Trumped Up Charges - By Joanna Wayne Page 0,62
been part of a normal, happy family.
Maybe one day if she and Sam didn’t end up in jail.
She adjusted her visor and turned on the radio. She could drive forever like this, except that she couldn’t afford gasoline. She had fifteen dollars left from what Sam and given her to buy food for the girls when they’d moved into the motel. She’d need that to buy more food now that they were on the run.
And she had a hundred-dollar bill she’d stolen from Quinton’s wallet last night when he and Sam were out back of the motel sharing a joint.
“Go to McDonald’s,” Lila said when she spotted the golden arches. “Get fen fies.”
“And climb and slide,” Lacy added.
It was a risk, but they were all hungry and in need of a bathroom break. They stopped in Conroe, Texas, and she let the girls play for about thirty minutes. They needed the exercise.
If she stayed on I-45 south, they might have enough gas left to make it to Galveston. Galveston was on the Gulf of Mexico. It seemed the perfect place to take her stand.
Either Sam left Quinton and they did this without him, or she’d call Hadley and tell her where to find her girls.
Quinton Larson could go to hell along with her stepfather.
* * *
QUINTON FUMED. He should have known not to leave Sam’s girlfriend here with the girls last night. Never trust a bitch with a fortune.
He paced until he saw Sam walk up to the door. He met him with a string of curses. “Your slut girlfriend took off with the kids.”
“She’s not a slut and she didn’t take off. Mary Nell wouldn’t do that to me.”
“Her car’s gone. She’s gone. The girls are gone. If that’s not taking off, what is it?”
“She must have made a run to the convenience store to get something to eat.”
“She took those girls out in public. How stupid is she?”
“She is not stupid. She’s just got a heart, that’s all. She’s not gonna let those girls go hungry.”
“Get her on the phone. Order her back here on the double.”
“She doesn’t have a phone.”
“Everybody has a phone. What is she? Homeless?”
“Her stepfather took her phone away from her last week.”
“She still lives at home?”
“She’s only seventeen.”
“Friggin’ jail bait. That figures. How come he took her phone?”
“Because he’s a pervert and she doesn’t like him pawing at her.”
“Well, if you don’t do something to get her back here before tonight, you can kiss that five million dollars that’s waiting on us goodbye.”
“The five millions dollars was waiting on Mary Nell and me. So stop acting like this was all your idea and we messed it up. You didn’t take any of the risks. I’m the one who took the key off Mom’s key ring. I stole the ether from Johnny’s shop to keep the girls knocked out until I could get them out of the house. I was the one who had to clean my greasy footprints off Mrs. O’Sullivan’s carpet. So don’t gripe about how I’ve handled things when you did nothing.”
“The biggest risk you took was bringing that bitch to the party. If she turns the kids over to the police, you’re going to jail. Do you know what happens to kidnappers in jail?”
“I’m not going to jail.”
“Then you better find those kids fast. If you don’t I’m your only ticket out of here.”
“Do you really think you could pull this off without having those kids to exchange for the ransom?”
“I can as long as they’re still missing.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Give me time to think, and then you’ll have to do exactly as I say.”
Quinton started tossing around possibilities in his mind. One thing was for sure. If someone had to be sacrificed, it wouldn’t be him. When the plane he’d arranged for left tonight for Mexico City, Quinton and the cash would be on it.
Janice O’Sullivan had paid for his funeral. Now she’d pay for his new life. The only thing that could be more satisfying would be getting back at Hadley O’Sullivan for trying to kill him with that damn crystal vase.
She’d thought she was too good for him, acted as if his hands were poison. She was wrong. The snobby bitch had probably never had a real man like him.
Too bad she still wouldn’t get her chance to find that out. Neither Hadley nor her daughters would get any mercy from him.
* * *
THERE HAD BEEN no more phone calls from the kidnapper. Hadley