The Marriage Profile (20 page)

Collins's hazel eyes flashed. “You might want to think twice about threatening a federal agent.”

Justin took a step forward, curling his hands into fists at his sides. “I don't need to think twice. Angela Mason is as honest as they come. To imply otherwise is an insult, and you owe the lady an apology.”

“And are you speaking as a man or a sheriff?” Collins asked.

“Both.”

“Then maybe I should point out that you might not be as objective considering that you were married to the woman and have been staying at her place for the past two weeks,” Collins replied.

“What are you implying?” Justin demanded.

“Simply that since Ms. Mason here has an obvious relationship with Ricky Mercado, I couldn't tell you what we were doing because I had no way of knowing if she was using you to feed information to Mercado.”

Furious with the federal agent, Justin took another step closer. “I don't give a damn what you think about me, Collins. But I better hear an apology to Angela tripping from that smart mouth of yours or I'm going to rip out your Yankee tongue and feed it to you.”

“You're welcome to try, Wainwright.”

“Justin, this isn't necessary,” Angela said, grabbing at his arm.

He ignored her and the rumble coming from the other agents who watched the exchange. “Apologize. Now,” he told Collins.

Collins met his steely gaze. “I don't take orders from small-town sheriffs, and I don't apologize for doing my job.”

“That's enough,” Angela said, stepping between the two men. “I'd suggest you both rein in the testosterone. The last time I checked, we were both on the same side.”

“She's right, Collins,” the blond female agent told him. “Try playing nice for a change. They might be able to help us locate Del Brio.”

“Shut up, Harte. We'll find Del Brio,” Collins said. He looked at Angela. “It's nothing personal, Mason. I'm just doing my job.”

“So am I, Agent Collins. So I'll just let my record speak for itself,” Angela said coolly. “And I certainly hope yours will be able to do the same for you.”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Collins asked.

“It means that I intend to file in my report to the governor and the FBI how your failure to apprise the local law-enforcement agency of your activities here may very well have hindered our investigation and recovery of a kidnapped child—a child that we have every reason to believe belongs to Haley Mercado and is being held by Frank Del Brio. And thanks to your bungling of things here tonight, Del Brio is now on the run and our chances of recovering that little girl alive have just grown a lot slimmer.”

Collins's eyes narrowed. “What makes you think the kid belongs to Haley Mercado? And why do you believe Del Brio has her?”

“Why, Agent Collins, you surprise me,” Angela said. “I mean, a man who has gone to the lengths you have to check into my background and pry into my personal relationships. I'd have thought surely you had uncovered the fact that I'm psychic.”

“W
hy don't we leave Agent Collins and his people to clean up their mess,” Angela told Justin, and turned away before Collins could respond.

“Hang on a second,” Justin told her. “I need a vehicle.”

“Take mine,” Bobby said, and tossed Justin the keys.

“Let's go,” Justin said to her, and together they walked over to the deputy's navy-blue truck. Once they were inside, Justin turned to her and asked, “Are you all right?”

“Sure,” she told him. “And thanks for sticking up for me back there.”

“You didn't need any help from me,” he told her. “You did fine all on your own. I suspect Agent Collins will think twice before tangling with another Texas gal.”

Pleased by his comment and the fact that the arrogant agent had appeared shell-shocked by her claims, she grinned. “There's just one thing I need to know. Do you really believe what you told Collins? Or do you think that I would have warned Ricky about this bust if I'd known about it?”

“You wouldn't have told him.”

“You're sure about that? After all, he and I have been friends a long time. I wouldn't have wanted to see him go to jail.”

“You wouldn't have told him,” he said firmly, and started the engine.

“Thank you for that,” she murmured, trying to find solace in the fact that Justin believed her. If only she knew how he would respond when she told him she was pregnant. She still could hardly believe the over-the-counter test she'd done had come back positive all three times. She was pregnant with Justin's child.

As he drove past the mangled Bronco, he said, “I don't guess there's much point in trying to find my cell phone in that mess.” He cut his glance to her. “I'm sorry about your bag and the drawings. But I don't want you giving up on finding Lena. I'm sure Collins has already cut off the roads out of Lone Star County but when I get to a phone, I'll give Hank a call. In the meantime, if I know Del Brio, he won't leave without getting the baby first. She's his link to Haley. And stopping to get her from wherever he's got her stashed will give us some time.”

Angela didn't even want to look at the speedometer to see how fast they were going. She held onto the door's armrest as he swerved around a bend. “Justin—”

“We're going to find her. I promised Luke. In fact, I'll call him and ask for his help. I found out the other night that the man has more connections than I'd ever realized.”

“Justin, I think I know where she is.”

“And Luke can— What did you say?”

“I said I think I know where Lena is,” she repeated.

“But back there, you told Collins—”

Angela wrinkled her nose. “I didn't see any point in telling the dumb fed I figured out where Lena was. I thought he deserved to stew awhile.”

“Remind me never to play poker with you,” he said dryly. “So are you going to fill me in on where we're going?”

“Remember that section where I got off the main highway and got lost the first day I went out on my own? The
place where you said the property owners sold out to make room for a potential highway that wasn't built?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“At that old ranch house, the one that we thought was abandoned, there was a rusted-out sign hanging from the hinges with a horse in the center of the letter
C.
When the truck that Del Brio was in sped past, there was a bumper sticker on it that read Carousel Gardens, and I made the connection.”

“I'm sorry, but you've lost me.”

“I know. I know it doesn't make sense to you, but it does to me. All this time, I was concentrating on finding a ranch with horses because I saw horses moving in circles in my vision. But seeing that bumper sticker made me wonder what if the horses weren't real horses, but horses on a carousel? Maybe the kind that you'd find atop a music box or a mobile in a child's room.” Which made sense since she'd heard a lullaby.

Justin took the exit that led to the off road. “So how does that tie in with the abandoned house?”

“Twenty-five, thirty years ago that house could have been the one in my vision. You said most of the homeowners sold out. What about the ones who didn't? Del Brio wouldn't have stashed Lena anywhere that we could trace to him. You said yourself he's too smart for that. But maybe he knew someone who still owned one of those abandoned home sites, and that's where he has Lena.”

“
C
for Clawson,” Justin said, and smacked his forehead. “I can't believe how stupid I was not to see it.”

“See what?”

“That Del Brio's girlfriend might be in on the kidnapping. He's been seeing one of the waitresses at the country club, a redhead by the name of Erica Clawson. I think it was Bobby who told me that she likes to ride because her
daddy used to own a place with horses, but they lost the place when she was a little girl.” He looked over at her, his green eyes solemn. “What do you want to bet that Miss Butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth Erica Clawson's family still owns that land?” He hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. “I should have checked the place out. I should have checked her out more thoroughly and not bought into that bubbly innocent act of hers.”

She touched his arm. “It doesn't matter now. We just need to get there before Del Brio gets Lena and leaves.” Because she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that the little girl was in real danger now.

When Justin turned off onto the road leading to the abandoned property, Angela was struck by how dark it was. Much darker than it had been that first time she'd been there at sunset, Angela realized. Without any highway or streetlights, the headlights of the truck and the moon provided their only source of illumination.

Justin came to the fork in the road, pulled over to the shoulder and cut the lights. “If Del Brio's down there, I don't want him to spot us. Lock the doors and wait here while I go check the place out.”

Angela didn't even bother arguing. She exited the truck, and when he came around and saw her, she said, “I'm going.”

“Then stay behind me.”

Her heart was in her throat as they made their way down the dirt road. The moment they reached the bend, they had no trouble seeing the house. It was lit up like a Christmas tree, unlike the last time she'd seen it. And while it still looked shabby and neglected, it no longer looked abandoned.

“Looks like you were right,” Justin whispered.

When they reached the broken gate, they were saved the
task of climbing over it because it was open and hanging on its hinges. “Del Brio must have been in a hurry,” she told Justin, and pointed to the rusted horse sign with the letter
C
that now lay in the dirt besides the gate.

“I don't see the truck, but there's a car near the front of the house. Come on.” Angela followed Justin as he crept up toward the house. He hunkered down beside the car, felt the hood. “Still warm. You watch the front. I'm going to check around the back and see if I see anyone.”

While Justin checked the rear, Angela kept herself low and eased up to the window at the front of the house. She looked inside, saw no one. But a chair was overturned and a lamp lay on its side. Inching her way up the steps to the door, she peered inside the broken window pane of the door. And seeing no one, she turned the knob and the door opened.

“What in the hell are you doing?” Justin said in a harsh whisper from behind her. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back against him. With one arm wrapped around her middle, he held her tightly in the cradle of his thighs. In his other hand he held his gun.

“It's empty,” she told him. “They're gone.”

Releasing her, he stepped in front of her and kicked the door. It swung open into the house, banging against a wall. After several seconds ticked by, during which no one came running or shouted, he lowered his gun and relaxed his stance. “All right. Let's check it out.”

While Justin headed for the back of the house, Angela searched for the room where Lena had been kept. She found it. A tiny, dingy room with a crib and a small chest whose drawers had been emptied and tossed onto the floor. Angela's stomach constricted as she spied a little pink sock on the floor and stooped down to pick it up.

“Look. Over there by the table,” Justin said upon en
tering the room. Lying on its side in the corner was a music box with a carousel of horses. “You were right all along.”

As she held the baby's sock to her breast, the images hit her fast and hard. “The barn,” she told him. “Hurry! We've got to find the barn.”

“Around back,” he told her.

They hurried out and ran around to the back of the house. And when Angela saw the big ugly red barn, she would have run across the field in the open to reach it, if Justin hadn't grabbed her.

“Stick to the shadows,” he cautioned.

Though it nearly killed her to move so slowly, Angela did so. As they approached the barn, she spied the sliver of light from beneath the door. When Justin put a finger to his lips, urging her to be quiet, she nodded. He drew his weapon and nudged open the door of the barn with his foot. The squeaking sound echoed loudly in the quiet night and sent a shiver of fear down Angela's spine.

And then Angela heard it, the frightened cry of a baby coming from inside the barn. Unable to bear the heart-wrenching sounds, Angela stepped from behind Justin and saw Lena. The dark-haired little angel stood at the rail of a small playpen, clutching a stuffed bear while tears streamed down her cheeks. Angela didn't stop to think, she simply acted with a mother's instinct and raced inside the barn toward the child.

“Angela, no!”

She'd almost reached the playpen when Del Brio stepped out of the shadows with a gun in his hand. “That's close enough, Ms. Mason,” he told her, and aimed the gun at her heart.

She stopped, gauged her chances of getting past him to Lena. “I wouldn't try it,” he said as though he'd read her
mind. “You might as well come on out, Wainwright. I know you're there.”

Justin stepped out into the open.

“Drop the gun or I'll shoot her,” he warned. Angela heard Justin's weapon hit the ground with a thud from some point behind her. “Now kick it over there by that haystack, and then come join Ms. Mason here.”

As though Lena sensed the drama unfolding, her sobs increased. Big tears glistened in her eyes as she watched Angela.

“Put your hands up where I can see them,” Del Brio told them as Justin moved beside her. Once they had done so, the man smiled at them and Angela shuddered at the glimpse of madness she read in his eyes.

“The two of you have caused me a great deal of trouble,” he told them. “I don't intend to allow either of you to cause me any more.”

Justin stepped in front of Angela and blocked her body with his. “You kill us and you'll never get out of here alive. The feds are covering every road in and out of Lone Star County looking for you,” Justin told him. “Let Angela and the girl go, and take me as a hostage. It's your only chance to get out of here alive.”

An evil smile snaked across Del Brio's mouth. He released the safety on his pistol and aimed it at Justin. “Very noble, Wainwright. But I'll take my chances. Me and Haley Mercado's baby.”

“I don't think so, Del Brio,” a thready male voice said from the darkness.

Del Brio jerked his head to the left where Johnny Mercado stepped out of the dark corner of the barn with a gun trained on Del Brio. Since she'd seen him last, Johnny seemed to have shrunk several inches. His once silver-gray hair was now a dingy white. His hazel eyes were over-
bright, with huge shadows beneath them that Angela suspected were caused by lack of sleep and too much stress. The hand holding the gun on Del Brio was jumpy.

He looked like a man on the edge of breaking, Angela thought, and she knew he was no match for Del Brio. Fearful of what was about to happen, Angela gauged the chances of her getting to the weapon in her boot while Del Brio's attention was on Johnny.

“What's this all about, Johnny? You and me…we're family.”

Johnny spit on the ground. “You're not my family. You killed my family.”

“Johnny, you're talking crazy,” Del Brio said. “Your wife died of a heart attack, remember? And Haley and I would have been married had it not been for that jerk Callaghan and his friends taking her out on that boat.”

“Liar,” Johnny shouted, his face growing red with rage.

With one eye on the baby and Johnny's jumpy gun hand, Angela tried easing her leg up to get access to her boot. She noted that Del Brio kept his gun trained on Justin, evidently recognizing that Justin, even unarmed, was a greater threat to him than Johnny with a weapon.

“You killed my Isadora! And because of you, my Haley pretended to die! But you found out, didn't you? That's why you kidnapped her baby. Now you think you can use my granddaughter to get Haley? Well, I'm not going to let you do it. This time I protect my family.” Spittle flew from Johnny's mouth as he spoke, and even in the dim light there was no mistaking the sweat beading his brow as he waved his gun at Del Brio. “Now throw down your gun and step away from the baby.”

“All right, Johnny,” Del Brio said, and still holding the gun, he pointed the barrel toward the sky. “I'm going to put down my gun now. So take it easy. You don't want
your gun to go off and hit your granddaughter, now do you?”

Looking confused a moment, Johnny relaxed, and Angela knew at once it was a setup. “Johnny, look out,” she screamed.

Everything happened with dizzying speed. Del Brio fired his gun at Johnny. At the roar of the gunshot, Lena began to cry again. A look of shock spread across Johnny's face before he slid to the floor, where his body lay motionless while blood puddled around him.