“Where’s my Gwenny?”
Eli shut the door as he entered the kitchen. Over a cup of coffee at the Cutter house, he and Ben had finalized plans to move the cattle to summer pastures higher in the mountains.
Cameron wore his Spiderman pajamas, and stood in the doorway with bare feet and a serious expression.
“She’s probably in the barn like she usually is in the morning.”
When Eli had risen an hour ago, the coffee had been made, and her boots were gone from their place by the front door.
“She always comes in when I get up. She didn’t today.”
“Okay, I’ll check on her.”
Eli strode out of the house and across the yard toward the barn. He pushed back on the frisson of alarm. She’d be in the barn working with one of the horses, and had probably lost track of time. But the kid was right. She had a routine, and part of it was being in the house when Cameron awoke.
“Boss.”
“Not now, Jed.” He entered the wide barn doors, his mechanic trailing behind him. JD pushed the wheelbarrow loaded with hay bales between the stalls where horses waited for their morning rations.
“JD, you see Gwen?”
The boy shook his head. “She usually feeds the horses, but she didn’t this morning.”
“Boss, she’s gone.”
“What?” He turned to Jed. “What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“I mean she’s gone. Or at least her car is gone.”
“You see her driving it?”
“No, but who else would have taken it? The keys were on the hook by the shop door. They and her car are gone.”
“When did you last see it?”
“About ten last night. She said it was idling rough, and I’d told her I’d check it out. There was a clamp loose on a vacuum line, so it was an easy fix.”
Eli thought back to when he’d last seen her. Around nine, she’d been sitting on Cameron’s bed, reading with him. Eli had wanted to talk with her, but she’d been avoiding him. He’d figured she needed to get used to the idea of getting married, but now he wondered if she’d completely changed her mind.
A frozen fist clenched around his heart, ready to yank it out of his chest. All along she’d said she thought Cameron would be safer if she wasn’t at the Broken Arrow. She’d promised not to leave without telling him, but maybe he’d given her too much credit to keep her word.
Anger warred with worry, clipping his words as he spoke. “Call the men, tell them to meet at the barn in five minutes.”
He pulled his radio off his hip, pressing down the talk button. “Ben, meet me at the house.”
He took the porch steps two at a time, pulling open the door in time to see Cameron rushing down the stairs.
“Did you find her?”
“No. Did she mention going anywhere?”
Cameron shook his head, worry clouding his expression.
Eli lay a hand on his shoulder. “Cameron, I want you to think about last night when you went to bed. Did your aunt say anything unusual? Did she say good-bye?”
“No. She wouldn’t have left me. If she was going away, she’d take me with her.”
“She mentioned before that she thought you would be safer if she left you here. She thought she could draw Justin’s attention away from you.”
Cameron shook his head vigorously. “Aunt Gwenny would never leave without talking to me. Justin must have captured her.”
Eli wished he had the same unwavering faith.
***
Eli paced the length of the living room, forcing back the urge to jump in his truck and go in search of Gwen. At least he’d be doing something constructive, not waiting. Waiting gave him too much time to think. Had she left of her own accord? Had she been kidnapped? Was she hurt? He’d briefed Ben, who’d questioned the men and reported back that none had heard or seen anything unusual. Nobody had noticed her car being driven from the ranch. Now he was waiting for the law to show up.
“I’m ready.”
Cameron stood in the doorway. He’d dressed in jeans and a zipped jacket, scuffed shoes on his feet.
“Ready for what?”
“To go looking for my Gwenny.”
“We’re waiting for the police to get here, then we’ll decide what to do.”
“They have her. We have to find her before she gets killed, too.” The boy’s face was pale beneath the summer tan he’d acquired, tension evident in his shoulders and the set of his jaw.
A tap on the door had Eli crossing the room to pull it open. Daisy stood on the other side. He stepped back so she could enter the house.
“Eli, Ben told me Gwen is missing.” At his brief nod, she continued. “Let me take Cameron. The kids can keep him company until she comes home.”
“No. I’m going to look for her.”
Eli took in the boy’s resolute expression. He understood powerlessness, not being able to keep bad things from happening. The kid was only ten, but he’d experienced too much to be denied the opportunity to help.
He responded to Daisy’s questioning look. “He’s coming with me. We’ll wait for the police, but then we’re going looking.” He nodded to Cameron. “Get some breakfast, son.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Eat. You’ll need the fuel.”
Daisy put her arm around his shoulders. “Come with me, Cameron. You can eat a bowl of cereal while I make some sandwiches for you to take with you.”
The next time a knock came from the door, Jack Morgan was standing on the other side in his khaki uniform. Eli stepped back to let the man enter.
“Got your missing person report,” the officer said. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Gwen is missing, and her car is gone.”
“A woman leaving in her own car isn’t a crime.”
Eli couldn’t bring himself to care that Jack said the words with an edge that implied leaving Eli was a likely option. “Her purse is here, with her wallet. Her clothing is here.” Finding her purse in her bedroom had put to bed any notions Eli had that she’d left of her own volition. And had ratcheted up the worry.
“Any chance she could have met someone, decided to cut her losses with you?”
Only Cameron coming into the room kept Eli from telling Jack to go fuck himself. “Those two men who attacked her, Simcoe and Tellier, made bail. Have you checked their whereabouts?”
Jack nodded. “I know how to do my job, Eli. Tellier is currently at the hospital with a severe reaction to poison oak. Simcoe has a room at a motel in Bridgeport. A couple of officers are checking to see if he’s there.”
“What about Justin Bennett? You know he’s got a motive to get rid of Gwen. He must have hired those two.”
“We’re looking into it. Chief’s contacting LAPD about the guy. But let’s set that aside for a moment. We’ve got to think about the bigger picture. Has Ms. Ballard had any other trouble? Ex-boyfriends, anything like that?”
“No.”
“Sure about that?”
“Damn it, Jack. We’re wasting time here.”
“How about you? Been having any other trouble?”
Destruction to his property that he knew came from the Circle M had Eli resisting the urge to punch Jack in the face. “The diverter up on the creek’s being damaged, fencing cut. But you already know about that.”
“You haven’t reported it, so how would I know about it? Got any hired hands you’ve pissed off that might try to get back at you?”
“Cut the shit, Jack. You and I both know the only people around here with a beef with me are from the Circle M.”
The officer’s eyes narrowed. “Nobody at the M has messed with you. We fight fair.”
“The Morgan family wants me to give up my easement. You all hate my guts. If I was a lawman, I’d call that motivation.”
Jack gave him a hard look. “We may hate your guts, and rightly so, but we’d never cut fence or destroy property because of it. I’ll look into it. But that doesn’t explain the missing woman.”
Jack’s radio sounded. Eli heard the report and was pulling keys from his pocket even as Jack clicked off.
“Just where do you think you’re going?”
“Your dispatcher said the motel room is empty, and Gwen’s car has been found on the forest service road.”
“So?”
“So that’s where I start looking.”
Jack shook his head. “I don’t need a bunch of amateurs making a mess of evidence.”
Cameron stood in the doorway next to Daisy. Eli indicated the boy with a nod of his head. “We’re familiar with the car, Cameron more so than me. He might recognize something significant. We should look at it.”
Jack pulled on his bottom lip in a gesture of contemplation Eli remembered from when they weren’t adversaries. He was surprised when Jack agreed.
“Fine, you and the boy can come. Once the crime scene team has had their look, you two can have a go.”
***
Gwen sat stiffly in the chair, fear roiling the acid in her stomach. Thug One, whom Justin called Max, wasn’t happy, and had whined to Justin about getting what was owed to him, what he deserved. The way he’d eyed her when he’d said that only added to her anxiety. But so far, Justin had held the man off. In fact, Justin appeared supremely irritated with him.
The desire to lash out at the self-absorbed narcissist, to rail at him for murdering her friend, for making Cameron an orphan, nearly overwhelmed her good sense. But she realized her life hung on a thread, and she didn’t doubt he’d shoot her without a second thought if it suited him.
She pulled at her bonds, testing the strength of the ropes binding her to the ladderback chair as the two men argued. From what she could gather, with Thug Two in the hospital, Thug One had decided to nab her on his own, then return later for Cameron. He’d watched the ranch enough to know she was usually the first one at the barn, so he’d shown up early and bided his time.
Justin laid into Thug One over his decision to steal her car at the same time.
Max sighed. “Look, dude. It makes perfect sense. She’s gone, her car’s gone. They’ll think she left on her own and won’t come looking for her.”
“You were supposed to get her and the kid, then kill them both. Dude.”
“I couldn’t get them both on my own, now could I? Plus, I want a little fun with her first. And we can use her to lure the kid away from the house.”
“When they’ll be on guard.” Justin swore under his breath, pacing the length of the cabin. The butt of a gun showed from the shoulder holster he wore. The whole conversation seemed so surreal, the two men arguing over her fate like they were having a spat over a ballgame.
Justin finally stopped his pacing, obviously coming to a decision. “Outside, Max. You’re going to dig her grave.”
“It’s too hot to dig, man. We can shoot her, haul her out into the trees, and let the wolves take care of her.”
“There aren’t wolves in California, dumbass. We need to bury her. We don’t want some hiker coming across her before we’ve had a chance to get away.”
Gwen swallowed against the queasiness of her stomach; glad she hadn’t eaten anything that morning. She couldn’t let fear overwhelm her. She could save herself; she had to think past the fear and figure out how.
Max walked through the door. The other man moved to follow him but stopped in front of her. Justin’s sharp good looks were undone by the ugliness of his expression. “You shouldn’t have come that night. This is your fault. If you hadn’t come, everything would be all right. Now you’ve caused me a shitload of hassle. Your fault,” he muttered the final words as he followed Max outside.
How long did it take to dig a grave? Would it be a shallow grave or the standard six feet? The near hysterical thoughts raced around in her head, and Gwen released a shuddering breath. She had to move before they came back. She pulled against the restraints again, but there wasn’t any give, and she didn’t have much maneuverability. Not able to think of a better idea, she stood in a half crouch, bringing the chair up with her. Using her weight, she bashed one leg against the wall; it gave a little so she did it again, the splintering wood making a satisfying sound. She tried the move again, and broke another leg. Keeping at it, she broke the chair apart until only the arms remained tied to her wrists.
Now able to reach the rear pocket of her jeans, she pulled out the curved hoof pick. She’d discovered the tool in her pocket in the car with Max that morning. Careful not to lose her awkward grip, she used the hook end to work into the knots. Hoping she’d hear the sound of the men returning over the blood roaring in her ears, she finally felt the rope give and within seconds her hands were free.
Moving from window to window, careful not to allow herself to be visible from outside, she scanned the forested slopes surrounding the cabin. The dirt road they’d bumped along for a short distance from the highway ended at the cabin. Two vehicles were parked in front, the truck Max had transferred her to, and a late-model sports car she recognized as Justin’s. She had no idea what direction the men had gone, or when they would be back.
She searched the cabin and found two sharp steak knives in the kitchen and secured them to the belt loops of her jeans, one on each side. Doing something, being proactive, steadied her.
She should be scared, and she was. But underneath the fear was anger. Justin had killed Chloe and traumatized Cameron. And now he planned to kill her. His incredible ego stoked Gwen’s fury. Who was he to kill someone, to destroy lives? No one had that right.
The back door of the cabin opened to a steep hillside, and figuring that would be the least likely place to dig a grave, she eased open the door and stepped out onto the narrow deck. Hurrying down a flight of steps, she ran for a dense copse of aspens on the slope above the cabin. Once among the white trunks she stopped, trying to pick out the best way to proceed.
A sharp crack pierced the quiet, echoing through the still air. Breathing ragged, she dropped to the ground.
The shot sounded close, but from the other side of the cabin. Refusing to let fear paralyze her, she stayed low but crept farther into the trees. The burble of water alerted her to the presence of a creek. She found the small stream and followed its course away from the cabin, staying within the dense foliage along the bank, keeping a lookout as she went.
A grouping of boulders offered a possible hiding place. Boulders would stop bullets, but what if Justin or Max found her? She wasn’t sure what that gunshot meant, but she wouldn’t put it past Justin to have shot Max once he’d dug the grave.
A car engine roared to life, and she paused. What if they were leaving? What if—
A twig snapped behind her. Heart slamming into her throat, she whirled in the same instant another gunshot echoed through the trees. Instinctively pulling a knife from her belt loop, she ducked low, but not soon enough. Long arms wrapped around her from behind, and even as a large hand clamped over her mouth, another grabbed her by the wrist.