Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lily and I made Yvette as safe as we could, ensuring there wasn’t anything she could knock her head against before dialing Maddox. As we huddled around Lily’s phone, Maddox confirmed the horse trailer had sailed past, firmly within the speed limit, and with the license plate obscured.
“We’ll follow,” he said, and I heard the sound of the engine starting. “We’ll keep back a half mile but you’re not alone. I promise.”
“Can you keep back when we arrive at the destination?” I asked him. “We need to get a confession or it’s just she said-he said.”
“She said-he said and the other she came around and said,” replied Maddox.
I glanced at Yvette. Once she came around, if she came around, she could certainly identify her attacker but she didn’t show any signs of stirring soon.
Yet, even with her identification, Harvey could insist he only went along with things under duress.
Since the other man held the gun, a good lawyer would be able to argue a case.
No, Harvey was at the center of it all, I was sure. The horses, definitely. But had Jessica gotten caught up in it? I wasn’t sure. I needed him to confess.
“Stay on the line,” said Maddox.
“Can you contact Solomon?”
“Farid will. I’m driving.”
The trailer turned and we rolled, knocking into each other. The phone slipped from Lily’s hand and slid to a stop behind Yvette’s crooked knee where Lily scrambled to scoop it up.
“We just turned off the main road,” I said. “We went left so look out for a turn. The road feels smooth and straight so far, if that helps identify it.”
“I think I know where you are.”
“Solomon can track my…” I stopped, realizing that was a no go. “No, he can’t. My phone is at the farm.”
“I’m sure he can track Lily’s.”
“That feels like a violation of my rights,” said Lily. Without missing a beat, she added, “But go ahead. I don’t want to die in the back of a horse trailer, or be buried in a shallow grave in the back country where my body will be dug up and eaten by coyotes.”
“You won’t be eaten by coyotes,” said Maddox.
“He’s right. It’ll probably be wolves.”
“I regret my old Team Jacob T-shirt now,” said Lily. “You can’t trust a wolf not to snack on your dead body.”
“Jacob was a werewolf,” I reminded her. “The book world is all about the fae lords now.”
“I can get down for that. I don’t think the fae will eat me.”
“I have no idea what you two are talking about but I’m glad you’re not panicking,” said Maddox.
“No need. All under control!” I said spiritedly, as if voicing the words would make it true.
“Oh, great. Well, I guess we’ll hang back then. Hey, Farid, you wanna go get a beer?”
“Don’t you dare leave us!” I hissed.
“Our bodies will never be found if you abandon us,” said Lily, the indignation flowing through every syllable.
“Of course they will. Your haunting will be so high level that the area will be swarming with priests trying to exorcise you both,” replied Maddox. “Before we get into that, we just made the turn. It’s a serviceable road bordered by a lot of farmland, and a few houses.”
“They’re definitely going to kill us further away than this,” said Lily.
“That’s right,” agreed Maddox. “Keep up the positive thoughts.”
I scrabbled around us for anything I could use as a weapon.
The blankets emitted nothing but horse hair and moths.
All the amenities were bolted to the wall, useless for anything but holding the horse’s hay net and halter rope.
Unfortunately for us, the horse trailer was reasonably tidily maintained, and didn’t contain anything useful.
On the floor, Yvette groaned but her eyes remained shut.
I shuffled over to lift her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Yvette? Can you hear me?” I asked as the trailer picked up speed.
Yvette’s eyelids fluttered, then softened, and her breathing seemed to deepen.
There was muffled speech coming through the phone but before I could ask Maddox to repeat, he said, “Farid just called Solomon. He’s on his way but he’s further out than us.”
The trailer abruptly swung right and we bumped up and down, every knock jarring my bones.
“We turned right,” Lily told them.
“It feels like a dirt track,” I added as we continued to bump along.
The horse trailer dipped as it hit a pothole and righted itself, and one of the horses kicked the paneling.
The horses’ eyes flared at the uneven terrain.
It was hard to stay balanced as I scrambled to my feet, pressing against the wall and standing on my tiptoes to look out the small, square window.
Aside from the swoosh of trees we passed, there wasn’t a single thing to indicate where we were. Darkness shrouded everything. No street lamps, and no houses. Although we couldn’t be more than twenty minutes from the farm, we could be in the middle of anywhere.
“I don’t see anything except trees,” I said, dropping back to the floor.
“Map shows there’re some turns up ahead,” said Maddox. “I don’t know which to take.”
“We took a right,” said Lily.
“There were lots of trees on the right of the road and they were close so I think it’s a narrow road,” I added.
“There are trees everywhere here,” said Maddox in frustration.
“We’re too far behind. We can’t see the horse trailer’s lights, if they’re even on anymore.
We’re going to pull over and see which turn looks most likely.
” With a squeal of tires, Maddox pulled over and our hopeful rescuers began conferring.
“Back at the farm, they said something about an abandoned barn in foreclosure or probate or something,” I said. “Can you see anything like that?”
“There’re a few barns. I don’t know how to tell which is abandoned,” said Maddox. “Damn it! There’s no point calling our tech guys. We know we’re in the area with you but it’s rural and…” A note of panic in his voice made me tremble.
“Call Solomon,” I said. “If he got Lucas to track Lily’s phone, they’ll already know exactly where we are.”
“Already on it,” said Farid, his voice faraway.
The horse trailer began to slow, bumping along, and turned again, throwing us against the dividing panel. Yvette slid towards us and I stopped her roll with my thigh. She groaned again and reached for her head.
“She’s waking up,” said Lily. “Yvette? Can you hear me?”
Yvette gurgled something incomprehensible and her eyelids flickered again. She scrunched her eyes, groaning as her forehead creased. “Where am I?” she mumbled, the words thick and unyielding as her eyes fluttered open a fraction.
“You’re safe,” I said, which was the best thing I could think of to say, and also, a lie. But how could I tell her that she’d been thwacked over the head with a pistol, and tossed into a horse trailer to be driven to her end? Explanations could wait.
“My head hurts,” moaned Yvette. Her eyes opened fully, roaming the dim space, lit only by the brief flashes of the moon through the small window. “Where am I?” she asked again.
“We’re in a horse trailer. Can you sit up?”
“He hit me!”
“Knocked you out cold,” said Lily as we both helped hoist Yvette into a seated position in the corner of the stall.
With both walls supporting her, she drew up her legs and wrapped her arms around them, looking slightly green.
Then she patted her legs, and pitched forwards, scrambling around.
“Where is it?” She looked up at us from her position on all fours. “Where is it?”
“Where’s what?”
“The microchip wand. Do you have it?”
I shook my head. “I think Harvey took it.”
“Damn it!” Her jaw wobbled.
“You suspected the horses were stolen too,” I said and Yvette nodded.
“I knew there was something funny going on in that yard. Horses coming and going. No one allowed in. Suddenly, Harvey had all that money. That rat!”
“He was harboring stolen horses,” I said. “We figured that out too.”
“Yeah, he sure is. The self-serving jerk!” Yvette winced and put her hand to her head. “What are we doing in the back of a horse trailer? And where are we going?”
I explained what we’d witnessed and her expression moved from confusion to incredulity to anger. “Harvey’s going to kill me?”
“He’s not killing anyone,” I reassured her.
“You two are going to save us all?” Yvette’s eyebrows rose. “With what? They have a gun!”
“We have reinforcements coming.”
A bump launched us off the floor, then we landed again with a thump as the horse trailer bounced along the dirt path.
“Do you know who the other guy is?” I asked.
Yvette shook her head. “I’ve never seen him before.”
The question I needed the answer to sprang into my mind. “Did Jessica know what was going on?” I asked.
“About the stolen horses? No, I don’t think so. I’ve suspected it for a while but I don’t think Jessica knew. If she did, she didn’t say anything to me.” Yvette stared at me for a moment, like she was trying to work something out. “What did she say to you?”
“Only that she thought someone was trying to kill her,” I said.
“We all loved Jessica,” she said.
Lily scoffed at that but Yvette didn’t seem to hear her as she gingerly touched her head again and winced. I figured lying on the floor during the bumpy ride hadn’t helped her any and she’d probably have a sizable lump by morning. If we made it that far.
“Did Harvey know you suspected him?” I asked.
Yvette shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’d been asking questions and he was pretty cagey. I’d managed to get into the yard before and one of the horses looked familiar so I wanted to get proof. I think, maybe, he was moving them tonight, because he knew I’d tell Joel and then he’d be out of a job.”
“I think Joel is in on it,” I said. “We’ve seen them fighting about Joel trying to gain other bonuses from the horses.”
“I don’t know what you mean by that but… really? Joel knew?” Yvette wrinkled her nose.
“It’s probably where the extra money is coming from,” I said. “Harvey is paying off Joel and Joel is putting it through the farm’s accounts as legitimate money to cover what he embezzled.”