Sandra Brown

by The Witness [lit]

  "I would swear I wasn't."

  "No one else knows where you are?"

  "No. I drove in circles and didn't stop until I thought it was safe. I called you first."

  "Good. I'll be driving an unmarked government car. It's a plain gray sedan."

  "I'll watch for you."

  "I'll be there at nine o'clock to drive you straight to our main office in Columbia."

  "Thank you, Mr. Braddock."

  Kendall hung up but kept her hand on the receiver. Should she call her grandmother? A call of any sort at this hour would alarm the elderly lady. This particular call would terrify her.

  She picked up the phone and dialed.

  "This had better be damned important."

  "Rick) Sue, it's me."

  Her friend went from disgruntled to surprised in an instant.

  "Kendall, what"

  "Is someone with you?"

  "Does the Pope wear a beanie?"

  "I'm in trouble."

  "What's going on?"

  "It will take too long to explain it now. Can you please go out to Grandmother's house and stay the rest of the night with her?"

  "Like . . . now?" Ricki Sue asked unenthusiastically.

  "Like immediately."

  "Kendall, what the hell"

  "Please, Ricki Sue. You know I wouldn't ask unless the situation was critical. Stay with Grandmother until I call you back. Lock the doors and don't open them to anyone, not even Matt or Gibb."

  "What"

  "Don't answer the phone unless it rings twice first. That'll mean it's me. Okay, Ricki Sue? Give Grandmother my love and assure her that for the moment I'm safe. I'll call as soon as I can. Thanks."

  She hung up before Ricki Sue had time to object or ask further questions. If Matt had survived, and if he and Gibb started hunting for her, they would look for her first in Tennessee.

  Grandmother's life was in as much danger as hers. So was her child's.

  Kendall was suddenly struck by the far-reaching effects of her predicament. In the best-case scenario, all members of the Brotherhood would be apprehended to face trial for their crimes. She would be a material witness for at least one murder.

  She would be under the government's protection for months, possibly years, while prosecutors hashed through the evidence and constructed their case. The investigation itself could take years. Then there would be postponements, delays, appeals, a hopeless snarl of legal machinations that could drag out indefinitely. She and her child would be at the center of the tangle.

  Until the case was closed, her life would belong to the government. Everything she did would be monitored. She would need the government's permission for every move she made. She would have no more decision-making authority over her own life than would a puppet.

  She covered her face with her hands and groaned. Was this to be her penance? Was this how she was to atone for what she had done to get that job in Prosper?

  When the feds began poking around in the dim corners of their prime witness's life, would they ever receive a big surprise.

  They were bound to uncover everything about Kendall Deaton. How much credibility would she have when her secret came to light?

  She was caught in a trap of her own making and had no one to blame but herself. She longed to cry, but she feared that if she started she would be unable to stop. If Agent Braddock found her weeping uncontrollably when he arrived, he would dismiss her as a woman who'd had a spat with her husband and had dreamed up a fable guaranteed to embarrass him.

  To calm herself and ease her aching, tense body, she took a hot shower, but kept the shower curtain open so that she could see through the bedroom to the door. She had fled with only the clothes on her back. Her suit was stained and torn, but she put it back on and lay on the bed.

  As exhausted as she was, she couldn't sleep. She dozed, waking to every sound no matter how slight. With annoying frequency she checked the time.

  It was a long night.

  "Want a sweet roll to go with that? We've got some good honey buns this morning."

  "No, thanks, just the coffee."

  It was only eight-twenty. Kendall had been up since six o'clock, pacing the orange shag carpet in her motel room, counting each minute that crawled by. Deciding she couldn't stand the room a moment longer, and craving a cup of coffee, she had disobeyed Braddock's order not to venture outside.

  Constantly looking over her shoulder for vigilantes in hot pursuit, she had crossed the street to the diner.

  Kendall paid the friendly cashier and left with her coffee. She spotted a telephone booth at the corner of the building. One more quick call to Sheridan, just to make certain they were all right? She could always use the telephone in her motel room, but the fewer charges she had on that bill, the better.

  It was an old-fashioned phone booth with a hinged, folding door. She pulled it closed and placed her call, using coins She let the phone ring twice, hung up, then dialed again.

  Ricki Sue answered on the first ring. "What's up? Did they find out? Are you in trouble?"

  "I'm in trouble," Kendall replied. "But not for the reason you think. How's Grandmother?"

  "Okay. Worried naturally. We'd both appreciate knowing what the hell is going on."

  "Did anyone call there asking for me?"

  "No. Where are you, Kendall?"

  "I can't talk long. I"

  "Speak up, kid. I can barely hear you. You sound like you're in a well."

  A gray sedan pulled off the highway and into the motel parking lot across the street. Agent Braddock was thirty minutes early.

  "Kendall? You still there?"

  "Yes, I'm here. Hold on." Her eyes stayed on the car as it slowly rolled past the numbered doors. There were two men in the front seat. Braddock hadn't mentioned bringing anyone with him, but didn't federal agents usually work in pairs?

  "Kendall, your grandmother wants to talk to you."

  "No, wait. Stay on the line, Ricki Sue. Get something to write with. Hurry."

  The sedan stopped in front of room 103. A tall, slender, man got out. He had on sunglasses and wore a dark suit with a white shirt, a typical federal officer's uniform.

  He glanced around, then walked to the door of room 103. He knocked, waited, knocked again. Turning toward the car, he shrugged his shoulders.

  "Kendall! Speak to me. What is all this about?"

  The second man alighted from the passenger side of the car.

  It was Gibb Burnwood.

  "Rick) Sue, you must listen. Don't ask questions, please.

  There's no time for them." She spoke rapidly, reeling off instructions in clipped words and phrases while keeping her eyes fixed on the two men across the busy two-lane highway.

  "Have you got all that?"

  "I took it down in shorthand. But can't you tell me"

  "Not now."

  Kendall hung up. Her heart was in her throat. Agent Bead dock and Gibb were conferring outside the motel room. They hadn't seen her yet, but they hadn't looked. If they glanced toward the diner, there was a good chance they would spot her.

  The agent slipped something from his coat pocket and bent over the doorknob. Within seconds, the door to room 103 swung open. They went inside.

  Kendall pushed open the door, dashed out of the phone booth, and slipped into the alley between the diner and a feed store. As she ran between the buildings, she disturbed a cat foraging for breakfast in a Dumpster, but no one else saw her.

  The far end of the alley opened into a narrow parking lot behind a row of single-story commercial buildings. That's where she had left her car the night before. At the time, taking that precautionary measure had seemed melodramatic. Now she thanked God she'd had the foresight.

  She those a street at random, driving neither too fast nor too slowly. She followed the street through a residential neighborhood, past the Fighting Trojans football stadium, then beyond the city limits until the street became a rural route that would lead somewhere.

 
Or nowhere.

  Chapter 20

  Whey met in Chattanooga at the motel that Kendall had specified during her brief telephone conversation with Ricki Sue that morning. Her grandmother held her against her thin body and stroked her hair. "My dear girl, you've had me worried sick. What mischief have you got yourself into now?"

  "You naturally assume that I'm the perpetrator."

  "Experience is a good teacher."

  Kendall laughed and hugged her grandmother tightly. She was delighted to see her, but shocked by how the older woman had aged since their last visit. Her eyes, however, were as bright and lively as ever.

  Ricki Sue nearly squeezed the life from Kendall when they hugged. "Now," she said, sounding cross, "you pulled me away from a real stud last night. This morning, you were spitting out instructions as fast as a machine gun shoots bullets.

  I've driven so far my buns are numb. I'd like to know what the hell is going on."

  "I don't blame you for being exa sperated. I apologize for the inconvenience and thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you've done. I think you'll understand the need for urgency when I explain everything. It's a long story. Before I begin, are you sure you weren't followed?"

  "We drove around this city so many times we got dizzy.

  I'm positive we weren't followed."

  The three of them sat on one bed while Kendall told her spellbinding story. The two women listened with rapt attention, except that every once in a while Ricki Sue muttered swear words of incredulity.

  "So this morning, when I saw Gibb with Agent Braddock, I realized that either, one, he didn't believe me and had called in the nearest relative to rescue a woman on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Or, two and this is the really scary possibility the Brotherhood has members in the regional office of the FBI."

  "Good God!" Ricki Sue exclaimed. "Either way, you're screwed."

  "Right. So I can't risk calling the federal authorities again until I'm far away. In the meantime, I'm the only nonmember who knows about the Brotherhood and its nefarious pastimes.

  I can blow the whistle on them, so they'll be after me. I intend to go underground until the bastards have been arrested, charged, and held without bail."

  Her grandmother squeezed her hand. Concern made the creases in her face more noticeable. "Until then, your life's in danger. Where will you go?" Grandmother asked.

  "I don't know. But I want you to come with me. Please, Grandmother," Kendall implored when she saw that the older woman was about to protest. "I might be away for months.

  I want you with me, not only for my sake but for yours. They might try to reach me through you. You must come."

  For over an hour she tried to persuade the older woman, but to no avail. Grandmother remained steadfast. "You'll be safer without me in tow."

  Kendall called upon Ricki Sue to make her grandmother see reason, but Ricki Sue took the opposing side. "You're the one who's not thinking straight, kid. Your grandma's right. You can change your hair color, put on a pair of glasses, dress differently, alter your appearance any number of ways. A woman your grandma's age would be hard to disguise.

  "Besides," her grandmother said, "you know I want to die at home and be buried beside your grandfather and your parents.

  When my time comes, I couldn't stand being in an alien place and interred among strangers."

  Kendall had no argument for that, although she chastened her grandmother for talking about her death as though it were imminent.

  She and her grandmother slept in the same bed that night, while Ricki Sue snored from the other. Throughout the night, Kendall held her grandmother close. They whispered of days gone by. Giggling, they relived good times they had shared.

  They spoke poignantly of Kendall's parents and grandfather, none of whom she remembered. She knew them only from her grandmother's descriptions, which had been communicated so frequently and so well that Kendall's images of them were vivid.

  "Considering the strikes against us, we've done all right, haven't we?" the old woman asked, patting Kendall's hand.

  "Much better than all right, Grandmother. I was exceptionally blessed to have you in my life. You loved me more than most natural parents love their children."

  "I wish my love had been sufficient."

  "It was!" Kendall exclaimed in a whisper.

  "No. Like any child, you wanted your mommy and daddy's love and approval, and they weren't there to give it." She turned to Kendall and pressed her cool, dry, age-spotted hand against her cheek.

  "You don't need to prove yourself to anyone, dear. Especially not to them. You're everything they would have wanted their living legacy to be, and more. Don't be so hard on yourself.

  Enjoy your life."

  "After this, I doubt there'll be much enjoyment."

  Her grandmother smiled with the complacency of a fortune teller who has seen something prodigious in her crystal ball.

  "You'll survive this. You've always been curious and courageous, and both traits have served you well. The first time I saw you in the hospital nursery, you were peering about, not sleeping peacefully in your crib like all the other babies. I told your mother then that you were special, and I haven't changed my mind."

  Her eyes twinkled. "You are unique. Wonderful things are being held in store for you. Wait and see if I'm not right."

  Morning found them a subdued and somber trio.

  Kendall's grandmother pressed an envelope stuffed with cash into her hand. It cost her some pride to accept it, but she had no choice. "I'll pay you back as soon as I get somewhere and find a job."

  "You know that what's mine is yours. And don't worry about a large withdrawal showing up at the bank. That cash has been hidden in various parts of the house for years."

  "Hey! You're a clever old broad," Ricki Sue said, patting her on the back. "I like your style, Granny."

  Kendall took comfort in the friendship that had developed between them. She felt confident in placing her grandmother under Ricki Sue's care.

  "I'll call you when I can," she promised them. "But I probably won't be able to talk for very long at a time. They might put tracers on your telephones." In response to their shocked expressions, she said, "I don't put anything past them.

  Be extremely careful."

  She longed to tell them about the baby she was carrying but decided against it. Knowing about the child would only double their worry. Besides, she didn't trust her own strength.

  They might prevail upon her not to leave for parts unknown, and she might be tempted to stay.

  The inevitable time of parting came. Kendall hugged her grandmother fiercely, memorizing her smell and the feel of her frail body. "I love you, Grandmother. I'll see you as soon as it's possible."

  The older woman set her away and gazed into her face for a long time. "I love you, too. Very, very much. Be happy, child." Kendall read in her wistful expression a final goodbye.

  Knowing that this was probably the last time she would see her grandmother alive, she wanted to cling to her and never let go. But she followed her grandmother's dignified example and managed a brave, though wavering, smile.

  Ricki Sue, who was crying noisily and unabashedly, announced that she for one didn't want any murdering rednecks or traitorous feebs on her ass, and whisked Grandmother out the door.

  Kendall watched from the window as they drove away, then sobbed until her throat was raw. What did she have to fear from the Brotherhood? Before they tracked her down, she was sure to die of heartache.

  She deserted her car in the parking lot of the Chattanooga motel and, using some of the cash Grandmother had given her, bought a clunker from an individual who had advertised in the classified ads.

  The car got her as far as Denver, where it coughed one final time and died. She left it on the busy freeway, walked to the nearest McDonald's, and, over a Big Mac, perused the rental ads for a place to live.

  She found exactly what she was looking for in an older neighborhood. Her
landlady was a widow who supplemented her Social Security by leasing a garage apartment. The house was within walking distance of a branch of the public library, where Kendall obtained a job.

  She worked long hours. She made no friends. She didn't even have a telephone installed. When her pregnancy became evident, she responded to polite questions with a reticence that discouraged further prying.

  As far as she could tell, none of her calls to the FBI had sparked any interest, much less investigations. Every few weeks she phoned a different office and reported what she had witnessed in Prosper.

  Apparently they wrote her off as a nut case. She faithfully watched national news reports and read periodicals, hoping to see a story about the exposure of a vigilante organization in South Carolina. No such story appeared.

  The men of the Brotherhood were getting away with murder, and there was nothing she could do about it without risking her life. But she couldn't sit idle and do nothing.

  She spent her off-duty hours at the library gleaning information. A wide range of computer sources were at her fingertips, so she used them. Gradually, she built her own library. It was comprised of the records of public officials in Prosper, unsolved murders, missing-persons reports, anything that might one day help bring the vigilantes to justice.

  For their own safety, Kendall didn't let Grandmother or Ricki Sue know her whereabouts. So she didn't learn of her grandmother's death until she placed a routine call.

  "I'm so sorry, Kendall." Ricki Sue wept as she imparted the news. "It breaks my heart to have to tell you like this."

  "Was she alone?"

  "Yes. I went over that morning to check on her, but she didn't answer the door. I found her in bed."

  "Then she died in her sleep. That's a blessing."

  "What do you want me to do about the house?"

  "Give her clothes away to anyone who can use them. Put all her personal belongings and valuables in a safe deposit box.

  Leave everything else as it is and lock up the house. Pay the bills out of the account at the bank." She had authorized Ricki Sue to sign her grandmother's checks when she had moved to Prosper.

  There was no one with whom Kendall could share her grief, so she suffered through it alone.

  She worked until the last two weeks of her term, during which she prepared the tiny apartment for the baby's arrival.