Secrets Rising (20 page)

Charles came to the edge of the porch, and she went to meet him. "How you ladies doing this beautiful morning?"

"Paula," she said stiffly, knowing what she had to do to protect her friend, "this is Charles Morton, Ben's partner. He moved to Edgewater after you left. I'll be going back with him." She had to lure him away from Paula and Cindy. After that, she'd figure out how to save her own baby. Somehow.

"Pleased to meet you, Charles. Didn't you serve with Ben in the Army?"

Charles pulled off his cap and smiled. "Yes, ma'am. I did indeed."

"Oh, you're the one who saved Ben's life. Well, it really is a pleasure to meet you! Come on in and I'll make a fresh pot of coffee."

Thank God she hadn't told Paula anything about Charles. Her friend's words held the unmistakable ring of truth. Charles must know he had nothing to fear from Paula. If only she could get away before Paula mentioned that she knew about the pregnancy.

"Charles doesn't have time to come in. We have to leave now, don't we?"

"I appreciate your kind invitation, ma'am, but we'll have to make it another time. Mary and I do have some important business that can't wait."

"You take care of her, then. She's been awfully upset since Ben's death." Balancing Cindy on one hip, Paula turned to Mary and hugged her. "Call me, okay? And you come back here any time you want to. There'll always be a place here for you and yours."

Gratitude, love, fear, helplessness...a thousand emotions tried to sweep over Mary, but she pushed them back. She had to think, not feel. Think and plan and calculate. She couldn't allow any emotion to interfere, or both she and her child would surely die.

"I've really enjoyed our visit. I'll call you as soon as I get everything settled." She walked off the porch toward Charles' car, her back ramrod straight as though a steel beam had been welded to her spine.

She got into the passenger side and closed the door. Charles slid in beside her. "What did she mean,
you and yours
?"

She faced him, letting him see her eyes so he'd believe her. He didn't know she'd turned to stone inside and would never betray herself by so much as a flicker of emotion. "I didn't tell her. She doesn't know anything. It's just a Texas expression."

He nodded, apparently satisfied she was telling the truth. "So do I take it you've decided to be smart and get this little problem taken care of so we can both get on with our lives?"

"Yes. I've decided I don't want anything to do with a child that belongs to you." It was amazing how easily she'd become a proficient liar. Not that her statement had been a complete lie. Her child didn't belong to him.

"I don't believe you any more than I believed you when we were at Margaret's, but I'm glad you see the futility of resisting." He started the car. They pulled away, and Mary's mind shifted into high gear, observing everything...how far away Charles sat, how fast they were going, where the door handle was...making notes of everything so she'd be ready when the opportunity came. The opportunity would come. She couldn't accept any other outcome. Somewhere, somehow, her chance to escape would come.

"Are we going back to that woman's house? Margaret, is it?" she asked, gathering information, storing data.

"I had to arrest poor Margaret. Caught her doing illegal abortions. Can you believe it?"

Guilt swarmed over Mary. Charles had punished the woman because of her, because Mary had begged for the woman's help, and she'd given it.

But she couldn't dwell on it, had to shove it away. She couldn't do anything to help Margaret and couldn't afford to indulge in useless emotions. Her only focus was saving her baby.

"What's going to happen to her?"

His face hardened, and Mary allowed herself a brief surge of relief. His expression could only mean Margaret had somehow thwarted him. "The bitch jumped bail and skipped town. But I'll find her. She won't get away with that. She's a whore, no better than you. No better than any of you. I know what to do with whores."

Ignore the threat!
she ordered herself. Just because he says it doesn't mean he can do it. She wouldn't let him do it.

"What about your mother?" she asked. Even Charles must have a mother, must have once been somebody's little boy, somebody's baby. Perhaps she could reach him through that avenue.

"What about her?"

"She raised you. She loves you. She's not a whore."

"
She raised you. She loves you. She's not a whore
,
" he mimicked in a falsetto voice. "Of course she is."

That line of questioning seemed to make Charles more agitated. Mary dropped it and was silent until they reached the highway, her mind racing in all directions at once, searching for that opportunity she knew would come.

He laughed. "Isn't that what friends are? You tell each other your dirty little secrets and then you each hold it over the other's head, and you smile and do each other favors so neither one of you will betray the other, and that makes you friends."

She looked outside the car, focusing on the rutted road ahead, the trees along the sides, anything to avoid letting herself be intimidated by Charles' insanity. She would get away from this madman. Somewhere, somehow.

"Sure he did. As long as I played his games. But he never let me forget that he could take away everything he gave with just one word to the right people."

She turned to stare at him in amazement. "That's not true! Ben wasn't like that at all!"

"Grow up. Everybody's like that. Your precious Ben even took your word, the word of a whore, over my word. He went nosing around in things that were none of his business. He was getting ready to ruin my life. He asked me to come to that stinking little town in the first place. He got me on the police force. He gave it all to me so he thought he could take it all away whenever he wanted. Well, he was wrong."

The coldness in Charles' voice told her she was dealing with a man who was completely insane. He wasn't even angry. He merely hated...Ben, her, his mother, everyone, probably even himself. Charles was the most dangerous person she could ever have imagined. If he'd been angry, she could have hoped that anger would eventually dissipate, that he'd be distracted by something else or that logic would prevail.

"I'd appreciate that." Drugs! She wouldn't be able to think or talk or run. She'd be helpless. She had to get away before they reached their destination.

They were approaching the outskirts of Edgewater already. Ahead she could see a gas station and a Dairy Queen on either side of the highway.

"Could you stop at that station for just a minute? I think I'm going to be sick."

"And let you go to the bathroom again like you did at Margaret's house?" He laughed without humor. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"No," she said quickly. "Not the bathroom. I just want to get some crackers for my nausea. I've always gotten car sick, and now that I'm pregnant, it's much worse. I threw up in Nick and Paula's truck, and I'm about to throw up in your patrol car." So many lies, and Mary had a horrible feeling they were only beginning.

"Aren't you lucky you're not going to have this problem much longer?" Charles asked, but he slowed and pulled into the service station.

This was it. Somehow she'd have to get away now. It wouldn't be easy. She couldn't count on anyone to help her. The attendant was more likely to believe a police officer than a woman without any identification. She reached for the door handle, but Charles grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.

He slapped handcuffs around one wrist, through the steering wheel and around the other.

"I'll be right back with those crackers."

He got out of the car, closed the door behind him, and blind, unreasoning panic threatened to overwhelm her. She yanked futilely on the cuffs, knowing she had no chance to escape.

Stop it
! she ordered herself. Be calm and think!

If only the car would refuse to start when he came out. Then he'd have to call a tow truck. That would get them out of the patrol car and into the truck with the driver. That would give her a chance.

But she couldn't count on a miracle to save her. She had to make her own miracles. She had to disable the car.

How could she do that? The only thing she could reach was the steering wheel, and she'd already tried unsuccessfully to break that.

No, that wasn't all. She could reach the pedals with her feet. She could reach the turn indicator, the gear shift, the ignition. For a split second, hope surged, that she could steal the key. But he'd taken it with him. A cop. He knew all the tricks.

If he couldn't put the key back in that hole...

As a teenager, she'd lost the key to her diary and had tried to pick the lock with a bobby pin. The plastic tip had come off inside and even when she'd found the key, she'd been unable to open it, had resorted to cutting the plastic tab.

She lowered her head to the steering wheel so she could reach her hair with both her hands then found three pins. If only Charles didn't come back too soon!

With her teeth, she loosened one plastic tip then shoved it in the hole, wiggled it and withdrew the pin leaving the tip inside. She did the same with the other end of that pin then repeated the procedure with the second pin.

Before she could use the third one, Charles came out the door of the station. She lowered her head so fast it hit the steering wheel. If there was pain, she refused to acknowledge it as she frantically shoved all the pins back into her hair, the sharp edges of two of them scraping her scalp.

Looking up, she erased all expression from her face. Her heart was pounding so hard she feared it would leap from her chest. She couldn't seem to make it slow, but she could keep Charles from knowing.

He slid into the car, unlocked her cuffs and handed her a box of saltine crackers. "Don't get crumbs in my car."

Forcing herself to look away from him as he tried to start the car, she opened the box, took out a cracker and nibbled though her mouth was so dry she knew she'd never be able to swallow it.

She lifted her head and looked at him. "Why would I do anything? I told you, I don't want your child. Anyway, you had me handcuffed. What could I do?"

He glared at her, then jiggled the gear shift and tried the key again.

After several minutes, he was perspiring. "I know you did something, but it's not going to help you. You've slowed things down. That's all. Put off the inevitable. All I have to do is radio in and have them send out a tow truck. We'll ride back with in the cab, you in handcuffs as my prisoner. Then we'll get the tow truck operator to drop us off at Sam Wilcox's office."

"Dr. Wilcox?" she blurted in shock. "He's my doctor! He delivered me. He did my pregnancy test! Why would he—" She shook her head, unable to complete the horrible thought.

"The good doctor got greedy. He saw a chance to make a little extra money what with everybody wanting drugs and him having access to them. Fortunately for him, I was the one who caught him, and I'm a reasonable man. I did him a favor, now he does favors for me. You could say we're
friends
."

If Charles had a man like Sam Wilcox under his thumb, how far did his power reach? How far would she have to go to get away from him?

Twenty long minutes later a city-owned tow truck pulled up. Charles cuffed her with her hands in her lap and got out to talk to the driver.

Another patrol car arrived and parked behind the tow truck. The door opened, and Clyde Hartman stepped out.

Thank God! Clyde knew her! He'd save her!

She opened her mouth to call to him, then closed it. If Charles had control of Dr. Wilcox, he doubtless had Clyde, too. Hadn't Clyde let him take her to that woman for an abortion?

The three men talked, and she heard Charles explaining the problem with the ignition. Clyde separated from the trio and started toward her. Charles grabbed his arm, and he stopped.

"Trust me," Charles said with a laugh. "I tried everything."

"I trust you Charles. I just want to take a quick look. I used to work on cars a lot before I joined the force. Souping them up, making hot rods out of Chevys."

Clyde shook off Charles' arm and continued toward the car. He opened the door and started to slide in, then stopped. "Mary!" His broad face broke into a smile, and it was the most beautiful sight Mary had ever seen.