Going alone was her only option. That Wyatt would go ape shit sent anger buzzing along her nerve endings. He didn’t trust her to handle herself. Didn’t have any faith in her ability. She was a good cop. It was way past time for him to notice.

  Still, she wasn’t stupid enough to do this alone. As much as she wanted to assure the safety of those two...going without backup would be the quickest way to get dead.

  No problem. She would arrange backup. All she needed was a ten-minute head start. As long as Jamison thought she was alone, when reinforcements showed up, what could he do?

  Die, because she was going to kill his sorry ass.

  She checked her weapon, grabbed her jacket and the keys to her Bronco as well as Wyatt’s SUV, and slipped out the front door. Wyatt would be pissed but he’d get over it. He needed to learn to trust her.

  With a quick survey of the dark yard, she hurried to her Bronco. Hit the unlock button, hopped in, and locked the doors. She backed out of the driveway without turning on the headlights.

  Maybe even a ten-minute head start was foolhardy, but if there was any chance at all those women and that child were alive, she had to go for it.

  Half a block from Wyatt’s house she turned on the headlights and put through a call to Deputy Womack.

  “Yeah.” From the sound of his voice, she’d gotten him out of bed.

  “I got another message,” she blurted. Her nerves were vibrating with anticipation. This could be it.

  “Addy? Where the hell are you? Where’s Wyatt?”

  “Just listen to me, Womack. Come to Wyatt’s house and get him. I took his keys. By the time you get here I’ll be at the rendezvous point. I’ll forward you the location by text in five minutes. So get up, buddy, it’s going down.”

  “Addy, listen to me.”

  She hung up before he could attempt to talk her out of her decision. Focus was what she needed right now. Extreme focus.

  A shiver rattled her bones as Nichols’s last words echoed in her brain. Stay away from your kin, Detective.

  Her kin, right. The bastard was nothing to her. Except a dead man. He wasn’t getting away with what he’d done to her mother.

  The farther out of town she got, the more her tension ratcheted up. She braked as she reached the turnoff to the dirt road leading to the command post they’d used today. As promised, she forwarded the text message to Womack’s cell as well as Wyatt’s.

  She made the turn. A big-ass tree lay across the road.

  She braked hard. “What the hell?”

  They’d been down this road just a few hours ago. The entire search had started and then ended just a mile or so from here. There hadn’t been any strong winds.

  She rammed the Bronco into reverse. She’d been set up.

  “Shit!”

  “Get out!”

  She hit the brake at the same time she turned to see who had shouted the command.

  Clay stood outside her door, a .357 Magnum revolver aimed at her head.

  “Shut off the engine and get out.”

  She was going to kick the shit out of him. She rammed the gearshift into park, jerked the door open, and slid out of the seat. When her feet hit the ground her weapon was in her hand and pointed at his damned head.

  “Drop the .357, you dumbass.” She was definitely going to kill this prick. If he’d messed with this case, he would so regret it.

  “You don’t understand,” he argued, his tone strained as if he were afraid or was nervous about something. “This is the only way I could get you away from Wyatt.” He lowered his weapon. “I was scared shitless you’d drive off when you saw it was me if I didn’t do it this way.” He gestured to the tree. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “Are you out of your damned mind?” He was dead all right. She bored the barrel into his forehead. He drew his chin down, squeezed his eyes shut. “I could kill your ass right now and no one would give one shit, you idiot.”

  He held up his hands surrender style. They actually shook. “No, Addy! Listen to me.” He raised his eyes to meet hers, evidently afraid to move the rest of his head. “I know where they are. I swear to God, I know where those women are.”

  Adeline lessened the pressure on his forehead. Her instincts were screaming. “How would you know that when about fifty damned cops haven’t been able to figure it out?”

  “I’ll tell you on the way.” He pointed up the road. “My truck’s parked up there. Let’s just go before it’s too late. I ain’t going back there by myself. It’s too damned creepy. He’s got them all shackled up like…” He shook head. “I don’t know. You just have to see it for yourself.”

  “We’ll take the Bronco.”

  He bobbed his head up and down. “Whatever you say.”

  They climbed into her Bronco. She shoved into reverse. “Which way?”

  “Down the road about four miles.” He pointed west. “There’s a real narrow dirt road that’s all overgrown. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d miss it. You have to park there and walk the rest of the way. It’s another mile or so back in the woods. An old hunting shack next to Singing River.”

  Adeline glanced at him, her suspicion growing. “That still doesn’t tell me how you found it. Or why you didn’t call the police.”

  He blew out an exaggerated breath. “All right. I did some business there once or twice.”

  Son of a bitch. “Drugs.” She shook her head. Of course. Easy access to the water for importing and exporting.

  “I went there this afternoon to check out the situation for a future transaction,” he explained. “You know, to see if it was still safe to conduct business there. I freaked out when I saw...them.”

  “Why didn’t you call someone then?” Could he be any more stupid? “You couldn’t try to set them free?”

  “I was afraid, okay? That psycho almost caught me there. I had to hide, then sneak my way out. After what he did to Aunt Irene, I wasn’t taking no chances.” He huddled in the seat as if he expected her to beat him.

  The ache of loss pierced Adeline’s senses. She pushed it away. “You should’ve come to us before now.”

  “I had to wait until I could talk to you away from Wyatt. He’d try to blame this on me and I ain’t got shit to do with it.”

  Still suspicious, she demanded, “Why didn’t you tell your daddy?” God knows that old bastard had taken care of every fix his sons had ever gotten into.

  Another of those big puffs of breath. “I’m on thin ice with my daddy, okay? He’s real pissed at me because I slit your tires. Like I said, I was afraid if Wyatt found out I had this information, he’d try to pin this shit on me.” He wagged his head from side to side. “I might be a little crazy but I ain’t no freak. This dude is a damned freak.”

  That they could agree on. She would kick his ass about the tires later.

  “Let’s just go,” he urged. “I want this over with.”

  There was a condition coming. She could feel it.

  “I’ll show you where they are,” he continued. “Then I’m getting the hell out of there. You tell Wyatt that bastard contacted you. The phone I used to text you was one of those throwaways from Walmart. I pitched it in the river. Wyatt don’t have to know I was involved in this at all.”

  “I’ll have to think about that one.” She reached for her cell.

  “Wait,” he wailed. “First, you see for yourself that I’m right then you call your people and I’m out of there, deal? I don’t want to be nowhere around when you call him. I’ll walk back to my truck. I don’t care if it takes all night.”

  Adeline didn’t like playing by anyone else’s rules. Clay was a piece of shit, that was for sure. But he wasn’t a killer. At least not yet.

  “We’ll play this your way for a few more minutes,” she relented. “But if I get the first hint that you’re bullshitting me or that anything at all is off I’m shooting your ass. Got it?”

  Clay nodded. “Got it. Trust me, I want this freaky shit over.”

  Stay away from your kin, Detective. You can’t trust him.

  Adeline stole a glance at her cousin.

  A lump of dread settled in her gut.

  She knew better than to trust him...no matter the excuses he gave or the assurances he offered.

  Her fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

  But she couldn’t ignore the possibility that he might be telling the truth. Or that Nichols had been talking about Jamison.

  Either way, she hoped like hell she wasn’t going to have to be responsible for the death of Cyrus’s only other son.

  And if she survived this, Wyatt was going to kill her.

  The important thing here was saving Cherry Prescott and Penny Arnold and if Adeline was really lucky, Danny Jamison.

  Maybe, just maybe, Wyatt would get it through his thick head that Adeline could take care of herself.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Laurel, 11:20 p.m.

  It was past Danny’s bedtime. He was sleepy. He rubbed his eyes. He never stayed up this late.

  He wished his daddy would come back.

  Danny cuddled up to the new puppy his daddy had given him. He’d opened all the presents his mom had hidden for him and the ones Santa had left.

  Danny smiled. He’d got lots of good stuff. But the puppy was the best. He couldn’t wait to show his puppy to his friends.

  He frowned. He might not get to do that. His dad had said they would have to leave Laurel or the police would never stop bothering him. Danny’s grandma and grandpa had poisoned their minds. He didn’t know what that meant exactly except that it was bad. His daddy said Danny would make new friends.

  Danny was glad to be back in his own bed. His daddy had said no one would come looking for him here. But Danny had to stay in his room and he couldn’t turn on any lights except his little flashlight. The windows were covered with blankets just to make sure no light got out if he forgot. The police might drive by or something.

  There was food and water for the puppy. Food and water for Danny. And all the presents. His dad had even brought a bucket to the room and said that Danny should pee-pee in it. He wasn’t to leave his room for anything.

  Danny smiled again. That meant he didn’t have to take a bath!

  Wouldn’t be for long, though. His daddy was coming for him before the sun was up in the morning, he’d said. They would pick up his mommy and then they would go far away. Danny got to pick the place.

  He liked that.

  His mommy would be glad to be out of the hospital. She still didn’t talk, but his daddy said that she would talk as soon as all the lies stopped being whispered in her ears.

  One thing was for sure, she would make Danny take a bath.

  A loud creak made Danny’s eyes get big. He made a sound in his mouth—the same kind he made when he watched a movie and something happened that he wasn’t expecting.

  He hugged his puppy tighter. It whimpered.

  Danny sat up. Maybe his daddy had come back early.

  He scooted out of bed and went to the door. His hand stilled on the knob. His daddy had said not to leave the room.

  But if his daddy was here it would be okay.

  Danny turned the knob and opened the door enough to stick his head out. He listened for the sound of his daddy coming up the stairs.

  The house was quiet.

  And dark.

  Danny shivered. He didn’t like being here alone.

  His puppy jumped off the bed and ran over to him. Danny reached down to pick him up but he ran out the door.

  “Puppy! Stop!” He still had to decide on a name for his puppy. “Come back!” The puppy just kept going.

  Danny ran to his bed and got his flashlight. He couldn’t let the puppy run around the house by himself. He might get into something.

  “Puppy!” Danny could hear him yapping. He followed the sound down the stairs.

  His daddy had made him keep his eyes closed when he brought him inside the house. He’d kept his eyes closed all the way to his room. That’s where Santa had left his presents. The living room was a mess. Broken glass was on the floor. Stuff was turned upside down. What was that big red spot on the floor?

  He remembered his daddy had ketchup on his face that night. Boy, he’d made a big mess. Danny’s mom wouldn’t like that. But they were moving anyway. Didn’t matter. The next people who lived here could clean up the mess.

  Danny found his puppy in the kitchen. “You silly puppy.” He stepped in something wet. “Ooo. Bad puppy.” His dad said he’d have to learn the puppy to go potty outside.

  Danny picked up his puppy and turned to go back to his room. The beam of his flashlight landed on the door to the basement. It was open.

  Was his daddy down there? Maybe he had come home.

  Danny went to the door and peeked down the stairs. “Daddy?”

  No answer. It was quiet down there.

  “Daddy!”

  The puppy scrambled out of his arms. Danny tried to grab him but he was tumbling down the stairs before Danny could catch him. He yelped and whimpered.

  “Puppy!” He hurried down the stairs. If the puppy was hurt, what would he do?

  He finally reached the bottom step and scooped up the whimpering puppy. “You’re being a bad boy.” His daddy said boy puppies were the best. The puppy snuggled against him, reached up, and licked his face. Danny giggled. Maybe he’d forgive him for being bad this time.

  Danny started to go back up the stairs but something out of place made him look again. His daddy always kept the basement perfectly clean, just like his mommy kept the house. His daddy didn’t like messes. He was probably mad he’d spilled all that ketchup.

  Rocks were piled up.

  Danny hugged his puppy tighter. “How did those get there, boy?”

  Had someone been in their house while they were gone? Boy, his dad would be mad about this! Danny looked around some more, moving the beam of his flashlight over the basement floor. He made that scared sound in his mouth again. He walked closer to the pile of rocks, looked down at the big hole. He shined his flashlight around the whole thing.

  It looked like...like a grave.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Wyatt stepped out of the shower. He’d stood under the hot water until it went cold. Damn, he felt better.

  He scrubbed the towel over his body. His cell phone vibrated, trembled against the counter.

  A call at this time of night was never good.

  He picked up the phone. Womack’s name was displayed on the screen. “Henderson.”

  “You need to let me in.”

  “What?” Womack was here? Shit. That definitely couldn’t be good. “I just got out of the shower. Let me get some clothes—”

  He froze in the doorway between the bathroom and his bedroom.

  The bed was empty.

  No Addy.

  “Wyatt, open your door.”

  Fear abruptly released him. He rushed to the bed. Lifted the covers as if his eyes had betrayed him.

  She wasn’t there.

  “Addy!” he shouted as he moved down the hall.

  “Wyatt,” Womack shouted in his ear. “She’s not here. Open the damned door!”

  Wyatt stalled halfway to the living room, his deputy’s words filtering past the panic. “What do you mean, she’s not here?”

  “Wyatt, open the door. I’ll explain everything.”

  He was at the door three seconds later. He unlocked it and jerked it open. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded. “Where’s Addy?”

  Damn it. She wasn’t supposed to get out of his sight. She was likely pissed at him now that he’d admitted the motive for his decision nine years ago.

  Womack looked him up and down. “You probably want to put some clothes on. Then we’ll go find her.”

  Wyatt stalked back to his bedroom and tugged on his discarded jeans and shirt. He grabbed his socks and boots while he was at it. She was gone. Had she contacted Womack? How the hell had this happened?

  He hurried back into the living room. “Where is she?” Womack had to know something, otherwise he wouldn’t have showed up here like this.

  “She called me about fifteen minutes ago. Said she got a message from the perp.” He opened his phone and showed the forwarded message to Wyatt.

  “Goddammit!” He went for his keys. They weren’t on the table by the door where he normally kept them. “Did she take my SUV?”

  “No, your SUV is out there. She wanted ten minutes head start,” Womack explained. “She’s already got that and more. We need to get going.”

  She’d sneaked out of here. Had taken his keys so he couldn’t follow her until Womack arrived. What the hell was she thinking?

  Where the hell was his spare set of keys?

  “Wyatt,” Womack urged, “let’s go. I’ve already called Sullenger and Guthrie. They’re meeting us at the rendezvous location.”

  This was real. Addy was out there somewhere. Wyatt had failed to keep a close enough watch on her.

  Ten minutes later they were at the turnoff to the area where they had set up the command post earlier today to launch the search.

  Sullenger’s Civic was there. She and Guthrie, stood in the middle of the main road.

  Womack eased to the side of the road. He’d been too damned quiet on the drive here.

  Wyatt hadn’t said much, either. Fear had put a choke-hold on him and he couldn’t shake it.

  This bastard had killed three people, including Addy’s mom, possibly more.

  Wyatt needed Addy to be safe.

  He was out of the car before Womack braked to a complete stop. “Where’s Addy?” he demanded of the two deputies staring at him.

  “She’s not here.” Sullenger was the first to answer. “No sign of her Bronco.” She hitched a thumb up the road. “We did find a truck pulled off the road about thirty yards that way.”

  “It’s Clay Cooper’s truck,” Guthrie explained. “I didn’t have to run the plates. I know his vehicle.”

  Silence fell over the four of them. Wyatt told himself that the possibility of Adeline’s being with Clay wasn’t nearly so scary as the idea of her with Jamison. But something didn’t feel right.