Chapter Sixteen
Jadyn sucked in a breath. Suddenly, it all made sense. The second crew had kidnapped Raissa because they knew the family had someone in the FBI on payroll but didn’t know who. When they found Raissa and Zach, two FBI agents, in a car just like Pickett’s, they must have assumed Raissa and Zach had confiscated Pickett’s car and planned on keeping the merchandise for themselves.
Ross’s sudden attitude shift toward Colt had nothing to do with his investigation and everything to do with their finding the Cadillac in the pond. Ross was looking for Pickett’s stolen Cadillac and was afraid Colt and Jadyn had stumbled across it before he could locate it. His insistence that he inspect the car before the forensics team arrived now made perfect sense.
She watched as Ross walked into the light, his gun trained on Colt.
“Put down your weapon,” Ross said, “and kick it over to me.”
Jadyn could see Colt gauging his options, but there was nowhere he could hide before Ross emptied a magazine into him. Colt leaned over and placed his pistol on the ground, then kicked it over to Ross.
“Why am I not surprised you’re dirty?” Colt asked.
Ross smirked. “You think the federal government is without complicity? Half of the things they do under the guise of protecting the public only serves their own interests and lines the pockets of executives. The rest of us risk our lives only to give them more power over us and make them wealthy.”
“That’s what you tell yourself,” Colt said.
“I don’t have to tell myself anything. My bank account speaks for itself.”
“How did you know the cars were here?” Colt asked.
“When I was looking for that thief Bart, I saw Pickett parking a rental car on one of the back streets. I figured there was only one reason he’d be in Mudbug, so I had him followed.”
“And he led you straight here.”
Ross waved his pistol toward the loft. “Who’s up there?”
“No one.”
“I heard a crash when we came through the window.” He looked to his left. “Check it out.”
Stepford emerged from the shadows and headed across the shop toward the loft.
Maryse!
Jadyn watched as Stepford approached the area, praying that Helena made a noise somewhere else, distracting him from the loft. Then she caught sight of Helena, standing next to a stack of boxes. She swung at them like a prizefighter, but with each pass, her hands went right through them.
“I can’t touch them,” Helena wailed and swung so hard, she spun herself around and fell to the ground.
Stepford walked up to the ladder and looked up. “Come down or I start shooting through the roof.”
Maryse rose slowly from the loft floor, her hands in the air, and carefully made her way down the ladder.
“You?” Stepford looked surprised. “It’s LeJeune’s wife,” he yelled and pushed Maryse toward Ross.
Ross cursed. “Like I need the shitstorm her murder is going to bring.” He glared at Maryse. “Why can’t you stay at home and bake cookies like a good little wife?”
“Why don’t you kiss my ass?” Maryse shot back.
Panic flooded Jadyn. While she appreciated her cousin’s backbone, she had no doubt Ross intended to kill Maryse. Jadyn pulled her cell phone from her pocket and texted Mildred.
Ross and Stepford dirty. Maryse and Colt captive. Get backup.
She knew the hotel owner was in her office, cell phone in one hand and the other poised over her landline. Jadyn had no doubt that Mildred would raise a cavalry worthy of a small war.
But would they make it in time?
“Where’s your girlfriend, the game warden?” Ross asked.
“Arresting the guy who was chopping cars,” Colt said.
Jadyn watched Ross closely, trying to see if he bought Colt’s lie. He studied Colt for several seconds, but Colt must be a convincing liar because Ross finally broke his stare and looked over at Stepford.
“What do you want to do with them?” Stepford asked.
“Later. First, I want the diamonds.” Ross looked at Colt. “Where are they?”
“In my safe-deposit box,” Colt replied.
“Mudbug doesn’t have a bank with safe-deposit boxes, but have it your way. When you’re dead, we’ll search your house. If I don’t find the diamonds there, I’ll kill everyone in the sheriff’s department and search there. The one thing I won’t do is leave this town without the boss’s product.”
Jadyn’s pulse pounded so hard she thought her head and chest would burst. She had no doubt Ross would live up to everything he said. He couldn’t afford for any of them to be left alive or his entire life unraveled. But with Stepford holding Maryse and Colt with nowhere to hide, could she risk firing? She was good, but she imagined Ross and Stepford were no slouches. Her odds of taking out both of them before one of them took out Maryse or Colt were slim to none.
She looked across the garage, silently willing Helena to stop stressing and make something happen. The instant the thought crossed her mind, the ghost stopped her whirlwind arm routine and looked her direction. Jadyn waved toward Maryse and Colt, hoping Helena would understand that she wanted her to abandon what wasn’t working and figure out some form of disruption now. A couple seconds later, Helena set off at a dead run. Jadyn prayed she had a plan but didn’t have much hope.
“I say we just kill them and get out of here,” Stepford said. “Every minute we’re in this town we risk exposure.”
“What about me?” Pickett said. “I’m not going to tell who you are—hell, I don’t even know who you are. What say you cut me loose and let me get back to work for the families?”
“No can do,” Ross said. “You’ve seen me and that makes you a threat. I don’t leave loose ends.”
Jadyn watched, helpless, as Ross leveled his gun at Pickett. Could she risk a shot now that Ross’s weapon wasn’t trained on Colt? She gripped her pistol and took aim through the tires, but no matter how she maneuvered the weapon, she didn’t have a clear shot at Ross. Too much of him was protected by the toolbox.
And then Helena struck.
The ghost managed to run—sorta—about halfway across the shop when her ankles and the pumps had a massive disagreement about gravity. Down she went in a fall so hard, Jadyn could practically feel it in her own bones. But the fall didn’t stop there. On her way down, she tipped over a box of parts and they spilled out, clanking in succession on the concrete floor. For her final parting shot, her right leg got tangled in power strip and she turned it on, activating a huge shop fan.
Things couldn’t have taken more than a couple of seconds, but to Jadyn, everything played in slow motion. Stepford set off in the direction of the noise. At the same time, Ross fired a shot at Pickett, who rolled to the side, narrowly missing being shot. Maryse ran for the back door as Colt sprang for a crowbar on the other side of the toolbox from Ross.
But he wasn’t going to make it.
Jadyn saw Ross’s pistol leveled at Colt, and she rushed around the side of the tires, but still didn’t have a clear shot. Desperate for anything to stop him from firing, she scanned the area surrounding Ross and zeroed in on a lift button on the wall. Without hesitating, she fired at the button.
The chain holding a car engine above Ross let go and the engine plummeted down, directly on top of Ross. Stepford turned around and spotted her, then started running in her direction. But the giant shop fan was his undoing. The wind current pushed the marbles from the gem bag across the floor in front of him. He took one step on the rolling glass, then another, and his legs flew out from under him.
He hit the ground as hard as Helena, but Stepford didn’t get up. He didn’t even move.
Jadyn ran around the tires and over to Stepford to relieve him of his pistol. Pickett still rolled around on the ground, screaming that he was shot. Colt gave him a glance before running behind the toolbox to check on Ross. When he walked back around, he looked at Jadyn and shook his head. She felt a bit of disappointment that Agent Ross wouldn’t answer for his crimes, but dead was just as effective. Stepford could answer for all their ills.
Sirens sounded close by as Maryse ran into the middle of the shop, sliding to a stop next to Pickett. “Is he all right?” she asked.
“The shot nicked him,” Colt said. “He’ll live.”
Maryse trotted up to Stepford and picked up his head then let it drop back down, his jaw smacking into the concrete. “Ooops. He slipped.”
“Uh-huh.” Jadyn grinned at Maryse.
“Sure,” Helena bitched. “Worry about everyone else while I’m tied up like a rodeo calf.”
Maryse coughed, covering her grin with her hand. Seconds later, the state police along with Colt’s deputies dashed in the back door.
As Colt doled out explanations and instructions, Maryse made her way over to Helena to untangle her from the cord. The last Jadyn saw of the ghost, she gave the cord the finger then stomped through the wall of the shop, probably headed straight to the hotel for cobbler and a hot shower.
“I’m innocent!” Pickett yelled as two paramedics lifted him from the floor. “I’m just a civilian caught in the middle. They have no proof.”
“We have video,” Maryse said.
Pickett whirled around to stare at her, his jaw dropped.
“Video of you going straight for the box on the gas tank and opening the bag inside,” Maryse said. “No jury in the world will believe it was an accident. I suggest you enjoy the last bit of freedom you’re ever going to have…in the hospital.”
Pickett’s shoulders slumped and he allowed the paramedics to lead him away. Two stunned FBI agents trailed behind. A couple of paramedics lifted a groggy Stepford onto a stretcher and hauled him out, along with the last two agents in Ross’s crew. They both looked shell-shocked, and Colt didn’t relish the questioning the agents would receive back at the bureau. Someone would have to answer for Ross’s ascension and their failure to notice that one of their own had been compromised.
Colt’s deputies stared down at Ross, shaking their heads.
“I can’t believe he was dirty,” Deputy Nelson said. “Did the engine just fall on him?”
Colt started to speak and Jadyn interrupted. “Yeah. It was weird, but really good timing.”
“I’ll say,” Deputy Nelson said. “Somebody should tell Marty to get that lift checked before it kills someone that matters.”
“I’ll be sure and do it,” Colt said.
Deputy Nelson gave them a nod and headed after the paramedics, carefully avoiding another look at Ross. He’d turned slightly green at the first one.
Colt turned to her. “Why didn’t you tell them you made that shot?”
“I don’t want the attention it would bring, especially from the FBI. If we don’t give them any reason to ask more questions, they’re probably going to retreat to their corporate headquarters and try to figure out how to spin the Ross problem.”
“True. I have to tell Marty something about his lift. The sheriff’s department will pay, of course, but he’ll want to know what happened.”
“Then tell him there was so much cross fire, we’re not sure,” Jadyn said. “I know sometimes it doesn’t seem like it, but I’m trying to have a relatively quiet existence in Mudbug.”
Colt smiled. “And this is the sort of thing small-town legends are made of.”
“Something like that.”
He leaned over and whispered, “Well, it was damned impressive.”
Jadyn smiled. “Yeah, it kinda was.”