Bone-a-fied Trouble

by Carolyn Haines

  Soon, he could pick up his mother’s trail. She would lead him to Trudy one way or the other. And he would discover who was helping Hannah and Antoine—crucial information. All he had to do was wait. And fret. Because he knew that Tabitha and his aunt and uncle would be worried sick.

  * * *

  It took only a few moments for Tabitha to familiarize herself with the laptop. T&S Financials was her first search. The company was only a few years old, and it was headquartered in Switzerland. While there was a website and list of services, the site was strangely empty. That gave Tabitha some concern. She argued with herself that Antoine claimed to be an international player, so it wasn’t uncommon to have a business located in Switzerland. But she also understood that a lot of companies hiding things had foreign locations. The more she dug into T&S, the less certain she was that it was a legitimate company at all. It seemed more like a ghost company.

  When she checked Antoine’s resume, she found he’d been involved with financial organizations in the states and Europe. He also had an impressive background in agricultural investment and development. Which meant he might have more information about the G9-14 cotton that Trudy had been poking into. It lined him up perfectly to be the culprit behind Trudy’s disappearance and Lisa East’s death.

  Tabitha had to wonder if Hannah was aware of the web of lies he’d spun. Perhaps she was complicit or maybe just a dupe. If that were the case, Roger was in terrible danger. Trying to save his mother might cost his own life—if Hannah didn’t want to be saved.

  For nearly two hours Tabitha worked the Internet to find everything she could on Antoine and Hannah. Where Antoine was found in financial news—all in recent years--Hannah was mentioned in a number of international gossip columns for her party-girl and scandalous ways. She traveled among the upper echelons of international jetsetters. There were photos of her at the opening of plays in London, tennis matches at Wimbledon, and gaming tables in Monaco—always with a handsome man on her arm. She was a very conspicuous society woman. And most recently with Antoine. It was a lifestyle of glitter and lack of substance, as far as Tabitha could tell. For all of her high living, her life seemed terribly empty. Much as Tabitha’s heart felt.

  At last Charline tapped on her door. When Tabitha answered, she stood in the hallway. “DeWayne is working with the Coahoma County deputies and he went to the cabin. It’s empty.”

  Tabitha felt as if a mule had kicked her in the stomach. “What?”

  “There’s no one there. But the good news is that there’s no sign of foul play. No blood, no indication that anyone was roughed up.”

  “But we heard someone breach the cabin.” Tabitha was confused.

  “There is no indication of anything untoward. No sign that anyone was held prisoner there. It was absolutely empty.”

  “Where is Roger then?”

  Charline inhaled deeply. “I don’t know. The deputies don’t know. They’re scouring the place, but DeWayne doesn’t think there’s anything to find there.” She braced against the door frame. “And now I wish I’d listened to you and gone to the cabin. But it’s too late for that.”

  The ringing of the doorbell startled Charline. “Samuel has gone into town to talk with the lawyer and I gave Nancy the day off. Let me get that.”

  “I’ll come with you.” Tabitha was eager for any distraction, and with so much going on, she wanted to be sure Charline was safe.

  The two women hurried down the stairs and Charline opened the front door. Tabitha recognized the new arrival, the beautiful Lily Kennedy.

  “Why, Lily. What brings you to Long Hall?” Charline was surprised and didn’t hide it.

  “I need to speak with Roger.” The tall, slender blonde stepped into the foyer. She smiled at Tabitha and held out her hand as she made introductions. “I’m Lily Kennedy.” Tabitha shook hands with the young woman.

  “Roger isn’t here, Lily. Can I help you?”

  “Do you know where he is?” Her smile faltered as she asked. “It’s very important that I talk to him.”

  “He can’t be reached right now. Can I help you?” Charline was kind but firm.

  Lily shook her head. “No. You’re going to think me a complete fool.”

  “What’s going on?” Charline asked. “Maybe Tabitha and I can help.”

  Lilly looked down and sighed. “I feel like a fool. Dirk is off the radar and I was hoping Roger might know where he is. Dirk has taken to disappearing, and it’s gotten under my skin. I know I’m spoiled, but we’re planning a wedding. Roger didn’t mention… Could you tell me where he is? Maybe he’s heard from Dirk.”

  “Roger’s away on business, and we haven’t heard from Dirk. Not recently. We haven’t seen Dirk in a few weeks. Or at least I haven’t. We’ve missed him.” Charline was trying not to show how flustered she was. “Would you like some tea or coffee?”

  “No, thank you. And I apologize for just dropping by. I’m afraid I interrupted a psychic reading or something.” She gave Tabitha a knowing look. “I’d really like to have you stop by my parents’ place if you have time this week. You have quite the reputation around the county.”

  “Of course.” Tabitha would figure a way out of the session at a later date.

  “Are you busy now?” Lily asked. “You could come over now.”

  “I’m afraid I am busy.” Tabitha forced a smile. “Later in the week would be much better.”

  Lily pulled a card from her purse. “Here’s my number. Call me, please. I’m so excited about this. I’m getting married this summer, and I’d love to see what my Grandmother Charlotte has to say about Dirk. She passed away about five years ago, and she was smart as a tack. I’m sure she’s watching over me and will have some good advice. And if Roger has any idea where Dirk might be, please ask him to call. That man of mine, it’s like trying to put on a cat ballet. We have a date with the wedding planner and I think Dirk has deliberately ditched the meeting. Typical man. He acts like planning the wedding is worse than pulling teeth.”

  “These Delta men are spoiled,” Charline agreed. “They’re used to us taking care of all the little details and life just magically happens for them.”

  “Very true. They don’t know how lucky they are.” Lily smiled at Tabitha. “We love our men, but they can test our patience. Nice to meet you, Tabitha. I hope you do find time to visit with my family.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Lily gave a wave as she left. In a moment she was roaring down the driveway in her cute blue sports car.

  “She’s a lovely young woman from a sterling family,” Charline said, “and she’s going to have her hands full with Dirk. I doubt he’ll ever settle down completely.”

  Tabitha didn’t know how much Charline knew about Dirk’s carousing—and dating her sister—so she said nothing. Roger would handle that situation when he came home and when Trudy was found.

  “I’m going to try for a nap,” Tabitha said. She had a long night ahead of her, and if she expected to learn anything, she needed to be alert.

  “Good idea. If anything changes, I’ll wake you.” Charline gave her arm a squeeze. “This will work out right in the end. I feel it.”

  * * *

  Blast and be damned. I should have stuck with Roger. From all the reports, he’s managed to get himself in a pinch with that ogre of a mother and her sidekick. I don’t know what Hannah and Antoine are up to, but it can’t be good. While Tabitha entered Long Hall under false pretenses, her heart was in the right place. I can’t say the same for Hannah and Antoine. There’s something very off about those two. They’re deep into this cotton business, and what a wall of subterfuge they’ve thrown up. This doesn’t parse. They’re always showing up where the next crisis is about to happen. And yet when they had the chance to rid themselves of Roger, they didn’t. Maternal tenderness? It hardly seems to fit Hannah.

  The lovely Tabitha is distressed about Charline’s recent news regarding Roger’s disappearance. She’s holding it together, and becaus
e she has to follow through on her plans tonight to meet her date, she needs to get some shut eye. She’s been up far too long—and she’ll need her wits about her. Let me see if I can nudge her toward the bed. She’s giving me that look—the one that says, yes, I know you are a wise cat but I am stubborn. But yes, she is stretching out on the bed.

  I’ll wait until she nods off and then I need to run to the agricultural office. I have to find the reports on that cotton. There’s something we missed. There has to be. If I can find that, Tabitha will be armed tonight when she meets up with Alan Dotsun. Perhaps he is just a man looking for a dinner date. Or perhaps he’s someone who knows more about G9-14. Without Roger here to protect Tabitha, it’s all up to me. And Pluto. And we won’t let Tabitha down. That’s one vow I will make and keep.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  An hour passed before the silver sedan sped past Roger’s hideaway. There appeared to be someone in the passenger seat and possibly in the back seat. They’d gone by so fast Roger hadn’t been able to see clearly. He waited a moment before he pulled out to tail the car. He had to be very careful. Antoine and Hannah knew he’d taken their rental car—they knew what to look for. He could only hope they’d assumed he’d made a run for it instead of waiting to follow them. Now it was a matter of skill to tail them without being detected.

  Once Roger had cleared the back road and turned onto a highway, he was able to follow them with less anxiety. Hannah, Antoine, and whoever else was in the vehicle were clearly heading back to Sunflower County—and he hoped to the place where they were holding Trudy. One of his deepest regrets was that he hadn’t been able to make Hannah tell him if Trudy was alive or not. He also regretted he didn’t have his cell phone. How much easier it would have been to call DeWayne or Budgie and gotten them to set up roadblocks. The car he was pursuing could have been stopped and the occupants questioned. As it was, he couldn’t risk trying to borrow a phone. He might lose their trail.

  No, he was stuck following like an old hound dog. But when his prey finally came to rest, he’d have them and he’d have the element of surprise.

  Roger checked his watch. The afternoon was slipping away as he rolled down a county highway headed vaguely southeast. Soon Tabitha would be going for her date with the guy from Grundle Seed Company, Alan Dotsun. DeWayne and Budgie had promised that one of them would be in Tom’s Big Sizzle to make sure Tabitha was safe, but Roger wanted to be nearby. Just in case. He felt things were coming to a head, and he was afraid for Tabitha. She was so single-minded in her pursuit of her sister. He didn’t blame her for that, but he did worry about her.

  And he was worried about Trudy. If only he’d been worried sooner.

  He went back over their discussions about the G9-14 seed. Trudy had suggested that he take a pass on planting the seed until the company claims had been proven. He would never classify Trudy as a traditionalist—heck, she was more of a rebel and risk taker. Looking back, he should have listened to her. It seemed only Lisa East had been willing to heed Trudy’s warning and it had cost Lisa her life.

  He also wondered how involved Dirk Cotwell had been in Lisa’s death. Dirk had owned the old cotton gin where he felt certain Trudy had been held. And Dirk had ties to Trudy that he might not have wanted exposed. Dirk had a lot to lose. He’d planted a thousand acres in G9-14 and Trudy—his “kind of” girlfriend—could blow the lid off Dirk’s engagement to Lily Kennedy.

  Roger couldn’t help but wonder if Trudy had been working Dirk the whole time, dating him to gather information. That would really make Dirk angry, and Dirk had quite a temper. Had Dirk abducted Trudy? How were Hannah and Antoine involved? He thought he had all the pieces, but he couldn’t make them fit together.

  He went back over the evidence they’d collected—first off the T&S cufflink proved Antoine was involved in Trudy’s disappearance. And Hannah’s and Antoine’s actions proved they were capable of harming someone. Antoine had knocked him out and left him near a burning house.

  But why? Hannah and Antoine wanted money—they wanted to be involved in farming? Why, when his mother had never shown the least interest in what happened at Long Agricultural. Why now the sudden interest?

  The thing that had changed in the last four months was that he’d hired Trudy and had planted an experimental cotton seed. Those two things combined had put him in the place he was right now, trailing his mother and her lover as they crossed into Sunflower County. And once he understood how those two things connected with his mother, he would be able to solve the riddle of who had Trudy and where they were holding her. And why.

  If he assumed that Lisa East had been killed because of something she knew, then the obvious question was why Trudy had not been killed. And the more time that passed, he felt even more certain Trudy was alive. Sunflower County was very rural, but hiding a body wasn’t as easy as it sounded. But neither was hiding a living woman.

  If only he had a phone he could check with the deputies and see if they’d turned up any results from their forensic examination of the old cotton gin mill and the Long cabin. Surely the police had checked it by now, even though Antoine and Hannah had eluded them.

  To his surprise, the car he followed headed straight into downtown Zinnia. He dropped back to allow two cars to get between him and his quarry. The vehicle pulled into the back parking lot of the Prince Albert and stopped. Roger parked on the street. Something was very wrong with this. Antoine and Hannah had all but walked into a trap with their eyes wide open.

  He walked to the back parking lot, taking care to remain concealed behind some shrubs and other cars, and watched as Dirk Cotwell got out of the silver sedan. Of all the people he’d expected to see, none of them were Dirk. He entered the hotel. After a few minutes, when no one else left the vehicle, Roger eased closer to it. What he’d assumed to be two additional passengers was nothing but piled up clothes. No one else was in the car. He’d been played.

  Heat flushed through him and he pivoted on his heel and stalked toward the hotel door. Where in the hell was his mother and Antoine? And then he knew. Dirk had been the bait, the tease that had drawn Roger away so that Hannah and Antoine could make good on their escape. But how? They didn’t have a vehicle, or at least not one he’d seen. Obviously, Hannah had hidden a get-away car somewhere nearby. Roger felt his temper flair. Dirk would answer for his role in what was happening.

  Roger went into the hotel and it didn’t take him long to find Dirk at the bar. The bartender put a Maker’s Mark on the rocks in front of him, and Dirk took a healthy swallow.

  Roger put a hand on Dirk’s shoulder and spun him around, “Where’s my mother?”

  Dirk shook him off and stood. “At the cabin.”

  “You left her and Antoine there?” Roger hadn’t anticipated that comment.

  “They were fine. They said a friend was coming up to visit with them. What’s wrong with you? You’re acting like I robbed a bank or something.”

  “Or something. What were you doing there?” Roger asked.

  Dirk studied him for a moment before he answered. “I don’t know what bee got in your bonnet, but it’s clear you’re really upset, so I’ll tell you. It was really weird, but I got a call from a woman who said that Trudy was waiting for me in the cabin. I’ve been trying to find her for a couple of weeks.” He sighed. “Look, I’m worried about her. I care. I know I don’t have a right to care. I know I’m making trouble for myself and my future. But I can’t help but worry that dating me has something to do with Trudy’s disappearance. Maybe I put her in danger.”

  That was a revelation Roger hadn’t expected. Dirk had put his whole heart into winning Lily Kennedy’s hand. She was everything he needed to boost his social and economic aspirations to the moon. Roger didn’t know if Dirk loved Lily, but they were a perfect match--they each brought something remarkable to the table. With Lily, it was her family and social standing. Dirk brought great business sense and a willingness to work long and hard. Never had he thought to hear Dirk proclai
m feelings for a woman who could upset his carefully laid plans.

  “Did you harm Trudy?” He had to ask.

  Dirk’s shoulders slumped. “No. I would never. I’m as worried about her as you are.”

  “This woman who called you—do you know who it was?”

  “I can’t say for certain, and I have no idea why she wanted me to drive to the Long cabin. It doesn’t make any sense. Trudy wasn’t there. Just your mother and Antoine. They were as shocked to see me as I was them.” He frowned. “They were really weird acting and seemed in a rush to get me out of there. I was in a hurry too, so I didn’t question it. But I should have. Your mother acted like she was afraid.”

  Roger didn’t know if that was accurate. It seemed Hannah and Antoine had a knack for manipulating people and they knew everyone was looking for Trudy. Maybe they’d used Dirk. “Did you ever notice anyone else watching Trudy?”

  Dirk thought for a long moment. “You know, I did see a car near her cottage several times. I didn’t think much about it.”

  Roger swallowed. “Can you tell me anything about it?”

  “It was a nondescript car parked down the street. A couple of times there was a woman in the car.”

  “Could it have been my mother?” Roger was prepared for anything.

  “No, this woman was more petite. Short.” Dirk shrugged. “I figured she was visiting someone on the road. I didn’t give it another thought.”

  Roger had one more thought. He motioned the bartender for a pen and picked up a napkin. He drew the strange symbol that Trouble had found in Trudy’s car and on her calendar. “Does this mean anything to you?”

  Dirk nodded. “Not sure what it means, but it looks like a rune. A Celtic divination tool.”