Twisted Innocence

by Terri Blackstock

  “Cops?” she asked.

  Creed shook his head. “No, I recognize one of them. They’re Miller’s men.”

  She swung around to face him. “Tell them!”

  “Tell us what?” the detective asked on the phone. “What’s going on?”

  Creed looked panicked. “There’s no way they’ll get here in time,” he told Holly. “We’ve got to get out of here.” He put the phone back to his mouth. “I’ll call back later. I’m really coming in . . . it’s just . . . Leonard Miller’s men are here. They’re after me.”

  He clicked off the phone and headed to the driver’s seat.

  “I’m getting out,” Holly said.

  “No, they’ll see you. They’re dangerous.”

  “They don’t know me!”

  “Miller does, if he’s with them.”

  He was right. She peered out again.

  He started the engine. “You can’t drive!” she said. “They’ll see you.” If they did, she and Lily might be caught in the crossfire.

  “Then you drive,” he said. “Hurry—pull out as fast as you can.”

  “What if they stop us?”

  “Holly, this is life or death,” he said. “These men have guns.”

  She slipped into the driver’s seat and started the engine, keeping her eyes on the men. They had finished at the camper and were now approaching the RV in the next space. She shoved on the sunglasses on the dashboard, pulled straight out from their space, and turned toward the exit.

  “Are they looking at you?” Creed asked, strapping Lily’s seat onto the bench seat. The urgency in his voice woke Lily, and she began to cry.

  “Yes, they see me.” She forced a smile and waved as she drove past. She glanced in the side mirror. They weren’t looking at her.

  “There’s probably somebody waiting at the exit,” he said. “I’m hiding. If they question you, don’t tell them I’m in here—or we’re all dead.”

  Lily kept screaming, and Holly felt sick. “Hang on, sweetie. I’ll get you out as soon as I can.”

  As she approached the exit gate, she looked in the rearview mirror. Creed had vanished. He was probably hiding in the bathroom.

  A man stepped in front of her at the gate, just as Creed had warned. She thought of bolting on through, but the last thing she wanted was to call attention to herself and make them chase her. She stopped and rolled her window down, trying to look unworried.

  “Hi,” she said to the man who looked like a linebacker.

  He came to her window. “Ma’am, I’m from the Pensacola Police Department.” He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and didn’t offer credentials or show a badge.

  “What can I do for you, Officer?”

  Lily screamed louder.

  “We’re looking for a man who may be armed and dangerous. Have you seen this guy?” He held up a picture of Creed.

  She shook her head. “No, why? Has he been here? How dangerous? What did he do?”

  “I can’t really say, but you’re sure you haven’t seen him?”

  “No,” she said. “But now you’re freaking me out. We slept here last night. Was he here?”

  Lily screamed harder, and Holly looked back. “Hang on, sweetie.” She turned back. “I need to go buy diapers. It’s kind of an emergency.”

  He leaned closer and looked through her window, his eyes roving over as much of the camper as he could see. Another man appeared at the opposite window. She powered that window down to appear accommodating. He looked toward the back, his eyes drawn to the screaming baby.

  “If I see him I’ll call the police,” she said.

  He nodded. “Right. Do that.”

  “You’ll catch him, right? Maybe I should change RV parks.”

  “We’re doing what we can.”

  The man stepped back, and Holly gave him another wave and pulled out of the park. As they disappeared from her rearview, Holly realized she was sweating.

  She picked up speed, glancing back. “It’s safe. You can come out.”

  Creed came out of the small bathroom. “Good job,” he said. “You were totally convincing.” He dug through Lily’s diaper bag, found her pacifier, and put it in her mouth. “It’s okay, Lily. Hold on. You’re okay.”

  Lily stopped yelling and suckled.

  Holly glanced back in the mirror. He was stroking Lily’s hair, whispering to her.

  She swallowed the knot in her throat. “So now I’m driving straight to the Southport Police Department so you can turn yourself in.”

  “Just get out of here and make sure they’re not following.”

  She looked behind her in the traffic. She couldn’t say for sure if any of the cars behind her belonged to Miller’s men. “Did you know the man who talked to me?” she asked.

  “I recognized his voice. He’s one of Miller’s guys, no question. I’m telling you, they want me dead.”

  “But if I could find you . . .”

  “Exactly,” he said. “I had only been in that park for a few hours when Brittany led you to me. I shouldn’t have told her where I was, but she was a good friend, and she was bringing me food. Until then I was just driving around, sleeping in parking lots.” He kept his voice low so he wouldn’t disturb Lily. “I need to talk to a lawyer. I think that would be a better approach than just showing up at the police department and spilling my guts. You may be right. Maybe I could get immunity if I tell them everything I know. Your sister—”

  Holly shook her head. “Cathy’s not practicing anymore.”

  “But she could represent me, right?”

  “I’m not sure. She writes a blog and does part-time PI work.”

  “But she would know how to advise me. Maybe she could meet us somewhere and we could talk, and then I could turn myself in, with her there.”

  Holly could only imagine how that conversation with Cathy would go. “She’s not going to have a lot of sympathy for you once she realizes you kidnapped us.”

  “Come on,” he said. “You could vouch for me.”

  No, she couldn’t. How could she make either of her sisters trust him when she wasn’t sure she could trust him herself? But if she at least contacted them and updated them, she’d feel safer. “All right,” she said. “Give me my phone.”

  He got her phone out of her bag and handed it to her. The battery was only at five percent. If the call went through, it would drop before she could get anything out. “Battery’s almost out,” she said. “Let me use yours.”

  He handed her his phone. “You want me to talk to her?”

  “No, let me do this. I’m sure she’ll meet us, because she and Juliet are probably worried about my latest lapse in judgment.” Before she punched in Cathy’s number, she met his eyes in the rearview mirror again. “Am I acting as an accessory if I don’t drive you directly to the police station?”

  “Holly, I’m not charged with anything yet as far as we know, right? If you help me, you’re not breaking the law.”

  “But I know they’re looking for you.”

  “So you’re driving me to see my lawyer.”

  “She’s not your lawyer. She doesn’t know you, and she’s very stubborn.”

  “You can convince her.”

  Holly thought about that as she drove. She glanced back again, saw him still stroking Lily’s head. He took the pacifier out of her mouth and she didn’t cry. She had probably fallen back to sleep.

  Holly could kick herself. What was wrong with her? She shouldn’t trust Creed just because he was good with her baby. He could be lying about everything. Those could have even been police back there, and she’d lied to them. How did she know anything he told her was the truth?

  But her gut told her it was. She could drive him straight to the police department, walk away, and never look back. But what would happen to him?

  Besides, she wanted to find Miller. If she called them to meet her somewhere, Cathy would bring Max. She wouldn’t take the chance of meeting Creed alone. Maybe that was best. Max want
ed to find Miller as much as they all did.

  She waited until she got to a red light, then quickly punched in Cathy’s number.

  CHAPTER 30

  Cathy didn’t recognize the number, but she answered eagerly.

  Holly said, “It’s me.”

  Cathy’s heart lunged. “Holly? Where are you? Are you all right?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. I’m still . . . with him.”

  Cathy put her phone on speakerphone and looked at Juliet, who had her hand over her chest. “We know you’re with Creed Kershaw. Can you tell us where you are?”

  “We’ll come to you,” Holly said. “We want to meet you somewhere.”

  “We? Do you still have Lily with you? Is she in danger?”

  “Yes, she’s with me, and no, she’s not in danger,” Holly said quickly. “Really, it’s all right. He’s not going to hurt us. I’ll explain everything when we meet, but it’s really important. It’s about Leonard Miller.”

  “Miller?” Cathy spouted back. “What about him?”

  “Just . . . wait until we’re there. Let’s meet in the Home Depot parking lot.”

  Cathy shook her head. “We’re not going to get into the motor home. Someplace where we can be out in the open.”

  Holly hesitated, as if surprised that they knew she was in a motor home. “Okay, he said we can meet at the Dairy Queen on Alf Coleman Road. It’s usually pretty empty this time of day. We can talk there.”

  “Holly, listen to me,” Cathy said. “Are we on speakerphone?”

  “No.”

  “If this is a trap, just use the word discuss instead of talk.”

  “It’s not a trap,” Holly said in a level voice. “I think it’s legit. We just want to talk to you, because it involves Miller. Then Creed’s going to turn himself in to the police. We’ll meet you there in an hour.”

  Holly hung up, and Cathy stared at the phone. “What do you think?”

  “I think he could have heard everything you said,” Juliet said. “He could have been forcing her at gunpoint to say whatever he wanted. We can’t trust any of it.”

  “So you don’t want to go?”

  “Of course we’ll go,” Juliet said. “But first we call Max and have him go with us. He can sit at another table. Creed won’t know him, and Holly won’t act like she knows Max if she’s in danger.”

  “Okay, I’ll call him. What about Robbie? Do we take him with us?”

  “No,” Juliet said. “I’ll take him to Jay’s. I can’t take him into something that could be that dangerous.” She stared out the windshield for a moment. “Wish I could take Lily to him too. There’s no way they’re not in danger.”

  CHAPTER 31

  When Holly and Creed arrived in the motor home from Pensacola, Cathy and Juliet were already there, and just as Holly had expected, Max’s car sat in the parking lot.

  Cathy and Juliet met them outside, and Juliet hugged her fiercely, then took Lily from her and held her as if she had thought she’d never see her again. They filed inside, ordered drinks, and sat down in a corner booth—tension thick between them.

  Holly took her baby back and Creed reached out for her. Holly hesitated to hand her over. “Please,” he said softly. “Who knows when I’ll get to hold her again after this?”

  Reluctantly, Holly put Lily into his arms. Her sisters watched Creed with suspicion.

  Holly glanced around at the other patrons—a couple of teenagers at a table near the front, and a man at another table, reading a newspaper. She glanced away from him, then looked back. Max.

  She turned to Creed. “That guy over there is Max Hogan, a cop. I told you they’d bring him.”

  Cathy and Juliet looked surprised, and Holly realized they thought she was being held against her will.

  Creed sighed and leaned on the table. “Look, I plan to turn myself in after this conversation, and I might as well just let him take me in, but first I wanted you to know what I know about Leonard Miller. I think I can lead you to him . . . or at least close. But I need your help.”

  Holly had never seen Cathy’s eyes so intense, but Juliet’s eyes remained locked on Lily, as if Creed might smother her at any moment.

  “Let me start,” Holly said in a low voice. “Creed is Lily’s father. We’ll talk about all that later.” She paused and watched her sisters glance at each other. They had clearly already figured that out.

  Juliet gave Creed a cold look. “When he came with you this morning, he had a gun, didn’t he?”

  Holly looked at Creed. “It wasn’t loaded.”

  “Then why did you stay with him? Why didn’t you just turn him in then?”

  “I didn’t know it wasn’t loaded then,” she said. “But he was desperate. He needs help.”

  “So let me get this straight,” Juliet said. “You’re hanging out with him because you choose to? You’re not being forced? You’re with a guy who’s wanted for murder, and you and your baby are just sitting here with him like nothing’s wrong?”

  “Holly told me she’d checked with the police before she found me, that I’m not wanted for murder yet,” Creed said, keeping his voice low. “They just want to question me. I’ve called them and told them I’m coming in. Do you want to hear about Miller or not?”

  “I do,” Cathy said.

  “Then let him get his story out,” Holly said, “and we’ll be done.”

  Juliet regarded Creed, who was holding the baby up to his neck, stroking her back. Lily’s little head was turned up to him, trusting, content.

  “Go ahead,” Cathy said.

  “Okay,” Creed said, carefully supporting Lily’s head as he brought her down and put her in Holly’s arms. He folded his arms on the table. “I got involved with him because I lost my job. I was depressed and I started using. Then I figured I could make a little money to pay my rent, since I didn’t want to move back home.” He rubbed his face then went on. “I started selling coke to my friends, only I made mistakes. I wasn’t very street savvy.”

  “What kind of mistakes?”

  He told them the story he had told Holly, and she listened carefully for any inconsistency. There wasn’t any.

  “Whose motor home is this?” Cathy asked.

  “My friend Brittany’s. It belongs to her family. She let me borrow it and brought me some clothes so I wouldn’t have to go home. At first I was just hiding from Miller and his people, but then she told me the police were questioning my friends about me. I realized then what they’d done. They left my stuff at the scene to convince the police I did it.”

  Cathy was still skeptical. “But that doesn’t make sense. They must know that if the police found you first, you could implicate them.”

  “Believe me—they expected to find me first. And they would make sure I couldn’t tell anybody anything.”

  “Miller’s gang was going door-to-door at the RV park,” Holly said. “We just barely got out.”

  Creed went on. “I don’t know exactly where Miller is, but I know where two of his guys live. I don’t know the addresses—I’ll have to lead you to their houses. If you follow them, watch them, you should be able to track down Miller. But in return, Cathy, I need your help to get immunity and protection.”

  Cathy looked hard at him, her eyes dull. “Why on earth would I represent you?”

  “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I didn’t kill anybody. I need someone to go with me when I turn myself in. I know I’m in trouble. I just don’t want to go down for something I didn’t do.”

  “You abducted my sister!”

  “I’m not pressing charges,” Holly said. “I believe his story.”

  Cathy turned astonished eyes to her. “Well, you’re not always the best judge of character, are you?”

  “Cathy,” Holly said, keeping her voice quiet, “he’s trying to help us. He knows how much it means to us to find Miller, but if he gets arrested and locked up, then he can’t lead us to these people. He can’t help us in any way. He’s going to have to have an
attorney. Why can’t it be you?”

  “Because I don’t trust him,” she bit out, looking at Creed. “I don’t know him. He’s some guy who abducted you and your baby at gunpoint and held you overnight. He could get thirty years for that alone, and I don’t want to fight to keep him from paying for it!”

  Holly leaned forward. “I know this is hard for you, but this is our chance to get Miller. Another chance to break up this drug ring once and for all. Haven’t we suffered enough? Haven’t we lost enough to that man?”

  Juliet nodded. “Yes, we sure have.”

  “Well, he can pay without my having to represent this guy,” Cathy said.

  Creed tried again. “The fact is, I may not live through the rest of the week with Miller’s goons after me. There’s no guarantee that if the police let me go I’m going to survive.” His voice broke. “I just need some help here. I got in over my head. I was stupid, and now I can’t change any of it. I can’t fix it.”

  Cathy considered him for a long moment, then looked from Holly to Juliet. Even Juliet seemed to be buying his story. Cathy cleared her throat, rubbed her face. Finally, she slammed her hand on the table and stood up. “I have to talk to Michael.”

  “It’s not visiting day,” Holly said.

  “I’m his attorney. I’ll get a private meeting with him. I need to get his advice and see what he thinks.”

  She waved toward Max, asked him to come over. He set his newspaper down and ambled over. Cathy slipped out of the booth. “Max, he wants to turn himself in. I need to talk to Michael before deciding if I want to represent him. If not, I’ll find him someone else.”

  Max’s frown cut deep. “What does he know about Miller?”

  “We’ll talk later,” Cathy said. “Creed, until I decide, just stay quiet. Max, can he turn himself in to you? Can you keep him in custody until I talk to Michael?”

  Max looked at Creed. “Yeah, I guess that would work. I could let Southport know I’ve got him.”

  Cathy lifted her eyebrows. “Will you agree to that, Creed?”

  “I’m not arrested, right? There’s still not a warrant, is there?”