by Diane Bator
Clancy grabbed the front of her coat and yanked her inside. “Lucy, what happened? Are you okay? Did Roger call?”
“Yes. The kids.” She nodded.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “Where are they?”
“I don’t know.” She sobbed. “I called Leo and Danny, but…” She was at a loss for words.
“Don’t move.” Clancy forced into an oversized armchair and ran up the stairs.
She couldn’t have moved if she’d wanted to. Her entire body was numb with anger inside and out. Mad at Roger for getting she and her kids involved in things none of them should have ever had to deal with. Mad for him not letting the kids call home. Mad at Tanji for being on vacation with them instead of her.
Lucy tried Leo’s number again, fumbling to punch the right numbers. Still no answer. After weeks of tripping over Danny, suddenly he was nowhere to be found. Where were they? They had to know something they hadn’t shared with her.
Clancy reappeared in faded blue jeans and a clean t-shirt. He made two cups of herbal tea before he sat on the nearby couch. “Now tell me what Roger said.”
“He wants me to get the money and the jewelry.” Lucy had clutched her phone so tightly the case left dents in her flesh. “He wants to exchange them for the kids.”
Clancy paled as he set her cup on the coffee table. “Did he say that for sure?”
Lucy blinked furiously. “He said if I didn’t give the money and jewelry to him, I’d never see my kids again.”
He pulled her into a hug. “Did he say where they were?”
“No.” She pressed her face into his t-shirt.
Clancy let her catch her breath then handed her a handful of tissues. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled with one thumb, his chin resting on the top of her head.
Lucy glanced up. “If you’re calling Leo or Danny, neither of them are answering their phones. I tried them before I came to see you.”
“Great.” He didn’t look happy. “Lucky for us, I know where they were going.”
“They went to the cottage, didn’t they?” She dried her eyes. “Have you heard from them?”
Clancy frowned. “No.”
Her legs gave out and she sank into the chair. “You don’t think Roger took them by surprise, do you?”
He dialled one last number then walked into the kitchen as he spoke in low tones. When he returned, he reached for his jacket. “Let’s go.”
“Are we going to the cottage?” She followed him to his rusty red sports car. “Did you call Bobby?”
“Yeah.” He grasped her hand. “He’ll meet us there.”
Mitch stumbled over from his dimly lit garage with a bottle of beer in one hand. His words slurred. “Where’re you two going? What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
“Roger called Lucy.” Clancy helped her buckle the front seat belt. “We’re going to the cottage to get the kids.”
“Count me in. I’m coming to help.” Mitch pushed him out of the way and crawled into the backseat then fumbled with the seat belt.
Lucy shrugged silently pleaded with Clancy not to argue. They needed to leave before Roger and Tanji took the kids elsewhere. The sooner they left town, the better.
Clancy slipped behind the steering wheel. “You can come, but the beer stays. We don’t have time to get busted.”
Mitch tossed the bottle out the rear window and got comfortable.
Lucy sat back and prayed Clancy’s car started. At least they weren’t taking his truck. Clancy and Mitch were the two people she mistrusted nearly as much as Roger. When Clancy pulled into a service station before they’d even left town, she panicked. “What are you doing? We have to go.”
Mitch snorted from the back seat, reeking of stale beer.
“It’s two in the morning. I need the biggest cup of crappy coffee they’ve got. Do you want anything?” He rubbed his face and muttered aloud about turning back and throwing Mitch man out of the car. Right after they got coffee.
She let out a deep sigh. “Isn’t there somewhere with a drive-thru?”
Clancy shrugged. “I need to move around and wake up before we get on the road.”
Mitch snorted, but slept on.
“I’ll come with you.” She climbed out of the car and bought two extra-large coffees and two day-old muffins before they headed onto the highway. The first half hour passed in a silence broken only when Mitch mumbled or groaned in his sleep.
None of the signs they passed meant anything to Lucy. Her gaze remained out the window, searching for anything familiar. She was glad he knew where he was going, but didn’t like that the trip seemed to take so long.
“We’re making good time.” Clancy checked his phone messages.
She stared out into the darkness. “Any word from Danny or Leo?”
“Not yet.” He cocked one eyebrow then set the phone between the seats. “I’ll try to call Danny when we’re closer.”
“Do you think they ran into Roger? He knows who they are. By now, he’s probably figured out they’ve gone to the police.” She looked back out the window and got lost in thought accompanied by the faint music that wafted from the radio. “What if something’s happened and they’re...?”
“Nothing’s happened. Everything’s fine.” His voice tightened. “They’re probably doing surveillance and don’t want to give their positions away.”
She fell silent, briefly satisfied with his explanation. “How are we supposed to get all of us home in this car? It barely holds the three of us. Once we get the kids, there’ll be six.”
“Couldn’t you have had this little epiphany a couple hours ago?” Clancy chuckled then sighed. “It’s okay, Lucy. We’ll figure out the details later.”
She looked back at Mitch, still asleep in the back seat. “I guess we should’ve poured him out on his front lawn.”
He grinned. “Yeah, like you and I could drag him out of the back of the car.”
The image of her and Clancy hauling a two-hundred-and-fifty pound man out of the sports car’s back seat made her smile.
“Maybe we can rent a van and I’ll leave this piece of crap in a ditch somewhere.”
“Beside the crappy truck?” she asked.
His mouth dropped open. “You really hate my truck, don’t you?”
“No.” Lucy insisted then shrugged. “Okay, yeah, I do. Actually, I guess it’s not the truck I hate. it’s being disrupted when I’m focused on my work.”
The stretch of road they traveled had little traffic save a few trucks. As the bare sliver of moon peeked through the clouds, the darkness gave way to occasional signs for golf clubs and tourist attractions. Lucy didn’t care about the scenery, only how much longer to get her babies back. Not long now. The cottage was only a couple miles ahead.
She flinched when Clancy’s cell phone rang. “That has to be Danny or Leo.”
He reached down and pressed the speakerphone button. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Where are you?” Leo’s raspy voice filled the car like he sat between them.
“On our way to the cottage,” Clancy said. “Roger called Lucy.”
There was a deep growl and a streak of cursing that made her blush. Clancy picked up the phone and pressed it to his ear. “I didn’t leave her at home alone. She’s with me. Are you still at the cottage?”
“Roger called Lucy? Didn’t you find that worth calling us about?” Leo hollered.
Clancy scowled. “She and I both called, but you and Danny had your phones off. When she couldn’t get through to either of you , she banged on my door. I thought something might’ve happened so I called Bobby. We’re meeting him at the cottage.”
“He’s already here.”
When Leo cursed, Lucy jumped. “So you brought Lucy along for the joyride?”
“And Mitch. He jumped into my car and we couldn’t get him out. It was easier to leave him passed out in the backseat.” Clancy glanced in her direction. “Where’s Danny?”
“Mitch is there too? Are you crazy?” Strained silence filled the airwaves. Leo swore again, but this time he chuckled. “I should come and play in your neighborhood more often, it sounds like a lot more fun than mine.”
Lucy leaned closer to Clancy’s phone. “Have you seen my kids yet, Leo?”
“Did you talk to any of them when he called?” Leo asked.
“Yeah, I talked to Gina.” She grabbed the phone, her voice crackling with tears. “Please, tell me the kids are at the cottage.”
Leo hesitated. “How long till you guys get here?”
Lucy glanced around them. “Five minutes. Where are you?”
“I’m on the road. You’ll see me when you get here. Danny wanted me to sit tight until I talked to you.” There was a brief pause before he asked. Clancy gripped the steering wheel tightly, his jaw clenched. “I can see the lights.”
Sure enough, up ahead red and blue lights flashed. Lucy swallowed hard. “Please tell me my kids are okay.”
“We’ll talk when you get here.” Leo hung up.
Lucy bit back a scream, but refused to break down.
Clancy let out a long slow breath and reached for her hand. His cheek twitched in the dim light. “It’s okay, Lucy. We’ll deal with this together.”
The second Clancy parked the car, Lucy jumped out and ran at Leo. She clutched the front of his shirt, her voice hoarse with fear. “Did you see my kids? Where are they? Are they okay?”
He grasped her hands to ease her fingers off his shirt then hugged her. “They weren’t here when we arrived, but Danny and I did find evidence that they were.”
“Calm down, Lucy.” Clancy joined them while Mitch dozed in the back of the car. “What did you find?”
Leo shook his head. “Their suitcases and beach stuff.”
Up the driveway near the cottage, wheels rattled on gravel as paramedics hauled a gurney out of the house. The sight of a black body bag in the dim light sent spasms of grief through Lucy. Her knees trembled and her eyes widened. Deep down, she already knew the answer. “Who’s that?”
Leo held onto her, shielding her face with his hand. “Don’t look. Clancy, take her back to the car. Get her out of here.”
“No.” She pulled away from him. “Who did he kill this time?”
“His girlfriend. Tanji.” He sounded too calm for her liking.
“No!” She screamed several times until the fight drained out of her and everything seemed to move in slow motion.
Clancy and Leo exchanged words, their voices faint below the rush of blood in her ears. Mitch staggered out of the car and vomited in the ditch. Danny joined them at the side of the road and gave Lucy a hug, but she shoved him away as the ambulance left the cottage and drove away down the back roads. No lights. No sirens.
“This can’t be happening.” Lucy stared at the wooden and glass structure for what seemed like an eternity until someone finally led her toward a car and started the engine. Glad for the warmth, she hovered in front of the heater and scrubbed the warmth into her damp face with both hands. Her throat ached and tears rolled down her face. “Why? Why did he kill her?”
“I don’t know, honey.” Clancy rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I wish to hell I knew what makes him tick.”
“I want him to pay for what he’s done to all those women. And to my kids.” Visions of the black body bag haunted her. “We can’t let him get away with this anymore.”
He nodded. “We won’t, Lucy. The manhunt’s on. Every police department in North America is now on the lookout for him. When they find him, we’ll know.”
She wanted answers, but mostly she wanted to find her kids.
Chapter 26 ~ Danny
Danny couldn’t stop the ringing. His phone seemed miles away through a dozen layers of sleep. He patted the surfaces around him until he found the phone vibrating on the seat beneath him. Wrapping his fingers around the case, he grunted a greeting.
“Did I wake you?” Leo asked from the driver’s seat.
“Jerk. You know you did. What time is it?” The nightmare of finding Tanji’s body had kept him away until just outside Packham. He’d fallen asleep listening to Leo’s Zen music while his mind whirled with questions and fears.
“It’s nearly dawn.” Leo turned onto Bishop Street behind Clancy’s car and frowned. “Bobby just called. Roger’s car was involved in a single vehicle accident just outside Packham.”
“What?” Danny sat up so fast he hit his head on the roof. “Where?”
“Near your house.” Leo sounded solemn. “It gets worse though. There’s blood all over and no sign of he or the kids. Bobby wants your permission to search the house.”
Danny stared down the empty street. That was definitely worse. “I’ll call him. Of course they can search the house. We should get over there too. I’ll call Clancy and let him know. He needs to stay with Lucy until we know exactly where Roger is.”
“Call Bobby. Let him know we’re on our way to the house.” Leo spun a u-turn in the intersection and waved to Clancy who seemed confused.
“How exactly did Mitch get involved in this again?”
Leo grinned. “He was drunk and climbed into the backseat of Clancy’s car.”
“Sorry I asked.” He shifted in his seat and dialled Bobby’s cell number. “Leo tells me you found Roger’s car. What’s going on?”
Bobby yawned. “Nate called in a car accident near your house. He was getting ready to hit the road when he heard someone speeding up the gravel road. When he got into his truck, he heard someone hit the horn then there was a loud crash. By the time he got to the scene, there was no one in or near the vehicle.”
Danny put Bobby on speakerphone. “How did he know it was Roger’s car?”
“He didn’t. He called it into 9-1-1 complete with the plates then dispatch called us.” Bobby lowered his voice. “We just arrived at the scene.”
Danny’s stomach sank. “Leo and I are on our way with the keys to my new house so don’t break the door down unless you have to.”
“Okay,” Bobby said. “Let us secure the area first then let you in to open the door. You understand the other officers and I’ll have to do the sweep since you’re still on leave.”
“I’m temporarily a civilian. I get it.” Danny scanned the darkness for any sign of movement. “You guys be careful. This guy’s a nut job and a half. Watch your backs.”
“You guys too.” Bobby blew out a long breath. “He’s here somewhere. I can feel him. Cripes, it’s like waiting for a giant spider to drop onto your head.”
Leo slowed the car to a crawl when several police cars, lights flashing, came into sight. “Judging from the number of lights, I’m guessing there’s at least ten officers in the woods heading toward your house.”
Danny faked a smile. “Too bad I’m out of coffee and donuts.”
Two officers stood guard over the accident scene. Both came toward the car with one hand on their weapons. One stood on either side of the Honda.
Leo and Danny both rolled down their windows.
“Detective Walker.” One of the officers sighed in relief. “Boy am I glad to see you. Hey, Leo. The others have fanned out on both sides of the road to search the woods. I understand that’s your house up on the ridge.”
“Yeah.” Danny reached into the glove box for a couple flashlights. “Is it okay if we drive up or should we walk in?”
The officer glanced toward the house. “Personally, I don’t think either is a great idea. You’d be safest if you drove up to the house and parked with the lights on the front door.”
Leo nodded. “We’ll be safest, but the other officers may not be so lucky.”
Danny shook his head. “Actually, we’ll be the bigger target, which might attract his attention from them.”
He snorted. “Great. That’s a comforting thought. So should I drive in like I own the place or creep up the driveway.”
“Go big or go home.” Danny sat back and braced himse
lf. “Let’s show that psychopath we’re here and plan to take him down fighting.”
“I’m in. Buckle up.” Leo drove through the police car maze and gunned the engine. A warning to everyone to stay clear of the road. Flashlights scattered into the trees as he aimed the car up the driveway toward the house and hit the brakes in a cloud of dust.
“Show off.” Danny smirked. “You’d better have a gun so you can cover me.”
“You know how I feel about guns.”
Danny reached into the glove box and handed him a handgun. “And you know how I feel about living.”
“Today’s the exception to the rule.” Leo nodded and checked the chamber then clicked off the safety. “Locked and loaded. I’ve got your back, Bro. Let’s go see if you’ve got any new animals in your house tonight. Frankly, I’d rather face a raccoon over a two-legged skunk any day.”
They emerged from the car in unison. If Roger shot at one, the other would be able to shoot back. Nothing. No shots. No shouts. Just silence. Even the officers in the woods stood still.
A shiver ran up the back of Danny’s neck as he and Leo approached the front porch he and Ray had worked so hard on. As his foot hit the top stair, he flinched. Still nothing. He reached into his pocket and jingled his keys. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a beer.”
Leo nodded, alert to every groan and creak around them. “Definitely. I’ll even buy.”
As Danny stuck his key in the front door lock, he held his breath.
A gunshot rang out from the back of the house. Instantly the air crackled, electric with screaming and shouts of “Officer down! Officer down!” Danny’s heart raced as Leo leaped over the railing and bolted toward the back of the house.
When he pushed open the door, the screaming stopped and three sets of eyes peered out from beneath the heavy quilt he’d left behind at the house. Lucy’s kids. All three were speckled with blood and thin, but appeared in good physical health otherwise. They must have come in through the back door.
Danny smiled and blew out a relieved breath. “Am I ever glad to see you guys.”
“Who are you?” Parker asked. “Is Daddy okay?”