he’s up to.”
Susan stared at him and shook her head. She hated to consider it, but indeed there was something odd about Tom not even letting them inside the house for a moment.
“Anyway, you were telling me about your visit with Jordan Prewitt,” the deputy said.
“Yes, well…” she shrugged. “I asked Jordan and his friend if I could talk with Moira in case she’d run into Allen or seen his car. They said she’d gone for a walk in the woods. They said they’d get back in touch with me once Moira returned from this nature hike. But that was over two hours ago. Anyway, I have a feeling something’s going on over at that cabin.”
The deputy nodded. “I’ll go check it out.” He glanced toward Mattie in the sunroom. “I think you and your son will be okay here for the next half hour. But you better double-lock your doors just to be safe. When I radio in about the girl, I’ll have Nancy pull some strings and get you a room at one of the inns in town. They’re usually booked solid on weekends. But we’ve got some clout. I don’t like you two staying out here alone any longer than you have to. Do you have anything for self-defense besides that flare gun?”
Susan shook her head. “Allen had a revolver, but it was in the car with him.”
The deputy’s eyes narrowed at her for a moment, but then he just nodded. “Well, you could start a fire with that flare gun. Listen, there’s a whole arsenal in the trunk of my prowler. I’ll loan you something. Be right back….”
Susan followed him as far as some bushes near the side of the house. She watched the deputy duck into the driver’s seat of his patrol car. He left the door open, so she could just make out what he was saying on the radio: “We have a possible kidnapping or hostage situation involving a teenage girl, too soon to tell for sure right now. But put Stuart on alert. I’m headed to the Prewitt cabin on Cedar Crest Way for a follow-up. Stay tuned, over and out.”
He popped the trunk, then climbed out of the car and lifted the hood. Susan watched him hover over the trunk for a minute. Finally, he shut the hood, turned, and then swaggered toward her with a pistol in his hand.
From the corner of the house, Susan glanced toward the open sunroom door. Not a peep out of Mattie so far. The deputy came through a pathway in the bushes and plopped the pistol in her hand. “This is a semiautomatic pellet gun,” he said. “It won’t do as much damage as a regular handgun or your flare, but it’s still very effective. It’s used for riot control, and we don’t get too many violent demonstrations here in Cullen. That’s on loan for the next half hour. Don’t tell Stuart I let you borrow it, or he’ll have my ass in a sling. It’s all loaded and ready. FYI—you can do a lot of damage if you aim for the head or groin. But you’re probably not going to need it….”
Susan looked at the gun in her hand and nodded nervously.
“Give me forty-five minutes,” the deputy continued. “And if I’m not back by then, you and your boy hightail it to Rosie’s, and then call Nancy at the police station. Until then, stay inside and keep the doors locked, okay?”
She nodded again. “Thank you.”
“Be back soon,” he said. Then he turned and hurried toward his patrol car.
The pistol felt awkward and heavy in her hand. A cool wind came off the bay, and Susan shuddered. She watched the police car back into the turnaround and then head out the driveway. It took a curve in the drive and disappeared behind some trees.
Susan retreated back inside the house and quietly slid shut the sunroom’s glass door behind her. She locked it. Then she checked the front door to make sure it was locked and bolted. Returning to the sunroom, she checked on Mattie. He hadn’t stirred.
She tucked her windbreaker around his neck. Then she sank down in the nearby easy chair. She glanced at her wristwatch: 5:20.
Susan held on to the gun. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to the feel of it. All she could do for the next forty-five minutes was wait.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“MOIRA, ARE YOU OUT THERE?” he called.
Leo stood at the edge of the darkened woods behind Jordan’s family cabin. He’d switched on the outside lights in back of the house, hoping that might help Moira find her way in the dark. It was officially nighttime, and he was officially scared for her now. Tears came to his eyes as he stared at the blackness past the first cluster of trees. Leo had quickly thrown together a cold ham and cheese sandwich to keep his blood sugar in balance. He had it in his hand, but couldn’t eat or swallow just now. His throat was closing up from crying.
He was so worried about her—and worried about Jordan, who was acting like a crazy man—a dangerous, crazy man. His buddy had asked for just twenty more minutes to get a confession out of his captive. But that had been almost an hour ago. Meeker had tried to confess, but Jordan still wasn’t satisfied. Leo had a feeling Jordan wouldn’t be satisfied until the man was dead.
And all the while, Moira was missing. He should have driven to the store and phoned the police at least two hours ago—while it was still daylight and they still had a chance of finding her in these woods. Why the hell had he left her alone earlier? It was his fault she was lost.
And if anything happened to Susan Blanchette and her little boy, it would be his fault, too. Meeker had sworn up and down his fiancee and her son were in danger. He’d said if any harm came to them, he would blame him.
It was all Leo could do to keep Meeker alive, to keep his friend from killing him.
At the moment, he was pushing his luck by leaving them alone in the basement for just these few minutes. Any time now, he half expected to hear a muted gunshot from within the house, and then he’d know that Jordan had murdered the man.
He called out for Moira again. But there was no response from within the gloomy woods, just leaves rustling in the wind.
Turning toward the house again, Leo wiped the tears from his eyes and managed to take a few bites of his sandwich. He noticed Jordan’s car parked in the driveway. It was only a five- or ten-minute drive to that store and the pay phone, where he could call the police—and finally put an end to this. Then they could start looking for Moira, too.
But he didn’t dare leave Jordan alone with that man for even the short time it would take to drive to the store and back. Plus, Jordan was acting so crazy right now. What was to keep him from shooting at the police when they arrived? A lot of people—including Jordan—could end up dead.
At the kitchen door, Leo took a long last look at the darkened woods. He thought of how three hours ago, he’d been worried Moira would return to the cabin and discover the bizarre, horrible thing Jordan had done. He’d started packing her things to head her off when she returned. He remembered the prescription bottle in the dresser drawer of Moira’s room: TAKE ONE CAPSULE BY MOUTH 30 MINUTES BEFORE BEDTIME AS NEEDED FOR SLEEP. DO NOT EXCEED DOSAGE.
He tossed aside what was left of his sandwich and then hurried into the house, through the kitchen, and up the stairs to the master bedroom. Taking the prescription bottle from the dresser, he shook out five capsules and shoved them in his pocket.
He swung by the bathroom, waited a few moments, and then flushed the toilet—just in case Jordan wanted to know why he’d gone up to the second floor.
Returning to the kitchen, Leo dug out a half-full bottle of citrus-flavored Vitaminwater from the refrigerator. Jordan had been drinking it earlier. Leo reopened it and set it on the counter.
The basement door was open, and he could hear Jordan talking. “Why the toys?” he was asking. “It always struck me as an empty gesture, since the cops took away those mangy, used toys as evidence. You had to know that. You knew us motherless boys would never get a chance to play with them—even if we wanted to. Was it all for show, just something for the newspapers?”
“I give up,” Meeker replied in a weak, raspy voice. “I don’t know what you want me to say….”
“Some of the toys were eventually traced to a Value Village secondhand store in Seattle,” Jordan continued. “But I always had a feeling that a few of those consolation prizes might have been yours when you were a little boy….”
