; but she didn’t have a timid bone in her body. She’d have fought back. Except, nothing in the room indicated a fight.
“They must have gotten in while Penny was asleep,” Frankie said. “If she opened the door and saw strangers, she’d scream or something. She’d have fought back.”
She crouched and laid her hand lightly atop a muddy footprint. She couldn’t tell if the print was still damp or not, and feared destroying evidence by brushing the nap. “You know this country, Colonel. We can track them down.” She jumped upright and clamped her hands on her hips. “You’ve taken part in search and rescue operations. You have equipment, right? Four-wheel drive vehicles, horses, spotlights. They couldn’t have gotten far—”
“Francine, this is not a search and rescue mission.”
“Penny needs to be rescued!”
Some unspoken communication passed between the men. Frankie wondered if she sounded as panicky as she felt. She gulped in great draughts of air in an attempt to calm herself.
You will not break down, she counseled herself. You will not crack.
“A heinous crime has been committed,” the Colonel said. “We can’t ignore Mr. Bannerman’s murder and go traipsing willy-nilly into the mountains on a wild-goose chase. There are procedures.”
“If the kidnappers find out they whacked Julius, they’ll kill Penny, too. We have to find them first.”
“Ill-advised and dangerous. I must inform the sheriff.”
She resisted pacing, though she wanted to do more than merely pace. She wanted to shout, scream and throw things. “This isn’t some abstract war game. If you call the law, you’ll kill Penny.”
McKennon grasped her arm above the elbow. He faced her impassively. His powerful fingers twitched on her elbow. She tightened her jaw and listened. “These mountains look well populated, but they aren’t. Finding people who don’t want to be found is nearly impossible. Especially since we don’t know who they are or what they look like.”
“Turn me loose,” she gritted through her teeth. As soon as he relaxed his hold, she jerked her arm away and rubbed her tingling elbow. In reply to her furious look, he arched his eyebrows. The expression in his eyes said he’d do it again if she lost control.
The Colonel didn’t seem to notice the way McKennon had manhandled her. He stood ramrod straight, but in his icy blue eyes she read fear. “The sheriff is a personal friend of mine and a man of discretion.”
Frankie wished Julius were alive so she could kill him again.
CHUCK PICKED UP THE COFFEEPOT. Heat seared his palm. Yelping, he dropped the pot. It clattered on the rickety camp stove.
Without looking up from his magazine, Bo Moran said, “Use a pot holder, dummy. It’s hot.”
Chuck suckled a stinging finger and glared at the speckled blue coffeepot. His only experiences with coffee came from restaurants and automatic coffeemakers. The strange percolator gave him the creeps, along with this ramshackle old cabin. A gust of wind made the walls creak and groan. Despite a wood fire blazing in a stone hearth and the camp stove, the place felt like a refrigerator. He shivered.
“I never been camping before,” he said.
Bo chuckled and turned a page. He sat on a bench seat torn from a ’76 Dodge, the only furnishing in the tiny room other than a card table with a ripped vinyl top and a pair of folding stools that sat too low to be used at the table. He had his feet toward the fire and a striped blanket slung around his scrawny shoulders. A Glock 9mm pistol lay on the seat beside him. “This ain’t camping, man. Camping is tents and fishing poles and eating beans out of cans.”
“Sounds like it sucks.” He used a pot holder to lift the coffeepot. He poured a cupful, then wrinkled his nose at the tarry brew. It smelled like coffee, but it didn’t look like any coffee he’d ever drunk. He wished for some milk to cut it.
Cradling the cup to warm his hands, he circled the confines of the room. Outside, the sun glared—a fool’s-gold sun, all brightness, no warmth. Wind battered the tiny cabin, and occasional gusts sliced through the unpainted, plank walls. He couldn’t wait until this was over. He envisioned himself in Vegas—hot, dry, lively, lit-up Vegas, where the sunshine was warm and the air was thick enough to actually breathe.
“So what’s next, Bo?”
“You’ll know when I tell you. Relax.”
Relax... Chuck bit back laughter. He’d robbed liquor stores, run drugs, mugged doofs in parking lots and stolen more cars than he could count. He’d never kidnapped anyone before. It surprised him how scared he felt. The caper hadn’t seemed real until they’d actually entered that fancy cabin. He’d been shaking ever since.
The grab had gone down easy. Too easy. A knock on the door, the doof answered and the girl had been asleep on the bed. Shoot up the doof with dope, then pack the girl to the car. Nothing to it.
Chuck kept playing the grab over in his mind, looking for bungles and wrecks. The whole thing had gone down as sweet as candy. No witnesses, no noise, and they hadn’t left behind fingerprints. It looked like Bo was right, and he was about to make the easiest ten grand of his life.
Except, he’d never done anything easy in his life. Something always went wrong.
He sipped the coffee. It burned his tongue, soured his mouth and slid down his throat like bubbling acid. It hit his gut with a thud and a jolt. He shuddered. Bo had resumed reading his magazine. A travel magazine, the only kind Bo ever read. Bo Moran’s big dream was to buy a monster RV complete with toilet, shower, microwave oven and satellite TV. He wanted to travel the highways and byways.
Chuck paused at a window. Thin curtains printed with yellow flowers and teapots were held back by bits of twine from the grimy glass. He’d covered an ancient Buick, swiped from an old lady too blind to drive, with tree branches. Once they ditched the car nobody could ever trace it to him. Bo’s Bronco glinted in the sun and looked misshapen with its oversized tires and steel bumpers. Trees grew right up to the house, reminding Chuck of the grisly old fairy tal
es he read to Paul. He half expected to see wolves slipping through the shadows.
Or FBI agents.
In and out, sweet as candy, he thought, trying hard to make himself believe it. Nobody gets hurt, nobody gets caught. In the movies the FBI always caught the kidnappers—usually by gunning them down. The Feds had helicopters, dogs and fancy electronic equipment. Bo said no way would the FBI get involved. Not a chance.
“They always call the cops,” he said.
Bo turned a page.
“How long till the doof wakes up? What if he calls the FBI? They’ll tap the phone. They can trace the call.” He stepped away from the window, with his back to the wall.
“Sit down. You sound like a herd of elephants.”
“He’s gonna call the cops.”
Bo rested back against the cushion and sighed. “I ever tell you a lie, man?”
Always, Chuck thought. He sipped the bitter brew.
“You ever hear the saying, If it looks good, then it is good?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s one of them down-home truths. As long as we look good, we do good. Get it?”
Chuck didn’t get it, but he was stuck. “I’m gonna check on the girl.” He turned for the doorway covered by a sheet of striped cotton. He pulled the curtain aside.
Paul sat next to the bed, hunched over, industriously filling in the designs in a coloring book with a crayon. Chuck grinned. Give Paul a coloring book and he could amuse himself for hours. The kid was a true artist. Maybe instead of a trip to Vegas when this was over, Chuck would get a bigger refrigerator for the apartment. That way he’d have more room to display Paul’s pictures.
The girl appeared to be sleeping. Paul had covered her to the chin with quilts, concealing the duct tape binding her arms and feet. A black-satin sleep mask covered her eyes.
Chuck’s gut tightened. He’d done a lot of crappy things in his life, but he’d never hurt a girl. Easy in and out, sweet as candy. They’d collect the money, give the doof directions, then split. No problem. But Bo hurt people—men, women, girls, even kids if it suited his purpose. Chuck let the curtain fall and wished he’d never met Bo Moran.
A brush of air tickled Paul’s cheek. He stopped coloring the round table of Camelot and noticed the curtain swinging over the door. Wind hammered the thin walls, and he could feel the floor thrumming under his feet. Goosebumps itched his arms. He turned his gaze on the girl. Penny was her name—Penelope. He liked the feel of her name rolling through his brain. Penelope. It made her sound like a princess in a fairy tale, like she belonged in his King Arthur coloring book.
He eased strands of silky pale hair off her cheeks. Pretty girl, Princess Penelope.
She made a small noise. Startled and guilty, he jerked his hand off her face. She moaned and struggled weakly under the covers. She said something he couldn’t understand.
“What?” he whispered. He set the book and crayons on the floor beside him. The dark corners and buckled floorboards housed mice, he felt certain. He hoped they didn’t like the taste of crayons.
Penny groaned, loudly.
Little retching noises bubbled in her throat. Paul understood that sound. Chuck liked his booze even when it made him sick. When he was sick, Paul knew not to let him sleep on his back where he could swallow his own vomit. He eased an arm around her narrow shoulders and helped her upright.
Her retching stopped and he grinned at having done a good job. “It’s okay, Miss Penelope,” he whispered.
He glanced up to see Chuck in the doorway. His brother looked kind of sick himself. “What are you doing?”
“She’s sick. I was helping.”
Bo shouldered Chuck out of the way. He stopped at the foot of the bed. Paul tightened his hold on the girl. She sagged in his arms and whimpered deep in her throat. He petted her soft blond hair.
“Chuck, you better get it through that dimwit’s head.” Bo’s eyes blazed animal fury. “If that mask comes off I’ll cut her throat and his.”
Chapter Four
“Yep, deader than a party at my in-laws’ house.” Sheriff Eldon Pitts used a thumb to cock back his cowboy hat. Staring down at Julius’s body he clucked his tongue. He twisted his lips and blew a long, confused-sounding breath.
Hunched against a wall, Frankie knew that with the sheriffs arrival she’d lost what little control she had over the situation. She chewed her lower lip. Both McKennon and her uncle had warned her to keep her mouth shut and to stay out of the way. Not that she had the faintest idea about what to do, anyway. She couldn’t see past being furious at Julius for getting Penny into this mess and terrified about what the kidnappers might do to the girl.
She studied the sheriff. About her height, he had a big face made bigger by a huge mustache that concealed his mouth. He appeared confused, and she wondered if he’d ever dealt with a kidnapping before. Or a murder for that matter. The county population was almost evenly divided between long-established ranchers and those who catered to tourists. Drunk drivers probably made up the bulk of local criminals.
“May I?” McKennon asked. At a nod from the sheriff, McKennon used one finger to lift the comforter high enough to see Julius’s body. “No sign of violence.” He then directed the sheriff’s attention to the wastebasket. “I think analysis will show those syringes contained a barbiturate. Miss Forrest claims her sister doesn’t drink alcohol, so Mr. Bannerman drank the scotch.”
“Booze and downers, a lethal combo.”
“But accidental. They expect him to pay the ransom.”
“Is he rich enough to pay three million?”
“His mother is.”
“Hmm, we have ourselves quite a situation.” The sheriff clucked his tongue again. “Might be a bad thing if those crooks find out they murdered this man.”
Brilliant deduction, Frankie thought sourly. She turned her gaze out the window. Her hope of mustering these men into organizing a search party was dying fast.
“What is your connection to all this, Mr. McKennon?”
“I’m employed by Maxwell Caulfield, Mr. Bannerman’s stepfather. I was assigned as Mr. Bannerman’s bodyguard.”
A twinge of sympathy tightened Frankie’s throat. McKennon couldn’t very well sleep in the cabin with the newlyweds, but Max and Belinda were going to blame him, anyway.
“You didn’t see anything? Hear anything?”
“I slept in the lodge last night.” He’d assumed his mob-enforcer impassivity, but Frankie suspected it cost him dearly to admit this failure.
“I better call the coroner then. State police, too.”
“No!” Frankie pushed away from the wall. “We can’t have cops crawling all over. The press will find out Julius is dead.”
The Colonel touched her arm. “The sheriff has assured me that he will do everything in his power to keep the press from learning of Mr. Bannerman’s demise. We will cooperate with the kidnappers and ensure Penny’s safe return.”
“Not good enough. We have to find Penny right now. We can’t take any chances.”
McKennon cleared his throat, loudly. Frankie pointedly ignored him, but like a gorilla in a house, he was impossible to ignore. Before she could react, he had her by the arm and hustled out of the cabin.
“You squeeze my arm again and I’ll punch you in the nose.”
Shoulders hunched, he tucked his hands beneath his armpits. The wind ripped past them. A tree limb cracked, making Frankie jump. She fumbled with the zipper on her parka.
“You have got to calm down,” McKennon said. “I know you’re scared, but spouting off doesn’t improve the situation.”
“If it was your sister, I’d like to see how calm you’d be.” She narrowed her eyes against the wind slicing her face. Be warm, Penny, she prayed. Be safe.
“We will get Penny back, safe and sound. I promise.”
She didn’t want to trust him; he worked for the man who had ruined her life. He touched her chin with a finger. His warmth startled her.
; “I promise.”
His jungle-cat eyes snared her, entrapped her and stilled the breath in her lungs. She tried hard to remember that he worked for Max, he was loyal to Max, and he’d do whatever Max told him to do. Instead, she thought of the way he’d kissed her. He’d meant it as a joke, and so had she, but it hadn’t turned out that way. Like that kiss, his promise seemed real.
Footsteps crunched gravel. Deputy Mike Downes approached the Honeymoon Hideaway. Pressing a fist to her aching chest, Frankie studied the other cabins. She wondered if the occupants noticed the commotion.
Frankie and McKennon followed the deputy into the cabin. The deputy’s parka was mud splattered, and his shoes and lower trouser legs were damp and muddy. Clots of snow fell to the floor and melted into dirty little puddles. He stopped on a rug near the door. Frankie had met the deputy before. As a friend of the family he’d attended weddings of the Duke siblings. She liked his combination of shy boyishness and sharp intelligence.
“They came through the woods, sir,” Downes told the sheriff. “Three of them. Looks to be two men and either a boy or a woman. Three tracks lead away. One looked to be carrying Mrs. Bannerman.”
There had been no moon last night, which meant the kidnappers had trekked blindly through the forest. Imagining such determination gave her chills. “You can tell all that from their tracks?”
He flashed a shy smile Frankie’s way. “I do a lot of hunting, ma’am. They parked about a hundred yards from here on the trail above the lodge. The tracks lead straight to and from. They knew where they were going.”
“Tire tracks?” the sheriff asked.
“Yes, sir. I radioed in for another deputy to guard the scene until the crime techs can get here. If we can set up lights out there we can get photographs. But we best move fast. It’s fixing to snow. I can smell it coming.”
The sheriff looked at the mud oozing off the deputy’s shoes. “All right, everybody out. This scene is past contaminated. Mike, you wait here until the state boys arrive. Nobody else comes in.”
“Wait a minute!” Frankie cried. “He knows how to track. We’ll track the kidnappers. We can find Penny.”
