Trail of Secrets

by Sandra Robbins

  “You?” She could hardly believe what he’d just said. “You killed Carlos?”

  “Yeah. I was across the street.” He cleared his throat and moved closer. “But enough of this talk. I’m going to go out and get everything ready, and then I’ll be back for you.”

  The tone of his voice told her he was planning something sinister. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to dig your grave with that bulldozer. It’s an old one, but I’ve kept it in good working order. It came in real handy when I buried Hope’s car out by the old barn. I won’t need a hole that big this time, but I’ll make it big enough for two so Abby can join you.”

  Callie gasped and clamped her hand over her mouth. He’d killed Abby, and he was determined to do the same to her. Wide-eyed, she watched as he turned and left the room. The door closed behind him, then she heard the click of the lock.

  Although she knew it was useless, she ran to the door and struggled to pull it open. It wouldn’t budge. Callie stepped back and pressed her fingertips to her temples. She had to think. Had to find a way out of this room before Anthony came back.

  Outside the house the bulldozer cranked, and its headlights lit a path across the yard. Callie stood at the window and watched the big piece of machinery with Anthony at the controls rumble across the yard. Just before he reached the barn, he stopped, released the blade on the front of the dozer and began to scoop away at the earth.

  Callie wanted to move away from the window, but she couldn’t. She stood and stared as the hole where she would soon be buried grew larger. Her fingers tightened on the iron bars over the window, and she swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. With each scoop of dirt being dug up, the last minutes of her life were quickly ticking away.

  FOURTEEN

  Seth stopped the car at the turnoff onto the road that led toward the river levee. He’d hiked this area many times when he was growing up and knew from this point to the levee there weren’t many houses.

  A sheriff’s patrol car waited at the side of the gravel road that wound into the distance. Seth jumped from his car, and the police cruiser that had followed him from Dorothy’s house stopped behind him. The sheriff’s deputy climbed from his car as Seth approached.

  “We were told to meet you guys out here. What kind of problem do we have?”

  As quickly as possible Seth told him about the rogue cop who had wounded an officer and was believed to be holding a woman captive at a farm down the road. “This is all connected to an extortion ring that’s active in the city and an unsolved twenty-five-year-old murder.”

  The deputy nodded. “Glad we can help you out. How do you want to handle this?”

  Seth debated the options for a moment. “I think we need to move carefully. Since the only way into this area is on this gravel road, he’s going to know we’ve arrived when we drive up. I think we ought to form a barricade with our cars to prevent him from leaving. We’ll just have to see what develops after we get there. I’d like him taken alive, though. He has a lot to answer for.”

  “We’ll try,” the deputy said. “Since this is our jurisdiction, we’ll take the lead. You guys can follow.”

  Seth nodded and headed back to his car. When the deputy pulled onto the road, Seth followed with the other police cruiser bringing up the rear. As they rounded a curve in the road, a dilapidated farmhouse came into view. He remembered seeing this place when he was a boy and on his way down to the river.

  Without warning, lights swept across the yard of the house, and he frowned. Where did they come from? As they drove closer, he saw the cause—a bulldozer scooped away at the earth as it grated up chunks of the yard.

  They pulled their vehicles to a stop. The headlights of their cars cut a large swath across the yard. The bulldozer motor idled for a moment as Seth and the officers jumped from their cars and pulled their guns. What was he doing at this time of night, digging a hole in the ground?

  At that moment the dozer made a quarter turn and Seth gritted his teeth at the sight of Anthony in the driver’s seat. A look of surprise flashed on Anthony’s face as he spied the officers who’d fanned out to form a barrier to prevent an escape. He hesitated only a moment before he turned the steering wheel and swung the bulldozer around in a circle. He stopped and sat there facing them as they walked toward him with their guns drawn.

  Seth aimed his gun directly at Anthony as one of the sheriff’s deputies shouted above the roar of the engine, “Put your hands up and come down. You’re under arrest.”

  Anthony let his gaze drift over the officers facing him, but he said nothing. Then he revved the engine and rumbled forward as fast as the dozer would go. The officers held their ground and kept their guns aimed at him as the machine with the big blade across the front bore down on them.

  It was impossible to know which way he was going to steer the big dozer, and Seth didn’t know whether to stand still or jump to the side. Then he saw Anthony grimace and lean forward over the steering wheel. With a new burst of speed he drove toward Seth.

  “Stop!” Seth yelled, but it did no good. Anthony appeared committed to a course, and there was no stopping him.

  “Detective!” one of the deputies shouted. “Get out of the way. He’s going to run you over.”

  With the dozer only inches away, Seth fired at Anthony and took a flying leap away from the dozer. His ankle scraped across the end of the blade, and he landed facedown in the dirt. Ignoring the pain in his leg, Seth jumped to his feet and stared in horror at the scene before him.

  The bullet must have found its target, because Anthony lay slumped over the steering wheel of the dozer as it lumbered across the yard, headed toward the side of the house. It looked as if it picked up speed the closer it came to the house. The thought popped into Seth’s head that Anthony’s foot must be pressed down on the gas pedal when he’d been shot.

  The headlights of the machine lit up the side of the house, and Seth thought he saw movement at one of the windows. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to one side. What was that? The breath left his body as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. Callie stood at a broken window, her fingers wrapped around iron bars, and stared at the bulldozer bearing down on her.

  “Callie!” he screamed. “Get away from there!”

  Unmoving, she stood still, the lights illuminating her figure as she remained frozen in disbelief at what was coming toward her.

  “Callie!” he screamed again, but his voice was muffled by the sound of the dozer. He had to get to her.

  He willed his legs to move, and he sprinted toward the house, but he was no match for the powerful machine. With a thunderous crash, the dozer plowed into the side of the house. The walls collapsed like a house of cards and splintered into thousands of pieces. The dozer disappeared into the house, and there was another crash and then silence.

  A cloud of dust rolled from inside, enveloping everything in its path. Seth stopped at the open-sided building and stared inside. There was no sign of Callie. The powdery dust from the crash choked him, and he coughed, but he didn’t hesitate to move forward as he leaped onto the pile of debris left behind.

  “Callie! Where are you?”

  The other officers ran up. One of them handed him a flashlight off his utility belt. “Use this. Do you see her anywhere?”

  He swept the beam of light in an arc around the room, but all he could see was the scattered remains of the walls and floor of the house. “Callie!” he called again.

  He waited, but there was no answer. With his heart pounding in his chest, he crawled through the opening in the house and swept the light around again. The bulldozer had stopped when it crashed into the wall on the other side of the house. Anthony’s body was still draped across the steering wheel, but there was no sign of Callie.

  The deputies pushed around him and hurried ov
er to the dozer. One of them crawled up and placed his fingers on Anthony’s neck. “He’s still alive. We’ll take care of him. See if you can find his accomplice or the woman he abducted.”

  Seth stood in the middle of what had once been a room and took a deep breath. “Callie!” he yelled. “Please answer me!”

  He waited for a reply, but none came.

  She had to be here somewhere, but where? His knees went weak at the horrible possibility of what could have happened. Had she been run over by the dozer and dragged along underneath the big machine? He turned and stared at the bulldozer. What if her body was underneath?

  The officers rushed past him and ran toward the wrecked dozer, but all Seth could do was stare helplessly at the piles of rubble. Within minutes the deputies had Anthony stretched out on what remained of the floor. Now was the time to see if Callie was underneath that monstrous machine, but he couldn’t move. What would he do if he found her mangled body? He shook his head and took a step backward.

  One of the policemen who’d accompanied him to the farm stepped up next to him. “Detective, are you all right?”

  Before Seth could respond, a rustling sound to his right caught his attention, and he turned his head to stare. A large pile of debris lay scattered across the floor. He swept the flashlight beam across the splintered pieces of wood, and then he saw movement.

  “Callie!” he yelled as he leaped across the floor to what had once been the side wall of the room. Then he heard it again, a muted cry that sounded like a puppy’s whimper. “Help me,” he yelled to the others as he dropped to his knees.

  An officer joined him, and together they dug into the pile of debris. Her arm appeared first, and he paused only long enough to check her pulse and then say a quick thanks to God that she was alive. He tore into the pile again.

  Within minutes they had uncovered her entire body and lifted the ceiling beam that had fallen on her and pinned her to the floor. He pressed his trembling fingers to her neck and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a pulse.

  “How is she?” the officer asked.

  “She’s alive, but she needs medical attention. What about Captain Wilson?”

  “He’s unconscious. The sheriff’s deputies have called for an ambulance. It should be here any minute. There’s something else, too. My partner just found the body of A.D.A. Abby Dalton in the other room. She’d been shot.”

  Seth wrapped his fingers around Callie’s and stared into her face. “And she would have been next if we hadn’t gotten here in time.”

  He closed his eyes and offered up a silent prayer. God, please don’t let her die. I have to let her know I forgive her for hurting me and that I still love her. She doesn’t have to love me in return, but please let her live.

  * * *

  Callie tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t. She tried again, but it was no use. Where was she? Something told her she needed to get up, but she couldn’t make her body move.

  Her eyelids stilled, and she had almost fallen back asleep when she heard a voice. She frowned and tried to concentrate on what it was saying, but it sounded so far away, almost like it was echoing from a distant mountain. But that couldn’t be. There were no mountains in Memphis.

  The voice called again, this time closer. She strained to hear what it was saying.

  “Callie.”

  Her heart fluttered. The memory of Anthony headed toward her on a bulldozer returned, and she shivered. Seth had come to help her. She had to get to him.

  Her voice wouldn’t work right, and the words came out in a whisper. She swallowed and tried again. “Seth.”

  Did he hear her? She waited a moment, and then someone touched her hand. “Callie,” Seth said, “lie still. There’s an ambulance coming. We’ll have you on your way to the hospital in a few minutes.”

  She opened her eyes and stared up into his face. “You came for me,” she whispered.

  He smiled and tightened his hold on her hand. “Of course I came for you. I love you, Callie. I want you to know I don’t expect anything from you. You don’t have to love me in return, but I have to let you know.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she put her other hand on top of his. “There are things I have to tell you, Seth, but they can wait until later.”

  He nodded. “Yes, after you’re better.”

  The memory of Anthony telling her he was going to kill her returned, and she cringed. “What about Anthony?”

  Seth glanced across the shattered house. “He’s injured, but I think he’ll live.”

  “He killed her,” she said.

  “I know. We found Abby’s body in the other room.”

  She shook her head. “Not Abby. He killed Hope.”

  Seth’s eyebrows arched, and his mouth dropped open. “Hope?”

  “Yes. Her car is buried beside the barn. He used that bulldozer to do it. He was digging a grave for Abby and me.”

  “B-but why Hope?”

  Callie took a deep breath and told him what Anthony had confessed to her before he left to go dig her grave. Seth’s expression changed from shock to anger as she talked.

  “And all these years he tried to stay one step ahead of Uncle Dan to keep his crimes covered up.”

  When she finished, Seth exhaled and shook his head. “I can’t believe he’d be involved in something like this. Not only was he Dan’s friend, he is an officer of the law. He sold out everything that his friends and fellow officers thought he stood for. I don’t imagine the justice system is going to go too easy on him.”

  “Detective Dawtry?”

  Callie glanced up into the face of an officer she didn’t recognize. “Yes?” Seth said.

  “The ambulance just turned off the highway onto the gravel road. ETA is two minutes.”

  “Thanks.” He glanced back down at Callie. “I’ll stay with you until you leave with the ambulance. Then I need to help with this crime scene. I’ll see you later. You said you had some things to tell me.”

  She hoped her smile distracted him from the tears in her eyes. “I do.”

  He tilted his head to one side and leaned closer. “Callie, whatever it is. I know we can work it out.”

  Before she could respond, one of the deputies touched his shoulder. “The ambulance just turned into the yard.”

  Seth nodded and rose to his feet. “Call the sheriff and tell him we need some heavy digging equipment out here. There’s a car buried beside the barn, and we have reason to believe it’s connected to an unsolved murder investigation we’ve been working on for twenty-five years.”

  “I’ll get right on it.”

  The deputy turned away and pulled out his cell phone just as two EMTs hurried into the demolished room. They dropped down beside her and began to check her for injuries. As they worked, she tried to catch sight of Seth, but the EMTs blocked her view.

  Within minutes she was loaded onto a gurney and rushed toward the front yard where two ambulances sat with their lights flashing. As she was being shoved into the back of one, Seth ran up to the back door.

  “Maybe the next time I see you, I’ll have all the answers about Hope.”

  She nodded and smiled at him. “Good. I’ll see you then.”

  One of the EMTs jumped in beside her and slammed the back doors shut. She heard the other one climb in the driver’s seat, and before she knew it, they were racing down the road toward the city.

  She thought of the last time she’d been in an ambulance. Uncle Dan had been injured, and she’d ridden with him. Although she’d dreaded it that night, she’d known Seth would be at the hospital. He would be there again this time, too—and once again, she dreaded seeing him. He said he loved her, but she hadn’t been able to say those words. If she could help it, she still wasn’t going to tell him how much she loved him. Not when she’d
have to give him up again.

  Instead, she planned to tell him why she hadn’t married him and then give him his freedom as she had done once before. This time he probably never would forgive her, but it had to be done.

  It was time for the truth.

  FIFTEEN

  Callie opened her eyes and frowned. Where was she? Then she remembered. The hospital. She’d been brought here from the farm last night and had finally been put into this room after being examined in the emergency room, the same place she’d been only a week ago when she and Uncle Dan had been in the wreck.

  She turned her head on the pillow toward the window beside her bed. A few beams of sunlight peeked through the closed blinds, and she wondered what time it was. She tried to push up into a sitting position, but every muscle in her body screamed in agony. She exhaled and lay back.

  “Good morning, Callie. Do you need me to call the nurse?”

  The quiet voice shocked her, and she turned her head toward the other side of the bed. Seth’s mother stood beside her, a smile on her face. “Mrs. Dawtry, what are you doing here?”

  “Seth called me last night and told me what had happened. He wanted me to be here with you until he could come. He didn’t want you to be alone when you woke up, but evidently, there was a lot for him to clear up about your abduction.”

  “Yes.” Tears filled her eyes. “I thought of Anthony as family. How could he have done this to Uncle Dan and his fellow officers? He was ready to kill me without the least hesitation. I think he did shoot Abby. Do you know if she lived or not?”

  “From what Grace reported on TV this morning, Abby was dead at the scene. Anthony is in this hospital, too, but he’s under arrest and under guard.”

  “Good.” Another thought popped into her head. “What about Lieutenant Weaver? Anthony shot him when he tried to help me at the shelter.”

  “He’s here in the hospital, too, and lucky to be alive. It’s a good thing Seth found him before he bled to death. Marty was able to tell Seth what had happened at the shelter.”