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“Melody. How are you doing?”
“I’m good. You?” Teddy growls. I glance down at him. “Teddy. It’s Doc Wells.” I run my hand across his head to soothe him. His reaction strikes me as odd, considering I’d gotten him from Doc Wells.
“It’s all right. He’s protective of you.”
“Yeah, I think—” I stop speaking when I lift my head and see what appears to look like a gun, but I know it’s not one. Before I can make out exactly what it is he’s holding, he pulls the trigger. I gasp, my hand going to the dart lodged in my chest. “Doc?” I whisper in shock as my knees give out and I fall. I blink as I stare up at the sky. Teddy growls louder, and I hear the dart gun go off again before Doc Wells comes into view over me.
“I’m sorry, Melody. I don’t want to do this. If it was Blake, I’d get away, but your man… I’m going to need your help,” I hear him say before everything goes dark.
CHAPTER 19
FRANK
“I can’t make out a word you’re saying, Mom.” But I know it’s bad or she wouldn’t be ugly crying on the phone. “One word at a time.”
“Melody…taken…not sure,” she pants out.
“Doc Wells, isn’t it?” I press my foot to the pedal. I read Italian police have Lambos, and at the time I thought it was some damned extravagance, but I could really use a vehicle that went 200 miles per hour over the Taurus that the city provides.
“I don’t know.” She starts sobbing.
There’s a commotion, and then Emma comes on the phone. “Someone said they thought they saw Doc Wells coming out of her house with a big bag over his shoulder. I don’t know if I believe it, but—”
“It’s him. Who’s taking care of Teddy?”
“We’ve got him here at the house.”
“Vincent there with you?”
“Yes. He’s right here.”
“Yo,” my friend’s deeper voice booms over the line.
“Take care of them.”
“Already on it.”
“Put out an all-points bulletin that I’m coming. I don’t want to deal with a traffic stop.”
“Will do. What about Wells? You have an idea where he is?”
“No, but I know someone who does. I have his son in my back seat. I’ll find Wells. You tell Emma that.” I hang up and look in the rearview mirror. “I know you heard my conversation, so you need to start talking.”
“What’s this all about? Why would my dad take Melody anywhere?”
“Because he has figured out or somehow suspects that we know he’s the killer, and he’s taken Melody as insurance.” Which means he can’t hurt her or his leverage is shot. Then again, he’s crazy, so all bets are off.
“My old man is a nut bag, but he’s not a killer,” Kenny insists. “He’s a vet, for God’s sake. He saves animals. He loves animals. He sees a small bird injured on the side of the road and he’ll pull over and bring it back to the clinic to save it. He’s not hurting anyone.”
“He loves animals, but maybe he sees people differently. Tell me where his hunting cabin is.”
“He’s not going there,” Kenny says. I wait for him to tell me more, but the guy clams up, starting to realize the gravity here. I grind the back of my teeth together in frustration, but I’ve got some time. The miles speed by too slowly. Every minute that passes is another minute that Melody’s in danger. My patience ends. I slam the palm of my hand against the steering wheel. “Tell me where the fuck they are or I’m going to run this car into the nearest telephone pole.”
“Man, you wouldn’t do that. You’d die yourself.”
I meet his eyes in the rearview mirror. “If I don’t save Melody, I don’t have a life worth living.”
“You serious?” He gapes.
“As a heart attack.” I redirect my eyes on the road so that we don’t crash accidentally.
Kenny slumps back into the seat and raises his cuffed hands to his face. “There’s a cabin over by Fellows Lake. He’d take her there because it’s closer. It’s probably where he’s been living ever since he left my place. I don’t understand, though. Why would he do this?”
I don’t have a clear memory of Doc Wells, but he didn’t seem the type to commit two murders with a knife. That doesn’t matter now. The only thing I’m concerned about is getting to Melody in time.
Kenny reluctantly directs me to the cabin. I barrel down the dirt lane, noting the fresh tire tracks. I spin to a stop and jump out. Kenny bangs on the window of the car, but I ignore him. I’m almost to the stairs of the porch when the cocking of a shotgun echoes loudly in the air. In the doorway, old Doc Wells stares at me over the barrel of his long gun.
