by Leona Karr
When the man found a new one that would open the door, Josh pushed into the apartment. “Stacy.”
Only an empty echo of his voice vibrated in the silence as he went through all the rooms.
The bed had not been slept in. Her overnight suitcase and cosmetic bag were gone.
Fear that he’d been trying to hold at bay since his talk with Alice now leaped full-blown at him like a ravishing tiger. She must have intended to spend the night with Alice and Ted in Timberlane. Had something happened to keep her from going, even before she left the hotel?
Was the Jeep still parked out back?
Josh brushed by the startled locksmith, raced downstairs and bolted out the back door. The place where he had parked the vehicle was empty. The Jeep was gone. Josh’s mind whirled like an off-center gyroscope. Stacy had packed her things, driven off in the Jeep, and—? And—?
She hadn’t arrived at Alice and Ted’s. Something had happened to her and the Jeep between here and Timberlane.
A chill like icy fingers trailed up his back. She hadn’t wanted to make the drive and he had insisted. He hadn’t even considered her lack of experience in navigating dangerous curves at night. There were a dozen places she could have gone off the road and the heavily wooded areas could hide the Jeep from anyone not searching for it.
He’d been so occupied with heavy thoughts on the drive back from Pineville, he’d driven faster than usual and hadn’t paid any attention to anything but the road.
A search party! He had to get people looking for her. She could have been lying helpless all night in a turned-over Jeep, hurt or worse.
Irene answered the phone at the sheriff’s office. “He just walked in,” she told Josh, and then lowered her voice. “Wonder of wonders, it’s early for him.”
When Mosley came on the line, Josh quickly explained the situation. He could tell from the sheriff’s dismissive grunt that he wasn’t about to put himself out for a missing California woman, especially one that Josh cared about.
“We don’t go looking for anybody that hasn’t been missing twenty-four hours. Maybe the gal just got bored and decided to head back to Californy.”
“Dammit, maybe she’s lying hurt in an overturned Jeep somewhere between the hotel and Timberlane,” said Josh. “And if she dies because you’re too blasted lazy to get off your butt and look for her, I swear I’ll blast a hole in your head.”
Apparently, Josh’s threat had some effect because Mosley barked, “Damn, I’ll have my deputy take a drive up to the hotel and keep his eyes open for a vehicle off the road. It’s a waste of time and we’ll all have a good laugh when she calls you from California to say bye-bye.”
Fuming at Mosley’s lack of cooperation, Josh hung up. With building urgency, he enlisted Chester’s and Rob’s help, and the three of them set out in two cars to scour the mountainside along the road to Timberlane.
A BRIGHT SUN SHONE down on the warped, splintered boards of an old log shack, and Stacy blinked against a sharp spear of light shooting through a crack in a boarded-up window. Her hands and feet were tied so she couldn’t do more than move slightly from side to side. She’d lain hours in one position during the night and the slow passing hours of the morning.
She had no idea where she was. Most of the time she had kept her eyes closed to ease the pulsating pain and ringing in her ears.
Last night Ted had left her in the dark after stripping a tape gag off her mouth.
“Scream all you like,” he had told her. “Nobody’ll hear you.”
“Where…where am I?”
“Where you’ll be safe,” Ted had answered readily as if he were some kind of protector.
She wasn’t fooled by his soft tone. The look in his eyes when he had hit her had been as cold as the devil’s. Why hadn’t she seen this side of him before? His quiet, easygoing manner had kept her from ever taking a good hard look at him.
When he had disappeared in the darkness, she had thought he was gone, but he came back in a couple of minutes, carrying two gasoline cans that he set down by the door.
“I’ll make use of them later when I’ve established my alibi.”
“Please wait,” she’d begged, struggling to accept the truth that a vicious killer had been right under their noses all the time. Glenda had left some of her things when she moved out and Ted had made diabolical use of them, but his scare tactics had failed to get the hotel closed up again. Now she was about to lose her life at his hands.
“Why?” she’d croaked. If she could keep him talking, maybe she could save herself somehow. “At least tell me why.”
He replied in a patient tone, “I guess you deserve to know. I went to a lot of trouble to try and get you out of that blasted hotel. Planting all that stuff of Glenda’s and turning on those crazy contraptions of your uncle’s. I used the Old Jeep Road to come and go without being seen. None of this would have happened if you’d had the good sense to leave before you ruined everything by discovering Renquist’s body. Now I’ve got to kill you and cover my tracks again,” he said, rather regretfully.
“No, you don’t. I’ll keep quiet about everything. I promise.”
“You expect me to believe a damn lie? I haven’t trusted anyone with the truth. Everyone but Josh believed Glenda jumped off that balcony.”
“But she didn’t?”
“Hell, no. After I shot Renquist, I had to throw her off to keep her quiet. The two of them deserved it.” His voice suddenly softened. “I’ve been in love with Glenda since the moment she showed up at our door when she was sixteen. She drove me crazy, wandering around the place nearly naked, always teasing me and crawling up on my lap.”
“You and Glenda?” Stacy echoed, almost in a whisper.
“We had a good thing going. She knew it, too. Then, when she was nineteen, she got it in her head to move in with Renquist.”
“Did Alice know about…about you and Glenda?”
“Hell, no. We had her fooled, we did. Good old Alice thought all my attention was just brotherly love. She was even terribly upset when Glenda moved out.” His voice hardened. “I tried to get Glenda to come back, but she took up with Renquist and that’s when I put an end to it. I found them together one night—well, you know the rest.”
“I promise not to say anything if you’ll let me go,” Stacy bargained in desperation.
“What do you take me for—a damn fool?” he swore. “Anyone can see that you’re plumb loony over Josh Spencer, and now that Renquist’s body has been found, he’ll be crazier than ever to find his sister’s killer.”
Stacy knew with a sickened heart that Ted spoke the truth.
“When you caught me handling some of Glenda’s things, you gave me no choice. Now, I’ve got to kill you too. “
He paused in the doorway. “I’ll be back. They say murder gets easier the more times you do it.”
His retreating footsteps faded away, and the faint sound of a car leaving mingled with night noises echoing through the empty shack, and she was left alone.
Now it was morning, with terror growing every moment.
WITH MOUNTING ANXIETY, Josh, Chester and Rob began searching the twisting five-mile road from the hotel to Timberlane for any signs that Stacy’s Jeep might have gone off the road. Sharp mountain curves could be deceptive when only a pair of headlights stabbed the enveloping darkness ahead, and Josh knew that someone like Stacy, used to bright interstate lights, could be fooled by a sudden curve turning back on itself. His chest tightened remembering she’d nearly driven into the river the night he’d rescued her.
“Keep your eyes open for any fresh-looking tracks leading off the road, broken bushes or scraped trees,” he ordered. A careening car could plunge hundreds of feet down a mountainside and be hidden from the road.
The task of looking for suspicions signs was not an easy one. All along the road, numerous rutted tracks broke through thick stands of spruce and pine trees, most of them made by campers over the years. Even though Josh couldn’t thi
nk of any rational reason that Stacy might have turned off into any of these hidden areas, he was determined to check each one. It had to be more than a simple case of the Jeep giving Stacy trouble that prevented her from arriving at Alice and Ted’s place. Something had happened between the hotel and Timberlane. He was convinced of it.
When they met Mosley’s young deputy coming up the road at a speed that defied any attention to the possibility that a vehicle could be somewhere off the road, Josh released some of his pent-up fears in a tongue-lashing.
“Where are you going—to a damn race? You’d run over any car parked in the road and could pass a ten-car pile-up at that speed and never see it!”
“Whatcha want me to do? Get out of the car and walk?” he retorted with a pained expression.
“Hell, yes, if that’s what it takes for you to make a decent search. Get your car turned around and we’ll show you what you should have been doing.”
Josh’s expression must have convinced the young man it was no time to try and exert his authority because he swallowed back whatever he was about to say.
“We’re checking every place where a car might have pulled off the road or missed a curve,” Chester offered. “And the wreckage could be in one of the ravines that you can’t see from the road. Right, boss?”
Hearing his worst fear verbalized only added to Josh’s sense of urgency. With an intuitive sense of a ticking clock running out of minutes, he pushed hard to continue their search all the way into Timberlane.
But in the end, he had to admit defeat. There was no sign of Stacy or the Jeep.
Chapter Fifteen
The sun was setting behind high peaks, leaving behind an ivory glow that would soon darken into gray shadows as night crept down the mountainsides.
Josh and the deputy stopped at the sheriff’s office, while Chester and Rob headed for the Powderhorn Saloon, ready for a beer. Weary and worried, Josh was ready to take on the sheriff, physically if necessary, to get some help finding the missing Jeep and Stacy.
Mosley must have read his expression because he stood up as Josh and the deputy came in. “No luck?”
“Not a sign of the Jeep—or Stacy,” Josh admitted. “We checked every mile of the way. I was worried that she’d missed a curve and gone off the road, but there’s no evidence of that happening.” Josh’s mind had been flooded with scenes of an overturned Jeep, an unconscious or dead Stacy at the wheel.
“Maybe the lady just kept going, right through Timberlane. Dames are unpredictable, you know. Or, maybe, she could have turned at the Junction and headed into Pineville,” Mosley said in a way that was more helpful than critical.
Josh had already considered the possibility that Stacy might have decided to join him for the hospital vigil, but, if that were the case, why hadn’t she arrived? He’d been at his grandfather’s side all night, and she would have easily driven to Pineville, unless—
“Have you checked with the highway patrol to see if there were any accidents on that road last night?” Josh asked, frowning. “I didn’t see any sign of a wreck when I drove in this morning, but that didn’t mean that one didn’t happen during the night. They could have cleaned it up.”
“Right. I was waiting to see what you found, if anything, before I called the state patrol,” Sheriff Mosley answered as if passing time was of no consequence.
“Well, do it, for God’s sake!” Josh snapped, bringing a flush to the sheriff’s ruddy face.
Irene, who had been taking in everything from her desk, intervened quickly. “I’ll get them on the line, Sheriff.”
Josh listened as the sheriff explained the situation. “All right, thanks.” Mosley turned to Josh. “No reported accidents last night on that road. We can put out an APB on the woman tomorrow, but she’s going to be mighty unhappy to be stopped by police if she’s just trying to put some distance between you and her.” Mosley’s eyes hinted that he hoped such was the case as he sat back down at his desk.
Josh leaned over the sheriff’s desk. “I want you to start looking for her, now, here in town.”
“I’m running this office, Spencer, not you!”
“You’ve got dirty hands, Mosley. I don’t know how dirty, but I’m warning you, either you get off your duff and do something about finding Stacy Ashford or I’ll make it my life’s work to see you behind bars. Got it?”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No, I’m making you a promise.” Josh straightened up, his eyes as cold as steel. “You’d better start organizing a search party—now!” And if you’re responsible for her disappearance, I’ll see you in hell.
“That’s a good idea,” Irene said, ignoring her boss’s sharp glare. “I’m sure there’s a simple answer, and once folks starting asking around, we’ll find it.”
“I sure as hell hope so!” Without another word, Josh turned toward the door, slammed out of the office, and crossed the street as if the furies from hell were at his back. He knew that it wouldn’t do any good to lose control, either physically or mentally, but he was so damn scared he wanted to kick something or somebody.
The restaurant had only a few early dinner customers when Josh came in and found both Alice and Ted busy restocking tables with napkins, salt and pepper, and ketchup.
Alice’s welcoming smile faded slightly when she saw Josh’s expression. “Land’s sake, you look like a thunderhead ready to shoot a lightning bolt.”
“Stacy’s disappeared,” he said bluntly.
“What do you mean, disappeared?” Ted asked in a concerned tone.
“She’s gone. When I learned she hadn’t spent the night with you folks, I thought you were right about her having changed her mind, but when I got to the hotel, she wasn’t there. And there was evidence that she’d packed a bag and the Jeep was gone.”
“Well, she didn’t show up here,” Alice said, frowning. “Not all evening.”
“We worked late,” Ted said. “Both of us expected her to be settled in when we went upstairs after closing.”
“That’s when we decided she’d changed her mind.” Alice suggested, “Maybe she just decided to stay someplace else?”
“Without calling me? Leaving a note? Or something?”
Ted shrugged. “Who can tell about women? Maybe she had something going on that you didn’t know about,” he said, smiling suggestively.
“She’s not that kind,” Josh answered flatly.
“Maybe you don’t know her as well as you think you do,” Alice said as she patted his arm. “And you don’t need some city gal making you jump through hoops. I bet she’s playing games with you, Josh. Hiding out somewhere just to make you squirm.”
“No,” Josh answered flatly. Then he told them about the fruitless hours they’d spent searching for evidence of a wreck. “I thought she might have had an accident on the hotel road, driving it in the dark and not being familiar with the sharp curves.”
“Well, what do you know?” Alice said thoughtfully after he finished. “It’s something of a mystery, isn’t it?”
“So she came through Timberlane after all and didn’t stop?” Ted speculated.
“That’s what we don’t know. The sheriff thought she might have decided to drive to Pineville instead, but she didn’t show up at the hospital.”
“It may be a little hard on your male ego, Josh,” Ted said in his gentle way. “But she might have just decided there wasn’t anything worth sticking around for.”
“Maybe she left you a note and you didn’t see it?” Alice suggested. “Stacy struck me as someone who might have a flair for the dramatic. You know, make a big scene to get everybody’s attention.”
“Stacy’s not like that,” Josh snapped. “And there wasn’t any note.”
He thought about their last conversation and remembered how they had declared their feelings. He had told her that he loved her and had promised that they would work everything out. Maybe she didn’t believe they could? Had she taken flight before getting deeper into a relationsh
ip that could be doomed to failure? No, he wouldn’t believe that she’d run away scared. “Something unexpected has happened to Stacy,” he insisted in a strained voice. “I know it.”
“What could have happened to her in a boring place like this?” Alice protested. “Half the time we don’t even lock our doors at night.”
“She could have driven right through Timberlane without anyone noticing,” Ted said. “Nobody pays any attention to a Jeep on the road. They’re a dime a dozen.”
“And if Stacy was walking around, somebody would notice her for sure,” Alice said. “The way she dresses isn’t hard on a fellow’s eyes, is it, Ted?” she asked, smiling, but without any hint of amusement in her eyes.
“She’s a looker, all right,” he agreed amicably.
“I’m going to talk to everyone in town if I have to,” Josh vowed.
“I’ll be glad to ask everyone who comes in the restaurant if they’ve seen her,” Ted volunteered.
“I’d appreciate it. I’m going to check the Powderhorn first and see if anyone there has seen her. There was bound to be a crowd there last night.”
He left the restaurant with growing apprehension. A driving urgency lengthened the stride of his long steps. All of this was his fault! He should have driven her into town before he left for the hospital. Then he would have known that she was safe at Ted’s place.
THE POWDERHORN WAS as hectic, crowded and noisy as usual. Josh hurriedly made his way across the room to the bar. The men sitting there were nodding acquaintances, if not old-time friends.
“Hi, Josh, what’s up?”
“You look meaner than a penned-up bull.”
“You and that pretty city gal have a fight?”
He brushed aside their teasing banter. “Anybody here seen Stacy or that old Jeep in town last evening or today?”
All the men at the bar shook their heads. Josh turned away and started canvassing the tables. Abe Jenkins picked up on Josh’s apprehension and listened carefully as he explained the situation. Unfortunately, the storekeeper didn’t have anything helpful to offer.