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“Wait a minute.” Vanessa glared at Brett. “You’re just throwing out wild accusations at innocent people. How dare you when your line of business is to uncover the truth, not hurl lies, hoping they’ll stick.”
Eli motioned to Val. “Get security. I want this man out of here.”
Val left the room.
Brett had only a few seconds. He stared at the woman who he believed had been the ultimate manipulator in all this. “They might not believe me now, but they will. When you heard Dania had escaped, you knew you had to get Walter and Eli on board with your plans. Dania was a threat. But she’s not near the threat I am.” Brett took one last look at all of them and walked out.
Val and a couple of hefty-looking cowboys headed his way. Brett spun around. Spying the emergency exit, he kicked the door open and raced down the stairs to escape outside. He sprinted across the parking lot and jumped into his Pathfinder.
They were nearly to him. He started the vehicle and shoved it into reverse just as one leaped at his door.
Ignoring the other guy trying to get in, Brett floored the gas pedal. Tires squealed and finally grabbed hold of the pavement as the Pathfinder jettisoned forward, leaving Val and his men behind.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Dania raced through the woods.Questions whirled in her mind. Where was she going? Where could she hide? And what was going to happen to Brett for helping her?
Maybe she could find a phone and call the marshals’ office to offer to turn herself in on the grounds that they wouldn’t prosecute Brett. The police sometimes made bargains with criminals.
Her side ached from running, so she stopped a minute. Leaning against an aspen tree, she finally allowed herself to draw in long, deep breaths.
No, the marshals wouldn’t bargain with her. After talking with Hayley, they would prosecute Dania and Brett to the max. Still, Dania had to do something.
Something unexpected.
Something that would... what?
Show them the errors of their ways? Yeah, like that would happen.
She started running again. Flashes of her child as he’d walked with his grandmother to the car came to her. She would never see him face-to-face. She would never hold him in her arms, never sing him to sleep, never watch him grow up. All of that had been ripped away.
But Brett had said Matthew’s murderer had tried to break into Gran’s house. She had to tell someone else, someone who could still track him down after Dania and Brett were in custody. She could call Vanessa and tell her.
Vanessa would help them. But Dania didn’t have a cell phone.
There was a gas station on the outskirts of town. If she could somehow get there, she might be able to use their pay phone. She took off again. Far enough away from the trailer, she made a turn to go downhill toward the highway.
She tripped over ruts and rocks, skirted by pines and brush until she finally came to a clearing. The road was not far away. Hiking through the field, she came to a barbed-wire fence standing between her and the highway.
She pushed down on the middle wire, careful of the barbs, and slipped through. Then she sprinted up the gully to the tarmac before she started walking and watching for oncoming cars.
A late-model diesel pickup truck rattled down the road. She held out her thumb. The vehicle drove by, not even slowing down. But a moment later, surprisingly, the brakes lit up, and the truck reversed, pulling to a stop in front of her.
Inside sat an old rancher. His straw cowboy hat had seen better days, and a cigarette hung from his lips. Two dogs, one a blue heeler and the other a pit bull, sat next to him on the seat, their tongues lolling.
He took the cigarette from his mouth and held it between his index finger and thumb. “A sweet thing like you shouldn’t be hitchin’. You never know whose car you’ll be getting’ into. Not room in the front here with me and the boys, but you can hop in the back. Where you headin’?”
“The next gas station. I can call someone there.”
“Hop in, and we’ll be on our way.” He drew his cigarette to his mouth and puffed.
“Thanks.” She stepped on the running board of the pickup and jumped into the bed.
The guy shifted gears, and the vehicle continued its journey. She was more than happy to not sit with his “boys.”
She sat with her back against the cab. The wind whipped her short hair around, and she drew her knees up and rested her head on them, trying to shield herself.
She couldn’t help but wonder what Hayley was telling the marshal. Dania was still amazed that Hayley would betray her, especially after she had saved her baby.
