With a sinking feeling, he realized he was screwed if all those rooms were full of people. He’d never be able to find Josey—let alone get her out of there. Even with the gun he’d stolen in Billings, he couldn’t take on everyone in the place.
He reminded himself he had no choice. Getting rid of Josey had become more than just something he needed to do to seal the deal on his father’s death. It had become personal, he thought, as he rubbed his shoulder. If it wasn’t for the pills he kept popping, he would be in horrible pain. As it was, his shoulder was a constant reminder of why he had to find Josey and finish this.
He moved down the hillside in the dark to the back of the massive log structure. Finding the main phone line coming in was child’s play, since the pole was right behind the house. There was even a yard light nearby, so he wouldn’t have to use the small penlight he’d brought.
But when he reached the spot where the phone line entered the house, he found that someone had already beat him to it. What the hell? The cord had definitely been cut. A sense of dread raced through his veins like ice water. Who would have done this?
Suddenly he wasn’t so sure about finishing this here. Maybe he should just cut his losses, steal one of the cars, take some back road across the Canadian border. But he knew he wasn’t going anywhere without money.
Still, this felt all wrong.
He moved around to the front of the place, staying in the shadows, the fine hairs on his neck standing on end. He came to a window with a light behind it and crouched down to listen.
He could hear a radio playing and someone banging around in the pots and pans and mumbling under her breath. He took a peek through the crack between the curtains. A small, elderly woman appeared to be cleaning up the kitchen in angry bursts.
RJ waited to see if anyone else showed up. When no one did, he moved along the edge of the house, staying to the dark shadow of the building.
He heard more voices, saw another lighted window, and eased forward. The window was open a crack, and he could hear two women talking.
“Give me a reason to stay here, Mother.”
“Virginia, you have to do whatever it is you need to do.”
“Can’t you just say you want me to stay? Is that so hard for you? Or say you want me to leave. If it doesn’t make any difference to you, that’s the same as telling me to leave.”
The older-sounding woman sighed deeply. “Why does everything with you have to be so dramatic? You’ve done nothing but complain since you got here. Why would you want to stay?”
RJ heard the younger one sniffle as if crying.
“Maybe I’d like to see my brothers and my nephews,” she said, sounding hurt. “When are they arriving?”
“I don’t know, Virginia. As you pointed out, they may not come to see me at all. I haven’t heard from them. Or the rest of my grandchildren.”
“I can’t believe they won’t.”
“Perhaps they are less worried about their inheritance than you are,” the older one said.
“You know, Mother, you deserve to die alone on this ranch with just Enid and Alfred here with you, both of them just waiting for you to breathe your last breath. I wouldn’t be surprised if they helped that along one day.”
He heard the scrape of a chair, then heavy footfalls and the slamming of a door. He listened but heard nothing more. Apparently, this place wasn’t full. So far he’d only seen an old lady. But the daughter had mentioned two others, apparently caretakers.
As he started to move, he heard another sound, this one coming from outside the house. He pressed himself against the side of the house and stared out into the darkness.
Someone moved in the distance. Someone who seemed to be sneaking along the outside of the building—just as he had been doing.
The person who’d cut the phone line?
He waited until he saw the figure disappear inside a door at the far end of a separate wing of this monstrous place.
RJ waited for a moment, then followed.
IT DIDN’T TAKE Josey long to pack after Jack left, since she’d already started it earlier. She checked, though, to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. Then she checked the gun she’d stuffed in the top of the backpack. She had only four bullets left. She hoped she wouldn’t have to use them, but knew she would if they ran across RJ. As drugged up as he probably was, she wasn’t sure it would be enough to stop him. The thought of killing him made her shudder. But she wouldn’t let him hurt Jack, no matter what.
As she crossed in front of the French doors, she glanced out into the darkness, wondering where RJ was. Jack had said he wouldn’t be able to find them on this ranch so far from everything. But Jack didn’t know RJ.
Josey felt anxious, wishing Jack would hurry. They needed to get out of here, for their sakes and his grandmother’s and Virginia’s. She remembered Enid and Alfred. They seemed like they could take care of themselves.
She put the gun back into the top of the backpack and pulled the drawstring closed. Silently, she prayed that her mother had been moved to the new health-care facility and that RJ couldn’t get his hands on her. That would be Josey’s one weak spot, and RJ would capitalize on it if he thought of it.
With everything done, she turned out the lights and stepped to the window. She knew where Jack had gone. What she still didn’t know was what was so important behind that rock wall. He’d said it was something he’d promised to do a long time ago. She knew Jack was the kind of man who stood by
