Nightwatch

by Valerie Hansen

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  “Keep your voice down,” he ordered.

  “Why?”

  “Because Natalie is inside. I was on my way here to do a favor for Thad when I saw her car out front, so I hid my truck and walked over. I figured I’d sneak up on her and see what she was up to.” His scowl deepened and he made no effort to look amiable. “Imagine my surprise when I found you lurking, too.”

  “I wasn’t lurking,” Jill insisted. “If you must know, I was praying.”

  “Here? Now?”

  “Yes.” Her brows arched. “Here and now. You aren’t exactly the answer I was expecting though.”

  “You’re imagining things again,” Mitch said. He looked around, wondering if they’d been detected and coming to the conclusion he didn’t dare send Jill away. Not if he hoped to accomplish what he’d come for.

  “Look. There’s no way you can fire up that noisy Jeep and drive it out of here without being heard. You might as well come with me.”

  “Don’t sound so thrilled.” Cynicism tinged her words. “I know! I can go in one way and you can go the other. That’ll double our chances of sneaking up on her.”

  “It’ll also double the chances of being caught. Are you familiar with the layout of the building?”

  “Of course not.” Jill pulled a face. “I suppose you are.”

  “Yes. I used to visit Rob often.” Mitch stepped back to give her plenty of room. “Come on. And no talking.”

  “Did anybody ever tell you you’re bossy?”

  “Yes. You. Now hush.”

  The look of consternation on Jill’s pretty face almost made him laugh out loud. If he hadn’t been so determined to carry out his plans to secretly observe Natalie he might have given in to the urge to at least chuckle. Jill was not only as hardheaded as he was, she was every bit as courageous. Too bad she didn’t have more common sense to temper her bravery.

  They tiptoed up to the rear door with Mitch in the lead. He paused. “Okay. I got a key from Thad so we won’t have to break in.”

  “When did you see him?”

  “In jail.” Mitch gave her the most intense stare he could manage. “Are you done talking?”

  Jill nodded. Judging by the way her lips were pressed together and her face was flushed she was plenty mad. Good. As long as being peeved kept her quiet he was fine with it.

  The key clicked in the lock. Mitch turned the knob slowly, deliberately, and eased the door open a fraction of an inch at a time. He felt Jill’s hand on his back, almost pushing him, and wondered if she was going to be able to control the urge to rush headlong into trouble again.

  Laying his finger across his lips he glanced at her over his shoulder. His gaze met hers and sent a clear warning.

  Once again, Jill nodded.

  Satisfied, Mitch pushed the door far enough that he could see the darkened, windowless room that lay ahead. Off to one side, in the corner Thad had made into a temporary office, a beam of light blinked behind stacks of cardboard cartons. That had to be Natalie. She was apparently swinging a flashlight from side to side as she examined the makeshift records room.

  Mitch pointed, waiting until he was certain Jill understood what he was going to do. Then he motioned at the cement floor where they stood.

  She shook her head.

  Mitch stiffened and gestured, insisting without speaking. He froze and waited for her to give him some sign that she was going to cooperate. Finally, she dropped her gaze, exhaled with a whoosh and nodded. Sort of.

  That was all the go-ahead he needed. First he pulled the exterior door tight behind them, then gave his vision a few seconds to adjust to the lower light level. There were enough cracks where the metal walls abutted the roof that the enormous warehouse wasn’t totally dark, even with the doors closed.

  He was glad Natalie hadn’t turned on the overhead lighting because the dimness facilitated his stealthy progress across the room, yet allowed him to zigzag past rows of packing and assembly tables without running into anything.

  The closer he got to his goal, the easier it was to hear the woman muttering to herself. That was very disquieting. She sounded both frantic and adamant, with a heavy sprinkling of the same colorful language he’d heard her use before.

  “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Natalie said. “What did you think you were doing, huh? Why couldn’t you stay out of it? You and that goody-goody husband of yours.”

  Mitch thought for a moment that the overwrought woman wasn’t alone. Then he realized she must think she was talking to her deceased sister, Ellen. He held his breath, listening.

  “I told them you wouldn’t be here. You never worked on weekends.” Her voice broke. She sniffled. “Why did you do it? Why? You had plenty for all of us. I told you I had to have more. Why couldn’t you just give it to me? Why did you have to die?”

  Was she talking about the bombing? It sure sounded like it. Suppose she fully incriminated herself? Would he be able to prove it in a court of law? Mitch doubted it. Even though he had a sterling reputation it would still be Natalie’s word against his. If she got a good lawyer or claimed insanity she might walk away unpunished. Rob and Ellen—and their kids—deserved more than that. They deserved justice.

  There was only one thing to do. Mitch had to go get Jill and bring her closer so she could hear Natalie’s ravings for herself. That way there would be two witnesses.

  He pivoted to start back for her and was so startled he almost yelled.

  She was standing right behind him. Grinning.

  Even in the near darkness Jill could see consternation replace surprise in Mitch’s expression. That sight, coupled with her nervousness, nearly made her giggle.

  Mitch lightly pressed the fingers of one hand across her lips and pantomimed “shush,” while pointing with the other hand.

  Jill understood. She hadn’t been standing there for very long but she’d already overheard plenty. Boy, had she.

  Natalie’s voice kept getting louder and louder, as if she were losing what little sanity she had left. The woman’s grip on reality was clearly long gone.

  “You promised to come to my house that night. Why didn’t you?” Muttered curses followed. “It was Rob’s fault. I know it was. I wouldn’t have cared if he’d died but you shouldn’t have gone with him. You were all I had.”

  Jill leaned closer to Mitch and was thankful when he embraced her. Hearing all this was answering many questions, although it was painful to realize they were listening to a tale of murder. Natalie had obviously lost whatever sense of right and wrong she had once possessed. That made her dangerous. Deadly. And at this point it was clear she felt she had little left to lose.

  Sniffling continued. The rambling ceased. Jill snuggled close to Mitch and wondered what they should do. If they confronted Natalie there was no telling what she might do, particularly given her current mental state.

  “Ah-ha! Got it!” she shouted so abruptly, so loudly, it caused both Jill and Mitch to jump.

  The maniacal laughter that followed made Jill cuddle closer to him and lay her palm on his chest. His heart was pounding. So was hers.

  She looked up at him and whispered, “What now?”

  Mitch shifted, signaled with a sideways nod of his head and began to draw her backward. They had circled a long table and were about to duck behind it when a bright light blinded them.

  Jill raised her hands to shade her eyes. Mitch sidled in front, between her and the work table. When she leaned to peek around him, she saw that Natalie held more than the flashlight. She also had a gun.

  Raising his hands slightly, Mitch spoke in a composed manner that truly impressed Jill. How he could act so calm when a crazy woman was pointing a loaded weapon at them was beyond her.

  “Thad asked me to stop by and make sure everything was locked up,” Mitch said. “He’s stuck in town.”

  Natalie cackled. “I know. I’m the one who got him arrested.”

  “Really?”

&
nbsp; “Yes, really.”

  Although Natalie still sounded angry, she was also beginning to seem pleased with herself. When Mitch took advantage of that mood shift, Jill was so impressed she wanted to applaud.

  “That was very smart of you,” Mitch said. “How did you arrange for him to be there during the raid?”

  “Easy. He thought he was going to catch me red-handed. Stupid goody-goody. He figured he’d be able to prove how deep in debt I was by just talking to those people. I could have told him he was wasting his time.”

  “So, you owe a lot of money?”

  The light wavered. So did the gun. Jill could see the black hole in the middle of the barrel and she judged it to be a fairly large caliber. A .22 was dangerous enough. Heavier bullets would be even more deadly, especially at such short range.

  “None of your business,” Natalie shouted.

  “Hey, it’s no skin off my nose,” Mitch said with a casual shrug. “After the estate is settled you should be able to sell this place and make a good profit, providing the kids don’t inherit it all and cut you out.”

  Natalie cursed. “Those kids are nothing but trouble. I wish I could have…”

  Jill waited, still hunkered behind Mitch and praying they’d get out of this alive. She knew what he was doing. He was baiting Natalie, trying to get her to talk, to reveal her convoluted thinking and perhaps give the authorities more ways in which to prove her guilt. It was a fine plan—as long as it didn’t backfire.

  “Well, at least you only have the boys left to worry about, right?” Mitch said.

  Jill held her breath. Was he thinking that Natalie knew something about Megan after all? She’d had a solid alibi for the time of the kidnapping. So had Thad, although right now it sounded as if he was merely a scapegoat.

  Natalie chuckled. “You have no idea.”

  “Sure, I do,” Mitch began. He let his sentence trail off as if he meant to continue.

  “No, you don’t. Nobody does. They’ll never find her. In another couple of hours she’ll be on a plane and they’ll never track her down. Not in a million years.”

  Megan’s alive! Jill’s sharp intake of breath caused Mitch to shove her farther behind him and grab hold of her hand. She didn’t mind. Anything that helped her keep quiet at such a crucial time was fine with her.

  “Why send her away?” Mitch asked. “If you wanted to get rid of her, why not just have her eliminated the way you did her father?”

  “Because she was worth more to me alive,” Natalie said, gloating. “I didn’t sell her for as much as I’d hoped but it was enough to get me an extension on my loans.”

  “Gambling,” Mitch said flatly. It wasn’t a question.

  “Of course. How do you think I knew about the game at the plating plant building?” She gestured with the gun. “Now, we’re going to have another terrible accident and two prowlers are going to die. Get over there. Both of you.”

  Jill felt Mitch’s grip on her fingers tighten. He was pushing down, toward the floor. Was he trying to tell her something?

  She signaled back, giving his hand brief, short, downward tugs and saw him barely move his head in a nod. He wanted her to duck. But when?

  “One thing puzzles me,” Mitch said, still maintaining his veneer of nonchalance. “Why send Megan away on a plane and chance being discovered when they check her ID? I thought you were smarter than that. Why not just have somebody drive her to wherever she’s going?”

  That brought more wicked-sounding laughter. “Drive her? Ha! That’s a good one. I’d like to see you drive her across the ocean.”

  Jill gave a barely audible squeak, then clamped her free hand over her mouth. Megan was not being adopted via the U.S. black market in babies as she’d first assumed. She was being sent overseas, perhaps to live a life of captivity that many women had claimed was worse than death.

  They could not allow such a horrible thing to happen. Jill knew that. So did Mitch. But what could they do? How could they get away?

  Suppose they separated? If she ran one way and he ran another, perhaps one of them would escape to take the news to the sheriff in time to stop the little girl from leaving the country. She should be easy enough to trace, unless she was being flown on a private jet. There couldn’t be that many overseas flights leaving the states within the next few hours.

  “Clever,” Mitch said. “I never would have dreamed you’d ship her out like that. I suppose you got a lot more money for her than you would have by just peddling her to some childless couple around here.”

  “You’d better believe it.”

  “Too bad for Ellen, though,” he added. “I can’t imagine how much this will hurt her.”

  “Shut up. Don’t talk about Ellen. Ellen’s dead.” Natalie was almost wailing.

  “Is she? Did you see her body?”

  “It got burned up. Everybody said so.”

  “Then why hasn’t there been any funeral? Did you ask yourself that?”

  The flashlight beam wavered. “I—I don’t know. They said it was because of the coroner or something like that.”

  Mitch kept pushing on Jill’s hand, urging her to bend lower behind him. She complied. The less he had to worry about her, the more likely he’d be to look after his own skin and not try to be a hero again.

  “Ellen’s under police protection in the hospital,” Mitch claimed. “If you send her daughter away she’ll never forgive you.”

  Jill knew lying was a sin. So was murder and kidnapping. As far as she was concerned, Mitch could be forgiven for any falsehoods that allowed them to rescue Megan.

  “Ellen’s dead!” Natalie screamed.

  She threw the light at him.

  Mitch ducked.

  Natalie shot in his direction.

  The sound of the bullet splintering the tabletop above her head made Jill give a tiny shriek.

  Next thing she knew, Mitch was diving past her and tackling Natalie. Another shot echoed in the cavernous metal building. Then, all was still.

  Rising, Jill peeked over the top of the damaged table. Mitch was standing and pulling Natalie to her feet. He now had possession of the gun.

  “Call 911,” he shouted. “And make it quick.”

  “Phone?”

  “In my jacket pocket.”

  Trembling, Jill skirted the end of the table and approached on his left, away from Natalie. It wasn’t until she reached to push back the side of his jacket that she realized he was bleeding.

  “You’re hurt!”

  “Never mind me. Just dial,” Mitch ordered. “We’re running out of time to save that kid.”

  SEVENTEEN

  The sheriff and one deputy burst into the warehouse with guns drawn.

  “We’re over here,” Mitch shouted. “I’ve got Natalie. She confessed. It’s all over.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Jill contradicted. “She’s the one who kidnapped Megan. We have to act fast.”

  The overhead lights snapped on, making Jill’s eyes water as she watched Harlan’s and Boyd’s rapid approach.

  “Okay. One at a time, folks,” the sheriff said. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s like this,” Mitch began.

  Jill stood by his side and mostly just listened until he was through explaining. She could tell that his injury was making him wobbly so she slipped her arm around his waist. “I think I hear the ambulance pulling up out front. Can I take him to get bandaged, Sheriff?”

  “Fine. We’ll finish up later.”

  When Mitch didn’t argue, Jill figured he was hurt worse than he’d let on so she held tight and walked him out.

  “You won’t need a gurney,” Mitch told the medics when they threw open the rear doors of the ambulance and started grabbing supplies. “We’re bringing the patient to you.”

  He plopped onto the rear deck and gave Jill a wan smile while the attendants helped him off with his jacket. “You’d better go back inside in case Harlan needs you. I’m in good hands.”

  “But�
�”

  “Do it for Megan,” Mitch said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Okay.” What she wanted to do was throw herself at him, rain kisses on his face and tell him that her heart had almost stopped when she’d realized he’d been wounded. But Mitch was right. They had one more loose end to tie up. The most important one.

  Back inside, Jill continued to badger the sheriff. “You have to do something. Before they smuggle Megan out of the country.”

  “Take it easy. We’re already working on that.”

  Jill thought he sounded like a grandfatherly figure trying to placate a flighty, overexcited adolescent. Well, she might be keyed up but she was far from childish, and nobody, not even Harlan Allgood, was going to get away with talking down to her.

  “How? Where? When?” She glanced at the chair where the cops had secured Natalie. “She said Megan was being put on a plane in a couple of hours!”

  “Not anymore she isn’t,” Harlan replied. “If you hadn’t been running all over tarnation and getting yourself into trouble you’d already know that. The crooks we picked up for gambling were involved up to their necks in the kidnapping and the Pearson bombing. One of them decided to cut a deal and told us everything.”

  “Megan’s safe?”

  “Yes. She never left Fulton County. Adelaide is picking her up and bringing her in.”

  Jill was almost overcome with joy. She clapped her hands and grinned. “Praise the Lord.”

  “My sentiments exactly,” the sheriff told her.

  “I have to go tell Mitch!”

  “Then go, before you bust a puckering string,” Harlan teased. “Just keep me posted if they decide to send him to the hospital.”

  “Will do.” Jill was already racing back toward the open door.

  Mitch was still seated on the rear deck of the ambulance when she burst out of the factory. She began to shout, “They found Megan! She’s okay.”

  There were tears in her eyes, and his, when she reached him.

  “They rescued her? You’re sure?”

  “Positive.” Jill’s voice broke. Mitch had his shirt off and there was a white bandage taped over his ribs on one side. The realization that mere inches had separated the bullet’s path from his heart made her stomach clench. Every nerve in her body fired repeatedly, sending shivers up and down her spine and tickling the hair at her nape.