Piece of My Heart (Under Suspicion #7) - Mary Higgins Clark Page 0,98

and pulled the rock back over her shoulder. If she could, she would aim for his head.

But when she looked at the spot where she’d expected to find her target, she saw no one. Only when her gaze moved lower did she see the person who belonged to the footsteps.

“Johnny!” She dropped the rock and placed both hands over her mouth—from the shock of seeing her son, and to keep herself from crying out loud with happiness.

His eyes widened as his mouth went agape. “Mama?” He rubbed his eyes as if he were waking up from a dream.

She fell to her knees and pulled him into a tight hug. “Shhh, sweetie. I’m here. Mama’s got you. But we have to be very, very quiet. And we need to find our way out of these woods.”

“The man’s house is that way,” he whispered, pointing behind him. “And when he walked into the trees, I think he went that way,” pointing about eighty degrees in the other direction. “I didn’t want to go either of those places, and I ended up here.”

She felt herself smiling. He was such a smart boy.

Marcy was right that Daniel Turner must have known the property well. They heard his voice before they heard his footsteps. And even through the dense growth of woods, they had no trouble seeing the gun aimed in their direction.

“Danny! I told you to stay in the car.” The man’s face was beet-red and the cords in his neck bulged from rage. “You were fooling me, weren’t you? You were never going to stay with me. You were going to leave, just like them.”

“Please,” Marcy pleaded. “He’s a seven-year-old boy. He heard gunshots. He got scared. He was out here looking for you. Weren’t you?” She looked down into Johnny’s eyes and could see his fear, but could also see that he understood what she was saying.

Johnny nodded slowly. “I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said quietly. “You told me you were taking the gun for protection. I thought something happened to you.”

The man pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, but kept the weapon aimed at them.

“I need to think. Come on. We’re going for a car ride.”

Chapter 69

According to the GPS, Leo and Laurie had nearly reached the location Andrew obtained when he searched for Marcy’s phone. “Dad, look,” Laurie cried out. “There’s the minivan!”

Laurie’s optimism was short-lived. As he stopped the car, she could see that something was wrong with the minivan. It looked off-kilter.

“Stay here,” Leo said, getting his gun from the console. “And keep an eye out for the FBI. They’re supposed to be on their way.”

He approached the van in a low hunch, pulled open the driver’s-side door, and then closed it, shaking his head. He was walking away when he stopped and crouched, examining something near his feet. Climbing back into the car, he reported the news. “One tire’s shot out, and her cell phone was in the driver’s seat. And Laurie, there’s drops of blood on the ground by her car door.”

“I don’t think we can wait for the FBI, Dad.”

“Pull up Daniel Turner’s address.”

* * *

Leo stopped on the road in front of Turner’s house. “It’s too big a risk to drive right onto his property. He’s probably got cameras or motion sensors if he’s as paranoid as his ex-wife said.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“You wait here, and I’ll find the house through the woods.”

“Dad, no. You can’t walk up there on your own.”

They heard the sound of tires on the dirt road behind them. Laurie turned and spotted overhead lights on top of the approaching vehicle. “Look, the FBI, just in time,” she said.

He checked out the rearview mirror. “That’s local police,” he said, rolling down the window.

The car’s only occupant was probably in his mid-forties. He had dark hair and a well-groomed beard. Laurie knew that the stars sewn on his uniform’s sleeves indicated that he was high in the department’s leadership, but it was his nameplate that resolved any uncertainties. C. Turner. The passenger-side window of his vehicle was already down.

“We got a report of some gunfire out here. Can I ask what the two of you are doing by the side of the road? This area’s designated ‘no hunting’ in case you’re wondering.”

Leo looked at Laurie. One glance was enough to reach an agreement. They had no choice. Charlie Turner was the only help they had right now. He was Daniel’s brother,