by Rita Herron
“You dated Leo?” Willow asked.
The woman pushed her face toward Willow. “What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t think he’d go out with a woman like me?”
“It’s not that,” Willow said quickly. “It’s just that Leo never mentioned his prior relationships.”
Doris chuckled. “Honey, there’s a lot of things Leo didn’t tell you.”
Willow’s breath rasped out. “Like what?”
Doris blew smoke into the air. “Why don’t you ask him?”
Willow glanced at him and he gave a short shake of his head, silently willing her not to divulge that Leo was dead. Not yet.
“When was the last time you saw him?” Brett asked.
Doris shrugged. “About a month ago.”
“You were seeing him while he was married to Willow?” Brett asked.
Doris poked him in the chest. “Don’t judge me, Brett McCullen. Leo loved me.”
“Then why did he marry me?” Willow asked.
Doris laughed again. “Because you were respectable. And Leo needed a respectable wife so nobody in town would ask too many questions.”
“Why didn’t he want them asking questions?” Brett asked.
Doris tapped ashes on the porch floor at Willow’s feet. “Again—why don’t you ask him?”
“Because I’m asking you,” Willow said, her voice stronger. “You obviously don’t like me and wanted Leo for yourself. So when I filed for divorce, did he come to you?”
Doris’s eyes widened in shock. “You were divorcing Leo?”
Brett scrutinized her body language. She sounded sincerely surprised. But if she’d discovered he and Willow weren’t together, and he still didn’t want her, she might have killed him out of anger.
Although she didn’t appear to be the motherly type. So if she had killed Leo, why kidnap Sam?
* * *
SAM HUGGED THE RAGGEDY stuffed animal under his arm and rubbed his eyes. He wanted his mommy.
But he remembered what had happened the night before and tears filled his eyes. Those bad men...two of them. One with the scarf over his mouth and the other with that black ski mask.
All he could see was their eyes. Mean eyes.
And the tattoo. Both of them had tattoos on their necks. One had a long rattlesnake that wound around his throat. The other had crossbones like he’d seen on some of the T-shirts at Halloween.
Those crossbones meant poison or the devil or something else evil.
Just like the bad men.
Red flashed behind his eyes, and he heard the gunshots blasting like fireworks. He covered his ears to snuff them out just like he’d done at his house.
But he’d peeked from the closet and seen his daddy and all that blood ran down his shirt. Then Daddy’s eyes had gone wide, like they did on TV when someone was dead.
He didn’t much care if he was dead, and he felt real bad about that. Kids were supposed to love their fathers. But he couldn’t help it—his daddy had been mean to his mommy.
He didn’t want to be dead, too, though.
He sat up on the cot and pushed the curtain to the side and looked through the dirty window. A spider was crawling across the windowsill, and a tree branch was beating against the glass.
He tried to see where he was, but all he saw was woods.
Big trees stuck together, so close that he couldn’t see past them or even between them for a path.
He pushed at the window to open it and climb out. He was scared of the woods and the dark, but he’d rather run in there than be stuck here with these bad men with the tattoos and guns.
But the window wouldn’t move. He pushed and shoved. Then he saw nails. They were hammered in the edge to keep it closed.
His chin quivered. They had locked him in here, and he was never going to get out.
Footsteps pounded outside the door, and he dropped back onto the bed, rolled to his side, grabbed the blanket and pulled it over him, then pretended to be asleep.
The door screeched open, then the snake-man’s voice said, “What are we gonna do with the kid?”
“Dump him when we get what we want.”
Sam pressed his hand over his mouth to keep from crying out loud.
Their boots pounded harder. They were coming toward him.
He squeezed his eyes shut, swallowing hard not to let the tears fall. Then one of them jerked the blanket off his head.
“Say hi to your mother, kid,” Snake man said.
Sam couldn’t help it. A tear slid down his cheek. Then the big man snapped a picture of him with his phone.
A second later, he tossed the blanket back to him, then stalked across the room. The big man’s words echoed in his head.
They were calling his mommy. Maybe she’d come and get him.
But they said something else. They were going to dump him when they got what they wanted. Would he ever see his mommy again?
Chapter Seven
Willow couldn’t take her eyes off Doris.
Leo had been involved with this woman?
Doris was the complete opposite of her. Everything from her low-cut top to those red high-heel boots screamed that she liked the wilder side of life.
She’d considered the fact that during their marriage Leo had cheated on her. He was a womanizer and liked to flirt. And he’d lost interest in her early on, almost as soon as they’d exchanged vows.
But now she realized he and Doris had rolled in the hay while Willow had wondered what was wrong with her, if she didn’t possess enough sex appeal to please him.
She certainly hadn’t had enough to keep Brett in town. He’d wanted other women, too.
But Doris said Willow had been a tool to make Leo look good. For what reason?
Who had he wanted to impress?
And if Doris had killed Leo, why had she admitted that she knew her?
“Can we come inside for a minute?” Willow asked. “I need to use your restroom.” What she really needed was to know if Sam was inside the house.
Doris glared at her, but waved them inside the foyer. “First door on the left.”
Willow hurried down the hall, but she did a quick visual as she passed the small living room. Basic furniture, hair and makeup magazines on the oak coffee table, but no toys or children’s books.
She ducked in the bathroom and closed the door, then checked the closet and cabinet. Sam wasn’t hidden inside, and there were no kids’ toothpaste or toys. She flushed the toilet, so as not to draw suspicion, then ran some water in the sink. When she finished, she slipped out and peered into the kitchen. Doris was handing Brett a cup of coffee.
She tiptoed down the hall to the bedrooms. One on the left that looked ostentatious with a hot-pink satin comforter, a silk robe tossed across a chaise and a door that probably led to a master bath. She veered into the second bedroom, which was filled with junk. Boxes of items Doris had obviously ordered online. She didn’t see any signs of Sam or a child anywhere, though. She checked the closet and found more boxes stacked, many of them unopened. Many from expensive department stores.
How does the woman support her shopping habit?
Brett’s voice echoed as she made her way back to him.
“Where were you yesterday, Doris?” Brett asked.
Doris tapped cigarette ashes into a coffee cup she held in her hand. “I was out. Why you want to know?”
“Out where?” Brett asked.
“Honey, you sound like a cop, not a cowboy”
Doris batted her lashes at Brett and traced a finger along his collar. Willow bit her lip. Surely Brett wouldn’t be attracted to Doris like Leo had...
Brett winked at her, irking Willow even more. “Just indulge me, Doris,” Brett said smoothly. “Were you with Leo?”
Anger flickered in the woman’s eyes for a brief second. “No. I had to pull a double shift at Hoochies.”
Willow inhaled to stem a reaction. Hoochies was a well-known bar where the waitresses offered dessert on the side
.
“I suppose someone at Hoochies can verify that,” Brett said.
Doris jerked her hand back. “You said that like I need a damn alibi.”
Willow couldn’t resist. She didn’t like the fact that Leo cheated on her with this woman or that she’d touched Brett, and that Brett didn’t seem to mind. “Maybe you do.”
Panic tinged Doris’s voice. “Did something happen to Leo?”
Willow shrugged. “Do you know anyone who’d want to hurt him?”
Doris took a step toward Willow. “Where is he? What happened? Is he hurt?”
For a millisecond, Willow almost felt sorry for the woman. Doris actually loved that lying bastard. “It’s possible.”
Doris grabbed Willow’s arm. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Willow extracted herself from the woman’s claws. “Just answer the question. Do you know anyone who’d want to hurt him?”
Doris glanced at Brett as if she wanted assurance that Leo was okay, but Brett maintained a straight face.
“Did he owe someone money?” Brett asked.
“Maybe.” Doris’s voice cracked. “I know he got in some trouble a while back.”
“What kind of trouble?” Brett asked.
“Something with the law,” Doris said in a low voice. “He never told me exactly what.”
Willow grimaced. He’d certainly never shared that information with her either.
“And then there was his old man. The two of them didn’t get along.”
“His father?” Willow asked, her breath catching.
“Yeah,” Doris said as she snatched another cigarette and lit up. “I don’t know what happened between them, but there was some bad blood.”
Willow forced herself not to react. Leo had claimed both his parents were dead.
Was everything he’d told her a lie?
* * *
BRETT SCHOOLED HIS FACE into a neutral expression, although it was all he could do not to punch his fist through a wall.
How had a man like Leo won Willow’s sweet heart?
And why would a man cheat on Willow with Doris, when Willow was the most beautiful, tenderhearted, desirable woman in the whole damn world?
“What was his father’s name?” he asked.
Doris shrugged. “Hell, I don’t know. Every time I tried to ask him, he got mad. Told me it was none of my business.”
Brett shifted. He wished she’d give him something concrete. Although this could be a lead. If Leo had been in trouble before, especially with the law, he probably had an arrest record.
Another thought occurred to him. One of his buddies had won thousands in the rodeo circuit, but he’d lost it all in Vegas.
“Was Leo into gambling?”
Doris inhaled and blew smoke into the air, her gaze fixed on him. “You’re really scaring me now.”
“Listen,” Willow said. “Leo disappeared with my savings and I need it for medical expenses for my son.”
Brett admired the way Willow told the lie without giving herself away. He watched Doris for a reaction, anything that might tip them off that she knew where Sam was being held.
“I have no idea where Leo is,” Doris said instead. “But if I talk to him, I’ll tell him about the kid.” Her voice grew low, almost sincere. “I hope it’s not too serious.”
Willow gave a little shake of her head, but real tears glittered on her eyelashes.
“Was he into gambling?” Brett asked. “It could explain the reason he stole from Willow.”
“He gambled some, but I don’t think he was in big debt for it, if that’s what you mean.”
“Did he leave any money with you?”
Doris muttered a sarcastic sound. “If he left me money, do you think I’d be living in this dump or working doubles at Hoochies?”
Good point.
Brett crossed his arms. “Did Leo have any friends he might have been staying with?”
“You mean female friends?” She gave Willow a condescending look. “If he had other women, I didn’t know about it. Then again, I never thought he’d marry you.”
Brett cleared his throat. “How about male friends?”
“You mean friends who’d let him hide out with them?” Doris asked with a sarcastic grunt.
Brett nodded.
She stared at the burning tip of her cigarette for a long minute as if in thought. “He mentioned this guy named Gus a while back. But I don’t know where he is. I think he might have been in jail.”
Brett’s instincts kicked in. If Leo and this guy were friends, they might have been in cahoots over something illegal.
He wasn’t a cop, but his brother was. He wanted to ask Maddox for his help more than he’d ever wanted to ask him anything in his life.
But the tears Willow had just wiped away haunted him. He couldn’t turn to his brother now, not as the sheriff.
Although, if he could use Maddox’s computer, he could research Leo’s past. His father, his arrest record, this man, Gus...
That information might lead him to whatever Leo was involved in that had gotten him killed.
And then to Willow’s son.
“Thank you, Doris.” Brett handed her a card with his number on it. “If you think of anything else that might help us find Leo, let me know.”
Doris caught his arm before he could leave, but she looked at Willow as she spoke. “If you hear from him, tell him I’m still here.”
He expected Willow to show a spark of jealousy, but she gave Doris a pitying look and walked back to the car.
Brett followed, his mind ticking away. First they’d stop by Willow’s house for her to pack a bag, then they’d go back to Horseshoe Creek.
Maybe he could sneak onto Maddox’s home computer and access his police databases while Maddox was out.
* * *
WILLOW CHECKED HER PHONE as Brett drove away from Doris’s. “Why haven’t they called?”
Brett made the turn onto the highway leading back toward her rental house. “They’re probably putting together a list of their demands.”
She prayed they were. Although she had no idea what they would want from her. She had a couple of thousand in the bank, but that was all.
“Do you think Doris was telling the truth?” Brett asked.
Willow sighed. “She didn’t seem to know Leo was dead. If she had, why wouldn’t she have hidden the fact that she knew me?”
“She was pretty up-front about that,” Brett agreed. “Did you see anything in the house to indicate Sam was there or had been there?”
Willow shook her head no. “If Doris didn’t murder Leo, who did?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out. I think the key is somewhere in Leo’s past.”
Willow heaved a breath. “I feel like such a fool, Brett. I thought I knew Leo when I first met him, but I didn’t know him at all.”
“He showed you what he wanted you to see,” Brett said.
Humiliation washed over Willow. She’d made such a mess out of her life, while Brett had risen to success. “It’s my fault Sam is missing,” she said, her chest aching with guilt. “If anything happens to him...”
Brett squeezed her hand. “Nothing is going to happen to him. If he’s anything like his mom, he’s a tough little guy.”
He was nothing like her and everything like Brett. But she bit back that comment for now. When they found Sam, she’d have to tell Brett the truth.
For now...she needed him focused and helping her. Because if he knew Sam was his, he’d blame her, too. And she couldn’t bear any more guilt.
They lapsed into silence until they reached her house, and Brett parked. Leo’s truck was still sitting in the drive, Sam’s mangled bike beneath it. She gritted her teeth as they walked up to the front door. “Just pack a bag with some clothes. You can stay at the cabin until this is over.”
The scent of blood and death permeated the air as Willow entered the house, then her bedroom. The bloodstain that had seeped through th
e sheets to the mattress looked even more stark in the daylight.
She rushed to the closet, grabbed an overnight bag, then threw a couple of pairs of jeans, a loose skirt, some blouses and underwear inside. In the bathroom she gathered her toiletries and makeup, then carried the bag back to the hall. Brett was kneeling in front of Sam’s room with a dark look on his face.
“What is it?” Willow asked.
He gestured toward the floor. “A bloodstain. It looks like Leo might have initially been shot here, then moved to the bed.”
“Why move him to the bed?”
“Perhaps to frame you.”
Perspiration beaded on Willow’s hand. “And when the police learn that Leo had another woman, they’ll assume I killed him out of jealousy.”
“It’s possible. All the more reason we uncover the truth first.”
Willow glanced up from the stain and into Sam’s room. Horror washed over her as she realized that Sam could have easily seen Leo being gunned down from his room.
Poor Sam. What would witnessing a cold-blooded murder do to a four-year-old?
And if the killer knew that Sam could identify him, he might not let her have him back even if she did pay the ransom...
Chapter Eight
“Willow?” Brett gently touched her arm. “Are you all right?”
She blinked back tears. “How can I be all right when my little boy is in the hands of a murderer? What if they’ve hurt him, Brett?”
Brett made a low sound in his throat. “Don’t think like that, Willow. We’ll find him, I promise.”
She nodded, although the fear was almost paralyzing. Finally, though, she stood and went into Sam’s room. For a moment, she was frozen in place at the sight of his stuffed dinosaur and the soccer ball and the blocks on the floor. The top to his toy chest stood open, a few of his trucks and cars still inside although several of the toys had been pulled out and lay across the floor.
She ran her finger over the quilt she’d made for Sam. He’d picked out the dark green fabric because it was the color of grass, and he’d asked for horses on the squares. She’d appliquéd them on the squares, then sewed them together for him just a few months ago.
Would he ever get to sleep under that quilt again?