“Really?” She tilted her head. “I thought you were negotiating a contract with Edward Montoya.”
“Nah. My heart wasn’t in it.” He pulled her close. “I kept thinking about this.”
“Miss Bailey! Where are you?” Maria’s footsteps tapped toward the kitchen. “I’m hungry.”
Laughing, she pulled away. “Business first, Mr. Maxwell.” She turned toward the door. “We’re in the kitchen, Maria.”
At the last minute, Bailey decided to leave her dad’s revolver behind. She didn’t have a license to have a concealed weapon. When they reached the airport, Danny carried Maria inside the terminal.
“Morning, Sam,” he said, handing her off to Bailey. “Anyone new fly in lately?”
The airport manager scratched his head. “Couple of ladies from South Mississippi flew in yesterday.”
“Anyone from Mexico?” Danny asked.
“No.” Sam raised his eyebrows. “You want me to let you know if anyone arrives from Mexico?”
“I’d appreciate it.”
“If someone followed us here, don’t you think they’d fly commercially?” Bailey said as they walked to Danny’s plane.
He shook his head. “I think they’d come in a small plane and probably land in Memphis, like Edward Montoya. If I were looking for you and Maria and didn’t know where to start, I’d follow Joel and Edward’s trail.”
“What’s Maria’s uncle like?”
“You’ve never met him?”
“No.” He had never come to the school with Joel.
“He seems nice enough.”
“Tio is my favorite uncle,” Maria said.
“More than your uncle Joel?” Bailey asked.
Maria placed her finger against her chin. “Maybe.”
Bailey hugged her. “That wasn’t a fair question. Are you excited about flying again?”
“No, ma’am. I wanted to go with my daddy.”
“Daddy wanted you to fly with us, and this will be much faster. It will be fine, you’ll see.”
Danny climbed up on the wing and took Maria from her. “Why don’t you sit in the backseat with Maria? We can talk through the headsets. I’ll leave hers turned off.”
Bailey climbed into the back and settled Maria in her seat, then adjusted a pair of headsets to fit the child’s head. “If you need anything, I’ll be right beside you.” Bailey gave her a reassuring smile. Once they were in the air, Maria would be fine. At least that’s the way it had worked the last time. As Danny started the engine, Bailey put her headset on and spoke into the mic. “We’re ready.”
Danny gave her a thumbs-up and taxied down the runway. Just as she’d predicted, once they were in the air, Maria relaxed, and before Bailey thought possible, Danny was radioing the small airport in Collegedale. As they came in for the landing, she peered out the window to see if she could see Angel. He and Solana stood just outside the small terminal building. Evidently they’d had no trouble.
Once they’d taxied to the terminal and killed the engine, Angel chocked the wheels, then took Maria from Bailey. “Did you like flying?”
She shook her head. “Can I go back with you?”
“We’ll see. Maybe Danny will let me fly his plane. Would you like to fly with me?”
A grin spread across Maria’s face.
“Any problems?” Danny asked.
“No. As far as I could tell, no one followed us. At least no one exited behind us at Collegedale.”
“Maybe they’re not even around,” Solana said.
Bailey tended to agree with her.
“What if they’re waiting for us to let our guard down?” Danny said grimly.
Joel walked to the refreshment center in the hospital ICU waiting room and poured a cup of coffee. Even though it had just been made, it was bitter. His phone rang, and he almost dropped the Styrofoam cup. He didn’t recognize the number, but it looked similar to the one last night. His finger shook as he pressed Answer. “McDermott.”
“Ah, Mr. McDermott. I looked this morning and did not see a money transfer from you.”
Joel stood and walked to the window. People walked back and forth to the hospital as an ambulance roared into the emergency entrance. Life and death playing out before him. “I’m having trouble accessing the money.”
“I see.”
Silence filled his ear, and he checked to see if the call had been disconnected. No. It was still live.
“Look, I’ll get you the money by tonight.”
“Actually, your debt is no longer important. We have decided to make an example of you for others who do not pay.”
Joel swallowed as his knees turned to water, and he leaned against the window frame. “I’ll do anything, pay twice what I owe. Just give me until tonight.”
“Anything? What if I come up with an alternative way for you to clear your debt?”
Joel caught his breath. He’d do anything short of murder, and maybe even that, to get these people off his back. “How?”
“I want Maria Montoya and Bailey Adams. Their lives for yours. I’ll be in touch.”
His mother touched his arm, and he jumped. “Joel, is everything okay? You’re white as a ghost.”
“Yes.” He managed to get the word out as his heart pounded against his rib cage. He checked his phone to make sure the call had ended. Joel pressed his lips together. If he could just get access to Edward’s offshore account and pay off his debt, he wouldn’t have to do what the caller asked.
“Are you certain Claire’s little girl is coming?”
“What?”
“They aren’t here yet. Are you sure they’re coming?”
He shook his head to clear it. “Yes, Mother. Angel promised he’d bring her. Now go sit down.”
“Come with me.”
His life was falling apart, and his mother wanted him to keep her company? His mind reeled as he walked with her to their seating area.
“Tell me again what happened to your face.”
She was driving him crazy with her questions. He’d answered this same question at least three times already. Maybe he’d inherited from her the memory problems that were causing him so much trouble.
“Joel?”
“I was in a little accident, nothing serious.” He leaned his head against the back of the chair. “I want Maria Montoya and Bailey Adams. Their lives for yours.” The caller’s words echoed in his head.
He couldn’t do it. Somehow, he had to get the necklace back and transfer enough money out of the account to pay off this debt—if he could convince them to take the money. The drug cartel after him was bad enough, but if he was the cause of something happening to Maria and Angel found out . . . he didn’t want to think about that.
He had to get the necklace.
He’d tried unsuccessfully to access the bank account again last night and had even thought about searching Bailey’s room for Maria’s necklace after he learned it had been returned. In the end, he’d feared getting caught and let it go. How could he know his niece would insist on having her mother’s picture in the new one? He’d thought his heart would stop when Bailey opened the locket to take Claire’s photo out.
The elevator dinged, and he looked toward it as the doors opened, and Angel and Solana got off with Maria. Bailey and Danny followed. He zeroed in on the locket around Maria’s neck.
“Uncle Joel!” Maria ran to him, and he swung her up in his arms. His heart skipped a beat when the locket brushed his hand. So close to be so far.
“Thanks for bringing her,” he said to Angel, then turned toward his mother. “Would you like to meet your grandmother?”
Suddenly shy, Maria barely nodded, then ducked her head. Joel set her down. “Mom, this is Maria.”
His mother seemed overcome as well. Tears glistened in her eyes. She knelt down until she was eye level. “I’m so very glad to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Nana Sue,” Maria said softly.
His mother lifted Maria’s chi
n. “Oh, Joel she looks like Claire when she was this age.”
“She acts like her sometimes too,” Joel said as Angel stepped forward. “Mom, this is Angel Montoya, Claire’s husband. Angel, my mother, Sue McDermott.”
Angel bowed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. McDermott.”
She rose with an uncertain smile on her lips. “It’s good to finally meet you. I’m sorry we never met while Claire was alive, but Joseph has been ill for some time. I couldn’t leave him.”
Joel didn’t understand why his mother made excuses for his father. Even if he had been well, he wouldn’t have gone to Mexico. In the three hours Joel had been here, his father had done nothing but complain and gripe and bully everyone who came into the room. Joel couldn’t wait to get away.
But first the necklace. “Are you ready to meet your grandfather?”
“I want to show Nana Sue my necklace.” Maria opened the locket and held it up for his mother to see. “Uncle Joel gave it to me.”
“Why don’t we take it off so she can see it better?” Joel asked. Maybe this was his chance.
“I can see it just fine.” His mother stared at the photo, then patted Maria’s cheek. “You’re such a sweet child. Run see your grandfather, now.”
Joel took her by the hand, and they walked to the double doors, where he pressed the intercom button. He’d already made the necessary arrangements for Maria to accompany him into the ICU, and after he identified himself, the doors clicked open. They were halfway through when he realized Angel was with them. “Only two are allowed in his room.”
“If Maria goes, I go.”
“I’m sorry, but you can’t go in there.” If Angel was in the room, how would he get the locket?
Angel took Maria’s hand. “If you want your father to see her, it has to be with me.”
His brother-in-law wasn’t backing down. Joel clenched his fists, then forced them open.
A nurse sat at a desk between his father’s room and the next patient’s. “He’s sleeping, but go on in. He may wake up.”
Joel stepped inside the room, where a monitor beeped over his father’s bed. Maria stared warily at the bed, then wrapped her arms around Angel’s leg. “Would you like me to hold you?” Joel asked.
She shook her head and clung tighter to Angel. “What’s that noise?” she whispered.
“It’s a machine that counts how many times his heart beats.”
His father opened his eyes, and he stared at Angel, then shifted to Joel. Recognition flashed. “Is she here?”
“Yes, sir,” he replied. He bent down to pick up Maria.
“No,” she said, twisting away from him.
“Let me hold her.” Angel swung her into his arms and whispered something in her ear. Maria nodded, and he stepped closer to the bed.
“Hello, Papa Joe,” she said, her voice quivering.
His father stared at her, then his expression softened. “So this is Claire’s child. You the husband?” he asked, shifting his gaze to Angel.
“Yes. Joel tells me you need an operation.”
“That’s what they say. Wanted to see the kid first, though. Thank you for bringing her.”
Joel almost choked. He’d never heard his father thank anyone. “Maria, can we show Papa Joe your locket?”
She nodded. “It has my mommy’s picture in it.”
Joel moved to unclasp the necklace.
“I’ll do it.” Angel put Maria down and unfastened the chain. He opened the locket. “You want to show it to him, Maria?”
Smiling, Maria took the locket to the bed. A frown crossed her face. “I can’t see you. Can I sit on the bed?”
“I don’t see why not.” He nodded to Angel. “Put her up here.”
His plan was falling apart. Joel gripped the foot of the bed as Maria showed his father Claire’s photo.
The nurse entered the room. “I’m sorry, but your time is up. Mr. McDermott needs rest.”
His father grimaced. “She’s a drill sergeant. I’m afraid you’ll have to leave, but would you bring Maria back to see me?”
“As soon as you’re up to it,” Angel said.
“I hope you get better soon,” Maria said, planting a kiss on her grandfather’s cheek.
His mind numb, Joel walked to the door in a daze, searching for some way to get the necklace away from Maria. “Would you like to leave your locket with Papa Joe until he’s better?”
He held his breath while a struggle played out on her face. Finally she turned around and went back into the room. “Papa Joe, would you like to keep my locket with Mommy’s picture in it?”
“What a sweetheart you are, Maria.” He flashed her a smile. “But you better keep it. I might lose it.”
At that second, Joel had never wanted to kill anyone as bad as he did his father. But he didn’t know why he was surprised. His father had stood in his way any time Joel wanted something. Why should this be any different?
19
A bottleneck slowed traffic on the bypass around Corning to thirty-five miles per hour. Only ten miles and Maria would be safely on the plane. Danny glanced in his side mirror. Nothing stood out. If they were being followed, it was at a distance. Maybe they weren’t being followed at all. He glanced toward Angel in the passenger seat. “See anything unusual?”
“No.”
Danny glanced at the passengers in the backseat. Maria dozed in Solana’s lap, and Bailey seemed lost in thought. He shifted his gaze back to the road. “You know, we haven’t seen any evidence that the Calatrava followed us out of Mexico. Don’t you think they would have made a move by now, if they were here?”
“It’s too soon to tell. My gut says they’re just waiting.”
“So you’d prefer for Maria to fly to Logan Point?”
“Yeah. I’m not ready to relax my guard.”
Once they were past the jackknifed semi that had narrowed the highway to one lane, Danny gunned the SUV to sixty-five. “You said something about piloting the plane. How long have you been flying?”
“Fifteen years, since I was eighteen.”
“Ever fly a Cessna 172?”
Angel grinned. “Cut my teeth on one—my flying teeth, that is.”
“So how did you get into flying?”
His grin faded. “When my uncle kicked me out of the house, a friend of my dad’s took me in. The same friend my father entrusted the letter to. He provided private chartered flights for wealthy tourists around Mexico, and he taught me how to fly.”
“Is it possible you’re wrong about your uncle?”
“Don’t let him fool you. He’s like a chameleon—you only see what he wants you to see.”
The exit to Collegedale appeared, and Danny checked the traffic behind him again. Everything looked normal. It’d be interesting to see if anyone exited with them. He slowed for the ramp, then turned left at the light. No one followed them, and he breathed a little easier.
“I’m hungry,” Maria said.
“I am too,” Bailey chimed in. “Those sandwiches are long gone.”
He wished they had taken Kate up on her offer to make sandwiches for them to have on the drive home. “I don’t see anywhere we can get food.”
“There’s a place,” Bailey said.
The “place” was a hole-in-the-wall diner beside a truck stop, and he pulled in. Thirty minutes later when they pulled out, he really wished they’d brought the sandwiches. The restaurant had been a true greasy spoon. They’d all be lucky if they didn’t get sick. Ten minutes later he turned in to the small airport.
The wind sock flew straight out from a cold north wind as Danny removed the chocks around the wheels, then climbed up on the wing and unlocked the cabin door. Back on the ground, he tossed Angel the keys. “Enjoy the flight. The keys to the convertible are under the mat. I’ll call the airport manager and let him know you’ll be picking it up.”
A grin spread across Angel’s face. “Thanks, amigo.”
After he and Angel went over the p
reflight, Angel helped Maria up on the wing, then Solana before climbing up himself. “See you in Logan Point.”
Danny waved, then hooked his arm in Bailey’s. “Looks like it’s just you and me, kid.”
She laughed and leaned into him. “So it does.”
With Bailey on his arm, he waited until the plane took off, then they walked through the terminal to the SUV. Once back on the highway, Danny turned the radio on low, and classical music played softly in the background.
“I think today went well.” Bailey rested her head against the back of the seat.
“Yeah, and Joel didn’t act like such a stuffed shirt. Did he ever tell you where he went last night?”
“I didn’t ask him, and he’s not a stuffed shirt. He’s a good guy.”
“Whatever.” For communicating, driving was much better than flying, and he didn’t want to waste time talking about Joel. He glanced her way and saw she had her eyes closed. “Tired?”
“Some.”
“Late date last night?”
A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“Did you mean what you said at the barn?”
Bailey’s eyes flew open. He thought that would get her attention.
“What do you mean?”
“You said some pretty serious stuff, like you love me, among other things.”
She sighed, and his heart took a nosedive. It wasn’t the kind of sigh he wanted to hear. “I do love you, Danny—”
“I hear a but in there.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, but now isn’t the time to push me for anything.”
“I’m not pushing you.” He ignored his father’s voice in his head, warning him of this very thing. “I just asked a simple question.”
“Simple?”
“You know what I mean.” He cut his gaze toward her. Tears wet her cheeks as she pressed her hands against her eyes. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“Well, you did.” She opened her purse and pulled out a tissue. “Remember when we used to go to the maze out on Whitten Road? And how no matter which way we turned, we couldn’t get out?”
“Yeah.” A memory of her crying in the cornfield flashed through his mind. “Is that how you feel? That there’s no way out of your situation?”
Silence in the Dark Page 20