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“Did I miss something, Brody?” Lou asked insistently.
“Do you remember the night of the dance when that man tried to take Sarah?”
“Yeah,” she replied, her eyebrows drawn together.
“Well, that same man just showed up at the jewelry store.”
“What?” Lou asked. “What would he be doing at the jewelry store?”
“Hell if I know,” Brody breathed. “I went to take in that piece of jewelry to be appraised. The owner of the store took it in back, made a phone call and then that goon showed up. He walked out, carrying my diamond and told me I was going with him or he would kill everyone in the store. He was armed, so, I walked out with him and was about to get in his car, then that other man showed up.”
“Wes,” Lou stated.
“Who?” Brody asked, glancing in her direction as he drove.
“Wes.” Lou rubbed her forehead. “He knew my mother.”
“You know who this guy is?” Brody asked incredulously.
“No. But he knew my mother. He gave me some photos and said he wanted Sarah.”
“I still can’t figure out why they want Sarah,” Brody said. “Unless it’s to use her to get something else.”
“I don’t know,” Lou sighed. “He just kept telling me he wanted what was in the black bag.”
“Uh, guys…” John said from the backseat.
“What?” they both snapped.
John replied, “I remember that bag.”
“So?” they both asked.
“Sarah wasn’t the only thing in the bag,” John replied quietly.
Chapter Twenty-Two
They stopped in front of the house and turned off the engine. Lou heard the gravel crunch as Wes pulled in beside them and did the same.
Brody took Lou’s hand and pulled her across the seat toward him. He slid out of the car and she followed before he wordlessly pushed her behind him.
Wes hopped out of his own car quickly, looking around, taking in his surroundings. He made a let’s go sign with his hands and said, “Let’s move this inside where it will be a little more private.”
They regarded him wordlessly and walked into the house. He followed them in through the screen door and then closed the hard back door, shooting the lock home when he turned the knob on the deadbolt.
“That’s to keep other people out. Not to keep you in,” he said quietly.
She regarded him wordlessly, her brown eyes meeting his own. “What do you want?” she asked.
“It’s a long story, actually,” Wes said, taking a deep breath and raising his cigar to his lips.
Lou glanced at her watch. “I’ll make time.” She looked at him coldly.
He began, “Nothing has worked out the way it was supposed to, Lou.”
“You mean you had hoped to kill me by now? Or to steal my daughter?”
“I hadn’t planned to do either. I had hoped you would just give me what I wanted and then we could be finished with this,” he sighed. “I don’t know why I thought this would be easy,” he groaned.
