Diana Anderson - Entering Southern Country 01 - Famous in a Small Town

by Diana Anderson

  She’d never dated after she’d left home. Her world had revolved around Emma and her work. She’d been asked out, but by very few, because she’d stayed secluded in her apartment with the exception of meetings with her agent, publisher, or editor, and shopping trips, or outings with Emma.

  She’d thought on that kiss for a long time after he’d left and the kiss in his office. She hadn’t had feelings like that surface since the last time he’d kissed her before she’d left years ago. And he’d said that he loved her then, but now? After her return to Cypress the first time, she knew when she first lay eyes on him—even when it was taboo—she still loved him.

  The recent events had been near overwhelming. To have been reunited with her biological parents was like a dream come true. She’d never felt any kind of bond with Callie or Virgil. Although it had somewhat to do with their lack of affection, but now she knew that it had been even more than that. Ted, Suzanne, and Raven had cried together the day he’d shown her the evidence he had, and they’d cried again later at Suzanne’s home after all had been revealed in the conference room at the sheriff’s department. She didn’t feel that she would ever be able to understand how anyone could be as heartless and cruel as Callie.

  Suzanne and Raven had made a trip to the cemetery and placed flowers on little Agnes’ grave. Suzanne had said that she would never forget this child. She’d plan to continue her visits. After all, who else would visit her grave?

  Raven would eventually forgive Callie. It was in her to do so but all in due time. She didn’t have plans to ever see her again nor did she want to ever see her again.

  Emma had picked out her favorite pink sundress and a pair of white sandals. Raven helped Emma get dressed. She brushed her hair and put it in a ponytail with her favorite ribbon—the pink one. She strapped a small purse over her shoulder.

  “You’ve got your play make-up inside of your purse. Now, go on downstairs and wait in the den. I’ll be down shortly.”

  “Can I play with your phone while I wait for daddy?”

  “May I.”

  “May I?”

  “Yes. Be careful with it.”

  “Yes, Mommy.” Emma picked up the phone off the bathroom counter top, hopped down off the dressing table stool, and skipped out of the room, and down the hallway.

  Raven finished her make-up and brushed her hair. She tied her hair back at the nape.

  She heard the doorbell. She walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom and glanced at the time on the clock on the nightstand.

  He’s early.

  The dog barked from the backyard. She listened for voices but couldn’t hear anyone.

  She picked up her earrings off of the dresser and put them on and then grabbed her shoes. She sat down on the foot of the bed and slipped them on her feet. She stood, and gave herself one last look in the dresser mirror, and then headed out of her bedroom, and down the stairs.

  When she got to the den, she glanced around the room. Emma wasn’t in there.

  “Emma?” She went into the kitchen and looked out the back door.

  Gabriel stood on the other side and looked in at her with his tail wagging. She opened the French door and stepped outside.

  “Emma?” She hurried over to the swimming pool.

  Although Emma knew how to swim, she also knew to stay away from the pool without an adult present.

  “Emma?” she called louder. Where is she? “Emma?”

  She heard the gate rattle, open, and then shut. She rushed around the shrubs and saw Cal. Gabriel chased after her.

  “Oh, thank God!” She looked to either side of him. “Where’s Emma?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. I just got here.”

  Her knees went weak, but she managed to turn and push herself at a fast pace back to the patio door and on inside the house.

  “Emma?” she yelled.

  “Is she in her room?” Cal asked. He stayed right on her heels as she rushed from room to room downstairs.

  “No. The doorbell rang a few minutes ago. I thought it was you.”

  She hurried up the stairs.

  “Emma?”

  They spread out going room to room and met back in the hallway.

  “Where’s Suzanne and Ted?” he asked.

  Raven’s body shook.

  “Raven?” He grabbed her shoulders and turned her toward him “Where is Suzanne and Ted? Maybe they’ve got her.”

  She shook her head. “They left an hour ago. We were going to meet for dinner after you picked up Emma.”

  “Mavis?”

  Raven shook her head again. “She was given the evening off since she didn’t have anyone to cook for.” She turned and hurried down the hallway.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To call the police.”

  “I’ve got it. You just try to think. I’ll take care of that.” He took out his cell phone and called dispatch.

  Raven wandered from room to room. She went back outside and called Emma’s name—over and over. She searched the front, the back, and the side yards. She walked down to the road and looked. Something caught her eye on the mailbox. She hurried over.

  Cal headed toward her as she walked back up the driveway toward the house. She had something in each hand. He was within ten feet of her when she collapsed to her knees.

  He ran the rest of the way, and knelt down beside her, and pulled her into his arms. “Raven?”

  She moaned. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

  He looked in her hands. One gripped a pink ribbon and the other a piece of paper. He took the paper and looked at it. In large cut out and pasted letters it read:

  IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR DAUGHTER ALIVE AGAIN, YOU’LL DO WHAT I SAY. DO NOT CALL AUTHORITIES. WAIT BY THE PHONE.

  Cal positioned Raven, lifted her up, and carried her back into the house. He deposited her on the sofa and sat down beside her. He laid the note down on the coffee table and then took his cell phone out of his pocket.

  87

  Suzanne and Ted had come back home after Cal had called them. Cal had called Janie too. He didn’t tell her anything until she had arrived. Raven was grateful that they were there. She couldn’t handle this on her own. Twice she had fallen apart.

  They had put Gabriel in the laundry room with his food and water. Nobody had it in them to give him the attention he wanted.

  Several deputies arrived within minutes after Cal had made the first call. All were in unmarked cars and had parked near the rear of the house. The department didn’t have a phone surveillance device or the software for it, an expense that Laurel County hadn’t considered. Cal had called the FBI. A team was on their way.

  On one hand Raven was glad the deputies were there, but on the other hand she was terrified. What if the kidnapper or kidnappers found out? What if they were watching the house? Had Cal ever worked a kidnapping before? She looked across the room at him. He was talking with the deputies.

  Suzanne had gone into the kitchen to make coffee, and Ted paced the floor in front of the fireplace. Raven sat on the sofa and stared at nothing on the floor. Cal had already gone over what she needed to say if and when the call came. He hoped it didn’t come until after the FBI arrived, and they had everything set up for the call.

  The house phone rang. With eyes wide, Raven jumped up from the sofa. She hurried over to the phone. Cal rushed over to stand beside her.

  She picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Mommy?” Emma whispered.

  “Emma? Oh, Emma, are you okay?”

  “Shhh, Mommy, I don’t what them to hear us.”

  “Where are you?”

  “In a bathroom.”

  “Whose bathroom?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Cal had his head tilted, leaning toward the earpiece of the phone. “Ask her if she knows who they are.”

  “Honey, do you know who took you?”

  “No.”

  Cal mouthed, “How many?”

  “
How many people are with you?”

  “Three.”

  “Do you know their names?”

  “She called him numb nuts, and he called her bitch, and the other one … I think he has two names … amb … amblance chaser.”

  Raven looked at Cal who would have laughed if it hadn’t been so serious.

  Raven asked her, “Tell me what they look like?”

  “Mommy, I have to go. They’re coming.”

  The phone line went dead.

  “Emma?” Raven’s voice grew loud. “Emma?”

  Cal took the receiver from her and hung up.

  Raven wrung her hands. Janie had listened at the kitchen door. She hurried over and placed her arm around Raven’s waist. Suzanne walked into the room.

  “She doesn’t know where she is or who they are,” Raven said as she looked down at the floor.

  “Emma’s going to be fine. She’s a very smart little girl.” Janie looked at Cal. “I told you that she was a smart little girl. She knew Suzanne’s phone number. She picks up things quick.”

  The room was quiet for a long moment. Raven’s head popped up. She looked at Suzanne.

  “Did you tell her your phone number?”

  Suzanne shook her head. “No.”

  Raven looked at Ted. He shook his head. She looked at Janie and then Cal. She scanned the room. Porter, Hendrix, and Miller shook their heads even though they’d never met the little girl.

  “How did she get this number?” Raven looked at the floor in thought. She placed her hand over her mouth and looked up at Cal. “She has my cell phone.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  She dropped her hand and nodded. “Yes, because right before she came downstairs to wait for you, she asked me if she could play with it. She knows where I keep my contacts on my phone. Sometimes she uses it to call her friend. I add photos to my contacts. That’s what she goes by. I had just added Suzanne’s photo with her number the other day. That’s how she called.” She put her hands on her hips and then dropped them to her sides. “I need to use someone’s cell phone. Quick.” She glanced at everyone.

  Cal reached in his pocket, and withdrew his cell phone, and then handed it to her. “What is it?”

  “I’ve got to call Rebecca.” She mumbled some numbers.

  “Rebecca? Why?”

  “Shhh.” She mumbled the numbers over again and then punched in the number.

  It rang five times.

  “Hello?” Rebecca said.

  “Becca, this is Raven.”

  “Raven, wha—”

  “Listen, I need you to look on your phone and find mine.”

  “You called me because you lost your phone, or did Emma lose it again?” She chuckled.

  “Becca, please, it’s important.”

  “Okay, hold on.”

  Raven could hear her handling the phone. She looked around the room. “I need a pen and something to write on.”

  Suzanne hurried into the kitchen and came back in no time with a small notepad and a pen. She handed it to Raven.

  “It’s searching, hold on,” Rebecca said.

  Raven walked over to an end table and set the pad down.

  “Almost there,” Rebecca said. “I’ve got to enlarge the screen. One second.”

  Raven tapped her foot repeatedly and chewed her bottom lip.

  “It looks like it’s somewhere near … Interstate Fifty-five and Main Street … East Main.”

  “What side streets are near there?” Raven asked as she jotted down the information.

  “Charleston and … Mayfield. It’s on East Main, but the west side of the interstate.”

  Cal read what Raven had written down. He looked up at Hendrix and nodded. “Deluxe Inn.”

  Cal headed for the door. Hendrix and the other deputies followed.

  “I gotta go.” Raven disconnected the phone and hurried after him. “Cal?”

  He turned toward her. “I’ll call you when I get her out of there. But you …” he looked around at everyone … “y’all need to stay here.” He turned to go out the front door.

  “Cal, your phone.”

  He looked back. She handed him his phone.

  Teary eyed, she looked up at him. “Please, I need to go with you.”

  “No, you need to stay here and man the phone in case they call. They can’t know that we’re onto them.”

  She nodded. “Please bring her home to me.”

  “I will.” He hurried down the steps. “Get your vests on,” he called out to his deputies.

  At the sound of that, she covered her mouth with her hand and sucked in a breath.

  Suzanne, Janie, and Ted huddled around her.

  The phone rang.

  88

  “Read exactly what I’ve written and don’t say anything else. Do you understand?” Angus said as he held out the paper in one hand and had a gun pointed at Thaddeus Kingston’s head with his other.

  Thaddeus nodded. He sat on the foot of a full size bed with his hands tied in front of him. His ankles were secured together with a rope. He took the paper and scanned it.

  Emma sat on a side chair in front of a curtain drawn window near the door with her purse strapped over her shoulder. She kicked her legs back and forth in and out of time with each other. Her brows were drawn together tight as she stared a hole through Callie.

  Callie sat in the middle of the other bed and glared at Emma. She snarled her upper lip at her. “Brat!”

  Emma screwed up her face and stuck out her tongue at her.

  Callie cuffed up the legs of her designer jeans and rubbed her bruised shins. “You remind me of that girl in ‘The Exorcist’. I expect your head to start spinning any minute now.”

  Angus tapped in the number on the cell phone.

  Callie looked at Angus. “That girl in ‘The Exorcist’, what was her name?”

  “Shhh! The phone is ringing,” Angus said as he listened.

  “Hello?” Raven said.

  Angus held the phone down to Thaddeus’ mouth.

  “Four million—all in hundreds—in a duffle bag. Have it ready by the time I call back,” Thaddeus said.

  “Please let me talk to Emma.”

  Angus disconnected. He pocketed the phone and the gun. He reached into his other pocket and took out a knife. He bent over and cut the rope tied around Thaddeus’ ankles.

  “Are you sure the number on that cell phone can’t be traced?” Callie asked.

  “It’s pre-paid, so it’s highly unlikely.” He slipped the knife back into his pocket. “Tie her up.” He walked over to the dresser, picked up a bundle of rope, and tossed it on the bed beside Callie. He grabbed the roll of duct tape and tore off a strip.

  “Me?” Callie stared wide-eyed at him “She’s already kicked the shit out of my shins. You tie her up.”

  “I need some help. We need to get out of here. We can’t stay in one spot too long. Now hurry up.”

  Callie rolled her eyes and climbed off the bed. She grabbed the small bundle of rope and strung some out. “I need a knife to cut this.”

  Angus pulled his knife out and tossed it to her. It landed in the floor by her feet. She bent down to pick it up. Emma kicked her forehead. Callie fell backwards on her butt and shook her head. She focused on the little girl.

  “You little shit!” She pushed herself up from the floor and then backhanded her.

  The blow knocked Emma back. She turned her head back toward Callie and cut her eyes up at her. Her lower lip trembled. Blood trickled from her nose and her bottom lip. She blinked back tears.

  Callie grabbed the knife and cut off a piece of rope. She grabbed the little girl’s hands and tied her wrists together. She stepped over to the dresser, picked up the duct tape, and cut off a strip. She dropped the roll, walked back over to Emma, and slapped it over her mouth.

  She pointed the blade of the knife in Emma’s face. “You kick me one more time and I’m going to use this knife to play tic-tac-toe all over your face.�
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  “Let’s go,” Angus said as he opened the door.

  89

  The office at the Deluxe Inn had been cleaned since the investigation of Gaylene’s murder. The night manager was on the phone when Cal burst through the door. His eyes grew wide as he looked from Cal to Hendrix.

  “I gotta go,” he said without taking his eyes off of them and then tried to cradle the phone. “Can I—”

  “How many rooms are occupied?”

  He stared dumbfound at Cal.

  “C’mon. How many rooms?”

  He turned toward the computer screen and pulled up the rooms. Cal stepped behind him and looked over his shoulder at the screen.

  “We’re having a slow night. Looks like twelve.”

  “Who are the most recent?”

  He scanned the screen. “Uh, week ago, four days, two … last night … uh these three within the last four hours and that one checked in about five minutes ago.”

  Cal looked at the room numbers and said, “Get your master key card.”

  He turned toward him. “Uh, Sheriff, I can’t let you do that without a search warrant.”

  He leaned down and got into his face. “You don’t have a choice. Now get the key card.”

  He scurried out of his seat and grabbed the key card from a peg on a wall.

  “Let’s go,” Cal said. He grabbed the man’s arm and hurried him out the door.

  They walked at a fast pace down the sidewalk and passed several rooms.

  “Here, this one,” the manager said and raised a fisted hand to knock.

  Cal grabbed his wrist. “Give me the key card,” he whispered and held out his hand.