The Perfect Couple (44 page)

"Next door to Colin?" She seemed puzzled. "Curious he didn't mention it. Maybe there's a connection between her and my Paddy," she said with tears in her voice. "Where are all these people going, anyway? The 288

Simpson boy was taken from the school just down the street. I don't understand."

"Colin believes your husband might've kidnapped Samantha Duncan."

"What? He doesn't even know the girl. What would he want with her?"

Hoping for a cool breeze, Jonathan lowered the window. "Colin claims your husband is a--"

"No!" she cried before he could finish.

"Yes."

"That's a lie! I know Paddy better than anyone else does. He's not a predator. He's a good man!"

That wind he'd been hoping for stirred his hair. "You've never heard of him abusing his children while they were growing up?"

"Of course not! That's crazy. You can ask his first wife. She'll tell you Paddy was a keeper. She says it to me all the time. She says their marriage would've worked if not for Colin."

"What did Colin do?"

"He was a difficult kid, a troubled kid."

"How troubled?"

"It depends on who you ask. Tina--his mother--thinks he's the equivalent of Damien. Paddy thinks Colin's issues come from the fact that they were too hard on him."

"Do you happen to have Tina's number, Mrs. Bell?"

"I do. I've called her myself since Paddy disappeared. I consider her a friend. Just a minute." He heard her rummage around before coming back on the line.

"Here you go."

When she'd given him the number, he thanked her, but she stopped him before he could disconnect.

"Mr. Stivers?"

"Yes."

"I can tell you what Tina's going to say before you call her. She moved away to escape Colin, not Paddy. Courtney, her daughter, will confirm it."

Jonathan dropped his head in his hand. Colin, the man he'd angered at the firm today. Colin, the man who had a connection to Paddy and Sam. And even to Toby, who lived very close to Paddy...Colin, the man who had sleeping pills in his house and dog food in his garage and who'd been with Zoe right before he'd found her dumped on a motel bed with her clothes askew. Jonathan was willing to bet that if he'd had time to finish with all 289

those rental records, he would've found Colin's name in there somewhere--or the name of someone who knew Colin.

Maybe suspecting him hadn't been so crazy, after all.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," he told her.

"You don't think he'd hurt his father, do you?"

A beat-up truck rumbled past and vanished as the road veered out of sight. "How would his ex-wife answer that question?"

"When I called her, she wanted to know where Colin was when Paddy went missing. That's an odd question to ask about your own son, don't you think? I've always agreed with Paddy and thought Colin's problems stemmed from Tina's inability to love him. But now, if it wasn't for Tiffany, I might be tempted to believe Tina."

"You like Tiffany, then?"

"She's a real sweetheart, so eager to please."

More eager to please her husband than anyone else..."I'm guessing she was with him when Paddy went missing."

"That's right. She told me so herself."

Because Tiffany knew. She protected Colin. "Can you tell me how to get to Paddy's cabin, Mrs. Bell?"

"No, sir. It's been too long since I've been there. And Paddy always drove."

He refastened his seat belt. "I need to find it. Immediately."

"Colin and Tiffany already checked the cabin, just yesterday," she said. "No one's there."

"We need to check again. Where can we get an address?"

"Gee, I don't know...." There was a pause. "I suppose it would be on the deed. But there's no telling how long it would take me to find that. It's probably out in the garage in one of those--wait," she said. "What about Glen?"

"Glen?"

"My son used to go up there with Paddy quite a bit. He'll know how to find it."

"Is he available?"

"What is it--three o'clock? I should be able to catch him at work."

"Call him right away," Jonathan said and prayed that right away would be soon enough....

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"You're a little hellcat, aren't you!" Colin seemed more excited than upset to see Zoe and Tiffany fighting. "I never dreamed you had it in you."

"You're glad she hurt me?" Tiffany sat on the ground, covered in dust, her hand over her injury.

Grimacing at the metallic taste of blood, Zoe wiped her mouth and shoved her tangled hair out of her eyes so she could glare up at him. "That was for Sam and Toby!"

"You mean Rover?" He chuckled. "You're feeling protective of him, too?"

"How could anyone hurt him like that? How could you, someone I know, someone I've touched and spoken to and lived beside? You're a monster, not a man!"

He made a show of waving her words away. "Give me a break. You're just as capable of hurting people as I am. Look at poor Tiff."

Zoe didn't care about Tiffany. It was Colin she had to defeat if she wanted to get out of this alive--if she wanted to get Sam out alive.

She climbed to her feet and dusted off her clothes. "Tiffany's an adult.

Besides, she attacked me."

"I've never been one for subtle distinctions," he said with a shrug.

"Life is about grabbing what you want and taking all you can."

"What have you done with my daughter?" she asked.

His lips curved in a taunting smile. "It's what I'm about to do that matters."

Zoe's fingernails curved into her palms. Sam was alive. "Why'd you lure me up here? To tell me it was you? To kill us both?"

He leaned close, smelled her hair, then licked her cheek. She suppressed a shudder of revulsion, trying to pretend it didn't bother her.

"What is it you want from us?"

"I want you. I've wanted you since the first moment--"

"Colin!" Tiffany found her feet and pulled him away. "Not while I'm here. I can't watch this. Take her with you and go to Chester. Just make sure I never see her again."

"Ooh," he jeered. "Did you hear what she said? She wants to be rid of you. She's tired of the way you've teased me with that tight little ass of yours."

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"I haven't teased you," Zoe said.

"Just seeing you teases me."

"Colin!" Tiffany again.

"Okay, okay, I get it," he told his wife. "You and Zoe have some unfinished business. I'll let you take care of it." He glanced between them.

"Go ahead and fight it out, ladies. It'll be like...like a cockfight." He grinned.

"You're going to do more cockfighting later, if you know what I mean."

Memories of Franky, of the stifling hot trailer in the dead of summer, washed over Zoe and panic set in.

"No." She shook her head but her denial meant nothing to him. He winked, seemingly happier than she'd ever seen him, and all his odd statements and come-ons filtered through her mind. She'd been so busy playing the polite neighbor and giving him the benefit of every doubt that she hadn't read them as the warning signs they were. She'd trusted what he appeared to be instead of what her instincts told her. Anyone could've been misled, but she was especially vulnerable because she was so determined not to suspect danger around every corner. After what Franky had done, it was the only way she could live a normal life.

"You ready for this?" he asked his wife.

"For what?"

"To fight her!"

"Colin, no!" Tiffany pointed to her wounded shoulder. "Look at me!"

"You're okay, babe. You've had worse."

"Quit it, Colin. You've got to get out of here. Stivers will find this place eventually. It's not as if it's invisible."

"It's so remote it might as well be invisible," he said.

"Why won't you listen?" she shouted. "Are you on something again?

He'll be here any minute, Colin!"

"No, he won't. Come on, babe." He grabbed her ass and gave it a lascivious squeeze, letting his tongue dangle out as he did. "You're not willing to duke it out for your man? I thought you hated Zoe. I thought you wanted me to kill her."

Tiffany staggered back a few steps. "Shut up! God, I hate you!"

He stiffened as if she'd slapped him. "What'd you say?"

She covered her mouth. Obviously, she regretted those words, but that didn't seem to matter. Tiffany was right. Colin had to be on something. He was acting bizarre.

The Bells stared at each other for several seconds. Then Colin strode over and yanked Tiffany by the hair. "You want her?" he said to Zoe. "Here she is."

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Zoe had to think of some way to prevail. Her daughter was alive.

Colin had spoken of her in the present tense. But where was she? Zoe hoped she was in the shed or the cabin. If she was anywhere else, she might never find her.

"Let's go to Sam," she said.

"In a minute."

Tiffany winced but didn't cry out as Colin forced her arms behind her back. "My wife deserves to be taught a lesson." He licked Tiffany's cheek this time. "What do you say, babe? You hate me, huh? Is that it?"

"I didn't mean it," she whined. "You know I love you, Colin. I'd do anything for you. I brought her here, didn't I?"

"You brought her here so I could kill her. That's hardly a sacrifice."

He returned his attention to Zoe. "If you'll kick her ass, I'll kill Sam quick."

Sam was indeed alive--but how was Zoe going to keep her that way?

"That's really the best offer I can make you," he explained as glibly as if they were discussing an innocuous business transaction. "I can't let either of you go. I won't insult your intelligence by pretending otherwise. But I'll do you the favor of getting rid of her in as painless a fashion as possible.

Then it'll be just me and you, all week."

"Colin, you're making me regret this!" Tiffany said. "Let go of me."

"No."

"Let go of me!"

Colin pushed Tiffany closer to Zoe. "Come on, hit her." He used his chin to indicate Tiffany's face. "Right here."

"And what will you do?" Zoe asked.

"I'll stay out of it. This is pure entertainment for me. I'll give you three punches. Then you're on your own and whoever wins, wins. If that happens to be you, I'll show you some mercy."

"Colin, stop!" Tiffany squirmed, but he held her fast.

Colin waved at his wife again. "Here you go, Zoe. You wanted to fight her a minute ago."

Zoe hadn't wanted to fight anybody. She only wanted to get away. His perception of everything was all screwed up.

"Hit her," he taunted. "Give her a black eye. Think of how she's treated your little girl. Feeding her nothing but dog food. Making her wear a choke chain. Chaining her to the ground. She's a cruel bitch."

Anger at the thought of Sam being treated in such a fashion made Zoe feel powerful enough to attack anyone.

"She's the one who took her, you know," he went on. "She coaxed her over to the house and locked her up while you were at work. You sure have 293

a gullible child, but I guess most kids would think they could trust a face as pretty as Tiffany's."

"You did that?" Zoe spoke to Tiffany. Somehow, it was even more of a betrayal coming from another woman. "You're just as bad as he is."

Tiffany couldn't meet her eyes. "I did it for him!"

Colin jerked on his wife's arms, still twisted behind her back, and caused a grunt of pain. "Oh, and now you turn on me again."

Evidently, Colin could say anything he wanted about Tiffany but couldn't tolerate her slightest offense.

"Let me loose." Tiffany struggled some more, but he laughed and continued to restrain her.

"Maybe I should take you both to Chester, force you to torture each other. That would be interesting. Forget Sam. She's useless, as good as dead."

Terror clutched at Zoe's heart. What had he done to her?

"I'm not going to Chester," Tiffany said. "Not now."

"You're a real downer, Tiff. You should be glad that adding Zoe to the mix makes you exciting again. Without her, you can't even get me hard anymore."

Tears streamed down Tiffany's cheeks. "You don't love me. I should've seen it before."

"You asked for this," he said. "Now shut up and you'll get what you want in the end. I'm just having a little fun."

"You've been snorting coke again! I hate what it does to you!"

"And you hate me. Yeah, we heard." He dragged her toward Zoe. "Hit her."

"As hard as I want?" Zoe asked.

"As hard as you want." He held his wife to the left of his body in anticipation of a right-handed punch. But Zoe wasn't right-handed. And it wasn't Tiffany she wanted.

Making a fist with both hands so she wouldn't telegraph her intentions, she punched Colin as hard as she could.

"It's about time someone realized that son of a bitch is crazy." Glen Hagen propped one massive, tattoo-covered arm on the car window and continued to chew on the toothpick he'd kept in his mouth ever since Jonathan had met him at the gas station in Nyack. Glen felt confident he could find the cabin, but he couldn't give verbal directions beyond the general vicinity. "It'll only get you lost if I try," he'd said when Jonathan had pushed him on it. "You think you'll know where to go if I say to turn right at 294

the granite outcropping and left at the crooked tree?"

It was a good point, so Jonathan had waited for him, but the hour he lost hadn't been easy to give up. Every minute that ticked away heightened his anxiety. His terror at the thought of what Zoe might be going through told him he cared more about her than he'd wanted to, more than he'd ever intended. Which wasn't a pleasant realization, considering what had happened with Maria.

It didn't help that Detective Thomas had been so late getting into the game. He'd been out on another case most of the day, a grisly murder-suicide, but returned Jonathan's many calls a few minutes ago. He'd said that Paddy Bell's ex had contacted the Sacramento police to demand they investigate Colin in connection with his father's disappearance.

If only Jonathan had received that information earlier...

"How'd you know he was crazy?" Jonathan weaved through traffic.