Hearts Are Wild (13 page)

“Colt will be home any minute. I’m going to send him to get you, Sabrina,” came the older woman’s worried response. “After I give you Officer O’Hara’s phone number, hang up and immediately call the police.”

She’d just disconnected the call when someone knocked at the front door. Relief flooded through her. Josh had his keys so there was no way it was him. Setting the cordless phone down on the desk, she walked to the front door and peered around the side windowpane.

The sight of a black pickup truck in the yard and Colt’s neighbor Jackson Riley standing at the door made her draw her brows together in surprise. She didn’t get the impression from Josh that Jackson was the kind of person he’d expect a visit from, but then who the hell knows that anything that Josh told her was the full truth. Jackson might be able to give her a lift back to the Lonestar.

Opening the door, she said, “Hello Mr. Riley. I’m sorry, but Josh isn’t home at the moment.”

“It’s about damn time you called the Tanner house. I’ve been waiting to find out where you were,” came a very familiar deadly sounding response.

Chapter Twelve

Sabrina sucked in her breath at the look of determination on Jackson Riley’s face. She glanced at the rope gripped in his hands, shock and disbelief rolling through her as her full memory of the night she was attacked came flooding back.

The
tone
of his words…the exact same inflection she’d heard that night. He’d sounded full of bitterness, lethal and deadly when he’d said, “
Colt can’t have what belongs to me
,” right before he knocked her out cold. Her heart jerked in her chest and her gaze flew back to his dark, narrowed one. Self-preservation caused her to react on instinct.

She tried to slam the door shut, but before she could shut it all the way, he jammed his booted foot between the door and the frame. Gritting her teeth, she put all her weight behind the door, shouldering it as she frantically tried to decide what her next course of action would be.

“I want that note. Where is it?” Jackson said through a howl of pain as the door crushed his foot. A second later she felt the door give behind his own shouldering efforts, the door jerking behind his weight. When she felt the door jump a second time, she knew she couldn’t hold him off for long. Sabrina waited a brief second, then let the door go completely as she turned and ran as if the very hounds of hell were on her heels.

While she ran, she couldn’t help but quickly glance back at her efforts. As she’d hoped, she hit the timing just right. Jackson must’ve been in the process of ramming the door with his shoulder again when she let it go. He slid across the wood floor while the door slammed open, splintering on its hinges and banging into the wall behind it.

“Take the note,” she shrieked as she struggled to pull it out of her pocket and then threw it on the floor, hoping the prize he was after would buy her precious seconds of time. She let out a scream worthy of a banshee at the sight of Jackson’s ferocity as he barreled across the room. The swiftness with which he recovered from his fall and was now heading across the hardwood floor, didn’t bode well for her.

As he snatched up the note and then continued to come after her, a maniacal look still on his face, she picked up her speed. Dashing through the house, she clawed at a kitchen chair, then tugged on a standing lamp, knocking each piece over to try and slow him down as she made her way to the far side of the house.

The back door.

She had to get to the back door. Just a few more feet, she thought frantically as she heard his footfalls not far behind her, his heavy breathing as he hissed, “Get back here, you little whore. No one is going to get in the way of what I’ve worked my whole life for.”

The man was clearly insane! When she made it to the door, her fingers fumbled with the latch. Relief flooded through her as she finally unlocked it. Pulling the door open, she ran across the deck and down the few stairs to the grass.

A rumbling thud sounded behind her as she started for the woods, spurring her to push herself harder. She’d only taken a couple of steps when he shoved her between the shoulder blades and she lost her balance.

Sabrina grunted as she hit the ground hard, the action bruising her rib cage. She screamed as she felt his hand pulling on the waist of her jeans and she quickly rolled onto her back, kicking at him with all she was worth.

Jackson bellowed in anger when she connected with his stomach, knocking him off of her. A sob of relief escaped her as she got up as quickly as she could and took off toward the front of the house. With the head start she’d gained, she hoped the house would hide where she entered the woods. She could hide in there until Josh came home.

Josh! Oh no! If something happened to her, everyone would think it was him. Guilt over thinking him capable of harming her, along with worry that people would believe he was her assailant, gave her a burst of speed. Just ten more feet, she thought as she started to pass Jackson’s truck.

The sound of Jackson yelling her name when he came around the house had her glancing back for a second. She’d just turned to face her destination again when she saw someone step out from behind the truck as she rounded the vehicle. She was going too fast to stop as the woman reached out and used her arm to clothesline her.

Sabrina slammed down to the ground, the breath knocked out of her. As she wheezed to catch her breath, fighting to stay conscious, the voluptuous woman with long blonde hair leaned over her and tsked with a smirk, “Ah, did ya really think you could get away?”

When starbursts flashed before her eyes, her last thoughts were of Josh and her regret over the fact she’d never told him she loved him. In agonizing slow motion, her vision faded until even the tiny pinpricks of light left behind scattered into nothingness.

* * * * *

Just as Dirk had promised, Josh arrived home in record time. He frowned at the set of tire tracks that crushed the taller grass and seemed to lead right up to his front door!

Josh’s heart jerked in his chest at the sight of his front door standing wide open. He dashed out of his truck, his pulse thundering in his ears as he took a flying leap over the four steps to the porch.

“Sabrina!” he yelled as he stepped into his house and faced his worst nightmare.

Taking in the broken door and the shambles his house was in, he hoped and prayed he wouldn’t find Sabrina had been hurt or, God forbid, worse. Once he’d searched every inch of his home and couldn’t find her, he stood in the living room, his entire body tense in fear for her safety.

His hands shook as he pushed them through his hair, trying to calm himself into thinking rationally. God, how the fuck was he going to find her and
who
the hell was after Sabrina in the first place?

His phone rang, jerking him out of his tumultuous thoughts. Josh picked it up, snarling, “What!

When there was a pause on the line, all he could think about was the unknown attacker torturing him with a silent call. “If this is you, you fucking sonofabitch, you’d better not hurt a hair on her head.”

“Whoa!” Colt said, his voice calm. “What’s going on, Josh?”

At the sound of Colt’s voice, Josh shook his head to clear out the enraged thoughts rambling through it.

He took a steadying breath and ran his hand through his hair again as he said, “God, Colt, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Hold on there. Take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on,” he replied in a soothing tone.

“She’s gone,” Josh’s tone lowered. He sat down and put his head in his hand, trying desperately not to lose it. Sabrina needed him now more than ever.

“Sabrina?” Colt asked, his voice lowering as if he didn’t want someone—more than likely Elise—to overhear their conversation.

“Yes,” Josh answered, closing his eyes to keep the tears stinging behind them at bay. Pushing his eyelids hard with his fingers, he opened them and finished, “And I wish to God I knew where to start looking for her.”

“Are you sure she didn’t leave on her own?” Colt asked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Josh growled, his head jerking up.

“Calm down, Josh. Nan just received an upsetting call from Sabrina. She found a note that implied you were the person who lured her to the stables the night of the fire.”

“What!” Josh yelled into the phone. “I was fuckin’ fighting a fire around the time she was attacked.”

“After today’s developments, I have no doubt of your innocence, Josh. I’ll be there in two minutes,” came Colt’s firm reply.

“Huh? You’re here?”

“Hell yeah, I’m home. Someone’s trying to fuck with my life and it sounds like yours, too. I’ve got a pretty damn good idea who’d want to frame me for my own wife’s murder,” Colt ground out. “No matter what it takes, I’m going to nail the sonofabitch.”

“Am I in
The Twilight Zone
? What the hell are you talking about?” Josh asked, his brow furrowing.

“Long story,” Colt sighed. “Hang tight. Be at your place in two.”

Josh hung up the phone, thankful for Colt’s steadying words. Right now, he needed the voice of reason whispering in his ear because he wasn’t going to get there on his own in his current, riled up, ready to commit murder state. And the thought that Sabrina could think he’d want to do her harm…he felt physically ill.

While he waited, he realized he needed to call the police and let them know Sabrina had been kidnapped. He didn’t have time to deal with paperwork, waiting for the police and all that bullshit. Renee. He’d call her and she’d get the ball rolling so he wouldn’t have to stop looking for Sabrina on his end.

Standing up, he glanced around the room, looking for his cell phone, which had Renee’s number stored in it. He moved quickly, pushing overturned furniture out of the way, looking underneath couch cushions to see if it had fallen between them. He knew he’d left it at home.

Turning on the cordless phone, he dialed his cell phone at the same time he vowed to always keep the damn thing in the same spot so he didn’t lose the phone every five seconds.

The phone rang and rang and that’s when he remembered he had left it on vibrate mode. Then a thought struck him, the idea lifting his spirits. Did Sabrina have it with her? Could he get that lucky? He did ask her to keep it with her.

A steely determination settled over him as he headed for his laptop and pulled up his cell phone provider’s website. Clicking on the GPS “locator” link, he punched in his access code and then his phone number and held his breath as the system’s “verifying position” icon popped up.

He glanced out the large picture window and saw Colt’s truck drive up and then heard his boots on his porch as the website finally completed its search.

When Colt entered his house, his gaze moved throughout the house, taking in the shambles Josh’s home was in. Once Colt’s blue eyes met his, Josh gave him a humorless, cold smile. He turned his laptop so his neighbor could see the results. “My cell phone locater program.” He pointed to an area on the screen. “Sabrina’s somewhere in this area.” Glancing up at Colt, he continued, “I’m ready to help you fry his ass.”

Colt looked at the computer screen, then jerked his knowing gaze back to Josh’s as he bit out, “Not at all surprised. Jackson Riley.”

* * * * *

Sabrina awoke to the smell of stale manure and the sensation of something rough yet cushioned underneath her. Realizing she was unable to move her hands and feet, she panicked as her eyes flew open. Rough ropes bound her wrists and ankles and as she shifted she heard the rustle of hay move underneath her.

Even though fear shot through her, rolling over her in alternating waves of cold sweat and hair-raising goose bumps, she did her best to remain calm as she took in the room surrounding her.

She saw the roof’s rafters overhead and a quick scan of the room with its empty stables told her she was in an abandoned barn. Sunlight streamed through an open window in one of the stalls, nearly blinding her. Tilting her head away from the light, she squirmed, trying to sit up. The hay slid around underneath her and she lost her balance then fell onto her side once more. Damn ropes. The way they were tied around her—a short rope connecting her tied wrists to her tied ankles—made it near impossible for her to sit up.

“I see you’re awake,” she heard Jackson’s comment off to her left.

She shifted her gaze to see the older man standing by a rough-hewn table against the wall, then quickly surveyed the room for his blonde partner.

“You won’t find her here,” he spat, his lip curling in disdain.

“Who?” she asked.

“May. The bitch who stopped you, then decided to take off, leaving me to clean up this fucking mess,” he bit out.

“It’s too bad,” he continued while he lifted a hammer from the table and turned her way. “I was hoping you’d stay unconscious while I finished you off.” Looking at the hammer, he examined the metal, turning it in the sunlight. He snorted, twitching his lips. “Shooting you would be easiest, but the noise would draw attention and a knife across the throat is just too messy.” He offered a satisfied smile as he let the hammer fall in his palm. “A good knock or two or
three
in your skull should do the trick. Nasty work, but it must be done.”

Her gaze widened and her heart raced at his words. When she glanced at the hammer in his hand and then back to his impassive face, sheer terror gripped her. “Heeeeeeeeelp!” Sabrina let out a scream that would wake the dead.

“No one will hear you way out here.”

He seemed unruffled as she continued to yell at the top of her lungs until her voice went hoarse. When she finally ran out of steam, he lifted the hammer up and let it fall once more. “You think I’m happy with how this has turned out?”

“I
think
you’re a lunatic,” she croaked as anger began to overrule her fear. If she was going to die, she wouldn’t die begging.

“Damn women. The whole lot of ya,” he hissed out in disgust as he set the hammer down on the table and patted his plaid shirt.

“Yeah, but you didn’t do this by yourself, did you?” she needled him. God, if she could just keep him talking, maybe someone would’ve heard her screaming as if she were
about to be murdered
!

“You referring to May?” he asked, glancing sharply at her. Pulling a pack of cigarettes from his front pocket, he continued, “May only helped at the tail end of my plan. But once again, like all the damn women in my life, she skipped out at the last minute, just like my mole at the insurance agency did when the police started sniffing around. W
hich was the whole fucking point
,” he bit out as he stabbed his finger in the air for effect. “They were
supposed
to come asking questions. She didn’t seem to mind taking my five thousand dollars to manipulate records and falsify medical reports. Noooo! But when the heat got too close, ‘I’m afraid I’m gonna get caught’,” he mimicked in his version of a high-pitched, female voice.

He grumbled a few more disparaging obscenities then continued, “The dumb bitch skipped town on me yesterday. Then May, that good-for-nothing whore, the one woman I thought saw eye to eye with me on this whole deal says, ‘See ya on the flip side,’ when we arrived back on my property. If I hadn’t had you in tow, I’d have taken her out myself just for sheer principle.”

He clenched his fist and his face mottled in anger. Hope filled her as her will to survive overrode her fear. Maybe the old coot would die of a heart attack. She could only hope. But instead he picked up the hammer and slammed it down on the table, cracking the old wood. Her entire body tensed at the violence behind his action. After he struck the table a couple more times, he took a couple of deep breaths that seemed to calm him down enough to set down the hammer and pull a cigarette out of the pack before he returned the box to his pocket. Digging in his jeans pocket he withdrew a lighter and lit the end.

Taking a long draw from it, he closed his eyes for a second as if the nicotine truly settled him, then dropped the lighter back in his pants’ pocket.

While he appeared to relax, her own nerves put her on the edge of hysteria.
I don’t want to die
.
Keep him talking, whatever you do. Don’t let him have too much time to think.

“And then there’s you,” he bit out as he used his cigarette to point to her, his gray eyebrows slashing downward as he narrowed his gaze on her. Smoke came out of his nose and mouth in streams of curling plumes, reminding her of an old, angry dragon.

“If you hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t have mistaken you for Elise that night. I’d have held off, bided my time a bit longer. My tap on Colt’s phone line would’ve allowed me another chance to find another perfect time to frame Colt for his wife’s murder.”

“That’s what this is all about? Your need to set Colt up?” she asked, incredulous.

“It was so much more than that,” he said as he started to pace puffing on his cigarette. Then he paused and continued, smugness in his tone, “I had it perfectly planned. With his wife dead, the police would learn of the high-dollar life insurance policies he and his wife had taken out on each other—courtesy of May and me—” He stopped and looked at her with an I’m-so-clever smirk, before he continued, “In the end, Colt would get the murder rap and lose his land.”

His face took on a faraway look as if he were picturing the entire scenario he’d just described in his head. Shaking himself out of his dream-state, he continued, “Once Colt was behind bars, if I couldn’t find a way to get the land, at least I would know he was suffering.”

Her eyebrows drew together in reluctant understanding as he told her his plan…almost as if he wanted someone to acknowledge all his plotting. The man was clearly mad. But now everything that had happened to her—being knocked out, the burned stables, the police’s speculation on Colt’s life insurance…it all made sense.

A smug smile tilted the corners of his lips at her expression. “Tell me how brilliant I am. How clever and devious. Aren’t you impressed?”

“How can I be impressed with a man who had to depend on women to help initiate his master plan?” she said with sarcasm. “Hell, you couldn’t even remember to retrieve your note that was supposed to lure Elise to the stables.”

Scowling at her, he stuck the cigarette in the corner of his lips as he pulled the note he’d written out of his pocket along with his lighter.

Flicking the lighter open once more, he lit one corner of the paper, smiling a crooked smirk while the cigarette dangled from his lips and dropped bits of burned ash.

“No more evidence,” he mumbled as the paper burned in a matter of seconds. He dropped the ball of fire before it reached his fingers, stomping the burning, charred remains out on the dirt floor beneath his boot.

Her stomach clenched as he dug his boot toe deep in the earth. She had no doubt he planned to “rub” her out of the picture just as easily as he did that paper.

“You talk too much,” he said as he took another drag on his cigarette. He turned and picked up the hammer and let the heavy metal head hit the palm of his hand as he met her worried gaze. “But I can take care of that,” he finished as he started toward her with a determined look on his face, the hammer raised, ready to strike.

Her fear skyrocketed and she tried to jerk herself out of his reach.
It’s not my time to die
, she thought, her mind frantic as primal fear shot through her. “Get the hell away from me,” she screamed, her voice fading out.

Jackson squatted beside her and set the hammer down. Taking the cigarette out of his mouth, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and jerked her onto her back.

“Going somewhere?” he asked, his laughter evil, higher pitched, maniacal.

The fine hairs stood up on her arms at the unbalanced sound of his laugh while tears stung her eyes from the pain his abusive action caused.

Slowly he wound the fistful of her hair up around his hand, then he seemed to relax as he smoothed the black mass across the hay above her head. “It’s a shame I’ll have to mar such a pretty face when I bash your skull in,” he said in a conversational tone as if he wasn’t brutally threatening her.

He picked up the hammer with one hand as he held the cigarette with the other and said in a cold tone, “But, pretty or not, women aren’t worth shit.” He raised the hammer.

“I knew you had a screw or two loose, but had no idea you were such a stupid sonofabitch,” came a calm, controlled voice from the direction of the doorway to the barn.

Jackson immediately stood and glanced toward the doorway at the same time Sabrina jerked her frightened gaze toward the voice. She let out a sob of relief to see Colt standing there holding a shotgun trained on Jackson.

“Do you really think I’m that dumb, Colt? That I wouldn’t have a backup plan?” Jackson answered, his tone deadly and focused as he took a leisurely puff of his cigarette.

“Put down the hammer, Jackson, or I’ll shoot you where you stand,” Colt bit out. “Give me any flimsy excuse to blow a hole in your sorry ass and I’ll take it.”

Jackson hissed in anger as he dropped the hammer at his feet. Folding one hand behind his back, he growled, “Don’t think this is over. I’ll never give up.”

As he spoke, he tossed his cigarette behind him, right above Sabrina’s head.

Her heart rate skyrocketed as she saw flames begin to dance above her head on the dry hay. She made an effort to move away from the flames and that’s when she saw Jackson wrap his fingers on the grip of the handgun he had stuck in his belt behind his back. She tried to scream to warn Colt, but her hoarse voice just cracked instead. When she realized Colt’s gaze was on the flames behind her and he didn’t see Jackson draw his weapon, Sabrina did the only thing she could to help.

With all her might she flipped away and then rolled back, kicking Jackson behind the knees as hard as she could.

Jackson’s knees buckled and his gun went off toward the ceiling at the same time Josh rammed the older man in the chest with his shoulder, knocking him flat on his back.

“You fucking maniac!” Josh yelled as he hit Jackson’s hand with his fist, making him drop the weapon. He knocked the gun away as Jackson roared in anger, attacking him.

While the men scuffled, Sabrina smelled more than just the hay burning. She felt the heat all around her. She knew she needed to get out of the raging fire’s way, but the bonds around her made rolling away difficult. A bit at a time was all she could manage while laying on her side.

When Jackson tried to hit Josh with his other fist, Colt was there, leaning over the man. “Stay down, you sorry bastard,” he ordered as he slammed his fist square in Jackson’s jaw, knocking the man out cold.

“Sabrina,” Josh yelled as he scrambled over to her, concern and fear etched on his face. He didn’t stop to think, just reacted as he used his hands to put the fire out that had just made its way to her hair.

Quickly picking her up, he rushed her out of the barn. Colt followed behind them as he carried Jackson’s unconscious body away from the fire.

Once they reached a safe distance from the building, Colt dumped Jackson’s limp frame on the ground with a hard thud. “Lunatic bastard,” he mumbled, as he looked back up at the burning stables and shook his head.

Walking over to Sabrina and Josh, he brushed a strand of her hair away from her face, noted the burned ends, and asked with a concerned look, “Are you okay?”

She nodded, her heart still racing as she whispered with a trembling half smile, “I guess I’ll be getting that haircut I’ve been putting off, but other than that, I’m fine.”

“You’re hoarse. God, Sabrina. I’m so sorry this happened,” Josh said as he sat down on the ground with her in his arms and pulled his pocketknife out of the holder on his belt. Quickly cutting through the ropes around her wrists and ankles, he gathered her close.

“How did you find me?” she asked while she rubbed her sore wrists.

Josh shook his head in wonder. “My cell phone’s GPS tracker.”

She gave a shaky, scratchy laugh as she pulled the cell phone from her back pocket. “I’d forgotten all about it.”

Josh took the cell phone and tossed it to Colt. “Do the honors. I’m sure you’ll enjoy this.”

As Colt walked away to call the police, Josh rocked her in his arms and said, “Thank God we got here in time. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had lost you, Brina.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him back. As she breathed in the scents that were all Josh, she whispered back as tears streamed down her face, “I’m sorry I thought for even one second you had a hand in attacking me.”

He shook his head, his tone understanding. “Colt told me about your call to Nan. She was worried for you until Colt set her straight. Apparently Jackson had someone working for him at the insurance company, working to set Colt up. She’s been arrested. There’s no reason to apologize. Jackson surprised us all at how well he’d set us up.”