The B Girls (30 page)

Blood covered the right side of his body but the
way he was laying she couldn't tell if he had a chest wound or an arm wound.

He moaned again and squinted up at her.
"You're crazy."

"Me? I haven't kidnapped anyone. Where's
Belle?"

He moaned again but didn't answer.

"If you live and she dies I'll make it my
life's mission to make sure you get the death penalty."

"House. Cooper Lake. End of Pinestraw
Lane."

"Excellent. Now, if I get close enough to help
you are you going to try something stupid?"

He shook his head.

"Well, since I don't trust you, I want you to
roll onto your back and spread your arms and legs out wide."

She eased past him to take a quick glance into the
SUV.

The jar was on the passenger side floorboard.

Dawson was spread-eagle on the ground and Lucy
could see that her bullet had taken a chunk out of his upper arm. It was still
bleeding but apparently the pressure of him lying on it had slowed it down
some.

"Stay still while I find something you can use
as a pressure dressing."

She walked around to the passenger side of the SUV,
opened the door and pulled the jar out. There was a lightweight jacket on the
seat. She grabbed it too.

"I thought you were going to help me,"
Dawson said as he watched Lucy go back to the van.

"I'll get around to you." First things
first, his injuries weren't life threatening. She put the jar on the passenger
seat of the van and went back to him.

She folded the jacket but left the sleeves dangling
and knelt next to him. "Try anything and I'll make you wish for the death
penalty."

He just shook his head slightly.

Lucy almost felt sorry for him. He'd lost all his
bravado and looked more like a scared librarian than a badass kidnapper. What
the hell had possessed him to go to such lengths?

She pressed the folded jacket to his wound and used
the sleeves to tie it around his arm. "That should hold you until the cops
get here."

"You're not going to leave me here?"

"Oh yeah," Lucy said. She took the keys
to the SUV out of the ignition, pocketed them and picked up the gun.
"Wouldn't want you getting any ideas about not waiting for the
police."

She headed back to the minivan then turned to ask,
"I'm not going to have to shoot any partners in crime at your house am
I?"

"No."

"Good. The cops should be here any
second."

###

She pulled back onto the road and headed out of
Cohutta at a much more sedate pace. Well, maybe not sedate but not suicidal. At
this point it was more important that she get to Belle and send help to Mae and
Jane than it was for her to save a couple of minutes driving too fast.

She tried to dial 911 again but realized she must
be in a dead zone.

Lucy hoped Dawson hadn't been lying about the partners
in crime. The last thing she needed was to shoot anyone else. The police might
not understand.

And speak of the devil. Just look at who was coming
her way--

She waved and pointed for him to pull over.

He did and they met on the shoulder of the road
behind the van.

"Ranger Leonard! Just the man I wanted to
see."

"Ms. Deen? What the hell happened? And where
are your cohorts?"

"We ran into a little trouble."

He pushed his hat back on his head and rolled his
eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

She gave him a very brief rundown of the day's
events along with the GPS coordinates for the cave and instructions for finding
the opening. "Do you want Dawson's gun before I leave?"

"Where are you planning to go?"

"To get my aunt out of Dawson's house at
Cooper Lake."

He was already on his radio calling the county cops
and various rescue personnel. He shook his head while talking to someone on the
radio.

Lucy didn't argue. She retrieved Dawson's gun off
the front seat of the van and took it to Leonard.

"You need to let the police handle this from
here on out," he said.

"If they can get to Pinestraw Lane before me,
they're welcome to the glory but I'm not waiting." She turned and walked
back to the van.

"Hold on a second," he said to the person
on the other end of the radio conversation. He stomped up behind Lucy as she
opened the van door. "I could arrest you."

"You could but you'd look like a damn fool
when the truth comes out."

"Would that be the truth where you were
hunting artifacts on Federal property? Where you shot a college professor?
Where you--"

"Hey! I told you he shot first. Look at the
van windows. And we didn't move a single pebble looking for my family's
heirlooms so there certainly wasn't any digging. Now, I'm leaving. I'll expect
a call as soon as my friends are safe."

###

Pinestraw Lane was in Mountain Water, a new
vacation development on Cooper Lake. Lucy was familiar with the area near
Belle's home because she'd spent a couple of hours checking it out during one
of her weekend visits with Belle.

Belle had been predictably enthusiastic about the
possibility of having Lucy close by at least part time.

Gary had nixed the idea without really listening.
Now Lucy knew why.

Mountain Water was exclusive. The lots were large
and private. There were two completed homes on Pinestraw Lane, both with direct
access to the lake. In front of the first house an elderly woman in a large
brimmed straw hat knelt by a flower bed, garden trowel in hand looking like she
knew what she was doing among the growing things Lucy couldn't even name.

The second house looked deserted.

Lucy pulled into the second driveway.

No gun-wielding co-conspirator burst out of the
front door.

Lucy took this as a good sign.

She got out of the van and peeked into the garage.

Belle's car was on the other side of the glass.

The front door was locked.

Lucy picked up an ornamental frog doorstop, tossed
it through the glass sidelight, reached through and turned the knob. Lucky for
her, Professor Dawson hadn't heard about using keyed deadbolts to keep this
kind of thing from happening.

No alarm sounded when she opened the door. Since
the police should be on the way she was just glad not to have to listen to some
loud nerve-jarring horn while she searched for Belle.

"Belle!" Lucy called. "Can you hear
me?"

Silence.

Lucy started to call out again when she heard a low
sound of fear or pain from the interior. She went through the sparsely
appointed living room, surprised at the tattered, outdated furniture. It looked
out of place in an expensive new house. Maybe Dr. Dawson had overreached in
buying this--presumably--second home.

The distressed sound came again and Lucy pinpointed
the source behind a closed door at the end of a short hall.

Caution wasn't high on Lucy's list of priorities at
this point. She flung the door open and rushed into the room expecting to find
Belle gagged and bound.

"Don't hurt me," the woman in the room
begged.

Lucy stared at the woman on the hospital bed for
several seconds before responding to the woman's obvious fear. "I'm not
going to hurt you."

The woman didn't look entirely convinced and Lucy
realized she must be quite a horrifying sight. Especially in the sterile
surroundings of this bedroom turned hospital room.

The woman on the bed looked like she was closer to
death than life. "Mrs. Dawson?"

"Do I know you?"

Her voice was weak and dry.

"No," Lucy said. "I know your
husband. He told me you'd been ill. I just didn't know . . ."

The woman managed a weak smile. "James likes
to act as though I'm going to respond to my latest treatment. I've seen every
specialist in the country and tried every treatment protocol available."

Lucy realized the woman must be pretty heavily
sedated. It would explain her odd emotional shifts. And the specialists and
treatments meant money which was probably the motivation behind Dr. Dawson's
actions.

"Where is my aunt?" Lucy asked.

The woman looked confused. "Who? I'm afraid
you must be confused. James and I are the only ones here. Where
is
James? I think it's time for my
medication."

"I promise, someone will explain," Lucy
said. "But I have to find my aunt. Is there a basement?"

"Yes, a walk-out that opens lakeside."

Lucy left before the woman could ask more
questions. She felt bad about the poor woman's situation but surely a man as
smart as James Dawson could have found a better way to solve his money
problems.

She found the stairs leading to the lower level of
the house and pounded down with approaching sirens wailing in the background.

Downstairs she found a media room with no media,
two empty bedrooms and bathroom. A third door led out of the media room deeper
under the house.

Lucy went through door number three, into a
basement storage area and found yet another door with a crudely added padlock.

"Belle! Are you in there?" She pounded on
the door and rattled the knob.

"Belle?"

Lucy put her ear to the door and held her breath,
listening. She was almost sure she heard a groan and a croaking whisper that
could have been her name.

She looked around the storage area for something
she could use to knock the lock off the door but aside from some camping gear
and a couple of fishing poles, the room was empty. She was about to leave to
search the rest of the house for a hammer or a pry bar when she saw a key
dangling from a nail in the wall next to the door.

Once she managed to control her shaking hand, the
key slid into the lock without a hitch and the lock popped open. She tossed the
lock aside and pulled the door open with a racing heart.

A dirty, bruised figure squinted up at the light
streaming in from the storage area.

With a small cry of distress, Lucy dropped to her
knees and brushed a careful hand over Belle's face. "Are you okay? Are you
in pain?"

"I've been better but the damage is minor."
Belle said. Her lips were cracked and dry and she looked frail for the first
time in her life. Her clothes were filthy. She had several ugly looking
scratches on her arms and a bruise along her jaw-line.

Lucy ran her hands gently over Belle's arms and legs
searching for injuries and finding nothing more than the obvious.

Shouts came from upstairs.

"Police!"

"I have to let them know where we are,"
Lucy said, hugging Belle and reluctant to let her go. They were both crying
"I was so scared." Lucy opened her arms and eased back.

Belle nodded wiping her face. "I'll be fine
now."

Lucy gave her a reassuring pat, wiped her own face
with the back of her hand and went to the bottom of the stairs from the main
level. "Down here!"

A police officer appeared. "Are you Mrs. Deen?

Lucy nodded. "We need paramedics down here. My
aunt isn't doing well."

"Is there anyone else in the house?"

"Upstairs. Mrs. Dawson. She isn't well. I'm
not sure what her diagnosis is. She might need medical attention too."

Lucy went back to Belle and held her hand until the
paramedics took over.

"You'll need to make an appointment with an
orthopedic surgeon," the ER doctor said as he smoothed the last of the ace
bandage into place. "This arm will probably require surgery." He
wrote something on a prescription pad and handed the sheet to Jane. "No
driving. And if I may offer a suggestion, no more caving without a guide."
He looked around to include Lucy and Mae in this last instruction.

"Don't worry I think our Indiana Jones days
are over," Jane said.

"You're good to go," he said.

Jane thanked him and he left the three of them
alone.

They were all wearing scrubs generously donated by
the hospital after having their scrapes, cuts, gunshots and broken limbs seen
to.

The tally wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Jane's arm was the worst of it.

Lucy's wound was superficial and Mae escaped with a
few bruises and scrapes.