Carbs & Cadavers (22 page)

Her mother ran a hand over her daughter’s wavy hair and gave her a quick hug. “Don’t worry, honey. Mommy knows what to do about everything. Just do what I say and let me handle this.”

As Allison walked toward them holding a roll of duct tape, tears glistening on both cheeks, James could foretell what was about to happen. He looked over Allison’s head and tried to catch Rachel’s eye.

“You don’t want to do this.” He forced himself to sound calm and reasonable. “You’re putting your family name in even more danger. There are at least three people who know what we know. They’ll call for help if we’re not back by later tonight. You should let Amelia go and turn yourself in.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you are
not
going to hurt my daughter.” Rachel took a step closer to them and barked, “Put your hands behind your backs, fatsos. I heard your whole conversation with my daughter. You were fumbling in the dark when you came here. For all we know,
you’re
the killers.” She moved even closer to them, her blue eyes burning with a feverish intensity. “And by the time any of your so-called
friends
come looking for you, you’ll be long gone.” Rachel drew the heads of her two captors close together so that she could whisper in both of their ears simultaneously. “You two
and
Amelia.”

Lucy jerked her head away and softly uttered, “So then she
is
still alive!”

“Hush up.” Rachel walked behind them so that she could watch her daughter’s handiwork with the tape. “Make it tighter, Allison. I don’t want them climbing out of the trailer in the middle of Highway 33.”

“What are you going to do with them?” Allison’s voice rose shrilly.

“Nothing you need worry about, you hear me? Now, get yourself back in the house and tell your father that I’ve gone to the lake overnight. If he asks why, just tell him that I’m stressed out and needed some alone time.” Rachel removed one of her gloves and examined her perfectly manicured nails. “He won’t bat an eyelash at that. And if anyone else comes snooping around here, call the police. We’ve got nothing to hide.”

“So what did you do with your poodle mask?” Lucy asked derisively while tugging at her bound hands. James also tried to free himself, but Allison had effectively rendered them useless.

Rachel took another step closer, a dangerous rage flaring in her eyes. “I’d be quiet if I were you.”

“Allison! It’s your mother!
She’s
the killer!” Lucy quickly shouted as the girl moved toward the front door of the stable.

Allison hesitated and Rachel immediately positioned herself so that she could draw her gun and press it against Lucy’s back. “One more peep out of you, and she’ll see someone die right before her eyes.”

“She’s going to figure it out,” James said to Rachel in a hushed tone.

“Maybe, maybe not, but she’ll be married soon and that’s all that matters. Go on, honey!” Rachel called to her daughter with false sweetness and the girl reluctantly obeyed.

“Your daughter will never forgive you,” James stated plainly, and for the first time, Rachel seemed to consider the consequences of her actions. However, she seemed to shake off James’s suggestion as if it were a fly buzzing around her head.

Waving the gun in front of their faces, she smiled crookedly once more. “Maybe not. But mothers know what’s best and
I’m
doing what’s best for my girl. Now”—she jerked the weapon toward the back door—“start walking. We’re going to go on a little trip.” She paused, breaking two more pieces of duct tape off of the shrunken roll. “But first, I’m going to put a stop to your endless babbling.” And with a flourish, she placed a strip of tape over both of their mouths.

Opening the stable’s back door, Rachel gestured at them with her gun until they had walked around to the rear of a horse trailer parked next to the stable. Rachel slid a key into the padlock, unwound a linked chain, and threw open the metal double doors.

Inside, sitting on a pile of straw, was Amelia Flowers. She shifted in alarm at the sight of Rachel Shilling and whimpered. When she spied James and Lucy, she suddenly grew silent and her head slumped to her chest. It was as if she recognized that her rescuers had arrived and that their rescue attempt had clearly failed.

James was thrown roughly against a wall as the trailer made a sharp turn. Rachel had secured each of them to strong wall hooks using trailer ties as if her captives were horses. This way, they were unable to reach one another to make an attempt at untying their bonds. Lucy and Amelia had been tied to chest rails on opposite sides of the trailer and James had been fastened to the padded butt bar in the back. Though these bars were made of aluminum, they were incredibly strong and there was no hope of breaking or bending the metal.

In the darkness of the moving vehicle, James found himself mournfully staring up through the narrow windows at a distant sickle of moon. For the last half hour, he had been trying to rub the end of the duct tape covering his mouth against his shoulder in hopes of working it free. He had made some headway, but each time he regained his balance and began working on the tape, the trailer seemed to lurch in one direction, forcing him to the ground again.

Glancing once more at the moon, which seemed to be mocking him as it darted playfully in and out of string clouds, James steadied himself and pushed the tape completely off of one corner of his mouth. Within minutes, he had rubbed it off entirely.

“Lucy! Amelia!” he said loudly over the roar of the trailer moving along the highway. “Try rubbing the end of the tape that’s on your mouth against your shoulder. I think you’ll be able to get it off.”

In the dark, James could hear his companions moving about as they worked on the tape. James investigated the floor of the trailer with his legs, but found nothing but pieces of hay scattered across the metal floor. Kicking angrily, he then explored the sidewalls, but again, came up with nothing that would help them escape.

“Got it!” Lucy exclaimed a moment later. “Boy, when I get my hands on that psychotic . . .” she began but ran out of breath.

“Are you okay?” James asked.

“Yes. I’m just mad. You?”

James swallowed. “I’m fine. I’ve been trying to feel out my space with my feet, but there doesn’t seem to be anything I can use to cut my tape near me. Can you try searching where you’re sitting?”

“Ugh!” Amelia spat. “I’ve been trying to get that damned tape off for like three hours. I think half of my lips are stuck to that piece!”

“Amelia! We’re so glad to find you alive,” Lucy said, kicking out with her legs. “How are you doing, honey?”

“I’d be better if we weren’t tied up in the back of some lunatic’s horse trailer!” James heard her fumbling around her space with her feet. “There’s nothing here that’s gonna help us. We’re screwed.”

James waited for Lucy to say something consoling, but she remained silent.

“Where do you think she’s taking us?” Amelia asked meekly.

“I’d guess Lake Anna,” James replied. “It’s the most likely place for a lake house.”

“That’s over an hour southeast of Quincy’s Gap,” Lucy mumbled. “Even if any of our friends or Sheriff Huckabee realize that we went out to Shilling’s Stables, they won’t be able to get it out of Allison that we’ve all been kidnapped until it’s too late.”

“What does that mean?” Amelia shrieked. “What’s going to happen to us?”

“Nothing,” James reassured the frightened girl. “There are three of us against one. Let’s focus on getting one of us untied so we have a fighting chance.”

Lucy perked up. “You’re right, James. Even if we can’t get untied, one of us can jump on Rachel while someone else kicks the gun away.” James could hear the determination in Lucy’s voice. “We just have to keep our wits about us and wait for the right moment.”

“We’re going to get out of here, Amelia,” James tried to soothe the girl across the darkened trailer. “Just hang in there. No one’s giving up.”

“Okay,” Amelia responded bravely. “Then I won’t, either.”

An hour and a half later, the trailer bumped to a stop and the three captives heard Rachel Shilling get out of the cab and slam the door. They heard her opening the rear door to the trailer and suddenly, the beam of a flashlight was blinding them.

Rachel climbed into the trailer and untied their ropes from the hooks on the trailer wall. Each of her prisoners had ropes tied onto their bound wrists. Rachel gathered the individual lengths of rope and tugged on the lines with one hand, leaving enough slack to allow them to walk forward even though their hands were fastened behind their backs. She held out her gun and waved it until James, Lucy, and Amelia were persuaded into moving down the trailer’s ramp.

“Come on!” Rachel shouted, jerking on the rope so roughly that Amelia almost lost her footing. “I’m already tired from driving down here.”

“What are you going to do with us?” Amelia wailed.

Rachel frowned in annoyance. “It was too much to hope that you’d keep that damned tape over your mouths, I suppose.” She pulled them down a steep driveway that led to a narrow dock. “Still, I don’t have any neighbors who make it a habit to visit their lake houses in November. And even if they did”—she gestured maniacally with the revolver—“the closest one is over a mile away, so scream if it suits you. What do I care?” Rachel paused next to a small boathouse so that she could turn on a row of lights that illuminated the boathouse and the strip of dock.

Piles of lumber, two wheelbarrows, and a large Dumpster flanked a staked construction site next to the boathouse. As they passed by the small structure, James could see that they were running out of time. With their hands bound as tightly as they were, their only chance of stopping Rachel was to ambush her while she was distracted. It was clear that they were being led straight to the lake and that Rachel did not intend to return to the trailer with any accompaniment.

Desperately, he searched for something to say that would shake the woman’s frosty composure and give the three of them a chance to launch themselves upon her. “What about Allison?” he called out. “She told us she’s not going to marry Chase no matter what. She’s twenty years old, you know. I don’t think you can force her. And then what would be the point of all of this? You’ll have murdered four people for nothing. You’re going to lose your daughter forever.”

“Yeah, you’re risking an awful lot considering that if the press gets the slightest whiff of this scandal your family name is ruined forever,” Lucy chimed in, recognizing James’s ploy. “Allison would be lucky to marry the garbage man.”

“The press will never know. Shoot, the
police
will never know.” Rachel smiled as the wooden dock drew nearer. “No one is going to find your bodies. There is no
proof
. Do you think my daughter is going to turn against me even if she’s questioned? She won’t say a word.” She snorted. “I’ve
already
gotten away with it.”

“Allison told me she’s in love with someone else,” James blurted urgently.

Rachel stopped. He had gotten her attention.

James fumbled for a name but in his increased state of anxiety, drew a complete blank.

“Yeah, Darryl Jeffries,” Amelia said quickly. “He’s a car mechanic.”

“A mechanic?” Rachel’s eyes widened in horror. “Like, at a gas station?” Her gun hand dropped down a foot as her mind tried to grapple with the idea of her daughter being involved with someone with greasy hands.

“Like, at the Amoco station outside of town,” Amelia stated simply. “They’ve been seeing each other for months.”

James was proud of the girl. She sounded very believable. Rachel’s hand sank down another foot, so that the revolver was no longer pointing at any of them.

“She’s planning to elope,” Lucy added, her eyes never leaving the revolver. As Rachel digested the barrage of horrifying information about her daughter, James suddenly yelled “Now!” and the three bound prisoners launched themselves at their captor.

Rachel attempted to raise the gun, but James had already knocked into her with his immense stomach. He heard a satisfying skid as the weapon slid down the wooden slats of the dock. Lucy threw her weight directly into Rachel’s legs, hoping to topple her, but unfortunately, so did Amelia and the two women ended up throwing each other off balance. With their hands tied, they fell backward and landed in a heap, unable to rise again with enough swiftness to catch Rachel.

Grabbing the revolver, Rachel swung it around and aimed at the center of James’s chest. “Move and I shoot!” she yelled. James froze in place, exhaling deeply in defeat. “That was a nice try,” she said with a hint of genuine admiration. “I do admire your spunk, but I’ve had enough fun for one evening.” She pointed her gun at the three of them and commanded them to walk to the end of the dock, where she tied their ropes to a pylon. “I’m lucky we’ve started our project to expand the boathouse. It means I’ve got easy access to some heavy materials, if you get my drift.” She laughed at herself, her voice echoing eerily across the black lake water. “I
knew
adding a guest room to the boathouse was a good idea even though my husband didn’t want to spend the money on it,” she prattled on to herself as she walked back up the dock and disappeared around a corner of the boathouse.