How to Rope a McCoy (Hell Yeah!) (39 page)

Heath’s
head was spinning. He had to talk to Cato. Watching her step down, he started
to go to her. But that wasn’t to be.

“Next
witness, we call Heath McCoy to the stand.”

Cato
made her way out of the courtroom. She couldn’t meet Heath’s eyes. Hopefully
she’d helped.

She
missed the look he gave her, entirely.

*  *  *

Cato
left the courthouse and headed to the Cultural Center. There was no doubt she
needed to move on. It was time to call it a day and head back to Louisiana. She
needed to clean out her desk, type a quick letter of resignation and get out of
town. Cato felt it would be safer to go when there was other people there. She
had no idea what Mr. Redford knew or how exactly he was involved, but she knew
it was enough that she didn’t want to confront him. Better to cut her losses
and let Zane and the authorities handle it.

Making
her way into the building, after parking in the garage, Cato realized she’d
made a tactical error. It was lunch time—the building was practically deserted.
Oh well, she was here, she wanted to just get this over with. The quicker she
could get in and out, the better. She really wasn’t in a mood to explain
anything to anyone anyway. Going into the copy room, she found an empty paper
box to pack her things in. As she walked back into the hall, she happened to
glance up into Floyd Redford’s office.

Cato
froze.

Caesar
Arness
was standing over him. He didn’t look happy.
Stepping back a couple of steps, Cato hid as best she could. But she wanted to
see what they were saying if she could. Her whole body was covered in goose
bumps and her fight or flight instinct was screaming run, but she waited. And
this is what she saw…

Redford:
Look, you’ve got to do something. I’ve been called on the witness stand. It won’t
be long before they figure out you’re involved.

Cato
almost dropped the box. Heath hated
Arness
and now
she knew there was more to it than him being after the mineral rights.

Arness
: Not if you’ll keep your mouth shut.

Redford:
Heath McCoy’s slut works here and I think she’s on to us.

Cato’s
whole body went cold. She couldn’t breathe.

Arness
: If anyone discovers I put a hit on Philip McCoy,
you’re going down with me, I promise you that.

Arness
was the one behind Smith’s murder? Cato gasped and
backed up, knocking over a chair. BAM! Everything went still. Cato looked back
at the two men, staring at them, and this time they were staring back.

Redford:
She heard us.

Arness
: She couldn’t hear us from here.

Redford:
She reads lips, dumbass.

Arness
: Get her!

Cato
threw the box down and ran. Grabbing her purse, she sprinted down the hall and
ran toward the parking garage. “Help!” she cried, but she didn’t stop to see if
anyone heard her. Not being able to hear was certainly a disadvantage. She
couldn’t discern footsteps behind her, so Cato didn’t know how far ahead she
was. Wasting precious seconds to glance back, she saw no one. “Please, please,
please,” she prayed.

She
ran down one ramp and up another one. As she fled, she fumbled for her phone.
Knowing who she needed, or wanted, she instinctively called Heath first. But
there was still no answer. Next she pressed 911. Holding the phone up so they
could see her face, she gasped. “I’m in danger. I’m in a parking garage at the
Cultural Center on the corner of Congress and 5
^th
. I’m being
followed. I think they’re going to kill me.”

“Stay
on the line, Miss.”

She
couldn’t. Hanging up, she called Presley. No answer. “Dammit, dammit.” She had
to let someone know
Arness
was guilty. Sloppily, she
tried to text as she ran. She was almost to her car.

Arness
is the
kil
—she typed.

Cato
almost fell.
Arness’s
big white rig suddenly pulled
in between her and her car, almost running her down. Cato couldn’t give up.
Turning quickly to the right, she tried to run behind the vehicle. Just as she
was about to grab the door handle, Redford jumped out to stop her.

“No!”
Cato struggled, but Redford roughly jerked her arm. Cato fell.
Arness
came up with a rope and a rag, he bound her hands,
tied them behind her back and stuffed a gag in her mouth. Valiantly, Cato tried
to struggle, screaming into the dirty cloth.

She
looked her attacker in the face. “You might as well shut up. It’s over.” He
picked her up and threw her in the back seat of the double cab dually.

Waves
of regret and fear washed over her. Were they going to kill her? Would someone
find her in time? She edged over in the seat until she could see the face of
Arness
in the rear-view mirror. She couldn’t hear them, but
she could see
Arness’s
response.

“Where
are we taking her?”

And
this is what she saw
Arness
reply.

“I
want to get rid of her, but I don’t want to bloody my hands. We need a place to
put her where she’ll never be found. Any ideas?”

Cato
began to pray. “Heath, find me, please, please.”

“Let’s
take her to a place she’s researched, seems fitting.”

“Where
would that be?”

“Dead
Man’s
Hole
. You’ll have to cut the grate off, but you
have that cutting torch in the back and no one will ever think to look for her
there. It will be like she dropped off the face of the Earth.”

“Dead
Man’s Hole it is.”
Arness
smiled and Cato felt hope
slip away.

*  *  *

“Where’s
Cato?” Court was in recess for lunch and Heath was determined to find her.

“I
don’t know, but you two certainly need to talk.”

“I’m
trying. Help me find her.” Ryder called Tennessee and Pepper and they all began
combing the courthouse looking for Cato.

Ryder
and Heath searched together. “What did you mean when you said there had been a
huge misunderstanding?” Heath asked.

“She
didn’t reject you.”

“Yes,
she did.”

“No,
she thinks you rejected her. She saw you when you were talking to Jimmy. You
said your relationship with Cato meant nothing and she saw you tell Amy that
her voice embarrassed you.” Ryder was talking fast as they walked, but Heath
grabbed her arm, stopping Ryder in her tracks.

“No,
that’s not right” Heath was shouting. “Hell, I knew she saw me. God, I didn’t
mean what I said to Jimmy, I was upset and just spouting off.”

“That’s
what I told her, I know you.”

“And
I didn’t say any such thing to Amy. I defended Cato. I said her voice was
adorable, that she was perfect.”

“She
must have just seen part of your conversation.”

“Fuck!”
Heath shouted. “So, when she broke it off with me, she was hurt, she wasn’t
rejecting me.”

“Yes,
you have a lot to learn about women, Heath.” She pulled on his arm. “This isn’t
finding her, let’s go.”

As
they walked, Heath talked, suffering. “I’ve been miserable without her. I
didn’t realize what a big part of my life she’s become. We had so much fun together.
She’s sweet and smart and so beautiful it hurts to look at her.”

“I
know.” Ryder patted his hand. “And you owe her a lot.”

“If…”
he started, then corrected himself. “When Phillip gets off, it will be partly
because of Cato.”

“Yes
and she saved you from getting shot.”

“And
she found the deed to save the company.” Heath pulled his hat down lower on his
eyes and picked up his pace. “I’ve got to find her, thank her and tell her I’m
sorry.”

“That’s
a good start,” Ryder agreed.

They
made a complete circuit of the courthouse. “Let’s check in the courtroom one
more time.”

“She
might have left.” Ryder pointed out. “She was through testifying. Why would she
stay?”

Heath
sighed. “Yea, I didn’t give her a reason to stay, did I?”

Opening
up the double doors, they stepped in. Zane looked up and raised his hand.
“Heath, I’m glad you’re here. I just tried to call you. Where’s your damn
phone?”

Heath
patted his pockets. “I don’t know.” He thought back. “I must have dropped it
last night, I sort of had a meltdown, went riding down to the river.”

 “Come
on, follow me. I’m sure Cato tried to call you.”

Ryder
followed them. “Where are you going?”

“Cato
just texted Presley and the best we can figure out is that she’s telling us
Arness
is the killer. We think he has her.”

“What!”
Heath almost lost his mind.

Looking
back at Ryder, Zane shouted,
“
Tell Presley to tell the
judge we need to extend the recess. Cato’s in trouble and we’re going to have
new evidence soon.”

“And
call your brothers and cousins and tell them to meet us at Zane’s office. We’ve
got to work together on this. We have to save her,” Heath shouted.

“Will
do.” Ryder grabbed her phone and went to work.

While
they ran to the parking lot, Zane called Ava at the police dispatch. “Ava, any
911 calls recently? We’re looking for information on a woman named Cato
Vincent.”

Ava
looked through the recent entries. “You’re in luck. The woman you’re asking
about wasn’t so lucky, but here’s what I know.” Ava confirmed that a woman had
placed an emergency call from the parking garage on Congress and 5
^th
.
“We sent a car, but they found nothing.”

“That’s
because he abducted her.”

“Do
you have a suspect?”

“Yes,
Caesar
Arness
, we’re trying to track him down
now.” 

Heath
was fit to be tied. He could only hear half of the conversation.

After
Zane hung up, he told Heath everything he knew. “Okay, let’s go on the
presumption that
Arness
has Cato. Where would he go?
What would he do?”

“I
don’t know, let me think.” Spotting Old Red, he grabbed Zane’s arm. “Here’s my truck,
it’ll be faster.”

Zane
had to laugh. “Probably not.”

“Okay,
okay, Red’s my lucky charm and today I need all the luck I can get.”

*  *  *

Cato
felt more and more hopeless every mile the truck ate up between Austin and
Marble Falls. If they were successful in throwing her in Dead Man’s Hole, she
was dead, no pun intended. Shivers of fear caused her skin to crawl. She would
be in darkness, alone. The very thought made her want to throw herself out of
the truck. Dying quickly was so much more preferable than being left to slowly
die in a black hole with no hope of being rescued.

Heath,
oh Heath, Cato wanted to weep. She loved him so. Just seeing him today was pure
torture, knowing that she didn’t have the right to run up to him, throw her
arms around his neck and hold him close. And now…now she’d never see him again.
How she wished she’d told him point-blank how much she loved him. It wasn’t
necessary that he love her back, Cato just wanted him to know that he’d been
loved. Love was a gift. Just because it wasn’t reciprocated didn’t make it any
less real.

When
the truck slowed down, she looked up. They had turned off the main road and now
they drove on the small farm to market road which led to the cave. Closing her
eyes, she sought peace but she quickly opened them, it would be dark soon
enough and an existence without sight and sound was terrifying to
her.  

As
Arness
pulled through the gate, she started to shake
and when he parked, Cato tried to scream. Both men exited the vehicle, leaving
her there. Cato worked her way toward the door, thinking she might run. They’d
probably shoot her, but she had to try. Leaning back, she lifted her foot and
pressed down on the handle, causing the door to open. It must have made noise,
because Redford came back and jerked it wide, pulling her from the seat. Cato
plunged forward, sprawling on the ground. He kicked her. She looked up.
“Mistake, bitch.”

Now
that she was out where she could see what was going on, it only made things
worse.
Arness
had moved a small cart with two
bottles, hoses and a torch to the steel grate covering the hole. At that
moment, the reality hit her hard. He was going to do it. He was going to throw
her down in that deep dark black hell and she was going to die. No one would
ever see or hear from her again! “No!” She tried to scream again.

Redford
kicked her once more. “You might as well shut up. This is what happens to nosy
bitches.”

With
horror, Cato watched
Arness
make quick work of
removing the grate. It wasn’t that big, just a few minutes of cutting and it
was up and off. He motioned to Redford who pulled Cato off the ground, making
her walk.

When
they had her at the edge of the hole, she looked down in it.
Arness
took her by the arm, pulling her up short next to
him. She gazed into his dark, harsh face. “If we had time, I’d make you pay in
another way. I’d like to know what your pussy felt like around my cock.”

Cato
glared at him. She might be about to die, but she wasn’t going to go easily.
Raising up one foot, she brought the heel of her shoe down hard on
Arness’s
foot.

She
couldn’t hear him scream, but she was sure he did, and so did she. Because he
pushed her and she fell. True horror consumed her. People always talk about
your life flashing before their eyes and they were right. Her mother, Tessa,
Savannah, Tammany, Fresca, Avery—Heath, oh God, Heath. And then it stopped,
because she didn’t fall the whole one hundred and fifty feet, she crashed down
on a ledge about twenty feet down. All of the breath was expelled from her
body. Pain enveloped her. Opening her eyes, she stared up. The men were looking
down at her. The small square of daylight was her only link to sanity. But
Arness
took the grate and began to slowly slide it into
place. The opening got smaller and smaller. Frantic, she looked around her,
then she wished she hadn’t. The ledge wasn’t large and she was sharing it with
two occupants—one was a skeleton and one was a snake and she didn’t really know
which one scared her most.