The Chase (35 page)

“Oh my God.” Anne sank back in the chair.

“Anne, I’m concerned that I haven’t been able to get in touch with Doug. I’ve also tried to reach Mike, the guard who’s with him, but I haven’t been able to get him on his cell.”

Anne clutched the arm of the chair. “Do you think something’s happened to Doug?”

“No, I’m not saying that. I just want Doug to know about this as soon as possible.”

“Me, too.” The phone shook in Anne’s hand and she paused and took a deep breath. “I’ll call Richard’s farm right now and see if Doug’s there.”

“Great. If you reach him before I do, would you ask him to have Mike call me?” Patrick asked.

“Sure.”

“All right. And, Anne, there’s something else you and Doug should know.”

She gripped the phone tighter. “What?”

“McGraw is armed.”

A
nne ended the call and turned to Ben. “That was Patrick Talbot on the phone. He told me about Zeb McGraw.”

Ben stepped forward. “Mrs. Cummings, I’m sure the news of McGraw’s escape comes as quite a shock to you, but I want to assure you that we’ll do all we can to keep you and your family safe. Zeb McGraw is probably miles away by now, but even if he were to make his way here, there are plenty of guards patrolling the farm. And Charly and I will be stationed here in the house.”

The woman gave a quick nod. “Hello, Mrs. Cummings. I’m Charly.”

“Nice to meet you, Charly.” Anne turned to Ben. “Do you need me to show you around the house?”

Ben gestured towards the phone in her hand. “It sounds like you need to call Mr. Cummings. We’re fine on our own, if that’s all right with you.”

Anne nodded. “Samantha’s in bed upstairs. Her room is the second door on the right. Would you mind keeping an eye on her until I get up there? I know her room is on the second floor, but still….”

“Of course, I understand,” Ben said. “I’ll stay with Samantha, since she knows me, and Charly will be down here.”

Anne nodded. “I’ll be in the study, if you need me.”

She found Richard Evan Clarke’s barn phone number in Doug’s Rolodex and pressed the numbers on the cordless phone.

It rang six times and then a breathless voice with a British accent said, “Hello, Old Mill Farm. This is Sara speaking.”

“Hello, Sara. This is Anne Cummings. I’m looking for my husband. Is he there?”

“He sure is. Mr. Cummings arrived here just a little while ago with Chancellor. Would you like to speak with him?”

Anne let out a sigh of relief and sank into Doug’s desk chair. “Yes, please, Sara.”

“Okay, hold on a moment while I fetch him. He’s outside grazing Chancellor.”

The line was silent for several moments, except for an occasional whinny, and then Anne heard the sound of footsteps on the brick aisle.

“You’re not in labor, are you?”

Anne breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of Doug’s voice. “No, I’m not in labor.”

“Okay, good. You had me scared for a minute. What’s up?”

Anne hesitated.
How should she tell him?

“Anne?”

She drew in a sharp breath. “Doug, I have to tell you something.”

“Are you crying?”

“No,” she said, lying.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Then, before she could respond, he said, “Oh God, is it Samantha?”

“No, she’s fine,” she said quickly.

“Then what is it?”

Anne leaned her head back against the chair and closed her eyes. “Zeb McGraw escaped from jail this morning.”

“That can’t be!”

“I wish you were right, but Patrick Talbot just called here and gave me the news.”

“
Holy Christ
. I don’t believe it. How did he escape?”

“I don’t know. Patrick didn’t have any details, just that McGraw escaped and he’s armed.”

There was a long pause. “Are you and Sam at home?”

“Yes.”

“Is there a guard in the house with you?”

“Two. And Patrick wants you to tell Mike to call him.”

“All right. I’m on my way home.”

K
endall succumbed to the numbness that crept through her body and wondered fleetingly if she were going into shock.

“Hey, I asked you for the gate code,” Earl shouted.

She was lying on the floor in the back of a painting contractor’s van, the third vehicle Earl had carjacked since leaving the accident scene.

Kendall didn’t bother to raise her head. “One, two, three, four, pound.”

McGraw snorted. “That’s a stupid security code.”

“No shit,” Earl replied.

Kendall closed her eyes and concentrated on the rhythmic crunching sound of the tires on the gravel drive.

“Look at that motherfucker of a house,” McGraw said.

“Yeah, these people are rolling in dough. Too bad we don’t got one of their kids.”

McGraw laughed. “Maybe we can kidnap one of their horses.”

“This is it,” Earl said, bringing the van to a stop. “Keep an eye on her. I’m going to go push the button to raise the door.”

“She don’t look like she’s going nowhere.”

“Don’t underestimate her.”

Kendall opened her eyes and the interior of the van seemed to swim around her in a circular motion, triggering a surge of nausea. She forced herself to focus on a spot on the dashboard until the rotation stopped and her stomach settled.

“Well, well, look who’s awake,” McGraw said.

Without moving her head, Kendall shifted her gaze to Zeb McGraw, who was leering at her from the passenger seat. His pale green eyes protruded from sunken eye sockets, and as he winked at her, Kendall closed her eyes again.

She heard Earl climb back into the car, and McGraw said, “Sleeping Beauty’s awake. I think she and I may have some fun together later.”

Earl grunted in response and drove the van into the garage.

They both got out of the vehicle and Kendall heard McGraw say, “Hey, sis, you’re looking good.”

Zelda laughed. “You could use a little sunshine, bro.”

So, Zelda was Zeb McGraw’s sister, not his wife
, Kendall thought. That meant Zach was McGraw’s nephew.

“Hey, babe, everything go okay here?” Earl asked.

“Her damned cell phone rang a couple of times,” Zelda said. “But other than that, things have been quiet.”

“That’s good,” Earl said. “They must have figured out the bus never arrived.”

“Are we going to call them?”

“Not yet. We’ll let them sweat for a couple of hours first; then Zeb’ll make the call.”

Kendall heard the back doors of the van open and light streamed across the floor.

“Come on, time to get up,” Earl said, grabbing Kendall’s leg.

She turned towards Earl and sat up slowly, seeing two images of Earl float dizzily before her as she inched her way to the door.

He tugged on her leg. “Come on, we don’t got all day.”

“I’m dizzy,” Kendall said, slowly lowering her feet to the ground.

Earl pulled her from the van and gripped her by the elbow. “You’ll get over it.”

“Hey, where’s Zach?” Zelda asked, sticking her head inside the van.

Earl steered Kendall towards the storage room. “Zach stayed in the car and faked being hurt so we could get away.”

Kendall stared openmouthed at Earl and he jerked her arm and muttered, “Keep your mouth shut.”

Zelda whirled towards McGraw. “Zeb, you son of a bitch, you left my kid behind?”

“Chill out, sis. I didn’t even know Zach was in the fucking car.”

“It was Zach’s idea,” Earl said over his shoulder. “He’s going to make a run for it from the hospital.”

“That wasn’t our plan,” Zelda called after him.

Earl opened the door to the storage room. “Well, babe, the plan changed.”

T
he phone rang while Anne was warming soup for Samantha, but it stopped after the second ring, so she assumed that Doug had answered it. A moment later, he appeared in the kitchen, holding the cordless phone.

“Anne, it’s Margaret on the phone. She wants to know if you’ve heard from Kendall this morning.”

“Not since I called her to tell her that Samantha was sick. Why?”

Doug raised the phone to his ear. “Anne hasn’t heard from her, Margaret.”

He nodded, his mouth set in a firm line. “Yes, I think you should call the Sheriff’s Office.”

Anne stopped stirring the soup and walked over to Doug.

“All right, Margaret. Please keep us informed. And call us if there is anything we can do.” Doug pushed the button to end the call and set the phone on the kitchen table.

“What’s wrong?” Anne asked.

He shifted her, so she stood in front of him, and put both hands on her shoulders. “The bus for the field trip never arrived in Gettysburg, and Margaret can’t reach Kendall on her cell phone. Margaret heard Kendall tell you this morning that she would call to check up on Samantha, so she was calling to see if you had heard from her.”

Anne felt as if someone had knocked the wind out of her. “
The whole busload of kids is missing?”

He nodded grimly. “Or at least out of contact.”

She covered her mouth with her hands. “Samantha was supposed to be on that bus.”

“I know.”

“Do you think this has anything to do with …”

“McGraw? Let’s not jump to conclusions, Anne. I hope there’s a simple explanation, like the bus just broke down somewhere and Kendall’s out of cell phone range.”

Doug’s tone was reassuring, but one look at him told Anne he, too, was fighting back panic.

K
endall knelt down next to the kids, who were huddled beside Albert on a pile of horse blankets. “Are you girls okay?”

“Yes, except we’re starving,” Caitlin said.

Kendall sighed deeply and sat on a blanket. “I’m hungry, too,” she said, leaning her head against the wall.

“You look a little peaked. Are you all right?” Albert asked.

Kendall glanced at the girls. “I’m okay. I hurt my arm.”

“Is it this arm?” Caitlin asked, placing her hand on Kendall’s left arm.

Kendall jumped. “Ow! Yes. That’s the one.”

“It’s all purple.”

“And you have a big bump on your head,” Emma said, pointing to the left side of Kendall’s forehead.