Page 41 of Setup In Montana

“The key.”

There was no reason to keep stalling, Clancy realized as Sarah backed her into a wall. No one was coming to save her. She was going to have to get out of this herself. Nothing new there.

She reached behind her and unlatched the chain. Pulling it out from under her sweater, she started to slip off the key, but Sarah grabbed the chain, key and bear. “Sorry but we don’t have time for this.” As she pocketed all of it, she said, “Don’t worry. I know how much the bear means to you. I’ll see that you get it back. Now let’s go before it’s too late.”

When Clancy didn’t move, she said, “You’re coming with me, one way or another. It’s for your own good. Now move it. My car is right outside.”

Sarah grabbed her arm with her free hand and pressed the gun to her back as they headed for the door. Sunshine laid a path of gold on the hardwood floor. She glimpsed the beautiful day as they stepped outside under a brilliant blue, cloudless sky. Everything felt so surreal as she was forced to walk to Sarah’s car.

“If you really believe I’ve already killed two people, you’ll be smart and not give me any trouble,” Sarah said behind her. “You’re the last person I would want to shoot.”

Chapter Eighteen

“You’re driving,” Sarah said as she motioned for Clancy to get behind the wheel. “And don’t do anything stupid like crash the car. You’ll get us both killed. Think about this cowboy you’ve been crazy over for months. If you want to see him again, then do what I say, okay?”

Clancy feared that getting into that car would be the worst thing she could do. “What did you do with Dub?” she demanded, afraid she’d been right to worry about him. He wouldn’t have left without telling her, without leaving a note. He’d been taken—just like she was being taken.

Sarah frowned. “That cowboy who turned your head? That’s who you were expecting to show up and save you? I didn’t do anything with Dub, but it’s a good thing he didn’t show up. It might have saved his life.”

If Clancy had thought Sarah might let her go, she could quit deluding herself. Sarah had just made it perfectly clear she wouldn’t be walking away from this.

“You know how to drive a stick?” Sarah asked. “No? Well, you’re about to learn,” she said as she opened the driver’s-side door.

Clancy slipped behind the wheel and immediately reached for the ignition, hoping to find the keys there.

Sarah chuckled. “You really think I’m that dumb?” She slammed the driver’s-side door and went around to the passenger side and climbed in. Once she’d put on her seat belt, she started to hand Clancy the keys. “Put on your belt. I know how you drive.”

As Clancy snapped on her seat belt, she thought about the trip she and Sarah had taken to Billings a month ago. Clancy had offered to drive her car since Sarah’s was in the shop. They’d sung along to the radio on the way down, excited about going to the big city to shop and have lunch. They’d both needed to get away and jumped at the chance to enjoy themselves. And they had.

Her heart ached when she thought about the closeness they’d shared since they’d met. How was it possible that she hadn’t seen the other side of Sarah? How could she be so wrong about her?

“Like I said, we really need to get out of here,” Sarah repeated as she handed over the keys.

“Where am I driving?” Clancy asked as she inserted the key and tried to recall everything Goldie’s friend Josephine had tried to teach her to drive one of the farm pickups. She put one foot on the clutch, the other on the brake and started the car.

“Not bad,” Sarah said as Clancy took her foot off the brake and put it on the gas while carefully releasing the clutch.

She heard the admiration in the woman’s voice and felt sick to her stomach. Sarah was acting as if they were still good friends while holding a gun on her.

As they drove away from the guesthouse, Clancy couldn’t help worrying about Dub. Sarah said she hadn’t done anything with him, but she’d be a fool to trust anything the woman said.

But if Sarah hadn’t done something to him, then where was he? Right now she would love to see him come driving up this road. She had a feeling that he could handle even an armed Sarah without any trouble.

When she reached the highway, she reversed what she’d done to get the car going and stopped.

“Turn right,” Sarah said. “Once we get on the highway you’ll have to shift gears, but I think you’ve got it.”

Clancy pulled out on the two-lane, this time the car jerking until she got her speed up. She pressed down on the clutch, shifted and let go. The engine roared more than it should have. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sarah flinch.

“Where are we going?” she asked as they left Grass Range far behind, heading north. There wasn’t another town for miles, nothing but rolling hills, pines and rocks. Houses were few and far between for miles. Sarah didn’t bother to answer. Clancy drove in silence until the silence got to her.

“I don’t understand something,” she said. Anything to keep her from wondering what lay in store for her. “Mildred Wilson really did leave you the pendant?”

“I have the will, but the pendant was worthless without the key that was inside it. I knew Esther had it, but my attempts to get it back failed even after I sent notes to her, threatening to kill her if she didn’t return what she’d taken.”

Clancy shifted into a higher gear. She couldn’t imagine where they were going and what happened when they got there. “That explains why Esther had been so nervous that day. When I went to get the money she owed me, she begged me to take the bag of jewelry. I knew it had to be stolen, and she was afraid of being caught with it. Why else try to give it to me? But if you’d been threatening her, why didn’t she just give you the pendant?”

Sarah let out a bitter chuckle. “I didn’t realize that the old crone didn’t even know what she’d stolen or where she’d ripped it off from. Apparently, she just liked to take other people’s things. None of it meant anything to her. Had she realized all I wanted was the pendant she’d stolen from Mildred, she could have given it back and it would have been over.”