Escape From the Badlands (12 page)

He grabbed the wheel with both hands and squeezed.
Find a way to help her.
His heart added the rest.
And then find a way to let her go.

She shivered, and he turned on the heater.

Charlie sighed. “I want to go play with Paddy Paws. How much longer?”

Shane remembered his purchase at the Gifts a Million store. He pulled a toy motorcycle from his pocket and handed it over the backseat. “Here you go. An early birthday present from me. Something to play with while we drive back to camp.”

Kelly shot him a grateful look. “That was nice of you.”

He shrugged. Nothing he ever did would make up for turning away from the boy, but he found himself enjoying being around Charlie, in spite of the memories of Lonnie that tugged at his heart. He checked the time. “Just after one. We should be back in a couple hours. My brother is due to call and I want to ask him a question.”

She didn’t answer. At first he thought she was lost in thought. A few seconds later he picked up on her rigid posture, the fingers clutching her seatbelt. He looked over and saw unadulterated fear on her face.

“What?” he asked.

She could not speak at first. “Pull over, Shane. Right now.”

He let a few cars pass and eased over to the sidewalk, alarm circling his gut. “What’s wrong?”

She pointed to the backpack at her feet. He saw nothing unusual.

Then a flicker of movement caught his eye. A corner of the backpack was unzipped, a cord trailing from it. When the cord began to uncoil itself, the truth snapped into place.

With a look of utter terror on her face, Kelly watched the snake slither from the backpack and curl around her ankle.

TWELVE

K
elly felt the weight of the creature looping around her ankle. The sky was still clouded and she dared not bend over to look at the thing. As it was she was fighting to keep from screaming and leaping out the car door. She remembered the day her uncle had been bitten by a prairie rattlesnake.

Run, Kelly. Run and get Aunt Jean.

By the time she’d returned, his ankle was swollen to twice its size and Uncle Bill was pale and sweating, lips trembling. They’d gotten him to the clinic in time for the antivenom to take effect, but Kelly had never forgotten that fear. For several months afterward, she’d been afraid to walk outside alone.

Her ears were ringing. Was it the dry, raspy sound of the rattles?

Another terrifying thought assailed her. Would the reptile get into the backseat? Charlie’s much smaller frame would be no match for the hemotoxins in the snake’s venom. Shane was saying something in a low, soothing tone, but she was too scared to hear. His door eased open and he got out. Panic swelled inside her. Shane was leaving her, just as he had before. She wanted to scream, to bang her hands against the window and beg him to stay, but she remained stone still in her terror.

“Mama Kelly?” Charlie asked sleepily from the backseat. “Where is Mr. Shane going?”

“I don’t know, Charlie,” she managed.

He unbuckled his seat belt.

“Stay in your seat, honey.” Her voice wobbled. He must not come close to the snake, which was now nosing its cold head under the cuff of her jeans.

Please, God. Please don’t let Charlie get bitten.

Charlie stuck his head over the front seat. “Are we going to stay here?”

“We’ll go in a minute. Play with your motorcycle for just a little bit longer.” Her fingers curled around the door handle. The only escape was to jump out, hope it didn’t bite her and open the back door for Charlie to get out. Her eyes blurred from a sudden onslaught of tears.

On the count of three, she told herself.

She only got to two.

The door eased open without her help and Shane was there, eyes wide and intent. He shone a small penlight down into the dark space around her feet. Slowly he reached out a hand.

“No,” she breathed. “It will strike you. Just get Charlie out. Get Charlie out,” she hissed as loudly as she dared.

Shane continued to shine the light on the snake, which felt cold and tight around her leg. Her legs trembled and she wondered if the snake sensed her fear, like the terror of some small animal about to be devoured.

When she thought she could no longer contain a scream, Shane’s hand darted out toward the snake.

Kelly shrieked in spite of herself. Shane backed up, holding the snake behind the neck, its length dangling clear to the ground. Charlie popped over the front seat again. “A snake! Is it gonna bite you?”

Shane smiled at him. “No. I’ve got him behind the head here so he can’t bite. It’s a bull snake—it’s not poisonous, anyway. I’m going to go put him over there in the bushes. Do you want to come and see it crawl away, Charlie?”

“Yeah,” Charlie crooned. He followed at a safe distance behind Shane. Kelly watched Shane kneel and release the snake, Charlie’s small hand on his big shoulder. After a moment, they returned to the car.

Charlie stopped to collect some shiny pebbles from the ground. Kelly got out and leaned against the car, shivering. Shane pulled her into his arms and ran his hands up and down her back. Kelly could not hold in the sobs now, try as she might. “I thought you’d left.”

He stiffened and squeezed her tighter. “No. I was right here the whole time. It’s over now.”

Her tears dampened his shirt, and she gave herself over to the relief until Charlie put his arm around her leg. “Why are you crying? Did the snake bite you?”

She brushed her sleeve over her eyes and knelt next to him. “No, honey. I was just…surprised. I’m okay.”

He nodded. “That was a long snake. It crawled away, didn’t it, Mr. Shane?” There was a hint of fear in the boy’s eyes.

Shane patted his head. “Oh, yes. That snake crawled right away to find his family. He’s probably got a little son who’s almost four, too.”

That brought a smile to Charlie’s face. “How do you know all about snakes?”

“My brothers and I used to go on snake hunts all the time.”

“Brothers?” Kelly asked. “I thought Todd was your only brother.”

Shane looked away, bending to pick up a stick and breaking it into bits. “My younger brother died.”

Something in those words made her think Shane had experienced a whole lifetime that she wasn’t aware of.

“Anyway, we should get back and put in a call to your uncle. He’ll be mad, but he needs to know what we found out.”

Try as she might, Kelly couldn’t make herself get back into the car.

Shane, noticing her hesitation, took out the backpack and carefully unloaded its contents, checking every pocket and crevice. Then he packed it up and did the same with the car, looking under the seats and in the glove box. “It’s fine. No more hitchhikers.”

She rebuckled Charlie in the back and climbed in, tucking her feet up on the seat. They drove in silence for several miles before Shane voiced the question that was tumbling over and over in her mind. “When did someone put a snake in your backpack?”

She wanted to say it was just an accident, that the snake had climbed into the pack at some point on its own, but she knew that wasn’t possible. Someone had put it in there, and the car heater had awakened the reptile. “I used the pack as the racers crossed the finish line yesterday. Then I put it in the car until I grabbed it this morning.”

“Was the car locked?”

“Yes.”

He frowned. “So that means anyone on the race staff could have gotten access. They have a spare set of keys in the office, I’m sure. That means Ackerman, Chenko or anyone who spends time with them could have sneaked the keys and put the snake in your pack. Or it could have been done while we were here in town.”

Her stomach tightened. “Gleeson?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him. It’s possible he jimmied the car open himself. Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“But why?” She folded her arms tightly around herself, to hold the current of emotion in. “There’s no benefit to scaring me. What would Gleeson gain by doing that?”

Shane shook his head. “I’m not sure. It’s possible he’s working for someone else.”

“That still doesn’t answer the question. If Devin is responsible for Olivia’s death and he knows you suspect him, he’d be after you, not me.”

Shane shifted on the seat. “Unless he knows you’re important to me.”

His words were so low, she almost didn’t catch them. “What?”

“Maybe Devin knows you’re important to me, and threatening you will distract me.”

“Am I?” Her voice came out almost a whisper. “Am I important to you?”

He looked at her. “You’ll always be the most important woman in my life.”

She was speechless for a moment. The most important woman? The woman he had walked away from without a backward glance? She locked eyes with him for a moment, and there was such sadness there, all her anger ebbed away.

He kept his eyes on the road. “Kell, I think you should get out of here.”

“You think I should leave because I’m in danger?”

“That’s exactly what I think, and now you have proof that it’s not my imagination. That snake didn’t crawl into your backpack by itself.”

“But I’m so close to my sister. If I leave now, I may never know what happened to her.”

“The police will investigate.”

“She’s an adult with alcohol problems. She hasn’t committed a crime. They won’t investigate too hard.”

“Your uncle will.”

“He’ll try, but he’s a Tribal Ranger with no authority here. Plus, he’s got a new wife and a foster child at the moment.”

He took her hand and pressed it to his face, tracing his lips over her palm.

Her pulse quickened and she cupped his cheek, feeling the warmth of his breath on her skin. The touch made her dizzy and her mind ran wild, back to the moment at the car when she thought he’d left her again.

It became clear in that moment, as clear as the wide open sky above them, washed clean by the torrential rains. He was right; she had to go—but not for the reasons Shane believed.

She had to leave because there was a raw place deep inside her that clung to him, hungered for his touch and would never be fully healed. Every day spent with him only deepened her longing for the man who had left her long ago.

Blinking hard, Kelly pulled her hand away. She would not, could not allow her soul to be ripped asunder again. “You’re right. I’ll make arrangements to leave right after the race tomorrow.”

The rest of the trip passed in slow-motion silence. Mile after mile unfurled before them as they headed back to town. He should have felt relieved that Kelly had decided to do the smart thing and leave. He should have felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders, but instead, the weight seemed to have settled on his heart.

It’s the right thing, Shane. You made your choice. Kelly isn’t yours.

The truth tore at him, embedding a sliver of pain deep down in his heart that would not let up.

Back in camp, he stayed with her as she called Uncle Bill and explained their findings. As Shane predicted, Bill did not take the news of their trip well. His voice on the speakerphone was clipped and angry.

“I’ll check it out, and you two stay out of it.”

Kelly told him about her decision to leave the next day, and he sounded slightly mollified. “Good. Come and stay with us here in Rockvale until you find a position.” He even managed a chuckle. “It will be good to have Charlie here for his birthday, and Rose will know where to find us.”

Shane excused himself when his own phone buzzed. He stepped outside, the cool evening air a balm on his face.

“How are you, little brother?” Todd sounded tired and distant. “I promised I would call, but this is the last time—no sense in it.”

Shane ignored the worry that rose anew in his gut. “I’m making progress here.”

No answer.

“Todd, I need to ask you something. Why do I know the name of an organization called Angel Heart?”

“Angel Heart? I haven’t heard that name for years. It’s a Christian group that helps unwed mothers.”

“How do you know about it?”

“Before we got married, Olivia helped out at an Angel Heart. She told me she really loved the work, but something bad happened and she quit and moved here. That’s when I met her.”

It made sense. Shane remembered seeing a pamphlet at Todd’s house about the Angel Heart organization in a box of Olivia’s things that he’d found on a shelf after the police had left. Shane’s instincts prickled. “What happened?”

“Olivia didn’t like to talk about it.”

“You need to tell me, Todd.”

“Why? What has this got to do with the present? That was years ago.”

“Tell me,” he repeated grimly.

“Olivia worked with a group of unwed mothers, getting them jobs, feeding and housing them at the local churches, if necessary. She used to ask for food donations from local restaurants and stuff like that. One time she went to a diner, near Ash Ridge I think it was, and she witnessed a crime of some sort. She told the police and all that, but nothing came of it. Mostly she wanted to put it behind her and never think about it again. She wouldn’t even tell me about it because it upset her so badly.”

“Did she ever talk about a woman named Rose Cloudman?”

“Cloudman? Is that your girlfriend’s sister?”

Not my girlfriend anymore, he thought grimly. “Yes.”

“Hey, I’ve gotta go, Shane. Time’s nearly up.”

“Todd, did she ever mention Rose Cloudman?”

“No. She never spoke about the women she helped. As I said, she wanted to erase whatever happened back then. I have to go.”

“Call me later.”

“I’m not calling again, Shane.”

“Don’t say that.”

“My lawyer said the trial is scheduled to start the end of the month. He’s not optimistic.”

“I’m working on it. I’m getting closer to an answer.”

“There is no answer, Shane. I’m going to prison for killing my wife.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Get on with your life, little brother, and forget about mine.”

The disconnect sounded loud in Shane’s ear. Desperation rose inside him, along with the strong feeling that Olivia and Rose were connected somehow. He felt more and more convinced that Rose had been one of Olivia’s wards at Angel Heart, and whatever crime she had witnessed somehow held the keys to what had happened to both women.

He headed back to his trailer. He should be winding down, getting his body in shape for the canoeing and running section of the race in the morning, but he knew he could not sleep until he powered up his laptop and did a little poking around.

As he unlocked the door, Gleeson appeared out of the shadows. “Hey, Matthews. Where you been?”