Dixie Diva Blues (33 page)

Just as I reached for my cell phone, I caught a glimpse of my “escort” in a car behind me. So I ended up with the cell phone in the passenger seat and dialing with one hand; I pressed the Speaker button so I’d be able to talk without Garcia seeing me.

When he answered, my words tumbled out of my mouth in a rush, tangling up and making me sound like an idiot. Not that Jackson Lee wasn’t used to that, I was sure.

“This is Trinket and I can’t talk but a minute because I’m being followed by one of the guys who’s kidnapped Bitty and I don’t know what to do to keep her safe because if I do anything at all they said they’ll drown her and I need your help to get out of this without telling the police because they’ll kill her if they see any police too so you’ve got to help us you’ve just
got to
!”

Then I sucked in a deep breath of air to replenish my starved lungs.

“Trinket? Slow down a minute. Take a breath. Who has Bitty?
Why
do they have Bitty?”

“I can’t tell you all of it. I just need to know what I should do to stall them long enough for Bitty to be safe—I don’t have what they want.”

There was an instant’s silence. I said, “Jackson Lee? Are you there?”

“This isn’t Jackson Lee, Trinket. This is Jake.”

Uh oh.
Jackson Lee and Jake were obviously too close together in my cell phone address book.

“Sorry,” I said quickly, “wrong number.”

I hung up. Even when I pressed the right button to end the call, I knew I’d messed up. Jake was not likely to let this drop.

I was right.

My cell phone began playing the first bars of a country song. If I ignored him, Jake would not go away. He’d just hunt me down. Then Garcia would call Walsh and he’d do something horrible to Bitty and it would all be my fault.

I answered the phone by pressing the Speaker button again, and almost ran off the road. It took me a second to get my car back on asphalt, and my heart rate had tripled by that time.

“What?” I said loud enough for my caller to hear me above the pounding of my heart.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jake demanded. “Where are you?”

“I’m in my car. I’m driving.”

“To where or from where? What did you mean about Bitty being kidnapped?”

“I don’t have time to play Twenty Questions, Jake. I have to call Jackson Lee.”

“If you hang up on me again I’ll have every cop in Marshall County out looking for you.”

“I’m not in Marshall County.”

“Not a problem. I’ll do a statewide APB.”

I tried to think why Bitty and I had ever thought our cousin would be helpful. It was obviously a mistake of monumental proportions. We’d forgotten what a stubborn jackass he can be.

“All right!” I said. “I guess I’ll have to trust you. But remember, you can’t call in the police. Or any more police. They’ll kill her if you do.”

“
Who
will kill her?”

“Promise me you won’t call in the police, Jake Hankins!”

“Sure. I promise.”

“Okay—wait. Is this one of those police promises where you’ll say anything to get the suspect to confess?”

“Dammit, Trinket—”

“Okay, okay, but you better not do anything to get Bitty hurt.” I sucked in a deep breath and told him everything.

To say he was less than pleased is an understatement.

CHAPTER 16

I wasn’t at all convinced Jake’s plan would work, but since I had no alternate plan, I figured it was worth a try. It seemed simple enough. Give Walsh the flash drive, retrieve Bitty, and then get to safety as quickly as possible so the police could close in. I was relieved and surprised that Jake would give up crucial evidence.

“You’ll give up the flash drive for Bitty?” I repeated when he first suggested it. I held the cell phone tightly against my ear, just in case he changed his mind, but he promptly agreed.

“Why not? We’ll be taking Walsh and Garcia into custody as soon as it’s handed over, so it’s not like we’ll be losing hard evidence. It’ll just be the cherry on top.”

“I thought you hadn’t been able to get it open yet.”

“We haven’t. But our lab technicians have only had it a short time, and sometimes it takes a while to find the password. So,” he said as I turned down 311 Highway toward Truevine Road, “you think you can get that certificate back from Rob to give these guys the password?”

“No, I already told you. Not even the Federal guy has figured it out yet.”

“What about a copy of the certificate? Did Rob make a copy?”

I thought for a moment. “Well, he’s pretty thorough, so that’s a possibility.”

“Good. Now, do you know what to do?”

“Yes. I’m to give him the flash drive that you’ve put in Mama’s pantry, and then stay put while he takes it to Walsh. You sure the Tunica police will be there hiding?”

“Sugar, you’d be amazed at what motivated teams can do in such a short time. An hour and a half is more than enough to get everyone in place. I’m headed there now, and should beat Garcia by a good forty-five minutes even if he speeds all the way back.”

“All right, Jake. I’m trusting you.”

“This is the biggest case of my career. If I can catch two murderers and solve this, I’ll be the man.”

“As nice as that may be, just save Bitty and you’ll still be ‘the man’,” I said tartly.

“Do your part, cupcake.”

I clicked my cell phone off and took a deep breath. “Cupcake” was going a bit far, but I’d heard the excitement in his voice and knew he’d do his best to take down these guys and rescue the damsel in distress. While Jake wasn’t exactly the handsome hero I’d envisioned for Bitty—contrary to some beliefs, most Southerners do
not
marry their cousins—maybe this would turn out to be a better solution than involving Jackson Lee after all.

Afternoon shadows had lengthened, leaving the east side of the house deep in the shade. I parked my car in front, then went around to the back door with keys in my hand. Garcia had parked behind me a bit, and followed at a safe distance. I don’t know if he did that just to make sure no one was waiting in the house for him, or if he was afraid I’d come after him with a lit candle again. Whichever, he kept me in sight and trailed behind me about ten feet.

At first I had argued with Jake about whether or not to apprehend Garcia at my house. While part of me wanted him arrested as quickly as possible, the logical part of my brain had argued for allowing him to call Walsh and tell him he had the flash drive in hand. That way maybe Bitty would be released by the time Garcia got back to the casino.

Jake had assured me that a couple of officers were already hidden at my house to be sure Garcia didn’t try to hurt me, and that I’d be fine. He had it all worked out, he said. He cautioned me not to look around as if expecting anyone to be there, that they’d be well hidden and I needed to just focus on giving Garcia the flash drive and getting him out of there and on his way back to Tunica without me.

So as I walked to the back deck I took a deep breath and forced myself not to look around me. It was so quiet, not even birds singing in the trees. Brownie should have been barking his head off by now, and I figured one of the officers had probably put him in a room to keep him quiet. No one wanted to scare Garcia off before he got the flash drive, least of all me. I just wanted him to get it and get out, and Walsh to turn Bitty loose.

When I unlocked the back door and stepped inside, it felt eerie. No lights were on, and the house had a closed-in feel. I flipped the kitchen switch and the rooster chandelier Mama had over the farmhouse table blinked on. It felt as if someone had rearranged the things on the counters, but I went straight to the pantry as Jake had told me to do.

There was the flash drive, sitting on the third shelf up. I grabbed it and when I turned around, Garcia stood just inside the kitchen door. He had a pistol pointed at me. I held up the flash drive to show him I was cooperating.

“Where’s the dog?” Garcia growled at me.

“The dog?”

He made an impatient motion with the pistol. “The pit bull that attacked me. Where is it?”

“Uhhh, he stays outside during the day. And he’s a beagle mix, not a pit bull.”

He said something in Spanish that was probably rude. “Right. That damn dog left teeth marks in me. I wanna pay him back.” He waggled the pistol again. I shook my head.

“He’s not in here. I thought you were in a hurry?” I waggled the flash drive in the air.

“That’s a vicious dog. He needs to be put down.” Garcia smirked. “I’ll do it for free.”

I formed a very definite dislike for Garcia. “Do you want the flash drive or not?” I asked. “Your boss gave me the impression he’s in a hurry for it.”

Garcia scowled. His blistered scalp turned even redder, and looked painful. “You talk too much. I fix you like your friend, if you don’t shut up,
si
?”

My stomach dropped. My voice rose to a squeaky soprano. “I don’t need to be fixed. I can be quiet.”

“I make sure before I leave. No point in letting you call the cops once I’m gone.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” I said quickly. “Really. I won’t do anything until Bitty is back home safe and sound. Your boss has made sure of that.”

“He is not my boss! He not smart enough to be the boss. Now be still. I make sure you not call anyone when I leave.”

Instead of being still, I took a few steps sideways into the middle of the kitchen. If he intended to shoot me, I intended to at least be a moving target. Where was the back-up I was promised? It was about time someone popped in to help.

“Shoot me and I’ll destroy this flash drive,” I said as I began to dance from side to side, a shuffle step like I had seen Dancing Jimmy do on the Midtown sidewalks. I dipped, I swayed, I bobbed around like a cork on a fishing line. I did the huckle-buck, the shuffle, the mashed potato, and some hip hop, skipping around the kitchen and toward the hall door.

Garcia watched with his mouth slightly open and his eyes wide. Then he shook his head. “I not shoot you. You
loco
. Give me the flash drive.”

He held out his hand.

“Ha! I know better than to trust a criminal. If I stand still you’ll shoot me.”

I was panting my words, because if the truth be told, I hadn’t danced in years. And years. Maybe fifteen or twenty. Dancing around was hard on my lungs, not to mention my feet. But I didn’t dare stand still. Besides, I was getting closer and closer to the hallway door. If I could get through it, I was pretty sure I could make it to the front door before Garcia caught on to what I was doing. He didn’t seem very bright. Just lethal.

He said something harsh in Spanish and I was very glad my high school Spanish teacher hadn’t acquainted me with some of the finer aspects of the language. I was pretty sure I didn’t want to hear what he was saying.

Right when I got to the hallway door, I threw the flash drive in his direction as hard as I could, then pushed open the door and raced down the hallway. I expected at any moment to hear gunfire and feel a bullet in my back. I fumbled at the front door latch for what seemed an eternity, then had the door open. Just before I got through it, someone grabbed me from behind. I screamed and kicked a foot backward. A hand went across my mouth. I bit down as hard as I could and a man started cussing, this time in English.

Still in fight and flight mode, I swung around to inflict more damage, and realized immediately that I had just assaulted one of Holly Springs’ Finest. I was so relieved I went to hug him, and he threw his hands up to protect himself.

“Back off, lady!”

“I thought you were Garcia,” I explained as best I could since I was still fairly breathless from my exertions.

“Yeah, lucky me,” the uniformed officer muttered. He shook his injured hand. “I hope you’ve had your shots.”

It took me a second or two to realize he’d made a joke. I giggled. It felt glorious. A cloud of fear had lifted off me. Then reality came crashing back when I heard Garcia’s car roar out of the driveway. He’d gone back to meet Walsh. Would getting the flash drive back free Bitty?

“My cousin,” I said to the officer. “Have you heard anything about her being released?”

The officer, whose name turned out to be Hearst, shook his head. “I haven’t had time to hear anything. Garcia just left.”

“Oh. Then I guess you’ll be leaving now, too.”

“My orders are to stay here with you until I hear different.”

“To guard me, I suppose.”

“Yeah, and to make sure you don’t leave or do anything else stupid.”

I felt a little less charitable toward him. And toward Jake. I’m sure the last part of what the officer said was a direct quote. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “So I guess we just wait here?”

“I guess.”

While we waited, I fed Officer Hearst some of Mama’s homemade brownies and fresh coffee. There were two other officers as well, one outside in the barn, and another in the upstairs windows. They’d hidden a camera in the kitchen to capture events as evidence for a future trial. I was quite impressed with their efficiency in the short time they’d had to prepare. I invited them all into the kitchen to wait after they reported information about Garcia to their superiors. Brownie had made friends with the officer who had kept him in the barn, and sat in his lap. I didn’t care. I kept watching the clock and thinking that we’d hear any moment that the police had caught the killers and Bitty was free. Then Rob would be free, too, since it had to be Walsh who had killed Larry Whittier.