Page 48 of Engaging the Deputy

Had she seen something she shouldn’t have? Caught him getting ready to skip town? What had he done to her?

Jaden thought of the broken jar on the floor, the drag marks in the jelly.

Cody had to have taken her. But where?

* * *

Olivia sat upand looked over at Cody. Her wrists were bound, but that wasn’t all. He’d tied her bound wrists to the grab bar on the door so she couldn’t jump out. Nor could she reach the steering wheel or attack him, both options she wished for right now as he slowed and made the turn down the road to Starling. Her stomach roiled as they rumbled along the road, the headlights giving her glimpses of the destruction ahead.

“What’s going on, Cody?” she asked with a sigh as if bored by all this. Even as her heart raced, she told herself not to panic. She needed to keep all her senses sharp because she was going to get away from him. She had to.

“We’re just going for a little ride,” he said without looking at her.

“You were never a good liar.”

His attention swung on her, his face contorting in anger. “Like you know anything about me. You left. You have no idea what I’ve had to do to keep from going stark raving mad.” The venomous response alarmed her. “All I could think about was getting out of here, getting out from under that damn hardware store.”

Her first instinct was to try to calm him down, to remind him that they were friends. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I thought you didn’t mind working with your dad.”

Cory let out a bark of a laugh. “He had me over a barrel. Either I stayed and worked the store, or I walked away with nothing. Nothing. You think he would help me with college? With starting my own business? Not a chance. He started with nothing and made good, so he thought I should do the same.” He seemed to grit his teeth. “He gave me no choice but to do what I did.”

“No choice?” she asked almost in a whisper. He was driving slower now, but she could see what structures were still standing ahead getting closer against the skyline. As long as she could keep him talking…

The thought almost made her laugh out loud. No one knew where she was. No one was coming to save her. She was on her own. Her only chance to survive was to be ready. If he gave her an opening, she would take it to escape.

Cody looked over at her, and for a moment, he was the boy she’d grown up with. His gaze softened and the fury in his face dissolved. “I started my own drug business.” She heard pride in his voice. “I made something out of myself.”

Drugs?She tried not to show her revulsion as she listened to him talk about getting the supplies up on the Canadian border, hiring friends to bring them down and package them for distribution.

“It was a hell of an operation,” he said proudly. “I should have done it sooner. Maybe you would have stayed.”

She said nothing, gripping her hands together, her fingers white-knuckled. He’d never understood why she’d left to follow her dream. He’d just resented her for being able to do it. As it was, she’d learned that the grass wasn’t greener. But it had made her figure out what she wanted. Montana, home and Jaden. And it had brought her back.

Cody looked lost in thought. She knew this wasn’t about the two of them, no matter what he said. Nor about his father and the hardware store. This was about that night in Starling and Rob’s murder. She didn’t know how or why exactly, but she knew. “Who of the old gang work for you?”

He instantly perked up, anxious to talk about his enterprise. “Angie was my first hire. She’d rented this little barn outside of town to redo old furniture she found at garage sales.” He scoffed. “I convinced her to use her skills and mine to make more money. She was like me. She wanted more. Her marrying Dean had been a mistake. He was still in love with Jenny. But as badly as she wanted to leave him, she couldn’t until she had enough money to make it on her own. So I helped her.”

They’d reached what was left of Starling. Even in the glow of the headlights, what the tornado had left looked more menacing than it had in daylight.

Olivia shuddered as if she could feel the violence, the death, the disappointment that had happened here. It had left a pall over the place and seemed to invite more of the same.

“Emery?” Olivia asked, afraid of what would happen once he stopped driving, once he stopped talking.

“Emery? That lily-livered SOB?” He shook his head. “He was too chicken to go into business with me. He likes being a deadbeat.”

The pickup slowed to a crawl. Cody brought it to a stop and cut the engine.

There was one name she hadn’t mentioned, afraid that once she did, the ride was over. “What went wrong?” she asked as Cody fell silent. “Sounds like you had a viable business going.”

He looked over at her in the darkness of the pickup’s cab. This far away from town, she could see stars and just enough moon to throw a silvery haze over the landscape. It gave Starling a ghostly presence, making what she knew was coming all the more frightening.

“I gave Rob a job. He was making good money. But apparently it wasn’t enough. He got greedy,” he said somberly.

She knew but was afraid to say it.

He reached for the driver’s-side door handle.

“You killed him.”

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