No Escape (29 page)

Brody stood back and surveyed the room, which was as neat and clean as the lawn. On the mantel above a scrubbed fireplace rested a collection of photos. All were of Robbie and Smith. The photos were organized in chronological order with the last photo snapped about ten years ago, shortly before Robbie’s falling-out with Smith.

On the end table was another picture. One glance at it and rage overtook Brody. Jo was in the picture wearing a
Find Christa!
T-shirt and standing next to her was Robbie, a.k.a. Tim Neumann.

Santos came up behind Brody. ‘What the fuck is he doing with Jo?’

Brody dug his cell from his pocket and dialed dispatch. ‘Send officers to Jo Gardner’s house, and if they don’t find her there, go to her office or any place she might haunt. No one rests until she is found.’

Brody studied the picture more closely. Jo was smiling at the camera whereas Tim was staring at her. The apprentice and the master’s daughter. He thought about the forged letters found on Jo’s front porch. They’d been dusted for prints but were clean, whereas the box of cards held by the attorney had been covered in Smith’s fingerprints. Robbie had gone to a lot of trouble to communicate with Jo.

His stomach curled. ‘What better way to best the master than to kill the daughter?’

Brody’s phone rang. ‘Sergeant Winchester.’ As he listened to the voice on the other end of the line his scowl deepened. ‘What do you mean her door is open? Go door-to-door. Find me any witnesses.’

He snapped the phone closed and glared at Santos. ‘Jo’s neighbor found her front door open and her cats wandering around.’

Brody moved quickly to his vehicle and slid inside. Gripping the wheel, he fired the engine and shoved his foot into the accelerator. Dirt and gravel kicked up. ‘She never lets those cats out. She’s in trouble.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s Robbie. Tim. Whatever the hell name he’s using. Smith’s apprentice had gone after Jo.’

Santos swore. ‘The ultimate prize in his mind?’

‘He always wanted Harvey’s approval. Maybe he figures he can really win it by reuniting father and daughter.’ Brody picked up his phone and dialed another number.

‘Where the hell did he take her? We ran a property search, and this is the only place that surfaced.’

‘He’s a Realtor and has access to dozens of properties.’

‘I’m betting this place is special. Where he has a connection to Smith.’

Frustration ate at him. They had so many pieces to pull together and so little time. ‘I don’t know. But there might be someone who does.’

Friday, April 19, 5:00
P.M.

Brody shoved out a breath as he moved to the nurse’s station at the hospital. He’d been calling Jo for the last couple of hours and no answer. So he’d come to the hospital looking for answers. He flashed his badge at the station, got Candy’s room number and knocked briefly. When he heard a clear ‘Come in,’ he entered to find Ellie sitting at Candy’s bedside.

The Candy he remembered had been a formidable woman. She’d been tough as nails and had sworn up and down she’d skin Brody alive if he ever came near Jo again. He’d backed off, expecting that once Jo healed they could talk. Candace had seen to it that they never did.

The woman before him now wasn’t the woman who’d faced him down fourteen years ago. Without makeup and with her hair brushed flat against her head, she looked broken and years older.

Pushing aside whatever resentments he had or didn’t have for Candy, he pulled off his hat. ‘Mrs. Granger, I am – ’ She sat up a little straighter. ‘I know who you are. You look exactly the same.’

Ellie rose. ‘You’re Brody Winchester. Jo’s ex.’

‘That’s right.’

‘What do you need, Mr. Winchester?’ Candace asked.

He kept his gaze on her. ‘I’m looking for Jo.’

‘She isn’t here. Hasn’t been all day. I thought maybe you’d pulled her into another case.’

His stomach knotted. ‘She hasn’t been with me, and she’s not been at work.’

Ellie flexed her fingers at her side. ‘It’s not like Jo to flake. She always calls. Kinda OCD that way. What’s going on?’

‘That’s what I’m trying to figure out.’ He shifted his gaze back to Candy. ‘I need to know what you know about Smith.’

The older woman lowered her gaze. ‘I don’t know what you are talking about.’

Brody cursed, knowing there was no time for gentle coaxing or hand-holding. ‘Smith had an apprentice. A kid named Robbie who we believe now goes under the name Tim Neumann.’

Candace’s lips flattened. ‘I don’t know the name.’

Brody advanced on the bed, looming over her. ‘I think Robbie has Jo.’

The old woman’s eyes widened and filled with tears. ‘Why would he care about her?’

‘Because Smith believed she was his daughter.’

Ellie laid her hand on her mother’s shoulder. ‘Time to stop hiding, Momma. Tell what you know.’

Candace’s pained gaze shifted to her daughter. Her fingers held a white-knuckle grip on the sheets. ‘You will hate me, Ellie.’

Ellie sat in the chair by the bed so she could be eye level with her mother. ‘I won’t hate you, Mom. But you must talk. Is it that Smith is Jo’s real daddy?’

Candy closed her eyes. ‘No. It’s not that.’

‘What is it, Momma?’

‘When I met Smith I was seventeen. I thought he was the best man in the world. He listened to me. Told me I was beautiful. We started sneaking around.’

‘You were dating Daddy then?’

‘Yes. I thought I loved Cody until I met Smith. Smith made me see your daddy as small town and simple.’

Ellie frowned but didn’t say anything.

‘I got in Smith’s truck and thought I was headed to a great adventure.’ She shook her head. ‘It wasn’t a great adventure but a horror show.’

‘What happened?’ Brody said.

‘We drove for a half hour outside of Austin toward the hill country. Lots of twists and turns. He took me to a field of bluebonnets. Smith kept saying how much he loved bluebonnets.’ Her chin trembled. ‘But to this day I can see the road signs as clear as day in my head. What he had to show me made me sick.’

‘What was it?’

‘A woman. He’d tied her up and had her lying in a hole in the ground. He told me he had always dreamed of burying a woman alive. He’d wanted to share that dream with me because he loved me.’ She squeezed her eyes closed, as if trying to block the memory.

‘What next?’ Brody said.

Ellie squeezed her mother’s hand tighter. ‘Mom, please tell.’

‘I was upset. I threw up right there. The girl was squirming and trying to scream. There was such terror in her eyes.’ She shook her head. ‘Smith just laughed at her and me. He picked up a shovel and tossed dirt on her.’

‘Did he bury her?’ Brody asked.

Candy shook her head. ‘God help me, I don’t know. I ran to the truck and started the engine. I backed out of there. Smith was yelling and chasing after me. I drove as fast as I could. Ditched the car in town and ran to your daddy’s house. He could see that I was scared, and he took me in his arms right away. I’d been so hateful to him for weeks but he took me in his arms and told me everything would be all right. I was sorry for all the bad thoughts I’d had for him.’

‘You married Granger soon after?’

She moistened her dried lips. ‘Days later.’

‘You were pregnant with Jo when you married Daddy,’ Ellie said.

‘Yes.’ Candy looked at Ellie. ‘I told your daddy the truth about the baby. I never lied to him. But he said he’d marry me anyway. I saw what a good man I had in him. I’d been such a fool. We swore we’d never speak to Jo about her real daddy.’

‘What about the girl in the grave?’ Brody said.

‘Cody said we had to go back and see. He gathered some of his buddies from the football team and we all rode out there that night. We found the hole in the ground but no girl. I prayed she got away.’ She closed her eyes. ‘I can still see her.’

Brody thought about the unidentified woman who’d been found with the others. She’d been buried thirty plus years. ‘Did you know the name of the woman in the ground?’

‘Delores Jones. She lived in town. Worked in a bar.’

Delores. Mentioned in the letter. ‘And Smith?’

‘I never saw him again. Until the pageant when Jo was twelve. When I saw him, I just about threw up. I ran from the room but when I came back, he was gone.’

‘Where was the land Smith took you to all those years ago?’

She gave him the directions, not missing a beat. ‘I tried to forget where that terrible place was but I couldn’t forget.’

‘Your memory might save Jo.’

Jo wasn’t sure how long she lay on the dry ground but she guessed it had to be hours. Her skin had grown cold and she’d begun to shiver. She’d tugged so much at her manacle, she’d rubbed the skin around her ankle raw to the point of bleeding.

In the distance she heard the rumble of a truck engine before the glow of headlights appeared. She scrambled to her feet, jerked at the chain, wincing as the metal rubbed the raw skin of her ankle.

The truck ambled down the road as if the driver had all the time in the world. When the vehicle came to a halt in front of her she flinched as her eyes adjusted to the bright lights, which fully lighted up the land around her.

With the engine still running, the driver got out of the truck. She couldn’t see his silhouetted face. She shielded her eyes, trying to see past the light.

‘Tim?’ she said.

He stepped forward into the light. ‘Hello again, Jo.’

She straightened her shoulders, doing her best to look composed. Composed. She was chained to a tree. In the middle of Texas with a madman, and still she clung to control. ‘Tim, why are you doing this? Help me to understand.’

Tim tossed a set of keys at Jo. ‘Unlock the manacle.’

She eyed the keys lying in the dirt inches from her fingertips and then at the grave now lit up by the headlights. Her heart slammed against her ribs. ‘So you can drag me to the grave? No, Tim, I’m not going to help you.’

A half smile tugged at the edges of his mouth as if he were expecting – even welcoming – a fight. ‘We can do this easy or hard. But either way that manacle is going to be unlocked.’

She scooped up the keys from the dirt and hurled them into the dark woods. ‘Then it’s going to be hard. I won’t help you.’

He closed the gap between them, grabbing her throat with his hand and slamming her body against the hard ground. Air whooshed from her lungs and her head hit against a hard root. He squeezed so hard she could only blink as her hands came up to his fingers and tried to pry them loose. She coughed and sputtered to catch her breath, but could not break his grip.

He squeezed harder, laughing as her eyes bulged. ‘I used to tell Harvey that he was a fool to love you. I told him I was the best child he could ever have. But that never stopped him from talking all the time about his perfect little girl. Jo earned straight A’s. Jo was accepted into college. Jo is earning her master’s.’

Jo’s gaze dimmed and she could feel herself losing consciousness.

‘I told him to go see you, but he was afraid. Kept saying he didn’t do well with women. Said it was a matter of time before he turned on you. But he wanted more than anything to be with you.’

She struggled to breathe.

‘Well, now I have a chance to give Harvey what he always wanted. Eternity with his little Jo. And then he’ll finally know that I was the best child.’

Seconds later she blacked out.

While Santos worked the radio, Brody drove as if the devil bit at his heels. They’d called in every available gun and badge to back them up.

Dirt kicked up around the car as he raced off the highway onto a rural route. Candace’s directions had been frighteningly clear.

‘You’re betting the whole game on one hand,’ Santos said.

Brody tightened his hands on the wheel. ‘It’s the only hand I’ve got to play.’

‘God, I hope you’re right.’

Santos’s phone rang, and he answered it immediately. ‘Santos.’ And then after a moment’s pause. ‘Shit. Yeah, I’ll tell him.’

‘What is it?’

‘Austin police found Connors. Shot dead in a seedy motel along with a prostitute.’

‘Damn.’ Brody couldn’t think about the consequences of him being wrong or too late.

When Jo awoke, she sucked in a deep breath. Lying on her back, her throat ached as she searched the darkness for Tim. Instinct had her reaching for the manacle clamped around her leg. But a thick rope bound around her hands and body, making it impossible for her to move her arms. She tried to sit up, digging deep into her core muscles. She’d made it up several inches before Tim pushed her back against the dirt and smiled. ‘Jo, you don’t want to leave yet. We’re just getting started.’

Bands of panic tightened around her chest as she surveyed her surroundings and realized she was now in the grave. ‘Tim, don’t do this. Please don’t do this.’

He knelt beside the grave, trickling a handful of dirt onto her belly. She flinched.

‘But it’s what I’ve dreamed of doing for a long, long time. Harvey loved you so much but he feared if he reached out to you, you’d reject him. He didn’t want his baby girl looking at him as if he were a monster.’

‘Harvey was my father.’

‘Yes. He took great pride in your successes.’

Her thudding heart all but drowned out his words. ‘And you are his son.’

His brow knotted. ‘Not his real son. Foster son.’

‘But he loved you.’

‘Not like he loved you. As hard as I tried or as hard as I worked I’d never had that biological connection you two shared.’ He scooped up another handful of dirt and scattered it on her body. ‘Did you know we actually met twenty years ago? Harvey spotted your mother by accident in a drugstore. She was buying hairspray. We followed her into a nearby hotel. He was nervous and angry all at once. I wasn’t sure what he’d do, and then he saw you come out on stage, in that blue sparkly dress and teased hair. It took his breath away, seeing you. Said you were the spitting image of his own mother.’

Keep him talking. Keep him talking. Maybe she could forge a connection and get through to him. ‘Tell me.’

He scooped up more dirt but held it in his hand. ‘You walked around that stage, ankles all wobbly in those heels. Pitiful sight. I sniggered and Harvey jabbed me hard in the ribs.’

That day remained a blur. She’d been unhappy about being in the pageant, and she didn’t notice much. ‘My mother wasn’t happy with me.’

‘She was real happy when you tossed that flaming baton in the air. She stood up and clapped.’

Jo struggled to make some kind of connection with Tim so that he saw her as human and not an object. ‘I was the worst beauty pageant contestant, and she wanted me to be the best.’

‘Harvey was pleased you didn’t perform well. He said you were suited for an intellectual life like his.’

‘I don’t remember seeing you two there.’

‘We had to be careful. Harvey didn’t want trouble. He saw your mother and called her his failed apprentice.’ He shook his head. ‘Something made her turn around as we were leaving. She saw Harvey, and I thought she’d faint. We left right away.’

His opening to talk gave her hope of a connection.

‘I didn’t realize my mother knew Harvey until recently. Did he ever talk about her?’

Tim trickled bits of dirt on her belly. Her muscles flinched, which coaxed a smile from him. ‘Not much. He kept pictures of her, and sometimes he looked at them. I looked at them when he wasn’t home. After that day at the pageant he kept pictures of you, too.’

She twisted her hands against her bindings, managing only to dig the rope deeper into her wrists and arms. ‘How did you meet Harvey?’

Tim’s body had relaxed and he welcomed talk. ‘Harvey came into my mother’s life when she was in her late twenties. She sold herself to him many times. And then he killed her.’

‘How old were you?’

‘Twelve.’ Tim raised his gaze toward the moon. ‘The day she died was the best day of my life. He saved me from a wretched life. I doubt I’d be alive today if it weren’t for Harvey.’

‘He became your father.’

‘More than a father. My guide. My maker.’ Dirt trickled out of his fisted hand beside her grave. ‘He took me out of foster care. He knew I needed a real, permanent parent.’

There was a soft side to Harvey Smith. Evil had the capacity for kindness when it suited. ‘Did he adopt you?’

‘No. Nothing formal. But he couldn’t have been a better parent.’ His gaze grew wistful as he scooped up another handful of dirt. ‘He often said he wanted a son in his own image.’

‘I can tell you’re educated. You’re smart.’

‘Harvey homeschooled me. He didn’t like schools. He thought they were prisons. But my education was a better education than anyone in a school could have received. He was patient.’