In Confidence

by Karen Young

  “If Monk ever lets him see her,” Rachel said bitterly. But she touched Cam’s face, warmed by his concern. Inside, she was chilled by thoughts of what could happen to her children.

  Cam stood up, squeezing her shoulder. “Let’s wait until we pick up his trail before thinking the worst.”

  “I’ve posted a statewide APB on Tyson’s Suburban,” Pete said, “but so far there’s no sign of it. And we’re following up on your suggestion to try questioning Jason Pate,” he said to Cam. “He wasn’t in the locker room after the game, and somebody said it looked as if he cut out even before the game ended, but we’re not sure. We’re on the lookout for his vehicle. It’s a beat-up Toyota Celica. As one of the athletes Monk favored, he may be our best bet.”

  Pete glanced at the notebook in his hand. “Three names were mentioned by Jimbo Rivers, as people Tyson uses when he needs muscle. These are probably the same people Nick was going to check out on his own. I showed them to Kristin and she recognized two as Nick’s suspects in his search for the white pickup.” He passed the notebook to Cam. “A unit’s checking both now.”

  Rachel jumped up from her chair, unable to sit a minute longer. “I can’t believe Nick planned to do something so dangerous on his own after what we told him.”

  Cam studied the licenses on the list. “Any of these a white pickup?”

  “One. Owner, Carl Ziegler. Lives over on Ashmont.” Pete flicked a forefinger at another name. “Jay Dunne and Ziggy work construction together. Both were Jimbo’s teammates.”

  Rachel frowned. “I remember them. They were always in trouble at school, but Monk managed to get them both into a second-rate college in Arkansas, anyway. I heard they washed out before a second season.” She closed her eyes, remembering the bruise on Nick’s temple and his scraped palms. “If they tried to hurt Nick, they have grown even more inhuman as adults.”

  “Don’t forget, Monk Tyson’s the real villain here,” Cam said quietly. “Ziggy and Jay are following orders.”

  “But they’re the ones who have Kendall.” She saw in both male faces what she found so hard to believe. “It’s just that after working with Monk for more than five years, I don’t want to believe he’s so heartless. Maybe that’s the reason people like Monk get away with such monstrous behavior for so many years. People just can’t see them as…as monsters!”

  “At this point, Tyson’s fighting for survival,” Cam said, trying to find something to ease her fear. “I believe he’ll think twice about harming Nick or Kendall.”

  “Then why take them at all!” she cried.

  “I think he’s obsessed with Nick,” Cam said quietly. “And that’s probably our best hope that he won’t hurt him.”

  Rachel stood looking at them both for a minute, trying to take it all in. Then, braced against the wall, she ran a shaky hand through her hair. “I need to call Ted and let him know. May I use your phone?” she asked Pete, who handed the cordless over.

  Cam followed her out of the office, then watched as she dialed the number. Her mouth was unsteady, waiting for a pickup. “Ted? Yes, how are you? Actually, I’m at the police station in Rose Hill and I have some bad news…ah, yes, bad news. Nick and Kendall are…we think they’ve been kidnapped. Yes, yes, that’s right. Nick was taken from the ball field. Not too long after you left.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “And Kendall was taken from her bedroom.”

  Rachel paused and listened for a minute. “Mother was in the den and heard nothing.” She looked around, met Cam’s eyes and waited through the crackle of Ted’s voice rising and falling. Finally, she just interrupted him to say, “I’m at the police station, where Pete Singletary is in charge of the search, Ted. We’re fairly certain Monk Tyson is responsible. Yes, he…” She pressed two fingers to a spot between her eyes. “Ted, just come on down here if you want and you can get answers…what few there are.”

  She clicked the off button and looked at Cam. “Well, that’s done. He’ll be right over.”

  Cam wanted nothing more than to take away the fear and despair in her eyes, but nothing except the return of her children could do that. “Let me get you something to drink,” he said.

  “Chief.” Angela stood in the doorway. “Tyson’s Suburban was spotted at the shopping center by unit 5. We know he’s not shopping. It looks as if he’s abandoned the Suburban.”

  “Damn.” Pete moved to the window, thinking. “What about the pickup?”

  “No sign of it yet,” Angela said. “And word’s out that the children are missing.” She sent Rachel a sympathetic look. “It won’t hurt to have the eyes and ears of the town looking.” With a fleeting smile at Cam, she headed back to the front.

  “The Suburban is school property. Monk doesn’t own it.” Rachel was rubbing her forehead. “I don’t know if he owns a car personally.” She went with Cam down the hall to the break room.

  “How’s Dinah holding up?” Cam said, filling a paper cup with coffee.

  “She’s distraught, of course, blaming herself. Marta’s with her, thank goodness.”

  “This was a well-planned abduction, Rachel. We were all set up.”

  “I know, but it’s hard not to see in hindsight how easy it was for Monk to pull it off.” She took the coffee. She’d probably need a lot of it before this night was done.

  “Rachel!”

  Breathing in deeply, Rachel turned to face Ted, striding down the hall toward them. “What is happening?” he demanded. “What is this all about? You didn’t make any sense on the phone.”

  “I’m sorry if the message didn’t get through, Ted,” she said. “Nick and Kendall are missing. Nick disappeared from the ball field and Kendall from my mother’s house.”

  Pete moved forward and put out a hand. “Ted, sorry we meet again under these circumstances. Come into my office and I’ll fill you in. The details are sketchy, as yet, but it looks as if Nick has landed himself in a world of mean and Kendall’s being made a part of the scheme.”

  Ted shot a look at Cam, then back to Pete. “I just saw Nick at the ball field. There has to be a mistake. He’s probably with some girl. He was waving at her when I was trying to talk to him.”

  “He’s not with a girl,” Rachel said, her head aching now. “And didn’t you hear what I said? Kendall’s gone, too.”

  “Let’s take this into my office,” Pete repeated firmly.

  Ted hesitated, then did as asked. At the door, he turned and said to Rachel, “Are you coming?”

  “Yes.” She slipped past Cam and went with Ted.

  Twenty-Nine

  The cabin suddenly popped up out of nowhere after about thirty minutes on a winding road through backwoods Nick had never seen before. He sat looking straight ahead as Monk Tyson got out and walked around to the passenger side of the Jeep.

  “Home, sweet home,” he said, jerking the door open. Nick had no chance to get his bearings before Monk yanked him out and shoved him hard toward the steps of the cabin.

  Nick had spent most of the trip wondering if he’d been stupid to let himself be blackmailed into cooperating with Monk. With nothing but Kendy’s sneakers to prove he even had her, Nick worried about what might happen if Kendy wasn’t around. Hopefully, she’d been missed by now. If so, all of Rose Hill would be out looking, just like those searches on TV for missing children. He bet Cam and the chief were kicking themselves over what was happening, but his mom would be frantic. He didn’t like thinking what shape his mom was in right about now. Nick just hoped they all got their stuff together in time for a rescue.

  Monk kicked at the cabin door and it flew open. With another hard shove, he sent Nick stumbling inside, nearly making him fall flat on his face. He recognized Harley Hog immediately by his T-shirt and thought the stocking he’d worn when he bushwhacked him Sunday was an improvement over his natural face. Same for his sidekick, but that dude had changed into a clean shirt, Nick noticed.

  “Hi, guys,” he said. And then he saw Kendy. She was sitting in a chair, her feet not q
uite touching the floor. She had shoes on, too. How’d they get the sneakers Monk had used for bait? Kendy looked okay, no marks like they’d hit her or anything. And she had her freakin’ camera around her neck! Jeez, if they’d let her take pictures, did that mean they weren’t worried about who might see them, because they knew she’d never get out of this cabin alive enough to put them in the one-hour photo mart? It was a scary thought. “Kendy, you okay?”

  “They make me sit here, Nick,” she said in her I’m-telling voice. “They won’t let me walk around. I told them I couldn’t do anything walking around this stupid cabin, but they’re mean. And there’s no bottled water.”

  Harley rolled his eyes in disgust. “I gave you water, I let you go to the bathroom, I even let you play with my Game Boy, Princess. Quit complaining.”

  “You didn’t let me play with your Game Boy. You didn’t know how to do it and I had to show you. I could take you down in about two minutes, but you won’t share.”

  Harley looked at Tyson. “She’s a pain in the ass, Coach. You can have her. Where’s our money?”

  Before Tyson answered, Kendall said, “I have to go to the bathroom.”

  “Again?” Harley snarled.

  Kendall looked at Nick. “Nick, make them let me go to the bathroom.”

  Nick, his hands still taped together in front of him, said, “I’ll take her. Where is it?”

  “It’s that door right there,” Kendall said, pointing.

  “Shut up!” Tyson bellowed. “The whole fuckin’ bunch of you are enough to make me crazy.”

  “We want our money,” Harley repeated.

  Tyson ignored him. “Take the kid to the bathroom and leave her there. The two of you…” he sliced the air in disgust “—go out on the porch and wait for me. You, Nick, sit down.”

  “Like I said, I’ll take my sister to the bathroom,” Nick told him stubbornly. “She’s scared. I’ll do what you want, but after I check she’s okay.”

  Tyson looked as if he might throttle Nick, but the moment passed, and with a hitch of his chin, he indicated the bathroom. “Go with her and make it fast.” Then he gave a sly wink to Nick. “You and your little sister must be closer than I thought.”

  Nick didn’t dignify that with a word. He moved toward Kendy, not bothering to ask Tyson to remove the tape on his wrists. Not a chance of that. She hopped down off the chair and scooted in front of him so she could open the bathroom door, which had no inside lock.

  “Are you okay, Kendy?” he asked.

  “Yes. When are we going to be rescued?” She made no move to use the toilet, he was relieved to see. Instead, she dropped the lid down and climbed up on top of it. Standing on tiptoes, she looked out of the tiny window.

  “I don’t know, so we have to figure out a way to get out ourselves. What are you doing?”

  “Trying to open the window, silly.” She had a ballpoint pen in her hand and was trying to work it into the crack between the window and the sill. “I’ve about got it, only they don’t let me stay in here long enough.”

  Nick studied the window. Even if they managed to get it open, he couldn’t get through, but Kendy could. “Where’d you get the pen?”

  “In my backpack. They brought it with me when they kidnapped me. They’re not very smart.”

  “Let me try.” He took the pen after she climbed down and gouged at the crack. It had been painted shut, but he was surprised to see that she’d made a good dent in it.

  Both jumped two minutes later when Monk hit the door with his fist. “Get out here, Nick.”

  Nick quickly flushed as if Kendy had used the toilet, slipped the pen inside the tank, then both stood looking at him innocently when he pushed the door open. “Stay, kid,” he ordered Kendy, then yanked Nick out and shut the door in her face.

  “Sit down. We need to talk.”

  Nick sat, watching Monk cautiously. He had a ferocious temper and Nick didn’t want to do anything to set it off. At school, he was forced to keep it under control, pretty much. Here, who knows?

  Tyson pulled a chair for himself up close and sat down. “First thing I want to know, Nick, is where you got the idea that I killed Jack Ford?”

  After Rachel went into Pete’s office with Ted, Cam was left to pace with frustration and a growing sense of dread. At the front desk, Angela and two other uniformed cops fielded calls as word spread of Coach Tyson’s involvement in the disappearance of two children. Cam moved to the door in time to see a boy dashing up the steps. As soon as he saw his face, Cam pushed the door open to let him in. “Ward, what—”

  “Cam, is it true? Has Kendy been kidnapped?”

  “We’re not sure yet, Ward. You—”

  “And Nick, too, right? I know he was supposed to go with Kristin after the game, but he never showed.” Ward’s face was pale and he was out of breath. “Nick wouldn’t dog out on Kristin like that, so I think I know why.”

  Behind the desk, Angela and the two cops tried to cope with numerous incoming calls. The lights on the base flashed constantly. A reporter from the local paper was trying to get into Pete’s office. With a hand on Ward’s shoulder, Cam guided him back the way he’d come. “Let’s take a walk. It’s chaos in here.”

  “What are the cops doing to find him?” Ward asked as soon as they were outside.

  “There’s a be-on-the-lookout bulletin and they found his Suburban, but no sign of Tyson. They’re looking for a couple of former athletes who might be helpful.”

  “Cam, if Nick’s gone—and Kendy, too—I know why.” He stuck his hands deep in his pockets. “And it’s my fault.”

  “It’s Tyson’s fault, Ward, not yours.”

  “Yeah, but Nick’s been trying to get me to tell what Tyson’s been up to and I wouldn’t listen. So, if I had done the right thing, this wouldn’t have happened. Problem is, Coach knows Nick does have the balls to tell everything, and if he does and the shit hits the fan, he’ll be kicked out of Rose Hill. That’s the reason he took him, to shut him up.”

  “You’re not the only one who could have told about Tyson over the past five years, Ward. There’s plenty of blame to go around.” They stopped at a crosswalk and waited for the signal to change. “What we need to do is find where Tyson is and whether or not he has Nick with him. Chief Singletary doesn’t have much in the way of leads so far.”

  Ward lifted a hand and waved to a couple of teens riding by in a Mustang. “Has anybody talked to Jason Pate? He might know something.”

  “The problem is finding Jason,” Cam said dryly. “But we’re looking.”

  Ward walked along with his eyes on his feet. “There’re a couple of places he likes to hang out. It’d be worth a try to check them out.” He glanced at the clock on the front of the bank building. “He’s had a couple of hours’ start, so we’ll probably have to sober him up if we find him.”

  “You think he’s somewhere getting drunk?”

  Ward shrugged. “Drunk or high.”

  Cam and Ward rounded the corner, heading back just as Rachel came out of the station house. He watched her scan the street, looking anxious, then lifted his hand to catch her eye. Seeing him, she hurried down the steps. Her hands, when he caught them in his, were ice cold. Saying nothing, she simply rested her forehead against his chest. They stood together, Cam’s arms around her, silently comforting.

  Ted emerged from the building, saw them and stood watching for a moment with a somber expression. Then he came down the steps much slower than Rachel had seconds before, heading for his Lexus parked in a reserved slot in front.

  “Bad scene?” Cam asked, searching her face.

  She shrugged. “Just…difficult. He’s shocked, and like the rest of us, helpless to do anything but wait.”

  “Did he give you a hard time?” Over her head, Cam frowned at the departing car.

  “He wanted to. Started to, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear what I’d done wrong that resulted in the kidnapping of my children.” She let him turn her then with an arm
at her waist. “I thought you’d gone. I was afraid you’d think with Ted around that I wouldn’t need you.”

  He gave a soft half laugh. “You thought I’d take my SUV and go home? I don’t think so.” With Ward standing close, watching and listening, he could only give her waist a loving squeeze.

  “I’m sorry about this, Ms. Forrester,” Ward said.

  Rachel gave a small sniff and managed a nod. “Thank you, Ward.”

  “Ward thinks he might know of a couple of places where Jason hangs out,” Cam said. “I don’t think there’s much we can do here. Pete’s running down those leads of Tyson’s enforcers and he has people organizing searchers. I think Ward and I will head out to look for Jason. Who knows, we might get lucky.”

  Rachel wiped briskly at a tear in the corner of one eye, then settled the strap of her purse on her shoulder. “Good idea. I’ll go with you.”

  “Jack Ford?” Nick gave Tyson what he hoped was a purely innocent look. “Gosh, Coach, I was only ten years old when that happened.”

  “That wasn’t the answer I needed, Nick.” Tyson had dragged him over and slapped him down in a chair. Now he reached out and dug his fingers painfully into Nick’s thigh. “Ferdy said you knew. I’m asking who told you.”

  It was hard to think with his thigh burning. “Nobody, Coach. I said what I said to Ferdy just to get him to back off. He tried to kill my sister’s cat.” Nick couldn’t help a small wince of pain. The Man had a killer grip. “You know me and Ferdy have always been kinda…not close.”

  Taking his time, Tyson released his grip on Nick’s thigh, then folded his big arms over his chest and studied Nick’s face. “I think you’ve been talking to Cameron Ford. And I think he’s on a mission to pin his boy’s suicide on me. And I think it’s too late to lie your way out of it.”

  Panic spiraled high in Nick, but he fought it. With his hands taped, he was pretty helpless to do anything to protect Kendy or himself, but they’d never get out of here if he lost it. Too terrified to pretend to be cool another second, Nick got up from the chair and rubbed at the pain in his thigh with his locked hands. “Coach Monk, you’ve got to know the whole town of Rose Hill is probably looking for Kendy and me. You’re gonna have the whole state of Texas looking for you. Why don’t you just get in your Jeep and—”