Colorado Abduction - By Cassie Miles & Marie Ferrarella Page 0,42
in, Sunny.”
“Doesn’t work that way,” Silverman said. “When it’s time, it’s time.”
“Since when are you a midwife?”
“I helped my sister give birth. I know all about this stuff.”
Sunny went quiet, breathing heavily. Her grip on his hand relaxed. “Barbara wanted to leave the SOF. She never really wanted to be there in the first place. She only stayed because of her sister. Lisa has a drug problem.”
“What about you? Drug problem?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I never got into drugs.”
Sunny seemed like a decent kid, even though she was kind of a mess with her blond hair growing out at the roots and her baggy dress with long woolen leggings. “Are there drugs at the Circle M?”
“Some kind of supposedly herbal supplement. I never took it. Because of the baby.”
“Good for you,” Burke said. “Tell me about Barbara.”
“She found out she was pregnant, too. We talked about leaving together. When we told Logan we wanted to go, he got really mad. He reminded us what it’s like on the outside for a single mother. No friends. No money.”
“There’s always someone,” Silverman said. He maneuvered around and stretched out his arm to dab her forehead with a red kerchief. “Somebody who will step up and—”
“Do something useful,” Burke ordered. “Call the Delta hospital and tell them we’re coming.”
“Sunny needs to know there’s a support system.”
Agent Mike Silverman was usually an efficient operative who had no problem with following orders. Something about being around a pregnant woman had messed with his head. “Make the damn call.”
Glaring at Burke, he pulled out his cell phone. Since Carolyn was driving at about a thousand miles an hour, they ought to be at the hospital in minutes. “Okay, Sunny. Both you and Barbara wanted to leave. Then what?”
“Her baby’s daddy was Pete Richter. A real bastard. She made the mistake of talking to him. I saw him slap her really hard. She was unconscious. I wanted to help her. Really, I did. But I was scared.”
“You’re safe now,” Burke assured her. He wanted to get the whole story before her next contraction. “What happened next? Give me the short version.”
“Richter and Logan dragged Barbara off into the barn, and I never saw her again. Logan told us she ran away.”
“But you didn’t believe him.”
“She never would have left without saying goodbye to Lisa. A couple of days later, I was out walking. Not far from the trees where you came and got me, I found a plot of fresh-turned earth. I know that’s where they buried her.”
It would have been neater if Sunny had actually witnessed the murder. Finding the body would be useful, but it wouldn’t tell them who killed Barbara Ayers.
“New topic,” Burke said. “Can you tell me anything about the woman who was kidnapped? Nicole Carlisle?”
“I never saw her.”
“Is there a place at the Circle M where they could hide her?”
“Plenty of places. Root cellars. Trailers.” She shrugged.
Burke pressed for a more definitive answer. “If Butch and Richter were holding Nicole captive, where would they be?”
“There’s a trailer behind the bunkhouse where a lot of couples go to make love. Butch didn’t like it. He wanted more privacy. He took me to this place. We had to ride on the Indian Trail to get there.” Her voice broke. “It was springtime, just starting to warm up. It felt like he loved me. Everything was so beautiful.”
“Where was this place?”
“A shallow cave that looks out over the mountains and valleys. Right above the Cathedral Rocks with all the spikes and spires.”
She grabbed his hand. “Here comes another one.”
“So soon?”
“Four minutes apart,” Silverman announced.
“How far are we from the damn hospital?”
“Not far,” Carolyn yelled over her shoulder. “We’re almost in Delta.”
Sunny let out a long wail. Her knees drew up and separated as if she was ready to shoot out the baby.
Silverman held out his hand, and she latched on to him, too.
“Don’t push,” he said. “We’re almost to the hospital.”
“Did you hear that?” Burke whispered in her ear. “No pushing.”
Sunny ended the contraction with short, huffing gasps. “I need my mom.”
“Absolutely. No problem.” Burke waved his cell phone. “You can call her. Where does she live?”
“Mom,” She sobbed, “doesn’t even know I’m pregnant.”
Burke held the phone in front of her. “Tell me the number.”
“No time. I want this baby out of me.”
Carolyn whipped into the emergency entrance for the hospital and leaped from the car. In seconds, two guys in scrubs had loaded Sunny onto a gurney. Silverman went with them into the