On the Lam

by SUE FINEMAN

  “Don’t they belong to a bank or something?” Callie asked.

  “Maybe they did at one time, but they’ve been down there so long, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to track down who put them there, let alone who they belonged to. The only reference I could find to antique Spanish gold ingots on the Internet was about the ones found on sunken ships.”

  Bo glanced at Callie and asked Greg, “Where is the gold now?”

  “In the safe at the bank. Oh, Leroy said to tell Callie they still couldn’t open the safe they took from the house.”

  “Tell them the combination is my birthday. I doubt they’ll remember the year, let alone the month and day, but it should keep those boys busy for a while. They won’t find anything when they do get it open, since I already emptied it.”

  “It’ll give them something to do besides get into trouble.”

  Bo took the phone off speaker and wandered into the other room with it. He wanted to ask about Tommy Ray and he didn’t want Brady listening in. “What’s going on with the sheriff?”

  “Skeeter spent two nights in jail. Stan Houser got him out and there were no charges filed. I tell you, Bo, that sheriff is a real piece of work. I wouldn’t trust a dog alone with him. People get out of his sight just on general principles, if you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “How’s your arm?”

  “I saw the doctor here yesterday. According to the surgeon’s report, I can expect maybe sixty to seventy percent use, and that’s pushing it.” He’d held out hope for a full recovery, or at least ninety percent. After he’d been injured, he assumed the doctors could fix it, and they had to some degree. He still had an arm. “I should be used to that level of use, I guess.”

  “But you hoped for more.”

  “Yes, dammit. I was counting on it.”

  “Do you need physical therapy?”

  “Yes, and then I’m supposed to swim every day.”

  “Then we’ll put in a pool.”

  Bo sat on the side of his mother’s bed. “Come on, Greg. I can’t afford a damn pool and where would I put it? I sure as hell don’t want to live at the business forever.”

  “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that, Bo. Somebody made a verbal offer the day I left, not just on the building, but on the business.”

  Bo’s spirits picked up. “Oh, yeah? How much?”

  “Almost a million for the property and half that much more for the business. I figure we have half that much in the building and another fifty thou in the renovations. That leaves a tidy little profit after selling expenses. We’ll hold onto it if you want to stay and manage the place, but I thought—”

  “I don’t want to run a nightclub, do you?”

  “Not especially. I’m thinking of going back into law enforcement.”

  Bo shook his head. Greg had always craved excitement and danger. “I wondered how long it would take. Have you told Mom and Neen?”

  “Not yet. I think I need to be there.”

  “You’re not thinking of running for Sheriff of Caledonia County, are you?”

  “Why not? Everybody around here is afraid to run against Tommy Ray Caldwell, not that I can blame them. He’s been a thorn in my side since the night you left here.”

  “That’s because he doesn’t have me and Callie to pick on.”

  “Or Barney Fife. Get your arm healed up and get your butt back out here. Skeeter says he needs you here, and I don’t want to leave him alone on the ranch.”

  Somehow, Bo doubted Skeeter would say that, but he got the message. Greg liked it well enough to move there, well enough to start a new career, and he obviously thought Bo would end up at the ranch with Callie. But Bo didn’t know where he belonged. Since he’d returned from Iraq, he felt out of place in Tacoma, even though he’d grown up there. He wasn’t the same young, idealistic boy who’d left home to join the Marines. He’d returned a grown man, scarred inside and out. Could he handle the physical demands of ranching or breeding horses? Not without two good arms.

  “Bo, I need to speak with Callie before I hang up.”

  “Hold on.” Bo walked back to the other room, where everyone sat watching CNN, and handed the phone to Callie. “Greg needs to talk to you.”

  Callie took the phone and walked into the kitchen to talk in private. “Hey, Greg. How are things on the ranch?”

  “Okay. Listen, Callie, Skeeter would like to purchase a few horses to get started, but you’ll need a new barn first.”

  She took a deep breath and dove in feet first. “Tell Skeeter if he’s ready to buy horses, I want Buttercup and Betty Grable back first.”

  “They’re already here. Albert brought them over yesterday.”

  She wanted to ask how much Bo had to do with that, but she knew he had everything to do with it. What Tommy Ray had taken away, Bo had given back to her, and then some.

  “Skeeter had the junk cars carted off last week while I was out digging up the countryside with the Richardson boys. The pest company fumigated the house and got rid of your termites day before yesterday, but Skeeter said there’s extensive damage to the foundation. The roof has leaked so much, the attic is filled with mold and rot. It’s a wonder the ceiling hasn’t caved in over the kitchen.”

  “Merciful heavens, you’ve been busy.” It sounded like she’d need a new house, but the pool was more important. She didn’t have enough money for a new house. Not now. Even with the gold, by the time she paid all her other bills, she wouldn’t have enough left for a new house.

  “Callie, I don’t want you to wait too long to get back down here. Bo is a great organizer, so bring him along. He can set up the books for the new business.”

  “If he’ll come.”

  “He’ll come. Bo is crazy about you, Callie. If you’re here, I guarantee he’ll come.”

  “From your lips to God’s ears,” she said mostly to herself.

  Callie ended the call and leaned back against the kitchen counter. Her future hinged on the ranch, her son, and Bo, and she didn’t know what Bo wanted to do with his life. He hadn’t spoken to her of the future. He hadn’t even told her he loved her. His family, his whole support system, lived here in Tacoma, yet he seemed so unsettled here. Maybe he’d be that way on the ranch, too.

  Bo seemed lost right now, and so disappointed about his arm. He wasn’t taking pain pills all the time like before, but the hope in his eyes died the day she told him what the surgeon said after his surgery. He didn’t want two-thirds function in his arm. He wanted to be whole and strong. He hadn’t made love to her once since his surgery, and she knew it wouldn’t happen anytime soon. Not until he stopped feeling sorry for himself.

  Callie loved the ranch, but she didn’t want to be in Texas if Bo and Brady were here in Washington. She could go back for a little while to get things in order on the ranch, but she couldn’t stay. If she worked it right, if Skeeter could handle things there by himself, she could lease out some of the grazing lands to pay him. Then, if he could breed horses and sell them, maybe she’d have a little money left over.

  She didn’t especially want to do things that way, but Granny always used to say that to get along in this life, sometimes you had to compromise.

  <>

  In the following days, Brady started school in Tacoma, Callie helped Bo work on The Brothel, and Bo began physical therapy. Having Callie with him boosted his spirits, and Brady’s chattering, instead of irritating him, made Bo smile. He was a good kid, obedient and respectful, which said everything about Callie’s mothering.

  Callie was fixing dinner one evening when Bo followed his nose down to the kitchen. “Something smells good.”

  “I hope you like cherry pie.”

  “I love it.” He looked around. “Where’s Brady?”

  She froze. “I thought he was upstairs with you.” She turned the burners off and ran upstairs, but she couldn’t find Brady.

  Bo called up the stairs, “Did you find him?”

&
nbsp; “No, did you?”

  “He has to be around here somewhere. Brady,” he yelled. “Brady, if you’re hiding, come out right now. This isn’t funny.” Definitely not funny. If the kid was hiding somewhere, he was in big trouble, but the dread in Bo’s heart said he wasn’t hiding.

  Bo called his mother and Neen, but they hadn’t seen or heard from him. And then he called his sister, Mia, at the Tacoma Police Department. “I know it’s too soon to file a missing person’s report, but with Tommy Ray Caldwell making trouble for Callie, he may have taken him.”

  “Bo, if he took Brady, we can’t do anything about it unless Callie has sole custody or there’s a reason to believe the kid is in danger. Does she have custody?”

  “They’re not divorced, Brady isn’t his son, and custody has never been an issue. If he took that kid, I’ll kill the bastard.”

  “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

  Callie looked terrified, and Bo didn’t blame her. She didn’t say what they were both thinking, that Brady didn’t wander off. The man he called Daddy, the man who beat him hard enough to leave scars, had taken him.

  “Bo, call Greg. Find out if Tommy Ray is still around.”

  Bo called Greg at the ranch and told him what happened.

  “Tommy Ray took a week of vacation,” said Greg. “Look, tell Callie he knows what we found out on the trail. Hell, everyone in town knows. And tell her to keep a tape recorder with her at all times. Tommy Ray wants a piece of the pie, and I’d bet the ranch that he’s going to offer to trade the kid for money.”

  “As if he hasn’t taken enough from her already.”

  “Bo, listen to me. Get the son-of-a-bitch on tape. Law enforcement people can’t do it without a bunch of red tape, but she can. We’ll go public, if necessary. I guarantee if he brings Brady to Caledonia County, someone around here will know about it. Try to keep her calm. I know that’s asking a lot, but try. She needs to have her wits about her when Tommy Ray calls.”

  If he calls. Until someone called, they didn’t know for sure what happened to Brady. “Callie, you don’t think he’d walk down to the store by himself, do you?”

  “No, Brady wouldn’t leave without asking me first.”

  Bo put his arm around her and rubbed her back. “I’ll look around outside if you’ll search the inside again—closets, under beds, everywhere a little boy will fit.” He prayed they’d find the kid in the building, but his gut told him that the kid was gone, stolen from his mother by that snake, Tommy Ray Caldwell.

  Callie raced upstairs and heard the phone ringing. She rushed to Bo’s bedroom, the only room upstairs with a phone, and answered it. She wasn’t surprised to hear Tommy Ray’s voice, but it chilled her to the bone.

  “If you want your son back, you’ll do as I say.”

  “What have you done to Brady?”

  “Nothing yet.”

  “What do you want, Tommy Ray?”

  “First, I want you to chase your people off the ranch.”

  If she didn’t go along with him, she might never see Brady again. “All right.”

  “Cancel the divorce and come back to your loving husband.”

  The sound of his voice turned her cold. She couldn’t agree with this. “Is that all?”

  “No. I want what your people found buried on the ranch.”

  Where were all those snappy comebacks she thought of in the quiet moments? She said the only thing that came to mind. “You can have everything that’s left after I pay my bills.”

  “What bills?”

  “I owe the hospital in Tampa and I owe Bo and Greg for taking care of Brady and me, and I owe Skeeter for working on the ranch, and the Richardson boys for helping, and my lawyer, and—”

  “From what I hear, you have enough to buy the whole damn state, oil wells and all.”

  “Then there’ll be plenty left over for you.”

  “Two days,” he said. “If you’re not there in two days, I’ll start sending you pieces of the brat.”

  He was mean enough to do it, too. “I’ll be there, Tommy Ray. I’ll do what you want.”

  “Alone. If you bring anybody with you, all bets are off. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, I understand. I’ll be there in two days, but if you hurt Brady, I won’t give you one penny.”

  He slammed the phone down and she prayed, “Please God, please don’t let him hurt my little boy. Please. I’ll give every bit of that gold away if you keep my baby safe.”

  <>

  Bo turned off the tape recorder. He’d recorded the entire phone conversation on the bar extension. Taking the stairs two at a time, he ran upstairs to Callie. She stood beside his bed, her face pale, her hand still holding the phone. He pried the phone from her hand. “I heard.”

  “I have to go or he’ll hurt Brady.”

  “I know.” Bo held her until she stopped shaking so hard. Holding her kept his own hands from shaking. The brutal man who’d inflicted scarring wounds on a little boy’s back had his hands on the boy again. “We’ll get him back, Callie. I promise you we’ll do everything we can to get him back.”

  “He’ll hurt my baby.”

  “No, he wouldn’t dare hurt him now.” If only Bo could believe that himself.

  He made a quick call to Neen and asked her to inform the family in Tacoma that Tommy Ray had taken Brady. And then he called Greg at the ranch and explained what happened. Listening to the tape as he replayed it over the phone for Greg, Bo feared for Brady’s life. The Big Bad Wolf was mean enough for a whole pack.

  “Listen, Greg. Take the horses back to Albert, and I want you and Skeeter to move off the ranch tomorrow. Can you bug the place before Callie gets there?”

  “I don’t have much with me, but I’ll do what I can.”

  Bo glanced at Callie’s stricken face. Worry and anger warred in the depths of her violet eyes. “If this isn’t blackmail, I don’t know what the hell is.”

  “I’ll get to work here, Bo,” said Greg. “Whatever you do, don’t lose that tape. If Neen can still fit behind the controls in the plane, ask her to fly Callie here tomorrow.”

  “Not without me.” Callie wasn’t going anywhere without him.

  “Dave Montgomery spoke with Tommy Ray’s former wife yesterday. Apparently, the only way the guy can get it up is to inflict pain on the woman, which explains all that crap in the nightstand beside his bed. His former wife had two little kids when she married Tommy Ray, and he hammered on them every chance he got. They both hate him. When she threw the bastard out, he came back and beat her half to death.”

  Bo ended the call and relayed the message to Callie. “Dave Montgomery is an old friend of Greg’s. He’s with the FBI. They were college roommates, and they worked together on an operation a few months ago. They brought down a drug lord who tried to kill Neen.”

  “Dear God.”

  “What I’m trying to say is that the two of them know what they’re doing. If anyone can find a way to end this nightmare, it’s Greg and Dave.”

  He wrapped both arms around Callie and held her, giving her the comfort she’d so generously given him. His worthless arm worked pretty well for this, but he hadn’t made love to her since the surgery. He wanted to—God how he wanted to—but it wouldn’t hold his weight now. It might never be that strong again.

  “Let’s go eat dinner and make plans, honey.”

  Callie looked up, her face a mask of fear. “He can have every penny of that money, after I pay my bills. All I want is my little boy back safe and sound.”

  “I know.”

  “How much is that gold worth?”

  “Between fifteen hundred and two thousand dollars each, and there are two hundred and forty-two of them.”

  “Tommy Ray won’t know what they’re worth. Let’s see... I’ll tithe the church. That’s twenty four.” She counted on her fingers. “I owe my attorney at least twenty, and I owe you and Greg and Skeeter and Leroy and Dwayne and Neen and...”

  Bo stare
d at Callie. “You’re going to give them all away?”

  “Every blessed one of them. If I can’t have any of it, he can’t either. And he owes me my daddy’s life insurance money. It was over two hundred thousand dollars, but he put the check in our joint account and transferred it out when the check cleared. That money would’ve paid the back taxes and fixed the termite damage to the foundation and put a new roof on the house, but all he ever gave me was enough to buy groceries.”

  She took a deep breath and blew it out. “I want everything he took from me, including my son. Especially my son. If he touches one hair on Brady’s head, I’ll shoot him myself.”

  Calamity Jane was back, rattling off the words so fast they all ran together. If not for the intensity of the situation, he would have laughed.

  Lifting her chin, she asked, “Would you take care of Brady if I have to go to prison or Tommy Ray kills me?”

  Bo hesitated before answering. Finally, he said the only thing he could say. “He’ll be a Gregory one way or another.”

  She stared at him in disbelief. “You don’t like Brady, or do you just not like kids?”

  “It isn’t that, Callie. Right now, I don’t know if I can support myself.”

  She took a step back and then another. He saw the crushing disappointment on her face and mentally kicked himself for not finding a better way to tell her.

  “I guess I’d better see about supper,” she said, and ran down the stairs, crying.

  “Damn!” Why did he have to say it that way? Now she thought he didn’t care, and she hurt enough now that Tommy Ray had Brady.

  Bo picked up the phone to make another call. Neen had really come through for them, and if she couldn’t do it again, he’d charter a private plane to fly them to Caledonia. They couldn’t go commercial this time.

  Because this time, he intended to take his gun.

  Chapter Twelve

  Bo and Callie boarded Neen’s plane the next morning for the flight to Texas. Bo had stashed his gun in his bag in case things turned ugly in Caledonia. That son-of-a-bitch of a sheriff wouldn’t touch Callie again and live to tell about it. If he hurt Brady in any way, Bo would tear him apart, and knowing Greg, he’d want a piece of him, too.