by Lynn Shannon
She flipped to some documents. “According to work records, he went to her house every day for nine months, starting last year. He disappeared for a while afterward. I’m still tracking down where he was during that time. However, we do know he mysteriously arrives home after two years just as Valerie goes missing.”
Todd pulled the folder closer and scanned the pages. Charlie’s research was thorough. He flipped through Buck’s criminal record. “He’s been in and out of jail a lot.”
“Most of his adult life. Not all of the charges stuck, but several of them are violent offenses. He’s bad news and, in my opinion, capable of holding a woman for ransom.” Charlie popped the last bit of cookie in her mouth and rose. “I’ll keep digging, but I hope this helps.”
“It helps a ton, Charlie.” Janet hugged the other woman. “I’ll forward this on to the special agent we talked with at the state police. Maybe it’ll encourage him to follow up with the Huntingtons.”
Todd opened the front door. The porch light flickered on and illuminated the drive as he walked Charlie to her car.
“I like her. Don’t screw it up.”
“It might be too late.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I care about Janet. A lot. But her life is here, and I haven’t lived in one place since I was sixteen years old.”
Charlie sighed. “Todd, I’m going to tell you something I should have long ago but you weren’t ready to hear. It’s time to stop running.”
“I’m not running. I like moving. Seeing new places and exploring the world.”
“You’re running,” she answered flatly. “From your parents’ car accident, from their deaths, from building a home and a life because you’re scared to lose it all again.”
He took a step back as if she’d slugged him. Each word burrowed deep into his heart and lodged there, ripping open scars he’d buried but not forgotten.
“Todd, the life you’ve been living is a Band-Aid, but it’s not for the long haul. Your parents wouldn’t want you to be alone forever. God doesn’t either. Maybe He put Janet in your life because it’s time for a change.”
A thousand frames of his parents flickered through his mind in a matter of seconds. Their happiness so solid and real…until it wasn’t. Gone, snuffed out by a drunk driver, within seconds.
He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I don’t know if I can.”
She pointed to the window. “You see that?”
He turned. Inside, Janet sat on the couch. Her curly hair was pulled back from her exquisite face and the cutest creases formed between her brows as she studied something on her phone. Next to her, Callie sat close, the dog’s head resting on her owner’s lap. All around them was the chaos of renovations. A ladder in the corner, his toolbox on the floor.
“That’s your future,” Charlie said. “Right in front of you. A woman who loves you. Someone you can build a life with.”
His breath hitched.
“If you’re not brave enough to grab onto it with both hands…” She shook her head. “Well, more the fool you.”
Nine
“Are you sure about this?” Janet adjusted the goggles on her face and frowned. “I do want the wall gone, but I wasn’t expecting to do it tonight.”
“It’s better than sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.” Todd picked up the sledgehammer and handed it to her. “We’ve forwarded the information to the state police and the chief. There’s nothing more we can do for Valerie right now, which leaves us twiddling our thumbs.”
The man had a point. She tested the weight of the sledgehammer. Todd took several steps back, and she slammed into the drywall. It caved. She did it again and again, until she was panting and sweat dripped down her back.
“Feel good?” He grinned at her, his dimple winking.
“Yes.” She smiled back, grabbed a piece of drywall, and ripped it off. “You were right. I needed to take my mind off everything.”
“And the best part is, after we’re done, we get to make something better.”
Janet yanked another piece of drywall down. She peered into the space. “Hey, Todd, there’s a room inside the wall and…is that a door in the floor?”
She ran to get a flashlight while Todd tore down enough of the wall so they could get inside the hidden room. It wasn’t big, maybe six feet by six feet, just enough to hide the metal door in the floor. Something tugged at the back of Janet’s memory, but she couldn’t quite catch it.
“How weird.” Todd bent down and grasped the handle. The hinges creaked and groaned, revealing a set of metal stairs. “A root cellar? Or a basement?”
“They aren’t common in Texas.” She gasped. “Jail! Todd, that’s what Valerie was trying to tell me.”
“You lost me.”
“This property used to be the site of the old Sweetgrass courthouse, and the jail was on
the opposite side of the road. They built a passageway under Main Street to transport the prisoners from one to the other for safety reasons. When a hurricane took out the entire town, it moved locations to the present-day one.” She shone the flashlight into the gaping hole in the floor. “This must be the old passageway, and there should be a door on the other side hidden somewhere on the Bertrands’ property.”
He inhaled sharply. “It’s where Valerie is being held.”
Janet tossed aside her goggles and started down the stairs. Todd grabbed her arm.
“Hold on. We aren’t going anywhere until we tell the police.”
“Who? The chief is the closest, and he hasn’t been much help so far. Besides, we don’t know for sure she’s down there. We just think she is.”
The chief wasn’t going to rush over on a hunch, and Janet wasn’t going to leave Valerie down there for one minute more than necessary.
“Wait.” Todd disappeared from view and came back with a large knife. “Let me lead the way.”
She shone the light on the stairs, guiding his path, before following him down. The corridor was wide enough for three men, and Janet had no trouble imagining two jailers, with a prisoner walking between them, traveling the route. Their footsteps whispered against the concrete and spiderwebs clung to the corners. She shivered as the dampness embraced her.
Todd adjusted his hold on the knife. “Make sure you stay behind me.”
Together, they crept down the corridor. Sweetgrass Jail was stamped into the concrete at regular intervals. Dust particles danced in the beam of the flashlight. Janet’s nose burned and she scrunched it, stifling the urge to sneeze.
Todd drew up short. He placed a finger to his lips before reaching out to click off the flashlight. Darkness enveloped them. Her heart thundered against her ribs, and she held her breath, straining to hear.
Faint voices filtered down the corridor.
Some decisions were instinctive.
Continuing forward held risks, but so did returning back to Janet’s house. There was no guarantee they wouldn't be discovered either way. There was also Valerie to consider. Todd had promised to protect Janet, but he also wouldn’t leave a vulnerable woman on her own with a monster. If there was any way to help Valerie, he needed to try.
Todd pressed Janet up against the wall and edged his way down the corridor toward the shaft of light. Each silent step brought the voices closer.
“I’m telling you, things are getting too hot. We need to take the money we’ve gotten from Lacey and let Valerie go.”
“No! You promised me, Lee.”
Janet tugged on the back of his shirt. She’d also identified both men by the name and the cadence of their speech.
Winston and Lee Maxwell.
“What we’ve gotten so far isn’t enough. We were supposed to replace the fortune that would have been mine if Dad hadn’t gambled it all away.”
“And I will,” Lee argued. “You’ll have to be patient. At some point, after I’m married, Katherine will loosen the purse strings. Then I can slip you money.”
“You mean you’ll give me crumbs while you
sit high on the hog. No thank you. We made a deal, and I expect you to stick to it.”
Todd’s fingers ached from holding the knife handle, and he flexed his fingers. Was either man armed? Chances were, as an officer, Winston was. The blade would do them no good in a gunfight.
“What will you get if you’re in prison, Winston? That West woman is poking around. Things are liable to spin out of control if we aren’t careful. I’ve convinced Lacey to keep doing as she’s been instructed by the kidnapper, but I’m afraid she’s going to crack and tell the police everything.”
“I already sent Janet a warning she won’t forget. If it doesn’t scare her into silence, then we’ll get rid of her.”
Todd’s body temperature skyrocketed, and he ground his teeth together. Winston Maxwell was done.
Done.
He would make sure of it.
“What do you mean you sent her a warning?”
The panic in Lee’s voice was palpable, but Todd felt no sympathy for the other man. He’d made a deal with the devil and now he was paying the price.
“Never you mind,” Winston said. “Let’s keep the lovely Mrs. Coons for two more weeks and we’ll up the ransom amount. It should tide me over until you can start slipping me money from Katherine’s pile.”
Lee was silent for a long beat. “Fine. But, remember, no one gets hurt.”
Winston made a noncommittal sound. “If you had just killed Janet to begin with, we wouldn’t be in this mess now.”
Behind him, Janet inhaled sharply. So it had been Lee who attacked her the night Valerie escaped. He sent up a silent thanksgiving to God. If the circumstances had been different and Winston had been chasing Valerie, things would have gone a very different way.
“Let’s get out of here. I’m starving.” Winston’s footsteps echoed down the corridor, moving away from them. “Is she locked up tight?”
“Of course.”
“We’ll send the email demanding more money tomorrow—”
A sneeze interrupted him. With horror, Todd realized it had come from Janet. She buried her face in his back and sneezed again.
Silence.
“Did you hear something?” Winston asked.
Ten
Janet’s hand was slick against the plastic handle of the flashlight. The instinctual urge to flee battled with her rational common sense to stay as still as possible. Todd urged her closer behind him, until she was wedged between the concrete wall and the hard muscles of his back.
“I could have sworn I heard…”
“Come on, Winston. We’ve got to hurry before Buck comes back. He’s been checking the property ever since the escape.” Lee huffed. “Hasn’t been home in two years and he shows up now. It’s like we’re cursed.”
“Get a grip. He’s an ex-con. All we have to do is threaten him.”
Their footsteps faded, followed by the slam of a door. Janet released the breath she was holding.
Todd turned his head and whispered, “Let’s wait a few minutes and make sure they are really gone.”
Time stretched into an eternity. Her muscles tightened until she was afraid they would snap and crumble into powder. Finally, Todd inched along the wall bringing them closer to the light. The path dead-ended into a holding cell with a broken and rusted door.
The corridor continued on her right, but to the left was a door with a small window in the upper half. Janet grabbed the handle and tugged. To her surprise, it flew open, revealing a small room.
Valerie Coons was chained to the floor.
Valerie’s eyes widened as her gaze darted back and forth between Janet and Todd. Her hair was dirty and tangled, her clothes muddy. The room reeked of sweat, waste, and stale french fries. For a long heartbeat, no one moved.
“I prayed and prayed…” Tears streamed down Valerie’s face. “You found me.”
“Yes, we did.” Janet rushed to her side. “And now we’re going to get you out of here.”
She lifted her hands, bound by heavy chains. “I can’t get these off.”
“We need a bolt cutter,” Todd said. “I have one at the house.”
Valerie clung to Janet, clutching the fabric of her clothes in her hands. “Please don’t leave me.”
Even if she could wrestle herself free, could she bear to leave the other woman in the room, alone, for one extra minute? No. There wasn’t a choice.
“Todd, go back to the house and get the cutter. Hurry. I’ll stay here with Valerie.”
He hesitated but seemed to recognize arguing would be futile. He grabbed the flashlight from her outstretched hand and kissed her on the mouth. “I’ll be right back.”
Todd disappeared. Janet rearranged herself into a more comfortable position next to Valerie, keeping her arms around her. It was freezing cold in the room.
“He’ll come back, right?”
“Absolutely. Are you injured?” She rubbed Valerie’s arms up and down, trying to warm her. “Did I hurt you when I hit you with the car?”
“You didn’t hit me. I thumped against the side of the vehicle when I fell. The drugs they gave me made it hard to run and my body couldn’t go anymore.” She licked her lips. “Other than a few bumps and bruises, I’m okay.”
A knot uncoiled in Janet’s chest and she breathed deep. Valerie was alive. They were going to get her out of here. Footsteps echoed against the concrete, and Janet squeezed Valerie.
“See, I told you he’d come back.”
A man appeared in the doorway wearing a black ski mask and holding a gun. “You’re right, I did.”
Winston.
Valerie screamed. Janet clenched her teeth together to keep them from chattering but there was nothing she could do to stop the trembles running through her body. Winston yanked her out of the room and into the main area, tossing her up against the broken holding cell. Pain shot up her elbow.
“I knew I heard someone.” Winston slammed the door, separating them from Valerie.
Footsteps on metal stairs preceded Lee entering the space. He saw Janet and his mouth dropped open. “What…what is she doing here?”
The corridor connecting the area to Janet’s house was dark. Todd hadn’t had enough time to find the bolt cutters and come back. What was she going to do? She was no match for two men nor could she outrun a gun. Valerie’s sobs seeped through the closed door.
“Does it matter how she got here?” Winston yanked off the ski mask covering his face. “We have to kill her.”
The blood drained from Lee’s face. “We said no one would get hurt.”
Janet’s heart leaped. Maybe there was a way…
“That was before. This is now.” Winston held out the gun to his brother. “It’ll be better if you do it.”
Lee reared back. “Me? I’m not going to.”
“Oh, yes you are. You should’ve killed her the first night. You created this mess and now you’re going to clean it up.”
“Don’t do it.” Janet swallowed hard. “Lee, he’s tricking you. He’s going to have you kill me so he can hold it over you. He’ll blackmail you for the rest of your life.”
Lee’s gaze darted toward her before landing back on his brother.
Winston laughed. “Don’t be absurd. We’re in this together. Don’t let her screw with your head.”
“I’m not—”
“Shut up!”
Winston’s hand shot out and slammed into Janet’s stomach. She doubled over, tears blurring her vision. She couldn’t breathe.
“Enough of this. Take the gun, Lee. Shoot her, and then I’ll help you get rid of the body.”
She lifted her head, wheezing. Beyond the strands of her hair, the gun barrel was a dark cavernous hole pointed straight at her. Winston backed up a step.
“Do it, Lee. Shoot her.”
Janet shook her head. She forced her gaze up to Lee’s face. Indecision warred and then he gritted his teeth.
Her death flashed in his eyes.
A blur of flannel and boots flew from the
darkness of the corridor and tackled Lee. The gun clattered against the concrete and skittered across the smooth surface. Janet lunged and wrapped her fingers around the metal just as Winston slammed into her. The force of his momentum shoved her into the bars of the holding cell. Pain exploded across her shoulder and hip.
His meaty hand clamped down on her wrist, grinding the bones together. Janet cried out. Winston’s mouth twisted into a sneer, spittle gathering at the corners. The blood rushing in her ears drowned out everything and instinct took over as she grappled for control of the gun wedged between them.
She couldn’t let him have it. He would kill her.
“Sweetgrass police! Freeze! Everyone freeze!”
Winston smiled. He yanked on her fingers.
The gun fired.
Eleven
Three days later
“Winston’s going to pull through.” Chief Jackman shifted in his boots on Janet’s front porch and fiddled with the sunglasses in his hand. “Of course, once he’s finished recovering from the bullet wound, he’ll be spending the next fifty years in prison with his brother, but I thought ya’ll would want to know.”
Todd squeezed her shoulders, and Janet let out the breath she was holding. She hated Winston’s actions, and Lee’s, but she wished neither man dead.
“I also came to apologize.” He licked his lips. “I placed my trust in Winston and I shouldn’t have. It blinded me to things and delayed the investigation. There’s no excuse for it, and I hope you’ll forgive me.”
Janet had learned new things about the investigation in the intervening days. Winston hadn’t just manipulated his brother, he’d done the same to his boss. When Janet made her original complaint, it was Winston who did the initial “investigation” and convinced the chief there was no physical evidence to back up her story. After the doll was left in her shed and the connection between Lee Maxwell and Katherine Huntington was revealed, Chief Jackman started to question his own officer. He followed Winston, attempting to see if he would lead him to the missing woman, but it had taken time to discover the door hidden on the Bertrands’ property.