Chapter Twenty-One
What Clancy desperately wanted to know was what Sarah and her cousins planned to do with her.
Sarah had told Luther something he hadn’t liked before she left and handed him the gun.
It was all Clancy could think about as she waited.
It felt as if hours had gone by, though she didn’t think it had been that long.
Still, the waiting and the silence that the Wilson brothers were determined to maintain were starting to get to her.
“Sarah’s not coming back,” she said. “She’s going to get that money, and it will be the last you see of her.”
Neither Luther nor Abel commented. Luther had already said that Sarah would be back. But why would they trust her? True, they were blood relatives, but still. Look how Clancy had trusted the woman. She suspected the cousins would never see a dime of the money—and maybe never see Sarah again.
Unless it was the wrong key.
Or if the security deposit box was empty and the whole thing a bad joke.
But where did that leave Clancy? Had Sarah already told them to get rid of her?
There was really nothing she could use as a weapon.
She realized that she was less afraid of the two men than she was of Sarah.
Luther stood leaning against the kitchen counter and Abel sat in the straight-backed chair across from her.
They were watching her as if waiting for her to try something.
She told herself that she had to be patient and bide her time.
Eventually someone would come looking for her.
If not, she would get her chance to get away.
She had to, since when she really thought about it, how could anyone find her out here?
She thought about Dub. He probably didn’t even realize she’d been abducted.
Even if he wanted nothing to do with her, she hoped she hadn’t gotten him harmed.
“Did you do something to Dub Crawford?” she asked, unable to keep from worrying that she’d gotten him into this and now something bad had happened to him. “Did Sarah?”
The brothers looked at each other and frowned. “Dub Crawford?” Luther finally asked. “Why would we do something to him?”
“Because Sarah told you to.”
He didn’t exactly roll his eyes, but his expression was close enough. “Sarah doesn’t tell me what to do.”
She raised a brow at that. “I saw the two of you talking outside earlier. It sure looked as if she was giving you orders.”
Luther said nothing as he looked away. He seemed bored by all of this and as anxious for Sarah to return as Clancy was. All she could think about was what would happen if her former friend didn’t come back.
* * *
“WAS IT WORTH killing two people for?” the sheriff asked behind Sarah.
She spun around and he saw her tears. For a moment, he thought that she’d found the safety deposit box empty. But when he peered around her, he saw that it was stuffed with what looked like hundred-dollar bills.
“Too bad you’ll never get to spend it,” Max said. “Sarah Brooks, you are under arrest for the murders of Esther Mason and Jane Cooke. If you—”
“I didn’t kill them. You have the wrong person.” He continued reading Sarah her rights. “You have to listen to me. The killer is still out there and he’s after Clancy. She’s safe for the moment, but I have to get back to her before he finds her.”
Max put the handcuffs on her and spun her around to face him. “Where’s Clancy?”
“I’ll tell you, but you have to listen to me. I didn’t kill anyone.”
“I have the notes you wrote to Esther, threatening to kill her if she didn’t hand over some jewelry she’d taken,” the sheriff said. “You had motive and opportunity. Now tell me where Clancy is. If anything happens to her—”
“It will be on you, not me,” Sarah said, sounding furious. “You have to listen to me since I’m pretty sure I know who killed those women.”
Under the circumstances, Max was taken back by her fury. It was as if she didn’t realize how much trouble she was in. “I already know who the killer is,” he said, giving her a pointed look.
“You’re wrong, Sheriff. Dead wrong, and we don’t have time to stand around arguing about this. We need to get to Clancy before it’s too late.”
* * *
DUB FELT JUMPY, his muscles tight, his fear making his heart ache as he followed the directions the cook had given him.
He’d left Grass Range and was heading north along the two-lane.
Pines dotted the rolling hills as the terrain changed.
There were few vehicles on the highway now that they were between seasons.
Past a creek, the dried leaves of aspens rose on a gust of wind and fluttered past his windshield.
Several deer spooked from a ravine next to the road, bounding across the pavement in front of him.
He tried not to think about what might be happening to Clancy. What might have already happened as he checked the map Diana had drawn him. Ahead, he saw where he needed to turn and began to slow.
He drove only a few yards off the highway before he stopped and took his handgun from his glovebox and tucked it into his jeans, covering it with his jacket.
For a moment, he considered the tire tracks in the dirt road ahead.
Weeds had grown up between the two tracks indicating that the road didn’t get much use, but had been driven on recently.
It appeared to him that at least three separate vehicles, given the differences in their tire tread, had been up this road.
Only one had left, from what he could tell.
That meant two were still down this road.
He reached back and took his double-barreled shotgun from the rack behind him and laid it on the passenger seat within reach.
Only then did he shift into gear and head up the road.
He had no idea what was waiting for him, but he planned to be ready.
He told himself that Clancy might not even be at the cabin, but from the tracks he thought there was a good chance she was.
The road narrowed as it climbed up into the foothills.
The trees grew thicker, darker, the sky overhead clouding up with the promise of a storm.
As he kept driving, he thought about the first time he’d seen Clancy, that bolt of electricity that had shocked him wide awake.
It wasn’t desire—he’d felt that plenty of times.
It wasn’t even the promise that this woman was special.
No, it was the certainty that she was going to be an intricate part of his future. Just like that, he’d walked into a convenience store and seen the woman he was going to marry. No wonder Tanner thought he needed to be saved. If he only knew.
Dub thought love at first sight only happened in movies. He’d been trying to get to know her ever since. The thought that he might not get the chance had him gripping the steering wheel. He couldn’t believe, after they’d been thrown together twice, that it would end in tragedy.
He wouldn’t let that happen if it was the last thing he ever did.
* * *
AT THE SOUND of a vehicle approaching the cabin, Clancy felt her pulse jump. Dub. He was alive. He’d regretted taking off the way he had. He’d gone back to the guesthouse. He’d figured out that she’d been taken and now he was coming to save her.
Her heart felt as if it might burst until she saw Luther pull the gun Sarah had given him before she’d left. The Wilson twins moved to the window to look out.
Suddenly, Clancy couldn’t breathe. If it was Dub, he’d be walking into this not realizing just how dangerous it was. She couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to him. Listening, she realized she’d been wrong. It wasn’t Dub. That wasn’t the sound of his truck coming up the road.
Anyway, her common sense argued, how could he have found her? Why would he have? He’d left this morning or maybe even last night, all without saying goodbye or even leaving a note. Now he was going to miraculously find her and save her?
She groaned at how naive she was. Dub had thought he could handle her messy life, but when all was said and done, he couldn’t. At least he’d left before the two of them had gotten more involved than they had.
Still, she had trouble convincing her aching heart that whoever was approaching wasn’t coming to save her. Maybe it was Max, although she couldn’t imagine how he had found her either.
“Who is it?” Abel asked his brother as he too looked out at the approaching vehicle.
Whoever it was, Clancy saw her chance and started to ease up off the chair, thinking she would make a run for the back door. But Luther must have seen her out of the corner of his eye.
“Sit down.” He sent her a warning look as he raised the gun and pointed it at her. She sat. “Keep your trap shut. You holler and you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
“Who is it?” Abel asked again and Luther shook his head before looking at her. It had to be someone coming to save her.
She wanted to cry with joy. Instead, she made a break for the front door, but Abel stopped her, slapping a hand over her mouth before she could scream for help.
“I think we’re going to have to tie her up, gag her and take her out back,” Luther said. “See if you can find some rope and duct tape.”
* * *
ON THE DRIVE BACK, Sarah was insistent that she was telling the truth.
“For the record, I’m willing to hear you out, but you’re still under arrest,” the sheriff told her.
He was headed for Grass Range and, ultimately, her cabin to the north.
“Maybe you didn’t kill Esther given what you’ve told me, but you’re not off the hook for Jane’s murder. ”
“That’s big of you, Sheriff, but you’re wrong,” she said from the back seat of his patrol SUV.
He glanced at her in his rearview mirror. “What is your blood type?”
She rolled her eyes. “Type O negative.”
“I rest my case.”
“No,” she said, sitting forward. “I wasn’t the only one with type O negative blood. I knew there had to be someone else who was connected to Shady Rest because I didn’t kill anyone, let alone Jane.”
“Diana is type O positive, so pretending to faint and switching your vial with hers didn’t work.”
“First off, I didn’t pretend to faint, and I didn’t switch my blood with hers,” Sarah said.
“I faint at the sight of other people’s blood, all right?
I didn’t know the vials were switched until you just told me, but if true, then I know who switched them.
” She sounded excited. “There were four of us in that room. Dr. Frazer—”
“His blood type is O positive,” Max said.
“Diana.”
“Also O positive.”
“Me and Vernon Vance. I’m O negative, but I didn’t switch the vials. So, what does that tell you?”