Jill slowed her steps when she neared the bank parking lot, and she paused. Because of the cold, no one stood around chatting in the parking lot, less than half-full of vehicles. She forced her feet forward. Dread built in her middle as though a load of wet cement settled there.
Her breakfast rose in the back of her throat. A large, black truck with a dented front right bumper sat in the middle of the lot. Everything in her wanted to turn and run, but she stepped toward the bank entrance, not knowing what to expect.
She jumped when a man grasped her right arm in a punishing grip. Her heart kicked into double time. Then someone moved close to her other side.
“So, Ms. Barlow, here’s the plan.” The man on her right spoke softly. “Don’t look at us, and maybe you’ll walk away from this in one piece.”
She’d never had high blood pressure, but Jill guessed hers would be off the chart right now. Her heart thudded so fast she felt it thrusting up against her breastbone. She had to get a grip on herself or the trip into the bank was going to be disastrous, not only for her, but also the people inside. Gulping air, she breathed in for a five count. Liz made her do that at the studio. Jill let it out slowly, then again, and again. Better.
“We’ll walk in with you. You explain you need to get into your safe deposit box, and you want us to go in with you, because we’re family, cousins from...where, Judson?”
“How about Vegas?” The man on the left snickered after his answer.
Jill almost jerked her head up but remembered the warning. The first man sounded so familiar, but she couldn’t figure out why. The men who ran her and Karen off the road wore masks, which muffled their voices so much she’d never be able to place them.
“Okay, babe, you say we’re cousins from Vegas. Not that’s it’s any of their God-damned business who you take with you. You’ve got your key? Nod if you do. I don’t want us getting this far and finding we have a problem. You don’t want other people getting hurt.”
Jill nodded. His statement confirmed her fears. She clenched her fists and focused on each crack in the pavement, each line of tar, each spot of bird droppings.
“Hey, Jill. How are you today?” A woman spoke when the drew near the building.
“Fine.” Jill glanced briefly toward the woman, but didn’t make eye contact, and kept on walking, proud her voice hadn’t quavered. They moved inside, and the doors swung closed behind them. Jill looked around. The one security guard stood off to the left and rear where she remembered the vault to be. She walked over to the bank manager who handled the safe deposit boxes.
“Good morning, Mrs. Timmons.”
The older woman with silver streaking her hair smiled up at her. “Hey, Jill, how’re you doing?”
One of the things about a small town, everyone knew your business. People still inquired about her health, not in the general way, but regarding Karen’s and her car wreck.
“I’m doing fine, thanks.” Could Mrs. Timmons recognize a faked smile? “I need access to my safe deposit box.”
“Well, sure. You’ve got your key?”
“Yes.”
Mrs. Timmons leaned over and pulled out the lower desk drawer. Her hand came up holding the master key. She stood. “Well, let’s go then.” She stopped when she got to the door leading to the boxes and looked inquiringly at Jill’s escorts walking closely on either side of her.
“These are cousins from Las Vegas,” she responded before the woman asked about the two men. “I want them to go in with me.”
“HEY, MOTHER. HOW ARE you?” Jerrod spoke into his cell but glanced at his watch. He had a few more minutes before the court hearing would begin. She’d have to make this brief.
“Hank Slaughter stopped by a few minutes ago, Jerrod.”
He loved his mother, but she’d take a day’s trip down a back road to get to the point. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time for the ride with her today. One foot tapped on the floor while he tried to keep his voice even. “Listen, Mother, tell Hank hello for me. You need to have him over for dinner with us soon. I’ll talk to you later.” Jerrod moved the cell from his ear and was about to disconnect, when his mother’s words froze his blood. “It’s Jill. I’m worried about her.”
“What?”
“Hank stopped at the store this morning, and she suddenly had to run out. Mumbled something about needing to go home for headache medicine.”
“Okay. Go on.” More had to be coming, because his mother was level headed and didn’t jump to conclusions.
“Jerrod, she didn’t turn toward her house, but in my direction. She didn’t stop. Hank said she headed toward College Street.”
“Thanks for calling, Mother. I’ll check it out. Don’t worry.” He disconnected.
As he’d listened to his mother’s words, he’d made his way back into the courtroom to find the judge’s clerk to tell her he needed to reschedule. He placed a call to Jack Hardwick.
“Hey, Jerrod. You’ll never guess who I’m with. Mike Riley’s here, and we’re on our way to Citizen’s Bank. We got an odd heads up from the bank security guard. The message was about men Jill Barlow told Mrs. Timmons were her cousins from Vegas.”
“Dear God. I’ll meet you there.” Dread shot adrenalin through Jerrod’s body. He fought for a breath. He made the trip from the courthouse through downtown Woodstock faster than safety and the law allowed. What with the vacationers in town for the holiday, it was a miracle. He pulled up behind the sheriff and Riley and flung open his door almost before he brought his Jeep to a halt.
“Is she still in the bank? What do you know?” Jerrod spoke directly to the point without acknowledging the two men or commenting on when Riley had arrived.
“See the vehicle heading up the road?” Jack pointed north.
“Yeah.” Jerrod’s blood pressure exploded, making his hands tremble. He balled them into fists.
“She’s in the truck with the two men who went into the bank with her,” Riley stated.
“Well, why the hell are you standing here? Let’s go after her,” Jerrod demanded.
“I didn’t want to be right on their tail. Hard to disguise my official Sheriff’s Jeep.”
“We’ll go in mine.”
Jack looked at Mike and they nodded.
“You drive, Jerrod.”
Jack climbed in the front, and Mike got in the back.
JILL’S TERROR EQUALED the fear that had gripped her when the thug had pointed his gun at Karen and shot her. She’d hoped never to be in the same position again. Her heart parked in her throat, not simply because of the gun pointed at her.
The driver didn’t have a clue about driving on snow. He drove worse than she did. From her position in the front seat, she couldn’t miss seeing how close they came to going off the pavement at every turn. While it wasn’t a mountain road, the incline was enough to cause the vehicle to turn over. Not fastening her seat belt increased her chances of injury in an accident, but it also gave more freedom of movement. Hoping for a crash couldn’t be good, but Jill considered it her best chance of escape.
Despite her captors saying they wouldn’t kill her if she didn’t look at them, she suspected their promise was a crock. Whatever she needed to do to get out of the car, she would attempt. She glanced behind her. The man named Judson aimed a gun at her.
She didn’t know where they were going, but the sooner she stopped the car the less distance she’d have to hike back to Woodstock. Optimism was her stock in trade. She couldn’t—no, wouldn’t—let herself believe she was going to die on this snow-swept road in Vermont. God, she wasn’t a grandmother yet.
The turn ahead appeared rough. She needed to make certain the driver lost control then. She’d leap from the truck, hopefully, before it flipped and careened into the ravine.
“Hey, Phil, take it easy, huh? Unless you want me to accidentally shoot you. We’re bouncing around so much; I don’t know what the bullet would hit if the gun went off.”
“Shut the fuck up, Judson. I’m
concentrating here.” The man white-knuckled the steering wheel.
His voice was familiar, but Jill couldn’t place him. Okay, now or never. Her right hand grasped the “oh shit” handle above the door. In one quick movement, she tightened her stomach muscles, swiveled her legs around, and rammed them both into the driver’s right arm.
A sickening crack. The driver screamed. At the same time, a flash came from the back seat. A burning pain exploded in her left shoulder, and the car crashed through the guardrail and plunged down the incline. Desperate, Jill elbowed open the door and jumped. She rolled, coming to rest against the stump of a tree. Her world went black.
When she came to, the smashed truck had lodged among large granite boulders at the bottom of the ravine. The back tires spun in the air, steam rose from the front end.
“Jill, Jill. Oh, God, you’re bleeding.”
No voice had ever sounded as sweet as Jerrod’s. A warm feeling curled around her heart. Wait. She had to tell him something. What? “The driver. The driver has the —”
“Don’t worry. Let me check out your condition.”
“No.” She struggled to rise but couldn’t get her legs to function. Pain exploded when she moved an arm. “The driver... The driver has...memory stick.”
“Shit, you’ve been shot.”
“Get it, please.” Her words came out a whisper. Not forceful. She’d intended forceful, because the action was important.
“Okay, okay. Take it easy.” He raised his voice. “Hey, Jack, Riley, Jill says the driver has the flash drive.”
“We’ll grab it. You stay with her,” the sheriff said.
Jill heard a ripping sound and pain tore through her. “Oh, God. Stop.” She tried to move from Jerrod’s hand pressed into her shoulder.
“Hey, be careful, Jack. We’ve got flames,” said another voice.
The words floated toward her from a distance. Searing torture in her right shoulder, and another groan erupted from her gut. Why wouldn’t Jerrod stop?
“I’ve got the driver.”
Was that Mike Riley? She replayed the tape in her brain. Yeah. Jerrod had called his name along with the sheriff’s.
At the thwunk of what sounded like a gunshot, Jill flinched. Had she been hit again?
“Jack, you all right?” Jerrod’s voice rose above the fog of her pain.
“The other guy had been thrown from the car. He was taking aim at Jill. He’s dead.” The sheriff spoke in curt tones.
“We need to get back, Jack. The damn thing’s about to blow.” Riley’s words filtered through a haze of pain enveloping her.
“This is going to hurt, Jill, but we’ve got to get away from here.”
His strong arms cradled her, and he stood. Agony seared through her. Had he yanked her arm from her body?
Chapter Eighteen
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25
“We need to involve the FBI.” His son glared at him. Jerrod crossed one leg and shifted the other.
It was damn uncomfortable sitting on the hard chairs in the hospital waiting room. They’d been here a long while. “Son, we still don’t know who in the Austin office is the leak. Riley is right to work through his counterpart in the capitol police department. They can nail Richardson with the information on the flash drive and hope to turn him, so they can reach others involved.” Jerrod rose to pace the confines of the surgery waiting room. “They’ve got nothing but two dead men now. Neither of those guys were worth a shit, but one of them needed to live to testify to make the case a slam dunk.”
“Take it easy, Dad. She’s a strong woman. She’ll come through this.”
Don’s hand on his arm stopped Jerrod’s frantic movements.
“We don’t know that. Damn, I can’t lose her before—”
The doors to the waiting room flung open, and Ethan and Ellen blew in. Snowflakes covered their heads and coats.
“How is she?” Ethan, his arm around his sister’s shoulder, walked straight to Jerrod.
He stood. “Glad you got here okay. She’s been in surgery an hour. The doctor said it would last close to two.” Jerrod reached a hand to the younger man and they shook.
“We were going crazy trying to get here, what with the airlines canceling so many flights because of the storms,” Ellen said. “I barely landed in Florida when I got your call. Did she know we were on our way?” Ellen peeled a scarf from around her neck.
“Yes. I told her. Have a seat.” Jerrod said to the twins.
Don jumped to help Ellen take off her coat. “Thanks, but no,” she said. “It’ll be hours before I can sit again after the flights, delays in the airports, and the God-awful drive from Hartford.” She stared out the window.
Ethan hung his coat on a rack, next to his sister’s. “Do you know why they waited to do the surgery?”
“They wanted to get her stabilized.”
“Do they think she’ll have permanent damage?” Ellen turned toward the men. Her arms wrapped around her middle, as if trying to hold herself together.
“Hang on, Sis. How’d you miss out on a healthy dose of Mom’s optimism? You always see the glass half empty.”
“Shut up.” Her voice sounded sharp and piercing.
Jerrod made brief eye contact with his son, before Don spoke up. “Listen, I need coffee. The cafeteria’s not half-bad here, Ellen. Maybe I’ll get something to eat. Help me pick it out?” He held out his hand to her.
She looked from him to her brother and then toward Jerrod.
“Go on, Ellen. We’ll call you if we hear anything.” Jerrod patted her shoulder.
“Okay.” She took Don’s hand, and they left.
“She’s exhausted and worried. She’s been traveling for almost two days and one was bad enough.” Her brother excused Ellen’s behavior.
“Do both of you know what’s been going on?”
“We thought we did. Mom told us when we were here for Thanksgiving, but obviously, she didn’t share the whole story. She didn’t mention she was expecting to hear from these men again. Damn, this is a nightmare.” He rubbed his hands over his face and through his hair. “God, does it snow here all the time?”
For the first time in a long time, Jerrod smiled, relieved to tackle the normal topic of their winter weather. “Pretty much from late October through late March, sometimes later.” He studied the snowfall through the window. The streetlights sparkled on the big, puffy flakes floating down from the night sky like butterflies on the wing. Jill had described them that way once.
“Mom must love this.” Ethan walked to the window for a closer look. “When we were kids, the family went to Colorado every winter, stayed the two weeks of Christmas break. She acted a kid herself. Got out and played in it, you know. We had snow ball fights, and she raced us down the smaller hills on sleds.”
Ethan’s story made Jerrod ache to spend similar times with Jill. He needed to serve another year on his term in the Assembly, which would start again in January. People talked with him about taking a run at the US Senate in two years. He’d been giving the idea considerable thought. However, if he needed to give it up for Jill, he would. Politicians might never be her favorite people.
“Ethan.” Jerrod waited until the young man pivoted in his direction.
“You should know I care a great deal for your mother.” Clearly, his statement surprised her son, because his eyebrows nearly met his hairline.
“Okay.”
Jerrod didn’t flinch from the younger man’s gaze.
“What are you trying to say?”
He closed and opened fists. Time to gut up. “I haven’t done a good job so far, but I’ll look after Jill from now on.” Before Ethan had a chance to comment, the doors opened again, and Liz ushered in her grandmother.
“Have you heard anything yet?” Anne’s voice was tight with worry.
“I tried to get her to stay home, Dad, but she has a stubborn streak.”
Jerrod nodded. “Thanks for driving her, Liz. Everyone in our family is known
for a strong streak of stubborn.” He took his mother’s outerwear and shook it to get some of the snow off before hanging it. Then he hugged her. Ethan had jumped to his feet when the two women entered. “Let me help with your coat.”
Liz smiled at him and nodded her thanks. “How long have you been here, Ethan?”
“Not long. We came directly to the hospital. Don took my sister to the cafeteria to keep her from killing—damn. Probably not an expression I’ll ever be comfortable using again except in the context of war.”
Time stood still. Jerrod’s mind spun toward chaos, not knowing how things were going. Ellen and his son returned and exchanged greetings with his mother and Liz. Every now and then, one of them mumbled something, followed by a few, flimsy responses. They all appeared to be in a weird time warp, swimming slowly through thick molasses.
The whirring of the heating system clicked on and clicked off, marking the passage of time in warm air flowing from the vents, followed by the growing cold until the heat kicked on again.
“I talked with Karen,” Anne said to no one in particular. “She wants us to call her when we have news. She’s keeping in touch with Sally and Mary Ann, too. They’re taking turns with the shop.”
Jerrod kept sneaking peeks at his watch at ten-minute intervals. He tried not to, but he prowled the room while the little hand made its slow trek around the clock.
“Dad, you can’t make time go faster by checking every minute of two.” Liz joined him.
He must be checking his watch more often than he was aware.
“She’s going to be all right, Dad. She’s strong and in good shape. I know.” Her hand rested lightly on his back, rubbing small circles, attempting to calm him. Nothing would calm him but the news that Jill had successfully come through the surgery.
Finally, one hour and fifty-eight minutes after he began surgery, Dr. Sanders walked into the waiting room. “Jerrod.” He rushed toward the physician. Jerrod’s heart-beat thundered in his chest. He made himself speak with calm. “Jill’s children are here now.”
The doctor glanced around. “I see we have quite a crowd.”
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