Page 108 of Statler

“Two hours,” Eliza returned baldly, and hung up.

She dialed Statler, and before she could even say hello, he was filling her in.

“I talked to Blue,” he began without preamble. “Granny’s not at her house.”

“Any signs of a struggle?” Eliza asked calmly, her nervousness having frozen over into a sharp deliberation out of necessity for what she was planning to do.

“None. But I’ve sent two crews out to scour the area for Jeremy. We’re searching your house and yard, the factory, and your father’s home. We’ll find them, Eliza.”

Maybe.

Or most certainly, if she were willing to share Jeremy’s location right now.

But she wasn’t.

Statler wasn’t going to be pleased when he found out what she planned to do.

“Okay,” she agreed, crossing her fingers. “Let me know if you have any updates.”

Statler paused. “You, uh, don’t sound…upset anymore.”

“I am,” she assured him, trying to inject some distress into her voice, when in reality, every bit of worry inside her, along with any warmth or empathy she might have previously experienced, had all bled away, replaced by hard determination. “I’ll be expecting your call.”

She hung up before he could question her any further, then…

Eliza reached down under her seat, and sure enough, the Sig Sauer P365 that Holden had insisted she always carry was still strapped to the springs.

She carefully removed it now, checked the magazine for ammunition, then loaded one round into the chamber before she laid the weapon down on the seat beside her.

She started the car up again and turned around.

This was her fight, and while Statler would continue doing his thing to shut down the illegal arms manufacturing, she’d be out hunting.

Because she could.

One of the skills she’d picked up from her murdered husband, along with darts and cornhole, had been sharp-shooting, and she would take complete advantage of that.

Very soon.

But she wasn’t about to be stupid.

As soon as she made it to within a quarter mile of the fishing shack, she’d call Statler and tell him where she was, just in case she ran into trouble.

By the time he got there, her plan was to have Jeremy already…dispatched.

Granny would be safe, and Eliza would be off and hunting again.

This time for William Flazer.

William would soon find out that pushing Eliza to the brink—after suffering years of his verbal abuse—had served not to cow her, but to unleash all the rancor that she’d kept tamped down during her entire existence under his thumb.

With the final threat he’d just made, he’d awoken a viciousness that she never knew she possessed.

Watch out, Father.

The bitch is coming.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX