Diana Anderson - Entering Southern Country 01 - Famous in a Small Town (37 page)

Suzanne hurried into the kitchen and came back in no time with a small notepad and a pen. She handed it to Raven.

“It’s searching, hold on,” Rebecca said.

Raven walked over to an end table and set the pad down.

“Almost there,” Rebecca said. “I’ve got to enlarge the screen. One second.”

Raven tapped her foot repeatedly and chewed her bottom lip.

“It looks like it’s somewhere near … Interstate Fifty-five and Main Street … East Main.”

“What side streets are near there?” Raven asked as she jotted down the information.

“Charleston and … Mayfield. It’s on East Main, but the west side of the interstate.”

Cal read what Raven had written down. He looked up at Hendrix and nodded. “Deluxe Inn.”

Cal headed for the door. Hendrix and the other deputies followed.

“I gotta go.” Raven disconnected the phone and hurried after him. “Cal?”

He turned toward her. “I’ll call you when I get her out of there. But you …” he looked around at everyone … “y’all need to stay here.” He turned to go out the front door.

“Cal, your phone.”

He looked back. She handed him his phone.

Teary eyed, she looked up at him. “Please, I need to go with you.”

“No, you need to stay here and man the phone in case they call. They can’t know that we’re onto them.”

She nodded. “Please bring her home to me.”

“I will.” He hurried down the steps. “Get your vests on,” he called out to his deputies.

At the sound of that, she covered her mouth with her hand and sucked in a breath.

Suzanne, Janie, and Ted huddled around her.

The phone rang.

88

“Read exactly what I’ve written and don’t say anything else. Do you understand?” Angus said as he held out the paper in one hand and had a gun pointed at Thaddeus Kingston’s head with his other.

Thaddeus nodded. He sat on the foot of a full size bed with his hands tied in front of him. His ankles were secured together with a rope. He took the paper and scanned it.

Emma sat on a side chair in front of a curtain drawn window near the door with her purse strapped over her shoulder. She kicked her legs back and forth in and out of time with each other. Her brows were drawn together tight as she stared a hole through Callie.

Callie sat in the middle of the other bed and glared at Emma. She snarled her upper lip at her. “Brat!”

Emma screwed up her face and stuck out her tongue at her.

Callie cuffed up the legs of her designer jeans and rubbed her bruised shins. “You remind me of that girl in ‘The Exorcist’. I expect your head to start spinning any minute now.”

Angus tapped in the number on the cell phone.

Callie looked at Angus. “That girl in ‘The Exorcist’, what was her name?”

“Shhh! The phone is ringing,” Angus said as he listened.

“Hello?” Raven said.

Angus held the phone down to Thaddeus’ mouth.

“Four million—all in hundreds—in a duffle bag. Have it ready by the time I call back,” Thaddeus said.

“Please let me talk to Emma.”

Angus disconnected. He pocketed the phone and the gun. He reached into his other pocket and took out a knife. He bent over and cut the rope tied around Thaddeus’ ankles.

“Are you sure the number on that cell phone can’t be traced?” Callie asked.

“It’s pre-paid, so it’s highly unlikely.” He slipped the knife back into his pocket. “Tie her up.” He walked over to the dresser, picked up a bundle of rope, and tossed it on the bed beside Callie. He grabbed the roll of duct tape and tore off a strip.

“Me?” Callie stared wide-eyed at him “She’s already kicked the shit out of my shins.
You
tie her up.”

“I need some help. We need to get out of here. We can’t stay in one spot too long. Now hurry up.”

Callie rolled her eyes and climbed off the bed. She grabbed the small bundle of rope and strung some out. “I need a knife to cut this.”

Angus pulled his knife out and tossed it to her. It landed in the floor by her feet. She bent down to pick it up. Emma kicked her forehead. Callie fell backwards on her butt and shook her head. She focused on the little girl.

“You little shit!” She pushed herself up from the floor and then backhanded her.

The blow knocked Emma back. She turned her head back toward Callie and cut her eyes up at her. Her lower lip trembled. Blood trickled from her nose and her bottom lip. She blinked back tears.

Callie grabbed the knife and cut off a piece of rope. She grabbed the little girl’s hands and tied her wrists together. She stepped over to the dresser, picked up the duct tape, and cut off a strip. She dropped the roll, walked back over to Emma, and slapped it over her mouth.

She pointed the blade of the knife in Emma’s face. “You kick me one more time and I’m going to use this knife to play tic-tac-toe all over your face.”

“Let’s go,” Angus said as he opened the door.

89

The office at the Deluxe Inn had been cleaned since the investigation of Gaylene’s murder. The night manager was on the phone when Cal burst through the door. His eyes grew wide as he looked from Cal to Hendrix.

“I gotta go,” he said without taking his eyes off of them and then tried to cradle the phone. “Can I—”

“How many rooms are occupied?”

He stared dumbfound at Cal.

“C’mon. How many rooms?”

He turned toward the computer screen and pulled up the rooms. Cal stepped behind him and looked over his shoulder at the screen.

“We’re having a slow night. Looks like twelve.”

“Who are the most recent?”

He scanned the screen. “Uh, week ago, four days, two … last night … uh these three within the last four hours and that one checked in about five minutes ago.”

Cal looked at the room numbers and said, “Get your master key card.”

He turned toward him. “Uh, Sheriff, I can’t let you do that without a search warrant.”

He leaned down and got into his face. “You don’t have a choice. Now get the key card.”

He scurried out of his seat and grabbed the key card from a peg on a wall.

“Let’s go,” Cal said. He grabbed the man’s arm and hurried him out the door.

They walked at a fast pace down the sidewalk and passed several rooms.

“Here, this one,” the manager said and raised a fisted hand to knock.

Cal grabbed his wrist. “Give me the key card,” he whispered and held out his hand.

The man dropped the card into his palm. Cal motioned for him to step back out of the way. After he’d moved back, Cal removed his weapon from his holster. He glanced back at his deputies with their weapons drawn and nodded. He inserted the key card, turned the knob, flung open the door, and went inside.

A scream echoed through the small room. A man rolled off of a woman and stared wide-eyed at them. She grappled with the sheet to cover up her naked body. Hendrix passed by their bed and checked the bathroom.

“What the hell!” the man said.

Hendrix shook his head, and they hurried out. They headed down the sidewalk to the next occupied room. The manager took quick steps behind them as he tried to keep up.

Cal unlocked the door and slammed it open.

Smoke boiled out of the room. A young man with a long ponytail sat in a chair in front of the television with a bong in his hand.

His bloodshot eyes looked at them through heavy eyelids. “Dude!”

Hendrix checked the bathroom, came back out, and shook his head. They headed out again.

When they came to the next room, the door was ajar. Cal kicked it open. A piece of cut rope was on the floor at the foot of one of the beds.

Hendrix checked the bathroom and then came back out. He shook his head. “Nothing.”

Cal turned toward the night manager who stood in the doorway. “Who had this room?”

“I … I’d have to go check in the office. I don’t remember off hand.”

“Well, let’s do it.” He looked at Hendrix. “Lock the door and tape it up. I don’t want anybody in here.”

Cal handed the key card back to the manager and hurried along with him back into the office. The man sat down at the desk and found the tenant’s name.

“Raven Sawyer.”

Cal leaned down and looked. He shook his head. “Do you remember what she looked like?”

“Yeah, she’s that famous author.” He looked up at Cal. “Well, that’s what she said. You know who she is?”

“I know who she is, now what did she look like?”

“Well, if you know who she is, then you ought to know what she looks like.”

Cal grabbed the man by his biceps, yanked the man out of his chair, and turned him around to face him. “What the hell did she look like?”

The man’s eyes were wide, and he stammered his answer, “Red hair, big boobs, short … .”

Cal let go of him and hurried out the door.

90

“I’m tired, and I’m hungry,” Callie said as they drove past a McDonald’s. “Where are we going?”

“The lake,” Angus said.

Callie looked at him from where she sat in the passenger seat. “The lake?”

“Yeah, I figure we can camp out there.”

“I hate camping. Virgil talked me into going not long after we were married. It was awful. I had thought that sleeping out under the stars would be romantic. Well, it wasn’t. That was the worst night of my life.” She drifted off in thought. “Well, not the worst, but it came in second … or third.”

“We’re not camping out. We’re going to rent a cabin.”

“Oh. Can we stop and get some food? I haven’t eaten since lunch. My stomach is making noises.”

“We’ll stop at a store along the way. Grab some bread and lunch meat.”

She snarled her upper lip. “Lunch meat? I hate lunch meat.”

“Potted meat then.”

She made a face. “Eww! I’d just as soon starve.”

“Starve then.”

She eyed him. “Why, Angus, I remember a time when you’d never talk to me like that.”

“That’s before you swindled me out of thousands of dollars. I wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole now.”

She squinted at him. “You liked it
then
.”

He glanced in the rearview mirror at Emma and Thaddeus. “Knock it off, Callie. There’s a kid in the car.”

She glanced over the seat at Emma. “Is
that
what that is? You know that she was almost my grandkid? Can you imagine? Me, a grandmother? Hardly!”

“No, I can’t imagine you baking cookies.”

She looked at him. “I’ve never baked a thing in my life. That’s what bakeries are for.” She glanced toward the backseat once more. “She was supposed to get rid of that thing. She spawned a demon from hell.”

“What did you and Virgil eat?”

“Whatever would fit in the microwave. Well, until Raven was old enough to cook, and then I made her get in the kitchen and whip something up. She got pretty good at it too, after Virgil brought home this old cookbook he’d found in a box of junk someone dumped off in a ditch.” She looked out the window and then back at him. “Where’d you get that gun?”

“Out of the glove compartment.”

“No, I mean where did you get it?”

“Oh. At a gun show a few years back. I kept it in my car. I did have one in the safe at the house, but Lupe stole it.”

“Oh, yeah, Lupe. Wasn’t she a piece of work?”

“Yeah, she was.”

“I doubt if Salvador and she will ever see the light of day again.”

“We might not.”

“What do you mean? When you came to me with this plan, you said it would work, it was fool proof. You said nobody would guess in a million years that it would be us. We’d dispose of the bodies and—”

“Shut the hell up!” He glared at her and then glanced in the rearview mirror again.

“You don’t have to yell.”

“Just … just shut up. I’ve got to stay focused, and you’re not helping any with that constant yammering.”

She turned her head away from him, rolled her eyes, and huffed out a breath.

Not far up the two-lane highway, he spotted a store off to the side of the road. He slowed, pulled in, and parked a good distance from the door in a dimly lit area.

“Stay here with them. I’ll be right back.”

“Why can’t I go?” Callie asked as he opened the door.

“Because you’re staying here and keeping an eye on them.” He slid out of the car.

Her shoulders drooped for a moment. She perked up before he shut the door. “Get me a candy bar.”

He eyed her and then shut the door.

“Chocolate!” she yelled as he walked away.

She looked over the seat at Emma. Emma glared at her.

“Don’t you ever blink?” She turned back and looked out her window.

It had been quiet in the car for a few minutes until the latch on the door clicked. Expecting Angus, she turned and looked. He wasn’t there. Emma ran toward the store. Callie looked in the back seat to make sure. No Emma and—no Thaddeus.

“Shit!”

She got out of the car and hurried toward Emma. Emma grabbed the store’s door handle and pulled it open. She screamed and darted inside. Callie scurried as fast as she could in her spiked heels.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

She stopped in her tracks and stared at the front door. Angus barreled out of it. With one hand, he gripped Emma’s arm and with the other, he toted the gun and a plastic bag. Emma’s feet stumbled to keep up with him. He hurried past Callie as she looked after him. Emma dug her heels into the gravel of the parking lot. He tried to yank her forward, but she wouldn’t budge. He stopped to get a better grip. She kicked his shins. He wrestled with her as he tried to get control. She clamped her teeth down on his forearm.

He let out a yelp, and hauled her up with one arm, and then hoisted her over his shoulder.

“Get your ass in the car!” he yelled at Callie. He tossed Emma through the open back door of the car into the backseat. He looked over his shoulder at Callie. “Where in the hell is that damned lawyer?”

91

The front door opened. Raven stood up from the sofa as did everyone from where they had been seated. They watched Cal come through the door. Raven rushed across the room and looked to either side of him.