“What did Shelly do?”
“She didn’t say a word. She sat there and smiled at him.”
“Smiled at him like she knew him? Or like she was about to kill him?”
“I can never tell the difference with Shelly.” That was true. It could have been either and no one would ever know. Except maybe me. I’d know. I knew her. I knew every look and I knew every thought. And the ones I didn’t know, I desperately wanted to find out.
“Then what?”
“Then he shot her with this thing, and she crumpled into a heap. He picked her up, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her out the door.”
“And no one tried to stop him?” I looked around the bar. It was nearly empty.
She pointed at a man across from her who lay prone on the floor, covered with a simple tablecloth. “He did. He tried to help.” She hiccupped and finally let out her breath. “He’s dead now.”
I looked down and realized that Aubrey’s hands were covered in someone’s blood. “Whose blood is that?” I asked.
She nodded her head toward the body. “His.” Then she began to sob again. Mal drew her against his chest.
“How long have you been here?” I asked him.
“I got here right after it happened, apparently.”
“Why were you here?”
“Because my wife was out with Shelly. Duh.” He stared at me.
I nodded. “I’ll need to see the surveillance footage,” I said to the college student who was apparently in charge.
He motioned for me to follow him. The footage was grainy and dark, but I was able to isolate a face, which I sent to John Spanner. He called me immediately, and I told him what was going on.
“We’ll need someone to secure the scene.”
“They’re on the way,” John replied. “You stay there until they get there, do you understand me?”
“No can do.” I hung up on him.
My phone rang again almost immediately. “Clark,” I said.
“Don’t go off half-cocked, Clark,” John warned. I hung up on him again.
I wasn’t half-cocked. I was fully cocked. I was ready to blow.
I looked at Mal. “Call Lynn and Mason and tell them to come home. When I bring Shelly back, she’ll want to see her sister.”
Mal gave me half a nod. “Where are you going?”
“To get Shelly.” I’d get her or I’d die trying.
I got in my car and pulled up the tracking app I used. I’d hidden tiny little tracking devices in Shelly’s belongings. There was one in her purse, one on the bottom of her shoes, and I’d hidden one in the tiny little plastic clasp on the bracelet I’d given her. Shelly wasn’t the only one who could be devious. I had my fair share of intuition, and something had told me that shit was going to go down eventually, and that I needed to be ready for it.
The vehicle was twenty minutes ahead of me, heading out of town. I followed. It was all I could do. I couldn’t get there any faster. By the time we were three hours away from our starting point, I knew where we were going. What I couldn’t figure out was why.
Chapter 38
Shelly
I woke up to the sound of someone humming across the room. I blinked my eyes slowly open and fought back the nausea that instantly swamped me. I didn’t move, trying to figure out where I was. I swallowed back the bile that crept up my throat and tamped down the feeling that I needed to move. I did not need to move. I needed to stay very, very still, at least until I figured out where I was.