Coldhearted

by Beverly Barton

  “When Tammy gets upset, she doesn’t usually rant and rave and scream and tear the house apart, right?”

  “Right.” Roselynne glanced at the closed front door. “She throws a hissy fit now and again, but nothing like tonight. I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d think she was putting on an act.”

  Rick grabbed Roselynne by the shoulders. “Why would she pretend to go berserk?”

  “I—I don’t know. I didn’t say she did, but maybe she did it to get Jordan to come over here to the house and talk to her.”

  Rick loosened his hold on Roselynne. “Wouldn’t Jordan have come if Tammy had just called her?”

  “Of course she would have and Tammy knew she would. That’s why none of this makes any sense.”

  Rick rushed past Roselynne, bounded up the front steps and onto the porch. As he opened the door, she called after him.

  “What’s wrong? Why are you going in there? Jordan told us she wanted to go in alone and we should wait out here.”

  Rick didn’t respond. He went down the hall. Two doors stood open. A bedroom, obviously Roselynne’s, and a bathroom. The third door was closed. Rick tried the knob. The door swung open and revealed a semi-dark room. The only illumination was a nightlight plugged into a wall outlet.

  “Jordan?”

  No response.

  “Jordan?”

  Roselynne came up behind him just as he felt along the wall and flipped on the light switch. Tammy sat in the middle of her bed, her legs folded as if she were sitting at a campfire. She looked at him and smiled.

  “Where’s Jordan?”

  “Jordan’s happy now,” Tammy said, then repeated the phrase over and over again in a singsong fashion. “Jordan’s happy now. Jordan’s happy now.”

  Rick turned to Roselynne. “Talk to her. See if you can get her to tell you where Jordan is.”

  Rick visually searched the small bedroom. Twin beds. He peered under one and then the other. A dresser on one wall, a chest of drawers between the two windows on the other outside wall. The windows were closed and locked. He yanked open the closet. Small, no more than three feet wide and three feet deep.

  “Tammy, honey, where did Jordan go?” Rick heard Roselynne ask as he ran through the house and searched, room by room. When he entered the kitchen he stopped dead still when he saw the back door standing wide open.

  “Rick!” Roselynne screamed his name as she came running into the kitchen, all but dragging Tammy with her. “Somebody put Tammy up to that little wild girl performance.” Roselynne shoved Tammy in front of her. “Tell him. Tell Rick what you told me.”

  “If I love Jordan and want her to be happy forever, then I should act crazy,” Tammy said, smiling and cheerful. “And I should get Jordan to come in the house alone to talk to me. Everything will be all right then because Jordan can go away and be happy forever.”

  “Tell him where Jordan’s going?” Roselynne looked at Rick, terror in her eyes.

  “She’s going to be with Robby Joe because she’s never been happy except when she was with him.”

  Chapter 32

  Rick ran out the back door, all the while hoping and praying that Jordan was still nearby. But after a quick search, he realized that whoever had taken Jordan had planned well ahead. He couldn’t waste precious time trying to search alone. He flipped open his phone, brought up the number, and waited impatiently for the phone to ring.

  “Elliott here.”

  “Jordan’s missing,” Rick said. “She hasn’t been gone more than five minutes. Contact the front gate to alert them. Get in touch with Holt and tell him to get out here to Price Manor. In the meantime, do a search of the house to see who’s there and who isn’t, then get back to me.”

  “Rick!” Roselynne yelled.

  He looked back at the cottage. Waving her arms, Roselynne came running toward him.

  He dialed Steve Corbett’s private number.

  “I can’t get Tammy to tell me who took Jordan,” Roselynne said. “She says it’s a special secret and she can’t tell anybody because we would try to stop Jordan from being with Robby Joe. She said that Jordan is going to wear her wedding dress and become Robby Joe’s bride forever and ever, just like in a fairy tale.”

  “Good God!”

  “What?” The voice on the phone asked. “Carson, is that you?”

  “Yeah, it’s me,” Rick said. “Look, Corbett, we’ve got a bad situation here. Jordan’s missing. Someone put Tammy up to tricking us. Jordan went into the Harris cottage alone to talk to a hysterical Tammy, but she never came back out the front door. Someone’s taken her.”

  “Damn! Any idea who?”

  “Nix Elliott is checking the house as we speak and he’s alerting the front gate, but I’m pretty sure they left by the back entrance. I need you to get some men out here to do a search, but from what little we could get Tammy to tell us, I think whoever kidnapped Jordan is taking her to the funeral home in Jernigan Crossroads.”

  “I’ll get some deputies out there to search the grounds at Price Manor and I’ll send a couple of guys to the funeral home.”

  “How long will it take to get deputies to the funeral home?”

  “I can’t say for sure. I don’t know if we’ve got anybody patrolling in the area tonight. If not, it’ll take a good forty-five minutes or longer,” Steve said.

  “Put the word out that I’ll be driving a black Jeep Wrangler, Knox County tag.” He rattled off his license plate number. “I’ll be breaking every speed limit. I’m not stopping for anyone or anything.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Jordan glanced in the rear-view mirror of her Navigator and caught a glimpse of the two figures in the dark backseat.

  “Because I love you and I know now what I should have done years ago. I didn’t realize what I had to do until we brought Robby Joe back to us.”

  “I don’t understand,” Jordan said. “Why do you want us to go to Jernigan Crossroads tonight? We could wait until tomorrow—”

  “No! It has to be tonight.”

  Jordan glanced into the rearview mirror again and saw the sheer terror in Rene’s eyes.

  Dear God, she’d been such a fool. She should have listened to Rick and not rushed into the cottage to help Tammy. But then again, how could she or anyone else have suspected that the whole thing had been a setup, a trap to snare her. And poor Tammy had been a witless participant. By now, Rick had to know that she was missing. But he’d have no idea who was responsible.

  “You don’t want to do this,” Jordan said. “You don’t want to hurt me or anyone else. I know you don’t.”

  “Oh, Jordan, I’d never hurt you. I love you. All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy. But you haven’t been happy. Not since Robby Joe left us.”

  “I’m not unhappy. Actually, I think I have a chance to be truly happy with Rick Carson.”

  “You’re wrong. He doesn’t love you. He just wants sex. The only man who’s ever truly loved you was Robby Joe.”

  “Rick loves me. He’s told me that he does,” Jordan lied. “We’ll get married and we’ll have a baby, maybe several babies and you can—”

  “No! He won’t make you happy. Why can’t you understand that?”

  “Rick will come after me.” She knew he would turn the world upside down searching for her. “He loves me and he—”

  “Don’t worry, if he tries to stop us, I’ll take care of him.”

  A flash of metal in the moonlight reflected in the mirror. Jordan swallowed. She hated guns. Always had and always would.

  “You wouldn’t kill Rick, would you? You wouldn’t kill anyone.”

  Please, dear God, please, let the answer be “no, of course, I wouldn’t kill Rick or anyone else.”

  “I think you know the answer to that question. Of course, I’d kill him. I’d kill anyone who posed a threat to you.”

  A surge of fear-induced adrenaline roared through Jordan’s body, putting all her senses on high alert. If she had doubted whether or not
her life was in danger, she no longer had any doubts.

  “Did—did you kill Dan?” Jordan asked.

  “Dan was a good man, but we couldn’t be burdened with a sick husband, not when we were expecting a baby. I actually thought I had talked him into committing suicide, but he didn’t have the guts to do it, so I just helped him along a little.”

  Jordan barely managed to stifle the scream vibrating in her throat. Oh, Dan…Dan, I’m so very sorry.

  “Killing Dan was simple really,” she said, her voice oddly calm as if she were talking about nothing more sinister than the weather. “He had left the gun on his desk. You know, the Glock he bought for you. I truly believe he thought about killing himself, but when I went to check on him, he was passed out drunk on the sofa. I put the gun in his hand, aimed it at his temple and pressed my finger over his to fire the pistol. He committed suicide, with a little help from me. I took care of your problem, just as I’ve done in the past. I always take care of you.”

  “Did—did you kill Boyd?” Jordan asked, dreading her reply and desperately needing to hear her admit the truth.

  “Of course, I did. After the way he betrayed us, first by not letting us have a baby and then by having an affair with that awful woman, he didn’t give me any choice, did he? He hurt you terribly. He had to pay for the way he had mistreated you.”

  “But the children…didn’t you think about what killing Boyd would do to Wes and Kendra?” Jordan felt sick at her stomach.

  “I did it for them, too. They were better off without him. We all were.”

  “How did you…? I mean, everyone thought it was a hunting accident. The sheriff…the coroner. Someone shot him in the head. How could you have done that?”

  “I’m an expert marksman, my dear Jordan; something I didn’t think you needed to know. My father taught me how to use a rifle when I was only eight. I went hunting with him often. Since Boyd was an avid hunter, the solution to ridding ourselves of him was quite clear. I planned his death months ahead of time. I simply had to wait for deer season. You can’t imagine the absolute triumph of the kill unless you’ve experienced it. It’s quite exhilarating.”

  She’s insane, Jordan thought. Completely deranged. Why did I never suspect the truth? She has always seemed so normal.

  “Would you like for me to tell you about how I took care of all your other problems? I think about each of them fairly often and I always get such a feeling of satisfaction knowing how much I’ve helped you.” She laughed softly, so obviously pleased with herself. “I was able to make several of the deaths look like accidents. Not Jane Anne’s death, but then I had to act quickly when I killed her. I didn’t have any time to make plans. It was pretty much spur of the moment.”

  She had admitted killing Dan and Boyd and Jane Anne. What about the others? Donald and Jay and her father?

  As if she had read Jordan’s thoughts, she said, “Donald Farris should have given you the promotion you deserved. He was such a smug SOB. I knew that as long as he was your boss, he’d never do right by you. But I took care of him. I planned his death to look as if he had accidentally fallen down the stairs and broken his neck. He had no idea when he heard someone coming down the stairs behind him that I was going to shove him over the railing. Oh, my, my, the way he looked lying there on the concrete, his body broken, his head smashed. Not a pretty sight.”

  Don’t tell me anything else, please, Jordan wanted to scream, but she managed to remain silent. For now, she had to do whatever it took to keep them alive. Rick would find them. That one single thought kept her from totally panicking.

  “You know, I believe that I enjoyed killing Jay Reynolds far more than any of the others. He was such a nasty man, wasn’t he, Jordan? He tried to rape you, but I showed him just what happens to a man when he hurts us. I followed him day after day, week after week, until I knew his schedule. That night I caught him unaware and hit him over the head with the baseball bat before he realized what was happening.” She heaved a deep sigh. “I hit him over and over again, even after I knew he was dead. Beating him repeatedly was absolutely thrilling, probably because he, more than any of them, deserved to die.”

  Jay didn’t try to rape me, Jordan thought. He got fresh and I slapped him. That’s all that happened. Why did ever I tell you about it? Why, why, why? He didn’t deserve to die. And poor Donald Farris. The only thing he was guilty of was being a male chauvinist who was notorious for promoting men with families over single women.

  And Boyd. She had killed him, too. Shot him as she would have shot an animal, almost for the sport of it. Yes, he had betrayed their marriage vows, but so had she. Although she hadn’t had an affair, she had been in love with another man. During her entire marriage to Boyd, she had still been in love with Robby Joe.

  Rick sped along the highway, his Bluetooth headset in place, which allowed him to keep both hands on the wheel. Pushing the Wrangler to the limit, he focused on his objective—saving Jordan.

  His phone rang.

  “Yeah, what have you got for me?” Rick asked.

  “I’ve tried several times to contact the funeral home,” Nix Elliott told him. “There’s no answer. Sheriff Corbett is getting the director’s private number and calling him at home.”

  “Who’s missing from the house?” Whoever was missing had to be the person who had abducted Jordan.

  “Vadonna and Tobias are the only two people in the house. Markham, Rene Burke, and Mrs. Wright are all missing.”

  “Son of a bitch.”

  “I checked with the front gate. Actually, I’m there right now. O’Steen says that no one has come in or gone out through the front gates this evening.”

  “I figured as much. Jordan was taken out the back entrance. There had to have been a car there waiting.”

  “Mrs. Price’s Navigator isn’t in the garage. I gave this information to the sheriff when I spoke to him.”

  “Did either Tobias or Vadonna see anything?”

  “Tobias said he saw Devon Markham leave the house by the front entrance shortly before you and Mrs. Price were summoned to the Harris cottage.”

  “What about Mrs. Wright and Rene?”

  “No one has any idea where they are or when they left.”

  “Has Holt made it there, yet?”

  “Not yet. He just checked in. He’s ten minutes away,” Nix said. “Hey, wait a minute. A couple of deputies are here. We’ll get started searching the grounds right away.”

  “If you find anything—”

  “I’ll contact you immediately.”

  Rick stared at the dark country road ahead of him. It was two-lane highway all the way from Priceville to Jernigan Crossroads. If only he hadn’t sent the Powell helicopter back to Knoxville, he could get to the funeral home before Jordan and her kidnapper arrived. He might have had a hell of a time finding a safe place to land in town, but he could have found a suitable landing area on the outskirts.

  Hindsight was twenty-twenty. He had to deal with the reality of the moment. He didn’t have the chopper.

  What if I’m wrong? What if they’re not on their way to the funeral home? What if I’ve misinterpreted the things Tammy said? But what else could Jordan wearing her wedding dress and becoming Robby Joe’s bride forever mean? Whoever had Jordan—Devon? Rene? Mrs. Wright?—they intended to kill her.

  Only in death could she be with Robby Joe forever.

  As instructed, once they were within ten miles of Jernigan Crossroads, Jordan took a back road that she hadn’t even known existed.

  “Will this take us directly to the funeral home?” Jordan asked.

  “We’re not going to the funeral home.”

  “We aren’t? Then where are we going?”

  “We’re going to meet Robby Joe. He’s waiting for us at the cemetery.”

  “What! But—but I thought…”

  “I arranged to have him taken to the cemetery. It cost me quite a bit to bribe one of the funeral home employees, but for five thousand dollar
s, he was perfectly willing to break the rules.”

  “You had Robby Joe’s casket taken to the cemetery? But why?” Jordan asked, hopelessly confused and scared out of her mind.

  “I was afraid we might be disturbed if we met Robby Joe at the funeral home. Meeting him at the cemetery will give us the privacy we need.”

  “Privacy for what?”

  “For your wedding, of course.”

  Rick had left Price Manor twenty-five minutes ago. If his calculations were correct, he’d make it to the funeral home in another five minutes.

  His phone rang.

  “Yeah, let’s hear it.”

  “We’re still searching,” Nix Elliott said. “We’ve covered over half the grounds.”

  “Nothing?”

  “No sign of Mrs. Price, but we found Devon Markham.”

  “Alive?”

  “Yes, alive. The guy had just taken an evening stroll. He was alone when we found him. He’s pretty frantic now that he knows Mrs. Price is missing.”

  “Any sign of Mrs. Wright or Rene Burke?”

  “No.”

  “We were too sure Markham was our killer,” Rick said.

  “Looks like we were wrong.”

  “Yeah, dead wrong.”

  Afraid not to follow orders because she knew that she was not the only one whose life was in danger, Jordan turned the Navigator off the back road and onto the gravel drive that circled the cemetery.

  “Pull off the drive and into the grass. Park so that the front of the car is facing Robby Joe’s monument.”

  Jordan parked the SUV.

  “Leave the headlights on. They won’t be as beautiful and romantic as candlelight, but they’ll have to do.”

  Jordan did as she was instructed.

  “Now, take your wedding dress with you and get out. We’ll wait here and give you some privacy while you change clothes.”

  Jordan glanced at the garment bag lying on the front passenger seat. “You want me to put on the wedding dress?”

  The shrill laughter jangled off Jordan’s nerves like ice daggers. “Of course, silly. You can’t get married in what you’re wearing now. You’ve waited twelve years to wear that beautiful dress. Now hurry up. And don’t do anything stupid like trying to run away. If you do, I’ll have to kill her, and you don’t want me to do that.”