Cowboy to the Max Page 10

  Suddenly a siren wailed outside, bursting into the silence.

  “Carter,” Sadie cried. “Do you think the police are coming here?”

  “We’re not going to wait around and see.” He tucked the address book into his pocket.

  “Wait.” Sadie paused by the nightstand and grabbed Loretta’s cell phone. “We can check her message log.”

  “Good idea.” If Lester had called her, his number would be in her phone. Then they could track him down.

  Sadie crammed the phone into her purse, and they ran out the back door just as the siren grew louder. Bright police lights twirled in the distance, creating a rainbow of blue against the night sky. Carter yanked her into the shrubbery banking the property, and they crept behind the bushes.

  The police car screeched to a halt, and two policemen jumped out, weapons drawn. Both cops peered around the property, one speaking into his radio as they darted up the front path to the door. The heavier one stayed two steps behind, turning in a wide arc to scan the street, then seemed to pause as he noticed their truck.

  Carter pulled Sadie deeper into their hiding spot, hoping the officer wrote the truck off. But the two homes nearest Loretta’s were for rent and, judging from the dilapidated porches, trash piled on the side of the road and overgrown lawns, obviously vacant.

  “Get ready. We may have to run on foot,” Carter said.

  But they were miles from the town, and that could prove dangerous and timely. Then again, he could try swiping a car from one of the neighbors, but that would be risky, as well.

  Carter watched the first cop enter, then the second one started toward Carter’s truck, but cop number one yelled back at him. “Get in here and call this in. We got ourselves a murder.”

  The heavyset cop heaved a breath, jacked up his pants, then turned and lumbered inside the house.

  “Let’s make a run for it now.” Carter urged Sadie behind him, and they raced through the bushes until they reached his truck. Sweat beaded on his neck as he crouched low and they climbed in through the passenger side.

  “Stay down,” he whispered as he started the engine. He left the lights off, then slid low in the seat, backed the truck up and rolled down the street. But just as he passed Loretta’s house, he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the front porch light flick on and one of the uniforms step outside searching the perimeter.

  Carter grimaced. Had the cop taken Carter’s license plate? If so, the police would be all over them in no time.

  SADIE’S SKIN CRAWLED with nerves as they sped away from the crime scene. The image of that poor dead woman haunted her, the fact that she had once wanted to be a doctor compounding her guilt.

  You couldn’t have saved her.

  The truck bounced over a rut, jarring her and reminding her to fasten her seat belt.

  The sound of a police siren wailing rent the night, and she glanced back to see a squad car racing toward them from the opposite direction. Probably backup for the cops at Loretta’s house.

  The car zoomed by in a blur, and she breathed out in relief. But a minute later, Carter cursed. “Dammit, he made us.”

  Sadie gripped the door handle and glanced back, her heart pounding as the squad car made a U-turn to chase them.

  Carter punched the gas and accelerated, the tires grinding gravel as the truck shot forward. She clung to the door, her heart hammering as Carter swerved down a side dirt road.

  “Where are you going?”

  “It’s a shortcut. Maybe we’ll throw them off.”

  But they had no such luck. The police car swerved and sped up, eating the distance between them. Sadie’s pulse jackknifed. They were going to get caught and Carter would go to jail, and she would have to beg for someone to believe her.

  Thankfully traffic was minimal, and for the next few minutes Carter wound around the curves, taking several shortcuts to lose the cop.

  But he stayed on their tail, closing in. Then out of nowhere two motorcycles raced toward them, flying as if they were on a racetrack. One tried to pass the other, and Carter swerved to avoid it, screeching along the shoulder of the road.

  The cop nearly crashed into the oncoming motorcycle and had to veer right to avoid a head-on collision. He must have overcompensated or lost control, because tires squealed, then he crashed into a boulder, siren still wailing.

  Carter drove on, but Sadie was sweating, her hands clenched in her lap. “Do you think he’s hurt?”

  “I don’t know.” A vein throbbed in Carter’s neck. “Can you see anything?”

  She craned her neck. The motorcycle racers had left him in the wind, dust spewing from their tires, but she spotted the driver’s door open.

  “He’s getting out, he’s alive,” she said on a ragged whisper.

  The strain on Carter’s face lifted slightly. “Probably calling us in, though, so be on the lookout for more police.”

  Sadie sighed wearily. “We need to switch cars. The cops will be looking for this truck.”

  Carter’s jaw tightened, then he gave a brief nod. The silence thickened between them as they followed the deserted road, but once they turned onto the main highway leading into Laredo and back toward their motel, another cop climbed on their tail.

  Carter made several switchback turns in the city, steering around other cars, through alleys, then ducked into a parking garage and finally lost their tail.

  By the time they reached the motel, Sadie’s heart was beating so fast she felt like her chest would explode.

  Carter pulled the truck around to the back of the parking lot out of sight from the street, and they ducked inside the motel room.

  Sadie sank onto the bed, trembling and trying to control her emotions, but the past hour rolled back like a horror show. The chase, the cop crashing his car…the shock of seeing Loretta brutally murdered…

  That could have been her, her throat slashed…

  Carter paced the room, his agitation adding to her nerves. “Dammit, we’re not any closer to the truth now than we were before. And now Loretta’s dead we’ve lost that lead.”

  “But if Lester killed her, that confirms your suspicions.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Carter said, his jaw clenched. “The police are looking for me. They’ll think I killed her just like they think I killed Dyer.”

  “Then we’ll prove you didn’t do it.” Sadie remembered the woman’s cell phone in her purse and laid it on the table. “Why don’t you look at this and see what you can find and I’ll go get us something to eat.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Carter said.

  Sadie rubbed her arm. She needed some air, to think for a minute. The room, the shock of seeing Loretta murdered…it triggered all the memories of her attack. Of Lester’s hands on her.

  Nausea climbed to her throat. She wanted to help Carter, but she had to escape him at the same time. At least for a few minutes. “We’ll figure it out together, Carter.” Sadie bundled her hair into a scarf. “I’m going to walk to the burger joint across from the motel and pick us up some dinner. I’ll be right back.”

  Carter caught her hand before she left. “Sadie, I don’t want you out there alone.”

  Sadie’s gaze met his, her stomach fluttering with nerves. She didn’t like it either, but they had no choice. And she didn’t want to lose control in front of Carter. He needed her to be strong now, not to fall apart. “I’ll be fine. Remember they’re looking for you, not me.”

  Carter shook his head. “But Lester wants you.”

  Sadie squeezed his hand and patted her purse where she kept the gun. “Don’t worry. I’ll be right back, then we’ll decide what to do.”

  Carter hesitated another moment, but finally took Loretta’s phone and released her. Sadie stepped outside and collapsed against the concrete wall for a moment, her breathing choppy. A panic attack threatened and her stomach roiled, the heat cloying.

  Desperate to regain her composure, she stroked the beads around her neck, then closed her eyes, relying
on the image of her mother to calm her, on the sound of her voice murmuring prayers in the Navajo language. Of the spiritual lessons she’d learned and the inner peace she craved, a balance between fear and courage. She heard the natives of the tribal community chant, saw the sandpainting healing ceremony in her mind and felt her faith returning.

  Seconds later, she opened her eyes, feeling calmer, her stomach less queasy. She scanned the parking lot as she crossed it, one hand inside her purse in case she needed the gun. Still, by the time she entered the fast-food restaurant, she was perspiring and had a knot in her throat.

  A couple of teenagers, an elderly lady and a man were seated eating, a Hispanic man with a lizard tattoo on his neck standing in line. A biker jerked past her, his leather jacket brushing her arm as he passed.

  She stepped in line, then the bell on the door tinkled behind her, and she glanced up at the security mirror attached to the wall and saw two men who looked like plainclothes cops, maybe federal agents, enter, their gazes sweeping the room as if looking for someone.

  Sadie forced herself to act naturally as she placed her order, but she felt the men’s gazes burn her back and wondered if somehow they’d figured out that she was helping Carter.

  Or that she had been inside the dead woman’s house earlier.

  CARTER PUSHED ASIDE the curtain and watched the parking lot to make sure Sadie made it safely to the restaurant. The moment she’d gone in, though, he’d had a sense of loss.

  What if something happened to her while she was inside? What if he couldn’t save her?

  Panic threatened to choke him, but he reined in his fear, reminding himself that he had to control himself.

  But he would not allow Lester to hurt Sadie.

  Which meant he had to locate the man before he found them.

  Since his escape, he’d been living on borrowed time. With Loretta’s murder, that time was about to run out.

  His pulse pounding, he flipped on the TV set while he retrieved the woman’s phone and scanned the phone log history.

  Several calls to the motel and some take-out restaurants showed up, then a local number popped up repeatedly. He checked the messages and found two that Loretta hadn’t deleted. The first one was a dead end, from a drugstore saying her prescription was ready. The second one was from a girlfriend warning her that she’d spotted Lester. The woman sounded nervous, even scared.

  Carter punched Redial, his anxiety mounting as he waited on the phone to ring. Moments later, a woman answered.

  “Hello.”

  “Listen, you don’t know me, ma’am, but you obviously knew Loretta Swinson.”

  A deep man’s voice rumbled in the background. “I told you not to answer my phone, Mama.”

  Carter tightened his fingers around the handset. That voice…he recognized it from the night of Dyer’s murder.

  It was Lester.

  “Who is this?” the woman asked in a shaky voice.

  Carter’s first instinct was to demand to speak to Lester, to request a meeting.

  But he had to think smart. Lester might have other men working with him. Suddenly the man’s voice echoed over the line. “Who the hell is this? And what are you doing with Loretta’s phone?”

  Carter disconnected the call, his mind racing. Maybe he could get Johnny’s P.I. to trace the number.

  Better yet, he’d talk to Sadie. They would set a trap for Lester.

  He glanced at the clock, his nerves on edge as he stood and paced back to the window. Sadie exited the burger joint, tugging the scarf around her hair and clutching the food with one hand. Two men in suits stepped from the fast-food place behind her, making Carter’s panic rise.

  They looked like feds.

  Dammit.

  Sadie crossed the street, cars blaring, then rushed to the room. He threw open the door and ushered her inside just as a special news flash aired on the television set in the corner.

  “Laredo police have just reported that they are investigating the homicide of a woman named Loretta Swinson. Ms. Swinson was found murdered tonight at her home. A man and woman were seen leaving the crime scene and are considered persons of interest.”

  The reporter flashed Carter’s mug shot on air. “Carter Flagstone, an escaped prisoner convicted of murder, is thought to be the man in question. Police consider him armed and dangerous and at this point, are uncertain if the woman is a hostage or an accomplice, but warn residents and anyone who may come in contact with them to please be careful. If you spot Flagstone, do not approach him. Call the police immediately.”

  Sadie staggered against the wall. “This is not good. Now they know there’s two of us.”

  Carter grabbed the bags of clothing and toiletries. “There were two men following you outside the burger joint. We need to get out of here.”

  “I thought they might be undercover cops,” Sadie said.

  “They probably traced Loretta’s work address here. Come on.”

  Sadie clutched the food bags and followed Carter to the door. He eased it open and spotted the two men climbing into a dark sedan across from the motel. They’d probably already checked with the registration desk for couples staying at the motel and were staking them out.

  Carter motioned for Sadie to wait at the door, and he stood on edge until an eighteen-wheeler pulled into the parking lot, blocking the cops’ view. Then he ducked low and coaxed her to follow him around the back of the motel.

  They ran for a mile until they reached another seedy motel, and Carter spotted a beat-up station wagon parked at one end that was unlocked, one window broken.

  “Get in,” he told Sadie. “And stay low.”

  She jumped in the passenger side, and he climbed in the driver’s seat and hot-wired the vehicle. Sadie’s eyes widened when she realized what he was doing, but she refrained from commenting. Instead, she fastened her seat belt and held on tight as he cruised away from the motel and into town.

  “What do we do now?” Sadie asked.

  “Go to another motel. This time use a fake name.”

  “Did you find anything from Loretta’s phone log?”

  “Yes, and I have an idea.” He pushed Loretta’s phone into her hands. “I want you to call the number. It’s Lester’s phone.”

  Sadie gasped. “What? I…can’t.”

  Carter covered her hand with his. “Yes, you can, Sadie. This has to end. And the only way we can do that is to set a trap for Lester.”

  Chapter Ten

  Sadie twisted her hands in her skirt. Did Carter have any idea the depth of what he was asking her to do? How painful it would be for her to talk to Jeff Lester, to hear his voice again?

  A voice that had haunted her day and night for five long years.

  A voice she’d prayed she’d never hear again.

  “Sadie?” Carter stroked the base of her neck with his thumb. “I know it won’t be easy, but we have to catch this guy before he kills us.”

  Somewhere in her subconscious Sadie knew Carter was right, but the memory of Lester carving that X in her chest was so vivid and strong that she felt momentarily paralyzed. She could feel his breath on her face, his hands around her neck, the knife digging into her skin....

  Carter swung the car down a side street, then into an alley until he found another road leading out of the city. The smell of greasy burgers and fries suddenly turned her stomach, and silence stretched between them, ticking with tension as he headed north.

  Finally Carter stopped at a motel in the middle of nowhere. Only one other car was in the lot, the place shrouded by trees.

  “Go in and rent us another room. We’ll eat and then make the call.”

  Sadie’s nerves pinged. But the scar on Carter’s face, the one that hadn’t been there before prison, reminded her what Lester had done to both of them. So she nodded, moving on autopilot as she opened the car door.

  In spite of the suffocating heat, a chill engulfed her as she walked up to the motel entrance and stepped into the ramshackle lobby. Bu
t she forced a smile at the young twenty-something wannabe cowboy. The scrawny kid could never measure up to Carter.

  “How many rooms?” the boy asked.

  “Just one,” she said, then handed him enough cash for the night.

  She signed the register using a fake name, then rushed back to the car.

  Carter parked around back again, and they slipped inside. The motel room was dingy, the pea-green carpet musty, the bedding a faded green and beige that reeked of beer, sex and dirty bodies.

  Carter closed the door, pitching them in darkness, then drew the shades before he flipped on the bathroom light. Sadie had stayed in roach motels, but this one was the pits.

  Carter wolfed down a burger. Sadie tried to eat, but she could only manage a couple of bites before she pushed away the food. Images of Lester attacking her flashed through her mind, but she pictured him slashing Loretta Swinson’s throat, and her resolve kicked in.

  Loretta had helped Lester kill Dyer and frame Carter.

  Had he threatened Loretta and forced her into covering for him?

  Or had the poor woman loved the jerk and been seduced into helping him?

  Either way, it was obvious Lester hadn’t loved her.

  To Lester, a person’s life meant nothing.

  He couldn’t get away with murder.

  Not anymore.

  “Okay, Carter.” Pasting on a brave face, she sipped her soda. “What should I say to Lester when I talk to him?”

  Carter’s eyes darkened with concern, and he moved to sit beside her. “Tell him you know where I am. That you’ll make a deal with him.”

  Sadie frowned, confused. “What kind of deal?”

  “That you’ll set a trap for me if he’ll leave you alone.”

  SADIE SHOOK HER HEAD. “No, Carter, I won’t give you up.”

  Carter’s rage mounted at the tremor in Sadie’s tone.

  Forget what the creep had done to him.

  He wanted revenge for Sadie.

  And that poor Swinson broad.

  He’d used her and thrown her away like a piece of trash. No woman deserved that.

  He captured her hands in his. “Listen to me. Lester is going to find us one way or the other, and I want to confront him on my terms. This way I’ll have the advantage.”