Slim To None (Cedar Tree #1) (20 page)

Unsure, pissed, and hurting, Gus got up and  walked out the front door. He needed some air. Halfway down the steps of the porch Emma's voice coming from behind, stopped him.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" She was leaning against the doorway, hands on her hips, looking furious. "You're going to tell me you love me, fuck me, lay the most horribly tragic story on me, just to walk out the damn door without another word? I don't fucking think so, big guy." Her eyes were daring him to move another inch. "Give a person a goddamn minute to process this shit, okay?"

Startled, he realized she was right. He hadn't given her any chance to respond, so he sat down on the porch steps. He had made all the wrong assumptions, based on past experiences. That hadn't been fair to Emma. "You're right. I'm sorry." He admitted, when she sat down on and leaned into his side.

"You realize that's a pretty messed up burden your family left you with, right?"

"They'd probably argue things the other way around, seeing as my dad and brother are the ones who paid the price."

That earned him a snort from Emma. "For real? They're the ones who got what they deserved in the first place. They broke the rules; they pay the price. How is that your fault? Any of it? I don't get that kind of thinking. The only people who think like that are criminals; people who don't think twice about pulling others into their shit, or making them pay for it. Face it, you have paid through the nose for all these years. Except you didn't deserve it. All you did was the right thing."

"Yeah, but they're my family..."

"If you're gonna throw this on family loyalty..." Emma interrupted sternly, "Then let me remind you that they broke that bond, the moment they expected you to defy the law. Assumed you would lie to your superiors and asked you to risk your own hide in order to save theirs. I call bullshit on family loyalty!"

During her little tirade, Emma had sat up straighter and moved back from him, her small fists flying, punctuating her fierce words. The entire picture filled his chest with a huge warm bubble and caused a lump to form in his throat. But when she indicated she was done with a cocky little nod of her head, it was all he could do not to burst out laughing. His Peach was a tiger.

Hauling her back over to him, he curled her into his chest and stuck his nose in her curls, squeezed his eyes shut and breathed her in deeply. He was an idiot.

Tilting her head back a little, she looked up in his eyes, put a hand to his cheek and smiled.

"Hey. Gus Flemming, I love you."

Yup. Idiot.

"H
ey Seb, what's up?"

It was coming up on 4:30 PM. Emma was in the kitchen making some inroads on a marinade for the barbecued steak skewers on the menu for tonight's dinner and Gus was on his cell phone checking in with his team; when the phone rang.

"Have you heard from Arlene?" Seb's concerned voice came over the phone.

"Not since she left to drop off Kara at the airport this morning. She had a few errands to run in Durango, but that's all I know. Why? Is she not back yet?" Looking at the clock and realizing it was nearing the dinner hour at the diner, an uneasy feeling started forming in the pit of her stomach.

"Haven't seen her. She was supposed to be back around one and she is not answering her phone. Have you talked to Kara?"

"Not yet, but she isn't scheduled to land until sometime around six pm. She was going to call me." The thought of not being able to get a hold of her daughter for another hour or two didn't sit well with her all of a sudden. "Hang on, let me get Gus, he may have an idea."

Gus had picked up on part of the conversation already, because he was standing right behind her when she turned around, startling her. When he put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to look in her eyes, she realized how much she had come to rely on him, his touch settling her right down.

"Talk to me." Was all he said.

"That's Seb on the phone. Arlene hasn't shown up yet and she was supposed to be back at the diner three and a half hours ago. She's not picking up her phone."

Taking the phone from her hands, Gus wrapped one arm around her and pulled her tight to his side while getting as much information from Seb as he could. After telling him he would look in to things, he promised to call him with whatever he found out.

When Gus turned back to her he asked her to pull up Kara's flight information.

"Why? I can tell you she is supposed to land at a little after six pm. We won't be able to reach her until then anyway." A flicker of uncertainty passed over his face and suddenly the full force of that nagging unease came over her in the shape of paralyzing fear. Raising her hands as if to shield herself, she backed away, shaking her head. "Oh God. Please. No."

Ignoring her retreat, Gus stepped in and enveloped her in his strong arms. "Easy, my love. No borrowing trouble. We're just checking she got on her flight. That's all. Just making sure. Hush now."

But it was no use. The thought of anything happening to Arlene or, God forbid, her Kara had her stomach lurching up in her throat. She just had time to pivot around and hit the sink, before throwing up violently. A cold towel pressed to the back of her neck and another wiping her face made her feel moderately better, as she struggled to get herself under control. No falling apart now. She couldn't afford it.

After Gus installed Emma on the couch with a glass of water, her phone and the laptop, pulling up necessary information, he was on his phone contacting Joe. He quickly informed him of Seb's call and passed on Kara's flight number with a promise to keep each other up to date with any developments. His next call was Caleb, whom he'd hoped to catch in Durango, visiting Katie. In luck, he caught his friend just as leaving the hospital. Caleb promised to check the airport parking lot, ask around at the United Airlines counter and would drop in on the couple of stops Arlene was supposed to make. He too would keep Gus in the loop.

It didn't take Joe long to call back, but the news wasn't good. Kara had never boarded her plane and Gus felt his own precarious hold on his emotions start to slip. With one glance at Emma's questioning expression, he steeled himself before hanging up with Joe and turning to her.

"Apparently Kara didn't make her flight, love. That was Joe. He just got word back from United that she never checked in or boarded."

Expecting her to fall apart, he took her hands in his, ready to promise to find her. But she surprised him. She yanked her hands back, pushed herself off the couch and made her way to the door without a word.

"Hey. Wait a minute ..." He barely got the words out of his mouth before she swung around, facing him, her cheeks flushed and her eyes wild.

"I can't. I don't have time. I've gotta go get my girl." Then she was out the door and almost down the steps before he caught up with her.

"Darlin', let's hold on here." When he tried to step in front of her to slow her down, she shoved him out of the way, single-mindedly focused on her car. Again he intercepted her, but this time from behind, putting his arms around her body, effectively trapping her arms so she couldn't lash out at him.

"Let. Me. Go." She struggled to get out of his hold, only making him pull her in tighter.

"Emma. Listen to me. " Bending close to her ear, he continued quietly, "I'm going to find her and Arlene. I promise you, my love. But I can't have you going off half-cocked on me; you'd slow us down. It wouldn't help. Do you hear me?"

The struggling stopped and when he loosened the hold on her, and turned her around, he was struck by the determined look in her eyes.

"My phone. Where is the phone; I need to try and call her."

Pulling out his cell, he asked her for the number, but even punching them in, he knew in his gut she would not be answering. Judging by the sudden slump of Emma's shoulders, she had come to that realization as well. "Straight to voicemail, Peach. It's out of juice or been turned off." Watching her pull herself together again, he encouraged, "We'll get her back."

"I hear you. Bring me back my baby, Gus. Please bring me back my baby." The last she forced out on a barely contained sob, and Gus had to admire the fiery strength this woman hid.

"I will. Don't doubt it." With a kiss to her hair, he lead her back inside, where she headed straight for the kitchen, pulling out bags of flour and mixing bowls.

Leaving Emma to work through her fear and frustration in her own way, he thanked God for his foresight not to get too complacent and send his team home yet. Then he got hold of Dana, who was still managing their impromptu command centre at the motel. Dana promised to be over within the next half hour, after leaving Neil with specific instructions to dig up what he could on any movement from Silva or any of his known associates.

Gus had no doubt he was the one behind Arlene and Kara's disappearance. Felt it in his gut. But what he couldn't figure was why. Why them? And for what? Corbin was no longer an issue for him. Sure, he probably wanted to get as much of his money back as possible, but he had to know Emma would have passed on any information she might have had to the authorities by now. He was missing something. There had to be something he was overlooking.

Baking normally calmed her, but Emma didn't think anything would be able to still the hurricane of emotions tormenting her right now. A mix of unspeakable fear and anger on behalf of her daughter and Arlene, and an unhealthy dose of frustration and rage at her inability to do anything. Gus' off-hand implication that she would slow down efforts and be a hindrance in finding her own child had been a cold splash of disappointment and hurt. Oh, she was sure he hadn't meant it in a mean way, but my Lord... The implications behind those words. The shock of having felt faultlessly complete in this man's arms one minute, only to be found lacking by him the next, was a painful truth.

Steeling herself against her slowly crumbling heart, she chose to concentrate on the pie dough that was shaping under her hands, forcing her mind to fill with positive thoughts in hopes the universe would be kind to her loved ones.

*****

B
y the time Dana arrived, Emma had six pie shells lined up and covered with damp tea-towels and another six balls of pie dough wrapped up in plastic, waiting to used to cover whatever filling she ended up making.

"Keeping busy?" Dana stated the obvious as she came in the kitchen and observed the disaster Emma's 'therapy' had left in its wake.

"Not done yet." Was all she could bring herself to say, afraid she'd lose the frail hold she had on her emotions if the older woman so much as looked at her kindly.

Appearing to catch on to her way of coping, Dana went to wash her hands and simply asked her what she could do. Grateful for the pretence at normalcy, Emma directed her to the crate of peaches Arlene had dropped off this past week, while she checked the pantry for almonds.

At some point during the time Emma had been working the dough and pointedly ignoring Gus, she had lost track of his whereabouts. The heavy footfalls in the hallway and looming presence behind her in the small storage space, where she was scrounging for ingredients, alerted her to the fact that he hadn't been too far away this whole time. But when she tried to get past him with her bag of almonds, he wasn't moving out of the way. "Excuse me," she said, rather sourly. "I tried staying out of your way. If you'd be so kind and return the favor?" Forcing her way past him, she glimpsed the look of confusion on his face, before she felt herself being grabbed around the waist and caged in against the wall his front against her back and his hot lips at her ear.

"I'm gonna give you that, even though I don't have a fucking clue what I've done. But this is not the time to get in to whatever it is. Know this though, my sweet angry Emma. I'm not done with you."

Sucking in deep breaths, Emma tried to regain her equilibrium after he pulled his body away from hers. Both physically and emotionally she needed steadier ground. Hearing him talk to Dana in the kitchen had her moving in that direction, only to catch the last few words.

"... in Joe's office."

"What's happening in Joe's office?" She wanted to know.

"Caleb is meeting Frank and Joe there. He hasn't had any luck in Durango, and is going to be my contact in that office. I'm not leaving here. I have a feeling this is only the beginning and my guess is Arlene and Kara are not the objective but merely a means to an end."

Slowly the realization dawned on her. "Me? Using them to get to me? Fucking why? Why me? What is so goddamn special about me?" Anger had eclipsed all other emotions now. Good. She was about ready to rip someone's throat out with her teeth if they came close enough.

"My gut tells me it is still Silva, but something doesn't quite make sense. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't hear something soon."

Emma wasn't sure if that insight from Gus was supposed to make her feel better, 'cause it didn't. But at this point she would welcome some action, any action, because waiting without knowing anything was starting to drive her insane.

T
hree times the fucking phone rang, and not once was it anything that brought them closer to finding out what happened to Arlene and Kara. The first time had been Seb, whom he should have called back. He felt bad about that, the man was a mess and ready to close the diner down. His sneaky suspicion that there was more going on between Seb and his employer was only enforced by the man's tangible fear when hearing it might involve kidnapping. Gus expected him to show up any minute. He was getting rid of the last customers and sending the waiting staff home before locking up.

The second call had been Frank, who should've known better than calling the house phone. Of course Gus didn't hesitate to inform him of that. He still hadn't quite gotten over the way the sheriff had dragged his feet when one of his own turned out to have been involved. Things like that rubbed him exactly the wrong way.

Frank called to give Gus a head's up that aside from State Patrol, the entire task force had been notified. They were apparently contemplating putting the FBI on standby, given their close proximity to the various state borders. But until they could confirm any wrongdoing or contact was made, their hands would be tied.