Slim To None (Cedar Tree #1)

by Freya Barker

  Gus had no doubt he was the one behind Arlene and Kara's disappearance. Felt it in his gut. But what he couldn't figure was why. Why them? And for what? Corbin was no longer an issue for him. Sure, he probably wanted to get as much of his money back as possible, but he had to know Emma would have passed on any information she might have had to the authorities by now. He was missing something. There had to be something he was overlooking.

  Baking normally calmed her, but Emma didn't think anything would be able to still the hurricane of emotions tormenting her right now. A mix of unspeakable fear and anger on behalf of her daughter and Arlene, and an unhealthy dose of frustration and rage at her inability to do anything. Gus' off-hand implication that she would slow down efforts and be a hindrance in finding her own child had been a cold splash of disappointment and hurt. Oh, she was sure he hadn't meant it in a mean way, but my Lord... The implications behind those words. The shock of having felt faultlessly complete in this man's arms one minute, only to be found lacking by him the next, was a painful truth.

  Steeling herself against her slowly crumbling heart, she chose to concentrate on the pie dough that was shaping under her hands, forcing her mind to fill with positive thoughts in hopes the universe would be kind to her loved ones.

  *****

  By the time Dana arrived, Emma had six pie shells lined up and covered with damp tea-towels and another six balls of pie dough wrapped up in plastic, waiting to used to cover whatever filling she ended up making.

  "Keeping busy?" Dana stated the obvious as she came in the kitchen and observed the disaster Emma's 'therapy' had left in its wake.

  "Not done yet." Was all she could bring herself to say, afraid she'd lose the frail hold she had on her emotions if the older woman so much as looked at her kindly.

  Appearing to catch on to her way of coping, Dana went to wash her hands and simply asked her what she could do. Grateful for the pretence at normalcy, Emma directed her to the crate of peaches Arlene had dropped off this past week, while she checked the pantry for almonds.

  At some point during the time Emma had been working the dough and pointedly ignoring Gus, she had lost track of his whereabouts. The heavy footfalls in the hallway and looming presence behind her in the small storage space, where she was scrounging for ingredients, alerted her to the fact that he hadn't been too far away this whole time. But when she tried to get past him with her bag of almonds, he wasn't moving out of the way. "Excuse me," she said, rather sourly. "I tried staying out of your way. If you'd be so kind and return the favor?" Forcing her way past him, she glimpsed the look of confusion on his face, before she felt herself being grabbed around the waist and caged in against the wall his front against her back and his hot lips at her ear.

  "I'm gonna give you that, even though I don't have a fucking clue what I've done. But this is not the time to get in to whatever it is. Know this though, my sweet angry Emma. I'm not done with you."

  Sucking in deep breaths, Emma tried to regain her equilibrium after he pulled his body away from hers. Both physically and emotionally she needed steadier ground. Hearing him talk to Dana in the kitchen had her moving in that direction, only to catch the last few words.

  "... in Joe's office."

  "What's happening in Joe's office?" She wanted to know.

  "Caleb is meeting Frank and Joe there. He hasn't had any luck in Durango, and is going to be my contact in that office. I'm not leaving here. I have a feeling this is only the beginning and my guess is Arlene and Kara are not the objective but merely a means to an end."

  Slowly the realization dawned on her. "Me? Using them to get to me? Fucking why? Why me? What is so goddamn special about me?" Anger had eclipsed all other emotions now. Good. She was about ready to rip someone's throat out with her teeth if they came close enough.

  "My gut tells me it is still Silva, but something doesn't quite make sense. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't hear something soon."

  Emma wasn't sure if that insight from Gus was supposed to make her feel better, 'cause it didn't. But at this point she would welcome some action, any action, because waiting without knowing anything was starting to drive her insane.

  Chapter 22

  Three times the fucking phone rang, and not once was it anything that brought them closer to finding out what happened to Arlene and Kara. The first time had been Seb, whom he should have called back. He felt bad about that, the man was a mess and ready to close the diner down. His sneaky suspicion that there was more going on between Seb and his employer was only enforced by the man's tangible fear when hearing it might involve kidnapping. Gus expected him to show up any minute. He was getting rid of the last customers and sending the waiting staff home before locking up.

  The second call had been Frank, who should've known better than calling the house phone. Of course Gus didn't hesitate to inform him of that. He still hadn't quite gotten over the way the sheriff had dragged his feet when one of his own turned out to have been involved. Things like that rubbed him exactly the wrong way.

  Frank called to give Gus a head's up that aside from State Patrol, the entire task force had been notified. They were apparently contemplating putting the FBI on standby, given their close proximity to the various state borders. But until they could confirm any wrongdoing or contact was made, their hands would be tied.

  Dr. Naomi Waters had been the third one on the phone checking in to see how her patient was faring. By this time, Emma was almost coming apart at the seams and about ripped the phone off the kitchen wall. When she heard her doctor's voice, she simply shoved the phone at Gus, and dropped her head on her arms on the counter. In as few words as possible, Gus told Naomi that Kara and Arlene were missing. That she should call Joe at the Sheriff's office for more information, but that they needed to keep this phone line open. Then he apologized and hung up.

  When he went to rub Emma on her back in comfort and support, she immediately straightened up and moved over to the sink to start on some dishes. Hmmm. Still in the doghouse. Dana looked back and forth between the two of them and raised her eyebrow questioningly at him, but all he could do was shrug his shoulders. Damned if he knew.

  It was getting close to eleven o'clock at night. Seb had long since arrived with some leftovers from the diner. Neil had also shown up and brought most of his equipment, not wanting to be too far from the action. Caleb had run over some recording equipment borrowed from the FBI satellite office in Durango. Luckily they had Neil who would be able to install it right away.

  They had all had managed to eat some of the food Seb had brought over. Finishing off copious amounts of coffee, they also made a serious dent in the peach and almond pies Emma had been baking. Those had been hard to resist when the whole house had smelled of the freshly baked pastry all night. Two and a half pies gone. Just like that. Damn, that woman could bake. Seeing people enjoy the fruits of her labor had done her some good, judging by the small, pleased smile on her face as she kept serving slices. In some cases seconds and thirds.

  Coffee and the comfort food had soon worn off and with Emma's small house full of anxious people and way too few answers, tension was beginning to build to near cutting quality.

  When the house phone rang, Emma about leapt off her perch on the kitchen stool, right by the wall unit. Quickly standing up and placing a hand on hers, preventing her from snatching it off the hook right away, he softly reminded her, "Give Neil a chance to start recording, darlin'." To which she curtly nodded in understanding.

  Keeping one hand on her neck for support, he indicated for her to pick it up pressing his ear close so he could listen in.

  "Hello?"

  "...Mom?" Gus could hear Kara's voice, confused and scared.

  "Oh, sweetie. Are you okay? Is Arlene? Is she with you?" Clutching at his free hand, Emma was fighting hard to stay strong. "Honey? Talk to me please ..."

  But all they could hear was a soft crying. "Kara?" Emma tried again.

  "I'm okay. I'm scared, Mom. Arlene, she
's here, she fought ... she, she got hurt. She's hurt." With Kara sobbing now, it was difficult to understand what she was saying.

  "We'll do whatever it takes to get you both help, sweetie. Where are you? Are you alone?"

  Gus gave Emma an encouraging squeeze.

  "No, not alone. I'm not allowed to say anymore. Only that you will receive instructions tomorrow in your post office box. And they're saying only you and Gus - no one else or they'll hurt us."

  "Honey, please. I'll do anything to get you, I love you."

  Wrapping his hand around the receiver, Gus twisted it against his mouth.

  "Kara, doll, listen to me. You sit tight and do exactly what they ask. Don't fight them okay? Don't argue and don't fight. We won't stop until we have you. I promise."

  "Make it a point to look out for Mom, Gus. If something happens, take care of her. She loves Mesa Verde, you take her around, take her fishing. She'll love... " And just like that the connection was broken, but not before they could hear a man's voice softly bite out 'Enough' in the background.

  Emma's carefully maintained control crumbled. He wrapped her up in both arms, trying to hold her together as she was falling apart. His eyes found Neil's over her shoulder, hoping he might have had enough to trace the call, but the curt shake of Neil's head told him enough. But Kara had been very clever

  "Did you get everything on tape, Neil?"

  He took Emma by the hand and took her with him to sit on the couch.

  "Yep, have it all."

  "Play it back, will ya? The last few sentences Kara directed at me. I need to hear them again. She was telling me something."

  Emma looked at him with disbelief on her face. "A message? She was scared, Gus. She was looking out for me." Her eyebrows drawn together, he could tell she was confused.

  But as soon as Neil played back Kara's words and Emma actually listened to them, her eyes opened wide and she turned to him with a smile on her face. "My girl fucking rocks!"

  Glad to see some life back on her face, he planted a quick hard kiss on her lips.

  "She sure does, darlin'. She sure does."

  "Sorry to interrupt this love fest, but what the fuck are you talking about? All I was able to make out was that Arlene couldn't keep check of her temper and got herself hurt. Also we have a whole night to wait and worry some more." Seb obviously had reached the end of his patience in letting Emma and him take the lead. He couldn't blame the man and quickly enlightened him.

  "Anyone who knows Emma, knows she can't stand fishing. I'll admit, when she started talking I was listening to the message, not so much the words, until she mentioned taking Emma fishing. Then I knew I had to pay attention."

  "Well I'll be damned." Was Seb's response. "Let's hear it again."

  Caleb had already transcribed her words and highlighted the possible clues. Mesa Verde was an obvious one. They figured out that ‘around’ was an odd way to phrase something.

  "So we have fishing, around and Mesa Verde. Anyone have any ideas?"

  Neil had pulled up a map of the area and Gus was looking over his shoulder.

  "What about the Mancos River?" Neil suggested. "It runs almost all around the other side of Mesa Verde before it intersects with the 160 in Mancos, and again south of the Ute reservation. But that is a lot of area to cover."

  "It's mostly unpopulated area so it's not like there are a lot of access roads. I'm thinking this would be a good time to fill in Joe and Frank at the Sheriff's office. They can put the right calls out to State Patrol, and perhaps park officials to keep an eye out. At least we can be pretty sure they aren't too far from here, but given that it is near midnight and pitch dark out, I don't think there will be much point in looking tonight. So I suggest we all try and get some sleep and wait for daylight."

  Neil and Dana went back to the motel for a few hours of sleep. Gus handed Seb a pillow and some blankets so he could take the couch, since he wasn't about to leave. Then Gus talked with Caleb on the porch for a minute. "You going to be okay out here?" He wanted to know.

  "Yeah. I don't want to leave you alone here. I don't like that they are basically inviting you to come along tomorrow. That doesn't sit right. Seems odd. Everything about this seems odd. Not at all the way I would expect Silva to conduct business. So I'm gonna be around."

  "Okay, if you're sure. Need a break, come get me. Alright?"

  "Go look after your woman. Keep your eye on the prize." Caleb winked at him and stepped off the porch into the darkness.

  Chapter 23

  Drained and in a significant amount of pain, Emma was struggling to get her kitchen clean before she could settle enough to go lie down. She had no illusions about sleeping, but would need to give her body a chance to rest, or she wouldn't be any good to anyone by morning. She was realistic enough to know that.

  Seb walked in and took the dishrag out of her hand, nudging her to the side. "You go get ready for bed. You look about ready to drop. I'll finish cleaning up." Ignoring her protests, he simply picked up where she left off until finally she gave in, wished him a good night and headed for the sanctuary of her bedroom.

  Sitting down on the side of her bed, she considered having a shower. Wash the remnants of what surely had been the worst day of her life away, but she couldn't bring herself to spend the energy. A bath would be nice now. Although she normally loathed baths, it wouldn't require much more of her than to simply lay back and soak. Oh, and attempt not to drown in the process. Which, given the current weight of her eyelids, was a distinct possibility. Hell, she didn't even have the energy to undress. she simply allowed herself to fall backward on the bed and rested her eyes. Just for a minute, just until Gus came to bed.

  She could hear Kara crying, but she couldn't get to her. Her arms and legs wouldn't move, and no one was listening. They kept walking around her like she was an obstacle in their way, deaf to her pleas - her cries to be seen, to be heard. And all the time, her daughter's sobbing was moving away, further and further out of reach, to where she couldn't even hear her anymore ... and the silence was quietly killing her.

  Rough calloused fingers wiped at her wet cheeks. Confused, she opened her eyes to find Gus' deep brown fixed on her. "You were having a dream, darlin'. Crying and screaming. You okay?"

  She could feel his deep voice resonating in his chest. Then he chuckled, shaking her a little in the process. "You scared the stuffing out of Seb. He came poundin' on the door, convinced I was trying to harm you."

  Still a bit rattled and trying to compute the dream, the memories of the day that came flooding back, along with the emotions that came along with it, she looked at Gus.

  "Did you undress me?" She asked, not remembering how she ended up wearing one of his shirts and wrapped tightly against him.

  "When I came into the room, you were dead to the world, full dressed and only half on the bed. You didn't even blink when I moved you all the way up, so I decided you would probably be more comfortable out of your clothes than to sleep in them all night."

  "Oh. Thanks, I guess." She might still be a little dazed, but she could clearly remember now how angry and disappointed she was with him. Enough not to be too friendly, but not enough to deny herself the comfort of his warm body wrapped around hers. Frig. She could be such a pushover.

  "Are you ever gonna tell me what I did wrong?"

  Yeah, she figured he wasn't going to let it go. He had told her so plainly enough. Turning around to face him, she decided to give it to him straight. "You know what pisses me off more than anything?" A raised eyebrow is all the response she got. "The fact that you don't even realize you screwed up. That's what eats at me most."

  "I obviously realize I messed up something or I wouldn't be asking you what I did wrong, would I?"

  Oh lovely, attitude. Just what she needed.

  "Come on now. Let it out. Not good to let it eat at you." He urged her on.

  "You know what? You're a sanctimonious prick! You lead me on. You made me believe you saw more than a crip
ple. That you simply registered it like the color of my hair and nothing more, but that was a lie, wasn't it?"

  Not quite connecting the dots, Gus shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs. "Come again?"

  "You. When the chips where down, you didn't know how fast to point out my limitations and push me to the side."

  Okay. Now he was getting a little pissed himself. Pointing out her limitations? What? "Emma, I swear to God have no idea what you are talking about. I have never pointed out your 'so-called' limitations. And let me remind you those are your words and not mine. Where is this coming from?"

  Getting worked up to a full head of steam now, Emma sits up in bed and points at him.

  "Ha! You did so. You told me outside not to get in your way or I would slow you down. You can't deny you said that."

  Realization dawning, he closed his eyes and shook his head in exasperation. "Emma ..." He groaned. "You can't tell me you don't realize I would've said the same thing to anyone in your situation?" Noticing her triumphant look, he quickly clarified. "As a parent; Your situation as the parent of a missing child. Or as someone whose loved one might be in trouble. In fact, when I heard and saw Seb's reaction to Arlene's disappearance, I told him the same damn thing!"

  Seeing her eyes widen and her shoulders slowly drop in sudden understanding, did a lot to abate his anger. Scooting closer to her, he cupped her face, hating to see the doubt lingering behind the tears. "Oh sweet Peach. Don't you see it's you who labels? Simply by how you choose to interpret the things I say." Understanding the concept of the knee-jerk response quite well from personal experience, Gus felt pretty awful for her. "Come here, you." Leaning back, he gently pulled her back down beside him, her head tucked under his chin.