Picnic in Someday Valley (Honey Creek #2)(79)

When he leaned forward in pain, her knee hit him between his legs with enough force to lift the thin man off the ground for a moment. He crumbled in pain. Her elbow connected with his nose as he fell, and the crack of bone seemed to echo in the tiny space.

Marcie grabbed the knife while Leon curled up in pain on the floor. She cut Piper free.

As soon as Piper’s hands were free, she jerked the gag off and shouted, “You were great. How did you know to do that?”

“I had to act.” Marcie’s hands were shaking. “I could take no more.”

Piper stepped away from the pile ready to burn. “What do we do with him? Help him or tie him up?” Piper knew she sounded insane, but adrenaline and fear were running at lightning speed through her.

Leon started cussing. “I swear I’m going to kill you both.” His hand reached for Piper’s ankle. “I’ll break every bone in your body. I don’t care if you are the mayor!”

Piper grabbed a broken chair leg from the pile of trash and hit his hand so hard he screamed. “Stop cussing!” she yelled, knowing she was rattling. “You don’t cuss in public. It’s not polite.” Fearing he didn’t get the message, she hit his hand again.

His fingers pointed in strange, unnatural directions.

He cried out as he dragged his bloody, broken hand away.

Piper dropped the chair leg. “So what do we do, Marcie?”

Marcie’s voice had calmed. “I say we tie him up before one of us accidentally kills the rat.”

If Piper hadn’t been so afraid, she would have laughed. Her friend sounded like a 1920s gangster.

Marcie put the noose over his head and looped it over her one ceiling beam. It was a fake, and if it didn’t hold him, it would hit him on the head when it fell. If it held, Leon wouldn’t be able to move without choking.

They worked together to tie his hands behind him. Piper taped his mouth. Around and around his head she went until she ran out of tape.

Leon had to blow blood out of his nose before he could get air in. When he tried to kick them, Marcie stomped on his instep so hard that the heel of her boot pierced leather. He stopped trying to scream and started crying as blood bubbled over his boot.

“I can’t stand to look at him,” Piper said as she turned a wicker trash can over his head. “He was going to kill us.”

Her words sobered them. Tears came as they hugged once more.

“We’re alive,” Marcie whispered. “We’ll be all right.”

Both held the other tightly, letting their hearts slow.

“We need a phone to call this in. I don’t have one,” Marcie said.

“I don’t know what happened to mine,” Piper answered.

A low voice joined the conversation. “I have one. I’ve already made the call. Every lawman in the valley is on his way here.”

They whirled around and saw Brand standing in the doorway, his arms folded and a smile on his face.

A minute later they heard the roar of a Harley, and Colby came flying in.

“What happened? I heard screaming all the way up the hill.”

“Not me,” Marcie said.

“Not me.” Piper smiled.

Colby looked at the six-foot, blood-dripping, ugliest pi?ata he’d ever seen. “What is that?”

“Leon,” all three answered.

Colby lifted the trash can, took one look at the guy with his nose on sideways, and put the can back down. He studied the man up and down. The only other wound showing, besides a broken nose, was blood dripping out of the hole in the instep of his boot.

“How did that happen?”

Piper said softly, as if testifying, “Marcie accidentally stomped on his foot while he was trying to kick her for knocking his balls into his tonsils. Her heels are high, but I think the poor quality of the leather may be at fault.”

Marcie confirmed the account by nodding, and Brand just smiled and added, “That’s my girl.” Brand opened his arms and Marcie ran to him.

Colby slowly closed the distance between him and Piper, and gently held her as she cried.

In gulps she confessed, “I broke his fingers. That’s probably illegal.”

“Probably is,” Colby answered as he tied his handkerchief around her throat.

By the time the sheriff arrived, both men present seemed more upset than the ladies. They’d looked around and had no problem telling the sheriff what Leon had planned to do to the women. LeRoy turned to Piper and she nodded. Marcie filled in every detail.

The sheriff ordered them all outside. They watched him look inside, then slowly step in and begin to collect evidence and take pictures.

Finally LeRoy lifted the trash can, then put it back on Leon’s head. He kicked at the pile of trash built with a chair in its center. Finally, he stormed out to the steps. “Damn it, which one of you men beat up my criminal?”

“I didn’t touch him,” Brand answered with his head down.

“Then you, Colby. Hell, you’re a lawman, you know we don’t go around beating people up when we arrest them. You got him hanging like he’s nothing but a punching bag.”

“Not me,” Colby answered. “He was having to tiptoe to keep from hanging himself when I got here. He could have yelled for help if he had a problem, but I didn’t hear him say a word.”