The Chase (37 page)

“Yes. I called Kendall about an hour or so later to see how it was going. I had an appointment to show a horse to a customer and was going to be busy for a while, so I thought I’d call and check in before I got all involved.”

“And did you reach her?”

“Yes. Kendall said that everything was fine except that one of the girls had been carsick.”

“And was that the last time you spoke with her?”

Margaret frowned. “Yes. Then a little after noon, I received a call from the Land of Little Horses inquiring why they hadn’t arrived at their reserved time. So I tried to reach Kendall on her cell phone several times, but I didn’t get an answer.”

Lieutenant Mallory paused and read over the notes on his pad. “Okay, can you think of anyone who was at the farm today who was not ordinarily there? Or anyone who was normally there who did not show up today? Other than Elizabeth, that is.”

Margaret thought for a moment. “I haven’t seen Jake yet today, but he doesn’t really have any set work hours.”

“Who’s Jake?”

“He’s been riding some horses for me.”

“What’s his last name?”

“Dawson. Jake Dawson.”

Lieutenant Mallory wrote on his notepad. “How long has he been employed by you?”

“About a week.”

The lieutenant regarded her thoughtfully. “That’s interesting. None of these people, Jake Dawson, Todd Rucker, or Elizabeth Carey, has worked for you very long.”

Margaret shrugged. “That’s not unusual. The horse business has a very high turnover rate. I’ve resigned myself to it after all these years.”

“True. Still, it’s worth noting,” Lieutenant Mallory replied. “How did you meet Mr. Dawson?”

“I met him through Kendall.”

Doug spoke up. “He saved my horse’s life, Lieutenant. Jake was driving by when I had the car accident we told you about. He stopped and helped with my horse. Jake met Kendall afterwards, at the Equine Medical Center.”

Lieutenant Mallory tapped his pen against the pad. “Very interesting.”

“What are you thinking?” Anne asked.

“I just think it’s an odd coincidence that Mr. Dawson showed up, essentially out of nowhere, and now Miss Waters appears to have been taken hostage, Miss Carey is missing, and Mr. Dawson didn’t show up for work today.”

Patrick leaned forward in his chair. “I’m on the same wavelength as you with that line of thinking, Lieutenant Mallory. In fact, I ran a background check on Jake Dawson just a couple of days ago, because I thought his sudden appearance in the area when these incidents started happening to Doug and Anne seemed suspicious.”

“Did you find anything?”

Patrick shook his head. “The preliminary results came up clean, but I went ahead and requested documentation, which I haven’t received yet.”

“Sounds like we need to check him out.” The lieutenant turned back to Margaret. “Can you think of anything else, Mrs. Southwell?”

“No, sir, I can’t.”

Lieutenant Mallory stood up. “All right. We need to contact the children’s parents, and then I’m going to request that an Amber Alert be issued.”

Z
elda handed Zeb the pair of jeans and T-shirt she’d packed for him. “Here. I brought these for you.”

Zeb took the jeans, but made a face at the black T-shirt. “What’s with the Goth shirt? They have a special on these down at Wal-Mart or something?”

Zelda scowled. “Just be happy you don’t have to wear stripes no more.”

Zeb grumbled as he changed into the jeans and T-shirt, then announced he was going outside to scout around. Zelda closed the door behind him and climbed aboard the bus, where Earl sat in the driver’s seat. She pressed her chest against Earl’s shoulder and slid her arms around him as he twirled the radio dial.

“Not now,” he said, pushing her hands away.

“Aw, come on, Earl.” She ran her tongue slowly down the side of his neck until she reached the hollow spot at the base of his throat. “Let’s have some fun.”

“I want to hear the news first.” He continued to fiddle with the dial, but he didn’t make any attempt to stop her from sucking on his neck.

The crackly voice of the deejay announced that the news was next, and Earl turned up the volume.

Earl pulled her around so she was sitting on his lap. “Listen to this, babe. You might hear your name on the radio.”

A male voice boomed over the radio. “We have breaking news to report from Loudoun County, Virginia. This just in: A prisoner has escaped from the Loudoun County Jail. The Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that inmate Zeb McGraw, awaiting trial on murder and kidnapping charges, escaped shortly before noon today. We have a live report now from Joan LeGraff, who’s on the scene in Leesburg. Joan, what can you tell us?”

“Hello, Brian. I’m live at the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Leesburg, where Sheriff Fred Boling just issued a statement telling us that Zeb McGraw managed to escape from custody today while being transported by ambulance to the Loudoun Hospital Center. The ambulance McGraw was riding in was involved in what is assumed to have been a staged car accident. During the aftermath of the collision, a sheriff’s deputy was overpowered by a man who is thought to be an accomplice of McGraw’s, and McGraw was able to escape.”

“Any word on the identity of the accomplice?”

“Yes, Brian. An identification has been made from a police sketch, and the accomplice is believed to be a man by the name of Stephen Lloyd.”

Zelda stared at Earl. “
Who?”

“That’s my fake name.”

She scowled. “Now you’re screwed. You need to get new fake ID.”

Earl held his hand up to silence her. “Shhh. I’ve already got another one. Now listen up.”

The woman reporter was talking. “Authorities are advising local residents to be on the lookout for McGraw and Lloyd, who were last seen in a late-model brown Toyota Camry. Both men are considered armed and dangerous.”

“Joan, if a listener thinks he or she has seen these men, is there a number to call?”

“Yes. People should call the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office with any information. Also, Brian, the Sheriff’s Office is seeking information regarding two other individuals who were at the scene of the accident. An unidentified woman was seen fleeing the scene with the prisoner, and although the Sheriff’s Office is not commenting on who she might be or what role she may have played in the escape, they have confirmed that the vehicle used in the crash was registered to Zeb McGraw’s sister, Zelda McGraw. There was also a young male in the crash vehicle—”

Earl punched the power button and turned off the radio. “You’re famous, babe.”

“Hey, why’d you turn it off?” Zelda reached for the dial. “She was getting ready to say something about Zach.”

She turned the radio back on in time to hear the woman say, “—critical condition.”

“Thank you, Joan, for that report. We will keep our listeners informed as details become available on this important local story. Now, coming up, traffic and weather on the nines.”

Zelda felt blood rush to her face and she punched the power button on the radio. “She said
critical condition
! Was she talking about Zach? You told me he wasn’t hurt.”

“He wasn’t,” Earl said, sliding his hand up under her T-shirt. “He’s faking it, just like Zeb did at the jail.”

“Hey.” She pushed his hand away. “Are you lying to me?”

Earl put his hand back and covered her mouth with his. “I wouldn’t lie to you, babe. You know that.”

A
loud pounding echoed through the garage and Earl jumped up and grabbed his gun off the dashboard.

“What the hell is that?” he asked, zipping his pants.

“It’s probably Zeb.” Zelda tugged her denim skirt down and retrieved her underwear from the aisle. “I locked the door after he went out.”

Earl ran to the door and peered through the glass panel. “Damn it, Zeb, you’re lucky I didn’t blow your brains out,” he said, yanking open the door.

“What the fuck did you lock me out for?” Zeb asked, slightly out of breath.

Earl didn’t answer him. “Where’ve you been?”

“I was scouting the farm out. There’s a power line that runs behind the back of the farm, and there’s a gate leading to it from the horse pasture. I think we should leave a vehicle back there, just in case we need to make a run for it.”

Earl stared at him thoughtfully. “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea.” He pointed to the green truck in the center of the garage. “Let’s stash the truck in the back of the farm. That way, if someone sees it, they won’t think nothing about it being there.”

He opened the driver’s door on the truck and turned to Zelda. “Open the door, babe.”

Zeb headed for the bus and Earl scowled at him. “Hey, Zeb, you think I’m going to walk back? Get in the car and follow me.”

Zeb snorted. “What, is it too much for you? I just ran there and back.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t spent the last nine months locked up with nothing to do but work out all day,” Earl replied, climbing into the truck and slamming the door.

Zeb didn’t make a move towards the car. He eyed Zelda. “Fucking asshole. Who put him in charge?”

“Cut him some slack, Zeb. Earl’s been working real hard planning all this. He got you out of jail, didn’t he?”

Zeb gave her a cold stare. “I planned the jail break. All Earl did was help me out. And don’t you forget that, little sister. I’m the one calling the shots around here.”

Zelda rolled her eyes. “Okay, Zeb. Whatever. Just go follow Earl, so he can drop the truck off like you said he should.”

Zeb moved towards the car. “Yeah, you got it. Like I said he should.”

Once both vehicles were out, Zelda closed the garage door and grabbed a can of soda and a bag of chips from the bus, then stood by the door, chewing thoughtfully on the chips as she watched for them to return. It wasn’t a good sign that Zeb and Earl were already going at each other.

She saw a cloud of dust in the drive as the car sped towards her, and she pushed the button to raise the garage door. Zeb was at the wheel, and Zelda could tell from his pissed-off expression that things still weren’t going real great between him and Earl.

Both men climbed out of the car without speaking, and Zelda held the bag of chips out. “Hey, I got some of the kids’ food. Want something?”

Earl walked right past her and snatched Kendall’s cell phone off the dash of the bus. “It’s time for Zeb to make the call.”

Zeb’s face reddened and contorted into a scowl. “
It’s time for Zeb to make the call,”
he mimicked.

Earl snorted. “What’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem? What’s my fucking problem? I’ll tell you what my problem is.
You
. You’re my problem. Because somewhere along the way you got confused, and now you think you’re running things.” Zeb kicked a soda can towards the back of the garage. “And if those pigeons don’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to blow them away.”

Earl flashed a look at Zelda and held his hands up. “Hey, Zeb, chill. You’re still the man. I’m just trying to help you out here.”

“Yeah, uh-huh.” Zeb swaggered towards Earl. “You’re trying to help me out.”

Earl held the phone out. “Here you go. You decide when you want to make the call.”

Zeb grabbed the phone. “You got that right. I’ll make the call when I decide it’s time to make the call.”

He stared back and forth from Earl to Zelda for a few moments, breathing heavily. Finally, he looked at the phone. “What’s the fucking phone number?”

Earl gave him a superior smile. “It’s on speed dial. Oh, by the way, Zeb, there’s one bit of info you should know before you call Cummings.”

“Yeah, what’s that?” Zeb scrolled through the stored numbers on the cell.

“We don’t have his kid.”