Gwen and Annie were directed downstairs and then into a garage. Bill and Susan debated for a while, trying to decide whether to take two cars, and finally told them to get into the back of Bill’s car. As she slid in, Gwen saw a smear of blood on the front passenger seat from her ride up there, whenever that had been. Annie saw it too as she came in after her and started struggling, twisting in her seat and moaning through her gag. Bill slammed the door after them.
“Shh,” Gwen said. “It’s okay. That’s my blood. I’m okay and you’re okay. Let’s just do what they say, and maybe we can get out of this.”
Annie stared at her for a long time and then nodded before collapsing back into the seat. She did nothing as Gwen buckled her into the seat belt. Bill and Susan stood outside, still arguing. Annie’s wrists were red and chafed from the plastic zip tie holding them together. The plastic tie was attached to her pants through one of the belt loops, ostensibly to stop her from removing her gag. Gwen massaged Annie’s hands, and she stiffened and drew away as far as she could toward the door on her side.
“What? What’s the matter? I’m only trying to help.”
Annie shook her head, eyebrows drawn, and for a moment Gwen felt she was talking to someone else—a stranger. Despite all their time together on the road and in Denver, she didn’t trust her anymore. Did she blame her for all this?
“Annie, I’m so sorry. I was only trying to help. I didn’t know Bill would be there at the house in Santa Fe. He got the jump on me. I was stupid.”
Annie stared at her and then rolled her eyes. “Nrrrr Annnni!” she said again.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Annie didn’t have a chance to try to explain further, as Bill got in the front, slamming his door.
“Fucking bitch,” he said, clearly referring to his wife. He turned around, taking them both in. “You.” He pointed at Gwen. “Keep your fucking trap shut. I’ve had enough chitchat from bitches today.”
He pressed a button on a large remote, and the garage door began to open. He waited until it was about halfway up before gunning the engine and racing down the driveway, tearing onto the road so fast the momentum threw her sideways. Gwen glanced back and saw Susan standing there in the doorway garage before trees blocked the house.
“Why isn’t she coming?”
“Shut up,” Bill snarled. “I said I don’t want to talk to you. Don’t say another word, and I won’t have to hurt you.”
Annie whimpered slightly next to her, and Gwen put a hand on her shoulder to soothe her. Annie tried to shrug it off, and Gwen put her hand back in her lap, hurt by this reaction more than she should be. Annie was upset and didn’t want to be touched—it was as simple as that, but it felt like a rejection. Gwen blinked back tears and stared out the window at the pastoral landscape sweeping by outside.
The drive was quick, less than half an hour. Gwen, upset, began to pay attention to where they were only when Bill began to slow down. She’d never have been able to retrace their way back to Bill and Susan’s.
Bill turned into a dirt road off the small highway they’d been on, and a half a mile or so later, they reached a pay station for the state park. It was unmanned, but Bill got out and bought one of the three-dollar day passes in the little brown box and put it on his dashboard. All of this seemed out of character for him, but maybe he knew something she didn’t.
The parking lot was almost deserted. Only three other cars were parked here, and Gwen spotted, with something simultaneously like dread and elation, that Trixie’s classic orange Ford sedan was already here. Bill pulled into a parking spot far from the other cars, near the picnic area, and turned off his engine. It ticked and rattled for a moment as it cooled, and he turned in his seat.
“Stay here and don’t try anything. If you fuck up this deal, I’ll kill you and this nutcase.”
He climbed out and slammed the door, walking over to one of the picnic tables. Gwen immediately rolled down her window, hoping to be able to hear what was going on. Bill stopped at one of the tables and sat down backward, resting back on his elbows. He was clearly trying to seem relaxed, but even from here, she could see anxious tension in his face—the same expression he’d had when he was trying to kill her. She hoped to God Trixie knew what she was doing.
She glanced at Annie, who was staring down at her legs, seeming uninterested in what was happening outside. Gwen shook her head, a little flare of temper heating her blood. It wasn’t as if any of this was actually her fault. She’d been ambushed. Why had Annie come to Dallas before negotiating with them?
“Annie—”
Her head whipped up. “Nrrrrr Annni!”
Gwen took a quick glance outside to make sure Bill was still at the table and reached for Annie’s gag. Annie wrenched her head back and away, shaking it fast and hard. Gwen held up her hands.
“Jesus, okay! I thought you’d want it off.”
Annie shook her head again and hunched into herself, her shoulders curved and huddled, as if for protection. For Gwen, Annie might as well have slapped her. This time, however, rather than hurt, she felt betrayed.
“Fine. Fuck you, Annie. Let’s get through this, and we never have to see each other again.”
Annie shook her head, and Gwen focused back on Bill, forcing herself to pay attention. She needed to care about what was happening out there, but her anger and indignation were making it difficult.
Bill was still sitting at the bench, but some of his fake casualness had clearly evaporated, as he was now bunched up, elbows on his knees, one foot tapping impatiently.
“Come on, Trixie,” Gwen whispered. This was not the kind of man to keep waiting. She barely knew him, but she could tell he could barely hold things together in the best of situations, let alone if his patience was tested. He wasn’t wearing his holstered gun right now, but he probably had one or more on him somewhere. Another minute or two passed, and Bill, clearly fed up, jumped to his feet and started pacing. He was rubbing his hands together, almost as if he wanted to do something else with them.
Finally, Gwen saw movement at the far end of the parking lot and almost sagged with relief at the sight of Trixie walking toward them. She was wearing a neon-orange pencil skirt and a bright-green top that matched her heels—hardly the outfit to wear to hostage negotiation, but Gwen had never been happier to see someone. Bill spotted her too and stopped pacing, his face crinkling. He didn’t seem to know who she was.
Trixie stopped on the sidewalk about twenty feet from his table. “Are you Bill?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s Susan? I was supposed to meet her.”
“She’s not here. And you weren’t supposed to be here alone, either.”
Trixie gestured helplessly. “We thought it would be smarter. Eggs in one basket and all that.”
Bill lifted his hands. “Same here.”
“Are they here?”
Bill pointed at his car, and Gwen waved. She saw Trixie’s shoulders drop with obvious relief. “Oh, thank God.”
“Do you have access to the money?”
Trixie paused, staring at him. “I do. I can give it to you as soon as I make a phone call.”
“How the hell are you going to do that?”
She reached for her purse, and Gwen saw Bill tense, one hand going to the back of his pants. He had a gun there, but he didn’t draw it. Trixie, seeing his movement, paused and held up her hands. “I have a phone in my purse. Can I get it out?”
Bill’s shoulders relaxed a little, but he kept his hand on his gun. “Okay, but slowly.”
Moving at an almost comically slow pace, Trixie unzipped the little purse at her side and pulled out a phone, which she held up for him to see.
“I need an account number,” she said.
“Susan already told you that,” Bill said, almost snarling. “She’s the only one who knows about that stuff. Stop fucking around. Transfer the money to our account, and you can drive away with your friends here.”
“What’s to stop you from shooting me? Once I give you and Susan the money, why not just kill all three of us?”
Bill laughed and gestured around them. “Out here? In the open like this? Do you think I want to spend the rest of my life in prison? How stupid do you think I am?”
Trixie smiled. “Actually, Bill, I think you’re a fucking moron. You just confessed in front of the entire police department.”
She didn’t wait for him to react. Instead, Trixie ran toward her and Annie, slunk near the ground and gesturing for the two of them to get down. Gwen bent toward her lap as far as she could and then reached over and pushed Annie down as well. Annie struggled under her hand, and as Gwen tried to explain, they began to hear shouting and the pounding boots of many people. Someone was screaming at Bill to throw down his weapon, and he was arguing with them. She was bent too far down to see much of anything, but a shadow appeared on her side of car. She could hear several people nearby.
“Stay down,” a man’s voice growled outside the car. Gwen didn’t know if he meant the two of them or Trixie, who, she assumed, was still crouched somewhere near the car.
Gwen heard Bill yelling some more, and then one or two people out there shouted in triumph, and more people were running around. She heard Bill curse and complain, but his voice sounded muffled, contained, almost as if something was restricting his mouth.
The shadow moved and fell directly on her. The man spoke again. “Okay. You can sit up now. Show me your hands, and don’t make any quick movements.”
Gwen obeyed, holding her hands up and out. A uniformed police officer bent next to her door, peering in. His eyes, however, were fixed on Annie, who was still twisted almost double.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” Gwen tried to keep her voice calm and quiet. “You can sit up now, Annie. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Annie was shaking all over, sobbing. Gwen put her hand on her back, trying to soothe her, and Annie shot up and started thrashing back and forth in her seat, panicking. The officer got up and held his gun low and ready, moving toward the back of the car and around to Annie’s side.
“Annie, Annie!” Gwen said, hands out. “It’s okay! Calm down. The police are here. You have to let them help you.”
She continued to thrash around, as if she hadn’t heard anything, and Gwen pulled away from her as far as she could, afraid of colliding with her swinging head. The police officer she’d talked to was standing outside Annie’s door. Annie’s window was up, so whatever he was saying was muffled, but his gun was still out and low. Several other officers stood behind him, hands on their weapons, waiting for his signal. Gwen was terrified he was going to open the door before she could calm Annie down. She wasn’t about to watch these men shoot the love of her life.
Gwen unbuckled her seat belt and threw herself on Annie, squeezing her as tight as she could. Annie still bucked and struggled beneath her, but Gwen managed to avoid her head as it swung back toward her chin. In her terror, Annie had surprising strength, and Gwen could barely hold on. A steady stream of reassurances and soothing nonsense flowed out of her own mouth, but she focused on calming her. It was like trying to hold onto a hurricane. Then, almost as if she had been turned off, Annie sagged beneath her.
“Shh, shh, shh,” Gwen continued to mutter. “You’re okay, you’re okay. Shh, shh…”
It took Gwen several seconds to recognize that it was over, and she moved back a little, letting Annie sit up. Annie’s face was red and contorted, her eyes almost rolling in panic. She stared straight ahead, almost as if she couldn’t see Gwen. Her hair had come loose from its tie, and lay in lank locks across her face. It was impossibly long—much longer than her hair had been before, and quite dark, hardly blond at all. Gwen pushed some of it back to clear her vision, and Annie didn’t react, seeming dazed, shocked.
Suddenly but dimly aware of a commotion outside, Gwen looked up, searching for the source. Someone was screaming from behind what seemed like a solid line of police officers about fifty feet away, beyond the farthest picnic table. The crowd finally parted, and a small blond figure appeared amidst the taller, armed men.
It was Annie.
She was struggling to get through them, pushing them, but several of them held her back. Gwen could hear only the tone of her panic, not the words, clearly. But finally, a woman wearing a suit walked toward the group of officers holding her back. She must have said something to them, and Annie started running toward Bill’s car a second later. The woman in the suit dashed after her, but no one nearby was fast enough to catch her.
A large, imposing moose of a man grabbed Annie’s arm, almost as an afterthought, stopping her with little effort about ten feet from the car. Annie struggled for a moment and then relaxed, glaring up at him.
“That’s my sister in there, you ass,” she said.
The woman in the suit finally caught up, gasping, and waved at the police officers near the car.
“Step back, everyone,” the woman said. “One of the women in the car is schizophrenic. Her sister’s going to help us get her out safely.”
Most of them stepped back and holstered their weapons, but the nearest officer, the one she’d talked to, kept his gun out and low and moved back only a few feet. Annie raced around to that side of the car and opened the door. Her eyes met Gwen’s and then she was checking her sister, running her hands across her face and up and down her arms, looking for injuries.
“Oh, God, Beth,” Annie said. “What did they do to you?”
Beth’s face suddenly brightened, and she moved a little. Her eyes locked on Annie’s and then filled with tears. Annie pulled her into a hug, and when she drew back, she reached up to remove Beth’s gag. Beth let her without a struggle, and when it was off, she turned to Gwen.
“I’m not Annie,” she said.
Gwen laughed. “Yes. I understand now.”
“I’m so sorry this happened to you, Gwen,” Annie said. “It’s all my fault. I should never have let you go on your own.”
“I shouldn’t have left you. It’s my fault, too. I was being pigheaded.”
Annie’s eyes briefly filled with tears, but she blinked them away, focusing on Beth again.
“Are you okay, honey? Did they hurt you?”
Beth shook her head. “No. I’m just scared. I don’t like being tied up.”
Annie laughed, clearly relieved. “No, sweetie. I guess you don’t. But it’s going to be scary again in a minute. That lady over there,” she pointed at the woman in the suit, “is going to have to take me away.”
“For how long?” Beth asked, sounding angry.
“I don’t know yet, sugar, but hopefully not as long as last time.”
“I don’t want you to go.”
“And I don’t want to, but I have to, at least for a while. But you know what? My new friend Trixie is going to help you now, and Tom is on his way.” She lifted her chin toward Gwen. “And you’ve already met Gwen. She’ll help you, too.”
“Tom’s here?” Beth asked, peering around almost wildly.
Annie laughed. “He’ll be here soon, if he’s not already.”
Beth continued to look around, clearly trying to see if she could spot Tom, and Annie took the opportunity to unbuckle Beth’s seat belt. Gwen slid after them as they got out of the car, standing up and almost groaning with relief. She held her hands up for the police again and watched as the closest one finally holstered his gun. He stepped toward them, making everyone flinch, but indicated the zip tie on Beth’s hands. He cut it off and retreated, joining his colleagues a few yards away.
The three of them were left on their own for a moment, and Annie gave both of them a long hug. Gwen, not satisfied, kissed her, hard, and Annie pulled away, laughing.
“We’re giving everyone a show.”
“I don’t care. I had to kiss you.”
Beth was staring at them, eyebrows nearly in her hairline, and Annie gave her another quick, one-armed hug. “Sorry, Beth. I should have told you. Gwen’s my girlfriend.”
“Really? I didn’t know you had one.”
“She’s really special to me. And I hope, once all of this is cleared up, the two of you can be good friends. Like you and Tom.”
Beth rolled her eyes. “Tom’s more than a friend. You know that.”
Annie grinned. “Yes. And Gwen’s more than a friend, too.” She looked at Gwen, grinning. “She’s more than a girlfriend, even. I love her.”
“You do?” Gwen and Beth asked at the same time.
Annie laughed again. “Of course, silly.”
“I love you, too,” Gwen said.
Beth squealed, throwing her arms around Gwen and squeezing her with that surprising, wiry strength. Gwen hugged her back, surprised now that she’d ever thought this woman was Annie. While they resembled each other very strongly, Beth was clearly different in every other way. Still, she had to give herself some credit. Most of these differences were only clear now that she was untied and ungagged.
The woman in the suit was pacing, somewhat impatiently, some ten or fifteen feet away. Trixie was seated on a nearby picnic table, talking to some police officers. How much trouble was Gwen in?
Annie glanced back, frowning. “We don’t have much time,” she said.
“What’s going to happen?”
Annie shook her head, her eyes flickering toward Beth. She didn’t want to speak in front of her. Annie would be arrested again, but what would happen next was probably anyone’s guess.
“I tried to make it easy for you, Gwen. I told them I forced you to do most of it at the beginning, but I don’t know how much they believed. I hope it’s not too bad. Trixie intends to call a lawyer friend of hers, so someone should be there for you when they bring us in.”
“Tom!” Beth suddenly shouted, and started running away. Annie tried to grab her but was too slow, so they watched as she dashed across the crowded picnic area. Several officers were escorting Tom, but he threw his hands in the air and caught her as she launched herself at him.
“She’s in love with him,” Annie explained. “She doesn’t know he doesn’t like her like that. If he ever tells her, I hope she’ll understand.”
“Ah.” They watched them for a while, and Gwen recalled own brother when she was younger. She turned to Annie and took one of her hands. “I promise to help her, too, whenever all this is settled.”
Annie smiled. “I know you will, Gwen. I trust you. You’ve already done so much.”
Gwen laughed. “No, I haven’t. You’re right where you started. You’re going back to prison because of me. You could have disappeared, run away, and instead you stage this huge rescue at your own expense.”
Annie shook her head. “It wasn’t for you, Gwen. It was for us—all of us. You, me, and Beth. Last night, when Susan told Trixie that she had both of you, I almost passed out. I knew then I had to turn myself in—it was the only way to help you both. That and I couldn’t keep running away. It isn’t in me. I thought I could do it, but I can’t. We’ll have to hope some judge will see reason.”
“I’ll wait for you, Annie. However long it takes. I swear it.”
Annie pulled her into a hug and then whispered in her ear. “You better. You’re going to have to take care of my money while I’m locked up.”
Gwen reeled back, shocked, and Annie kissed her before she could say anything in front of the police.