At the Crossroads (Buckhorn, Montana #3)(65)

She thought of the baby growing inside her as she slithered up and out the window. In the distance, she could hear Christmas bells ringing and realized it was Sunday and the bells were coming from a nearby church.

THE SHERIFF HAD never been good at waiting. He paced his home office. Why hadn’t Culhane called? Willy had been so sure that the man was in love with Alexis Brand and would jump at a deal. Was Culhane playing him, or did he really not care?

Atwater had called again, anxious to get the necklace back. Like Willy wasn’t just as anxious?

When his phone rang, he felt such a sense of relief that his legs went weak, and he had to sit down. So much was riding on this. The crime-scene techs would be finishing their investigation of Jana Redfield Travis’s murder. He would have to move on what they found, and yet, the last thing he needed was some law officer to pick up Culhane before the necklace was in his hands.

“Hello?” He knew he sounded smug, but now he had Culhane exactly where he wanted him. Once Culhane heard Alexis’s frightened voice, he would bend, and this would be over. At least for Willy. Not so much for Culhane.

“We have a problem,” Deputy Furu said. “Alexis got away.”

Willy couldn’t believe he’d heard correctly. Was this a bad joke? “How is that possible?”

“We had her bound up, but she got loose and went out the bathroom window into the woods behind the house. Cline and I are out looking for her now. She can’t have gotten far. I’ll call when we have her.” He disconnected.

Gripping the phone so hard than his fingers ached, he wanted to explode. How could the fools have lost her? Everything was riding on this trade. Culhane was expecting a phone call from her. What would he do when he didn’t get it? Take the necklace to the FBI?

Willy slammed down his phone, kicked his desk and sent his trashcan cartwheeling across the room. Were they trying to ruin him? Did they not realize that they were going down with him?

His phone rang. He snatched it up, hoping it would be Furu and that they had Alexis. But of course it was Culhane. He declined the call, knowing he would have to take the next one. But first he had to figure out how to play this.

ALEXIS HAD NO idea where she was as she ran through the pines. She needed to get to a road, to people, to a phone to call for help. Had there been a creek, she would have followed it down, knowing that was what lost hikers were advised to do. But the house seemed to have been in the middle of nowhere. From the bells she’d heard there was a church nearby. But she had no idea where. She couldn’t double back to the road for fear of running into the deputies, so she kept going. Ahead she could see some rock outcroppings that rose up high enough that she might be able to see something from there.

She knew the deputies wouldn’t be far behind, and there were two of them. Her chances of actually getting away weren’t good. But she’d had to try. She was still dressed as she had been earlier in the mountains. But they’d taken her gun and her cell phone.

The ground was covered with dried pine needles beneath the trees. But no snow. That meant that they had to be in the western part of the valley away from the mountains. Breathing hard, her boots pounding the ground beneath her, she kept moving. All the while, she listened for the sound of traffic—and the men behind her. She heard nothing but her own ragged breath.

Furu and Cline would have a hard time tracking her in the needles, she told herself. She hoped they would split up to find her—and that might give her an edge.

At the high outcrop, she slowed and looked back. All she could see were dense conifers. But while she couldn’t see men, she knew they were back there. Hurriedly she climbed up the rocks. At the top, she tried to peer over the trees. She could see the tops of mountains in the distance but little else.

She heard someone coming fast. Ducking down into a spot in the rocks where she could hide, she found a softball-size boulder she could use as a weapon if one of them got close enough. Crouched, she waited.

CULHANE CALLED THE sheriff’s cell-phone number again, more than worried now. Something was wrong. He could feel it. Garwood had been anxious to make the deal, and now he wasn’t answering his phone?

His heart thundered in his chest. Alexis. Something had happened to her. That’s why they hadn’t made the call to let him know that she was alive. He felt sick. He should have just made the deal. Maybe Garwood had been telling the truth about Alexis not having a lot of time.

If he could get his hands around Garwood’s thick throat right now—

“Hello.” The sheriff sounded chipper. Or at least wanted him to think he was.

“Is there a problem, Garwood?” He tried to keep both the anger and the fear out of his voice. “I thought you wanted this necklace. Maybe I should just turn it over to the FBI and let them deal with you.”

“If you were going to do that, you would have already,” the sheriff snapped back.

“What makes you think I haven’t?”

“Because that wouldn’t be healthy for your girlfriend,” Garwood said.

“If she were healthy, I would have already talked to her.” Silence. It hung between them too long. Culhane felt his stomach roil. The ache in his heart was unbearable.

“She’s fine,” the sheriff finally said. “We’re having trouble with cell-phone coverage where she is. But we’re moving her. Once we get coverage...”