Wade hadn’t slept all night. He and his dad had scoured every part of Glacier Valley and the surrounding area, even close to the canyon, but there’d been no sign of Sophie. His cell phone rang as he was in grabbing some coffee at his dad’s house where he’d stayed overnight.
He prayed it was Soph when he saw Emily’s number flashing on the screen. Maybe his girl was home safe and sound.
“Oh Wade, someone sent us a box.”
He could tell she was crying and had barely managed to get those words out.
“What is it, Emily?”
He went cold, the most morbid thoughts running through his head.
“I think you should get over here because someone’s kidnapped Sophie.”
Wade didn’t wait to hear the rest of Emily’s sentence because he ran out of the house as fast as he could.
*****
“You hold still while I blindfold you and you won’t get hurt.”
Sophie had squinted when the back of the van door had opened up, spilling sunlight into the vehicle. How long had she’d been there? It had been dark when she’d been abducted. The man, still masked, jumped onto the van and placed a cloth around her eyes.
“I’m going to help you out and then you’ll go somewhere more comfortable.”
She wanted to say just let me go, but her mouth was still gagged. She almost stumbled as he helped her down. She heard gravel crunching under her feet as he made her walk.
If he’s going to kill me, wouldn’t he have done it by now?
She fell again, more from hunger and thirst than anything else.
He dragged her along and then she heard what sounded like a metal door opening. He walked her some more and then set her down on what felt like a chair under the back of her legs.
He untied her hands and then pulled them behind her back and secured them again. Next he took off her blindfold and gag.
“Drink this.”
He offered her a plastic bottle of water. Sophie was dry, parched even, but was reluctant to do as he asked just in case he’d drugged it.
“Come on, it’s just water. I want you safe and sound, so I can assure you there’s nothing in it to hurt you.”
She would die if she didn’t drink something, so took three large gulps, almost choking on the last one.
“Why are you doing this? I’m not from a wealthy family.”
“I know that, honey, but your boyfriend’s been snooping around where he shouldn’t, and I’ve got to show him who’s the boss.”
Wade. Did this have something to do with her grandmother’s case? Or did Wade have another one she didn’t know anything about?
If it was the latter then maybe this guy was Michael’s Ambrose real killer, which meant he had nothing to lose by killing her, too.
“Don’t worry, I’ve sent the little trophy I took from you to granny and Wade Linley. They’ll soon see reason, and then you can go home.”
*****
Wade couldn’t remember ever seeing Emily Richardson cry this much even when she’d lost Sophie’s parents. She was a tough Montana lady, and if she did cry, it was in private. However, here she sat breaking her heart.
“Wade, you’ve got to find Sophie. She’s all I have left in this world.”
Wade kneeled down and took her hand between his own. “We’ll get her back.”
“Whatever they want I’ll give them.”
“Me, too.”
Wade cell phone rang out, and they both jumped. “Hello, Wade Linley.”
“You want to speak with your fiancée?”
Wade’s heartbeat picked up speed.
“Of course I do, and if you’ve hurt her I’ll kill you with my bare hands, you fucking son of a bitch.”
He forgot that Emily was in earshot, but in all honesty she probably had the same opinion of Soph’s abductor.
“She’s fine; just one side of her hair is a little shorter.”
“What do you want?”
“Stop snooping and let granny take the fall for Michael Ambrose’s murder, and you can have her back.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Emily looked up at him and mouthed what does he want?
“Emily Richardson did not kill anyone, and she’s not going to jail for it, okay?”
There was just silence, and next thing he heard was his Soph screaming.
His went cold, his legs turning to jelly.
Emily must have heard it, too, because she cried harder. “Tell him to leave my girl alone,” she sobbed through the tissue she’d put to her mouth and nose.
“Okay, anything you want, but you hand Sophie over to me.”
“Now you promise you keep your word because you can’t keep that girl safe, can’t keep your eye on her 24/7, and if the old bird doesn’t take the fall, I won’t play nice next time.”
I won't play nice this time.
“Okay, you have a deal.”
“She’ll be on the dirt road leading to the highway outside of Glacier Valley in an hour.”
Wade ended the call and looked at his watch.
“What did they want in exchange for our Sophie?”
“You to take the rap for Michael Ambrose murder.”
“Whatever I have to do.”
“Don’t be stupid. I’m going to get Sophie, and then I’m going after this son of bitch with a large shotgun.”
*****
Sophie coughed. The warehouse they were keeping her in was stuffy, and perspiration dripped between her breasts. She coughed again and then strained her ears to listen to what was going outside. It was a woman’s voice again.
“You think Wade Linley’s not going to come after you. I know him. That family is like his own. You’ve started a war here.”
“Well maybe if you’d just paid off Ambrose like I told you instead of buying that fucking salon.”
Sophie swallowed. She knew she’d heard that voice before. It was Cathy’s. She was involved in all this, and now Wade was having a baby with a criminal.
Sophie tried to free her wrists. She’d kill both of them for everything they’d done to Grans. However, all her fussing did was tighten the knots even more, and the rope bit into her skin.
“Don’t worry. Making him think he’s the father of our baby probably puts you in a safe position. Most sensible thing you’ve done since you got to this fleapit of a town.”
Sophie relaxed her shoulders. Wade was not the father. Even if they killed her, she’d die knowing that. And how dare he call Glacier Valley a fleapit town. This was her home, and she was proud of it.
The door opened, and in he walked.
“Okay, honey. Your lover boy has agreed to the terms, and you’re going home.”
He put the blindfold around her eyes again, untied her, and then dragged her outside where she was pushed into the back of the van again.
A few minutes later it moved. The ride was bumpy wherever he was taking her. The man and woman were talking again, but this time Sophie couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying.
The van stopped. She listened, footsteps on gravel. The door opened, and someone grabbed her, pulled her out and tossed her onto the ground.
It was rocky, and a stone or something sharp cut her arm and shoulder. Next thing she knew the van had driven off, sending what was probably plumes of dust in the air because she coughed and her nose burned.
“Hello. Can anyone hear me?”
That was stupid. She was obviously in the middle of nowhere and probably the only things that would hear her were birds. Bears and coyotes, too.
Sophie flopped onto the ground. She was going to die, and she hoped that Wade and Grans knew how much she truly loved them.
Wade stopped by his office and loaded his gun and put it into his holster. He wasn’t taking any chances. He’d shoot first and ask questions later if need be. Emily had wanted to come along with him, but he’d finally talked her into staying put.
He got into his SUV and headed for the outskirts of town. His vehicle threw up dirt and gravel. As he approached the area they’d promised to leave Sophie, he scanned it for both people and vehicles, thinking this could all be a trap. He saw no one, not even Sophie. He drove further along, and then he spotted her crawling on along, her hands bound and a bandana over her eyes.
He jumped out of the vehicle and almost fell in his rush to get to her.
At first she screamed when he touched her. “Leave me alone.”
“Soph, it’s me, Wade.” He took the rag from her eyes.
“Oh, Wade, I thought I was going to die.”
He untied her and pulled her into his arms. He could see she had some cuts and scrapes on her. She also looked pale and dehydrated.
He scooped her up and carried her to the SUV where he sat her in the passenger seat and made her drink some of the water he’d brought with him.
“I’m going to take you to the ER.”
“No, I’m okay.”
“You might think you are, but that’s where you going anyway.
I’ll tell Emily to meet us there.”
He rushed around to the driver’s side and started the SUV. He turned the vehicle around and put his foot down as far as the accelerator would go.
“Wade, Cathy’s part of all this.”
“What?”
He couldn’t believe that.
“She was talking to the guy who took me. I heard them outside. Ambrose must have been blackmailing them, and the guy mentioned her buying the salon.”
Wade hit the steering wheel with his fist. “Shit, she’s the partner I found out about when I went to Denver. They both worked in a real estate office, and it looked like they’d been creating phony deeds.”
“And, Wade, about the baby?”
“I know, honey and I’m sorry, really I am.”
Sophie shook her head. “You’re not the father.”
“Soph, I’d like to really believe that.”
“The man, he’s the baby’s father.”
Wade took a deep breath. He had to be dreaming. One part was like a nightmare, the other half a dream come true. He now had no obligation to Cathy whatsoever.
*****
Sophie hated hospitals, but the doctor insisted she stay in for observation. He’d ordered an IV for her, and she’d needed a couple of stitches to close up the gash on her arm. Grans decided to stay with her while Wade went to see Cathy.
“You doing okay, sweetie?”
“I’m fine,” said Sophie. “Just really tired.”
“Just shut your eyes and rest.”
“I can’t. I’m worried about Wade.”
“He can take of himself.”
“I know, but…”
“Ssh, close your eyes. And I’m sorry you got called home and involved in all this.”
“It’s not your fault. And if I hadn’t Wade and I wouldn’t be together.”
“Set the date yet?
“Yep, after you’re found not guilty.”
*****
Cathy was finishing up with a lady’s highlights when Wade walked into the salon.
“Wade, I didn’t expect to see you. I hear Sophie is missing.
Did you find her?”
“Yes, but I think you know that.”
“Me, how should I know?”
“Because you know the person who abducted her.”
“How dare you come in here and accuse me of something like that, and in front of my clientele.”
“And you feel up to allowing me a paternity test to see if that baby’s really mine.”
She slapped him.
“What do you think I am? I only sleep with one man at a time, and you were him this time around.”
“So you won’t mind having the baby tested?”
She rubbed her stomach. “I think I should speak with my attorney about that.”
“Oh, I think you need to speak to one, but not about a test for who fathered your baby.”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you.”
“Sophie heard you.”
“If she’s filled your head with all this garbage, well I can’t blame her. She must be upset knowing we’re having a baby together.”
“We are not having a baby together.”
“It’s yours, Wade. It was conceived the weekend we went to the hotel in Jackson Hole.”
“So you won’t have a problem proving that to me.”
She didn’t say anything, and Wade decided to pull her away in the corner out of earshot because people were looking and whispering.
“Look, I can help you. You turn over your partner to me, and I’ll tell the police and judge you cooperated.”
She looked him in the eye and suddenly burst into tears. “Why does the past always catch up with us?” she asked.
Wade took a deep breath. He’d keep his word because she had
Max, and the poor kid didn’t deserve going into foster care because his mom was behind bars.
“Who is he?” asked Wade.
“My ex-husband.”
“And the two of you worked with Michael Ambrose?”
She nodded as a tear flew from her cheek.
“He rolled into town and wanted money to keep quiet about some phony deeds we’d created.”
“And while he was here he thought he’d buy an old lady’s property.”
“I didn’t know about that, but my ex overheard her shout at him and…”
“Thought she’d be the perfect patsy.”
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, Wade. I had no idea how this was all going to end.”
“Where is he now?”
“At my place looking after Max.”
“Okay, you’re going to take me there, and then the three of us are going to the police station.”
She nodded again. “And, Wade, you will remember to tell the judge that I cooperated?”
Wade nodded. “Not for your sake but for your son’s.”