The Chase (32 page)

“Hey!” Stephen grabbed her chin roughly and forced her to look at him. “You blew me off last night, but you’re not going to get away with it today. You look at me when I’m talking to you.”

The bitter taste of bile rose in Kendall’s throat, but she looked him in the eye.

Stephen smirked. “That’s better.” He loosened his grasp and caressed her cheek before releasing his hold on her.

Kendall flinched and he gave a low laugh. “What’s the matter, you don’t like it when I touch you? You better get used to it, because you and I are going to be spending some time together.”

“Earl!” Zelda yelled, slamming on the brakes and bringing the bus to a sudden halt.

Stephen turned slowly towards Zelda. “What?”

Zelda scowled at him in the mirror. “I was talking to you.”

“Sorry, babe. I was busy with Kendall.”

Zelda opened her mouth as if to respond, then closed it and gave him an icy stare. “When you have time to focus back on
business
, just let me know.”

Stephen snickered and glanced out the window. “Zach’s got the door closed,” he said, rising and springing towards the steps. “Get the kids off the bus and into the storage room.”

Zelda jumped up from her seat and waved her arm at Kendall. “You heard Earl. Get the kids off the bus.”

Kendall stared at Stephen’s retreating back.
Earl
. So Stephen Lloyd wasn’t his real name. She wondered if he was a McGraw, too. She rose slowly and turned towards the back of the bus. “Come on, girls. We’re going to get off the bus for a little while.”

“Are we at the Land of Little Horses?” Caitlin asked.

Kendall shook her head. “No.”

“Should I bring my backpack and my lunch box?” Emma asked.

“No, just leave everything on the bus,” Kendall said, ushering the girls up the aisle.

Zelda stood at the front of the bus, waving her arm impatiently. “Come on, get them moving.”

Kendall followed the girls off the bus, with Zelda right on her heels. She reached for the girls, gathering them around her. “Stay right here with me.”

Zelda snapped her fingers at Zach. “Earl wants them in the storage room.”

Zach steered Kendall towards an open doorway in the corner of the large garage. “Over there.”

When they reached the doorway, Kendall motioned for the kids to go in. “Come on, let’s go in here, like Mrs. White said.” Several of the girls walked into the room, but Emma and Caitlin held back.

“I don’t want to,” Emma said. “It’s dark in there.”

“I don’t, either. I want to go see the little horses,” Caitlin said.

“We can’t see the horses right now,” Kendall said, giving them a gentle push on their backs. “Go on.”

Emma planted her feet and didn’t move. “But why, Miss Waters?”

Kendall saw Zach raise the gun and take a step towards them, and she grabbed Emma’s hand and dragged her though the door. “Emma, just do as I say!”

“Stop. You’re hurting me,” Emma cried.

The light from the garage spilled into the long closetlike room, and Kendall could make out piles of winter horse blankets folded neatly on shelves along one wall. The opposite side was lined with foldout chrome blanket racks, and a bandage box was attached to the end wall.

Kendall sat on the floor beneath the blanket racks and pulled Emma onto her lap. She gestured to the other girls to sit next to her. “Come on, everyone, sit close to me.”

Zach closed the door behind them with a loud thunk, plunging them into darkness.

E
mma threw her arms around Kendall’s neck. “I’m scared,” she whispered.

Kendall felt several small hands grab her arms.

“What’s that spooky noise?” Caitlin asked. “It sounds like a ghost.”

Kendall stroked Emma’s hair. “Shhh, it’s okay. Don’t be scared. The sound you hear is just pigeons cooing. There is a big pigeon house at the back of this building.”

“Why did they make us come in here?” Emma asked, sniffling.

Kendall hesitated.
What should she tell the kids?
“I think they are playing some kind of game with us.”

“I don’t like this game,” Emma said.

“Me neither,” several other voices chimed in.

Neither do I
, Kendall thought grimly.

“I don’t like Mrs. White,” Caitlin said. “I think she’s mean.”

“Listen, I have an idea,” Kendall said, struggling to keep the tremor out of her voice. “Why don’t we tell stories? Does anyone know a good one?”

“You tell us one, Miss Waters,” Emma said.

“All right. Let me see; how about the story of the Midnight Pony? Come on, everyone snuggle close.”

Kendall embellished the story and tried to drag it out as long as she could, but after awhile the girls started to get restless.

“I’m hungry,” Emma said. “Is it lunchtime yet?”

Kendall raised her wrist to within a few inches of her face and peered at the dial of her Rolex. She was surprised to see the faint glow of the hands reveal that it was only ten-thirty. It seemed as if they had been locked in the closet for hours, but in reality it probably hadn’t been more than thirty minutes.

“It’s not quite time for lunch yet, Emma,” she said.

Emma squirmed on her lap. “I don’t want to be on the field trip anymore, Miss Waters. I want to go home now.”

Kendall heard the sound of raised voices outside the doorway. She stretched her arms out in the darkness and drew the girls closer to her. “Come on, everyone, let’s hold hands.”

The door burst open and Zach appeared. He motioned towards Kendall. “Come on.”

“Let’s go, girls,” Kendall said.

Zach shook his head. “Not the kids. Just you.”

Kendall tightened her embrace around the girls. “I’m not leaving them alone here in the dark.”

“Oh yeah?” Zach put his hand on the gun that was tucked into the waistband of his jeans.

“All right,” Kendall said, quickly removing Emma from her lap and rising to her feet. “But please turn a light on. Or at least give them a flashlight.”

Zach glared at her, but he flipped a switch outside the door, which illuminated a fluorescent light in the center of the room.

“Thank you,” Kendall said, stepping around the girls and walking towards him. “Girls, I’ll be back soon.”

Emma reached her hand out. “Miss Waters, please don’t leave us all alone.”

But before Kendall could respond, Zach pulled her through the doorway and slammed the door shut. Kendall glared at him. “Zach, the kids are terrified. Why are you doing this?”

“Stop dicking around, Zach, and get on over here with her,” Zelda bellowed from somewhere across the room.

Zach pushed Kendall ahead of him towards where the bus and blue car were parked in the center of the garage. “Get moving.”

The garage appeared to be deserted, but Kendall quickly scanned the area, trying to determine where Zelda was. They rounded the front end of the bus, and Kendall saw Zelda standing before a man who lay on the floor with his hands tied behind his back. The man was facing away from Kendall, but she was pretty sure, even from the back, that he was Albert, the Worthing tons’ farm manager.

Zelda’s arms were folded across her chest and her mouth was twisted into an ugly scowl. “There are two ways we can do this, mister. You can go ahead and cooperate, and things’ll be easy for you, or you can give us a hard time, and Zach here will have to do some convincing.”

The man didn’t respond, and as Zach and Kendall drew close, Zelda looked at Kendall and shook her head. “This man here don’t seem so smart about cooperating with us like you’ve been doing, camp counselor. I’ll give you one minute here to try to talk some sense into him.”

Zelda grabbed Kendall’s arm and thrust her to the ground in front of the man.

Kendall gasped. It was Albert all right. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and blood oozed from both nostrils. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Albert, are you all right?”

Albert rolled his head back slightly so he could see her out of his good eye. “I’m doing about as well as you could expect, considering these thugs here think they can just waltz in and make themselves at home at High Meadow.”

“See what I mean?” Zelda snapped. “I don’t think Albert here understands the seriousness of the situation. Zach, go ahead and show him we mean business.”

“Wait.” Kendall held her hand up. “Don’t hurt him again. Let me talk to him.”

Zach looked at Zelda, who nodded, and Kendall let out a sigh of relief. “Tell me what you want from Albert.”

“For starters, we need to know what vehicles are on the farm and where the keys are at,” Zelda said.

Albert simply grunted in response and Kendall leaned closer to him. “Albert, I know you want to do your job to protect High Meadow, but there’s more at risk here than just property. There are seven little girls locked up in the storage room, and you and I need to do whatever we can to make sure they get back home safely to their parents.”

“That’s right. You listen up to what she says,” Zelda said.

Albert glared at Zelda, then focused on Kendall. “What’s the guarantee they’re going to release the kids?”

There is no guarantee
, she thought. But the alternative was unthinkable. Kendall swallowed hard and looked at Zelda. “Will you let us go if Albert tells you about the vehicles?”

Zelda’s lip curled into a snide smile. “I ain’t promising that, but it’d be a good start. If you both play this right, you and the kids will get out of here just fine. We don’t want to hurt nobody, do we, Zach?”

Zach shrugged. “Not unless we have to.”

Kendall squeezed Albert’s shoulder. “Please, Albert, tell them.”

Albert wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. “There’s the farm truck. It’s parked behind the barn. And I have an old Toyota Camry. It’s got some miles on it, but it runs good. If you need transportation, take it.”

“Where’s it at?” Zelda asked.

“My house,” Albert said. “Farther down the drive, past the equipment shed.”

Zelda nodded at Zach. “Go check both of them out. Earl’s outside. He’ll go with you.”

“Where are the keys at?” Zach asked.

Albert lowered his gaze towards the jumble of keys dangling from his belt.

“I’ll get it,” Kendall said quickly, unsnapping the key ring.

Zach snatched it from her hand. “See you in a few,” he said to Zelda.

Z
elda had untied Albert’s hands and begrudgingly agreed to let Kendall wash off Albert’s face, but she was perched on a nearby tack trunk, smoking a cigarette, with her gun pointed at them.

“Do you know what they’re after?” Albert asked in a low voice, standing tall as Kendall wet a rub rag in the sink and dabbed at his nose.

“No, but I know who they are, and they’re not people we want to mess with,” she said quietly.

Kendall wiped harder and winced as Albert’s nose made a crunching sound. “I’m sorry.”

Albert flinched but squared his shoulders and didn’t say anything.

“Did Zach do this to you?” she asked.

“No, it was the big guy. I think they called him Earl.”

Kendall shuddered.
Earl
. She had to stop thinking of him as Stephen Lloyd.

Albert squinted at her. “Did they hurt you or any of the kids?”

“No, and I hope they won’t harm us as long as we comply with their demands.”

Albert set his jaw and looked at Zelda out of the corner of his good eye. “Until they don’t need us no more. Then what will they do with us?”

Kendall didn’t answer. She rinsed the rag in clean water and handed it to him, then turned to Zelda. “There’s ice in the cooler on the bus. Can I get some to put on his eye to take the swelling down?”

“I ain’t worried about his eye,” Zelda said, exhaling a cloud of smoke as she stood and pushed the button to raise the garage door.

Kendall heard the sound of tires on the gravel drive, and a moment later Earl drove a green truck through the open door, followed by a brown Toyota Camry with Zach at the wheel. Both vehicles rolled to a stop beside the blue car and Earl and Zach climbed out.

Zelda pointed to the words
High Meadow
written in white on the side of the truck and snorted. “Ain’t it kind of like advertising where we’re at if you take that?”