At the Crossroads (Buckhorn, Montana #3)(29)

So he hadn’t been surprised when he’d heard about Jana’s subsequent disappearance and alleged death. Maybe she’d staged it. Or maybe she really was dead. But the one thing Bobby knew was that Culhane Travis hadn’t killed her. Just as he knew that it was no coincidence that the former sheriff’s deputy had showed up at the café in Buckhorn.

Culhane was looking for Jana. A man who committed her murder wouldn’t be looking for her. But had he thought Leo could help? The cook was as much in the dark as Bobby had been. But now Leo was dead. Bobby didn’t think he was far behind even if Gene didn’t kill him.

As for Jana... If alive, she would have trouble staying that way because more than the law was looking for her.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He didn’t need to check to see who was calling. His mother had been trying to reach him. Bobby figured the law had come by the house. Maybe with a search warrant. He swore under his breath at the thought of what they would have found—and how his mother was going to take it. She had a weak heart. This time his criminal activity might kill her.

He should have stayed home instead of listening to Eric about the perfect bank to rob. He could have gotten the stuff out of his mother’s basement crawl space and faced up to what he’d been doing for money.

But he hadn’t been able to face her. Just as he hadn’t been able to answer her calls. He was lucky that she didn’t know how to text. He felt a wave of guilt at how many times she’d called and he hadn’t answered. But by now, it would be no surprise to his mother to realize that her precious baby boy was a coward. A coward in so much trouble that this time, he didn’t think there was any way out.

“We have to get off this highway,” Gene slurred as he glanced in his side mirror. He sounded stoned out of his mind. Bobby had been waiting for him to pass out. He’d been thinking of ways he could get away. The problem was that he had nowhere to run. Cops everywhere were already looking for him, and after what had happened back at the café...

“Turn at the next road you see,” Gene was saying. “That cowboy who probably killed Eric? He’ll come after us. I should have taken care of him right away. I could tell he wanted to be some kind of hero.” He looked in his side mirror again and grimaced in pain. “Can’t you get this van to go any faster?”

Bobby thought about telling Gene who the cowboy was but feared it would only make him more paranoid and unstable. Gene was hovering so close to the edge of sanity he didn’t want to push him over for fear of what he might do.

He saw a dirt road ahead and began to slow to make the turn when he heard Gene let loose a string of curses as he watched his mirror. “I was right. They’re coming for us. Step on it!”

Bobby glanced in his rearview. There was a vehicle back there, but it didn’t look like the one he’d seen Culhane driving the day he’d come by Jana’s. He told himself not to let Gene’s paranoia get to him as he made the turn and heard another thunk in the back of the van. Only this time, it was followed by a moan. The woman wasn’t dead. Yet.

RELIEVED, CULHANE HAD been afraid Bobby had turned off the highway much earlier and that they wouldn’t find them. Gene, if still alive, would know that someone at the café would have called 9-1-1 and that now the law was on its way. Cops would be all over them unless they found a way to get off this main highway.

He wasn’t surprised to see the van’s brake lights come on. It turned right onto a secondary road and quickly disappeared in a cloud of dust. After the first snowfall had melted and the weather had turned fairly decent again, everything had dried out. But it would be a short reprieve. Winter was coming with the promise of a whole lot of snow—according to the Farmers’ Almanac.

Culhane knew he’d let his thoughts take a detour to the weather only because he didn’t want to think about what would happen when he caught up with the van. He slowed just enough to make the turn. The van was just ahead. But, now what? he asked himself as he glanced at Alexis and wished like hell that he could have left her in Buckhorn.

Even as he thought it, he knew short of hog-tying her to the cowcatcher on the front of his pickup parked back at the café, there was no leaving her behind. “Can you try to find this road on a map on your phone and let me know where it goes?” he asked, barely getting the sentence out before she was on it.

Alexis already had her phone out and was tapping on the screen. It had always been like that when they’d worked together. They seemed to anticipate the other’s needs—in bed as well as on the job. That was a reminder he didn’t need right now.

“It isn’t on any map I can find, but it heads south so eventually it will hit the Yellowstone River and the interstate. Doesn’t look as if there are any towns for miles or other marked roads, for that matter.”

Dust billowed up behind the van, making it impossible to see ahead. Culhane didn’t want to get too close for fear of coming up on the vehicle without warning and crashing into it. If Tina were still alive, he’d like to keep her that way.

“You think they know we’re back here?” Alexis asked.

“Yep. If they can’t lose us, they’ll set up an ambush.” He glanced over at her. “There’s a bulletproof vest behind the seat. Put it on.”

“Culhane—”

“Please.”