The Escape (US Marshals #1) - Lisa Harris Page 0,35
than a hundred candy bars.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” Madison glanced at her watch. Barrick could be halfway to the state line by now. “Can you tell me what happened after you left the ranch?”
“My mother didn’t want me to go, but I convinced her I’d be fine. I wanted to help.”
“From what your mother told me about you, I’m not surprised.”
“But once we got about a mile down the road, he wasn’t nice anymore.” He stared straight ahead for a few moments before continuing. “I noticed red marks across his wrists, and he’d hurt his leg. He said he’d been in a plane crash, so I started asking questions. He didn’t like that.”
“What kinds of questions?”
“What it was like being a marshal. How many bad guys he’d caught. If he’d ever been shot. If he’d been scared when the plane crashed.”
“And his reaction?”
“He told me to shut up and pulled out a gun. Said if I tried anything stupid, he would kill me.”
“And when you got to the main road?” Madison asked.
“I believed what he said, that he would kill me, so I knew I had to do something. As soon as we got onto the main road, I grabbed the wheel and pulled it as hard as I could toward me. When we stopped, I jumped out of the truck and ran as fast as I could.”
“Did he hurt you at any point?”
“No. I was just banged up from when the truck smashed into a tree. I hit my head against the window.”
“What about Barrick? Was he injured?”
“I think he hit his shoulder and maybe broke his nose, because it was bleeding.” Will shrugged. “And he looked like his arm was injured as well.”
“Like a gunshot wound?” Madison asked.
“Maybe.”
Both could explain the blood in the car.
“Do you know where he went after the crash?”
“He came after me, tried to track me through the trees, but eventually he gave up.”
“Do you know what he did next?”
Will nodded. “I decided to track him, so I doubled back and was able to pick up his trail as he headed out of the woods and toward the road.”
A couple with a Jack Russell passed by on the trail.
“You like to hunt?” Madison asked Will.
“I’ve spent my entire life hunting, so I knew how to stay quiet and hidden.”
“What did you see?”
“He walked down the road and flagged down another car.” This time Will turned to her. “I saw the license plate.”
Madison worked to keep her excitement in check. “Do you remember the numbers?”
He nodded, then recited them. “It was a Ford—an SUV—and it was gray.”
Madison radioed the information to Jonas.
“I know this has been hard, but you’ve been a huge help, Will. Is there anything else you can think of that might help us track him down?”
“He took my phone. Made a call, then threw it out the window.”
“That’s why we couldn’t trace it. Do you have any idea who he might have been calling?”
“He didn’t say much. Just that they should wait for him.”
“Not bad, kid. If you ever think about going into law enforcement one day, give me a call.”
Will laughed, then shook his head. “I think I’ll stick to working on the ranch.”
Back inside the station, Jonas had already come up with a name.
“It’s a rental car,” he said. “Rented to a Ryan Phelps. The rental place gave a local address where he is staying.”
“Who is he?”
“A tourist, up here in a cabin with his family for a week. We’ve tried calling his cell several times, but no one answers.”
“We need to go see if he’s there, or if his family has heard from him.”
Jonas nodded. “I already have a car arranged for us. We’re also working to get his phone records, in case Barrick used his phone to make a call.”
In most cases, they were able to have records released from phone companies if they had evidence that the owner was in danger. And as far as she was concerned, Ryan Phelps’s life was in danger.
Fifteen minutes later, they’d pulled into the driveway of a quaint log cabin that was set back off the road and nestled among the trees.
“I’m not usually the jealous type,” Madison said, as they walked toward the front door, “but if I ever happen to get stranded in the woods again, I wouldn’t mind something like this.”
Madison held up her badge when the door opened, then introduced herself and Jonas to the woman standing there. “Are you Katy Phelps?”