Lonestar Angel (39 page)

The other man’s glance was compassionate, but he held up two fingers, meaning he’d circle for no more than a couple of minutes. The chopper dropped down closer to the desert. All the men pressed their noses to the glass and stared at the dark ground beneath them. Clay knew the others had seen that glimmer when Rick pointed excitedly and Jack nodded.

“Set it down!” Rick yelled over the sound of the rotors.

Michael nodded and eased the helicopter onto its skids. The tail boom spun around until the cabin faced the light. Clay opened the door and jumped out, keeping his head down. The pulsating air nearly knocked him over. He didn’t wait for the other men but headed across the desert to a dark shape that appeared to be a cabin. The light came from an opening in one of the boarded-up windows.

As he neared, he heard the engine winding down on the chopper. The other men would be right behind him. He reached the front door in a few steps and shoved it open. A lantern was set on the table, its wick sputtering. His gaze swept the room, but it was empty. Whoever had been here hadn’t been gone long or the lantern would have burned out.

Rick and the other men rushed into the cabin behind him. They stopped and no one said anything for a long moment. “Guess that’s it,” Michael said.

Clay stepped to the sofa. “I can’t figure it out. If this place is inhabited, why does it look like no one has been here in decades?”

Rick snatched up the lantern and held it aloft. “You’re right. No one has lived here in years. But this lantern was lit?”

“Yeah.” What was that on the sofa? “Bring that light here,” Clay said. As Rick neared with the lantern, he realized a navy sweater lay on the cushion. He snatched it up. “This is Eden’s!”

“Are you sure?” Rick asked.

“She had it on last night after the sun went down and the air cooled.” He held it to his nose. Beyond the smell of the sofa, he caught a whiff of Eden’s cologne. “It’s hers. She was here. And not long ago.” He strode to the door. “Bring that light with you. Let’s see if there are tire tracks.”

Outside, the darkness was so vast that the lantern cast little light except in its immediate circle. Rick swept it back and forth. “There!” he said, pointing at his feet.

Clay saw it too. “Tread marks.” He knelt and put his hand in one, as though it would make him nearer to Eden. “They have to be close. Can we get back in the air and look?”

Michael hesitated. “I’ve got only an hour’s worth of fuel left. I have to head back to my place in no more than half an hour or I won’t make it.”

Clay stood and brushed the sand from his hands. “Deal.”

The men ran for the helicopter. The engine coughed to life and the
whup-whup
of the rotors began to drown out the desert’s night sounds. By the time they were airborne, Clay was ready to jump out of his skin. They’d missed Eden and her captor by mere minutes, he was sure. He peered through the window, but the landscape was dark.

He realized the chopper was heading for the road. Tapping Michael on the shoulder, he shook his head and screamed over the noise of the blades. “Go back over the desert. She won’t risk driving on the road.”

Michael nodded and the helicopter began to bank to the right. As the craft soared low over the desert, Clay saw a moving light. “There it is!” He jabbed at the window, then realized no one had noticed. He smacked Michael and Rick on their arms and pointed. “Down there!”

Rick pointed and the helicopter picked up speed to catch the vehicle. The twin beam headlights on the truck went out.

“She’s seen us!” Clay shouted. How could they follow when the night was so black? Before he could ask the question, Rick flicked a switch and lights blazed down to the desert from the helicopter. “There it is!”

Michael nodded, and the chopper dropped lower and sped up until it was right over the top of the truck. The lights shone into the cab, and he saw Eden’s face pressed against the passenger window. Her face set and determined, Rita gripped the steering wheel with both hands. Her teeth were bared. He caught a glimpse of an older woman in the middle. Sister Marjo?

How could they get the truck to stop? There wasn’t much fuel left in the helicopter. If Michael put it down in front of the truck, Rita would just go around it and keep on driving. They couldn’t force the truck off the road because there was no road.

“Take it down!” he yelled, his mind made up. When Michael complied, Clay thrust open his door and jumped.

37

I
F NOT FOR
S
ISTER
M
ARJO
, E
DEN WOULD HAVE LEAPED FROM THE TRUCK SPEEDING ACROSS
the desert. But she couldn’t leave the nun behind. The sound of the helicopter filled her head. It had to be Michael with Clay and the other men. Rescue was in sight. She could have clung to that hope if a madwoman wasn’t behind the wheel.

A sudden thump jarred the truck. Eden whipped her head to look out the back window and saw Clay lying in the bottom of the truck bed. He got to his hands and feet and his gaze met hers. Seeing him gave her fresh courage. She had to help, but how? The blinding light from the helicopter grew dimmer as the chopper rose and fell back.

Rita glanced in the rearview mirror and smiled. “I knew he couldn’t stay away from me.”

Eden glanced back and saw Clay crawling toward the window. She unlatched the window and slid it open before Rita could stop her.

“Stop the truck, Rita,” he said through the open window. “Let’s talk about this.”

Rita smiled. “Not just yet, love. I have to take care of these women who are trying to keep us apart. Wait for me at the ranch. I’ll be back soon.”

“I can’t go to the ranch unless you stop.”

Rita frowned and shook her head, as though trying to think through the logic. “I guess that’s right.” She tromped on the brake, and Eden and the nun nearly went flying through the windshield. Eden grabbed the dash and hung on. The truck’s rear end slewed in the sand before coming to a stop. Rita switched off the engine. The tick of the motor beginning to cool was loud in the sudden silence.

Eden whipped her head around to make sure Clay was all right. He lay crumpled at the front of the bed. “Clay!” She thrust open her door and jumped out in spite of Rita’s grab at her arm.

He stirred when Eden called his name. She put her foot on the tailgate and climbed into the bed. He had to be all right. She reached him and knelt by his head. Her fingers came away wet when she touched his forehead. Blood? It was too dark to see the color of the moisture, but the coppery odor was enough evidence.

She looked up to see Rita bearing down on her. “He’s hurt,” Eden said.

“Get away from my Clay,” Rita said through gritted teeth. “I’ll take care of him. You’ve done enough.” She pointed her gun at Eden.

“You nearly killed him!” Eden held her ground. She wasn’t leaving her husband.

Clay stirred and moaned. He put his hand to his head, then struggled to sit. “What happened?”

Eden helped him. “I think you hit your head.”

“I said get away from him,” Rita ordered.

Eden flinched as a loud report came from the gun. A bullet slammed into the truck near her hand. “Okay, I’m leaving.”

She scrambled away from Clay. At least Rita wasn’t going to hurt him. Once the woman’s back was turned, Eden might be able to wrestle the gun away from her.

Rita climbed into the truck and knelt beside Clay. “Can you stand, my darling?”

“I think I need your help,” Clay said, his voice weak. “Can you lift me up, Rita? You’ll need to put the gun down so I can take your hand.”

Eden held her breath. Would the woman fall for it? She watched as Rita hesitated, then stuck the gun in her waistband. She put one arm around Clay’s waist and with the other took his arm and draped it around her neck. In a quick movement, Clay reached for the butt of the gun with his free hand and plucked it from her. He wheeled away, and Rita staggered back, then fell against the window of the cab.

“Clay? What are you doing?” She got slowly to her feet.

The gun was in Clay’s hand. He backed away, then jumped to the sand. “Get out of the truck, Rita.”

She was sobbing. “What are you doing, Clay? I did all of this for you. We can be together, you and me with Madeline. A real family.” She sank to her knees, holding herself. Rocking back and forth she began to keen, a noise filled with pain.

In spite of all the woman had done, Eden wanted to go to her and comfort her. She started forward, but Clay’s arm shot out.

“Don’t,” he said. “She’s like a venomous snake. The minute you get too close, she’ll strike.” He nodded to the cab. “How’s Sister Marjo?”

“She’s fine.” Eden sidled along the truck to the cab and glanced into the open door. The lights on the dash were still on.

Sister Marjo sat placidly clutching a tiny New Testament in the wash of interior lights. “Finished, beloved? I didn’t want to interfere as the three of you made peace. Though I was praying, of course. God assured me he didn’t need my help on this one.”

Eden held out her hand. “It’s all over. We can go home now.” Behind her she heard the sound of running feet. The rest of the rescuers had arrived.

The nun closed her Bible and slipped it into the pocket of her skirt. She accepted Eden’s hand and slid off the seat to the sand. “This has been an experience I don’t believe I’ll ever forget,” she said.

Eden hardly knew what to say to that. Kidnapped, imprisoned, lost in the desert, and nearly killed. It had been eventful all right, but not the kind of event she ever wanted to repeat. She and the nun walked to the back of the truck as Rick and Michael approached Rita. Michael spoke in a soothing voice and soon had Rita quieted. She wondered if he’d given her a sedative.

Clay opened his arms, and she ran into them. Home. All that was missing was Madeline.

The small group sat in the main house with a pot of coffee and a partially demolished plate of chocolate chip cookies on the coffee table. The sheriff’s eyes were puffy with dark circles, and Eden wondered when he’d last slept. Even Brendan looked a little rumpled and worse for the wear. Daniel sat by Clay as if he was making an attempt to accept what he couldn’t change. Eden could hear Sister Marjo on the porch with Lacie. They were singing “Jesus Loves Me.”

Eden needed a shower, but first she had to hear what Brendan had to say. “So Rita got out of the mental hospital six months ago,” she said, “then planned to eliminate me so she could have Clay.” She glanced at her husband sitting beside her on the sofa. “Has anyone talked to her mother?”

“She’s in an expensive mental hospital in El Paso,” Brendan said. “Paid for by Hector Santiago.”

“But she was just here a week or so ago,” Clay said.

Brendan nodded. “When Hector said he was working on fixing the problem, I believe he thought his wife was behind it all. He found out she’d been released and had his goons track her down and take her back to the hospital.”

“What about Brianna?” Eden asked.

“I sent one of my men to talk to Else. She showed him pictures of Brianna when she was a baby. Rita was holding her like a proud mother. Hang on, I have the picture on my computer.” He clicked a few keys, then turned it around for her to see.

Eden stared into the smiling face. No trace of the insanity in those blue eyes. Just proud motherly love. She shuddered. “Anyone seeing her with the baby wouldn’t have doubted anything.”

“Nope.” Brendan shut the computer lid. “From what we can tell, she took good care of the baby, but she had an episode at the grocery store. She lost her temper and overturned a whole aisle of food, screaming and raving. They had her hospitalized for observation. She was diagnosed as schizophrenic and committed until she was stabilized.”

“How old was Brianna when this happened?” Clay asked.

“About two. Her mother cared for the baby after that until she had another episode herself.”

“Where have they lived? Not with Hector?” Eden asked.

Brendan shook his head. “Else left him when your mother told her about you. Hector gave her plenty of money and set her up on a ranch just west of here. I think he thought if she lived in a secluded spot, she’d be all right. And she was for a while.”

“How old was Rita then?”

“About fifteen. As near as I can tell, she went to school with Clay that one year and became obsessed. When she found out he married her half sister, she had her first episode of mental illness. She was committed for a year, then got out. It was then she decided to get revenge and took Brianna. She appears to have loved the girl. Then she had the episode I mentioned.”