He nodded. “Yes, you should be checked over. The way he was driving, you had to get tossed around back there.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “You need to go get Rex.”

  “Believe it or not, more people are on this police force than just me, and we’ve got a whole contingency of men out looking.”

  “Rex couldn’t have gone far on foot, and he’s pretty upset too. He was really angry at the animals.” She shook her head. “I just don’t understand people like that.”

  He laughed. “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t understand you either.”

  “Rex works for Mathew,” she said, “but I don’t know that this is even about that. I suspect Rex was involved with Robin.”

  “So you said, but she wasn’t the kind to be involved in that type of manipulation, was she?”

  “She used her body as a weapon. And honestly she had a heck of a body. Guys were falling for it constantly.”

  “Well, there’s more to life than manipulation,” he said. “In this case, she obviously hadn’t learned those kinds of lessons.”

  “No, I don’t think so,” she muttered. “And I feel sorry for her because there’s so much else in life that she could have done.”

  “Well, let’s not get too sad about it all,” he said, “because there’s still a lot we don’t know yet.”

  “I know,” she said. “I still don’t understand exactly what it’s all about, but I think we’re really close to finding out.”

  “Well, we’ll be really close when we get Rex to talk,” Mack muttered. “We just have to get our hands on him.”

  A shout came from the distance, and she looked, still encircled in Mack’s arms, but on her feet now, to see Rex being led toward them.

  “That’s him,” she cried.

  Rex glared at her. “I should have known you’d be a complete pain to look after,” he muttered, turning away.

  “Hey, I didn’t have anything to do with this deal,” she said to Mack, waving at the car. “That’s all his doing.” She looked at the car and frowned. “I really thought I was in my car.”

  “No, it’s the rental,” Mack said.

  She shook her head. “Wow, I had no idea.”

  “No, it doesn’t matter,” he said, “although the rental company won’t be very happy.”

  She said, “Pretty sure about that. Mugs was chewing through pretty good.”

  Mack leaned forward, winced, and said, “Yeah, I definitely see a lot of damage. I hope you’ve got some insurance for that.”

  “Not me,” she said, “him.” Nodding toward Rex.

  He glared at her and said, “Your husband will pay for it.”

  “Ex-husband,” she said, “and Mathew doesn’t pay for anything. You know that. Any damage incurred on the job, you pay for.”

  At that, he just winced.

  “Seriously?” Mack asked.

  “Yeah, he doesn’t pay for anything, if he doesn’t have to. Money is king to him,” she said. She looked at Rex. “I still don’t understand what this is all about, Rex.”

  “It’s about Robin,” Mack said, “isn’t it?”

  Rex shrugged. “I loved her.”

  “Ah,” Doreen said, “and you didn’t realize she was using you too?”

  “She wasn’t using me,” he said hotly. “No way she was. She loved me.”

  Doreen stared as she watched another man fall for the woman’s wiles. “Robin could have done so much good in the world with her persuasive techniques,” Doreen said, “but all she ever cared about was money.”

  “She had a hard life,” Rex admitted. “A really rough childhood that really scared her, and she admitted as much. I understood. I mean, I had a pretty rough time of it too,” he said. “I’m only with your ex because I can’t walk away from the money, and he pays me a lot.”

  “Yeah, but is it worth your soul?” she asked.

  “Lady, I gave up my soul a long time ago.”

  “And what about Robin?” she asked quietly. “She was my friend for a short time. At least I thought she was.”

  “She loved me,” he said sincerely. “We were leaving together.”

  “So, what happened then?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I really don’t know.”

  “Well, you must know something because you’ve kidnapped me for some reason.”

  “Well, that was your ex,” he said.

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Yep, it was,” he said. “I’m not even sure why. I was supposed to just threaten you and make sure you were terrified, then kidnap you and dump you somewhere.”

  “What about the stranger on the road?”

  “Well, if I was really intent on killing you, I’d have killed him too.”

  “I’m pretty sure he thought that’s what you were up to,” she said. “I don’t know, Rex. You sounded pretty interested in killing me.”

  “Well, I shut him up though, didn’t I?”

  She thought about it a moment and said, “There was something in his tone. Did he look familiar to you?”

  “I’ve never met him before,” Rex said, with a shrug. “Never seen him before either.”

  Mack looked at her. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said, “just something about his voice, but I can’t be sure.”

  Mack stared at her and asked, “What are you thinking?”

  “I think he might have known who Rex is but didn’t quite understand what was happening.”

  “Well, he couldn’t have known me,” Rex said. “I’ve never been in town before.”

  “Weren’t you in town when Robin was murdered?”

  “No, I came in afterward with the boss, and he didn’t kill her. I don’t know who did,” he said. “I was hoping I could set a trap and bring the killer out in the open. But nobody took the bait.”

  “What kind of a trap?” Mack asked in a hard voice.

  “Her,” he said. “That the boss just wanted to make sure you didn’t have any of the goods he was looking for. But I thought whoever had killed Robin might be interested in something I found.”

  “And what would you do?”

  “I would give you to them,” he said. “Figured they could take care of you themselves.”

  “But?”

  “He didn’t show up. I was supposed to meet him on the road back there. You were still out cold at that point, and I stopped where we agreed, but he didn’t show up.”

  “Unless he did show up and then followed you,” she said quietly.

  He looked at her in surprise. “What are you talking about?”

  But Mack understood perfectly. “You think that’s who it was?”

  She nodded slowly. “Who was it that you were supposed to meet, Rex?”

  “James, Robin’s first husband.”

  “And you never met him or never saw any pictures of him?”

  “No,” he said. “Why?”

  “I think it’s the guy who stopped you on the road,” she said. “He was just checking to see who and what you were.”

  Rex stared at her. “Why didn’t he talk to me then? Why didn’t he say something?”

  “Maybe he was just checking you out and realized you had trouble enough of your own and decided to call the cops on you instead. To see what madness he could farm up out of this. Why did you want him?”

  “I think James killed her,” he said softly. “Robin told me that she’d worked with her ex-husband for many years, and they’d been doing this con for a long time.”

  “Why do you think that Robin’s own partner in this con would kill her?” Mack asked.

  “Because she told James that she wouldn’t do this anymore, that she was done. That she’d had a change of heart and that she wanted to marry me and to go away together and to stop all this.”

  “Wow, maybe she did have a change of heart,” she said, turning to look up at Mack. But he wasn’t looking at her. His arms were across his chest.

  “I still don’t get it. Why kidnap Doreen?” Mack asked.

  “Because I told James that I had somebody who had talked to Robin. Who she’d seen on her last day, and my boss thought Robin had handed something over to this woman. James didn’t believe me, said I had to kidnap you, so he could talk to you himself.”

  “Maybe he figured it was just too messy,” Mack said. “It’s one thing if you hand over an unconscious person. It’s another thing completely if you get involved in something that’s a public spectacle.”

  At that, Rex nodded. “I was thinking that myself,” he said, “but I never thought that it would be that guy. He should have just said something.”

  “Describe him,” Mack said.

  “Mid-thirties, maybe forty years old. Tall, like me. Blond hair.”

  “Well, Robin’s ex is in town,” Mack said. “We ran the airline records, making sure Mathew had left, and James’s name popped up too.”

  At that, Rex’s gaze widened. “So, he is here. Damn. I wonder if that was him on the road after all.”

  Chapter 27

  Tuesday, Late Afternoon …

  “What are you getting out of it though?” Doreen asked Rex. “What if James is here? What if that guy you were talking to was James?”

  Rex shrugged. “I wanted to meet him. Honestly I wanted to take him out because I figured he is the one who killed her.”

  “So this is all about revenge?” Doreen asked Rex.

  “Maybe,” he said, and she could see the sadness in his face.

  “You really loved her, didn’t you?”

  “I did,” he said quietly. “I can’t believe that I found someone like her after all these years alone, and now she’s gone before we got a real chance.”

  “Maybe so,” she said, “but, using me as bait to get to James, that doesn’t make much sense.”

  “Well, it does,” Mack said. “Maybe her ex knew and wanted to take care of any loose threads. And to make sure that you didn’t have anything Robin might have given you.”

  “Why does everybody think she was giving me stuff?” Doreen asked, raising both hands. “The woman cheated me.”

  “And she was sorry about that too,” Rex said quietly. “Honestly she really did have a change of heart.”

  Doreen didn’t know what to believe and stared at the man who kidnapped her. “Didn’t you threaten to shoot that guy?”

  Rex shrugged. “Yeah, but I don’t even have a gun. I just made it look like I did.”

  “Wow,” Doreen said. “Well, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he isn’t somewhere close by, watching the circus and laughing.”

  “He might be,” Mack said, “but we’ve also got guys out looking for him.”

  “Good,” she said, “there are a couple more murders we want to ask James about.”

  At that, Rex said, “She killed them, you know? The two of them together.”

  “What are you talking about?” Mack asked.

  “His parents. James and Robin, the two of them, planned it all out and made it look like a burglary. Together they killed his parents because they didn’t have any money and because the parents wouldn’t share.”

  “Wow,” she said, with a glance at Mack. “I was actually right about that.”

  Rex looked at her and said, “That’s another reason this James guy didn’t like you.”

  “He doesn’t know anything about me.”

  “Robin told James that she felt bad and that she wanted to get some money to you. Because you could hardly survive on your own without it. She said she had looked into how you were living. It was bad, and it was her fault, so she wanted to fix it. James got mad, and that’s when she told him that she wanted out, but she wanted her share of the money, so she could give something to you.”

  “Well,” Doreen said, “this is just unbelievable.”

  Rex shrugged. “Like I said, she had a change of heart.”

  She looked at Mack. “Maybe she really did then?”

  “I think she did,” he said, “but we still have to find her ex.”

  “I have a phone number,” Rex said. With a nod from Mack, Rex pulled out his phone and held it up for Mack to see.

  “Okay,” Mack said, “but you’re still not walking away from this. You kidnapped Doreen, knocked her out, and crammed her in the trunk, drove like a maniac. You’re lucky she’d not hurt more than she is. You risked public safety, terrified her, and all the animals have been traumatized as well.”

  “You have no idea,” he said. “Those animals aren’t traumatized. I’m the one who’s traumatized,” he cried out. “I just want to go back to work and to forget about this whole nightmare.”

  “How the heck do you think that will happen?” she cried out. “You hurt me.”

  “Hardly,” he said, “you’re the one walking away scot-free. And those animals are a nightmare. You have to pay for that.”

  “Enough of that,” she said, “those animals are loyal and brave. More reliable than most people I know.”

  “James is the one who killed Robin,” Rex said hotly. “I want to make sure he is brought to justice.”

  “And you didn’t mind using me as bait.” She shook her head. “What if he had killed me?”

  “Well, that would have been your problem,” Rex said, with a sneer. “There’s been lots of times I wanted to kill you myself.”

  “And yet you could have easily helped me,” she said. “With the tiniest effort, you could have made my life a whole lot easier with Mathew.”

  “That is one scary man,” he said. “I probably don’t have a job anymore after all this mess, but you can bet he will make sure that he gets whatever he wants out of it.”

  “What is it that he wants?”

  “He wants money and power, and he wants to make sure that Robin didn’t take anything she wasn’t entitled to have.”

  “I think she may have done a lot to bring him down,” Doreen said quietly.

  “Are you for or against that?” Rex asked, as he stared at her and started to laugh. “Robin said she would damage him if she could, but she also wanted to walk away from her ex, only James wasn’t having it.”

  “Well, what will you do about it?” Mack asked. “Will you do anything to make Robin’s sacrifice worthwhile, or will you just let the status quo continue?”

  “Well, you’ll make sure I’m charged,” he said, “and I’ll do what I can to make sure James goes down.”

  “Take him away,” Mack told the officers, escorting Rex.

  Just then Mack’s phone rang, and still watching them put Rex in the nearest police cruiser, Mack stepped away to answer and a few moments later ended the call. “Well,” he said, walking back toward Doreen, “they picked up James’s vehicle and are tracking his trail now. He’ll be heading to the station soon.” He looked at Doreen and said, “You go to the hospital and get checked out. I will follow these guys to the station and have a serious talk with both James and Rex.”

  “You do that,” she said, “but the animals are coming in the ambulance with me,” she said defiantly, “or I’m not going.” He looked at her quietly, looked at the ambulance drivers, and asked, “Can we make an exception this time?”

  At that, the two men looked at each other and shrugged. “Fine,” one said. “Let’s go.”

  And, with that, she headed toward the ambulance to find Thaddeus already sitting there in the back, looking at her and calling out, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

  “I’m glad you’re here, buddy,” she said. “And what about Mugs and Goliath?”

  They were already in the ambulance too, sitting deeper inside, behind the gurneys. Goliath looked more than a little freaked out, and even Mugs looked like he was stressed. She got into the back, then waved at Mack and said, “Okay, but I’m just getting checked over, and then I’m going home again.”

  “Okay,” he said. “You know where I’ll be.” He looked at his ringing phone and said, “I need to get this.”

  “Don’t worry about it, just go,” she said, waving her hands.

  He groaned and said, “Just go get checked out, and make sure you’re safe. No hiding symptoms from the doctors either.”

  She nodded and hunkered down on the seat, as the paramedic went around to the front and got into the driver’s seat. And, with that, they pulled away.

  She looked down at Mugs and said, “I’m so happy we’re all together,” she whispered. He barked at her and cuddled her close. She was so tired and stressed, and all she wanted to do was go home. But that was definitely not happening. Instead she had to go to the stupid hospital.

  She watched as everybody disappeared in the distance, as the ambulance headed toward the hospital. She sank back and closed her eyes, grateful that her ordeal was over. As Mugs started to whine at her feet, she reached down and said, “It’s okay, buddy. We’re good.” But he didn’t stop whining, so she looked at him in surprise and asked, “What’s the matter?”

  She peered out the window and didn’t recognize the area. She wondered where they were, but then she hadn’t known exactly where they’d ended up in the first place, once Rex had stopped driving. She checked for her phone, only to find out she didn’t have it. She stared at Mugs in horror. “Where’s my phone?” she cried out. She leaned forward to look through the tiny window that separated her from the ambulance driver, and he was all alone. She thought there had been two men, but maybe it was only one. She had no idea. But somebody was strapped to the bed across from her. She winced. “God, he’s probably dead,” she said.

  She leaned over and took a look and saw that it was the other ambulance driver. She stared at him in horror, but he was tied up, and his eyes were closed. She immediately looked for something to cut his ties. By the time she had cut him free and smacked him across the face several times, he groaned ever-so-slightly.

  She whispered, shaking him. “Are you okay? Hey, are you okay?”

  He opened his eyes and stared at her in shock. “What happened?”

  “Shh. You tell me. I got into the ambulance to find you all tied up.”

  He frowned. “I don’t know what happened,” he said, sitting up and then groaning because his head was killing him.

  “Looks like somebody has taken over the ambulance.”