Lethal Affair (33 page)

He got out his cell, pressed
Rosemary's speed dial number.

It rang. And rang. No
answer.

He knew she was aware of his anxiety;
she would answer.

If she could.

Deep breaths. Maybe she was out of
range. He tried again and got the same result. He'd called her when
she'd been further away than Metchosin and she'd answered then, no
problem.

Lyle and Kim both stopped what they
were doing and were watching Will.

“
Something wrong?” asked
Lyle.

“
Rosemary isn't picking up.
That guy, his dog...”

“
You're not making sense,
man.”

The panic was coming in waves now.
“Shit! Max! Kylie!” He was punching the touch screen on his phone
frantically, cursing the whole time. He listened to the ring tone
go on and on.

“
Talk to us,” Lyle insisted.
“What's going on?”

Will was all tension and rage. “There
was a man with a dog at the park. It was Hammond! Neither Rosemary
or Kylie is picking up.”

*

Margie hauled Kylie to her feet and
brought them face to face.

“
Don't tell me you're going
to do this foolishness,” Margie cautioned. “Let's go get those two
burly guys out front, let them handle this.”

Kylie was trembling, gulping air. “He
wants me, Margie. I can't let him hurt Max.”

“
Who's Max?”

“
He's my boyfriend's
son.”

“
You've got a boyfriend?
When did this happen? No, wait. Tell me later. Right now I want you
to take a chill pill while I go get those...”

“
No! Don't you understand?
He's going to kill Max if I don't do what he wants. Margie, you
know what he did to those two women. They died
horribly.”

“
We don't know that it was
him.”

“
He kidnapped a ten year old
kid and wants me in exchange. He's lost it completely.” Realization
dawned. “What if he's bullshitting me about an exchange? What
if...”

“
Don't go there! What
instructions did he give you?”

“
No police. I'm to go
through the fields to the pay phone at Country
Cupboards.”

“
I have an ATV out back for
the crop keepers. No one's using it right now.” She dug into her
deep pockets and came up with a key ring, extracted a key. “Go.
Take it. But whether you like it or not I'm going to call Detective
Crane.”

“
Here, take down his number
off my phone.”

Margie quickly scribbled the number
onto her palm.

“
Are you sure you're up to
this? This is insanity; you know that, right?”

“
Would you let a kid die
because of you?”

Margie's look was dead-on serious.
“No. But what about your kid, the one in there?” She was pointing
at Kylie's belly.

“
It's his. He won't hurt
it.” She wasn't sure if she believed it herself but she couldn't,
wouldn't leave Max in a lurch. Or Will. Oh God, Will! Should she
call him?

Her phone rang. Speak of the devil.
He'd freak. Would he tell her not to go? Maybe he'd tell her she
should go! Damn it, she couldn't think.

Sudden clarity overruled the panic.
She had the power to get Max back. This was her shot at it and she
wouldn't fail him.

Ignoring Will's call she ran to the
field where the ATV was parked. Hopping on, Kylie's mind whirred
with anxiety as she plowed along the dirt access road at top speed,
making it to Country Cupboards in record time. The phone was
ringing when she got there.

Breathlessly, “I'm here!”

“
Very good. Scored a point
for getting there fast. Glad you're not wasting my time because
little Max is getting on my nerves. He's making me lose my cool. We
don't want that, do we?”

“
No! I mean, no, we don't.
What comes next, Drew?”

“
You haven't informed the
dedicated Detective Crane of our little enterprise here, have you?
Because if you have...”

“
No! This is strictly
between you and me. I'll do whatever you say. Just don't hurt Max.
Please.”

“
Well, since you're asking
so politely and all, I'll hold off for a bit. Maybe you can take
his place. Would you like that, to take his place?”

“
Yes. Yes, I would. He has
nothing to do with us. Nothing to do with any of this.”

“
Oh but I beg to differ.
He's the son of the man you've replaced me with. A man who maybe
thinks he's the father of your child. Does he think that, Kylie? Is
that what you've told him?”

If possible, her heart sank lower.
He'd been watching them the whole time, making his
assumptions.

“
Drew, please. Let's talk
about this when we're together. I'll tell you whatever you want to
know.”

“
Oh, believe me, you will.
How did you get to the phone so fast? Those cops from the parking
lot listening in right now?”

“
No. I used the company ATV.
I did as you asked and came here through the field.”

“
Good. When you get to Daisy
Corners you'll see a set of mail boxes. The third from the left is
unlocked. In it you'll find a cell phone. Call me.”

He clicked off, leaving her no choice
but to carry on.

It took nearly an hour to reach Daisy
Corners where six roads met and crossed one another. Two directions
of those roads led travelers back into the outlying districts of
Victoria. The others took them deep into the forest, much of it
undeveloped parkland.

She reached into the mail box and
found the cell. There was only one number in the contact
list.

He answered immediately. “What took
you so long, sweetheart?”

“
An ATV only goes so fast.
Where are you? Why all the subterfuge?”

“
You make this sound like a
Bond movie. Are you a Bond girl, Kylie? Oh, wait a minute. You're
pregnant. Bond women know how to have a good time without
incurring
consequences
, don't they?”

She'd use her pregnancy as a
bargaining chip if she had to. “That's right, I'm pregnant with
your child. You don't want to hurt the baby.”

“
I'm not so sure it's mine,
now that you've shown your true colors.”

“
And you, yours.”

“
Touché! This is fun. I
think we're going to enjoy our time together.”

“
Just tell me where you
are.”

“
Look behind the mail boxes,
Kylie. See the ten speed? I know you enjoy a good ride. Get on it
and take the northeast road until you see a marker with a blue flag
on it. Keep a sharp eye out for it because your phone will be
hitting cold spots and we'll be out of touch. Got all that, Kylie?
Max here is depending on it.”

“
Yes, I've got it. I'm
coming your way, Drew. Just wait for me. Don't do anything to
Max.”

“
I won't as long as you come
alone. You have my word.”

He clicked off.

She tried to call Detective Crane but
her own phone was out of credit and this new one was programmed to
receive and send calls to this one number exclusively.

Perfect.

Lacking a pen she typed a message into
her personal phone and left it displayed on the screen, unable to
send. She put it on top of the mailboxes and got on the ten
speed.

* * * *

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Stanley found Olivia in her usual hang
out, the sun room. She was dosing, an empty highball glass on the
table beside her. It was three in the afternoon.

He shook her shoulder and she jerked
awake.

“
Olivia, wake up. I need to
speak with you.”

She opened her eyes fully and
straightened in her chair, ran a hand through her hair.

Stanley was dismayed. She'd become a
drunk, a common alcoholic. Once upon a time she'd been so alluring
that when she'd rejected his advances, he'd simply taken what he'd
wanted by force. Regretfully he knew he'd driven her to drink. It
was a coping mechanism. He understood that now.

“
What is it Stanley?” she
uttered tiredly.

“
It's Drew. He's gone
missing and the police are looking for him. Have they been here
yet?”

“
I've been...
busy.”

Stanley called out to Ligaya who
appeared instantly.

“
Were there any calls
today?” he asked her.

“
Yes, sir. The policeman,
Detective Crane, he call. Want to know if Mr. Drew here. I say no,
he not here.”

“
That was it?”

“
No sir. He say if Mr. Drew
come here, for me to tell him.”

“
Alright Ligaya. Thank you,
that will be all.”

Ligaya melted into the background as
Stanley turned back to his wife.

“
Olivia. Drew visits you.
How does he seem to you?”

Olivia stared dully. “He did it,
didn't he? Those murders. He killed those women.” Her eyes
welled.

Stanley's spirit plummeted with the
weight of her acknowledgment of his own conclusions. He knew he'd
lost Drew now to whatever demon lived inside him. He'd tried to
help him and maybe still could when they caught him.

If they caught him.

Drew hadn't answered any of his calls.
Clearly he had succumbed to this seemingly genetic curse. A step
over the edge of sanity into an abyss of mental anguish and pain.
He knew, because he himself had nearly succumbed to the same at
least half a dozen times throughout his lifetime. Only recently had
it abated, that bleak and dark demon that had driven his son into
madness.

He felt shame that he himself had been
too weak to override his own for so long. He might have spared
Olivia a lot of grief.

“
Olivia, we must put up a
united front. The police will come, they'll ask questions. Probably
have search warrants. Tell me, is it true that you still have your
garden gloves and shears?”

“
No Stanley, I don't. He
took them.” Tears spilled silently down her cheeks, punctuating
stark misery.

Stanley took her hands in his and
bowed his head.

Together, they wept for their
son.

*

Pasty white and looking like he should
be the one lying in the bed, Will sat next to Rosemary in the
hospital and squeezed her hand in commiseration. The knife hadn't
gone deep. The doctors had repaired the damage and Rosemary would
have a scar but otherwise be fine. She was on an antibiotic drip
and would be released the next day.

“
Stop saying you're sorry,
Will. It's hardly your fault and you've got bigger things on your
mind. Get out of here. I've got people here who I plan to milk for
sympathy and believe me, I'm going to take advantage.”

She aimed a watery smile at her
husband, Jeff, who sat opposite, still shell-shocked. He held their
son Bobby on his knee in a bone crushing grip.

Will got up. “Alright. I'm off.” He
looked at Bobby who was clinging to his Dad. “We're going to get
him back,” he told him with conviction, and watched Bobby nod
vaguely.

“
One thing before you go
Will,” said Rosemary solemnly. “Your son saved my life. He's tough,
brave to the bone. If there's a way to get away, he'll take
action.”

“
Thank you, Rosemary. Crane
and his gang are on it, but I'm not going to sit on the sidelines
and wait for them to bring him back. I'm going to do whatever it
takes.”

“
Let me help,” said Jeff.
“Tell me what you need me to do.”

Will nodded. “Keep these two safe. If
there's anything else, I'll let you know.”

The police had found and returned the
little mop dog back to its owner two blocks from the Meeslers.
They'd confiscated its collar to dust for fingerprints, collecting
their evidence. Rosemary had positively identified Drew Hammond as
the man who had stabbed her. They had plenty now to arrest him, but
they had to find him first.

Margie Farmer's frantic call to
Detective Crane had set off a massive search. When a passerby had
found Kylie's phone and sent her message via their own, the
juncture at Daisy Corners had provided them with Margie's ATV and a
valid direction. Regardless, they were scouring each of the six
roadways that led out from that point.

Crane had asked Jolene to provide a
recently worn piece of Kylie's clothing which he presented to the
tracker dogs. The team of two German Shepherds had led them fifteen
kilometers into deeply wooded country where they'd found the ten
speed broken apart in pieces and tossed into a thicket of
blackberry bushes. Beyond that the dogs had sniffed out a red
bandana ripe with Kylie's scent. Tire tracks indicated that a
vehicle had departed from that point, possibly heading back toward
civilization.