Adeline did as she was told, the whole time whispering reassurances. When she’d finished with Prescott, he ordered her to do the same to Arnold. As she obeyed his order, she watched him remove her weapon from Clay’s waistband and store it in his own. Damn it.
“Now stand up and make a line.”
Adeline moved toward him, the other women in tow.
He pointed the gun at Addy’s chest. “I want you at the back of the line.”
She shrugged, circled around behind the others so that Arnold was closest to him.
Arnold dropped to her knees sobbing, the sound choking around the gag in her mouth.
“Get up!”
The woman curled into a ball, her sobs pitching to a new frantic level.
“Get up!” He kicked her in the back.
Adeline started forward.
“Don’t move,” he ordered. Keeping an eye on her, Jamison dug around in his bag and pulled out three tiaras. He placed one atop each woman’s head.
Arnold sobbed even harder. Adeline wanted to demand that he remove the women’s gags but she was afraid if she brought it up, he’d shove one in her mouth. Someone needed to be able to scream.
“Get her up,” Jamison ordered Prescott. “Or I’ll kill her here and you can drag her to the river.”
Prescott reached down, helped Arnold to her feet. Jamison grabbed the end of the chain near Arnold’s cuffs. “Now, stay in a line right behind me. Anybody falls down or stops, I’ll blow your damned head off.” His mouth cut into a grin. “Be hard to wear your tiara then.”
Flashes from her dream swam in front of Adeline’s eyes. He was taking them to the water. Nichols’s words bobbed to the surface of those churning memories.
The women are being held close to the water. If you don’t find them soon they’ll be under the water.
Adeline glanced at her stupid-ass cousin as Jamison dragged them out of the shack.
Poor Clay. He hadn’t gotten to enjoy the show.
Think, Addy!The metal cuffs chafed her wrists. The December air was chilly. The full moon hung low in the sky. The distant hum ofSinging River grew louder, threatening. Jamison tromped through the brush and saw grass, leading the way toward their doom.
The panic started deep in her chest.
The water would be cold and deep.
The hands clutching at her in her dream were her sisters’. They would be looking to her for help.
And she wouldn’t be able help them.
Adeline’s throat closed as the panic clawed its way there, urging her to scream.
But there was no one to hear. Wyatt and his deputies would be back at the other location ... where she’d sent them. She prayed they would discover Clay’s truck, search the area until they found her Bronco.
She swallowed back the defeat. She could hope.
The roar of the water was louder now.
They were close.
Too close.
Adeline kicked back the fear. She wasn’t going down without a fight.