by Regan Black
And he closed his eyes.
His internal clock woke him up twelve minutes later. She was looking at him, a smile on her face. He felt his face get hot. He didn’t snore. He didn’t think so anyway. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey, yourself. I was going to let you sleep.”
He shook his head. “I’m good to go. I’m going to run inside and use the facilities. You got to go?”
“For sure,” she said. “I imagine you’re not stopping again until Nashville.”
“That’s about right.” He opened his door, grabbed his shaving kit from his bag in the back seat and waited for her to join him on the sidewalk. He smiled when he saw that she’d grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste from her backpack. “Your dentist must be very proud,” he said.
She ran her tongue over her teeth and it made him remember when she’d run her tongue over him. Took him deep into her mouth.
“You’re breathing funny,” she said. “Are you okay?”
“Peachy.” There was no way that they were having sex in a highway rest stop. But once they put this thing to rest, all bets were off. They were going to find a bed and make damn good use of it. “Five minutes,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” she said, and gave him a mock salute.
It took her ten but when she came out, her face was shiny clean and she’d put her hair in some kind of knot at the top of her head. When she got close, he grabbed her. Kissed her hard.
“Minty fresh,” he said when he finally came up for air.
“You, too,” she said. She rubbed a hand across his jaw. “And smooth.”
He grabbed her wrist gently, bent to talk in her ear. “Touch me again like that and you’re going to see how smooth these walls are because I’m going to take you up against one of them.”
She smiled and started walking to the SUV. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
It was silly banter and it felt good. Because both of them knew that when daylight came and they reached Nashville, it wasn’t likely to be much fun.
Once Laura confirmed with the daycare that Rankin had given them some bogus excuse about why Hannah was no longer in attendance, they would go to see Detective Phillips. If he wouldn’t listen or be helpful, then Rico intended to work his way up the chain of command until somebody would listen. Hannah was safe, but how many more people would be hurt by Rankin before he was stopped?
They got in the SUV, buckled up, and he took off. And they didn’t stop again until they crossed the Tennessee line. “We need gas and breakfast,” he said.
“By the time we do that, I should be able to call the daycare.”
The diner he chose was clean and warm and he got a big plate of eggs with biscuits and gravy. Laura got pancakes and bacon. She got coffee; he got tea. Once they’d paid the check and were back in the SUV, Laura made her call. She put it on speakerphone.
She stuck to the script and apologized for the absence. The manager huffed and puffed a little and said that she’d expected Laura to keep in touch better but she understood that a death in the family could be a trying time. She said it had been especially difficult because Mary Margaret had also up and quit last week, too.
Mary Margaret. That had been the woman who’d also been upset by the questions from the people visiting the daycare with Rankin.
Laura apologized again and it was clear that the boss was willing to give Laura her old job back. Not that it mattered. Laura was a physical therapist. Had a career she loved. That’s what she should be doing.
Then Laura mentioned Mrs. Wise and how surprised she’d been to hear about her death. The manager said that it was a shock and she wasn’t sure if it was related to Mrs. Wise’s death or not, but Hannah Collins’s stepfather had notified the center that Hannah would no longer be attending the daycare.
He and Laura made eye contact. He wasn’t surprised by the news. It was really the only thing Rankin could have done if he wanted to continue to hide Hannah’s absence.
Laura ended the call shortly after that, promising to see her boss the following Monday.
“Well, now we know,” he said.
She nodded. “Here’s what we don’t know. We don’t know if Mrs. Wise told Rankin that she’d handed Hannah off to me outside the daycare. I mean, there would really be no reason to if he’s acting like there’s no issue with Hannah.”
“But if he was fishing for information, he might have made something up. Like, Hannah was kind of quarrelsome when I picked her up, did everything go okay when you dropped her off? Something like that that would get her talking.”
Laura nodded. “And if she tells him about me, and if he somehow finds out that I’m not there the next day, he likely would put two and two together and I’m a math answer.”
“Lot of ifs,” he said.
“This is a man who has managed to target two women and engineer multiple deaths in order to receive substantial life insurance payments.”
He started the SUV. “Odd that Mary Margaret quit the same time.”
“It is. She was already working there when I got hired on. I thought she was really good with the kids. Seemed to take an interest in Hannah. In fact—” she hesitated “—sometimes I would actually get jealous because Mary Margaret spent so much time with Hannah.”
“She’s an easy kid to spend time with,” Rico said.
“Yeah, you’re right. We should get going. Now I’m really anxious to talk to Detective Phillips.”
* * *
When they were still fifteen minutes out of Nashville, Rico took an exit off the interstate highway. “Do we need gas?” she asked.
“Nope. That sign back there said the town was four miles. We’re going to drive a mile or two, find a nice stretch of deserted road, and I’m going to drive the Mustang out of the trailer.”
“And leave it here?”
He shook his head. “I’m going to drive it into Nashville. We want it found sooner than later so that this part is behind us.”
“But…that could be dangerous,” she said. “What if a cop sees you?”
“I could probably pass one and not get a second look. Cars are reported missing every day in a city. It won’t be top of mind for any officer. The only danger is if I get stopped for something else and they run the plates. But I won’t do anything that gets me stopped, and this is ultimately less dangerous than the alternative.”
“What’s the alternative?”
“Driving it out of the back of the trailer on a city street where there is a much greater likelihood of street cameras.”
And potentially more people to see them. “Okay, but once you drop the car somewhere, how are you going to get back here?”
“Not back here. You’re going to drive the SUV and empty trailer into Nashville. How well do you know the city?”
“Not that well. The daycare was close to the campus for Vanderbilt University, so I know that stretch pretty well. And I guess I know the tourist area, what they call Honky Tonk Row. I went there for a couple different music events with my friend Melissa.”
“Okay. That’s the area I know, as well. Bought a real nice pair of cowboy boots as I recall on one of my trips.” He fiddled with the GPS for a few minutes. “I’ve got this set for Broadway and Fourth Avenue, which is smack-dab in the middle of Honky Tonk Row. Head for that. Find a parking spot somewhere close and then call my cell phone with an exact spot. You’ve got your phone, right?”
“Yes. In my purse.”
“Enter my number in your contacts,” he said. He watched her dig in her purse, pull out the phone and enter the information. “Now enter your number in my phone,” he said. She did that, too, then slipped her phone back into her purse.
“I’ll find a good place to ditch the Mustang and then catch a cab,” he said. “Lots of people getting dropped off in a tourist area—less chance of standing out or
being remembered for any reason.”
“Then what?”
“We go see Detective Phillips.”
“I think we should call him versus just popping into his office. Makes it seem as if we’re more respectful of his time.”
“You’re probably right. And this case isn’t the only one he’s working. He might need a few minutes to shift gears. When we talk to him, I want him one hundred percent focused on us. Do you have his number with you?”
“I memorized it. But I’m kind of afraid to call him.”
“Why?”
“I know that Seth had his cop friend check to see if there was a warrant out for my arrest and they didn’t find one but…but what if it’s being kept very quiet and now…well, now I’m about to just fall into their laps. Like an early Christmas present.”
He shook his head. “Christmas is more than two months away. We have to talk to him. We didn’t drive all this way for nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” she said. “We’ll have returned the Mustang.”
Rico shook his head and held out his phone. “Call him.”
“Fine,” she muttered. She dialed and put it on speaker. Listened to it ring.
“Detective Phillips,” the man answered.
“Detective, this is Laura Collins.” She wet her dry lips with her tongue. He would surely remember her.
“What can I do for you, Laura?” he asked, as if he did.
“I’d like to come see you. I…have some information that I’d like to share.”
“Information about what?” he asked.
Rico shook his head. She nodded. Cleared her throat. “I’d like to discuss that in person,” she said. “Could I come see you?”
“I’m available at noon,” he said.
“Fine. I’ll be there.” She hung up.
“Good job,” Rico said. “And that gives us plenty of time.” He opened his door. “Showtime.”
She got out, walked around the back of the SUV and climbed into the driver’s seat. Stared straight ahead as she listened to the back doors of the trailer being opened. Knew that he was putting out the ramps. Heard the car engine. Felt the vibration of the car being driven out of the trailer.
Now she could see it in her rearview mirror. Such a sweet little car to be causing so much trouble. Had she known that Hannah’s disappearance wouldn’t be reported and that she wasn’t suspect number one, she would have driven her own car and avoided this whole mess.
But who would have imagined that. It was true that Rankin paid almost no attention to Hannah and left her in the care of others but still, a child was missing.
She heard the rear door of the trailer being shut and watched Rico get back into the car. Then he was driving past her, rolling down his passenger-side window. He had on his sunglasses and wore a baseball cap, pulled low onto his forehead. He’d turned up the collar of his coat to hide more of his face.
“Okay?” he asked.
“Okay,” she said. She summoned up a smile. “See you in Nashville.”
“Give me a ten-minute head start,” he said. “This is going to be easy-peasy,” he said, invoking one of Hannah’s favorite phrases.
She hoped so. The alternative was too terrible to consider.
* * *
Rico had been in Nashville twice but didn’t know the city all that well. The Mustang didn’t have GPS so he navigated off his phone. He found an exit that he thought would work and made the turn. A mile down the road, his breath caught in his chest as a cop car came toward him.
He didn’t make eye contact and the car cruised by. Rico watched him in his rearview mirror, but there was nothing to be concerned about.
He wanted to dump the car as quickly as he could and limit his street driving and the opportunities for street cameras to pick him up. He realized that he was close to Vanderbilt University. That was good. There would be cabs in the area.
He found a spot, in a no-parking zone. He pulled in, killed the engine and put the keys under the floor mat. He was wearing gloves and he was confident that he’d done a good job of wiping the car down before they’d left Colorado. Neither he nor Laura would be tied to the car via fingerprints.
He opened the door, keeping his face down. He walked away without a backward glance. Went into the science building. There were students milling around but nobody gave him a second look.
He quickly found a men’s room and checked to make sure it was empty. Then he took off his hat and gloves and stuffed them in the pockets of his coat before slipping the garment off. It was close to sixty in Nashville, a far cry from the temperature in Colorado. He would draw attention dressed so warmly.
Casually carrying his coat over his arm, he merged back into the hallway traffic. Went out the rear door of the building. Crossed several streets, went in and out of a couple more buildings, and finally, hailed a cab to take him to Honky Tonk Row.
He checked his phone in the cab and saw that Laura had texted him. She had a parking spot, near the Hilton Hotel, just a block or two off Broadway. He texted back, said that he’d be there in fifteen minutes. He wanted to reassure her that everything was going to be fine but decided that could wait until he saw her.
* * *
Laura had been worried about finding a parking place big enough for the SUV and the trailer but had lucked out. She’d turned off the SUV and immediately texted Rico the closest intersection. Then she’d stared at her phone. When Rico’s text came in, she wanted to cry in relief. She’d been so worried that he was going to get stopped before he could get rid of the car.
She had sat for another five minutes when a car passed. It parked in front of her, in a no-parking zone. A man and a woman got out, the woman holding a map. They were pointing at street signs and seemed to be looking for addresses on buildings.
They walked toward her SUV and stopped outside her door. “Do you know this area?” the man asked.
She could probably help them but her general wariness of strangers, probably heightened from being on the run with Hannah, kicked in and she kept her window up. Her door was already locked. “Where do you want to go?” she asked.
“To the Brasserie,” he said. “It’s a restaurant.”
Not one she was familiar with. She shook her head. “Sorry,” she said, loud enough that they could hear her through the closed window. “I’ve never heard of it.”
The woman stepped forward. “We’ve got a map. Can we show you?”
Oh, fine. She rolled down her window. Smiled at the woman. “Let me see what you’ve got.”
And realized too late that what the woman had was a gun under her map, now pointed directly at Laura’s face.
CHAPTER 20
Rico saw the red SUV and trailer from more than a block away. He walked faster, grateful that the short separation from Laura was over. He just felt better when she was by his side.
He went to the passenger side, assuming she was in the driver’s seat, and stopped short. The SUV was empty. He swiveled his neck, looking at the nearby businesses. Had she needed a restroom, perhaps?
He took out his phone, dialed her number. Her phone had to be out of her purse. She’d texted him less than fifteen minutes ago. It rang and then went to voice mail. “Hey, I’m at our vehicle,” he said. “Where are you?” He hung up. Dialed again. Same result. He didn’t leave another message.
He opened the back of the trailer. It was empty. Closed the doors and started up the sidewalk.
Went two blocks before turning around and walking the other side.
His heart seemed to think he’d run a marathon. It was beating hard in his chest and the air he sucked into his lungs felt heavy. Something had happened to her. He knew it.
Hodge Rankin. Somehow he’d gotten to her. He was going to tear the man apart, limb by limb, if he touched a hair on Laura’s head.
He had the man’s address. He clicked a few buttons on his phone and he had a map. Twenty minutes, back the direction he’d just come from.
He had his gun but had no idea how Rankin might be armed. Had no idea if he might have accomplices.
He ran his finger through his list of recent calls. Found the one where Laura had called Detective August Phillips. He made the call.
“Detective Phillips,” the man answered.
“My name is Rico Metez. I am a friend of Laura Collins, who contacted you about a half hour ago and scheduled a noon meeting with you. Laura is missing from her vehicle. It has to be Hodge Rankin.”
The man was silent. Finally, he said, “Where is Hannah Collins?”
That set Rico back but now wasn’t the time to play coy. “Safe in Colorado. With good friends. How did you know that Laura had Hannah?”
“I’ve known since Gloria Wise contacted me after going to the daycare to pick up Hannah and she wasn’t there. She didn’t believe Hodge Rankin’s story that he’d picked her up and she was playing inside the house.”
“Why did she contact you?”
“I had interviewed her once, following the death of Ariel Collins. She still had my card.”
“Laura was trying to do the right thing,” Rico said.
“I know. That’s why we let it go. Hannah was safer with her aunt than with Rankin.”
“Well, she’s safe but Laura isn’t. I know something has happened to her. I’m on my way to Hodge Rankin’s house.”
“Don’t go to Rankin’s house.” Now the detective was speaking fast. Hard.
“Why not?” He was back at his SUV. Thank God Jennie had been smart enough to give them two keys.
“Because if you go charging in there, there is a good chance that you’re going to get shot.”
Rico hurriedly pulled the pin from the trailer hook and freed up the SUV. He might need to maneuver quickly and he didn’t want to be hauling a trailer. “By Rankin?”
“No. By one of the officers who is watching that house, 24/7.”
What? “Why are you watching his house?”