Pushing Up Bluebonnets

I nodded at my right pocket. I'd left my bag in the car, not to mention the gun I swore I would carry with me. And didn't. I don't like carrying the .38 around and now I was paying the price.

Joe took my keys and tossed them to another person

who silently joined us from a different direction: Estelle. The only person besides Simone who knew where I went after leaving Richter's house. Estelle?

Joe said, 'Bring her car.'

Estelle nodded and pointed the remote at my Camry, disengaging the alarm.

Bring my car where? I thought. My worry meter shot farther to the danger side of the scale. They were taking me somewhere else. Not good.

The guy who grabbed me took my elbow again and we started walking. I glanced to my left and saw the stringy-haired man's face. Yup, same guy from the supermarket and the parking garage. Only his hair was clean now and tied back in a ponytail that hung down his neck.

Turned out their Jeep was hidden on a hard dirt road that wound through the woods. I didn't remember seeing an entrance to this path, but then again, Magnolia Ranch was huge. I could have missed it, or the entry could have been farther down the larger gravel road that skirted the woods.

Ponytail sat beside me in the backseat. Joe Johnson drove. Whatever was in my mouth was absorbing every bit of saliva and becoming a soggy, disgusting lump of whatever. Gauze, maybe?

Though I didn't turn around, I heard what was probably my car bumping along behind us. For some reason I worried about my tires. Sheesh. I'm being kidnapped and I'm thinking about my car? Was this how my mind was choosing to calm me down? By making me think about something as stupid and mundane as tires? If so, it was working. Then I got even more silly, thinking, Three against one? No problem, Abby. You can take them.

Five minutes later we came to a shack that sat off the road among the trees. The small structure was built with wood now gray with age. Planks slanted precariously or were missing altogether. Not a great place to hide a kidnap victim while you ask for the ransom, I thought. Too close to the ranch. Maybe this wasn't about ransom. Maybe this was all about JoLynn. Yes. Estelle was the watchdog inside the ranch—a new employee, if I remem bered right. Joe Johnson replaced the security guard to get close to JoLynn, and the other guy? I was guessing I'd been his assignment.

Ponytail helped me out of the backseat and we all went inside the shack through a squeaky half door. The place was completely empty—no furniture, no old appliances or stoves. Nothing. But it was cool and smelled of the surrounding pines.

Johnson carried in a blanket from the Jeep and laid it out on the filthy wood floor. 'Time to talk,' he said.

Talk? I love to talk. Beats getting killed every time. And talking required that they remove this miserable gag. Tethered hands held out in front of me, I squatted, then sort of fell back on my bottom. That's when I realized they might be the ones doing all the talking.

'You have been a thorn in my side, Abby Rose,' Johnson said as he joined me on the floor. 'No pun intended.'

A funny guy. Great.

Estelle and Ponytail sat on either side of me, and that's when I realized Estelle held my bag. Now I was getting pissed off. First my car and now my purse?

She opened the bag and took out my gun. 'I found this in the glove compartment.'

Joe held out his hand and Estelle handed him the Lady Smith. He looked at the .38 with disgust and set it down behind him. Then he said, 'My brother will remove the gag. Trust me, no one can hear you cry out from this spot in the woods. But the cuffs have to stay on. I know about your exploits, what a capable young woman you are. You might run.'

Ponytail removed the gag and didn't seem bothered by handling the slimy ball of whatever from my mouth. He tossed it in a corner and stuffed the bandanna in his jeans pocket. I wished I were wearing jeans rather than capris, because the mosquitoes were already on the attack.

'Thank you,' I said. I am not usually polite to my abductors, but I'd learned from experience not to make them unnecessarily angry. They can usually get worked up without my help.

Estelle removed the necklace picture and the drawing of Ponytail from my bag now.

'The Altoids are way at the bottom, if that's what you're looking for,' I said. 'Ponytail here could use one.'

She smiled as she smoothed the papers in the middle of our little circle.

Johnson looked at his brother. 'Way too good of a likeness, Nick. This worries me.'

'Why?' I said. 'Is he in some database? Are you worried the police will find him? Because they will, you know.'

Johnson said, 'Unfortunately, that's not the kind of database he's in.' He pointed at his temple. 'He's in this kind of database, in someone's memory. Now, can you keep quiet so I can tell you something important?'

Me? Keep quiet? Guess he didn't know me as well as he thought. 'Answer this first. Why did you do it? Had she conned you out of money?'

Johnson looked completely confused.

'That's her thing,' I said. 'You know, that girl in the coma? The one you wanted to sneak in and finish off? She's a con artist.'

Johnson's neck reddened. Didn't I just tell myself not to piss off my kidnappers? And yet I'd gone and done it anyway.

'You don't know the first thing about her,' Johnson said. 'You listen to me or I'll put the gag back on. I am being forced to trust you, something I did not wish to do. But circumstances and your persistence have forced me to take these measures.'

He talks funny, I thought. Stilted . . . with a trace of an accent. Nick, too, now that I'd heard him say more than a sentence.

Estelle said, 'I followed you when you said you wanted to meet with Simone. I listened at the door. The girl is clueless. You should have left her out of this business.'

'I'm feeling pretty clueless myself right now,' I said.

'Then let me clear things up for you. I am JoLynn's father,' Joe Johnson said.

I blinked, too stunned to speak. Her father?

'And,' he went on, 'if this investigation of yours goes any further, you will be putting her in serious danger. I might not be able to protect her again.'

'Protect her?' I said, trying to figure this out.

Johnson said, 'This is her uncle—you heard me call him Nick, but that is not his real name. Estelle is Nick's daughter.'

'Let me guess? Not her real name, either.' Three mosquitoes were feasting on my calf and I slapped at them awkwardly with my tethered hands. 'So you're all JoLynn's biological family?' I took a look at the three of them and saw a hint of resemblance to JoLynn— especially in Estelle, who I was betting wore all that makeup and changed her hair color for that very reason. What the hell was this about?

'Yes, we are her family,' Johnson said.

'The family that abandoned her in a bus station eleven years ago?' The anger that rose in my throat surprised me. 'What kind of people are you?'

I could tell my words stung Johnson, and Nick bent his head.

Estelle was the one who spoke. 'JoLynn knows she wasn't abandoned. She knew her parents were protecting her.'

'How's that protecting her? She's been through hell.' Yup, I was eating fire and spitting smoke now.

'If you promise never to speak of this conversation again, speak of it to anyone, then I will tell you her story. But I must have your word.' Perspiration dampened the front and underarms of Johnson's T-shirt, and thin rivers of sweat wound down from his head to his neck.

'What will you do if I don't promise? Kill me?' Maybe defiance wasn't the right approach, but I couldn't understand why they'd done this to a child. No explanation could possibly be