Settling an Old Score - Delores Fossen Page 0,55

to come out shooting. The fact that they’d gotten this close to the house riled Eli all the way to his bones. This wasn’t like the other attack on the road. It was worse. Because this time Cora could be caught in the crosshairs of a killer.

“Text Jeremy and tell him to keep an eye on the trunk,” Eli mouthed to Gunnar, and the deputy immediately took out his phone to do that. “And then let Kellan know what happened.”

“You’re gonna listen to me,” Remy carried on, “or Dominick will die. So help me, I’ll put a bullet in him.”

Remy certainly sounded desperate enough to do something that stupid, but it still didn’t make sense to Eli. “I’m listening,” Eli assured him. “Now, tell me what you want and why you have Dominick.”

“I don’t want Marta’s body moved,” Remy insisted. “I don’t want anyone touching her.”

Eli listened for any hint that the demand didn’t ring true, but it did. Well, it did if Remy had gone off the deep end. Since the man had been acting more erratic than usual, that was possible.

“You need to stop this idiot!” Dominick shouted, and the sound of his voice didn’t just come over the phone line. Eli heard it from within the car. Of course, it could be some kind of recording, something meant to be a decoy or distraction, but Eli was starting to believe this was what it appeared to be. Remy losing all control and taking a hostage.

Except there was a problem with that.

“How the hell did you manage to take Dominick?” Eli asked Remy. “Better yet, why did you take him?”

“I needed leverage,” Remy answered almost immediately. “I knew you’d listen to me if I had a hostage, so when I saw Dominick coming out of the sheriff’s office, I followed him.”

“The idiot used a stun gun on me,” Dominick snarled. The man’s anger certainly seemed genuine. “He tied my hands when he got me in the car and then drove around crying,” Dominick added with some disgust.

“I can’t lose Marta,” Remy snarled back, but then it sounded as if a hoarse sob tore from his mouth. “I lost her once, and that can’t happen again.”

Eli doubted the best response to that would be to remind Remy that Marta was already dead. Obviously, the man was well past the point of reasoning.

“Whose car do you have?” Eli pressed. “Because the one in the yard isn’t yours.” And he needed to make sure it wasn’t some kind of decoy.

“It belongs to a friend. I had him come and get me after I ran from the barn.”

“Is that friend in the car with you now?” Eli added.

“No, it’s just Dominick and me. Now, here’s what you’re going to do,” Remy went on without waiting for Eli to respond. “You’re gonna call Marta’s dad and get it in writing that he won’t try to move her. I’ve been trying to reason with him, but he blocked my calls.”

Eli didn’t blame Gus for doing that. After all, Remy had stolen Gus’s daughter’s body.

“When you get Gus on the line, I want to talk to him,” Remy went on. “I want to hear him say that he agrees to it, that he’ll let her stay near me. Then he can put it in writing. I want that done right now.”

As demands went, it wasn’t an especially hard one. Or rather it wouldn’t be if he could get in touch with Gus right away. Still, even if Remy got that guarantee, he had a hostage. And he’d committed a serious crime. Eli was going to have to defuse the situation and arrest the man.

“Okay,” Eli said. “We’ll try to call Gus right now.” Since Eli didn’t want to take his focus off the car, he motioned for Gunnar to do that.

Even though Eli’s pulse was drumming in his ears, he could still hear the ringing sound when Gunnar tried the call. Eli dragged in his breath, waiting, but Gus didn’t answer.

Hell.

This just got a whole lot harder.

“Gus didn’t pick up,” Eli relayed to Remy, “but I know he’ll agree to this. He wouldn’t want to see a man hurt.”

“It has to be in writing!” Remy yelled. “That’s the only way I let Dominick go. Try to call Gus again, and keep calling until you speak to him.”

Eli nodded for Gunnar to keep trying. The deputy would, but while they waited, Eli was going to have to do something to defuse this. Thankfully, he had some