“What is it?” he asked, keeping Ethan happy while never taking his eyes off the imposter.
“Can you smell this?” He passed the baby back to Grace and then took the glass.
“Almonds in lemonade?” His mind tried to figure out what that meant. “That’s cyanide,” he shouted out, staring at the woman that was tied up. She didn’t look an ounce bit filled with remorse.
“Son of a bitch.” The entire kitchen had been filled with mostly prepared foods. “There was no guarantee that only the lemonade had been poisoned. We need to dump it all. I don’t want anyone to even sample it. The groceries from the store are still in my trunk. There’s a case of water bottles and Gatorade.”
“Okay, I’ll run and get it.”
“No. Send James. You watch that bitch out there. He’s used to wrangling heifers, but that’s one sick, twisted bitch out there.”
“Got it.”
As they tossed all the food on the counter in the garbage, Mike blurted out, “Where is the real Ms. Rhoades?”
“Good question. Let’s ask this bitch.” They both stormed out of the kitchen and up to the woman in her chair.
Mike confronted the woman with his hands on the armrests of her chair as he glared in her face. “Where the fuck is the real Ms. Rhoades?”
“Trapped in Cummings’s apartment.” There had been no true fear in her eyes. She answered as if she couldn’t give two fucks about the woman.
“Why didn’t he just kill her too?” Bill questioned.
Mike stood up and crossed his arms and answered for her. “Because I bet he plans on selling her, doesn’t he?”
She shrugged off the question, remaining completely unaffected. “There’s a lot of money in sex trafficking.”
“Damn, see? I told you she was heartless. I wonder how many cases her husband has taken that involve that same issue.”
“How many did he sell?” Mike added.
“He’s not into that.” That was the first time she spoke with inflection. She either had to be naïve or willingly ignorant.
“Whatever lies you want to tell yourself,” Mike scoffed, rolling his eyes.
Sirens blared through the fast-approaching rain.
Bill’s phone rang and he put it on speaker. “What’s going on, Chris?”
“We’ve got almost all of them wrangled and in the barn, but we’re missing two.”
“Report back. Maybe someone will find them grazing somewhere in the morning.”
“It’s still early. Is there something wrong?”
“Yes.”
“We’re on our way.”
The police, fire, and ambulance arrived. “The body’s over here. This wench was his accomplice, and Grace needs to be seen,” Bill said, shaking the sheriff’s hand.
“I was almost to the hospital when I got the call. I spun around and flew here. Who did the honors?”
“That would be me. He had Ethan Gibson held hostage with a gun to the baby. I took my opening.”
“And you are?” the sheriff asked Mike.
Bill stepped up and said, “This is the security guard Gage hired to protect Hope and Ethan. The other one was sent to the hospital with them.”