“Of course you don’t.” His gaze flicked past her then returned to meet hers. “I’m the one who shot at you yesterday.”
Ice flowed through her veins. “Why?”
He ignored her. “I have a much better place for you to die. Out of the way, and not like anyone will find you soon. If ever.”
Her eyes widened. “Please tell me why.”
He looked over his shoulder at the car. “Do you want to let her know who it is, sweetheart?”
A heartbeat later, the rear door of the car opened and a woman stepped out.
“Phoebe.” The woman’s name almost stuck in Jessie’s throat.
“You little bitch. I told you that you would pay.” With a glare, Phoebe started walking toward Jessie. Rain pasted Phoebe’s blonde hair to her head. “You screwed everything up. Now we have to fix things.”
Phoebe didn’t have to tell her what she meant.
Zane. She wanted Zane back and she thought killing Jessie would make him go to her.
“Now Ed is going to have to take care of you.” Phoebe stopped beside the man she called Ed. “Zane will come back to me when they find your body. I’ll be there to comfort him.”
The man looked at Jessie again and smiled. “Once Phoebe marries him, he’ll eventually die. He might even get bitten by a rattlesnake that somehow gets into the house.”
Zane. Not Zane.
“And then the ranch will be mine,” Phoebe said with a devious smile.
It came to Jessie then. “That’s what happened to the other rancher you married.”
“You’re pretty smart,” Phoebe laughed. “For a soon to be dead woman.”
“You’re Phoebe’s boyfriend.” She straightened as a thought came to her. Maybe this would work. “I took pictures of the two of you the day I came over to photograph Phoebe’s home. You were on your back patio.”
Phoebe’s features froze but Ed’s expression didn’t change.
“So?” he said. “What difference would that make?”
“They’ll suspect you.” She hoped Phoebe and Ed would get scared enough to not kill her. “The cops will be all over it.”
Phoebe looked at Ed, her eyes wide. “Do you think they will?”
He shook his head. “She’s lying.”
“But she saw us.” Phoebe’s features started to redden as anger replaced her shock and fear. “Did you show the pictures to Zane?”
“Of course and I told him of your threats.” She was praying that they would believe her. “Why else would Zane break up with you?”
The fury in Phoebe’s eyes told her that her plan had just backfired. “We can’t make any mistakes here then. Kill her, Ed. If they find her body, they’ll never suspect me. As far as the pictures, I can tell Zane I had a friend visit and that was just a hug and light kiss.”
Jessie’s stomach clenched. “It sure looks like more in the pictures.”
“Shut up,” Phoebe snapped.
Ed started walking toward Jessie and she took a step back and then another. “With all she is saying we better use plan B that I mentioned. I saw an old place when I was exploring that is an accident waiting to happen.”
Jessie wanted to push her rain-soaked hair out of her face but she didn’t dare. She had to think of some way out of this. So far all she’d managed to do was make Phoebe even angrier.
“How did you find me?” Jessie asked, then the answer came to her. “You were behind me when I was talking to the station attendant.”
“We had to wait until you were far enough off that no one would see us take care of you,” Ed said. “Or we would have met up with you sooner.”
“They’ll see your tire tracks in the mud.” Jessie gestured to the car. “And your footprints.”
“Ed will be leaving town for a while and he’ll get another car,” Phoebe said.
“Besides,” Ed said. “It is supposed to rain hard. That will help to wash away the tracks.”
The situation seemed more hopeless than ever. Jessie swallowed past the ball lodged in her throat. But she wouldn’t give up. She’d think of something.
“Now get in.” He gestured with the gun toward the black sports car.
She walked toward the car, feeling as if the world was falling down on her.
When they reached the vehicle, he kept the gun on her as she scooted in the back seat. Phoebe slid into the front passenger seat and Ed handed her the gun. “Keep it on her,” he said.
“No problem.” Phoebe had a satisfied note in her voice.
Jessie tried to slow her breathing before she hyperventilated. Gradually her breathing slowed and she felt a little calmer. As calm as one could be with a gun trained on her by a woman who wanted her dead.
Ed eased behind the driver’s seat and started the car.
Water dripped down Jessie’s body and ran onto the leather car seats as she stared at Phoebe. Rain pounded down on the car and the windshield wipers went back and forth, back and forth, in a solid rhythm that matched the pounding in Jessie’s head.
The woman’s grip on the gun never wavered. Her determination to kill Jessie was so crystal clear that Jessie knew Phoebe wouldn’t hesitate to kill her whether or not it would get blood on the seats.
Jessie thought about jumping out of the car, but there was no place to hide and she’d just be good target practice for them.
She paid attention to the route. If she broke free, she could make it back to the main road and hopefully flag down a car.
They drove back toward the heart of the San Rafael Valley and she recognized places she’d photographed.
Eventually Ed turned the vehicle down a rutted single-lane road after passing over a cattle guard. Zane had pointed it out to her not long ago as an old, abandoned ranch that had been in a friend’s family for generations before they lost everything when the economy tanked. No one had lived there for over a century, she remembered him saying. Not this part of the ranch.
The car bounced and bottomed out, but Ed kept on driving, the wheels sloshing through mud puddles gathering along the way.
They reached an old tumbledown house set beneath huge trees and overgrown vegetation.
The sick feeling grew even greater in her belly when Ed parked and then opened the rear door and told her to get out.
She slowly eased out of the car and into the rain. She needed to think of something. She would think of something.
Was she just kidding herself? Did she have a prayer?
“Turn around.” Ed gestured toward the house. “And walk.”
Adrenaline pumped through Jessie’s body and her heart continued to beat like crazy. She took slow, small steps.
Ed planted his palm between her shoulder blades and shoved. “Move it.”
She stumbled sideways. Her foot slipped in the mud and she dropped to the ground. She landed on her forearm hard and pain splintered through her.
“Get up.” Ed kicked her in the side so hard that breath rushed from her lungs and she cried out. She wrapped her arms around her waist as she tried to catch her breath.
“Don’t,” Phoebe said and Jessie wondered why she was trying to stop Ed from beating her, until she added, “It won’t look like an accident if you mess her up.”
“Depends on just how we kill her.” Ed kicked her again and she screamed from the pain when his shoe connected with her jaw and stars sparked in her mind. “If the house collapses on her they’ll just think she got hurt that way.”
“Well, hurry up.” Phoebe sounded urgent now. “We can’t take any chances that anyone will spot us.”
Ed gave her a long-suffering look. “No one is going to find us,” he said. “Get up,” Ed shouted to Jessie and looked like he was going to kick her again. “Now.”
Jessie scrambled to get to her feet but slipped in the mud. She was coated in it but she ignored it and managed to stand on her next attempt.
He gestured with the gun again. “Walk.”
Jessie held her belly still as she turned and went towar
d the house and tried to clear her mind of the pain.
“Hold this on her,” Ed said. “I’m going look again at something over here that I saw the other day. Might be the perfect thing to make it look like an accident.”
Jessie looked over her shoulder and Phoebe now had the gun on her.
Ed walked past Jessie, shoved her, and she went down in the mud again.
She rested on her hands and knees and tears started to burn at the corners of her eyes.
No. She wasn’t going to cry.
“You can stay there for now.” Phoebe smirked. “It’s where you belong.”
A few moments later, Ed reappeared and he was smiling, a tight satisfied smile. “There’s an old well back there.”
“That’s great.” Phoebe gave a malicious grin. “All we have to do is drop her in it and she’ll break her neck.”
Ed took the gun from Phoebe. “We can cover the well up with boards. They’ll never find her.” To Jessie he said, “Get up.”
A hot rush of anger washed over Jessie and she glared at them. “Why should I? You might as well shoot me. You’re going to kill me anyway.”
She saw it coming but there was nothing she could do to prepare herself as he kicked her again.
This time she felt something crack when his shoe connected with her ribs. She screamed in pain. Her eyes watered and she felt hot tears mix with the cold rain on her cheeks.
Ed dragged her to her feet by her hair and she sobbed as she tried to take a breath. He shoved her forward and she fell again.
“Hold the gun on her,” Ed said to Phoebe from behind Jessie.
He forced her to her feet and this time grabbed her by the back of her neck and marched her toward the backyard of the old house.
Jessie knew the end was close if she didn’t do something.
She started struggling and fighting Ed, her ribs shooting pain through her with every move she made. She caught him off guard and he slipped and fell but took her to the ground with him She almost blacked out from the pain when they hit the ground. Stars sparked behind her eyelids and she was afraid she really was going to black out.
“Bitch,” he growled and got up.
This time instead of bringing her to her feet, he dragged her in the mud to the well. Through her blurred vision she saw that he’d taken the wood off the top of it.
She fought the entire way tears pouring down her cheeks. As they got closer her heart sank but she struggled more than ever. She saw that he had cleared the boards away from the well. It was bigger around than at first appearances. He’d have no problem throwing her down it.
When they reached the old well, she screamed with everything she had even though she knew no one could hear her.
Ed jerked her to her feet so that she was on the edge.
Terror ripped through her as she stood at the edge of the well and felt his palm on her back. She turned just as he shoved.
She screamed and her voice echoed through the well as she flailed and managed to grab Ed around his ankle.
The man shouted in surprise as his shoes slid in the mud and his feet went out from under him.
Jessie screamed again as he fell and she dropped lower, her feet dangling beneath her. She looked up and caught a glimpse of him clawing at the ground, trying to get a grip in the muddy soil.
“Get off, bitch.” He apparently had gotten hold of something because he wasn’t dropping anymore and he was trying to shake her off.
Her arms ached as she held on with everything she had. She didn’t know how much longer she could maintain her grip. With the pain in her chest from her broken ribs it was a wonder she didn’t pass out.
Holding onto Ed wasn’t going to do any good as far as saving her life, she knew, but she could at least take the bastard down with her.
Through her fear she saw a large tree root growing through the wall of the well. If she could reach that root, she might have a chance. It was big enough that if she could pull herself up onto it she’d have something to rest on.
She reached for the root but her fingertips only brushed it.
“Ed!” Phoebe was screaming. “What do you want me to do?”
“Grab my hand,” he said.
“You’ll pull me in with you.” Phoebe sounded terrified. “I’m not strong enough.”
“You have to try.” Fear was in his voice.
Jessie reached again for the root as she clung to Ed’s legs with her other arm. Her arms burned with the effort of hanging on. Adrenaline pumped through her system, giving her more strength to cling to him.
Her fingers brushed the edge of the root as he tried to kick her off again. “Help me, Phoebe.” Then he shouted as he shook his leg, “Get off me, bitch!”
Ed slipped again and Jessie cried out and grabbed onto him with both arms as he dropped another few inches.
“She’s holding on to you?” Phoebe said, a sob in her voice. “You know I can’t pull you up if she’s weighing you down. I don’t think I can pull you out even if she wasn’t.”
“Just help me, Phe.” He sounded like he was close to sobbing. “Help me.”
Jessie stretched for the root again.
“I can’t help you,” Phoebe cried. “I love you, Ed, but I can’t help you.”
“Phoebe, no!” Ed shouted. “Don’t!”
Jessie pushed off from Ed and leapt for the root. Her fingers clasped onto it just as Ed lost his hold and dropped.
She clung to the root but Ed caught her by her ankle, breaking her grip.
They plummeted.
She screamed as they fell. She was going to die.
But at least Ed wouldn’t get out of this alive.
She slammed into Ed’s body, landing on top of him.
Her head hit something hard and her vision blurred.
The screaming pain in her ribs and head told her that she was alive.
She was alive.
Groans rose up inside her and tears rolled down her wet cheeks.
Ed didn’t move. Didn’t make a sound. He could have been knocked out but she didn’t feel his chest move beneath her. She raised her head and looked into his eyes. They were wide open.
The sonofabitch was dead.
Through the ringing in her ears, she heard screams coming from above.
“Ed!” Phoebe’s screams.
And then they stopped. A moment later it started to grow darker. Phoebe was putting the boards over the well.
Pain and hopelessness made Jessie dizzy and her teeth chattered from the cold that seemed even worse now. She was alive, but no one would ever know she was here.
Her vision started to waver and then fade. And then she was gone.
Chapter 14
“Where the hell is Jessie?” Zane said to more to himself than Wyatt as he looked from the closed-in porch out into the late afternoon rain. “She’s over four hours late.” Zane took his cell phone out of the holster on his belt and dialed her number. It went straight to voice mail.
His gut twisted. Something wasn’t right.
“How long has she been gone?” Wyatt asked.
“Since early this morning.” Zane held up his cell phone. “And she hasn’t called.”
“She could have been caught in the rain,” Wyatt said.
“Maybe. But it’s a light rain, not enough to keep her from driving home.” Zane re-holstered his cell phone. “Why is her phone going directly to voice mail?”
“Probably bad reception or her battery is dead,” Wyatt said.
Zane nodded. He knew those were the logical explanations. Then why did he have a sick feeling in his gut? He’d always listened to his gut instincts and they were telling him that he needed to go check on her. “She could have fallen down an old abandoned mineshaft if she wasn’t careful, or a building could have collapsed on her if she inside and leaned on a post wrong.”
“Could be.” Wyatt took a deep breath. “You could wait, or we can head that way. We might meet her on the road. Maybe she ran out of gas.”<
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Zane said, “Or she could still be out photographing. There’s plenty to take pictures of, but I just don’t think it’s enough to make her this late.” He walked toward his truck and climbed in as he made up his mind. “I’ll drive toward Camp Washington.”
Wyatt nodded. “Right behind you.”
Zane’s jaw ached from clenching it so tight as he drove in the direction of the ghost towns. The farther he went without meeting her somewhere along the way, the tighter his gut became.
The rain started to come down harder now and his windshield blades went back and forth, back in forth, wiping away the water that was only to be replaced by more water. He tried to call her, but again it went straight to voice mail.
Wyatt stayed up with him, his truck a few length’s behind Zane.
When he neared the ghost towns, Zane spoke to Wyatt on his cell and they split up. Zane took Duquesne and Wyatt went to Camp Washington.
In places where rain hadn’t washed them away, he saw more than one set of tire prints in the ghost town. One of the sets had to be Jessie’s Mustang.
When his cell rang he hoped it was Jessie then saw on the caller ID screen that it was Wyatt. “I see a set of tire prints,” Wyatt said. “No other sign of her.”
“Same here.” Frustration made Zane’s muscles tense as he drove in the direction of another abandoned building. “I’ll do a little more driving—”
He spotted a flash of red ahead. As he came closer to it, he realized it was Jessie’s red Mustang.
“Found her car.” A rush of relief went through Zane followed by a tightening of his gut. She’d be there. She had to be there.
“Where?” Wyatt asked and Zane gave him directions before he hung up.
He brought his truck to a stop behind Jessie’s car and he got out of his truck and went toward the abandoned building and called out her name.
The rain pounded down but his hat kept water out of his eyes as he looked down at the ground. He narrowed his gaze. The rain was rapidly washing them away but from the impressions in the earth it looked like there was more than one set of tire prints, and footprints. A sick feeling churned in his belly. Something was wrong.
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