by Nancy Allan
CHAPTER 31
Turning off the highway at Sanville, her mind still reeling from her encounter with Vera Johnstone, Amy missed her turn and found herself near Nita’s house. On impulse she turned down the street, switched off the headlights, and let the Sportage roll along the curb until the house was visible.
As Amy expected, the building was dark, most of the blinds drawn. What she didn’t expect was to see Nita’s Camry on the drive.
A narrow shaft of light moved inside the house, near the entry. The front door opened and Nita stepped outside, dragging two huge suitcases. She locked the front door, deposited the luggage into the trunk of her car, backed down the drive, and drove off.
Without switching on her headlights, Amy followed about a block behind. When they reached the main road, she turned on her lights but stayed well back. Nita turned into Burgers’nMore, pulled up to the take out window, and a couple of minutes later, parked on the side of the lot.
Amy made her move. She jumped out of the SUV. A second later, she swung open the car door and slipped into the passenger seat of the Camry.
Nita’s eyes grew large as they settled on Amy. “What the—“
Amy turned toward her. “Put your burger down and start the car." As they left the lot, Amy said, "Now, head for the 101.”
In shock, Nita did as she was told. “Where are we going,” she asked nervously.
“To your father’s house.”
Nita glanced sideways at Amy, her initial surprise passing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Amy was suddenly furious. “We’re talking about your father, George Johnstone! Who’s not so dead after all. And you’re mother, Vera Johnstone, also very much alive and who has all the warmth of a glacier.”
Nita shrugged. “So you found my parents. So what?”
“You’re father sold his soul thirty-two years ago. He abducted my twin and took her to some bio-medical research facility in Paraguay. What was that about?”
“Never heard about that,” Nita said stubbornly.
“Your parents are criminals, Nita. Both of them.”
Nita swerved into a pull off. “You’ve flipped. All the stress, like Dan said.” Nita taunted. “You don’t even sound like yourself.”
“Could be,” Amy agreed, trying to calm down. “Stress has a strange effect on a woman, especially when her child has been kidnapped.”
“You stupid, ignorant woman,” Nita spat out, “you were doomed the day you married Dan. You inserted yourself into the middle of a lethal situation. There’s no way out now. You’ll never see Jamie again.” She turned on Amy. “I knew it would come to this. Why do you think I spent every minute I could with Jamie, for the last five years? I knew everything would come to a head, and then you’d be out of the picture. Someone would have to raise the boy. I knew he’d be mine one day.”
Amy could barely breathe. “So, you stole my son?”
Nita stared at Amy. “I didn’t take Jamie. Dan’s giving him to me. Being Jamie’s loving aunt, I’m the logical choice as surrogate mother.”
Amy almost choked. “Just like that? You can’t have a child of your own so you’re stealing mine?”
“It’s not stealing. Like I said, Dan’s giving him to me.”
“Well I didn’t give him to you, Nita. Jamie is my flesh and blood. My child. Nothing will ever change that.” Amy wondered why she’d never seen Nita for the kind of woman she really was. “You’ll never be Jamie’s mother, Nita. And time won’t change that. Jamie is a part of me, and that bond will never be broken. Even if you lathered him with love and affection for the rest of your life, it wouldn’t make any difference to Jamie. You’ll always be his Aunt Nita and nothing more.”
Nita sneered, “You always had everything. Everything: beauty, brains, money, career, and on top of all that, a wonderful little boy. It made me sick to look at you. Well, things have changed. You’ll never find Jamie. Now, get out of my car!”
Amy lost it. “You snide, self-righteous, pompous, sick excuse for a human being!” Amy grabbed Nita’s hair and yanked her around to face her. “Being the barren woman that you are doesn’t condone kidnapping. I want my son and I want him now!”
Amy was furious. “You’re a viper, just like your mother.” Amy glared at Nita. It was clear she had no intention of telling Amy where Jamie was. There was only one thing left to do. Amy slipped the Beretta from her purse. Her eyes flashed to Nita as she thrust the barrel toward her.
Nita jumped. “A gun! My god! You really have flipped. What are you going to do? Shoot me with that thing?”
“You’d be hard to miss.”
“You’ll never do it. Not with all you’ve had to say about gun violence.”
“You’ve put yourself between my child and me, Nita.” Amy pointed the Beretta at Nita, “and there’s no room for you!”
“You stupid bitch!” Nita spit. "Your life’s not worth a damn. You’re on borrowed time. So, by default I get Jamie. Now, get the hell out of my car.”
Amy let off the safety. “Where’s my son?”
“You wouldn’t dare—“
The explosion was deafening. Amy sat in stunned silence, her ears ringing, the gun shaking in her hand. Nita’s eyes were popping, her mouth agape. Neither woman said a word.
Amy recovered first. “Just be glad I missed. Start the car.”
Nita swallowed hard. “You’re crazy!”
“Start the car.” Amy leveled the gun again.
“No! I don’t care what you do. I’m not taking you to Jamie.”
The second blast seemed to blow out Amy’s eardrums. But that soon proved untrue. Nita’s scream rang in her ears a second later. The driver door flew open and Nita bolted out onto the highway.
Amy walked around the car and slipped behind the wheel. Rain dripped in through the holes in the roof. Turning the car around, she headed back to Sanville making a call on the way.
“Sanville Sheriff’s Department. Is this an emergency?”
“Not yet,” Amy replied.
“What’s the nature of the call?”
“I want to report a woman wandering down the US101 about five miles south of town. I’m a little worried. She doesn’t seem all there.”
“Do you have a description?”
“Short, dark hair, swarthy skin, white sneakers, no coat, and she’s ranting at the top of her lungs."
CHAPTER 32
Dallas opened the apartment door and flipped on the lights. He didn’t bother to call out to Amy. It was too quiet. She wasn’t there. Disappointed, he kicked off his shoes, and dropped his cell, keys, and pocket coins onto the kitchen table and headed for the shower.
With hot water pelting his skin, his thoughts drifted back to Amy. Each passing day she grew more distraught about Jamie. The need to find her son and to resolve the nightmare that had taken over her life was pushing her to close to the edge. It had numbed her senses and sent her body into overdrive.
Worse, the danger to Amy’s life increased every passing hour. The key, at this point, was Dr. George Johnstone, the OB/GYN who delivered her and her twin, but finding the man was proving difficult. It was no surprise that Vera Johnstone’s directions were faulty. Yet, Dallas felt that he and his team had been close. Dallas had returned to Sanville frustrated and weary.
Meanwhile, where was Amy? She should have been back by now.
Several possibilities came to mind as he stepped from the shower and toweled off. Once dressed, he called the car rental agency down the street. Bingo, she rented a blue 2011 KIA Sportage.
Dallas retrieved his keys, coins, and cell phone from the table, noting he had missed a call while he was in the shower. It was Debbie. He called her back.
“Helmut Eickher, Sheriff. No birth records or any other vitals, social, or driver’s license within the US, but I did some digging. He’s listed as a shareholder of CellBIX along with Vera and George Johnstone, and a Doris Eickher.”
“Interesting. Thanks a lot, De
b.” Dallas hung up, tipped a can of chili into a bowl, and stuck it in the microwave. Next, he pulled a loaf of Tuscany bread from the freezer and opening the microwave, he retrieved the heated chili and put in the bread.
Carrying the bread and chili over to the table, he had just sat down when the phone rang again.
“Something just came up, Sheriff,” Debbie told him, “An anonymous call came in concerning a woman seen wandering down the 101, just south of town. Dispatch sent Larson to check it out. You’ll never guess who he’s bringing in. And, I might add, she’s madder than hell.”
Dallas ground his teeth. He hated these you’ll never guess routines. “Spit it out.”
Debbie continued, “Nita Williams. Larson says she frying mad and she’s accusing Amy of trying to kill her. According to Nita, Amy fired a gun at her. And not once, but twice!”
“Twice,” Dallas repeated dully, trying to visualize Amy with a gun.
“What was Nita doing on the highway?”
“She says Amy hijacked her car.”
The whole thing sounded bizarre to Dallas. He couldn’t even visualize Amy with a gun, let alone her shooting anyone. “When Nita comes in, hold on the statement. I’ll look after that.” Dallas clipped the cell to his belt, and headed out the door, his uneaten supper still on the table.
Nita was being escorted inside the building when Dallas arrived. By the time he joined her in the interrogation room, she was steaming. “I want Amy Johnson arrested. She’s off her rocker! Tried to kill me!”
Dallas sat down on an old metal chair, leaned back, and put his feet up on the empty chair beside him. He waited her out.
“I want that woman charged with…with…attempted murder and grand theft!”
“Theft of what?”
“Don’t mock me, Sheriff. She stole my car.”
“I drove by your place on my way here. Your Camry’s parked on your drive.”
The door opened a crack and Debbie poked her nose inside, motioning Dallas over to the door. She whispered, “The Camry on Nita’s drive? There are two bullet holes in the roof.”
Dallas’s eyebrows shot up. Debbie gave him a strange look and left.
Nita pounced. “What was that about? You find her?”
Dallas ignored the question. “Amy Johnson is your sister-in-law.”
“So?”
“Any idea why she’d do what you just described?”
“She’s gone mad. That’s reason enough.”
“Give me another reason, Nita.”
Nita slammed the palms of her hands down on the table. “What do you mean, another reason? I’m the goddamned victim here, Sheriff, remember? I’m not supposed to analyze why the woman’s gone off the deep end.”
Dallas met her gaze and held it, his cool blue eyes boring into hers.
Nita turned away. “You’re not going to get away with playing mind games with me, Dallas Wayburne.” Nita yanked out a chair and collapsed into it, her cheeks flaming. “Get out your pen and start writing up the charges.”
Dallas slouched in his chair, but his eyes never left her.
“You hear me, Sheriff?”
Dallas sat up slowly and leaned forward until his face was only inches from hers. He spoke quietly. “I’m only going to say this once, Nita, so listen up. In about two minutes Deputy Larson is going to come through that door and read you your rights. You’ll be charged with the kidnapping and the abduction of Jamie Johnson.” His voice was hushed, but it filled the room.
Nita stared at him, aghast. Dallas continued, “You are going to be taken to a cell downstairs where you will remain until your arraignment. The State will ask for the maximum sentence—they don’t take kindly to kidnappers.” Dallas stood and walked to the door.
Nita’s eyes followed him. “You can’t be serious!”
Ignoring her, he put his hand on the doorknob, and pulled open the door.
Nita jumped up so fast the metal chair flew out from under her, clattering against the concrete floor. “Wait! I didn’t take Jamie. You’ve got it wrong.”
Dallas stood still, his back to her.
She continued, “Dan, Brandon, and I have been staying with our father. Jamie’s with all of us, sort of. Dan promised we’d get Jamie when things settled down. But that hasn’t happened yet.”
Dallas turned. “And where exactly is your father's place?”
Nita appeared to consider her options. “You can’t hold me, Sheriff. I haven’t done anything.”
Dallas stepped out the door.
“Wait!” Nita called to him. “I’ll explain how to get there, but you have to let me out of here, Sheriff. I hate this place.”
Dallas ripped a piece of paper from his pad. “Start writing.” When Nita was finished, he read them over. “These are the same directions your mother gave me. It’s a dead end.”
“It looks that way. In fact, my father had the architect design the house so it can’t be seen from the drive. Amy can show you. She was working under his architect at the time.”
Dallas was surprised. “Are you telling me that Amy helped design your father’s house?”
“Yeah. Real joke’s on her. She didn’t know she was designing a house for the doctor who delivered her.”
“And her twin.” Dallas finished the sentence.
Nita smiled slyly. “And her twin.”
“The same twin who was abducted by your parents.” Dallas added.
Nita sat back in her chair. “I refuse to get into that. That’s in the past. Before my time. You got questions for my father, you ask him.”
Dallas studied her. “Who else is at this house besides you, Brandon, Dan and Jamie?”
Nita studied her nails.
“I can come back in the morning.”
“No! I want to get out of here,” she said, hesitating. “My father is there along with his nurse-assistant, Maria. There’s also a security guard. Dan and Jamie are there, of course. I think Alesha might still be there, although I’m not sure. Or, they may have flown her back to Paraguay. And then there’s Helmut and his personal bodyguard, Francisco.”
Dallas leaned across the table and looked her in the eye. “Helmut Eickher?”
She nodded. Nita brushed her dark hair from her face with trembling fingers. “You’ve heard of Helmut Eickher?”
Dallas sat down. “Tell me about him.”
Nita hesitated, her reluctance obvious. “He owns a cellular research company that makes him a fortune. He also runs some research facility in Paraguay and a smaller one in Germany.” She shuddered. “He’s a scary guy. Unstable, volatile. Dan doesn’t trust him; thinks Eickher’s going to turn on us because we know too much. So, Dan’s made arrangements for us to leave the country.”
“Who’s us?”
“Besides Dan, there’s Alesha, if she’s still there, Jamie, Brandon, and me. And my father.”
“Dr. George Johnston, the infamous OB/GYN?”
“Seems like you know a lot about this already.” Nita looked at Dallas, expecting an answer, but when none was forthcoming she asked: “Can I go now, Sheriff?”
Dallas pushed his chair back and stood up. “You have to do better with these directions. There are a lot of lives at stake.”
“Okay, okay!” Nita finally said, “It’s what people used to call the Cliff House. You know, down by the caves.”
CHAPTER 33
The moonless night swallowed the ocean and the shoreline. Hammering over the potholes, the SUV raced along the narrow road in spite of the enveloping darkness. Fighting impatience, Amy tried to concentrate on driving as she sped down toward home.
Dan’s call had come just as she had parked Nita’s car on her drive. “Meet me at the house in half an hour,” he said tersely and hung up.
Amy was anxious to get there, her hopes high on the possibility of Jamie being with him. She thought about the last time that she’d been with her son, his flaxen hair silky against her cheek, his big gray eyes dancing with curiosity, his sweet scent
... Stop!
Instead of torturing herself, Amy decided to plan her approach so she wouldn’t be seen. Once she reached the house, she’d stay hidden until she found Jamie. Then she’d grab him and run for the SUV with the intention of being long gone before Dan realized Jamie was missing.
When she was close to home, she extinguished the headlights, and allowed the Sportage to coast quietly along the last eighth of a mile. A hundred yards from the house, she nosed it into the brush until the SUV was obscured from the road. She pulled her house key, penlight, and the Beretta from her purse and put them in her pockets, then tucked the purse under the seat, locked up, and crossed the road to the vacant lot next to the house.
A cold, stiff wind blew off the ocean, swaying shrubs and tree branches, making it hard to decipher human movement in or around the unlit house. No sign of Dan’s Mercedes.
Crossing the lawn to the front porch, she climbed the steps, nervously scanning the dark corners. With shaky fingers, she inserted the key into the lock and cautiously pushed the door open.
Amy peered into the dark entrance hall and stepped inside nervously. The house didn’t feel like home anymore. She used to cherish its serenity, security, and above all, the overwhelming sense of belonging it gave her. This house had been more than home and hearth, this was where her soul had lived, where she’d shared her life with a man she had once loved, and where she’d raised their only child, the small being she cherished.
She glanced quickly around. A dusty odor overrode the usual rich smell of woods. She stood nervously in the dark foyer absorbing her surroundings, trying to understand the strange sensations. The joy that had once filled each room with love had been leached away by the events of the past week. All the warmth was gone, leaving behind only a cold, damp sense of foreboding.
She closed the door, switched on the small flashlight, and tiptoed down the hall into the vast, vacant living room. The high walls that once sheltered them protectively, now loomed above her. Amy cast the flashlight across the room as she tread softly over the wood floors toward the bank of windows.