On the Lam

by SUE FINEMAN

  Callie’s eyes looked dull and her forehead creased with worry. Bo blamed himself for this mess, because CNN showed Brady standing beside him when he spoke at the church. If he’d known they’d be on the national news, he wouldn’t have taken Callie and Brady to the baby’s funeral service. Still, Tommy Ray must know by now that he’d find his wife with Bo.

  Bo spent the first few minutes of the flight sitting across the aisle from Callie, talking with his brother on the phone.

  “Dave Montgomery is on the way,” said Greg. “We can’t call it kidnapping, since Tommy Ray is the kid’s legal father, but he did offer to trade the kid for the gold. That’s blackmail. We have to be careful not to spook him, though, or we may never find Brady.”

  He hoped assault wouldn’t be added to the charge. Or murder.

  “Tommy Ray took his truck and we couldn’t find where he’d taken a flight out of San Antonio, Houston, or Austin, so he may have driven there, like he did last time.”

  “Hell, yes he drove. He wouldn’t pay for a one-way ticket for Brady, and he wouldn’t have taken the kid to a public place like an airport. Neen taught Brady how to run and hide, and he knows to ask someone for help.”

  Bo cringed, thinking about Callie’s little boy stuck in a truck for days with a monster.

  “Two thousand miles. He’s dragging that kid two thousand miles across the country in a damn pickup truck. In two days. That’s what? Thirty or forty hours?”

  “He really wants that money, Bo. The more talk I hear about it in town, the bigger it gets. People are talking millions, and they’re crazy. At the most, it can’t be worth a half million, and she’s way behind on her property taxes. I’m surprised the county hasn’t put the ranch up for auction by now.”

  Bo glanced at Callie’s worried face. She’d been so quiet. Snow White had more than the Wicked Witch to worry about. She could lose her only child.

  “I’ll bet a dozen people offered me cash money if I’d take them out there and let them dig.”

  “I suppose that’s one way to make money.”

  “Is Callie all right?”

  “She’s worried about Brady and so am I. Tommy Ray doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself. Did you and Skeeter get the ranch wired?”

  “Skeeter is working on it now. He plans to stay in the barn, with the receiver. He emptied the gun case in the house, just in case, and I removed all the knives. That doesn’t mean Tommy Ray won’t be armed, so we’ll have to be careful.”

  An understatement at best.

  “I dragged the bed outside and burned it the night Neen flew you and Callie back to Washington. Damn thing gave me nightmares. I bought her a new one. You are going to marry the girl, aren’t you?”

  “We have some things to work out before I can think about that.”

  “Gotta go. Albert and Junior are here with the horse trailer.” Greg disconnected.

  Bo moved to the seat beside Callie. They’d slept together last night, but he woke several times to find her standing in the window, hugging her arms.

  What would she do if she lost Brady for good?

  <>

  Mr. Houser met Callie, Bo, and Greg at the bank that afternoon, and they went into Mr. Butler’s office together. Conrad Butler worked as a loan officer at one time, and now he owned the bank. Callie had always liked Mr. Butler. He and Daddy went to high school with Roy Richardson and Jonah Beardsley, who now owned the Chevrolet dealership on the highway outside Caledonia. Mr. Beardsley was the sheriff before Tommy Ray. Mr. Richardson, Leroy and Dwayne’s daddy, left his family so many years ago, Callie couldn’t remember what he looked like.

  Mr. Butler poured five glasses of sweet iced tea from a frosty pitcher and they all sat down at the table in his office. Callie sat beside Bo, and Greg sat beside Mr. Houser across the table. Mr. Butler sat at the head of the table.

  “Callie, before we get started, I want to tell you what happened ‘bout twenty years ago.” Mr. Butler sipped his iced tea and began the story. “There were four of us, fishing buddies who rode out to the old cabin site on the river every month to get a little drunk, catch some fish, and tell wild stories. One time your father got a little too drunk and spilled the beans about an old map he’d found. Harry said it was a treasure map, and we’d all had enough whiskey to believe him.”

  He glanced at the four faces around the table and continued. “Harry pulled a stone out of the old fireplace and pulled out a map that looked authentic enough. He said, ‘I know where the black rock is,’ and Roy got so excited he was about to pop. He said, ‘I know where the red rock is, but it’s only red in the afternoon.’ Well, by now Jonah was on his feet, saying, ‘Show me,’ but Harry was too drunk to get on the horse and Roy nearly passed out, so I said, ‘We’ll sleep on it and go out at first light.’ The next morning, instead of fishing, we went on a treasure hunt.”

  Greg said, “You found the spot.”

  “Oh, yes, sir, we found the spot all right, or what we thought was the spot, but we didn’t have anything to dig with, so we marked it and said we’d come back the next weekend and try again.” He shook his head once. “It took us half a summer of weekends to find the first piece of gold, and Harry said, ‘This is it. This is the treasure.’ Jonah said, ‘There has to be more than this,’ and Harry said, ‘If there is, you can each have a share.’”

  Bo leaned forward. “Just how much did you dig up, Mr. Butler?”

  “We dug up half the landscape out there, and we found several times what you have here in my safe. There were nearly one hundred of those pieces of gold at the end of each spoke of the wheel. It took us the better part of a year to lug part of it out by horseback. We didn’t know what we had at first, and when we found out, Jonah and I told Harry we couldn’t take a full share. Roy said the same thing, but he disappeared shortly after we each took our share. When we went back the next time, we found the place dug up and more gold missing. Roy must have taken twice what the rest of us did, but he didn’t get it all out. Harry threatened to track him down and shoot him, but Harry had other problems. He never was a good rancher, and the place lost money every year. He had to use most of his share just to break even. I assume he had some left, but I never knew what he did with the rest of the money.”

  “I found some money in the safe at home, Mr. Butler,” said Callie. “The maps were in there, too.”

  Mr. Butler leaned back, his hand still around his glass of iced tea.

  “How did Tommy Ray Caldwell know about the money?” asked Bo.

  “Tommy Ray Caldwell, now that’s another story. Tommy Ray is good at wheedling information out of folks. He used to take Jonah out and get him drunk. Give Jonah enough to drink and he’ll tell you everything he knows about everything. I guess he told Tommy Ray about the gold and Harry’s map. Tommy Ray was sheriff by then, but according to Jonah, he got himself into a little trouble in Dallas and needed hush money.”

  Greg made a quick phone call to Dave Montgomery before the meeting continued.

  Callie lifted her chin. “The only reason Tommy Ray married me was so he could get his hands on that map.”

  “From what I hear, he paid Chet to...uh...ruin you, so to speak, so he could talk your mama into letting him marry you. I don’t think he planned on you being pregnant, but it probably made it easier to convince your folks it was the right thing to do.”

  Callie took a deep, shaky breath and let it out slowly. She’d spent eight miserable years with that mean-tempered bully. Bo reached for her hand under the table and she grabbed it like a lifeline.

  “What about my daddy?” she asked. “Why did he go along with it?”

  “Tommy Ray knew about Harry’s...uh...”

  “Other women?”

  “Yes, ma’am. He got one woman pregnant and had to pay her off. I don’t know where she went or if she had the baby, just that she left town. Tommy Ray told Harry he’d bring her back and tell Arlene, and Harry was already on shaky ground at home.”

  “So you
bought the bank with your share,” said Bo. “And Jonah Beardsley bought the car dealership with his.”

  “That’s right. Harry paid his taxes and overdue bills and bought his wife a new car. And Roy never showed his face around these parts again. He left his wife and two little boys to fend for themselves.”

  Callie played with her glass. “Y’all knew there was more money out there. Why didn’t you and Mr. Beardsley dig it up for yourselves?”

  “Callie, we dug up a whole lot of money, and your daddy wanted to leave some for you to find. That’s why he didn’t destroy the map.”

  “But he gave the ranch to Tommy Ray, or at least that’s what Tommy Ray said.”

  “Harry told Tommy Ray he was giving him the ranch, but he lied. He didn’t own the ranch and couldn’t give it to anybody. Tommy Ray didn’t want the ranch anyway. He wanted the treasure map, but Harry didn’t give him that.”

  She looked up at the banker. “He knew where the map was, though. Oh, yes, sir, he surely did. For three whole days after Daddy died, Tommy Ray sat on the closet floor trying to open the safe. He knew it was in there.”

  Daddy didn’t say a word to his only child, the child he pawned off on the meanest man in town just so he could save face with Mama. Callie rubbed her forehead, trying to hide the tears that threatened to fall. Her parents didn’t love her or they wouldn’t have given her to Tommy Ray. And the more she thought about it, the more she knew that was what they’d done. Tommy Ray blackmailed her parents. Daddy knew what he wanted and went along with it. And Mama was so worried about keeping up appearances with the ladies at church, especially Mary Bickley, she would have done anything to save face.

  Callie took a deep breath. “Tommy Ray isn’t getting squat from me.” She didn’t want any part of that gold. It represented deceit and betrayal.

  “I’d like several people here at the bank tomorrow afternoon when I meet with Tommy Ray. I figure it’ll be near closing time, maybe at five. Is that all right, Mr. Butler?”

  “Yes, of course. We’ll stay open late if necessary.”

  She nodded. “Thank you kindly, sir. Could we push those two tables out there together to make one big table and pile the gold on one side?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’ll be here tomorrow with an FBI agent,” said Greg. “We’d like to put in a special camera, but we won’t turn it on until we have things set up.” Greg leaned forward. “Look, I know bank business is confidential, and we’ll respect that. The only thing we intend to record is what happens with Callie and Tommy Ray and the gold. We need to record his reaction when she gives it all away.”

  Mr. Butler slowly shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re giving it all away.”

  “If I don’t, he’ll take it and I can’t let him do that. Better to give it away than to pay Tommy Ray for the eight years of hell he’s put me through.”

  Before they left the room, Callie thanked Greg and Bo for their help. “I’ll stay out at the ranch tonight in case Tommy Ray has someone here in town watching me.”

  “No,” said Bo. “It’s not safe for you—”

  She gazed into Bo’s eyes. “Tommy Ray won’t get here until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, and I need to be alone or he won’t give Brady to me.” She hated to leave him, but she had to. “He might have someone watching to make sure we’re not together.”

  Greg handed her the keys to his rental car. “It’s parked out front.”

  She shook her head. “My license expired.”

  “So who’s gonna know? Take it, Callie. Bo and Neen and I are staying here in town, and Dave Montgomery is on the way. He’ll have a car. I rented a furnished house two blocks over, so we’re staying there. Skeeter knows how to get in touch with me, and he has an intercom set up between the house and the barn. He’s a button away if you need him, and if you need me and Bo, we’ll borrow Tommy Ray’s patrol car. He left the keys in his desk drawer at the jailhouse.”

  Callie kissed Bo and hugged Greg, and walked out the door with Mr. Houser. He walked her to the jailhouse, where she left a note for Tommy Ray. In spite of everything he’d done, he was still the sheriff, and she knew he’d come here first.

  Tommy Ray,

  Meet me at the bank at five and bring Brady.

  Callie

  <>

  The next afternoon at ten minutes to five, Callie stood in the bank with Mr. Houser and watched Mr. Butler and two tellers carry the gold from their safe and pile it on the table. Tommy Ray walked in and stood on the other side of the table, his eyes glistening. Brady was nowhere in sight.

  Callie pinned him in a glare. “Where’s my son?”

  “You’ll get him after I get my gold.”

  Leroy and Dwayne wandered in and stood by the front window, and then Albert appeared with Rev. Bickley. Greg stayed out of sight in Mr. Butler’s office, waiting to come out until everyone else stood in place. Dave Montgomery, the FBI agent she’d just met, sat at Martha Lewiston’s desk, watching closely, as other people wandered into the bank and stood back, eyeing the gold and watching Tommy Ray and Callie.

  Mr. Butler said, “That’s it, Callie. Two hundred and forty-two pieces of antique Spanish gold.”

  She picked up one and examined it closely. It looked old, the shape irregular, with stamps and different markings on both sides of the lumpy slab of gold. Looking up, she saw Bo watching from just inside the doorway, half hidden behind Albert’s stout body.

  Greg walked out of the back office and stood behind Mr. Butler. He leaned back against a teller’s station, arms crossed, wearing a shoulder holster, with a don’t-mess-with-me look on his face. Neighbors and friends filled the room, except the areas around Greg and Tommy Ray. One look at Greg and folks stayed back, and nobody ever got close to Tommy Ray.

  Tommy Ray stared at the gold. “How much of this is mine?”

  “I don’t rightly know yet, but I promised to give you every penny that was left after I pay my bills, and I will.”

  “Then get on with it.”

  “All right. My mama and daddy believed ten percent of everything that came in was God’s share. That’s twenty-four for the church, Rev. Bickley.”

  “Thank you, Callie.”

  One of the tellers counted twenty-four and pushed them to the other side of the table. Mr. Butler wrote it down.

  “Now the biggest bill is taxes.” Callie stared at Tommy Ray and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “Since you cancelled the leases on the grazing lands, sold Mama’s chickens, and took Daddy’s life insurance money, I didn’t have any way to pay the property taxes. I figure between inheritance taxes and eight years worth of property taxes, it comes to one hundred and twenty ingots. Is that about right, Mr. Houser?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, nodding. “That’s exactly what I figured.”

  She stared at Tommy Ray. “I still owe the hospital in Florida for the time you beat me up down there, and I figure one ingot should cover that bill. And my landlady took care of Brady while I was in the hospital, so I owe her one, too.”

  Tommy Ray glanced around the room and, for a minute, Callie thought he might bolt, but he didn’t. He wanted that gold too much to go anywhere without it.

  The teller moved two more pieces of gold to the other side of the table.

  “I figure it’ll cost me at least one ingot to buy back Mama’s antiques, if they’re still in the shop down the street. I don’t know what you did with my car, but I haven’t seen it in months, so I’ll need to buy another one. I figure ten might replace the car I had.”

  As the teller moved more bars to the other side, Callie turned to Mr. Butler. “How much does that come to?”

  “One hundred and fifty-seven so far.”

  “The rest is mine,” said Tommy Ray.

  “You said I could pay my bills first,” she snapped. “And I still have a few more to pay. I owe Mr. Houser for taking care of the arrest warrant against me and handling my divorce.”

  “What arrest warr
ant?” called Albert. He had a twinkle in his eye and she knew he was enjoying this. He’d always hated Tommy Ray.

  “The one from when Tommy Ray accused me of stealing Billy Smith’s car. Only I didn’t get near Billy’s car. I wasn’t even here then. I was running away from my husband because he beat on me and Brady.”

  “I want the room cleared,” said Tommy Ray. “Right now.”

  “This is a place of business,” said Mr. Butler. “I reckon these good people have business here at the bank or they wouldn’t be here. Right, folks?”

  Heads nodded and murmurs of “That’s right,” rang out.

  Callie continued. “I figure I owe Mr. Houser twenty of those ingots. Since Tommy Ray sold my horses and I had to buy them back, I owe Albert and Junior about ten.”

  “You’re giving it all away,” Tommy Ray said through clenched teeth.

  “I’m paying my bills,” she said firmly. “Now, I owe Leroy and Dwayne one each for doing all that digging and helping Greg get these things out of the ground. I know they worked hard at it. I also owe Randy one for helping on the ranch.”

  Randy’s grinning face popped up between Rev. Bickley and Leroy Richardson, and he gave her a little wave.

  The teller couldn’t keep up, so Callie turned to Mr. Butler, who’d been keeping a running tally. He said, “That’s two hundred, Callie.”

  Without looking at Tommy Ray, Callie talked to her friends and neighbors in the bank. “The Gregory family has come through for me and Brady in our time of need. They gave us a place to stay when it wasn’t safe to live on the ranch and flew us across the country several times. They’ve been true friends. Bo brought his friend Skeeter to the ranch to help me get started in a new business, and he’s done an amazing amount of work already. You see, we had termites in the house and the roof is rusted nearly through, but I didn’t have the wherewithal to fix those things. Skeeter and Greg have been working like crazy so after my divorce is final I’ll have a safe place to take my son.”