She made the turn. A big-ass tree lay across the road.
She braked hard. “What the hell?”
They’d been down this road just a few hours ago. The entire search had started and then ended just a mile or so from here. There hadn’t been any strong winds.
She rammed the Bronco into reverse. She’d been set up. “Shit!”
“Get out!”
She hit the brake at the same time she turned to see who had shouted the command.
Clay stood outside her door, a .357 Magnum revolver aimed at her head.
“Shut off the engine and get out.”
She was going to kick the shit out of him. She rammed the gearshift into park, jerked the door open, and slid out of the seat. When her feet hit the ground, her weapon was in her hand and pointed at his damned head.
“Drop the .357, you dumbass.” She was definitely going to kill this prick. If he’d messed with this case, he would so regret it.
“You don’t understand,” he argued, his tone strained as if he were afraid or was nervous about something. “This is the only way I could get you away from Wyatt.” He lowered his weapon. “I was scared shitless you’d drive off when you saw it was me if I didn’t do it this way.” He gestured to the tree. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Are you out of your damned mind?” He was dead, all right. She bored the barrel into his forehead. He drew his chin down, squeezed his eyes shut. “I could kill your ass right now and no one would give one shit, you idiot.”
He held up his hands surrender-style. They actually shook. “No, Addy! Listen to me.” He raised his eyes to meet hers, evidently afraid to move the rest of his head. “I know where they are. I swear to God, I know where those women are.”
Adeline lessened the pressure on his forehead. Her instincts were screaming. “How would you know that when about fifty damned cops haven’t been able to figure it out?”
“I’ll tell you on the way.” He pointed up the road. “My truck’s parked up there. Let’s just go before it’s too late. I ain’t going back there by myself. It’s too damned creepy. He’s got them all shackled up like ...” He shook head. “I don’t know. You just have to see it for yourself.”
“We’ll take the Bronco.”
He bobbed his head up and down. “Whatever you say.”
They climbed into her Bronco. She shoved into reverse. “Which way?”
“Down the road about four miles.” He pointed west. “There’s a real narrow dirt road that’s all overgrown. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d miss it. You have to park there and walk the rest of the way. It’s another mile or so back in the woods. An old hunting shack next to Singing River.”
Adeline glanced at him, her suspicion growing. “That still doesn’t tell me how you found it. Or why you didn’t call the police.”
He blew out an exaggerated breath. “All right. I did some business there once or twice.”
Son of a bitch. “Drugs.” She shook her head. Of course. Easy access to the water for importing and exporting.
“I went there this afternoon to check out the situation for a future transaction,” he explained. “You know, to see if it was still safe to conduct business there. I freaked out when I saw ...them.”
“Why didn’t you call someone then?” Could he be any more stupid? “You couldn’t try to set them free?”
“I was afraid, okay? That psycho almost caught me there. I had to hide, then sneak my way out. After what he did to Aunt Irene, I wasn’t taking no chances.” He huddled in the seat as if he expected her to beat him.
The ache of loss pierced Adeline’s senses. She pushed it away. “You should’ve come to us before now.”
“I had to wait until I could talk to you away from Wyatt. He’d try to blame this on me, and I ain’t got shit to do with it.”
Still suspicious, she demanded, “Why didn’t you tell your daddy?” God knows that old bastard had taken care of every fix his sons had ever gotten into.
Another of those big puffs of breath. “I’m on thin ice with my daddy, okay? He’s real pissed at me because I slit your tires. Like I said,I was afraid if Wyatt found out I had this information, he’d try to pin this shit on me.” He wagged his head from side to side. “I might be a little hotheaded and irrational, but I ain’t no freak. This dude is a damned freak.”
That, they could agree on. She would kick his ass about the tires later.