Cut and Run(47)

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Just a guy with a few questions. Now drive. Slowly and carefully. I want us to have privacy while we talk.”

“If this is about money, I don’t have much, but you can have it.”

“I don’t want your money, Heather.”

His gaze didn’t drop to the full cleavage but remained locked on her face in the rearview mirror. “Rape is not on the menu for tonight either. Now drive.”

She put the car in drive and gently eased it forward. “Where are we going?”

“Toward the interstate.”

She slowly wove through the streets, and when it looked like she was going to race through a yellow stoplight, he pressed the blade into her skin, making her bring the car to a stop. “I wasn’t going to run it.”

“I know you weren’t,” he said.

When the light turned green, he directed her on the southbound ramp of I-35, and they drove in silence for two exits before he ordered her off onto an unlit access road. He told her to stop under an underpass, cut the headlights, and turn off the engine.

Most exits were populated with too many businesses and too many lights, but there were a couple with undeveloped land that would work nicely.

He’d chosen this exit earlier in the day while scouting his route. Instead of stopping immediately, he had kept driving on the access road, just double-checking that no one was following him. He was paranoid that way. Always doubling back and going around corners multiple times. Meticulous. And now he was parked here with Heather and getting to know her better.

“You must have me mixed up with someone else,” she said. “I’m a waitress, and I keep my nose out of everyone else’s business.”

“I know who you are. I know you’re close to Danny Garnet, am I right? And I bet you know a few of his secrets.”

The shift in her gaze lasted only a split second. “I work for the guy. But he doesn’t trust me with secrets.”

He released a long sigh, fearing she wasn’t going to make this easy. “I was hoping we could avoid any lying.” He grabbed a handful of her hair, wound it around his hand, and sliced the tip of his knife along her jawline. Blood immediately oozed from the open wound.

“Jesus!” she screamed. She cupped her hand to her cheek. “I’m bleeding.”

“Don’t get worked up. It looks worse than it is. Wounds on the face always bleed a lot. More for show than anything. But I did get your attention, didn’t I?”

“Please!”

“I’ll take you apart bit by bit, Heather. I don’t want to, but it’s up to you. Tell me where it is, and I’ll walk away.”

“I don’t know where it is. What are you talking about?”

“I thought he’d given it to Crow, but the old bastard died before I could get anything out of him.” Crow could have given what he had to Macy, and if he’d not reacted so quickly he could have grabbed her. Asked her questions. But she’d seen the ranch, and he couldn’t have her calling in the troops. He needed more time to find this damn package.

He raised the blade to her eye. “Garnet is blackmailing my client. He has evidence. Where is it?”

Her breath was quick and rapid with fear. “I don’t know what Garnet’s got planned. He said I just needed to be quiet and patient. He’s always kept me in the dark about the details. Even back in the day.”

“So you knew about the ranch?” When she hesitated, he jabbed the tip of the blade into her cheek.

“I never been out there, but yeah, I knew what he was doing out there. But that was a long time ago. He hasn’t done anything like that since.”

“But he kept the ranch. All these years and he held on to it. Why?”

“I don’t know why he kept it. He never told me. All I know is that Garnet has gotten jumpy in the last few months. I’ve never seen him like this before.”

“If he’d been smart, he’d have let sleeping dogs lie. The past had been dead and buried until he dug it up.” To remind her that she was living at his pleasure now, he lightly drew the tip of the knife over her cheek again. “You were around the first time he sold babies, weren’t you?”

She swallowed, her gaze locked on his face. “Yeah. I was around.”

“Did you help kill those girls?”

Panic flared in her eyes. “We didn’t kill any of those girls. They all got paid for their time and were sent on their way.”

“How do you know that?”

“He told me.”

How easily people accepted a lie over a painful truth. “You’re a smart girl, Heather. Do you really think that’s what happened?”

She paled, as if facts she did not want to acknowledge had smacked her in the face. “He didn’t kill anybody.”

He wasn’t here to debate this point. “That’s neither here nor there. The bottom line is that Garnet is blackmailing a client of mine. He’s got evidence that can prove what went on at that ranch.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“You notice things. Did he give you any hints about where he could have put any evidence?”

“What kind of evidence?”

“The kind that could upset a lot of lives if it came to light. Why has he started returning to the ranch?”