Fugitive Trackdown

by Sandra Robbins

  Claire swiveled in her seat to face him. “Good. Did you tell him my car was on the road back of the cabin?”

  “Yes. I told him we’d go back sometime tomorrow to pick it up.”

  “Good.” She turned up the volume on the radio, closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

  He sighed and turned it back down. “Claire, I need to talk to you.”

  “About what?”

  “I’ve been thinking. It might be better if you went to Jessica’s house tonight instead of going home.”

  She sat up straight and faced him. “Why would I want to do that?”

  “Because the doctor said you need to stay off your foot as much as possible, and you need to be on those crutches for at least thirty-six hours. Jessica can help you out, and she wants to.”

  She narrowed her eyes and stared at him. “And how do you know that?”

  “Because I called her and told her what happened. She wants you to go there instead of going home tonight.”

  Claire rolled her eyes and leaned against the headrest. “That’s just great. Now I get to listen to my best friend tell me how dumb it was for me to think I could bring a bail jumper in by myself.”

  Adam shook his head. “She wouldn’t do that. She’s concerned that you could have been killed tonight.”

  She sighed and reached down to rub her ankle. “I guess it would be better if I had someone with me tonight. So take me to your sister’s apartment, and then you can go home.”

  He nodded but didn’t say anything for a few moments. Then he darted a glance at her. “Jessica said she’s hardly heard from you since your father’s funeral. Why haven’t you been in touch with us?”

  She shrugged. “For the past few weeks I’ve been going over my father’s business affairs. It seems he owed a lot of penalties to the courts because of bail jumpers, and he wasn’t getting a lot of new business. I’ve been trying to figure out how I can save his company. I thought even if I couldn’t, I would see that Peter Willis was brought in.”

  “It sounds like you might stay in Memphis. What about your librarian job back in Nashville?”

  “I’ve taken a leave of absence for the remainder of the semester. I thought I could spend the time taking care of all the loose ends with my father’s business, but I didn’t know how bad things really were for him.”

  Her words startled him, and he glanced in her direction. “What do you mean?”

  She sighed. “It seems business hadn’t been too good lately, and he had a lot of clients jump bail. Besides, that new bail bond business in Memphis has given everybody else some stiff competition.”

  “You mean the Bond Squad?”

  “Yes. Do you know them?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. They’re the ones who hired me to go after James.”

  “That figures,” she snarled. “They can afford to hire the best bounty hunters.”

  He grinned and glanced at her. “So you admit I’m the best at what I do.”

  She let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Don’t flatter yourself. I wasn’t talking about you personally. I meant your family’s business. It just happens to be the oldest bounty hunter group in the city, and maybe in the state.”

  He laughed and shook his head. “The term bounty hunter makes people think about some reality show you might see on TV. That’s why we call ourselves a fugitive recovery group.”

  Her eyebrows arched and she chuckled. “Well, call it whatever you want, mister. But you’re still a bounty hunter as far as I’m concerned. I don’t think your great-grandfather who started the business had any problem with the term.”

  “I’m sure he didn’t.” He smiled. “But things have changed since the days when he hunted bail jumpers up and down the Mississippi River. One thing about him, though, he had a philosophy that has been an inspiration to all of us.”

  “‘A man must answer for the crimes laid against him,’” she said. “That’s what he always said after taking someone into custody, wasn’t it?”

  He darted a surprised glance in her direction. “How did you know that?”

  “I ought to know it. I’ve heard Jessica say it plenty of times. Anyway, I’m glad your business is doing well even if mine isn’t.”

  “Claire, I’m sorry things weren’t going well for your father before his death, but I meant it when I said I wished you had come to us. If not to me, then Jessica or Lucas. You know we’ve always thought of you as family.”

  She turned and stared at him. “Really? Somehow I always got the impression you’d rather I wasn’t around.”

  He squirmed in the seat and straightened his back. “I’m sorry if I made you feel that way.”

  “It really doesn’t matter now. I must have seemed like a silly little girl to you with my crush on my best friend’s big brother, but that’s all in the past. Let’s just drop the conversation. All right?”

  “Sure. If that’s what you want. I’ll take you to Jessica’s, then...” He stopped midsentence and stared in the rearview mirror. “I think we’ve got a problem.”

  “What kind of problem?”

  “I think we’re being followed.”

  Claire looked over her shoulder and out the back window. “You mean by that car behind us?”

  “Yeah. They’ve stayed right with us for several miles.”

  “Can you tell if it’s one of the cars that Peter and James were driving?”

  He squinted and stared into the rearview mirror. “Their headlights are too bright. I can’t tell anything about the car.”

  “What should we do?”

  “Let’s make sure they’re really after us.” Adam glanced at the dashboard as he let up on the accelerator. The car’s speed dropped by twenty miles per hour. “Now we’ll see if he’s really tailing us. If not, he’ll pass.”

  He watched for a few minutes, but the car made no effort to pass. He dropped the speed lower, but the vehicle remained several car lengths behind them. Claire glanced back and then to Adam. “He’s still there.”

  “I know.” Adam pushed the accelerator down, and the car sped away from the headlights that shone through the rear window of his car. As if on cue, the driver behind accelerated and kept the same distance between them. “Seems like he’s going to hang with us.”

  Claire’s eyes grew wide. “What now?”

  “Try again.” He slowed almost to a crawl, but the car still didn’t pass. Then without warning, he floored the accelerator, and the car leaped forward.

  Claire screamed and gripped the sides of her seat. Adam cast one glance at her before he hunched over the steering wheel and roared toward the lights of Memphis that were just coming into view.

  THREE

  Claire stared wide-eyed at the speedometer as it inched higher and then looked at Adam. The reflections from the streetlights they roared past cast an eerie glow across his face that sent cold chills up her spine. He glanced in the rearview mirror, and the muscle in his jaw flexed. She turned her head to stare out the back window and swallowed the fear that rose in her throat. The other vehicle sped through the night perhaps two car lengths behind.

  Ahead, the lights of Memphis beckoned as they approached the turnoff that would take them toward the eastern part of the city. She bit down on her bottom lip as the tires squealed and they barreled along the exit and onto the city’s loop highway.

  The car shook, and she wondered how Adam could remain in control of the speeding car, but he appeared to be having no problem. Even this late at night heavy traffic rolled along the expressway. Adam wove in and out of the cars as if they were on a racetrack. Another glance to the rear told her that the other car hadn’t given up the chase.

  Finally she could keep silent no longer. “Have you been able to tell if the car looks like either of the ones James and Peter were
driving?”

  He shook his head. “I still can’t tell, but it has to be somebody connected to what happened earlier tonight. Hang on. I’m going to get off this highway.”

  Claire gasped as the car swerved along the next exit and roared down Poplar Avenue headed east. Claire looked behind, but the car wasn’t in view. Traffic was lighter on this street, but that could be expected at eleven o’clock on a weeknight. Adam didn’t slow the car as he wedged his way into a line of traffic in the right-hand lane. Then the lights of another car flashed in the distance, and Claire wondered if they’d been spotted amid the vehicles that moved down the street.

  “I think he’s behind us again,” she said.

  Adam didn’t reply. Instead he made a sharp right turn into the parking lot of an all-night discount store. A flashing sign next to the street advertised a midnight sale, and the area around the store was filled with cars and people standing in line waiting to get inside.

  He drove into the parking lot, found a spot between two cars and pulled in. He quickly killed the engine and turned off the lights. From where they sat they had a good view of the street. Several cars drove by, and then one sped by in the direction they’d been traveling.

  Adam exhaled a deep breath. “That looks like the car Peter was driving.”

  “Do you think we’ve lost them?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know, but I hope so. I don’t want them finding their way to Jessica’s apartment.”

  With their followers out of sight, Adam started the car again and pulled back onto the street headed toward the interstate they’d been on minutes before. Thirty minutes later he pulled into the midtown apartment complex where his sister lived.

  Claire let out a sigh of relief when they parked. “You did a great job of losing whoever was chasing us. In fact, you’ve done a good job of everything tonight. Thank you for helping me.”

  He looped his arm over the steering wheel and swiveled in the seat to face her. “The things I’ve done tonight require the skills I’ve picked up from the work I do. It’s not easy bringing fugitives back to face the court. If they wanted to go to jail, they wouldn’t have run away to start with. I hope what you’ve seen tonight has shown you how foolish it was for you to think you could bring Peter Willis in.”

  His words stung, and she fought back tears. “I’m glad to see nothing’s changed with you. I’ve always been foolish as far as you’re concerned. Now you’ll have one more thing to add to your long list of complaints about me.”

  She pushed the car door opened and tried to step out onto the pavement, but he reached out and grabbed her by the arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m going to Jessica’s apartment.”

  He shook his head. “Wait a minute, Claire. You need some help.”

  Before she could protest, he’d jumped from the car and walked around to the open passenger door. He reached into the backseat and grabbed her crutches. Then taking her by the arm, he helped her to her feet and positioned the crutches in place.

  Claire braced herself on the supports and took a tentative step, but she staggered. Adam’s hand grasped her arm. She tried to jerk free of his grip, but it was no use. She sighed in resignation. “Okay, you win. These are a bit harder to maneuver than I thought.”

  He didn’t say anything but tightened his hold on her as they slowly made their way into the building and to Jessica’s apartment. They stopped outside the door, and Adam pushed the buzzer. The door flew open right away, and Jessica stood there, her dark hair tumbling around her shoulders and her eyebrows pulled down in a worried frown.

  “Where have you two been? I’ve nearly gone out of my mind waiting.”

  She pulled Claire into the apartment and helped her to the sofa where she dropped down with a groan. “We had a little problem getting here,” Claire said.

  Jessica looked at Adam. “What happened?”

  “I had to lose a tail. I didn’t want to bring him straight here.”

  Claire propped a sofa pillow behind her back and frowned at Adam. “It’s a wonder we got here alive at all the way you were driving.” She turned to Jessica. “Don’t be surprised if your brother decides to take up stock car racing. He’s got all the skills.”

  Jessica’s eyes grew wide, and she looked from her brother back to Claire. “What are you talking about?”

  Adam waved his had in dismissal. “Claire’s exaggerating. I had to outrun a car, so I had to move fast.”

  Jessica nodded as if she understood before she turned back to Claire. “Adam told me a little of what happened tonight when he called, but I want the whole story. Why were you at a cabin in the Mississippi woods trying to bring in a bail jumper?”

  Claire closed her eyes and shook her head. She’d known telling Jessica about her father’s failing business and her efforts to keep it afloat was going to be difficult, but there was nothing she could do about it now. “I’ve been having a hard time ever since my father’s death,” she began.

  For the next few minutes she related the problems she’d discovered about her father’s murder, fugitive bail jumpers, penalties that had accumulated from the courts and how she had decided the only way to save her business was to go after some of the fugitives herself.

  Jessica didn’t say a word until she finished, then she reached out and grasped Claire’s hand. “Why didn’t you tell me this? We would have helped you.”

  “It’s not your family’s responsibility to take care of my problems. Besides, I thought if you can do it, so can I.”

  Jessica arched an eyebrow and regarded Claire with a skeptical look. “You’re forgetting I was a police officer before I went to work in my family’s business. I’ve had training that you haven’t. You could have been killed tonight.”

  “I couldn’t ask you or your family for help. I felt like I needed to do it on my own.”

  Jessica pursed her lips and shook her head. “You’ve always been too independent, Claire. There are times when a person needs help.”

  “That’s what I told her,” Adam said.

  Jessica glanced up her brother and smiled. “Then I’m sure you’ll be glad to help her.”

  “Oh, no,” Claire interrupted. “He’s already done enough tonight.”

  Jessica pushed to her feet as if she hadn’t heard Claire and faced her brother. “It looks to me like the guy you’re after and Claire’s bail jumper are tied together some way. So if you find one of them, you’ll be able to find both of them. Adam, you need to bring these guys in. Then Claire can get paid for Willis. That will be a start toward helping her and toward putting her father’s killer in jail.”

  Claire tried to push up from the sofa, but she couldn’t. “Jessica, listen to me. I don’t want Adam to help me. I can do it myself.”

  Jessica ignored her. “I would do it, but I’m leaving in the morning for Louisiana to pick up a guy down there. Lucas won’t be back from Illinois until the day after tomorrow. So that leaves you, Adam. You’re the only one who can do this.”

  Adam rubbed the back of his neck and cast a doubtful glance in Claire’s direction. “I don’t know, Jessica. Claire doesn’t want me to help her.”

  Claire reached out and grabbed her friend’s arm. “Jessica, listen to me. I don’t need Adam’s help.”

  She smiled down at Claire and then looked back at Adam. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you years ago, but it’s time you let it go. Claire needs help, and you, Adam, are the only one who can do it.”

  He didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he nodded and glanced down at Claire. “Jessica is right. Whether or not you want any help, you need it. But we’re all tired tonight. So get some rest, and we’ll talk about this in the morning.”

  “Good,” Jessica said. “Now, you go home and get some sleep. I’ll take care of Clai
re.”

  They walked to the door, and Adam kissed his sister on the cheek before he stepped into the hall. Jessica closed the door behind him and came back to where Claire sat. “Let’s get you to bed. I have the spare bedroom made up for you.”

  She helped Claire to her feet, and they made their way down the hallway toward the bedrooms. “What time are you leaving tomorrow?” Claire asked.

  “I’ll have breakfast with you and make sure you can move around before I leave. I don’t know what time Adam will be here. But if you can’t get to the door, he can let himself in with his key.”

  They entered the bedroom, and Claire smiled at the nightgown Jessica had laid out on the bed for her. She dropped down on the side of the bed and smiled up at her friend. “Thank you, Jessica. It’s good to be here with you.”

  Jessica squatted down and took Claire’s hands in hers. “Although we’ve been friends since middle school, I’ve never pushed you to tell me what happened between you and Adam. I know you don’t like him, but he’s really a wonderful person. The problem is, he’s never thought of himself that way. I don’t think you have, either, but I can’t stand to see two people I love continuing to holding some kind of grudge from years ago. I hope you can reach the point where you can let it go.”

  Tears formed in Claire’s eyes and she nodded. “I hope so, too.”

  Jessica sighed and pushed to her feet. “Do you need me to help you get ready for bed?”

  “No, I’ll be okay with my handy crutches. Thanks again.”

  “I’ll get one of my robes and bring it back for you.”

  “Thanks, Jessica.”

  Jessica covered Claire’s hands and squeezed them before she left the room. Claire watched her go and thought about what she had said. Could she ever forgive Adam for how he’d hurt her? She didn’t know. Her dislike of him had become a part of her, and she didn’t know if she could ever wipe it from her mind.