Slim To None (Cedar Tree #1) (21 page)

Dr. Naomi Waters had been the third one on the phone checking in to see how her patient was faring. By this time, Emma was almost coming apart at the seams and about ripped the phone off the kitchen wall. When she heard her doctor's voice, she simply shoved the phone at Gus, and dropped her head on her arms on the counter. In as few words as possible, Gus told Naomi that Kara and Arlene were missing. That she should call Joe at the Sheriff's office for more information, but that they needed to keep this phone line open. Then he apologized and hung up.

When he went to rub Emma on her back in comfort and support, she immediately straightened up and moved over to the sink to start on some dishes. Hmmm. Still in the doghouse. Dana looked back and forth between the two of them and raised her eyebrow questioningly at him, but all he could do was shrug his shoulders. Damned if he knew.

It was getting close to eleven o'clock at night. Seb had long since arrived with some leftovers from the diner. Neil had also shown up and brought most of his equipment, not wanting to be too far from the action. Caleb had run over some recording equipment borrowed from the FBI satellite office in Durango. Luckily they had Neil who would be able to install it right away.

They had all had managed to eat some of the food Seb had brought over. Finishing off copious amounts of coffee, they also made a serious dent in the peach and almond pies Emma had been baking. Those had been hard to resist when the whole house had smelled of the freshly baked pastry all night. Two and a half pies gone. Just like that. Damn, that woman could bake. Seeing people enjoy the fruits of her labor had done her some good, judging by the small, pleased smile on her face as she kept serving slices. In some cases seconds and thirds.

Coffee and the comfort food had soon worn off and with Emma's small house full of anxious people and way too few answers, tension was beginning to build to near cutting quality.

When the house phone rang, Emma about leapt off her perch on the kitchen stool, right by the wall unit. Quickly standing up and placing a hand on hers, preventing her from snatching it off the hook right away, he softly reminded her, "Give Neil a chance to start recording, darlin'." To which she curtly nodded in understanding.

Keeping one hand on her neck for support, he indicated for her to pick it up pressing his ear close so he could listen in.

"Hello?"

"...Mom?" Gus could hear Kara's voice, confused and scared.

"Oh, sweetie. Are you okay? Is Arlene? Is she with you?" Clutching at his free hand, Emma was fighting hard to stay strong. "Honey? Talk to me please ..."

But all they could hear was a soft crying. "Kara?" Emma tried again.

"I'm okay. I'm scared, Mom. Arlene, she's here, she fought ... she, she got hurt. She's hurt." With Kara sobbing now, it was difficult to understand what she was saying.

"We'll do whatever it takes to get you both help, sweetie. Where are you? Are you alone?"

Gus gave Emma an encouraging squeeze.

"No, not alone. I'm not allowed to say anymore. Only that you will receive instructions tomorrow in your post office box. And they're saying only you and Gus - no one else or they'll hurt us."

"Honey, please. I'll do anything to get you, I love you."

Wrapping his hand around the receiver, Gus twisted it against his mouth.

"Kara, doll, listen to me. You sit tight and do exactly what they ask. Don't fight them okay? Don't argue and don't fight. We won't stop until we have you. I promise."

"Make it a point to look out for Mom, Gus. If something happens, take care of her. She loves Mesa Verde, you take her around, take her fishing. She'll love... " And just like that the connection was broken, but not before they could hear a man's voice softly bite out 'Enough' in the background.

Emma's carefully maintained control crumbled. He wrapped her up in both arms, trying to hold her together as she was falling apart. His eyes found Neil's over her shoulder, hoping he might have had enough to trace the call, but the curt shake of Neil's head told him enough. But Kara had been very clever

"Did you get everything on tape, Neil?"

He took Emma by the hand and took her with him to sit on the couch.

"Yep, have it all."

"Play it back, will ya? The last few sentences Kara directed at me. I need to hear them again. She was telling me something."

Emma looked at him with disbelief on her face. "A message? She was scared, Gus. She was looking out for me." Her eyebrows drawn together, he could tell she was confused.

But as soon as Neil played back Kara's words and Emma actually listened to them, her eyes opened wide and she turned to him with a smile on her face. "My girl fucking rocks!"

Glad to see some life back on her face, he planted a quick hard kiss on her lips.

"She sure does, darlin'. She sure does."

"Sorry to interrupt this love fest, but what the fuck are you talking about? All I was able to make out was that Arlene couldn't keep check of her temper and got herself hurt. Also we have a whole night to wait and worry some more." Seb obviously had reached the end of his patience in letting Emma and him take the lead. He couldn't blame the man and quickly enlightened him.

"Anyone who knows Emma, knows she can't stand fishing. I'll admit, when she started talking I was listening to the message, not so much the words, until she mentioned taking Emma fishing. Then I knew I had to pay attention."

"Well I'll be damned." Was Seb's response. "Let's hear it again."

Caleb had already transcribed her words and highlighted the possible clues. Mesa Verde was an obvious one. They figured out that ‘around’ was an odd way to phrase something.

"So we have fishing, around and Mesa Verde. Anyone have any ideas?"

Neil had pulled up a map of the area and Gus was looking over his shoulder.

"What about the Mancos River?" Neil suggested. "It runs almost all around the other side of Mesa Verde before it intersects with the 160 in Mancos, and again south of the Ute reservation. But that is a lot of area to cover."

"It's mostly unpopulated area so it's not like there are a lot of access roads. I'm thinking this would be a good time to fill in Joe and Frank at the Sheriff's office. They can put the right calls out to State Patrol, and perhaps park officials to keep an eye out. At least we can be pretty sure they aren't too far from here, but given that it is near midnight and pitch dark out, I don't think there will be much point in looking tonight. So I suggest we all try and get some sleep and wait for daylight."

Neil and Dana went back to the motel for a few hours of sleep. Gus handed Seb a pillow and some blankets so he could take the couch, since he wasn't about to leave. Then Gus talked with Caleb on the porch for a minute. "You going to be okay out here?" He wanted to know.

"Yeah. I don't want to leave you alone here. I don't like that they are basically inviting you to come along tomorrow. That doesn't sit right. Seems odd. Everything about this seems odd. Not at all the way I would expect Silva to conduct business. So I'm gonna be around."

"Okay, if you're sure. Need a break, come get me. Alright?"

"Go look after your woman. Keep your eye on the prize." Caleb winked at him and stepped off the porch into the darkness.

D
rained and in a significant amount of pain, Emma was struggling to get her kitchen clean before she could settle enough to go lie down. She had no illusions about sleeping, but would need to give her body a chance to rest, or she wouldn't be any good to anyone by morning. She was realistic enough to know that.

Seb walked in and took the dishrag out of her hand, nudging her to the side. "You go get ready for bed. You look about ready to drop. I'll finish cleaning up." Ignoring her protests, he simply picked up where she left off until finally she gave in, wished him a good night and headed for the sanctuary of her bedroom.

Sitting down on the side of her bed, she considered having a shower. Wash the remnants of what surely had been the worst day of her life away, but she couldn't bring herself to spend the energy. A bath would be nice now. Although she normally loathed baths, it wouldn't require much more of her than to simply lay back and soak. Oh, and attempt not to drown in the process. Which, given the current weight of her eyelids, was a distinct possibility. Hell, she didn't even have the energy to undress. she simply allowed herself to fall backward on the bed and rested her eyes. Just for a minute, just until Gus came to bed.

She could hear Kara crying, but she couldn't get to her. Her arms and legs wouldn't move, and no one was listening. They kept walking around her like she was an obstacle in their way, deaf to her pleas - her cries to be seen, to be heard. And all the time, her daughter's sobbing was moving away, further and further out of reach, to where she couldn't even hear her anymore ... and the silence was quietly killing her.

Rough calloused fingers wiped at her wet cheeks. Confused, she opened her eyes to find Gus' deep brown fixed on her. "You were having a dream, darlin'. Crying and screaming. You okay?"

She could feel his deep voice resonating in his chest. Then he chuckled, shaking her a little in the process. "You scared the stuffing out of Seb. He came poundin' on the door, convinced I was trying to harm you."

Still a bit rattled and trying to compute the dream, the memories of the day that came flooding back, along with the emotions that came along with it, she looked at Gus.

"Did you undress me?" She asked, not remembering how she ended up wearing one of his shirts and wrapped tightly against him.

"When I came into the room, you were dead to the world, full dressed and only half on the bed. You didn't even blink when I moved you all the way up, so I decided you would probably be more comfortable out of your clothes than to sleep in them all night."

"Oh. Thanks, I guess." She might still be a little dazed, but she could clearly remember now how angry and disappointed she was with him. Enough not to be too friendly, but not enough to deny herself the comfort of his warm body wrapped around hers. Frig. She could be such a pushover.

"Are you ever gonna tell me what I did wrong?"

Yeah, she figured he wasn't going to let it go. He had told her so plainly enough. Turning around to face him, she decided to give it to him straight. "You know what pisses me off more than anything?" A raised eyebrow is all the response she got. "The fact that you don't even realize you screwed up. That's what eats at me most."

"I obviously realize I messed up something or I wouldn't be asking you what I did wrong, would I?"

Oh lovely, attitude. Just what she needed.

"Come on now. Let it out. Not good to let it eat at you." He urged her on.

"You know what? You're a sanctimonious prick! You lead me on. You made me believe you saw more than a cripple. That you simply registered it like the color of my hair and nothing more, but that was a lie, wasn't it?"

Not quite connecting the dots, Gus shook his head as if to clear the cobwebs. "Come again?"

"You. When the chips where down, you didn't know how fast to point out my limitations and push me to the side."

Okay. Now he was getting a little pissed himself. Pointing out her limitations? What? "Emma, I swear to God have no idea what you are talking about. I have never pointed out your 'so-called' limitations. And let me remind you those are your words and not mine.  Where is this coming from?"

Getting worked up to a full head of steam now, Emma sits up in bed and points at him.

"Ha! You did so. You told me outside not to get in your way or I would slow you down. You can't deny you said that."

Realization dawning, he closed his eyes and shook his head in exasperation. "Emma ..." He groaned. "You can't tell me you don't realize I would've said the same thing to anyone in your situation?" Noticing her triumphant look, he quickly clarified. "As a parent; Your situation as the parent of a missing child. Or as someone whose loved one might be in trouble. In fact, when I heard and saw Seb's reaction to Arlene's disappearance, I told him the same damn thing!"

Seeing her eyes widen and her shoulders slowly drop in sudden understanding, did a lot to abate his anger. Scooting closer to her, he cupped her face, hating to see the doubt lingering behind the tears. "Oh sweet Peach. Don't you see it's you who labels? Simply by how you choose to interpret the things I say." Understanding the concept of the knee-jerk response quite well from personal experience, Gus felt pretty awful for her. "Come here, you." Leaning back, he gently pulled her back down beside him, her head tucked under his chin. 

"I'm such a tool." Emma sniffed.

He busted out laughing. "Pretty much, darlin', but I love you. Tool and all." Earning him a swat on his chest and a snicker from the hollow of his neck.

"Come on, let's try to at least close our eyes for a bit longer."

Turning her head she pressed a kiss to where his heart should be.

"You're a good man, Charlie Brown. Too bad Lucy can such a bitch"

"Good thing Lucy's such a hot piece of ass then." He smiled.

I
t was barely seven o'clock in the morning and already Emma's house was packed with bodies again.

Gus had slept only a couple of hours off and on, playing out the events of the previous day in his head. Frustrated that he couldn't go out and hunt the girls down was eating at him. But the thought of leaving Emma alone terrified him, 'cause he wasn't sure if would have played into the kidnappers' hands. Leaving Emma for any length of time was simply no longer an option. Not after seeing her in a hospital bed twice already. They'd literally have to kill him to get to her.

He looked down to the woman in his arms, who finally succumbed to her exhaustion. This woman owned him. As much as she was his. Unfamiliar with this sense of belonging, it had taken him a while to identify it for what it was. Home. Her smell, her smile, her friends and daughter, her house, her life... Hell, even her anger and grief felt a part of him. And something he wanted - no, needed in his life.