Rudy was right. At some point, it always came to money. Kell was prepared to pay whatever he needed to, to get Zoe out of this and back home with him. But Rudy didn’t have to know that. He could guess, but Kell would never let him be sure.
“So?” Rudy barked. “What is it you’re lookin’ for?”
Grant described the totems in basic terms. Rudy’s eyebrows puckered, rose, fell, and scrunched together. Finally, he said, “Don’t ring a bell. But definitely, Ozzie’d want something like that. He’d have bartered for ’em.”
“Do you know how we can reach him?” Grant asked, pulling out a small pad and pen. Kell discreetly typed the phone number Rudy rattled off into his phone, then, while Zoe asked Rudy again if there’d been anything in the rail car he owned, he pulled up the number on the Internet, found the corresponding address, and mapped the quickest route to get there.
“Sorry, sweetheart, the thing was empty as my stomach at supper time. Speaking of.” He looked at his watch. “I’ve got to get goin’ if I’m gonna make my meeting.”
Zoe and Grant rose from the sofa they’d been sitting on and thanked Rudy, Zoe going so far as to give him a kiss on the cheek. Kell slipped his phone back into its holder on his belt and stepped forward to shake Rudy’s hand.
“We appreciate your time.”
“Hell, it goes both ways.” They made their way to the front door. “Old men like me always like having someone new to tell stories to, you know.” He clapped Kell on the shoulder and nudged him through the screen door. “You kids good luck findin’ them things.”
He was kicking up dust, barreling down the long drive in his truck, before the three of them had finished getting into the SUV.
“So let’s call Ozzie,” Zoe said immediately, leaning forward between the seats again. “Find out where he lives.”
“I already know.” Kell showed them the GPS route on his phone. “We can be there in half an hour. But the question is, should we call ahead or just show up?”
“If someone else has already gotten to him,” Zoe said, “our call could spook him.”
Kell turned in the seat to see her better as Grant started the vehicle and put it in gear. “How would anyone have gotten to him? Rudy gave no sign he’s talked to anyone besides us.”
“No, but they could have talked to someone else, following the railroad connection. That’s kind of a no-brainer, isn’t it? I just don’t want to alert him. Or anyone.” She took a deep breath. “I feel like Pat’s people are on our tails, just waiting to do their damage.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“What?” Kell and Zoe said together, staring at Grant, who was frowning into the rearview mirror.
“We’ve got company.”
They craned their necks to look behind the truck.
“How can you tell?” Zoe asked. “That could be Rudy’s dust.”
In a few more seconds, however, it was clear the dust cloud was building toward them, not settling away. And it was moving fast.
“That’s a one-lane drive,” Kell reminded Grant.
“I know.” His jaw set, Grant stepped slowly on the gas, moving the truck at a crawl around the side of the house, stirring as little dust as possible.
“It might be no one,” Zoe said, but her tone was anxious.
“Might be.” Grant stopped the truck and surveyed the land in front of them. “Do you want to take that chance?”
The road was about a mile and a half straight ahead, but it was open ground. The SUV was built for off road, not just to look like it, but there was no cover. Their dust cloud would reveal them the same way it revealed whoever was approaching the house now. Kell looked over his shoulder, but the terrain was identical in all directions, and any roads back that way would be further than the one they’d come in on.
Still, they sat.
“What are we waiting for?” Zoe asked.
“Timing,” Grant bit out.
Kell touched Zoe’s hand where it rested on the center console. “Better sit back and buckle up,” he said in a low voice. “This won’t be smooth.”
“Damn right,” Grant muttered. His gaze burned straight ahead, his hands loose on the wheel but his arms tight with tension. He seemed to be counting in his head, probably trying to calculate when the car would be at the best point to give them an advantage.
“What if they know something that could help us?” Zoe suggested. “We could stay and find out.”
“They’re behind us, Zoe. We know more than they do.”
“She doesn’t want to run,” Kell told him. He could tell that Zoe was going to push, and Grant wasn’t the kind of guy who took well to pushing. He didn’t really care what kind of guy Grant was, but he was the one driving. “She hates being ruled by fear.”And now he understood why.
“I get that,” Grant responded. “But it’s tactical. She’s going to—”
“Stop talking about me!” Zoe yelled at them both. “It’s not about fear or running!”
“Good.” Grant slammed his foot down on the accelerator. The SUV bounded across the dry, not-so-flat ground. Zoe put her hand up to brace against the ceiling when she bounced.
“I told you to put—”
“Oh, shut up.” She tried to glare at Kell, but they were all moving around too much for it to be effective. After a struggle, she managed to click the seatbelt into place. It helped a little.
“So you got that address plugged in?” Grant asked Kell. “Would be helpful right about now.”
“Yeah.” He thumbed his phone on. It was recalibrating based on the direction they were going. “Hang on.”
“We’re hanging.”
“Literally.” Zoe clung to the handle over her door.
“See if you can see them behind us,” Grant ordered.
After a moment, she said, “I can’t tell. The dust cloud’s too thick.”
The GPS program was having difficulty plotting them. Kell tried to skim ahead on the three-D route, but it didn’t show which way to go.
“Left or right?” The racing engine slowed as a hard bounce took Grant’s foot off the accelerator. A few seconds later, they lurched forward again. “Left or right?” he said louder when Kell didn’t answer.
“I’m trying to figure that out!” He switched the view to overhead and zoomed out. “Left,” he managed just before they hit the road. Grant spun the wheel, the vehicle skidded in a quarter circle, and before it had settled, he was mashing down the accelerator again.
“Why are you in such a—” Zoe cut herself off when she looked ahead. They had to pass the entrance to Rudy’s property, and there was a monster pickup truck sitting there at the end of the drive. Their pursuers—assuming they’d been after them and not just visiting Rudy—hadn’t been stupid enough to try to follow them off road. They were just going to wait to see which way they went on the blacktop.
“What are they—” Again, she cut herself off, this time adding a curse.
“Brace yourselves.” Grant muttered something Kell couldn’t hear, his right knee rising but his foot not letting up on the gas. His gaze stayed fixed on the truck.
“Which pieces?” Zoe quipped.
Kell braced his feet against the floor, not sure what was coming, but knowing it was coming soon.
He didn’t know how Grant did it. How he anticipated so perfectly. How he even knew what the bastards were planning. But as they sped down the road, at the instant the waiting truck jumped forward to smash into them, Grant slammed on the brakes and cranked the wheel left. The truck whipped across the road in front of them, and Grant hit the gas again. Kell twisted to look out the side window and watched the truck spin, trying too soon to follow the SUV. They’d been going too fast, and the truck teetered on two wheels.
Then they were too far down the road for Kell to see any more.
“Everyone all right?” Grant asked.
“Yeah.” Kell spun back the other way to check Zoe. She was hanging over the back seat, trying to see through the
rear window. “Zoe?”
“I don’t see them.” By the clarity of her voice, she was okay, too.
“They’re coming.” Grant was alternating between watching the flat road ahead of them and checking the rearview mirror.
“You see them?” Zoe asked.
“Not yet.” He waved at the phone clutched tight in Kell’s hand. “Route?”
“Oh. Right.” He wiped away the sweat that smeared the screen and tapped the display back on.
“Checking for traffic,” the musical voice told him. He bounced his knee, impatient, and glanced in the side mirror. He couldn’t see the truck behind them.
“Go straight…four point two miles…and then…turn right.” The name of the road to turn on appeared at the bottom of the screen.
Grant sped up even more. Kell had thought they were at top speed already, but the engine growled and the tires whirred and holy shit, if they hit a pothole they were dead.
The road curved gradually to the right, and the mountains loomed ahead of them once more.
“It will be easier to lose these guys in the foothills,” Grant told them.
“Good.” Zoe stayed in her seat, raising her voice so they could hear her over the road noise. “I don’t think we want them this close.”
“No.”
“Why are they coming after us?” Kell checked the distance to the turn. “Don’t they just want to keep track of you? That was pretty aggressive.”
“They might think we found the totems at Rudy’s,” Grant said.
“Or someone doesn’t want the totems found at all,” Kell countered.
Zoe made a noise but cut herself off.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He twisted back again, thinking he was going to need a chiropractor after this was all over. “If you thought of something or had an idea, tell us.”
“No, nothing like that. I just—it was stupid.”
Grant gave her a steady look in the mirror, and she relented, annoying Kell.
“What he said reminded me of that movie, The Mummy. You know, with Brendan Fraser?”
Kell exchanged a “whatever” look with Grant. She blew out a breath.
“Anyway, they were in a secret city, looking for an ancient book. And they were attacked, but they found out the people attacking them were protecting the book so no one would wake the mummy.”
“So?” Kell wasn’t sure where she was going with that. “It doesn’t matter what these people’s motive is. They’re not trying to reason with us. That move—”
“I know! That’s why I said it was stupid. I mean, I thought, if they know where the totems are and don’t want us to get close, maybe they’d help us. Maybe we could find some common ground. But they can’t listen to us if we’re dead.”
“Go one mile… and then…turn right,” said the GPS.
Kell faced forward and prepared to navigate for Grant. And tried not to think about the possibility that the people behind them would catch up before they got to their destination.
Chapter Ten
“Sure, I remember those!”
Zoe stared at the grizzled old man in the doorway in front of them, hardly daring to believe her ears.
“You do?” Then the word he’d used clicked, and her heart sank as low as it had just leaped. “You don’t have them anymore.”
Ozzie shook his head. “I have some other nice things you might want to look at.”
“No, thank you, it’s just these particular statues.” She fought to control her disappointment and think of what to ask next, but Kell took over for her.
“Mr. Cocalico, can you tell us a little about the statues and what you did with them? Where you found them? We’re historians.” He didn’t jump to an explanation when Ozzie skeptically eyed the dust that coated their clothing. Zoe folded her hands so she wouldn’t compulsively brush it off.
Finally, Ozzie backed up and let them in. “Sure. Can’t hurt.”
Thank goodness for old men who loved to talk. Ozzie led them into the living room of his spacious house, and Zoe gaped. Built-in shelves filled the walls on three sides. Rather than the eclectic, cluttered display in Rudy’s house, Ozzie had carefully grouped his finds and even installed special lighting on some of them. They ranged from what looked like handmade rag dolls to gleaming porcelain. There was a lot of gold, both fake and real.
“I can’t believe you find so much stuff along the railroad tracks!”
“Oh, well, it’s not just that. It’s a combination.”
Zoe followed him around the room as he pointed out his favorites and told the stories behind each acquisition. The man had a steel-trap mind, which gave her hope. She waited for an appropriate moment while the guys hovered at the foyer entrance.
“Mr. Cocalico,” she began.
“Please, call me Ozzie.” He replaced a tattered book on its stand and smiled at her.
“Thank you, Ozzie. I was just wondering if you remember who you gave those statues to. The ones we were interested in.”
“The ones made by Jacob Farmer.”
Kell jerked forward at the name. Grant had more control, but Zoe felt him tense and knew he was ready for action. Luckily Ozzie was turned away from them and didn’t notice. Zoe held them back with a flick of her hand. Ozzie couldn’t see her racing heart, but she knew her eyes gleamed. Hopefully he had cataracts.
“You know their history?” she asked. She couldn’t believe they’d actually tracked the things down. A day ago, less, she’d been certain there was no way. They didn’t have them yet, but they were a million miles closer.
He shrugged, but his own eyes glinted. “The basics. You have to know the background to charge what they’re worth.”
“So you sold them.” A guy like this would keep records. But would he tell them who the buyer was?
“Sure did.” He abandoned their tour and crossed to a small rolltop desk in the corner of the room. “A few years ago, to a collector. I do that every so often. eBay.” He hefted a large ledger-style book and grinned. “Best invention ever.”
She smiled back. Her heart slammed so hard she pressed her hand to her ribcage. “And you kept records?”
“Of course. The IRS, you know.” He slipped on a pair of reading glasses and peered at the first page of the ledger, then flipped several other pages. “William Carling is the collector.” He paused and looked over the silver frames at her. “Are you familiar with him?”
She was, but only as a name. Someone with money, a man who gave a lot of it away. She made eye contact with Kell, who nodded slightly, and with Grant, who shrugged.
“I didn’t know he lived in Utah.” She felt stupid as soon as she said it. He’d learned about the totems on eBay. He could be anywhere.
“Nah, California.” Ozzie found the entry he was looking for and scribbled something down on a piece of scrap paper. “Here you go.”
She went closer to take the paper, a little disbelieving that it was this easy. “Thank you.”
Ozzie didn’t release it right away. He’d dropped the affability. “I hope these give you what you’re looking for.”
She thanked him again, but he still didn’t let go.
“You know the legends?”
“I’m familiar with them,” she admitted after a moment. If she said no, he’d probably regale her with them all day, and she was antsy about the people in that truck catching up with them. Finding Ozzie. She didn’t want anything to happen to him or to Rudy, simply for being nice and helping them out.
“Are they the reason you’re looking for them?”
“No.” She said it swiftly and surely, and he relaxed and let her have his note.
“That’s good. Because whatever’s causing the panic you’re trying so valiantly to hide, those things aren’t the solution.”
God, she hoped he was wrong.
* * *
“What now?” Zoe asked when they were back in the SUV, heading for the hotel, with no nasty black truck in s
ight.
“Research,” Grant said. “We find out what we can about William Carling and determine the best way to get to him.” He glanced at Kell. “What do you know?”
Zoe leaned forward. She hadn’t thought Kell knew more than she did. His family wasn’t at Carling’s level, but they probably kept their eyes on people like him.
But Kell was shaking his head. “Just what’s public. He’s not east coast society, so my parents don’t talk about him, and my firm’s not that high-powered.”
They rode in silence until they got to the hotel. The lobby staff shot them multiple veiled glares for entering their fancy establishment looking so rough and dirty, but Zoe didn’t care. And wasn’t that interesting? A few weeks ago, she’d have checked into a cheap hotel, showered, and changed into nicer clothes before daring to come back here.
Of course, a few weeks ago, she wouldn’t have needed the shower. Or the subterfuge. She couldn’t fool herself anymore. She’d changed. She could never go back to the life she’d worked so hard for. It remained to be seen if Kell could or would move forward with her. If he wasn’t considering it, why was he still here?
Right now she was too worn out to lament the changes or fret about the future. She followed the men onto the elevator and turned to lean against the back wall, her mind flicking through Google searches and magazine archives, and what kind of information she should look for regarding William Carling. Did she have time to shower first? She needed to knock off the grime and sweat before hunkering in front of a computer.
The indicator had just dinged the fourth floor when she became aware of the tension in the car. She didn’t know what had caused it, only sensed it creeping over her as it rose. She glanced at Grant and saw he was looking steadily over her head at Kell. She turned the other way and found Kell staring back. Their expressions were intense but not hostile. Both stood tall, yet casually leaning against the side rails, as if trying to convey supremacy in both power and ease at the same time.
They were posturing over her.
The ridiculousness of it burst a giggle out of her and she faced forward again quickly, though probably both of them knew she’d been looking. Then fear trickled in. She couldn’t be annoyed that they were acting like this, like either currently had a claim over her. They both had reason to think they did. If Kell wasn’t at least a little open to taking her back, he wouldn’t still be here. She knew there would be a long, long row for her to hoe to earn back his trust and try to prove worthy of his love.
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