One for the Road

by Mary Ellis

  ‘No, Jill, not very.’ Jamie started pacing again.

  ‘So when their discussion took a nasty turn your dad killed him?’ Jill asked the question to gauge his reaction.

  ‘Not on purpose. Roger threw the first punch. Then they started wailing on each other like a pair of barroom brawlers. Hard to picture, no?’ Jamie shook his head. ‘Roger, who was younger and stronger, had my father against the rack, so Dad pushed him away. Unfortunately, Roger slipped on some spilled bourbon from a toast-gone-wrong. When he fell, he hit his head on a sharp metal edge.’

  ‘Sounds like self-defense to me or manslaughter at worst.’ Jill squirmed to loosen the ropes.

  ‘What difference does that make? My father’s reputation, along with Founder’s Reserve’s, will be ruined. Our sales would tank. With so many bourbons on the shelf, people choose a brand that represents a true American legacy.’

  ‘And Elmer Maxwell?’

  ‘We’ll get to him in just a minute.’ After rummaging around in the trunk, Jamie pulled out a bottle of Founder’s Reserve.

  ‘Are you really gonna drink that? Who knows how long it’s been in there.’

  Jamie opened the bottle and tipped it up for a healthy swig. ‘Bourbon doesn’t go bad. You should know that considering all your research.’ He pressed the bottle to her lips.

  Jill shook her head. ‘I can’t swallow like this. Untie my hands so I can drink properly.’

  He straightened his spine. ‘I’ll untie one hand. After all, you’ve got nowhere to go.’

  With one arm free from the restraints, Jill reached for the bottle. ‘Before I imbibe, I want to know if you drugged my champagne.’

  ‘Not only your champagne but also your iced tea, while you were in the ladies’ room. I couldn’t take any chances. Then the stuff worked so fast, you almost passed out before we left the restaurant.’ Jamie chuckled with amusement. ‘But have no fear about the bourbon. Michelle never needed one iota of encouragement.’

  Jill swallowed a sip. ‘If you had no romantic intentions, why did you bring me here?’ She flourished her hand through the air.

  ‘To find out what Janice Maxwell told you and what you figured out on your own.’ Jamie took the bottle for another drink.

  ‘Janice said they should’ve stayed away when they had the chance and not gotten greedy. Had Elmer been blackmailing you?’

  ‘What a stupid man,’ Jamie said, a slight slur to his words. ‘First I paid him five grand to erase the tape of my dad’s visit to Black Creek. Then when Gordon fired him for not showing up to work, Maxwell came to me for money to start a new life. So I gave him another five grand and he left town. Unfortunately he came back for more because he needed to pay off his bookies. When I turned him down, he decided to take his own life.’

  ‘I’m betting you helped him along.’ Jill worked at the rope on her left wrist.

  ‘Maybe I did, but neither you nor that hot-shot cop can ever prove it.’

  The little hairs on Jill’s neck stood on end. ‘Why are you telling me this now?’

  ‘Because it doesn’t matter anymore.’ He stopped pacing in front of her chair. ‘You know too much.’

  ‘I really don’t know anything.’

  ‘I can’t take that chance.’

  ‘What do you have in mind? At least do me the courtesy of knowing my fate.’

  ‘Sure, why not?’ he said with a smirk. ‘When you insisted on taking two cars to the restaurant, you helped hatch a plan. So I made sure you were drunk when you left the restaurant, or at least that’s how it looked.’ Jamie’s smile was colder than a glacier. ‘You were unfamiliar with the roads and going too fast. Unfortunately, there’s no guardrail where you missed a curve and lost control. Roger’s piece-of-junk truck went over the edge and burst into a ball of flames.’ He leaned close to her face. ‘In other words, Jill Curtis, you are about to have a horrible accident on your way home.’

  ‘I left a note at the B and B that you and I were dining together.’

  ‘So what? Several employees saw you stagger from the restaurant, yet you still insisted on getting behind the wheel. You will suffer the same fate as most hapless drunks in these parts.’ Jamie poured a goodly amount of bourbon down the front of her dress.

  ‘Where is my piece-of-junk now?’ Jill asked, trying to work her hand loose.

  ‘Exactly where you left it. You came here in my car. But soon the sedative in the water bottle will start to work. Then I’ll take you back to your truck under the cover of darkness and drive to a perfect spot past Pine Hollow Lodge.’ Jamie glanced at his watch. ‘By then, all the employees will have gone home and the overnight guests will be fast asleep. No one else lives up this highway other than your kinfolk, and they should be well into their cups by now. So nobody will witness one drunk travel writer careening to her death. It could be weeks before anyone spots the wreckage over the embankment.’

  Jill remembered drinking his bottle of water when she first came to. She had very little time to think of something to save her life. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement outside. One of the pieces of plastic had come loose, exposing a corner of the window. If Jill wasn’t mistaken, Michelle Clark had just peeked through the streaky glass.

  Jill yanked her focus back to her host. ‘Let’s not be hasty. You need to make sure Pine Hollow employees have gone home. And I don’t feel all that sleepy. Tell me, Jamie, were you ever planning to pay the hospital for Michelle’s delivery?’

  Jamie dragged the kitchen chair back in front of her. ‘I would like to, considering the baby is probably mine. But if I pay Roseville General, I would lose any future paternity suit and get stuck supporting the kid till he or she turned eighteen.’

  Jill reached for the bourbon and surprisingly Jamie relinquished it. ‘Would that be so bad? You’re a rich man.’ She swigged a hearty amount but didn’t swallow.

  Jamie rolled his eyes. ‘Everyone thinks the Shelbys are loaded, but the truth is we’re far from it. I like Michelle. We’ve had a lot of good times in the past. But she’ll have to support this little mistake all by herself.’

  Infuriated by his term and total lack of responsibility, Jill sprayed her mouthful of bourbon into Jamie’s face. Then she lifted the half-empty bottle high into the air and crashed it down on his head.

  At the same time, a very pregnant woman stormed through the doorway with a hefty stick in her hand. Michelle delivered a resounding craack to the side of Jamie’s head. ‘My little mistake?’ she wailed. ‘My only mistake was hooking up with a loser like you. My baby will know the joy of a loving family.’ Michelle stood over him, waiting for the unconscious man to make a move.

  ‘Ah, Michelle?’ Jill mumbled as the room spun before her eyes. ‘Thanks for showing up, but I’m about to pass out again. Untie my other wrist and use the ropes to tie up Shelby. We don’t want him coming around too soon.’

  Michelle patted Jill’s shoulder. ‘Gotcha covered, cousin. My brother and your boyfriend should be here soon. Until then, I can keep Shelby in check. You sleep tight.’

  ‘I know Gordon’s your brother, but who’s my boyfriend?’ Jill asked as the room darkened around the edges.

  ‘Nick Harris, the cop from Louisville. Everybody but you has been aware of the attraction.’

  ‘Has it been that obvious?’ Jill felt herself smile, but that was the last action she was aware of for a while.

  NINETEEN

  Nick swerved into the first logging road north of Pine Hollow Lodge. ‘There’s Jill’s truck,’ he shouted, stopping just behind it.

  ‘Now all we have to do is find Jill.’ Gordon bounded from the sedan and headed to the truck’s passenger side.

  Nick yanked open the driver’s door. ‘Here’s her purse and her cell phone is still inside.’ With a push of a button, the home screen lit up. ‘Thank goodness, Jill hated passwords,’ he said. ‘Looks like she tried to call me, Sweet Dreams, and the sheriff’s department several times, but none of the calls went through. So much
for her cell phone provider.’ Nick took off his sunglasses in the fading light and looked around.

  Gordon was already searching the brush around the car. ‘Let’s see where this road goes.’

  As Nick beat back the weeds on the left side with Gordon on the right, they hadn’t gone a quarter mile when the road ended in a clearing. Two large piles of discarded branches indicated this had been a loading zone for logging trucks.

  ‘Jill’s not here,’ Nick said after a quick perusal.

  ‘On to the next road.’ Both men broke into a run back to the sedan.

  Within minutes, they reached the next logging road to the north. But Nick had barely pulled off the pavement when his wheel dropped into a deep rut. ‘This road is impassible. If there’s an old hunting cabin up ahead, nobody has visited in years.’ Nick thumped the steering wheel with his fist.

  Muttering an expletive, Gordon climbed from the car. ‘I’ll push while you back out in low gear.’

  It took ten minutes of rocking the car back and forth before the wheel popped free. By this time Gordon was fairly well covered in mud.

  ‘Sorry ’bout the mud, Clark,’ Nick said once on Highway 73.

  ‘Not to worry. I’ll take it out on Shelby when we find him.’

  ‘If we find them in time.’ Grinding his teeth, Nick sped past the next logging road. He backed up and turned onto a gravel roadbed in much better shape than the last with fresh tire tracks along the edge. The two men exchanged a look.

  ‘Let’s keep our fingers crossed.’ Gordon rolled down his window.

  Nick crept along the narrow lane, watchful of potholes and any sign of Jill. Half a mile later, they rounded a bend and spotted a shiny red sports car.

  ‘That car belongs to Shelby,’ Gordon exclaimed.

  ‘I know, just remember to stay behind me.’ Nick withdrew his weapon as he climbed from the vehicle. ‘I’m taking the lead.’

  As quietly as possible, they made their way through dense undergrowth to a dilapidated cabin with a lopsided chimney and plastic covering the windows. After circling the shack, Nick got his first view of inside the cabin through one corner of a window. ‘Looks like the situation is under control, Gordon. See for yourself.’ Nick holstered his weapon and stepped to the side.

  Jamie Shelby was on the floor with his wrists and ankles bound, while Jill and Michelle sat on kitchen chairs on either side. Above their heads burned a kerosene lamp on a rusty chain, the sole illumination in the room.

  ‘I’m not so sure about that. Michelle might be going into labor.’ Gordon bolted through the front door. ‘Is the baby coming?’ he asked his sister.

  Michelle’s grimace of pain changed to an honest-to-goodness smile. ‘Either that or I’ve got the worst case of indigestion in the world.’

  ‘I told you to stay home!’ Gordy shook his finger, his face full of fear.

  ‘Easy, Gordy, we’ve got this.’ Nick snapped handcuffs on Shelby’s wrists. Then he turned his attention to Jill, whose head had lolled to one side. ‘What’s wrong with Jill?’ Nick checked Jill’s breathing and listened to her heartbeat.

  ‘She’s just sleeping,’ said Michelle in between painful gasps. ‘Jamie slipped her a sedative so he could murder her in cold blood.’ She kicked Shelby in the ribs just as he roused to consciousness. ‘Worthless, murdering philander.’ Michelle kicked him a second time.

  ‘Stop, we need to get you to the hospital.’ Gordon helped his sister to her feet. ‘I’ll sign for the bill and pay Roseville General each month.’

  Halfway to the door, Michelle paused as a contraction took her breath away. ‘Not to worry, big brother.’ Once the contraction passed, she held up a slip of paper. ‘Jill gave me Jamie’s credit card number. She witnessed him pledging an eight-thousand-dollar charge for the safe delivery of his son or daughter.’

  Nick, who hadn’t left Jill’s side, tossed Gordon his car keys. ‘Take Michelle in my car, but first let me radio the dispatcher to have EMTs meet you along the way. Just in case this baby is in a big hurry. We’ll also tell Sheriff Adkins to send a cruiser to pick up Shelby.’

  ‘You’re sure you two will be all right?’ Gordon cast a sympathetic gaze towards Jill.

  Nick nodded. ‘Jill’s vitals are strong and stable. I think she’s just sleeping like Michelle said. Go, or you’ll end up delivering your nephew or niece by yourself.’

  The new master distiller needed no additional encouragement. Nick followed the Clarks out the door, radioed for medical assistance, and left a message with the dispatcher for the sheriff. He heard the subsequent start of his engine on his way back into the cabin, where he picked up Jill’s limp hand to wait. At one point Shelby roused to consciousness, so Nick tied a discarded rag around his mouth. The last thing he wanted to hear was Jamie’s arrogant mouth.

  After what seemed like an interminably long amount of time, Jill’s left shoulder twitched. Finally she opened one eye, then the other, and released a weary sigh.

  ‘Have you had enough fun for one trip to the Blue Grass State?’

  ‘Where is everybody? How long have I been asleep?’

  ‘Hello to you, too, Miss Curtis. I have no idea how long, but Gordon Clark and I got here about twenty minutes ago.’ Nick offered her a bottle of water. ‘He and Michelle are on their way to the hospital in Roseville. Her baby is coming.’

  Jill’s face bloomed with a smile. ‘I’m so glad I don’t have to play midwife. I never read that manual.’ She tried to stand but fell back down.

  ‘Stay in that chair,’ Nick insisted. ‘Who knows what drug that creep gave you.’ Nick scowled down at Jamie on the floor.

  Jill focused on the bound-and-gagged man at her feet. ‘Know what Shelby had planned? He wanted to stick me in Roger’s truck, push the truck over a cliff and then drive home, business as usual. How do people get so nasty? Is it because of money?’

  ‘I don’t think so. It was his father who tipped us off that Jamie was up to no good.’

  Jill’s chin snapped up. ‘Owen, really? I’m surprised.’ Then she dropped her head into her hands. ‘I have a major headache.’

  Nick gently massaged her neck with his fingertips. ‘Drink more water, Jill. You’re probably dehydrated.’

  ‘Where did this water come from?’ She studied the plastic bottle in her hand.

  ‘I brought it with me from the station.’ Nick took the chair formerly occupied by Michelle.

  ‘You didn’t add anything, did you? I’m rather skeptical when a man gives me something to drink.’

  ‘Go ahead,’ he said with a wink. ‘Trust me.’

  Jill studied Shelby, bound and gagged on the floor, then gave him a long hard look. ‘Fine.’ She downed half the contents of the bottle and wiped her mouth.

  ‘How did it taste?’ Nick teased.

  ‘Like water. Why?’ She arched one eyebrow.

  ‘Because I did add something – Love Potion Nine.’ He struggled to keep a straight face.

  ‘There’s no such thing.’

  ‘Yes, there is. And it was in that bottle.’ Nick leaned forward so that their noses were inches apart. ‘So what do you say, Curtis? I’m laying my cards on the table. Do you feel anything for me other than friendship?’

  ‘Must we talk about this now?’ Jill squirmed in her chair. ‘I’ve just been drugged twice, kidnapped, and locked inside a tacky shack without a proper bathroom.’

  Nick bit back his smile. ‘I’m afraid so, because while you’re at the outhouse, deputies will arrive to whisk Shelby to jail and us back to civilization. Then we’ll rush to the hospital to see Michelle and her new baby. And before we know it, you’ll be headed to Chicago and my one big chance will be lost.’

  ‘Wow, Nick. That was a lot of words.’

  ‘It was, but I need an answer.’

  ‘First of all, I’m not going back to Chicago. On Monday I’m supposed to meet my partner in Louisville for our new assignment. Michael asked the boss to change the destination from Lexington partly because it has f
our major distilleries, tons of small crafts, and mainly because it’s your current hometown. Is that enough answer for you, Lieutenant Harris?’

  Nick pointed at the bottle. ‘Do you suppose potion number nine worked?’

  ‘It might have. My casual interest seems to have morphed into affection with a dash of physical attraction. I’m willing to date you a few times.’ Jill pushed up from the chair, rose on tiptoes, and planted a kiss on his lips. ‘Is that good enough?’

  ‘It’ll have to be, because I hear sirens in the distance.’ He wrapped an arm around her waist. ‘I need to get you to the outdoor facilities and then to a hospital. I want to know exactly what Shelby put in your drink.’ He nudged the man on the floor with his toe.

  Jill gingerly moved toward the door. ‘Are you planning to drive my truck? Gordon took Michelle to Roseville in your car.’

  ‘Nope, after the sheriff takes Shelby into custody, we’ll let a deputy drive Roger’s truck back to town.’ Nick pulled the key fob from Jamie’s pocket and smiled at her. ‘I’ve always wanted to drive a hot car like his. And now I’ll have a pretty girl by my side.’