CHAPTER TWELVE

 

The location was several miles outside of town, in the farming area. Dalton had become aware of the police blockade and had stopped to try to figure out his next move. His car was hidden behind a barn, but Zoey was able to locate them with the address she had been given.

Dalton grimaced at the sight of Zoey driving up to them and then snarled, “So, this is why the roads are blocked. You’re behind this, aren’t you? Just like you’re behind me getting evicted from The Grand. Just like you’ve been filling Camille’s head with moving into your big house. I can take a lot better care of her than you can.”

Zoey scoffed. “With what? Drug money?”

Dalton pulled Camille tightly against him. Zoey could see that she was frightened.

“Camille, are you okay? Good, honey. You need to give her to me right now. You’ll never get through the blockades,” Zoey said.

“I will, as long as I have my lucky charm with me. That’s what you are, baby, my lucky charm. The police might get all trigger-happy if it was just me. But not if they know that Camille is with me.”

“You want to use our child as a human shield?” Zoey shouted.

Camille tried to squirm out of Dalton’s arms. “I want to go with Mommy. You were wrong about her.”

“She’s got you hoodwinked, baby. You’re staying with me. It’s time for us to go.”

He pulled the car keys out of his back pocket, but before he could reach the car, the keys had jumped into the tall grass.

“Geez, how did I do that?”

He bent over to grab them, but the keys sped away through the grass as if they were a frightened mouse. Dalton was so startled that he let go of Camille, who ran to Zoey, and the two of them ran around to the other side of the barn. Zoey tried to think quickly. Why didn’t they just lock themselves inside the barn and wait for the police to arrive?

It could have been a workable plan if the barn had locked from the inside! It didn’t, and it was too late to run. There was a tall, sturdy ladder leading to the barn loft. Zoey quickly got herself and Camille up and then pulled up the ladder just as Dalton stormed in.

“You put that ladder back. You put that ladder back and send her down right now, or you’re going to be very, very sorry.”

“We’re going to be safe up here,” Zoey reassured her child. “The police will be here very soon.”

Dalton was searching around for something—Zoey couldn’t imagine what—until he located a torch and pulled a lighter out of his pocket.

“I’m giving you one last chance to do it the easy way. You put that ladder back and come down in peace. Or I will make you come down and it will not feel pleasant. On the count of three. One. Two. Three.” He lit the torch and tossed it in a far corner of the loft. “I know you won’t let anything bad happen to her, so put down that ladder and get down right this minute.”

The loft was full of straw, and the fire was raging out of control in just a few moments.

“Put down that ladder. You don’t have any choice now. Put it down right now!” Dalton yelled.

How could he have done this? With his own child up here? Zoey glanced around. There was an uncovered window at the back of the loft. She dragged the ladder to it, urging Camille to keep close. She looked outside the window. The ladder was short by a mile. It would never work. Unless . . . she pushed the ladder outside the window and willed it to stay in place, suspended in the air.

“You follow me, honey. You stay right behind me. I’m always going to have my hand on your back. We’re going to climb down.”

“Is the ladder long enough?”

“It’s plenty long. Just follow me.”

Zoey climbed out first and the ladder held firmly, though its feet were nowhere near the ground. Camille couldn’t really see that. Zoey was blocking her sight, so she climbed down confidently behind her mother. As they were descending, Zoey allowed the entire ladder to slowly drift toward the ground so that by the time they reached the end, they were able to walk right off onto the ground.

Just as Camille was getting off, Dalton came running from around the corner. He ran straight at Zoey, furious. Just before he got to her, she threw her hand out, and his body was tossed away like a rag doll, several feet back.

Thankfully, Camille had just been getting off the ladder and her back had been turned. She could see that her father was dazed and on the ground, but she wasn’t quite sure how that had happened. What all three of them were sure of, however, was that they could hear the loud sound of sirens speeding in their direction.

They were soon surrounded by four police cars. And just like that, it was all over.

Zoey gathered up her little girl into her arms and took her home, where she belonged.

And Officer Finn Cochran cuffed Dalton and took him to jail, where he belonged.