Chapter 39
A lawn mower growled outside Savannah’s office window. She leaned back in her chair and checked the message she’d sent Hez
half an hour ago. It showed Delivered, so he still hadn’t seen it, which was very unlike him. She had promised to give the
tent supply place an answer by now about the location they wanted for the beach tent. It was a major detail, and while she
could run out there by herself to make a decision, Hez always had good input.
She frowned at the phone as if her displeasure would switch the message to Read. Maybe he hadn’t heard his phone. He could
be talking with students or asking Hope again about the status of an arrest. She called his number, but the connection went
to voicemail, which was odd. She tried the office number, but it rang several times before she got his voicemail message there
too. The sound of his deep voice released more fear than she’d realized she was suppressing. Where was he?
The Justice Chamber might know. She hated to bother them if they were in the middle of a discussion, but by now she couldn’t control her panic.
She shouldn’t be worried, but fear shuddered down her back.
There’d been too many attacks against Hez in recent months, and she kept waiting for something else to happen.
Losing custody of Simon hadn’t improved her sense of equilibrium.
The line picked up on the second ring. “Justice Chamber, Dominga speaking.”
Savannah’s fingers tightened on her phone, and she paced the office. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything, Dominga, but I’m
looking for Hez. Is he there?” Please be there, please be there.
“I was just about to call you.” Dominga’s voice was heavy with tension. “He’s not here, but even more worrisome is that Toni
arrived a few minutes ago looking for him too. He didn’t show up to teach her legal writing class, which started fifteen minutes
ago. As soon as she heard about his no-show, she started searching for him, but he’s not answering his phone. Something is
very wrong. He is the most dependable person I know. And there was a report of a gunshot this afternoon. Security went to
the parking lot but didn’t find anything.”
Savannah gulped back a gasp. “I’ll see what I can find out. Let me know if you find him.” She raced out of her office and
across the lobby to the exit. Her secretary called out after her, but she didn’t pause.
A blast of heat and humidity hit her face when she stepped through the door and headed for where he usually parked. The passing
mower threw grass clippings over her bare legs and skirt. She didn’t pause to brush away the debris but darted across the
yard toward the parking lot.
She paused and scanned the area for Hez’s truck. There it was. The door was ajar. She ran over and checked inside. No Hez,
but something shiny on the ground caught her eye. A bullet casing.
Her heart seized in her chest. Hands shaking, she called 911. “This is Savannah Webster out at TGU. My fiancé, Hez Webster, is missing, and I think Michael Willard might have d-done something—” Her tongue dried and she wet her lips to try again. “I think he’s hurt him or—or—”
She couldn’t get out what she feared, but her brain kept inserting graphic pictures of Hez tossed to the gators like Erik.
Michael was a monster.
“Hang on and I’ll transfer you to Detective Richards.”
A few seconds of silence followed before she heard a click and Augusta’s voice was in her ear. “Savannah, I’m tailing Michael
right now. We see two other men in his truck. Maybe one of them is Hez, but we can’t tell. We’re about to arrest Michael.”
Please, God, let him be alive. “Where are you? I’ll be right there.”
“It’s not safe. I’ll call you as soon as we have Michael in custody. There’s nothing you can do, Savannah. Pray for a smooth
arrest with no bullets flying. I’ll be in touch.”
The call went dead. “Augusta?” Savannah glanced at the phone screen. Augusta had either hung up or hit a spot with connection
issues. Savannah had no idea where the chase was taking place either. She sank onto a bench and prayed with all her strength.
Hez could hardly believe his ears when Michael started reciting poetry. “Because I could not stop for Death—”
A siren blared behind them.
Michael cursed and gunned the engine. His head swiveled back and forth as if he were searching for something in the marshy landscape. He glanced back at Jimbo. “Hold on.”
Michael yanked the wheel to the left, turning into the tall grass. He switched the truck into four-wheel drive and followed
an almost invisible track. The truck bounced and shook, knocking them around the cab like pinballs. Hez’s skull whacked the
roof, but somehow Michael maintained control of the vehicle.
Michael looked in the rearview mirror, then slapped the wheel. “Ha! They’re stuck!”
Hez’s heart sank. For a moment he’d thought he was about to be rescued. He’d have to escape on his own. But how?
The vehicle slowed slightly. The bone-jarring shocks became less intense and frequent. Still, they had to brace themselves
continually. Hez glanced down. Jimbo wasn’t holding him. The big man held his gun in one hand and gripped his armrest with
the other. The gun pointed more or less in Hez’s direction, but Jimbo couldn’t help waving it around.
Hez stared through the windshield, watching for an upcoming dip or rock. There! A glint in the grass showed where a trickle
of water crossed their path, carving a nasty rut in the “road.”
The truck jolted as they hit the little gulley. At the same instant Hez opened the door and hurled himself out.
Jimbo shouted and fired through the swinging door. Hez landed in the muddy grass and tumbled along for several feet before
crashing into a thornbush.
The truck stopped. Michael opened his door and pointed a gun at Hez.
Hez flattened himself into the mud just as Michael fired. The bullet whizzed through the spot where Hez’s head had been a second earlier.
Faint voices shouted from behind Hez. Shots popped like firecrackers.
Michael jumped back into his truck and drove off.
As the sound of the truck’s engine faded, Hez disentangled himself from the bush’s painful clutches. Augusta Richards and
a male officer ran toward him along the barely there road Michael had taken.
Hez got to his feet as the police approached. His right shoulder and left knee throbbed and he had dozens of scratches, but
he seemed otherwise uninjured. “Thanks,” he said to Augusta and her partner. “I’m pretty sure he planned to kill me and dump
me in the swamp like he did Erik. Did someone see him kidnap me?”
Augusta watched the retreating truck for a moment, then sighed and holstered her pistol. “Savannah realized you were missing
and called 911, but we were already following him by that point.”
“Why?”
“There’s a warrant for his arrest. It just issued an hour ago.” Augusta turned to her partner. “Update Dispatch and ask for
backup.”
Augusta looked grim as they hurried through the swamp. As her partner told the dispatcher what had happened, Augusta pulled
out her phone and called Savannah on speaker to let her know Hez was safe. “We’ve got Hez.”
He leaned closer to Augusta’s phone. “Hi, babe, I’m fine.”
“Thank God, thank God.” Her voice hiccupped in a small sob. “I need to see that you’re all in one piece before I believe it.”
“I’ll get there as soon as I can.” Hez’s mind went back to the warrant. “What are the charges against Michael?”
Augusta pressed her lips together in a hard line. “The main one is the murder of Jessica Legare.”
Savannah gasped. “Michael killed his own daughter. He seemed to love her.”
“He planted the bomb.” Augusta frowned at Hez. “He probably meant to kill you.”
Hez absorbed the information in silence, barely hearing the conversation around him. So that was why Michael had been so insistent
that Hez was really responsible for Jess’s death. Hez knew all too well how hard it was for a father to bear the thought that
he had killed his own daughter. And then he knew what Michael would do next. He turned to Augusta. “He’s going to run, but
he’ll go home first. You can catch him there.”
Savannah’s voice was a cry. “Simon!”
Augusta grimaced as they reached her car. She pointed at her mud-caked vehicle, which had sunk up to its wheel wells in the
swamp. “That’s the only police car in a ten-mile radius.”
“I’ll get Simon!” Savannah’s voice quivered with determination. “I’m less than two miles from Michael’s house.”
Hez leaned over Augusta’s phone. “Savannah, wait!”
But the line was dead.