Lost in Tennessee (45 page)

Jeb drove as fast as he safely could around the fields.

“Damn it, Jeb. How did we miss it? Tom saw it. He saw it, and we blew him off.”

“Trudy’s family,” Jeb said. “You never want it to be family. Keep your eyes out. The hay is long. Too bad Daddy didn’t get it cut sooner.”

Butch swallowed his heart. “Shit, Jeb. Shit. He’s cutting it now. Drive faster. Cut through the field.”

“I can’t see anything. I could run over her if she’s in it. We have to go around.” Jeb pushed the truck faster as the road straightened out in front of him.

“Slow down,” Butch said. “I’ll be able to see more from the back.”

Jeb stomped on the brake, letting Butch climb out of the door and into the bed of the truck. “Tom’s calling.” Jeb put the phone to his ear. “Did you find her?” Jeb paused, the spoke again. “We’re circling the field. Call me back when you get there.”

Jeb disconnected the line. “Tom says Trudy and Kate aren’t at the big house, and Mama hasn’t seen either of them. She’s headed to Reverend Marcus’s, and Tom’s heading to Trudy’s.” He pointed out the window. “There’s Daddy. Take my phone. Keep trying Kate. If she has her phone on her, maybe we can hear it.”

Butch dialed Kate’s phone while Jeb drove, closing the distance to their father’s tractor. Abruptly, the sound of the tractor ground to a halt. They watched from a distance as their father climbed out of the seat, looking hard at the ground. “Faster, Jeb.”

Butch tossed the cell phone at Jeb through the sliding window and leapt from the truck to run toward his father. In the silence, the wind carried an electronic melody. It was one of his songs. Butch veered east and followed the tones to where the battered phone lay in the freshly cut hay, just a few hundred yards behind the tractor.

Butch answered the phone. “She’s not here.” Butch watched as his father staggered away from the tractor and bent over to be wretchedly sick. “Jeb. Something’s wrong with Dad.” Butch tried to run, but his legs were too heavy. He gritted his teeth and pushed forward, feeling as though he were slogging through mud. He was going to be too late. Butch knew it. He was going to be too late.

Chapter Twenty-Three

B
utch raced past his father to the front of the tractor to see the pile of bloodied, black fur. Butch rested a hand on the big head. The dog panted heavily as he lay still.

“I never saw him.” John’s hand shook as he reached to the tractor, needing the support to steady his shaking legs.

“You didn’t do it. He’s been shot. Help me get Chubsy up on the tractor. Dad, listen to me. You need to get out of here. Trudy has been the one behind the accidents, behind the murders. She has Kate somewhere.”

John suddenly looked old to Butch, unsteady. “Not Trudy.”

“I know. The world has gone crazy. Help me.” Together, they lifted the dog onto the deck of the tractor. He yelped in pain but didn’t fight them.

“Why?” John wiped a hand across his forehead. “For God’s sake, why?”

“That’s the first thing I’m going to ask when I find them. I sent Mom to the Reverend’s. Get Chubsy to the vet. Please.”

Butch jumped into the back of the truck and held on again to the light bracket to get a better view across the field. He slapped on the top of the cab. “There, Jeb. The hay is matted down. There’s a trail. I’m going to follow it.”

“There’s something in the road ahead.” Jeb brought the truck to a stop “It’s a golf cart.”

Butch leaned into the little window as Jeb scanned back and forth with binoculars. “It’s Trudy. She was showing it off this morning. Do you see her anywhere?”

Jeb scanned slowly to the left and then the right, stopping at the pond. “She’s on the fishing pier.”

“Kate?”

“I don’t see her, so I can’t be sure.” Jeb pulled the strap over his neck. “We’ll leave the truck here. You follow the trail and hope to God it leads to Kate. I’ll work my way in from the side.”

Butch followed the trail of matted hay as it cut across the field. He studied the ground. There were no footprints, no boot prints, but he caught the impression of hands and deeper gouges. She was crawling.

The trail brought him back out to the road near the pond. Trudy sat on the edge of the pier with her feet in the water. He stayed low, hidden by the tall grass, but could find no sign of Kate. Over the pounding of his heart, Butch heard Trudy singing one of the love songs he had written. Her blond hair, hanging freely down her back, swayed as she rocked to the rhythm.

Butch took a deep breath. It took every ounce of his self-control not to rail at her for Kate’s location. That wouldn’t help anyone. Butch looked around but didn’t see Jeb. He took another deep breath.

“Hey, Trudy. Enjoying the day?” He fought to keep his voice light.

“I enjoy every day, Butchy. Did you and Miss Kate have a nice talk?”

Butch shook his head. “She wasn’t at work. You wouldn’t happen to know where she is, would you?”

Trudy stood and walked around the edge of the pier, keeping her eyes on the water. “Now that you mention it, she did stop by our house. We had a nice cup of coffee, but she left in a hurry. She went to have a chat with your daddy. ”

“My house,” Butch said. “The one I share with Kate.”

Trudy waved her hand dismissingly. “I’ll never understand what you see in her. She can’t keep a house. She can’t cook, she can’t dress. She’s a social disaster. What kind of wife would she be for you?”

“She wouldn’t be the kind of wife you would be?”

Trudy stood facing Butch, only the width of the pier between them. “That’s right, Butch. That’s exactly right.”

“I’ll make you a deal. You tell me where Kate is, we get her out of here healthy and strong, and I’ll marry you.” Butch held out his hand to Trudy.

Trudy beamed at him. Sunlight danced in her hair, and her eyes were glassy with happiness. She took a step toward Butch and saw him take a half-step back.

He swallowed hard, holding his eyes fixed on her.

“You’re lying. You’re lying, Butch McCormick. Shame on you!” Trudy pulled the gun from her pocket and raised her arm to his heart.

A streak of red shot out from the bush and hit Trudy. Trudy landed near the walking path, Kate in the middle of the pier. Trudy bounded to her feet, angry. Kate staggered, stumbling as she tried to gain her feet.

“Katie!” Butch lunged at her and caught her around the hips. She fell against him as he pulled her to her feet. “Are you hurt?”

Trudy stood on the pier with the gun firmly focused on Kate. “Get away from him. He’s mine. You heard him.”

“She drugged me. She put something in my coffee.” Kate couldn’t stand. She staggered like a drunk and repeatedly blinked, widening her eyes until Butch could see all the whites around her foggy, blue pools. “I can’t find Chubsy. He was with me before.”

“Stay behind me.” Desperate, Butch shoved her behind him.

“She drugged me,” Kate said again, leaning her head between his shoulder blades. “The world is spinning. Get out of here, Butch.”

“Shut up, Kate. Do what I say. Hold on to me, and don’t let go.” Butch put her hands on his hips to steady her. He couldn’t move, not without exposing Kate, and he wasn’t doing that. He needed to stall until Jeb arrived. “Trudy, the deal was Kate leaves here healthy and in one piece. Then I’ll get down on my knee and ask you properly.”

Trudy paced and sweat broke out on her brow. She licked her lips, looking at Butch from the tops of her eyes.

The gun didn’t waver as Trudy walked around the pier, her steps jerky and coltish. Butch tried to stand his ground, but Kate kept falling over, and he had to move to keep his body in front. Butch didn’t think Trudy would shoot him, but his every instinct said if he stepped away from Kate, she would be dead.

“Katie. I need you to stand still.”

“I am.” Kate swayed and took another step to her right.

Butch pulled on her left hand until he felt her along the centerline of his body. “Wrap your arms around me.”

Trudy railed as Kate’s hands wrapped around his chest. “She shouldn’t be touching you like that!”

“She’s sick, Trudy. You know she is.”

“Get away from her, Butch. I mean it. We’re officially engaged, and I won’t put up with any woman putting her hands on you.”

Butch held his hand out, palms up. “You have always taken care of me, haven’t you, Trudy?”

“Damned right, I have.”

“You took care of Angie for me, didn’t you?”

Trudy snarled at Butch. “She was making a fool out of you, and you just let her. She begged money out of you to buy those tits and then showed them off to any man that smiled her way. You didn’t see them, laughing at you in the bar.”

“I don’t care what people think, Trudy. Not like that. Is that what happened with Fawn?”

“Did you see what she did to me? The pictures on the internet were horrible! She deserved what she got. You never thanked me, you know. Not that I expected it but, honestly, what she would have cost you.”

“I’m thanking you now, Trudy.”

“It was all so easy. Fawn walked right up to the front door and then let me drive her rental car. She called me her redneck chauffer. She isn’t laughing now. And I knew the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone. I used
her
work truck.” Trudy leaned around Butch, yelling at Kate. “I had to work hard to drag Fawn’s skinny butt over to that wall. Why couldn’t you just GO HOME? After being arrested for murder, any sensible person would leave. But not you. You. Stayed. Right. Here.” She stomped with each word, the wood vibrating beneath her feet. “Butch finally dumps you, and you
still
came back. Don’t you care that he kissed up to that slut Abbey McNeil?”

Kate’s head bounced off his shoulder. “The picture, Butch. She must have sent the picture.”

Butch drew Trudy’s attention back to him. “What about Hyde, Trudy? What did our friend do?”

“He found that bitch’s hotel key in my car. He wanted to know who I was sleeping with. I tried to get it back, but he said he was going to give it to Jeb to dust for fingerprints. Then he fell.”

Butch felt like he’d been hit with a sledgehammer. “Good Lord, Trudy. Hyde is like our brother.”

“Ask her about your other wife,” Kate said.

“Tessa? Did you have anything to do with Tessa’s accident?”

Trudy lifted her chin. “I had to stop her. You were letting her take advantage of you, just like Angie always did. That’s your problem. You’re just too nice. Lucky for you…you have me.”

“I have to agree with you, Trudy.” Jeb stepped into the road. His eyes were flat, that of a predator, as he held the gun trained on Trudy. “Put the gun down.”

Trudy stomped her foot in a show of temper. “I’m the one in control. You put your gun down, Jebediah, or I’ll shoot Butch.”

“You don’t want to do that, Trudy. You love Butch. We all know you’ve loved him for a long time. Tell him. Isn’t it about time you told him?”

Tears filled Trudy’s eyes and raced down her face. She blinked hard. “I love you, Butch. I’ve loved you since Bobby Willard knocked the ice cream cone out of my hand and it splattered on the ground. Do you remember? I was sitting on the swing crying. I had to save for a long time for that ice cream. Then you came over with a double scoop.”

“I remember,” Butch said. “It was a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of chocolate with sprinkles. I didn’t know which you liked, so I got you both. And who didn’t like sprinkles?”

“You swept me off my feet. I never had nobody do something that nice for me. My daddy always said I was nothing. He was wrong. I showed him he was wrong. And so did you. You always did nice things for me. That’s how I knew you loved me. I’ve been waiting for you to come home and realize it was me you needed all along.”

Butch’s gaze darted between Jeb and Trudy. He looked for some sign from his brother on what he should do.

Jeb kept his eyes on Trudy. “Butch does love you. That much is true.”

Trudy’s brows came together in exquisite agony. “He doesn’t. But he could,” she said softly. Then she hardened. “If it wasn’t for her.”

Trudy jerked her head back to Butch as Kate lost her balance and fell beyond the shelter he provided. Trudy pulled the trigger.

Butch dove to the right to shield Kate’s body. A searing pain shot through his arm, and he pushed back, throwing himself and Kate into the pond. Butch went under, and the cold water stole his breath before he came back to his senses. He came up shouting for Jeb. “Where’s Kate?”

The pop of the handgun had been echoed by the shot fired by Jeb. The bullet flew true. Trudy had collapsed to the wooden decking. In silence, the decades-old ache in Trudy’s heart finally stopped.

K
ate dug her fingers into Butch’s chest, but still the world spun. She flew. She closed her eyes against the dizzy array of blues and whites that swirled around her. Then the cold engulfed her. She opened her eyes to a murky, colorless world. She tried to kick her feet, but couldn’t tell down from up. She was exhausted. Simply too tired to care. She stopped fighting and drifted to sleep.

K
ate’s face stung as if bitten by a wasp. She rolled her head to escape. A quick sting hit the other cheek. Then another. Kate flailed her hands in front of her, protection from the invasion.

From far away a voice called her name.

Then it came closer.

“Come on, Katie. Open your eyes.”

She tried to answer but couldn’t remember how.

B
utch stroked back her hair and kissed her lips. “Please, honey. Open those beautiful eyes for me.”

Her lashes fluttered. “Butch?”

Her voice was weak and breathy, but he heard it. “That’s right, baby. It’s Butch. Open your eyes and look at the man you’re going to marry. Jeb’s calling the preacher. He’s going to meet us at the hospital.” He dug in his pocket and then slid the promise back in place.

Kate rolled her head side-to-side and forced her eyes to open. “Want a dress.”

Butch looked down at her with tears of joy in his eyes. “Then you’ll have a dress. We’ll have an old-fashioned wedding right here at the house we’re going to build.”

The EMTs rolled a stretcher onto the pier. Butch held her head as she was lifted onto the cushion.