Hold Me Cose: Ryker Falls Series

by Vella, Wendy

  “Bring her to the car!” Linda Foster demanded.

  Maggie screamed; it was muffled as a hand clamped over her mouth.

  “Hurry, there’s always someone nosing about in this town!” Noel snarled.

  Maggie fought hard. Kicking, biting, using anything she could to escape. But two against one was never going to work in her favor.

  “Tie her hands with this and stuff your glove in her mouth, Noel. Hurry!”

  They wrestled her hands behind her back, and gagged her. All Maggs could think was, no way was this the end. She’d survived a shooting, found the man she wanted to spend her life with, and had a life to live. These two would not change that.

  Noel stood behind her, holding her arms while Linda opened the car. She struggled, kicked out with her feet, but it was no good; he was stronger than her.

  “Get her in the trunk.”

  Maggie fought again at the thought of that small dark space, but between them, they got her inside and slammed the lid, plunging her into hell.

  …

  “Where did she say she’d gone?” Fin asked for the second time in as many minutes. He felt uneasy and couldn’t work out why.

  “To see Chief Blake,” Joe said.

  “Maggie’s gone to see Chief Blake?” Nash appeared.

  “Yeah. She told Joe that’s what she was doing. Do you know why?”

  “It’s complicated, so I’ll let her explain.”

  “Shouldn’t she be back by now?” Fin asked. “I mean, whatever she was telling him shouldn’t take this long, surely?”

  Nash looked from Fin to Joe and Bailey. Then nodded. “Let’s go. We’ll escort her back.”

  Fin followed Maggie’s brother out of A.S. and onto the street. They then headed to the police station. They didn’t pass her on the way. When they arrived, they were told Maggie wasn’t there, and according to Chief Blake, he’d not seen her.

  “So you got a few bruises from today, Fin?” Chief Blake asked. He was seated behind his desk drinking coffee.

  “Maggie didn’t drop off anything to you?” Nash asked before Fin could speak.

  “No, should she have?”

  “We were driving here and suddenly she said she needed to go to the gallery.” Nash filled them in on what happened earlier.

  “Linda Foster wrote the invoice and it had the initials A.J. on it?” Chief Blake said, looking suddenly alert.

  “The ink was faded, but Maggie was pretty convinced about the initials and the handwriting,” Nash said.

  Fin’s unease grew as he pulled out his cell phone. Dialing Maggie’s number, he waited for her to pick up. She didn’t. He left a message. “Call me as soon as you get this.”

  He called Joe next. “Is Maggie back there yet?”

  “No. What’s the problem?”

  “Not sure, but I’ll let you know if there is one.” Fin cut the call.

  “Chief, I have the Linbars in the waiting room. They’re wanting to know when you’ll release Simon’s body to them.”

  “They’re here today? A weekend, with celebrations going on.” Chief Blake shook his head.

  “They don’t have much to celebrate, is my guess,” his deputy added.

  “I’ll be right out.” Chief Blake sighed.

  “You need to ask them if either of their boys are have the initials A.J.,” Fin said as his desperation climbed another notch. “If Linda Foster was in any way involved with them, then maybe the note was written to one of them. This could all be linked in some way to Simon Linbar’s death, and Maggs may have landed herself right in the middle.”

  “Now, Fin, I showed both the wallet and note to Noel. He didn’t recognize either.” Chief Blake raised a hand. “It’s speculation, and there are no facts. Nash said himself that he couldn’t see the initials, and people do have the same handwriting. No address is on the invoice, and the only link is Linda Foster—and that’s tenuous. Why would she or Noel Linbar want Simon dead? It makes no sense.”

  “You know me and know I never panic, never do things without thought,” Fin said, making himself speak slowly, rationally. “I have a bad feeling about this, Chief Blake, and that Maggie’s involved in some way. You have to ask the questions.”

  “What question? Is one of your sons called A.J.? Did one of them have an affair with Linda Foster? Would Noel have killed Simon because of an affair? You have no proof.”

  Fin paced the small room. “I don’t know why I feel this way, but I do. Something’s off here.”

  “And if he says that and my sister’s involved, you need to ask the question,” Nash added.

  “I’ll ask the question, but it still doesn’t say anything other than Linda Foster was in love with this A.J., who just may be a Linbar.”

  “Call me if you get anything.” Fin headed back out the door. “Anything at all!”

  “Maggie will be back in the bar by now,” Chief Blake called after him.

  He and Nash ran back to A.S.

  “Why are you worried about her?” Nash ran alongside him.

  “I don’t know, but I am. And even more so after what you just told me.”

  “We don’t know who A.J. is or why he’d think that Maggie knows who he was, which she doesn’t.”

  “We need to find her; that’s all I know.”

  They searched shops, buildings, and he was just about to head to her house when his cell phone rang.

  “According to Mr. Linbar, Noel’s nickname is A.J. They just never used it outside the family because he doesn’t like it,” Chief Blake said. “Apparently it stands for Algernon James.”

  Fin cursed.

  “Calm down, it still doesn’t mean anything, Fin. But I did ask if Linda Foster spent time with them. Mrs. Linbar said yes and that she was a good friend when they needed one and was there a lot during the early days after Simon disappeared. She was especially good to Noel, apparently.”

  “Something’s off,” Fin growled.

  “Which means only that the note was very likely written by Linda and possibly for Noel, not that they had anything to do with Simon’s death,” Chief Blake added.

  “Maggie’s gallery was broken into.”

  “It’s too much of a stretch. Half the town knew about that note. Did you find Maggie?”

  “No.”

  Chief Blake swore. “I’m coming out to look. Don’t do anything stupid.”

  “What’s going on?” Joe and Jack were standing outside A.S. when they reached it. They wore identical looks of concern.

  “We can’t find Maggie.” Fin’s words were cold and hard. “And I don’t know if that’s a problem, but I’m pretty sure it is.”

  Nash filled them in on the details of what she’d uncovered while he called her cell phone again. “You get this, you call me, Maggie.”

  “So what? Noel Linbar and Linda Foster are the people in the note Maggie found? That then leads you to suspect they are some way involved with Simon’s death? Which in turn leads you to Maggs going missing?” Jack said. “Hell of a stretch with no evidence. I’ll add that Noel doesn’t seem like the type to murder his brother even with motive.”

  “There’s a type?” Nash asked.

  “Where the hell is she, then?” Fin snarled. “She wouldn’t leave me like this.”

  “You’re not that special.” Nash looked tense.

  “I told her I loved her, and she said the same. She wouldn’t leave me.”

  “When the hell did this declaration take place?” Joe’s eyebrows rose. “You haven’t been alone with each other to the best of my knowledge all day.”

  “Does it matter?” Fin wanted Maggie, and he wanted her there beside him now.

  The men just looked at him.

  “At the end of the musical chairs when our chair overturned. I told her then.”

  “Nice, and done with style. I’m proud of you, son,” Joe said.

  “You love my sister?” Nash didn’t exactly look happy about that, but he didn’t look mad either. “Maybe that had h
er running?”

  “We’ve been together in the two hours since the musical chairs in case you didn’t notice. About two inches apart!” The last came out in a roar. “I love her, and nothing you say will change that in her or me.”

  They eyeballed each other. Both men scared; both men loved Maggie.

  “Calm down,” Joe said. “And focus on Maggie. She’s all that matters now.”

  “People need to learn manners.” Mrs. L stomped up to them, completely unaware of the tension in the group. “Molly Richards just told me my sweaters were too pricey, and that Noel Linbar just about ran me off the road on his way through town.”

  “What? When did you see him?” Fin asked her.

  “About an hour ago. He lit out of town like he had a naked woman waiting in his bed, and not his wife. Who, by the way, we never see because she’s always out of town visiting her friends and family. That man’s got loose morals, if you ask me. I’ve never proved it, but there’s rumors.”

  “Rumors?” Joe asked.

  “Well…” She looked left and right. “I don’t like to speak bad of the Linbars, considering how they’ve suffered. And I’ve held my tongue—”

  “You need to tell us now,” Fin snapped, making her eyes narrow. “And since when do you hold your tongue?”

  “Don’t use that tone with me, Findlay Hudson! And since they lost their son and Noel lost his brother!”

  He ground his teeth together.

  “Seeing as he nearly ran me over, I don’t mind speaking bad about Noel Linbar at the moment. Not his family, you understand, just him. Plus, there was that time I overheard him saying my Christmas sweaters were crass. Never quite forgiven him for that.”

  “And what is it you want to tell us, Mrs. L?” Jack said in that way he had that once would have lowered every zipper and raised every skirt in a five-mile radius.

  Joe shot Fin a “shut it down” look as he opened his mouth to roar at her.

  “I was at the Linbars one night helping Missy Stephens doing the catering for a party. Her daughter had let her down, as they’re wont to do.”

  Fin thought about grabbing her and shaking what she wanted to say out of her.

  “I was upstairs having a look around. I’d always been intrigued about the Linbar house and saw this as my chance.”

  Fin ground his teeth together.

  “And what did you see?” Joe prompted her.

  “That Noel Linbar and Linda Foster all cozied up, and both of them married.”

  “And just so we’re clear, Mrs. L,” Jack added. “When was it you saw Noel leaving town in his car?”

  “About an hour ago. He had a passenger, but I couldn’t see who it was, as I was diving for cover. My heart nearly stopped, and I’ll be having words with him when I see him next.”

  “He and his wife bought the old Cramer place, right?”

  “Yes. Apparently spent a fortune on redecorating.” Mrs. L sucked her lips inside her mouth.

  “Nash, where are you parked?” Fin said.

  “On the street.”

  “Let’s go.” Fin ran with the others down the street, leaving Mrs. L standing there in her snow-capped mountain singing Christmas sweater, wondering what the hell was going on.

  Chapter 37

  He couldn’t find her. She’d vanished. It was now 9:00 a.m. the following morning and still they had no idea where Maggie Winter had gone. They’d been searching through the night and come up with nothing.

  Both Linda Foster’s and Noel Linbar’s houses had been searched and nothing found there, including the owners. They’d driven endlessly down roads, checked streams and houses. Any local who was able was out searching for her, and Fin’s insides had turned to ice just thinking of the scenarios she could have fallen into. Was she hurt? Crying and scared? Trapped somewhere? Had someone kidnapped her? Was it Noel Linbar and Linda Foster or was that a wild goose chase?

  Where are you?

  Nash had called in his father and brother and their ranch hands to search and gone in the other direction, calling in every hour to see if there was news.

  Fin’s eyes were scratchy, his throat tight, and he couldn’t think of anything else to do.

  “Where is she? Fuck, this is killing me.”

  “We’ll find her.” Joe gripped his shoulder.

  “But no clues, absolutely none,” he said. “How could they just vanish? No sightings of Linbar or Linda Foster. Nothing. Maggs has just disappeared.”

  “Is that your father?” Dylan slowed as they rolled back down the main street of Ryker for the seventeenth time.

  “It is. Stop the car, Dylan.” Fin got out.

  “Have you found her?” his father approached; concern etched on his face.

  “Nothing.” The desperation nearly choked him. “She’s just gone. Disappeared.”

  His father stepped closer. “No. She’s somewhere, son; we just need to find her.”

  Fin did something he hadn’t in a long while then, he lowered his head to his father’s shoulder, and let those arms that had been so familiar as a child, circle him.

  “I need her, Dad.”

  “I know, and we’ll find her I promise.”

  “Chief Blake just called. He’s going back to the Linbars’ to question them,” Dylan called out the window.

  “Let’s go.” His father urged him into the front seat and squeezed into the back with the Trainers.

  They pulled up in the Linbar driveway just as Chief Blake arrived.

  “You let me do the talking,” Chief Blake said. “We questioned them last night, but I think we need to again.”

  Fin knew what he looked like, knew what the others with him looked like too. Exhausted, ruthless, and desperate.

  “And if we all go, they’d be intimidated, and about now I’m ready to go with that,” Chief Blake added.

  “Me too,” Fin snarled.

  “You lot control him.”

  “I’ve got him,” his father said.

  They walked up the drive and knocked on the door. The Linbars had a maid, and it was she who opened the door.

  “We want to speak with Mr. and Mrs. Linbar, Connie. We’ll wait in the informal lounge,” Chief Blake said, nudging the maid aside. “Bring coffee. Hot and strong, please.” Authority rang from every word.

  Some sat. Fin paced and thought about Maggie, the woman he loved so much it hurt. The woman who could even now be struggling for her life.

  “Drink this.” Joe handed him a cup when the coffee arrived before the Linbars. “We’ll find her, Fin.”

  “How?”

  “We’ll get that lead. It’s just a matter of when,” his father said.

  “Maybe she doesn’t have time. Even now she could be....” He couldn’t say the words, so they fell away.

  “Chief Blake, why are you here again?”

  Letitia and Richard Linbar walked in together. Both looked older than the last time he’d seen them, Fin thought, just like he felt.

  “I need to ask you some more questions.”

  “Why are these men here with you?” Richard Linbar asked. “Has Maggie Winter not been found yet?”

  “No,” Chief Blake said.

  “I don’t understand why you have come back, Chief Blake. I told you last night everything I know. I’ve tried over and over to ring Noel, but he’s not picking up. It’s the same with Linda,” Letitia said. “I don’t know where they are and I’m worried. I’ve lost one son, I don’t want to lose another,” she added close to tears.

  “I understand that, Mrs. Linbar, but Maggie is still missing, and I need some answers,” Chief Blake said.

  “Ask them, and we will answer if we can,” Richard said.

  “Did you know Linda and Noel were involved in an affair two years ago?”

  The couple looked at each other, and it was Letitia who answered.

  “We did, but told Noel to stop, as he was to marry Mary and Linda was already married. To the best of our knowledge he did.”

  “
And is there anywhere Noel would go to be alone? Any place he’d take Linda where they wouldn’t be found? I need you to think hard about this,” Chief Blake said.

  “Nowhere I can think of,” Richard said. “Just that silly bunker he had built somewhere on a piece of property he purchased years ago. He had it put in in case we were under nuclear attack or some such nonsense. His wife thinks he’s quite crazy, as do we all, and refuses to even visit it. But Noel spends a great deal of time there. He often says we’ll be the first to come running when life as we know it ends.”

  “I think he goes there for solitude,” Letitia said. “He’s a busy man,” she said loyally.

  “Where is it?” Fin demanded. When he had the location, he ran from the house with the others on his heels.

  …

  It had been dark when Maggie was finally dragged, terrified, from the trunk. She’d been nauseous and had retched several times until she managed to dislodge the glove in her mouth. At least then she’d been able to breathe deeper.

  “One word, Maggie, and the glove goes back into your mouth,” Noel said.

  The cold made her shiver as they forced her to walk over ground that was rutted from cattle with a gun in her back. How far from Ryker had they driven her? Could she escape? Maggie tried to focus on her surroundings, focus on Linda and Noel, and hope they made a mistake. Torchlight lit the way and showed her the barn up ahead. Old, it looked ready to fall down.

  Once they were inside, she watched Noel hand the gun to Linda, who pointed it at Maggie. He then pushed aside an old cart. Dropping to his haunches, he opened a trapdoor. Her heart sank as she realized just how hard it would now be for anyone to find her.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Be quiet,” Linda waved the gun in her face.

  She thought about running for it, but knew she’d take a bullet in her back if she did, and she had to still believe there was a way out of this. How, she had no idea, but she couldn’t give up. Fin would find her.

  “Inside, then follow Linda down the steps. You say anything and I’ll gag you again, Maggie.”

  “You’re going to kill me anyway. Why do I care if you do it now?”

  “I’m sorry to say you’re right. We are going to kill you, but not until tomorrow. We have plans to make tonight,” Noel said.