I’m going to fucking empty my clip in her. Fucking bitch was a lot faster than I thought she’d be.”
She didn’t know, was Grace’s first thought. She either didn’t know about Guinnie at all or just that she’d helped Grace escape. She thought it highly unlikely that she didn’t know about Guinnie when Grace knew about them, but she was glad for the younger girl’s help.
Chapter 19
Michael collapsed. He’d heard the voices seconds before he’d answered her then, while he was trying to motion for someone to come and help him, he’d heard the gunshot. He held the phone to his ear, trying to hear anything as his father came toward him.
“Someone has Grace. I think it might be Verrie. I have to…call the house. Tell them everything I say.” Michael tried to work around the lump in his throat. “Ask them if Trace is there or if he is with Grace and to come and get me.”
He heard his father talking, but was trying hard to hear anything going on at the other end of Grace’s phone. There was another shot, this one farther away, but nothing more. Then, as his father turned to him, he thought he heard Thomas.
“It’s Cain. He wants to know if she has the same cell phone as before. He said that Shamus has a tracker on it and that they’re headed to it now. And Trace is with someone named Alyssa.”
Michael nodded.
“The cops are on their—”
Michael held up his hand when he heard something and his father closed his mouth with a snap.
“…care what you think. You fucking moron. If you want to fuck her, you’ll have to do it after I kill her. She’s caused me enough fucking problems to last four lifetimes.”
“I’m not fucking her dead. And I want her awake when it happens. If you so much as put another bullet in her before I get my chance then I’ll…I’ll kill you.”
Michael looked at his dad as he stood in front of him as Thomas spoke. He covered the mouth piece and took a pen from his pocket as he pinched the phone between his shoulder and chin. He wrote the word “Thomas” on his hand, and nodded when Lucas looked up at him sharply.
He heard something thud, then more cussing. He heard someone moan and knew it was Grace. At least she was still alive was all he could think about. Then more doors slamming before the car started. This time when someone spoke it was muffled. He couldn’t make out much, only an occasional word here and there, but not enough to figure out who the woman was and what she was doing with Grace. He had a pretty good idea, but nothing concrete.
When Lucas handed him his cell phone and his mom and he walked away Michael held the phone to his other ear and said hello.
“We’ve pinpointed the area where she is by less than ten feet. It would be better if she hadn’t taken her out in the middle of nowhere, but we know close enough…fuck,” Payton snapped. “They’re on the move. Could be better this way. They might move into somewhere we can get a better bead on them.”
“Grace is still alive. I can hear them. Thomas is with them. He’s…he wants her. The woman she’s with is saying things that… From what Grace has told me, it could be Verrie, the one who killed the man in her parents’ house when she was a kid.”
Payton would know better than anyone not to give him platitudes or soft words. Like his business dealings, he was more of a “give it to me straight” kind of guy. So he was very grateful for Payton in his next words.
“She can hold her own, but this woman is beyond nuts. We’ve been doing some investigating since you and I’ve talked and we’re reasonably sure she’s responsible for nearly all the killings that have been associated with the family. And I’ve had a buddy of mine doing some looking around on the family property, both here and in California.” Payton paused just enough that Michael knew he wasn’t going to like what he said next. “They’ve been able to uncover at least four bodies here and one in Cali. Two of those here haven’t been in the ground long, the other as recent as the last year. The one they’ve been able to see has been mutilated. We’re waiting on word to see if it was post or