Give Him the Slip (40 page)

"Take her inside, son. Get her something to drink."
Then, to Kathy, "It'll be all right, honey. I'll find her and I'll call
you, okay?"

Luke got back in his truck and headed for Branch's place, working
the phone as he drove, notifying the police, the sheriff's office, and even the
Texas Rangers of Maddie's disappearance. He arrived at Callahan House just as
Matt exited Mrs. Swan's house. His brother saw him and shook his head.

Five minutes later, the two Callahan brothers studied the scene
beside the pool where Maddie had been sitting. "She didn't just disappear
off the face of the earth," Luke said to Matt. "Somebody took her.
Somebody has her stashed somewhere. We have to find her."

When his phone rang, he leaped to answer it. "Maddie?"

"No, Luke. It's Sara-Beth."

He shut his eyes, dropped his chin. "Hey, Bee. I don't
suppose you've seen Maddie."

"No, but I have your dog."

Now Luke's head came up. "Where?"

"At Doc Hander's. Luke, I found him lying in the parking lot
at Edgemere Park. I was pushing the stroller and there he was, poor
thing."

"But no sign of Maddie?" Luke met his brother's
concerned stare.

"No. What's going on, Luke? Doc Hander thinks Knucklehead has
been drugged. He's coming around, but he's groggy."

Drugged. Luke blew out a long, hard breath. This was confirmation.

"He says he'll be all right, though. You needn't worry."

Oh, yeah, he did need to worry. He recalled what Kathy had said
earlier in front of the Dairy Princess.
She's disappeared off the face of
the earth, just like my Sparkle.

Maddie awakened slowly, shying away from the pounding in her head.
Her hair hung in her eyes and she attempted to lift a hand to shove it away.

Her hand didn't budge.

"What the..." She pried up her eyelids and tried to
focus through blurry eyes and fuzzy thoughts. She lay on something soft and
leathery. Something brown. A six-point buck hung on the wall above her.

Maddie blinked twice, staring at the animal's glass eyes. Ick. It
smelled bad and she hated the stuffed-animal theme in decorating.

Wait. She didn't know anybody who used the stuffed-animal theme in
decorating.

With that, her thoughts cleared and the events of the day came
rushing back. That stink wasn't the deer head on the wall. The stink was the
scent of the chloroform. Chloroform that had coated the rag Austin Rawlings had
held to her face.

The district attorney drugged me!

She levered herself up, twisted her head around. "Where am
I?"

"My father's river house." Austin Rawlings sat in a
rocking chair in front of a stone fireplace replacing line on a fishing reel.

Maddie struggled against the rope binding her ankles and wrists.
"Austin? What in the world have you done?"

He looked at her then, his eyes cold and hard and a little wild.
"It's not me. It's him. Your boyfriend. Everything could have stopped. It
could have been over, but no."

His gaze darted toward the window. He gave the fishing line a
jerk. "Sin Callahan had to come back to town. Screw everything up."

"I don't understand. I thought you two were friends."

"Friends. Hah. Right." Austin sneered. "He's always
been jealous of me. We both came from prominent families, but I was this town's
favorite son. He was the screwup. I took over as quarterback in the Mineral
Wells game our senior year when he went out with a hamstring pull. Team was
down fourteen to three in the fourth quarter, and I threw for three touchdowns
and ran for sixty-eight yards. I won the game for us. Made him spittin' mad. He
never got over it."

"This is about
football?"

He acted as if he'd not heard her. "I was smarter than he
was, salutatorian of our class. I was more popular. I was elected class
president and homecoming king. And I took Sara-Beth away from him our junior
year. She didn't like his drinking and fighting. The street racing. She didn't
like the way he talked to his father."

He's crazy,
Maddie thought. He's snapped. He's
reliving his youth. "Austin, hello? You're not in high school
anymore."

He dropped the fishing reel into his lap. "No, I'm not. I've
come a long way since high school. UT undergrad, SMU law school. I've been the
district attorney for Palo Pinto County for seven years now. I'm active in state
politics and I've set my sights on the governor's mansion. Everything is in
place, just like my father and I planned. I won't let any extortionist get in
my way."

Blackmail. Of course. "So you're the one who's been after
Jerry Grevas's box? You're the one who set fire to my house?" Her mind
clicked, putting the facts and suppositions together. "He had compromising
pictures of you?"

He shoved to his feet and began to pace the room. Maddie
surreptitiously struggled against the bindings on her wrists as another thought
occurred. Jerry. Oh, no. Was Jerry Grevas's killer five feet from her right
this moment?

"Sin Callahan hasn't changed, you know. He used people back
then and he's using you now. You led him to Jerry Grevas and Jerry Grevas led
him to the pictures. That's why he killed Jerry. He wanted Jerry's box of
pictures."

"Luke didn't kill Jerry Grevas."

"Sure he did. Sin Callahan wanted to have a hold on me, and
he couldn't afford for anyone to know it. I figure he planned to sit on them
until I was in office. Then he'd spring 'em on me. Demand the big bucks. That's
the way he thinks, you know. Sin Callahan is sneaky."

Maddie's mind raced. Wait a minute. If Austin didn't kill Jerry,
then who did?

"He made a mistake, though. He just had to show his hand,
didn't he? Had to brag. Had to let me know that burning down your house wasn't
enough. I considered letting it go until I found his little gift in my mailbox,
you know. After all, who would believe the likes of Sin Callahan over me?
Nobody. But he had to go and lord it over me, first with the notes, then the
necklace, and finally with his smart-ass attitude this morning. 'What if
someone else found the box? What if someone else has the pictures, and he's
waiting for the right time and place to use them?' I got his message and now
he's getting mine. I didn't want to have to kill anyone else, Maddie. This is
his fault. Not mine."

Kill anyone else? Whom did he kill? Anybody? Or was Austin mixing
everything up?

"Wh-wh-what do you plan to do, Austin?"

"I figure I'll wait awhile to contact him. It'll give him
time to get good and worried. He cares about you, you know. I can see it."
Regret seeped into his eyes. "I'm really sorry about this, Maddie. I tried
to think of another way, but I simply couldn't see one."

Maddie's blood went cold. "You're wrong, Austin. I swear.
You've gone after the wrong person. Luke didn't kill Jerry. He doesn't have any
pictures. He doesn't have any proof. It's not too late. You don't have to do
this. You can let me go and I give you my word I won't tell anyone."

He sighed sadly. "He fooled you, Maddie. He lied to you. He
always does. Uses women like a tissue, then throws them away. Too bad for you.
You could have had anyone."

"He absolutely did not lie to me!" Maddie declared.
"If you do this, Austin, you'll be making a huge mistake. Your problems
with the pictures won't be over, and you'll have my father to deal with.
Believe me, you don't want that."

"Your father? Why should I care about your father?"

"He's rich and he's famous and he'll turn this town upside
down if something happens to me. Austin, my father is the rock star Blade. I'm
Baby Dagger."

Austin looked at her for a long minute and Maddie's hopes swelled.
Then he laughed. "Good try, Maddie. You have an unusual imagination, I'll
give you that." Chuckling, he shook his head. "Baby Dagger."

"It's true."

"I ran your name, Madeline."

"I changed my name. I was Madeline Connaught. I am Baby
Dagger. I'll prove it. Ask me any question about Blade or Savannah and I'll
answer it."

"You're best friends with Kathy Hudson, the world's biggest
rock-and-roll fan. Of course you know rock music trivia."

Frustration surged through her and she wiggled and fought and
tugged on the ropes. "I guess I have that coming, don't I? I guess this is
what I get for running away, for hiding who I really am."

"Calm down. Quit struggling. I'm an Eagle Scout. I know my
knots and you won't work them loose." During her efforts, her shirt had
crawled up her torso, baring her midriff. Austin's stare locked on her skin and
he said, "You know, I've had a thing for you ever since our date to the
Valentine's dance. You're not the political partner I need in a wife, but we
could have enjoyed ourselves for a time. It's too bad you decided to date that
loser instead of me."

Maddie went still. That was a spark of lust she saw in his eyes,
and a woman's fear of rape washed over her.
Stop it, Maddie. Keep your wits
about you. There are worse things than rape.

Burning to death. Being shot to death. Bleeding to death. Death,
period.

Rape.
Lord, help me.
All right. Okay. She could deal with
that if she had to. Could she use it?

Possibly. She needed a plan, though. At the rate her luck was
going, Austin Rawlings had a thing for bondage, in which case she'd be screwed
in more ways than one.

In order to develop her plan, it'd help to know his. She knew the
big picture—she and Luke both dead. Maybe she could find salvation in the
details.

"I'm telling you, Austin, you're making a mistake. If Luke turns
up anywhere with a bullet in him, Branch Callahan won't rest until he finds the
killer."

"You're wrong. He's not hunting down John's killer, is he?
Besides, that's not the way this is going to happen."

That's it, Austin. Spill the beans.

"Once I have the pictures in hand, it only takes a phone call
for me to set into motion the plan my father put in place years ago to frame
Mark Callahan should it become necessary. My father despised Mark ever since he
cheated to snatch the valedictorian slot right out from under me in high
school. Considering that Mark and Luke are identical twins, it took only a few
tweaks from me to substitute one brother for the other in the plan. Once the
'truth' is revealed, not even Branch Callahan will doubt that Luke died by
suicide."

"Truth about what, Austin? What do those pictures show?"

He met her gaze. His mouth worked but no sound emerged.

From the direction of the kitchen, another voice spat a single
word. "Murder."

Austin's eyes went wide and he and Maddie both whipped their heads
around. Kathy Hudson stood in the doorway, the gun in her hand pointed right at
Austin, the look in her eyes deadly. "Murder," she repeated. "My
Sparkle didn't run away. Austin Rawlings killed her."

Maddie gasped. Kathy grinned evilly. Insanely. Sparkle was dead,
and Austin killed her? Is that what... Why? "Is it true?"

In a flash of movement, Austin pulled a gun of his own and held it
against Maddie's temple. "Yeah, I did. So don't go thinking I won't kill
again now."

Luke careened into the veterinary clinic's parking lot and slammed
on the brakes. He shoved the gearshift into park, and leaving the truck
running, dashed for the front door. "Doc?" he called as he entered
the crowded waiting room. "Bee?"

A black lab reacted to Luke's agitation with a loud woof as the
vet called out, "Back here, Callahan."

Sara-Beth gave Luke a worried smile as his stare focused in on
Knucklehead, who still lay on an examining table. Luke's heart gave a wrench.
Grimly, he asked, "His condition?"

"I see no sign of injury," Doc Hander said. "Still
waiting on the blood work, but I suspect that'll tell the tale."

Luke patted the dog's belly, reassured by the steady up-and-down
movement. "He'll be fine?"

"I expect so, yes."

Luke gave one sharp nod, then turned to Sara-Beth. "I need
you to show me where you found him. Exactly."

"You gonna tell me what's wrong, Sin?"

"On the way."

Ten minutes later, they parked at the entrance to Edge-mere Park
and Sara-Beth led him to the spot where she'd found Knucklehead. Luke made a
careful inspection of the surroundings, looking for anything and everything
that could provide a hint of who may have orchestrated the events. He came up
dry.

"He picked a good spot," Luke said, observing the
surrounding trees. "No clear line of sight. A casual observer would have a
tough time noting anything unusual. When you stopped, Bee, did you see anyone
at all in the park?"

"No, and I did look. I could have used some help lifting him
into my car, but the place was deserted. This is an older neighborhood, Luke.
Not many kids around to play."