Lethal Affair (34 page)

Will headed back to his house where a
control center had been set up. Lyle and Kim had closed the diner
and everyone had shown up right down to Buster. Jolene made endless
pots of coffee and fixed sandwiches that no one ate. Keep busy, she
told herself, or she'd go mad. Stoically she kept it together,
although she longed to have a screaming meltdown.

Holding Dino in a vice grip, Lyle
crossed to Will the moment he came back in. “How is
she?”

Will's reply was clipped. “Doing fine.
Knife didn't puncture anything vital.” Lyle saw he was walking a
sharp and slippery edge. Barely holding on.

Will hated it. To be on tender hooks
was bad enough, but to see all those well meaning, anxious faces;
he thought he'd go mad with the abject tension.

Crane called. “Our guys followed the
tire tracks for a few kilometers but after that they got
obliterated by other tracks.”

“
Where exactly are you? I
want to come out there.”

“
Hammond had her come out
here to eradicate any sign of them. There are thousands of acres of
land and we've brought in some guys from the Forestry Department
who know this terrain, but it's dense forest out here and we've
lost light. We have to put off the search until morning. You can
join us then.”

They both knew that statistically by
morning it might be too late. If Kylie was with Max now, thought
Will, she might be his only chance of survival. He didn't even want
to think about any other possibility.

“
What about the helicopters?
Did they spot anything?”

“
Not yet. I'll be in
touch.”

Will's mind reeled. He was clinging to
a treacherously thin veil of hope. He had to do something for
Christ's sake. But what?

The doorbell rang and Jolene admitted
Rita and Joe Lambert. She introduced them to Will. Joe Lambert was
struck immediately by the desperation on Will Delaney's face. He
recognized it because it was exactly how he felt.

“
Mr. Lambert,” Will managed,
shaking Joe's hand with a firm grip, “I really hate to be meeting
under these circumstances. Your daughter is special to me too, I
can guarantee you that. Looks like we're both in the same
boat.”

Rita came into his line of sight
looking haggard, her eyes swollen. She took Will's hand and instead
of shaking it, held it to her cheek. “They'll come back to us, both
of them,” she said, her voice cracking.

Jolene led her to a couch. “Kylie's
smart and fierce. She did the right thing going after Max. She'll
figure a way out for both of them.”

Eileen and the other waitresses had
rallied in the kitchen with Buster and Jimmy. Always hungry, the
kid stuffed a chunk of carrot cake down his gullet and followed it
with a chug of milk.

Buster stared. “Boy, you're gonna puke
if you keep that up. Reminds me of when Will took me off the
streets. I was a walking skeleton then, took weeks to get enough
food in me to slow down to normal eatin'.”

Jimmy eyed his rotund belly. “Looks
like you made up for lost time. Where'dya sleep when you were
homeless?”

“
Parks mostly. Made a little
shelter out of cardboard, but it got mighty cold at night.
'Specially when it rained.”

“
Let's hope it doesn't rain
tonight,” said Eileen.

Will had caught the tail end of the
conversation. Rain would wash away tracks, slow down the hunt. His
spirits dipped even lower at the thought of it.

Reluctantly he went out on the back
patio and got out his cell, punched in Julia's number. This would
be the hardest call he had ever had to make.

*

Back and hips aching, lungs near
bursting, Kylie had pedaled for miles along blacktop until the road
had narrowed and become dirt and pebble. Twice she'd stopped when
the color blue had winked at her in the waning afternoon light, and
twice she'd been disappointed to find crumpled up beer cans instead
of a blue flag.

This had to be part of Drew's sick
joke. He'd watched her ride Jolene's ten speed all over Oak Bay and
now her stamina was being put to the test. She realized he meant to
exhaust her. Physically worn out, she would be easier for him to
handle.

Her thoughts spun while she pedaled
on, her knees, ankles and back screaming with the effort. Trying to
formulate a strategy put the pain in the background. Hard to do,
when you didn't know what might come next.

There it was! A scrap of blue material
flapping in the breeze. It was so small she'd almost missed it.
Tossing the bike aside she knelt to examine it. Attached to the
flag was a hand written note that said to take the flag with her
and go around the bend in the road on foot.

The sun had moved from midday to late
afternoon, sending golden rays slanting through the forest. Dappled
light dimmed as a cloud blotted the sun and the air snapped to
attention, all at once crisply ionized with the promise of
rain.

Remembering the phone message she'd
left at Daisy Corners, she propped the ten speed against a tree and
began walking. Around the bend she only saw more dirt road, more
trees and brush.

“
Breathe,” she wheezed,
gulping oxygen as her system slowly recovered from the hard
ride.

“
That's right, Kylie,” came
Drew's disembodied voice from somewhere nearby. It echoed through
the trees, making it hard to pinpoint. “Catch your
breath.”

She looked around wildly. Glimpsing
movement in the underbrush, she moved toward it. Thorny blackberry
bushes dug into her pant legs and scraped her arms.

“
Where are you, Drew?” Stay
calm, she cautioned herself. This was his game and he was setting
the rules.

A gray rabbit came into view, stared
at her for a brief moment before hopping out of sight. From
directly behind her came a soft laugh. Whirling around, the
blackberry thorns tore at her flesh. He was right there! Without
hesitation he stepped forward and pushed a hunting knife up against
her neck.

“
Don't move a centimeter.
This knife sometimes has a mind of its own.”

A whimper erupted from her
throat.

“
Now, now, don't look at me
like that. This is the fun part.” In a singsong voice, “Just you
and me, and baby makes three.”

He pushed up against her, his breath
hot. “I know you called in the troops. Probably left bread crumbs,
huh. A nice little trail to follow?”

“
No!” The cold blade of the
knife vibrated against her delicate skin as she spoke. “I came on
my own.”

The pressure of the knife increased,
held for ten horrifying seconds as Drew seemed to grapple for
control. Finally the knife eased away. Yanking her arms behind her
back he applied a plastic cuff, his expression bland.

“
Where's Max?” she
demanded.

“
He's waiting for us. C'mon.
Move.”

He marched her around a final curve in
the road to where a white van was nestled among a stand of
saplings. The light was failing now, sped up by dark, roiling rain
clouds ready to spill their load.

Drew had given her an
idea.
Bread crumbs.

He left her standing for a few
unguarded seconds while he opened the rear doors of the van. In
that tiny sliver of time, using the tips of her fingers, Kylie
extracted from her back pocket the red bandana that she habitually
used at work to mop sweat from her brow. Quickly she balled it up
in her fist, then tossed it to the ground and pushed it with her
boot under the van.

Drew gestured for her to climb inside.
Max was there, curled in a fetal position. Kylie's heart lurched in
fear. She shuffled closer to him as Drew slammed shut the rear
doors. Through the small window openings she saw him go back around
the bend.

“
Max!” No response, but he
was breathing so she knew he was alive. The relief came in
waves.

Drew appeared and wedged a branch
between the exterior handles, effectively locking them inside. He
circled around to the driver's seat, climbed in and twisted around
to face his passengers.

In his fingers was the blue flag. “You
failed the test, Kylie. I wanted to trust you, but you left this
behind when I made it clear to bring it with you. Now why would you
do a thing like that?”

Kylie's mouth opened but nothing came
out. What could she say?

“
Yeah, that's right. Goes to
show how untrustworthy you are. That's why I only left one flag,
Kylie, 'cuz I knew you'd do a Hansel and Gretel and try to lead our
intrepid friend Crane our way. Now he'll never know which way we
went, will he?” Drew tapped the side of his head. “Gotta be smart.
You, my dear, clearly are not.”

He started the engine and eased the
van onto the road, retracing Kylie's previous route. The ten speed
was no longer in sight; he must have tossed it into the bushes. So
much for leaving bread crumbs.

Ethan Crane and Stacie Holye stood on
Drew Hammond's balcony taking in the stupendous midnight view while
the rest of his team searched the apartment. They'd found hanging
in his bedroom closet a row of expensive business suits, shirts and
ties, with another row of shiny leather shoes placed neatly
beneath.

His casual attire and toiletries were
gone. Clearly Hammond had no intention of continuing his business
career. His two bank accounts had gone the way of his closet,
emptied of funds as he had apparently reverted to cash in lieu of
his line of credit. So far the apartment had yielded no clues as to
where he'd gone, but now one of Crane's team came out holding a
stack of magazines.

“
Found these in a rack
beside the toilet, sir. Three more beside the bed. They might be
significant.”

Crane thanked him and with gloved
hands took the magazines, flipped through the first one. He handed
it to Stacie. “What comes to mind when you look at this?” he
asked.

Used to being coached and tested,
Stacie took the magazine and studied the cover. “We know he doesn't
own a boat, sir. Or if he does, it's not registered to his name.
The fact that he's got a large collection of boating magazines
means he's at least a borderline fanatic. He might be keeping a
vessel somewhere that nobody knows about. Worth looking
into.”

Rubbing his tired eyes, Crane smiled
grimly. “Good. Just what I thought. Let's go knock on some
doors.”

* * * *

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

The floor of the van was lined with
stained carpet. Kylie and Max took a bruising as the vehicle
bounced over pot holes and ruts in the road. Night had fallen as
quickly as a stage curtain. A light drizzling rain had ensued.
They'd gone only a few kilometers before Drew pulled onto a grassy
lane, the van's headlights eerily sweeping the pitch black
forest.

Max was still passed out, most likely
drugged. Kylie squirmed closer to him, taking the brunt of the
jostling onto herself.

Drew drove at a brutal speed that
punished the van's undercarriage as he skimmed over low rockery,
the lane becoming less and less navigable. Indifferent, he plowed
along until finally the terrain became impassable and they could go
no further.

He braked hard, slamming the gear
shift into park and cutting the engine. Getting out, he came around
the back, yanked out the tree branch and opened the doors, letting
in a blast of cold night air wet with rain.

“
C'mon, c'mon,
move!”

When Kylie didn't react he reached in
and pulled her out onto her feet. She wanted to fight, wanted to
run. But with Max drugged, she simply glared at him.

He pulled Max's limp body toward
him.

“
What happened to you,
Drew?”

Kylie's quietly asked question made
him go still. He looked at her through the light drizzle in the
moonlight and she glimpsed for a moment the Drew she'd dated and
liked. The Drew she'd slept with, for God's sake. He seemed imbued
with a terrible sadness.

Then his eyes glazed over and whatever
was inside of him took charge. His smile was taunting and it felt
surreal that only moments before he'd been his old self.

“
I woke up,” he said before
slinging Max over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Follow
me.”

Fully aware that she wouldn't abandon
Max, he took off into the darkness. He seemed to know where he was
going as they moved along an almost non existent trail up a rise
and over the other side.

Beneath them lay a small cove. An
anchored boat bobbed on the black water. Straining her eyes, Kylie
made out a small row boat on the shore.

Hope dwindled; they would be heading
out to sea.

“
A boat?” she gasped. She'd
thought those boating magazines in his bathroom to be a pipe dream.
Obviously she'd been mistaken.

“
Perfect, isn't she?” Drew
said with pride. “She's used, but seaworthy. Got her from some old
fart who didn't deserve her. A real steal. Got a nice cabin below.
Plenty of room for all of us.”