“I don’t think he’ll try that. There won’t be any incentive for you to give him what he wants, if he doesn’t have Bobby with him.”
“He’ll just take the pills. He’s a strong man. He keeps himself in shape. I might not have a choice.”
“It will be fine. You’ll have backup, if it comes to that.”
“What do you mean, ‘if it comes to that’?”
“I intend to find him first,” he said tersely.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I know I need to let you get back to work, but I feel stronger just hearing the sound of your voice. Thank you for sticking with this even after I fired you.”
He chuckled lightly. “Did you fire me? I don’t seem to remember that.”
“When this is over, I’m going to make it up to you,” she promised.
“I’ll hold you to that, doc.”
A few minutes later, when Justin arrived, Kelsey was feeling calmer. She’d already made a note of the type of placebos that she thought would fool Paul, at least long enough that she would be able to grab Bobby away from him. She’d checked with Sharon Lynn. Dolan’s had some in stock and Sharon Lynn was already making arrangements with the hospital pharmacy in Garden City for more.
“I want to make the exchange,” she told Justin. “I want Bobby in my arms before Paul gets these pills and has time to find out they’re fakes. Otherwise, if he figures out I’ve tricked him, he’ll take Bobby and vanish.”
“I think you should leave it to a professional,” Justin argued.
“He’s not going to deal with a professional,” Kelsey countered. “He’s only going to want to deal with me, anyway, and you know it. I have to be ready, Justin. You might as well help me figure out what to do.”
Justin looked as if he wanted to argue, but wisely he didn’t. “Why don’t we just wait and hear what his demands for the meeting are?”
“Fine,” Kelsey said, gathering strength and resolve. “But I have a few demands of my own this time and, by God, he’d better be ready to agree to them.”
The next few hours were endless. Justin kept the neighbors and his family away, except for Lizzy, but not even her best friend could keep Kelsey from growing more frantic with every second that passed. Sharon Lynn brought the pills by in a duffel bag.
“Do you think that’s enough?” she asked worriedly. “It’s not exactly like stuffing a bag with cash. Even though there are a lot of them, they don’t take up much space.”
Kelsey glanced in the bag and saw at least two dozen large, unlabeled prescription bottles, each of which probably held two hundred tablets. Had these been the real thing, anyone using them as a legitimate doctor prescribed could go for years on what was in the bag. For someone addicted like Paul, it was impossible to say what his reaction would be.
“It will have to be enough,” Kelsey said grimly. “I’ll tell him it was all I could get on short notice. It’s not like a town this size has a major drug company around the corner. I’ll tell him if he wants more, he’ll have to wait until you can get another shipment in. He won’t want to do that.”
Sharon Lynn wrapped her in a tight hug. “I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I look at my own two kids and try to imagine how I’d feel…” She shuddered. “It was awful enough when I thought I was going to lose my daughter to that horrible biological grandmother of hers. I can’t even think about something like this.”
“Hopefully, you’ll never have to face anything like it,” Kelsey said. She patted the bag. “Thank you for these. I’ll pay you for them after all this is over.”
“You’ll do nothing of the kind,” Sharon Lynn said fiercely. “We look out for our own around here and you’re one of us. Besides, if the police take Paul into custody, these won’t be gone long.”
“But they’ll be evidence. You won’t be able to put them back in stock,” Kelsey protested.
“It doesn’t matter,” Sharon Lynn insisted.
Tears stung Kelsey’s eyes. She tried to blink them back, but couldn’t. Instead, she turned and walked away. Lizzy moved beside her and silently handed her a tissue.
“Tell Sharon Lynn I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice choked. “It’s just that everyone is being so kind.”
“There’s no need to be sorry, not with any of us,” Lizzy said. “Why don’t you just have a good cry and get it out of your system?”
“I can’t fall apart now,” Kelsey said, drawing in a deep breath and trying to pull herself together as Sharon Lynn came to join them. “This is it. I have to be ready.”
“I think you’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met,” Lizzy told her.
“Not me. I’m just trying to survive a nightmare.”
“Sometimes surviving takes more strength than anything else,” Sharon Lynn chimed in softly. “After Kyle died in that accident on our wedding night, I thought I wouldn’t make it, but I did. Then Cord and my baby came into my life and everything changed. I’m living proof that you can survive anything.”
Kelsey clung to that as the hours dragged on. There was no word from Dylan either. Kelsey had resigned herself to the fact that there would be no last-minute rescue. By the time the cell phone finally rang after midnight, she knew she was going to have to deal with Paul directly.
“Have you got them?” he asked without preamble.
“Yes,” she said. “They’re right here.”
“Then we’ll meet in the morning just after daybreak, six o’clock.”
“Where?”
He described a place in the middle of nowhere, about halfway between Los Pin˜os and Garden City. “There won’t be anywhere for the cops to hide behind the bushes, so tell them to stay away,” he warned.
“You’re bringing Bobby, though, right?”
“No, but I’ll tell you where to find him afterward.”
“Forget it,” she said vehemently. “I want to see Bobby. I want him with me before you get your hands on the pills.”
“Don’t you trust me, sweetheart?” he asked, sounding amused.
“Not as far as I could throw you.”
“Well, that’s too bad, because you’re going to have to.”
“Then you can forget all about your pills, Paul. I won’t even bother showing up. Your decision.”
She braced herself for an explosion. Her words hung in the air, leaving them stalemated. Silence fell. It went on for so long that she feared she’d overplayed her hand. But desperation for the pills finally won out.
“Okay, I’ll bring him,” he said at last. “But if you betray me, Kelsey, if the cops show up, I’ll shoot you both and then I’ll kill myself. No one will be able to save either one of you.”
A chill ran down her spine at his words, not just because of the threat itself, but because of the I-have-nothing-to-lose way in which he said it. She knew then with a terrible sense of dread that any remnants of the decent man she’d once loved and married were gone, lost to the drugs that now tragically ruled his life.
Chapter Eleven
Dylan finally caught a break just before dawn at a sleazy motel on the northern outskirts of Garden City. The grizzled proprietor of the place looked like something out of an old Western. He wasn’t especially pleased to have someone banging on his door in the middle of the night, which probably explained his cantankerous attitude.
Dylan noticed he didn’t seem to have much interest in upkeep or in attracting business. He valued his guests’ privacy so much, he didn’t bother with a register or credit cards, either. But for the fifty bucks Dylan waved in front of him, he was eager enough to talk about the guests in room eight.
“Been here since late yesterday afternoon,” he told Dylan. “Cute kid. Keeps crying for his mama, though. That father of his doesn’t have much patience for it, either. I’ve heard him yelling at the boy to shut up.”
Dylan saw red. “You didn’t go down and check it out?”
The man shrugged. “None of my business.”
Dylan bit back an angry retort. “Are they t
here now?”
“What do you think? It’s early. I suppose they’re asleep like everyone ought to be, if you catch my meaning.”
Dylan ignored the sarcasm. “But you don’t know for sure?”
“Do I look like the nosy type?” the old man retorted. “People come and go. It’s none of my concern, as long as the room’s paid up.”
“If anything has happened to that boy, if there’s so much as a bruise on him, it’ll become your concern in a hurry,” Dylan told him tightly. “Now give me a key.”
“Can’t do that,” the man replied.
Dylan reached across the counter and grabbed a fistful of the man’s hastily donned and still unbuttoned shirt. “Give me a key or I’ll knock down the damned door.” He got the key. “What kind of a car was the man driving?” he asked.
“Something flashy. Surprised me that a man with a car like that would stay in a dump like this.”
Dylan walked to room eight, surveying the parking lot as he went. There were only a handful of cars parked outside the rooms and none could be described as flashy.
Outside room eight, Dylan listened at the door. He thought he heard the sounds of the television and maybe something else, possibly a child’s whimpers. Just as he was about to open the door, a dark green sports car skidded into the spot in front of the room and a man he recognized at once as Paul James leapt out.
“Who the hell are you?” he demanded.
“A friend of Kelsey’s,” Dylan said, keeping his voice down. “I’ve come for Bobby.”
“Like hell,” Paul said, taking a swing at him. “Kelsey and I have a deal.”
“I just changed it,” Dylan countered.
To emphasize the point, Dylan’s fist landed in Paul’s pretty face. To his disappointment, the man sank to the ground like a stone. He’d been hoping to get in a few more punches. He stepped over him, opened the door and went inside. Bobby was huddled on the floor in front of the TV, clutching a stuffed bear, tears streaming down his flushed cheeks.
Dylan forced himself to stay calm and quiet, when he wanted badly to grab the boy up and hug him. He hunkered down. “Hey, Bobby.”
“Who’re you?” Bobby asked, regarding him suspiciously. “I heard you. You were fighting with my daddy. Where is he?”
“He’s right outside. He’ll be here in a few minutes.” He was tempted to touch Bobby’s forehead to see if he was as feverish as he looked, but he didn’t dare. The boy was upset enough. Dylan wondered how long he’d been left here alone.
“How are you feeling?” he asked instead.
Bobby shrugged.
“Got a fever, maybe?”
“I guess,” he said and inched backward.
“It’s okay,” Dylan soothed. “I’m not here to hurt you. Your mom sent me.”
The boy’s eyes went wide. “You know Mommy?”
“I sure do.”
He uttered a tiny sigh and looked nervously toward the door. “Don’t tell my daddy, but I miss Mommy.”
Dylan grinned. “Want to talk to her? She’ll tell you it’s okay to come with me, all right?”
Bobby nodded eagerly.
Dylan took out his cell phone and placed the call to Kelsey.
“Paul?” she demanded, after snatching it up on the first ring.
“No, it’s me, darlin’. I have someone here who’d like to speak to you.” He handed the phone to Bobby.
“Mommy?” the boy said tentatively. At the sound of his mother’s voice, his little face brightened. “Mommy!”
Dylan heard Kelsey’s voice catch on a sob, then more of Bobby’s excited chatter. He found himself blinking back tears. He gave the two of them another minute to talk, then said, “Hey, sport, let me talk to her, okay?”
Bobby reluctantly handed him the phone.
“Kelsey?”
“Oh, Dylan, where are you? Is he really okay? I was supposed to meet them in an hour on that old road west of Los Pin˜os. When the phone rang, I thought it was Paul calling to cancel or change the meeting place. Where is he? Had he left Bobby behind?”
“No. He’s right outside the room. I decked him on the way in.”
“Oh, God,” she murmured, suddenly sounding panic-stricken. “Dylan, did you check for a gun?”
“A gun?”
“He told me if I showed up with the police he would shoot me, Bobby and then himself. He has to have a gun.”
“Well hell,” Dylan cursed, just in time to look up and straight into the barrel of the very gun in question.
“I’ll take the phone now,” Paul said with surprising calm for a man on drugs who’d just been leveled by a punch. His glass jaw didn’t seem to be affecting his ability to aim straight.
Keeping one eye on Bobby, Dylan gave Paul the phone. He couldn’t risk a confrontation with an armed man as long as Bobby was in range, not after the threat Paul had already made to kill Kelsey, his boy and himself if the police interfered.
“So, Kelsey, I guess you’ve heard there’s been a new wrinkle,” Paul said with what almost sounded like good cheer.
Dylan stared at him. Paul was enjoying this, which could only mean he was in a drug-induced fantasyland.
“This means we’ll have a little change in plans. I think I’ll bring your friend along with me, instead of Bobby. What’s he worth to you?”
“Nothing,” Dylan said, interrupting. “I barely even know your ex-wife. I’m just an investigator on the case. Nothing more.”
Paul looked skeptical. “He says you don’t give a damn about him, which could mean he’d be a lousy bargaining chip. What do you say?”
Dylan couldn’t hear what Kelsey replied, but Paul’s expression turned grim. “I’m not bringing them both. You choose, Kelsey. Your pal here or Bobby.”
“She’ll take Bobby,” Dylan insisted, not giving her time to answer. “Take her son back to her.”
Paul displayed a chilling smile. “Why, aren’t you the gallant gentleman? Just her type. Okay, Bobby goes. But what do I do with you?” he wondered aloud. Then he raised his gun toward the ceiling and pulled the trigger.
Dylan heard Kelsey’s scream just before Paul disconnected the phone.
“That ought to keep her focused on what’s important,” Paul said.
He motioned Dylan into the bathroom, removed his belt, then used it to bind Dylan’s wrists and tie them securely to the shower rod. Satisfied that Dylan was immobilized, Paul went back into the room long enough to grab a tie, then added that to the belt to further restrain him.
“That ought to keep you out of action long enough for me to settle things with Kelsey and be on my way,” Paul said. “It ought to give her a few bad moments wondering if you’re dead or not, too.”
“You really are a heartless son of a bitch,” Dylan declared.
Paul didn’t seem particularly distraught by the characterization. It did, however, serve to remind him that once he was gone there was nothing to prevent Dylan from screaming for help. He found a handkerchief, stuffed it in Dylan’s mouth, then used another tie to keep it in place.
“Daddy?” Bobby asked hesitantly, his eyes wide with fear. “Why are you hurting him? He’s Mommy’s friend.”
“He’s not hurt,” Paul assured him. “Just out of commission for a bit.”
Dylan winked at Bobby, hoping to relieve the boy’s concern. Bobby had already been through enough. Besides, if he accepted that Dylan was okay, maybe he could pass the word on that along to Kelsey, who was already frantic enough without worrying about what had happened to him because he hadn’t used his brain when he’d taken Paul down outside.
“Come on, son. Let’s go see your mother.”
Casting one last worried look over his shoulder, Bobby eventually followed his dad.
And Dylan got to work on freeing himself.
Kelsey stood holding the phone in her hand, aware that the blood had probably drained from her face.
“Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.” She kept murmuring it over and over.
> Justin’s firm grip on her shoulders finally caught her attention. She stared at him blankly. His mouth was moving, but she couldn’t seem to grasp what he was saying.
“What, Kelsey? What happened?” He shook her gently. “Tell me.”
“He shot Dylan. I was talking to Dylan and then Paul came in and took the phone and then he shot him.” She stared at Justin guiltily. “It’s all my fault. If he’s dead, it’s because of me.”
“We don’t know he’s dead,” Justin insisted. “Stop thinking like that.”
“But he shot him,” she repeated, not just sick to her stomach, but sick at heart.
“Dylan can take care of himself,” Justin assured her. “Let’s try to concentrate, okay? Can you do that? Is the meeting still on?”
Kelsey nodded. Her baby. She had to focus on getting her baby back. If she thought about Dylan, she would go crazy.
“Then let’s go.”
“No,” she retorted fiercely. “Just me. I have to go alone. If he sees you there, he’ll kill me and Bobby.” She shuddered as she heard the terrible sound of that gun echoing in her head. She wondered if she would ever be able to shut it off. “He’ll use the gun again. I know it.”
“All the more reason for us to be there,” Justin insisted. “I can have a sharpshooter standing by. Paul won’t get a chance to use the gun, Kelsey. It has to be that way. He’s out of control.”
She knew Justin was right. Going to meet Paul alone was foolhardy. Her best chance to get Bobby back and to live was to have professional backup, but she was so scared that Paul would see them, that he would panic.
“I need your promise that you won’t let him spot you,” she said, knowing how futile extracting such a promise was.
“We’ll do our best,” he vowed. “Nobody wants everybody to walk away from this safely more than I do. The last thing I want is Grandpa Harlan on my back if there’s a screwup.”
The mention of his grandfather’s reaction had the desired result. Kelsey found she could still smile. A moment ago she’d been so certain she would never smile or laugh again.
She drew in a deep breath and squeezed Justin’s hand. “Then, by all means, let’s not screw up,” she said staunchly.
Dylan and the Baby Doctor Page 13
