Search Me(35)

“And um, when exactly do you think that will be?” I asked, absentmindedly playing with my silverware.

“Probably not until this afternoon or tonight.”

Great. I had a few hours until all hell broke loose. “Okay, well, I guess I’ll see you then.”

“Tell Maudie we love her, and we’re coming just as soon as we can, okay?”

Oh God. She had actually gone there. What kind of person was I who could lie about being at the bedside of a woman in a coma? My chest clenched, and I fought to breathe. “Okay,” I whispered.

From somewhere faraway, I heard her tell me she loved me and goodbye. I hung up the phone and stared down at the grease-encrusted Formica table. I was so zoned out that I didn’t even acknowledge the waitress sitting my plate down.

Maddox’s voice brought me out of my stupor. “What’s the matter? Are you in trouble?”

“She thinks we’re at the hospital. They’re coming this afternoon or tonight. And then…” I gulped. “She told me to give Maudie her love,” I whispered.

He jolted back against the booth like I’d slapped him. Of course, his gut-wrenching reaction didn’t help my emotional overload. Even though I tried, I couldn’t stop the tears that welled in my eyes before spilling over my cheeks.

Maddox shifted in his seat while rubbing his neck a little too furiously. “Yeah, uh, you stay here and take it easy. I’ll go on and see about getting us a car.”

I glanced at the teeming plate of food he had barely touched. “What about your breakfast?”

“Uh, I can eat on the way. You know, get us there quicker and all.” At my wounded expression, he groaned. “Look, we both know I’ve never been a touchy-feely emotional dude.”

“So?”

“So, I just can’t handle seeing you cry, okay?”

“You did last night,” I argued.

He scowled. Before he could get me with a comeback, our attention was drawn to the loud conversation of a table full of truckers. “They’re saying it wasn’t a typical robbery. No money was taken, and the person who did it was wise enough to take the security tapes.”

“Some are saying it looks like a professional job—you know, some ex-con out on parole. But to me, it sounds like an inside job. You know, some pissed-off employee or something,” a man with a John Deere hat argued.

Another man shook his head. “I delivered to Maudie’s several times, and there ain’t no way some worker would be mad enough to try to kill her. She treated everyone like family.

“It sure is a shame about the warehouse fire. Police are saying it must’ve been started to burn everything and conceal the crime. It sure was lucky the fire department got there in time to put it out. The warehouse would have probably been a total loss instead of just taking out half of it.”

The John Deere man leaned forward. “I think the biggest mystery of all is who the hell called 911?”

A stabbing pain crisscrossed through my chest, and I gasped to breathe. How could these random truckers be talking about Maudie? The way they spoke about her made it sound like she hadn’t made it. I guess that was good considering her ICU room was being police guarded in case Jensen or some of his thugs came back.

“Don’t go there, Lane,” Maddox said.

I jerked my head up to stare at him. “What?”

“You shouldn’t let yourself for one minute think that Maudie’s not going to pull through this coma and make it just fine.”

“But she could die. That’s a truth we have to face.”

With a shrug, Maddox started scarfing down his bacon. He could live in denial all he wanted, but I couldn’t ignore the stark reality of our situation. As he continued steadily devouring his plate, I realized he was one of those people who ate their emotions. He punctuated his bites by growling, “How could the news travel so fast? It’s barely been fourteen hours.”

I remained quiet as I pushed my plate away. My impending doom once my parents found out what I had done, coupled with the truckers’ conversations about Maudie, had completely wiped out my appetite. Once Maddox cleaned his plate, he dug some cash out of his wallet to pay for breakfast. I didn’t even bother protesting that he shouldn’t get mine as well as his. I didn’t like the angry gleam in his eyes.

He grimaced when he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Dammit, my cell is dead.”

“Mine’s about to die, too. We’ll probably need the GPS to help us track the gold’s location.” I motioned out the window at the Wal-Mart across the street. “Why don’t I go get a charger while you get the car?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

After buying a cell charger, a book of different Georgia maps, a six-pack of bottled water and a few snacks, I stood outside Wal-Mart waiting for Maddox to pick me up. Bringing my hand to my eyes, I shifted my purchases to one arm and then shielded my gaze from the intense sun. I actually heard him coming long before I saw him. He had bought a big diesel truck like the kind that hauled horse trailers.

Maddox rumbled up to the curb, and I had to step on my tiptoes to poke my head in the window. “This is one huge truck.”

His grin was pure little boy with a brand spanking new toy. “4K on the nose after some intense haggling. It’s built for major off-roading, not to mention the steel enforced body is basically impenetrable. You know, if Jensen and his goons show up for another gun battle.” He smacked the steering wheel. “This baby is fierce!”