Texas Tall - Janet Dailey Page 0,111

again.

As he pulled up to the shed and climbed out of the car, she stepped into sight. “You’ve got the girl?” she demanded.

“Right here. Fast asleep.” He opened the passenger door to reveal Erin, still slumped in the seat.

“Good. Give me a hand with her.” She raised the lid of her trunk, which was lined with a dirty-looking quilt. Clay unfastened Erin’s seat belt, lifted her in his arms, and laid her on her side. He’d hoped he was finished, but Stella handed him a roll of duct tape. “Wrists, ankles, and mouth, then fold the blanket over her,” she said. “Be quick about it.”

Clay did as he was told, trying not to make the tape too tight. “You won’t want to tape her mouth. If she gets sick to her stomach in the trunk, she could choke to death.”

“Fine. But I’ll need to keep her quiet. Give me the chloroform in case she wakes up.”

Clay resealed the washcloth in the bag and gave it to Stella. She tucked it into her red leather purse and closed the trunk.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Clay asked.

Stella raised an eyebrow.

“The tape. You promised it to me if I delivered the girl.”

“So I did.” With a smile she reached into her purse and handed him the cassette from the surveillance camera.

“Can you swear this is the one?”

“Don’t worry. It’s the real deal, and it’s all yours. I won’t need it where I’m going.” She turned back toward her Buick. “I believe this concludes our business. Have a happy life, Mr. Prosecutor.”

Clay felt an unaccustomed lightness as he walked back toward his car, clutching the tape. He had just done the unthinkable. But he’d salvaged everything that mattered to him. He was free to pursue his ambitions—become a judge, maybe go into politics. Nothing would be out of reach now.

He’d just opened the driver’s-side door when the bullet slammed into his skull, passing from back to front and knocking him forward across the seat. His body twitched once and lay still.

* * *

Will had come inside to read his mail when Tori called. “Will?” She sounded worried. “Did you pick up Erin after school? She’s not in the house, and she’s not answering her cell phone.”

Dread clutched him like a cold steel vise. “No. I haven’t heard from her. Did you call her friend?”

“I’ll do that next. But if she was at Allison’s, she’d have let me know, and she would’ve had her phone on. Will, I’m scared.”

“Call the sheriff ’s office—now. Tell them to check the Blue Coyote.”

“Dear God, you don’t think—”

“Until we find Erin, we’ve got to assume the worst. Call them. I’ll get Beau on this.”

The acting sheriff since Abner’s resignation was his young deputy, Rafe Sanchez. The kid was sharp, had the makings of a good lawman, but he lacked the experience to handle a life-or-death emergency. As a former DEA agent, Beau was a seasoned crime fighter with contacts in the FBI. If Stella, or somebody in her pay, had taken Erin, every minute’s delay could make a difference.

Beau had been outside, supervising work on the newly erected barn. Seconds after Will’s call he burst into the house, out of breath. “You’re sure she’s been taken?”

“Not yet, but if she has, we can’t afford to waste time.”

“Stella?”

“Until we know more, that’s my best guess.”

“The first thing we need to do is put out an AMBER alert. I’ll make some calls.”

While Beau was on the phone, Will got another call from Tori. His pulse skipped. Maybe she’d heard from Erin. Maybe all this panic was nothing but a false alarm.

But no, as soon as he heard her voice, he knew the news would be bad. “The dispatcher put me through to the sheriff,” she said. “He was out by that ranch exit off the freeway, checking something the Life Flight pilot had spotted from . . . the air.” Her voice quavered, then broke.

Will’s throat jerked. “Was it Erin?” he asked.

“No.” Her breath caught. “It was Clay Drummond’s car. Clay was inside, shot dead. And Erin . . . Oh, Lord, Will. They found her backpack, with her phone in it, behind the seat. But Erin was gone.”

CHAPTER 20

At last the sun was going down. Stella slipped off her sunglasses and massaged the bridge of her nose. While the daylight lasted, she’d kept to the back roads, doing her best to stay out of sight. Soon it would be dark enough to pull onto the freeway and make a beeline for