by B. J Daniels
“Thanks, Nick. Please thank the volunteers and make sure everyone gets home safely.” McCall had spent hours earlier as part of the search party and knew how emotionally draining it could be when you might be looking for a body instead of a little girl.
Unable to wait any longer, McCall called Cordell’s cell. The phone rang four times before going to voice mail.
She frowned and hung up, her anxiety growing. She waited a few minutes and tried the number again. Still no answer.
Grabbing her hat and keys, she headed for her patrol SUV.
Chapter Thirteen
McCall drove by the Beaumont house and didn’t see Cordell’s pickup anywhere on the street—nor any sign of him. Didn’t mean that he wasn’t still watching the house, she told herself.
Before driving over here, she’d gone out to her cabin on the Milk River and changed into dark jeans, boots, a dark long-sleeved T-shirt. She’d left the patrol SUV and took her pickup instead.
Now she parked and walked down the deserted street watching for any sign of her cousin. As she neared the Beaumont house she caught a glimpse of Adele through the sheer drapes at the front window.
Like McCall, she’d changed her clothing since the dance and now wore jeans and a shirt. She seemed to be pacing. McCall slowed at the edge of the yard and stepped into the shadows of the trees that lined the property as Adele suddenly froze, then hurriedly picked up her cell phone. She glanced at caller ID, then took the call.
McCall moved closer, never taking her eyes off the woman. Adele looked upset and Bill’s pickup wasn’t in the driveway. Could be in the garage.
Peeking in the garage, McCall found it empty. No Bill. No Cordell. She didn’t even have to venture a guess where Cordell had gone. Wherever Bill had headed. She silently cursed him for not following her orders.
As she moved away from the garage, she saw that Adele was still on the phone. But if the woman had been upset before the call, now she seemed to be in a panic. She moved one way then another, appearing frantic as if looking for something.
McCall saw her snatch up her purse from where she must have dropped it earlier and, snapping the phone shut, headed for the door.
Ducking back into the shrubbery and trees, the sheriff stayed hidden as Adele, wearing a black jean jacket, got into her car and backed out. The headlights flashed over McCall, then darkness closed in again.
As she hurried to her truck, McCall wondered where Adele was headed this time of night and what had her so upset. Who had been on the phone? Bill? And if so, where was Cordell?
CORDELL HAD KNOWN that tailing anyone in a town this small was tough. At this time of the night with no traffic at all, and Bill Beaumont looking for a tail, it was nearly impossible.
His heart was racing at the thought that the man driving the truck in front of him was about to take him straight to Lara English and Raine.
But where was Orville Cline? He and Beaumont had to be in this together.
He thought about the fight he’d overheard between the Beaumonts. By her tone, Cordell knew Adele had been pleading with her husband, but Cordell hadn’t been close enough to hear what she was saying. But earlier Bill had accused her of trying to keep him home tonight.
Apparently Adele Beaumont had lost the argument since her husband had left the house.
Cordell drove up a few blocks and pulled over, cutting his lights as Beaumont continued down the main drag, then turned right through the underpass. From where he’d pulled over, Cordell could see the street on the other side of the underpass. Beaumont turned left.
Cordell went after him, through the underpass and up onto Highway 2. He saw no sign of taillights. He should have been able to see him, Beaumont didn’t have that much of a lead. Cordell swore. Maybe he’d taken a right on Highway 191 and was headed for Canada.
But as he pulled out, he saw Beaumont’s pickup parked in an empty dirt lot at the turnoff. He appeared to be on his cell phone.
Cordell drove past and pulled into the open-all-night Westside gas station. He got out, and watching Beaumont across the road, paid with his credit card and filled up his tank. Beaumont got off the phone. A few minutes after 3:00 a.m., a car came up the highway. The driver slowed, glancing over at Beaumont. As the car headed north, Beaumont fell in behind it.
Heart in his throat, Cordell climbed back into the pickup. His hands were shaking. He’d only gotten a glimpse of the man in the car—but it had been more than enough to know that the driver was Orville Cline.
Orville was now leading Bill Beaumont north out of Whitehorse.
MCCALL GOT THE FIRST CALL just after she turned off the road. Keeping Adele Beaumont’s SUV taillights in her view, she slowed and picked up. “Winchester.”
“I’m following Beaumont north,” Cordell said without preamble. “He just picked up Orville Cline.”
McCall didn’t waste her breath giving him hell for not calling her sooner. “Stay on them, but don’t make a move against them. I mean it, Cordell. You call it in when they stop. Got that?”
She waited for a reply but realized she’d already lost him. She cursed under her breath. Adele wasn’t headed north but south out of town. McCall had hoped that Raine and Lara were being held together. Now that didn’t look as if it was the case.
Ahead Adele was turning off onto a side road. McCall followed slowly, not about to use her headlights or brakes and cause Adele to know she was being followed. The moon was bright enough that she could see the road well.
McCall knew this area south of town. There was an old farmhouse down in a hollow, the same hollow Adele’s big SUV had just dropped into. She drove only a little farther up the road and pulled off far enough that her pickup couldn’t be seen from the road.
When her cell vibrated again, she jumped and realized how tense she was. Everything about this had her on edge. Three civilians lives were at risk. Her first thought was to call in the troops, but she immediately changed her mind. She couldn’t be sure who was waiting in that farmhouse and what they would do if backed into a corner.
She was on her own, she thought as she took the call.
“I got the warden up at the prison out of bed,” Deputy Shane Corbett said. “He said to tell you that you are on his mud list for getting him up at this hour.”
“I can live with that. What did you find out?”
“He had the information handy since every law enforcement officer in the northwest is looking for Orville Cline right now. He’d already checked on Cline’s visitors, especially recent ones. Bill Beaumont wasn’t one of them.”
McCall had been hoping for a connection. Right now she had nothing against the Beaumonts except a scar and a suspicion—both flimsy at best.
“But Cline did have another visitor two days before he escaped,” Shane was saying. “The two got into an argument and the visitor was asked to leave.”
The sheriff couldn’t hide her shock as Shane told her the name of the prisoner’s visitor.
“Adele Beaumont visited Cline?”
“She was supposedly there to deliver some books as part of an inmate reading program Cline was involved in.”
A cover. Her heart was beating so hard she could barely make out Shane’s next words.
“Orville Cline was worked up good after that. The warden said he didn’t think too much about it when he was told about the encounter. Now though…”
“Yeah,” McCall said as she continued to follow the faint glow of taillights into no-man’s-land. “I might need some backup. I’m going after Adele Beaumont right now. We’re about fifteen miles south of town on Alkali Creek Road.”
She heard Shane let out a breath.
“The Beaumonts may be involved in the abduction of Lara English,” she told the deputy. “It’s a long story, but one of their alleged victims got away sixteen years ago.
She’s back in town but has disappeared. Better call Luke and bring in the rest of the deputies. My cousin Cordell was watching the Beaumont house earlier tonight and
is now following Bill Beaumont and Orville Cline. They are headed north out of town.”
Shane swore under his breath. “Is there anyone who’s not missing?”
“Don’t do anything until I call,” she said, afraid that if they all went in like gangbusters, it would jeopardize both Lara’s and Raine’s lives. “Just be ready.”
“You got it,” Shane said.
McCall checked her gun, grabbed another clip and her shotgun, before stepping out into the summer night to begin walking across country toward the old Terringer place.
CORDELL SAW THE TWO VEHICLES in the distance turn off the highway onto a side dirt road that led back toward the Milk River.
He noted the way they slowed and knew they were waiting to see if the car they’d spotted behind them slowed, as well. He kept going, driving past, keeping his speed up. He could see them waiting and had to drive another five miles up the highway before the road turned and his taillights disappeared from view.
Hitting the brakes, he pulled over. For the past five miles, he’d been looking for other side roads that headed down to the river. There was one about two miles back. It wasn’t ideal. He couldn’t be sure it would take him in the direction he needed to go, but he could be sure that Cline and Beaumont would be watching the road they’d taken.
Turning out his headlights, he flipped a U-turn in the road and headed back to where he’d seen the other road. In the distance, he couldn’t see any lights from the two vehicles and assumed they’d driven down into the river bottom. There must be some kind of old building down there. They sure as heck weren’t going fishing at this time of the morning.
He had to believe that the two would lead him to Raine and Lara.
Taking the side road, he drove down until the dirt track ended at the river and he saw that it was nothing more than a fishing access. He parked and checked his gun, then got another clip out of the glove box, before he sprinted south along a game trail that ran parallel to the river in the direction Cline and Beaumont had gone. Even in the moonlight it was hard to run along the uneven path.
But Cordell could feel the minutes slipping away. He had to get there in time.
LARA PULLED THE OLD blanket around her not sure what had awakened her. When she’d heard the door open, her only thought had been food. But she was also cold. Maybe the woman was bringing her dress back after washing it for her.
She reminded herself to thank the woman and not make her angry. But she was so tired and cold and hungry that it was hard to concentrate. She just hoped whoever was coming would bring her food and something to drink.
Too late Lara had realized she shouldn’t have eaten all the food they brought the last time or drunk all the water. It had been hours now that her stomach had ached for something to eat.
Lara felt a gush of cold air as someone entered the room she was in. She shivered and sank deeper into the blanket wrapped around her.
As badly as she wanted food and water, she was filled with dread at seeing the people who had taken her again. She’d tried not to think about why they were keeping her here or what they wanted. But after all this time, she couldn’t help but worry.
She caught the scent of perfume and the single beam of a flashlight, her dread deepening as she realized the woman had come alone. The woman set something down. A moment later the room was filled with light.
The lock scratched open and the door of the box swung out. Lara closed her eyes against the glare of the light, huddling in the blanket, shivering from more than the cold as she sensed the woman standing over her simply staring down at her.
“Little girl,” the woman finally snapped. “Your new mommy is here.”
Lara swallowed the lump in her throat and parted the blanket to peer up at her. Her new mommy?
The blanket was suddenly jerked away. Lara cowered, afraid the woman was going to hit her. Instead, all she did was stare at her for a long time before she said, “Stand up.”
Lara did as she was told even though her legs threatened to fold on her. Weak and cold, she stood shivering, hugging herself.
“Put your arms down,” the woman snapped.
She did. Then the woman did something that surprised her. She reached out and brushed a lock of her hair back from Lara’s face.
Lara looked up at her expectantly. Maybe the woman wasn’t going to hurt her. But she didn’t seem to have brought her anything, either, no food, no water, nothing to wear, and she’d thrown the blanket in the corner of the rotting floor of the old house as if she no longer needed it.
For just an instant, there was something almost kind in the woman’s eyes. Or was it regret?
“I’m hungry,” Lara said and instantly wished she hadn’t. She felt her heart begin to pound under her skinny chest as she saw the woman’s expression change.
“You’re just like all the others, aren’t you? No matter what we do for you, it’s just never quite enough.”
“I’m not hungry,” Lara said quickly. “I’m not.”
The woman shook her head as she reached into the pocket of her jacket and drew out a knife.
“You’re a bad girl. A very bad girl. Mommy is going to have to punish you.”
Chapter Fourteen
“She’s still alive?” The voice if not the words sent a cold blade of terror through Raine. It was the man who’d abducted her sixteen years before. She would never forget that voice.
“I’m not trying to do your dirty work for you again. The deal was I get her for you and you get me what I want. What you do with her is your business. I’ve done my part.”
“You’re sure it’s her?” asked the man whose voice she recognized.
“I got her to town for you. If you don’t believe it’s her, have a look for yourself. But don’t be questioning if I know what I’m doing, all right?”
“Sorry, Orville.”
Raine froze as the beam of a flashlight flickered over the box she was in. She’d gotten the tape off but now left a piece loosely wrapped over her bare ankles. She hoped it would appear she was still bound, but she couldn’t see her ankles well enough to know if it worked or not. She put her hands behind her and wrapped the tape as best she could on her wrists.
Raine had no plan, just a determination to survive. She thought of Cordell as she heard what sounded like a bolt being slid back on the top of the box. Earlier tonight Cordell had tried to tell her how he felt about her but she’d stopped him. She silently cursed herself for doing that. Now she might never hear those words.
The door swung open with a loud groan. She blinked as the light fell over her. Two men stood in the glow of the ambient light from the flashlight. One was tall, thin, his face angular and narrow giving her the impression of a fox. Orville Cline. She recognized him from his mug shot.
The other was handsome, square-shouldered, blue-eyed with a head of thick black hair. It was no wonder he’d gotten away with this for so long. Who would ever suspect a man who looked like that?
Sheer terror filled her. She’d told herself all these years that she didn’t remember what either of her abductors had looked like. Their faces had been lost in the other memories, the ones she’d refused to let surface.
But the memory came back in a rush. It felt as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. She remembered him.
“Emily?” He stepped closer.
It took every ounce of her self-control to remain still as he knelt down beside her and, holding the flashlight in one hand, grabbed her jaw between his fingers to force her to look into his eyes.
She cringed, remembering his hands on her. Her mind went numb. She lay there unable to move, hardly able to breathe.
His eyes searched hers and then he laughed and let go of her. “Oh, yeah, you’re Emily. My sweet Emily.”
Anger stirred in her. Raine felt her heart begin to pound wildly as rage raced through her veins hot as lava. He was still kneeling in front of her, this horrible man. Last time he’d touched her, she’d been only a child, defenseless. Bu
t she would no longer be his victim. She felt her hands fist behind her. The past seemed to shed from her like snakeskin.
He rose as if seeing something in her gaze that warned him.
But he didn’t know she was no longer bound. All she had to do was kick out at his ankles. She could be on her feet in an instant. She’d spent years studying martial arts for just this moment.
“Come on,” Orville Cline said behind him. “I gave you what you wanted. Now you give me mine, Billy Boy. Take me to mine and then you can come back to your sweet Emily,” Orville Cline said mockingly.
“I’m not going to tell you again that my name is Bill.”
“Whatever you say, Billy Boy,” Orville said, amusement in his voice.
Raine realized with a jolt what Bill-Billy-Boy had done. He’d made a deal with Orville and that deal was Lara English. She’d been wrong. She’d thought for sure it was the woman who’d gotten her here. Now she saw her error.
But where was the woman?
Realization came with a flash.
The woman was with Lara.
Raine knew that if she attacked the man now, she would be jeopardizing Lara’s life. As furious as she was, she knew she could take him and would stand a decent chance of taking Orville Cline, as well.
But what if the woman was waiting for a call from Billy Boy?
Common sense won out over her fury. She lay perfectly still as he slammed the lid on the box and turned to leave.
He’d forgotten to slide the bolt!
Raine held her breath, praying he wouldn’t remember as the beam of his flashlight headed for the stairs, Cline following him. She listened to their heavy tread on the stairs, then start across the floor upstairs.
She couldn’t stand it a moment longer. As quietly as possible, she lifted the lid of the box and, stripping off the ripped tape from her wrists and ankles, she got to her feet in the pitch blackness. She felt dizzy and her legs were weak from being in such a cramped position for so long.
