The Chase (38 page)

T
he girls’ parents were assembled in the living room, waiting to hear from Lieutenant Mallory, but when the lieutenant arrived, he drew Doug aside.

“I’d like to speak with you and Mrs. Cummings privately first, if I may.”

“Sure, let’s go to the study.”

Once they were seated, the lieutenant said, “I’m afraid I have bad news. The body of the bus driver, Louise Parker, was found just about an hour ago, behind a storage shed at the Greenfield Academy.”

Anne buried her face against Doug’s shoulder. “Oh my God.”

“How did she die?” Doug asked, putting his arms around Anne.

“She had a single gunshot wound to the head.” The lieutenant glanced at Anne. “And she had a note stabbed to her chest with a Buck knife. It read, ‘Don’t fuck with us.’”

“Jesus, they killed her as a warning.”

The lieutenant nodded and gestured in the direction of the living room. “I’m sure they are going to be even more terrified for their daughters’ safety when I tell them about Mrs. Parker’s death. I’ve already told Dr. Carey, and he took it real hard.”

“Do you have any leads on Elizabeth?”

“Yes. Dr. Carey told us that Elizabeth left home around seven o’clock this morning to go to the farm and prepare for the field trip. He said she received a ride from a young man she worked with, named Todd.”

Anne frowned. “But didn’t Margaret tell us Todd agreed to go on the field trip because he felt so badly about Elizabeth not showing up for work?”

Lieutenant Mallory gave a grim nod. “That’s right.”

“So, Todd was in on this,” Doug said.

“It certainly looks that way.”

“Do you think Todd is the boy in the car who was injured?” Anne asked.

“Quite possibly. We still have no ID on the young man. We ran his prints, but we came up blank. And he doesn’t appear to have had any dental work done, so we can’t get an ID from that. I’m going to ask Mrs. Southwell to pay a visit to the hospital and see if she can identify him. I’m also trying to track down a photo of Zelda McGraw’s son, Zach.”

“Is he still in critical condition?”

The lieutenant nodded.

There was a knock on the door and a deputy stuck his head in. “Excuse me, Lieutenant Mallory, but some information just came in that I thought you’d want to know about right away.”

“Come on in. What do you have?”

The deputy handed him a sheet of paper. “This is a copy of Jake Dawson’s birth certificate. Look at who’s listed as his father.”

Lieutenant Mallory studied the paper for a moment, then closed his eyes and shook his head. “Patrick Talbot was right.”

“Whose name is listed?” Doug asked.

The lieutenant handed the sheet of paper to Doug. “Zebulon McGraw.”

Doug narrowed his eyes as he studied the birth certificate. “
Jake is Zeb McGraw’s son?”

“I can’t believe that Jake is part of this.” Anne held Doug’s arm and looked at the paper.

Lieutenant Mallory turned to the deputy. “Let’s get an APB out on Dawson.”

“Yes, sir, right away. Also, sir, we got positive ID on the fingerprints from the accident car and the ambulance. The man previously identified as Stephen Lloyd is Earl Davis. Davis was released from jail last winter after serving time for embezzlement and grand theft.” The deputy handed another sheet of paper to Lieutenant Mallory.

The lieutenant read the document. “I see Davis served time in D.C., so that doesn’t explain his connection to McGraw.”

Anne sat forward. “Maybe it does.”

“How so?”

“That’s where Zeb McGraw’s brother, Zeke, was in prison.”

The lieutenant looked at the deputy. “See if Davis and Zeke McGraw served time together.”

“Yes, sir.” The deputy walked briskly towards the door.

The lieutenant turned back to Anne and Doug. “There’s one more bit of information I want to pass on. Mrs. Southwell checked out the cottage Jake Dawson had been staying in and found that he had cleared out all his belongings. The only thing he left behind was a man’s shirt with a note on it that read, ‘Thanks. It’s time for me to move on.’”

Anne looked at Doug. “That’s probably the shirt you gave Jake to wear the night of the fire.”

Doug nodded.

She thought it over. “If Jake is involved with McGraw, why would he bother to write a note like that?”

Doug shook his head and sighed deeply. “I don’t know, Anne.”

“By the way,” Lieutenant Mallory said, “I understand Chester Rawls is the FBI agent who handled the McGraw case last time. I received word a little while ago that he’s going to be heading up the FBI team on this investigation.”

“That’s good news,” Doug said. “Will he be here for the meeting?”

The lieutenant shook his head. “No, they’re pulling him in from the West Coast, so he’s taking the red-eye tonight. He’ll be here tomorrow morning.”

Lieutenant Mallory stood up. “I dread doing it, but I’d better get out there and brief the parents.”

Z
eb
narrowed his eyes at Earl. “What do you mean, you don’t have the Cummings kid?”

“She didn’t show up for camp today.”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me before?”

Earl shrugged. “What difference does it make? It don’t really change anything. We’ve got the rest of the kids. We’ll still get the money.”

“The hell it don’t change nothing! What about Cummings?”

“What about him?”

“We was supposed to make Cummings pay.”

“Who gives a shit where the money comes from?”

“I’m not talking about the money.” Spit flew from Zeb’s mouth. “I’m talking about making Cummings suffer.”

“That’s your problem. I came on board to help spring you from jail and wind up with some dough. I don’t give a shit about Cummings or whether he suffers.”

“Well I do!”

Zelda placed herself between the two of them, warding off a fight. “Hey, Earl, what about everything Zach did to scare Cummings so he’d cooperate with us? What’s the payoff for that now?”

Earl stared thoughtfully at her. “How about if Zeb tells Cummings
he
has to be the one to deliver the ransom money? Zeb can do whatever he wants with Cummings after we get the dough.”

“Why would Cummings agree to that?” Zelda asked.

Earl smirked. “Because Cummings is such a fine, upstanding citizen, he’ll probably feel guilty that the kids got kidnapped because of him, even though he’s happy that his kid is safe at home. I bet he’ll do whatever Zeb tells him to, to save the rest of the kids.”

Zelda looked at Zeb. “What do you think, bro?”

Zeb’s mouth twisted into a grin and he pressed the speed-dial button on the cell phone.

T
he spacious living room was packed with family members and personnel from the Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. The buzz of conversation made Anne slightly claustrophobic, so she chose a chair by the door, rather than following Doug and the lieutenant to the far side of the room.

Lieutenant Mallory held up his hand to quiet the conversation. “Good afternoon. For those of you whom I have not yet met in person, I’m Lieutenant Mallory, and I am heading up the investigation for the Sheriff’s Office.”

He paused and took a deep breath. “I know this is a very trying time for you, and I will answer your questions. But first, let me bring you up to speed on where we stand in the investigation so far.”

Anne heard the distant ringing of the phone, and she slipped out of the room and picked up the cordless phone in the hallway.

“Hello?”

No one responded.

Anne pulled the phone away from her ear and glanced at the caller-ID display on the handset. “Waters, Kendall” was illuminated on the screen, followed by Kendall’s cell phone number. Anne rushed back into the living room.

“Hello? Kendall?”

She heard a man’s low laugh. “This ain’t Kendall.”

“Who is it?” She hurried across the room towards Doug and waved her hand to get his attention.

“You know who it is.” His tone sent a chill through her. “You’ve got five seconds to put Cummings on the phone.”

“Don’t hang up. He’s right here.” Anne handed the phone to Doug.

“It’s him,” she whispered.

“Hello?” Doug held the phone slightly away from his ear so Anne could hear what McGraw was saying.

“Hey, Cummings, have you missed me?”

Doug clenched his jaw. “What do you want from us, McGraw?”

McGraw laughed. “I always knew you was a smart guy, Cummings. See, you already figured out I want something.”

Doug didn’t respond.

“Fucking cell phone.” McGraw’s voice grew faint, as if he had moved the phone away from his mouth. “I think I lost him.”

There was a murmur of muffled voices in the background; then McGraw’s voice was loud again. “Are you there, Cummings?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“You answer me when I talk to you or I’ll blow a fucking kid’s head off, you understand?”

Doug stiffened and Anne saw bright spots of color rise in his cheeks, but he kept his tone even. “Yes, I understand.”

“Yeah, you understand, because you’re a smart guy and you know I mean business, don’t you?”

“Yes, I know you mean business. We’ll do whatever you want.” Doug glanced at the roomful of parents. “Just don’t harm the kids.”

A gun shot rang out from the phone and Anne gripped Doug’s arm.

“McGraw?” Doug shouted. “
McGraw!”

The phone line was silent for a moment; then they heard McGraw’s cackling laughter. “Scared you, huh? Don’t worry, Cummings, that wasn’t aimed at a kid. The fucking pigeons just pissed me off.”

Doug exhaled loudly. “What do you want, McGraw?”

“A million bucks, for starters,” McGraw replied, the laughter gone from his voice.

“A million dollars?”

“That’s what I said; you hard of hearing or something?”

“No, I heard you. It’ll take some time to get that kind of money.”

“You’ve got twenty-four hours. After that, I’ll kill a kid an hour.”

“It’s Saturday afternoon, McGraw. The banks aren’t even open. How do you expect us to get that kind of money in twenty-four hours?”

“You got connections. And these cute little girls all have rich daddies. You figure it out.”

Doug paused. “How do we know the kids are all right?”

“I guess you’ll just have to trust me.”

“You know I’m not going to do that. Can I talk to Kendall?”

“Why, you got the hots for her?” McGraw laughed. “She’s a looker, that’s for sure. I’m thinking of having some of her later myself.”

Doug closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Assuming we can get the money, what do you want us to do with it?”

McGraw snorted. “You think I’m stupid enough to tell you that now? Better stop stalling, Cummings, and start figuring out how to get the money, ’cause the clock’s ticking away. Hear it? Tick-tock, tick-tock. Bye-bye.”

“
Wait
. When will I hear from you again?”

“When I call you. And, Cummings”—McGraw made a kissing noise—“tell Samantha I miss her.”

The line went dead.

K
endall heard the shot in the garage and she scooted over closer to Albert. “Albert, did you hear that?”