“Took you long enough,” Mo said as she held on to the bars of her cell as if trying to bend them. “We’ve lost valuable time.”
Brick shook his head. “You were that sure I was coming for you?” he asked as he held up the keys that would free her.
She smiled in answer, and if he hadn’t realized that this woman might be trouble, he was beginning to. “Well?” she demanded. “Did you come to taunt me or get me out where we can find Natalie before it’s too late?”
“I’m not unlocking your cell until you tell me what she said to you and why you reacted the way you did.” He could see the internal battle going on inside her. For a moment, he thought she would simply move away from the bars, go sit on her bunk, tell him to go to hell. He wouldn’t have been surprised.
Except for one thing. She was desperate to find Natalie. He had to know why. He no longer thought it was to harm her. But then again, he could be wrong about that, too. He could be letting another kind of monster free.
“Tell me why her words hit you so hard,” he said, and when she didn’t answer, he said, “Fine, then stay where you are. I’ll find Natalie on my own.”
“You won’t,” she snapped as he started to turn away. “I know how she thinks. You, on the other hand, are convinced that she is some innocent, helpless creature who needs you.” She reminded him that Natalie had played him after he’d tried to help her.
“Okay,” he conceded, keeping his back to her. “Maybe she wasn’t as traumatized as she appeared.”
“You think? You’d better hope we find her before whoever held her captive does. I’m betting he’s also looking for her and will try to abduct her again. You need me.”
He smiled to himself as he turned back to her. “And you need me. So...”
“She said Tricia didn’t kill herself.”
He felt the weight of words fall on him. What the—? “What does that mean?”
“Natalie was probably lying. Trying to save her own skin. But if there is a chance she was telling the truth...”
Brick shook his head. “That explains why you looked so shocked. You must have thought there was more than a chance she was telling the truth. But if so—”
“Then someone killed her.”
“Why would someone kill your sister?”
“That’s what I have to find out. So, are you going to help me or not?” Mo let go of the bars and met his gaze. “I’ll tell you everything. Just get me out of here so I can find her—before someone else gets to her.”
Her last words shook him more than he wanted to admit. Natalie had already been abducted and held captive. He didn’t doubt that there were others who were determined to see that the woman paid for what they believed she’d done. Mo had been one of them, he knew. Had a few words from Natalie really changed that?
“We find her.” He waited for her to agree. “We do this together or you stay where you are. I posted your bond. I keep my investment safe by not letting you out of my sight.”
“Fine.” She motioned impatiently for him to unlock the cell.
He hoped he wasn’t making a huge mistake as he inserted the key. “I already picked up your belongings.”
“My car?”
“You won’t be needing it. My truck’s outside,” he said as he turned the cell door key.
“My car would be more comfortable, not to mention, I’m an ace driver.”
“I’m sure you are. That’s why I can just see you leaving me high and dry.”
“Have you always been so suspicious?” she asked as they headed out of the building.
“Apparently, since I spotted you for the fake you were quickly enough at the hospital.”
She rolled her eyes as they walked together toward the parking lot. “I thought I made a pretty believable nurse.” Her gaze locked with his for a moment. “Until I had to kick your butt.”
He laughed. “Yes, there is that score to settle yet.”
“Until next time.”
“Only next time I’ll see you coming.”
She chuckled. “Just keep telling yourself that,” she said over her shoulder as she continued down the sidewalk.
“MAUREEN?”
They were almost to the parking lot when she turned to see the man who’d called her name coming down the sidewalk toward her. She was as shocked to see her brother-in-law here as he sounded to see her.
“It is you,” Thomas said as he reached her and Brick. “I saw you coming out of the jail...” His gaze sharpened. “What are you doing in Big Sky?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Mo said, taken off guard by seeing him here of all places. Since her sister’s funeral, she’d been avoiding him and felt guilty about it. But Thomas reminded her of all Tricia’s hopes and dreams now gone forever. He’d also made it clear that he wanted to put Natalie and the rest behind him, something she couldn’t do. “What are you doing here?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I’m here on business. Life does go on, Maureen. But it seems you know that. You’re back at work?” He shot a glance at the law enforcement building. He thought she was here also working—certainly not just being released from jail.
She didn’t answer as she looked past him to the cute brunette with him. Her eyes narrowed.
Following her gaze, he turned and drew the young woman into the conversation. “This is Quinn Pierson. We work together.” He sounded defensive.
Mo instantly regretted making him feel that way. Thomas had been through enough with the loss of his son and wife. Surely she didn’t resent that he was here on business with a colleague, probably attending some seminar since she knew that many of them were held here at the resort each year. But she did resent that he’d gone on with his life when she couldn’t.
“I’m sorry,” she said, meaning it. She saw that he was staring at Brick with the same questioning look she’d given the brunette. “This is Brick Savage. A...friend.”
Thomas seemed to turn the name over in his mouth as if trying to place it. Brick’s name was unusual enough that she knew he was bound to eventually tie it to Natalie since the deputy’s name had been in all the news as the man who’d rescued the distraught woman in the middle of the night. Once Thomas did figure out who Brick was, he’d know what she was up to. Unless he’d already heard about Natalie being in the hospital here before making her daring escape.
But now he merely lifted a brow at her before he stuck out his hand to shake Brick’s. “I’m also a friend of Mo’s,” he said, making her feel worse, if that was possible. He’d made his position clear after the funeral, the last time they’d talked.
“I really don’t care what happens to Natalie Berkshire,” he’d said. “I never want to hear her name again.”
“You don’t want justice?” Mo had demanded.
“Justice? My son is dead, my wife is dead. Tracking down Natalie won’t bring either of them back.”
“But she’ll kill again, she’ll destroy other families, she’ll—”
“I can’t do anything about that.”
“Well, I can,” Mo had snapped. “And I will.”
Thomas had begun to cry. “Please, for my sake, if not your own, let it go, Maureen. I can’t bear anymore. I’m begging you. Let your sister and the rest of us find some peace.”
Had he found that peace? She sure hadn’t.
“We really should get going,” Quinn said, dragging Mo back from the past. “We’re already running late for the seminar.” She gave Mo an apologetic shrug and held out a flyer. “I don’t know if you’re familiar with Palmer’s seminars. They’re enlightening.”
Mo took the sheet of paper without looking at it.
“It was nice to meet you,” Quinn said. She really was pretty. And young. The word fresh came to mind.
“You, too,” Mo said automatically as she wished she hadn’t run into them now of all times. As the two walked away, she saw Thomas turn to Quinn and say something. The brunette’s soft laugh filtered back, making Mo uncomfortable. She thought about Tricia. Something had been wrong in that house. Natalie had tried to tell her, but Mo hadn’t wanted to hear. Now she regretted it.
“You going to tell me what that was about?” Brick said once the two were out of earshot.
“That was my brother-in-law.” She realized she hadn’t introduced Thomas by his last name. “Thomas Colton. Tricia’s husband.”
Brick had to catch up to her since she’d turned and taken off, wanting to put that entire scene behind her. Sometimes she spoke before she thought. Change that to often. It got her into trouble. She wouldn’t be suspended right now if she were capable of keeping her mouth shut.
“He knew Natalie well, I’m assuming?” Brick said as he caught up to her and motioned to where his pickup was parked. She nodded and slowed, no longer cringing, but glad to have put distance between her and Thomas and his...associate.
Once in his pickup, he reminded her that she hadn’t finished her story.
She realized she was still holding the flyer the woman had given her. Wadding it up, she tossed it on the floor. “Drive and I’ll tell you everything. Natalie already has a huge head start.”
He hesitated, but only a moment before he started the truck. “We need to establish some ground rules,” he said as he pulled away from the jail. “We do this together. You take off, you go back behind bars. You help me find her, but then she’s going to be returned for questioning about her abduction and any other deaths under her employ. Is that understood?”
“Whatever you say.”
“I’m out on a limb here. Don’t saw it off, because I don’t want to be hunting you next.”
“We don’t have time to argue,” she said, dismissing his concerns. “Tell me how she got out of the hospital.”
He told her about Natalie taking the nurse’s clothing and leaving her gagged and bound half-naked under the bed before stealing a motorcycle and escaping. “She probably got the idea from you.”
Mo seemed to ignore that. “She’ll be looking for different clothing first. Which way did she go when she left the hospital?” He told her. “Then take that street.”
“There are no stores that way.”
“She has no money. She’ll be looking for clothing she can steal.”
BRICK WONDERED IF she was talking about what she would do under the same circumstances—or about Natalie. But he didn’t argue. He drove through the residential area as Mo craned her neck down each side street they passed.
“So,” he said. “Tell me.”
She sighed. Clearly, it was a story she’d condensed, having lived with it for so long. “I stopped by Tricia’s that day. She was sleeping so I didn’t want to disturb her. She’d been struggling with everything—postpartum depression, the baby’s health issues, who knows what else? Anyway, I decided to just look in on Joey. I was worried about him because of all his medical problems and even more worried for Tricia. She’d had trouble conceiving. It looked like she and Thomas weren’t going to be able to have children, something Tricia had wanted desperately. Then, out of the blue, she’d gotten pregnant. I’d expected her to be over-the-moon happy, but she seemed anxious all the time. Then, when Joey was born with all the medical problems and the doctors said he probably wouldn’t make a year...” Her voice trailed off for a moment.
“That day I sensed something being...off. Joey was fine. He was such a beautiful baby. If you didn’t know about his health problems... As I started to leave, Natalie stopped me by the front door. She was trying to tell me something when Tricia came down the stairs. I could tell Natalie was upset. I knew she was worried about Tricia. I was, too.”
Brick thought about this for a moment, seeing how upset Mo had become just retelling it. “Natalie never told you what she had to talk to you about?”
Mo shook her head. “We never spoke after that. Natalie was arrested, and evidence was coming out about her. Even if she told me what might have been going on in that house.”
“What do you mean, about what was going on in that house?”
Mo looked away for a moment.
“I realize this is hard for you—”
“Thomas and Tricia were my family. I hate talking about personal details of their lives. I hate that because of what happened, their personal lives have become media fodder.”
“They were having problems,” he guessed. “I would imagine the stress...”
She nodded, some of her anger visibly evaporating. “I think it might have been more than the pregnancy and even Joey’s health.”
“You don’t think Thomas and the nanny were—”
“Having an affair?” She shook her head adamantly. “But something was wrong. Tricia wouldn’t talk about it and neither would Thomas—not that I tried very hard. I was so intent on proving Natalie guilty and getting justice that I wasn’t there for my sister when she needed me the most.”
“That’s why you want to believe that she didn’t kill herself,” he said. “Could there have been another man?”
Mo hesitated a little too long. “She and Thomas had been together since college. They were the perfect couple.” As if sensing his skepticism, she said, “He idolized her. He was so excited about the baby. He was a wonderful father.”
Brick kept driving, wondering what he’d gotten himself into, when she cried, “Stop! Down there.”
Backing up, he drove down the side street until she told him to stop again. By then she was out of the truck. He swore, threw the pickup into Park and went after her, thinking she was already breaking their deal.
Instead, she rushed over to an older house with a long three-wire clothesline behind it. The day’s wash flapped noisily on the line except for the spaces where it appeared someone had removed items randomly.
A woman came out of the house brandishing a broom. “Don’t even think about it. What is this, some kind of scavenger hunt?” she demanded. “You’re not taking any more of my clothing.”
Brick quickly introduced himself. “We’re looking for the woman who stole the clothes off your line. Was she dressed like a nurse?”
The woman nodded. “I couldn’t imagine why a nurse would be stealing my clothes.”
“Can you tell me what she took?” Mo asked. “And describe the items?”
The woman lowered her broom and thought about it for a moment. “A pair of my black active pants, my favorite flowered shirt, a pair of jeans and my husband’s hooded sweatshirt. It’s navy. The flowered shirt is mostly red.”
“Thank you. Did you see her leave? What she was driving? Which way did she go?”
The homeowner shook her head. “I saw her taking the clothes and ran outside but she disappeared around the side of the house. Wait. I did hear what sounded like a motorcycle engine. Does that help?”
Brick nodded. “It does, thanks. How long ago was that?”
“Thirty minutes ago, maybe longer.”
“We’ll do our best to get your clothes back for you,” he said and turned toward the pickup.
They were back in the pickup when Mo said, “She’ll ditch those clothes as soon as she gets some money. I hope that woman doesn’t hold her breath about getting them back. She’ll dump the motorcycle first—if she hasn’t already. She’ll be looking for a vehicle. One that won’t be missed for a while.”
Brick shot a look at Mo as he started the truck. “You make her sound like a hardened criminal. What if she’s innocent and now has people chasing her who want to do more than hurt her? Maybe she’s just trying to stay alive as best she can.”
“That’s exactly what she’s trying to do. She’s running for her life.”
Brick’s cell phone rang. He thought it would be his father. He’d already ignored three calls from him. Instead, it was the deputy from the hospital.
“I heard you’re looking for the patient that got away,” the deputy said. “I hope you find her. The marshal wants to have my head over this.” He explained that while he was getting examined for the wound on his head, he heard that an attendant’s purse had gone missing about the same time that Natalie took off. “She thinks the patient who escaped took it.”
Brick told Mo.
“Ask how much money was in the purse,” she said.
He did and hung up. “Just over a hundred and fifty dollars.”
“So Natalie has some money. Now all she needs are wheels,” Mo said. “If I were her, I’d be looking around bars, cafés, places where everyday people work and don’t worry about their vehicles being stolen.”
“Anyone ever mention that you think like a criminal?”
Mo smiled. “Thanks. There’s a bar up ahead. Pull in.”
As Brick did, his cell phone rang again. This time it was his father.
HUD STARTED TO leave another voice mail on his son’s phone when, to his surprise, Brick answered. He’d come back to the office to find out that not only had Natalie Berkshire taken off before the Billings homicide detectives arrived, but his son had broken suspended homicide detective Mo Mortensen out of jail.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded the moment his son answered the call. “You spring a woman you don’t know from Adam. A woman who is in our jail because she attacked you? Are you trying to end your career before it even starts?”
“I’m on leave, remember.”
The marshal swore. “What is that noise in the background?”
“I’m standing outside a bar waiting for Mo.”
Hud wanted to scream. “Mo, is it now? Brick...” He let out an angry breath. “I hope the bar doesn’t have a back door. Why did you bust her out of jail?”
“She’s going to help me find Natalie.”
“Are you crazy? You said this woman wants to kill Natalie.”
“Maybe she wants to, but she won’t. And even if she still did, I won’t let her.”
He swore under his breath. “Do I have to tell you again that Natalie Berkshire isn’t wanted for anything other than questioning at this point? Or that you don’t have the authority to go after her, let alone arrest her, even if there was a warrant out for her? Worse, Natalie might not be the woman you have to fear. You could be with the real criminal right now. How do you know she wasn’t involved with Natalie Berkshire’s abduction?”
“She wasn’t. Which means that she isn’t the only one on this woman’s trail. We need to find her first. I was right about what happened at the hospital. Natalie did say something to her, just as I thought I heard. She said that Tricia, Mo’s sister, didn’t kill herself.”
“What?”
“Apparently there was more going on with that family than anyone—other than Natalie, who lived in the house—knew. If Tricia didn’t kill herself, if Natalie didn’t take that baby’s life, then who did?”
“Brick,” his father snapped. “What are you going to do with her if you find Natalie? Maybe more to the point, what is Mo going to do? Even if you find Natalie, you can’t restrain her in any way or you’ll find yourself behind bars for kidnapping. Clearly the woman was well enough to escape the hospital. Letting the cop who’s chasing her out of jail is just asking for trouble.”
“Maybe Natalie lied about all of it. But what if she didn’t?” Hud heard the music in the background change. Then his son said, “I think I see the motorcycle she stole. I have to go.”
He swore as Brick disconnected. He tried to call him back, but the phone went straight to voice mail. He debated putting a BOLO out on both his son and Mo. Natalie already had one out on her. Along with being wanted for questioning, she was wanted for tying up a nurse and stealing a motorcycle and a purse at the hospital. Also at this point, Hud had no doubt that the woman would be safer behind bars.
The marshal looked up to find a deputy standing in his doorway. “Anything more on the motor home?”
“So far I haven’t found any that have been returned in the past twenty-four hours that might have been damaged as if someone had broken out of it,” the deputy said, clearly unhappy with this assignment.
Hud waved him away, saying, “Keep trying.” As the deputy left, he wondered if it wasn’t a waste of manpower. Maybe whoever had rented the motor home would be smart enough not to turn it in anywhere nearby. That was if he was right and there’d been damage to it when Natalie had escaped.
HERBERT LEE REINER could feel sweat running down the middle of his back. He watched the two men in the glassed-in vacation rental vehicle office. Whatever they were discussing, it looked serious.
He thought about walking out. The car rental agency was just down the road. He could get there quickly enough. But it would mean leaving behind his reimbursement check. His deposit was a hefty amount—even after the repair bill had come out of it.
He glanced toward the motor home sitting where he’d parked it, then back at the men in the RV rental office. It was hot in here. He wanted to push back the sleeves on his shirt, but then the scratches would show. The clerk, a young man named Gil, had been suspicious enough when he’d seen the damage done to the door in the motor home’s one bedroom. Now Gil was in the office talking to his older boss.
His throat dry as dust, Herb spotted the drinking fountain off to the side and walked over nonchalantly, hoping he looked like a man without a care in the world. He turned it on and took a long drink even though the water wasn’t quite cold enough. It also had a funny taste. But at his age, everything was either tasteless or strange. Aging taste buds, though, were the least of his worries right now.
Glancing at his watch, he felt time running out. As he took another drink and straightened, Gil came out of the glass enclosure holding his paperwork. Herb felt his heart drop as he saw that the man’s boss was now on the phone.
“I really need to get going,” Herb said. “Is there a problem?”
“No,” the clerk said a little too quickly. “I’m just new at this and I want to do it right.”
He tried not to be impatient as he watched the clerk tap at his computer keys. Had Gil been told to stall Herb until the police arrived?
Glancing toward the outside door, he considered making a run for it. But his legs felt as if they’d turned to blocks of wood. He hadn’t run anywhere in years and there was his bad knee to consider. He shifted on his feet, looked down and frowned. There was a spot of blood on his right sneaker. The sight elevated his heart rate. He felt his chest tighten.
“I think I have it now,” Gil said. The printer began to grind out more paperwork. How much paperwork did it take to un-rent a motor home anyway?
Gil moved to the printer, pulled out the papers and began sorting through them. Through the glass window into the office, Herb saw that the boss was off the phone and looking in his direction.
But the man’s gaze dropped the moment it connected with Herb’s. His heart was pounding now, making breathing more difficult. If he didn’t get out of here—
Gil handed him a stack of papers. On the top was a check for both his deposit and his refund since he was turning the motor home in earlier than he planned. He signed where Gil pointed and picked everything up with trembling fingers.
“Thank you,” he said automatically and turned toward the door, trying not to rush.
“I thought you needed a ride?” Gil called after him. “If you can wait just a few minutes—”
He couldn’t wait. He burst out the door, expecting to hear sirens in the distance. Breathing in the fresh, cool air, he turned left and began walking toward the car rental agency.
All of the rental places were along a frontage road not far from the airport. He kept walking, checking behind him every few minutes. He was limping a little, the bad knee, as he listened for the crunch of gravel behind him. He was that sure that a patrol car would be pulling up any minute.
He’d thought he was being so smart renting the motor home. But he’d seen Gil’s expression when he’d seen evidence of the violence that had destroyed the bedroom door. Fortunately, Gil hadn’t noticed where the duct tape had taken the paint off the bed frame.
At the car rental agency, Herb stopped and looked behind him. Cars whizzed past. No cop cars. He hurriedly stepped inside, closing the door, and took a deep breath, trying to quiet his pounding pulse. At this place at least the air conditioning was working, he thought as he moved to the counter.
Had he cleaned up any evidence he might have left in the motor home? That was the question that nagged at him as he again filled out paperwork and produced a credit card and Arizona driver’s license.
It wasn’t that he worried about being caught. He knew that was going to happen soon enough. He just couldn’t get caught until he’d fulfilled his promise to his wife of fifty-two years.
The paperwork took just enough time that he was sweating profusely even in the air-conditioned building. But eventually, he walked out with the keys to a white panel van. The clerk had asked him if he was moving.
“Getting rid of a few things,” he’d said.
Once behind the wheel, he drove down the highway to the small coffee shop where he’d left his wife. Dorie was sitting by the window, staring down into her coffee cup as he pulled up. He hit the horn twice. For a moment he thought she hadn’t heard.
Then slowly, she raised her head. He figured the sun was glinting off the windshield because it took her a minute to recognize him before she smiled. He was used to her slack-jawed empty stare. Just as he was her confused frowns. Often it was hard to get her attention.
While those times felt like a knife to his chest after all these years together, it was her gentle, sweet smile that was his undoing. In that smile he saw the accumulation of both her pain and his. Their loss was so great they no longer cared what happened to either of them.
Dorie rose slowly from the table inside the coffee shop. As she lifted her head, she changed before his eyes. He saw the young woman she’d been the first time he’d seen her. She didn’t look frail. She didn’t look like a woman who was dying. He knew all that was keeping her alive was the promise he’d made her.
A part of him had thought Dorie might not be strong enough to go on. He’d told her he would go alone, but she’d insisted that like him, she would see this through. Dorie climbed into the van without looking at him. Instead, she noticed something on her sleeve. As if sleepwalking, she picked a long, dark hair off her sweater and held it up to study it for a moment, her face grim, before she whirred down her window and threw it away.
Finally, she turned to him. “Can you find her again?”
He nodded, knowing that he would go to the ends of the earth for this woman he’d spent the better part of his life with. “I’ll find her.”
Dorie reached over and placed her small, age-spotted hand on his arm for a moment before she looked toward the mountains, that distant stare returning to her beautiful eyes as she absently ran her fingers down the sleeve of her sweater as if looking for another strand of Natalie Berkshire’s dark hair.