Chapter Four

Sunday, September 22nd.

Fontana Residence. Sicamous. British Columbia.

Annie didn't sleep well in a strange bed and the situation she found herself in wasn't one of relaxation. Tammy's whining and crying made her tense.

After being kidnapped and raped, Tammy had made some terrible decisions. Understandable that she wasn't thinking straight, but she had gotten herself into a predicament that would be hard to get her out of.

Eldon Fontana, a.k.a. Bobby Prescott, the Interstate Rage Killer, had only shown one side of himself to Tammy—that was obvious—or she wouldn't believe she was in love with him and want to marry him.

Better if Travis never knew any of this. It would push him over the edge.

The house wasn't particularly warm this morning and Annie hoped they hadn't run out of oil or whatever fuel was heating the cabin.

The floors were icy cold when she bare-footed it to the kitchen to start the coffee. One glance out the living room window at the huge drifts blocking the driveway convinced her they were snowed in. Something that never happened in Texas.

When the coffee was ready and the girls were still sleeping, Annie sat down at the kitchen table with a mug of caffeine and tried to figure out what she should do next. What she wanted to do, was take Lucy and run back home to Texas, but she'd promised Travis to work it out with Tammy and the truck driver.

Annie never went back on her word.

Lucy walked into the kitchen, saw only Annie, and asked, "Where's Tammy?"

"Isn't she in your room?"

"No. Not in the bathroom either."

Didn't take Annie long to do a quick check of the small cabin. Tammy was gone and so were her clothes. "I can't believe she left when I told her not to go outside in the storm. Sometimes, she makes me furious."

Lucy opened the front door and squealed. "Mommy, I think she took the big black semi-truck. It's gone and the pickup is still here. Does she know how to drive a big truck like that?"

"She may think she does. Tammy thinks she knows a lot of things—but she doesn't. I'm fairly sure she's not thinking rationally now."

Annie pulled her cell out of the pocket of her jeans and called 911. All lines were busy, and she received a recording telling her that her road would be plowed by noon.

"According to the police, we can't get out of here before noon, honey."

"Do you think Tammy drove that big truck to the hospital to see Eldon? That's what she was crying about last night."

Annie sucked in a breath of oxygen and prepared herself for part two of the Tammy nightmare.

"I'll call the hospital and see if she's been there, Lucy. Good thought."

Annie called the hospital, asked to be connected to the intensive care unit and enquired about visitors to Eldon Fontana. The head nurse told her a story she didn't want to hear.

"Mister Fontana signed himself out of the hospital early this morning, ma'am. His doctor was called and was dead against him leaving so soon. Too soon after major surgery for Mister Fontana to be moved. But his wife insisted on taking him out of the hospital and he left with her."

"I see. Thank you."

"What, Mommy?" asked Lucy. "You have a mad look on your face. What did Tammy do?"

"That foolish girl took Eldon out of his hospital bed and I'm pretty sure she just signed his death warrant. He's not ready to be out of bed much less riding around in a truck. We need a BOLO out on the truck."

"Do you know how to do that, Mommy?"

"No. I'm calling Harlan. He'll do it for me."

"Why don't you tell Travis to do it?"

"Better not to dump all of this on Travis at once. I'll talk to Harlan and ease into it."

"Harlan will be upset. He loves Tammy."

"We're all upset," said Annie. "We have to deal with this as a family, honey. Please don't cry."

"I won't cry, Mommy. I'll help you. I can shovel snow, at least I think I can."

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Me and Virge could barely open our eyes at daylight, we were so fuckin tired from the longest ride ever, coming home from Canada in the storm.

I was so pissed at Tammy for what she'd done, I tried not to think about her all the time like I usually did. She got hooked up with some guy we didn't even know and said she was gonna marry him.

That's just nuts.

I dragged my ass out of bed, pulled on my jeans and let Virge sleep a little longer. Easy to handle the barn chores on my own and I needed the alone thinking time anyways.

Sunday, but we wouldn't be getting a day off. We still had a pile of accidents to work through—probably more coming if the roads weren't cleared.

I went out the back way through the woodshed and it was still snowing pretty hard. The roads wouldn't be plowed, especially the county roads. The highways weren't fit to drive on, but still people went out and tried to drive around anyway.

Not a day the horses could be put in the corral. I told them the bad news and they looked sad. I was measuring their oats when Annie called me.

"Good morning, sweetheart."

"How's it going up there, Mom?"

"Not worth a pinch, Harlan. I don't want Travis knowing this yet, but Tammy took off in the big Freightliner belonging to Eldon Fontana."

"What? Why'd she do that? Has she gone nuts?"

"Yes, not completely nuts, but I do think something has gone wrong with her head, honey. But that's only half the bad news."

"What's the other half?"

"She drove that big truck to the hospital in Enderby in the middle of the night and took Eldon out of his bed. He signed himself out against protests from his doctor."

"That guy is gut shot, and he can't be moved. Is Tammy trying to kill him?"

"I'm guessing that isn't her intention, but it will certainly be the result."

"Holy horse shit, Mom. What's she gonna do next?"

"Whatever it is, Harlan, I'm not ready for it. I'm so mad at her now, I'm not sure I'm going to forgive her for this stunt."

"What can I do, Mom?"

"Can you put a BOLO out on the Freightliner for me? I don't know how to do it."

"Sure. I can do that. Wonder which way she headed when she left the hospital."

"No idea on that, but it's fairly obvious she's not thinking straight or thinking at all. The guy she took is right out of surgery and needs constant medical care and if Tammy thinks she can take care of him on her own, she's sadly mistaken. She's not a nurse. Eldon will need constant medication."

"Why would she do something so stupid? She's smarter than that—at least, I thought she was."

"I don't know, sugar pop. See if you can get a location on the truck. We're snowed in here at the cabin and I can't get out the driveway until noon according to the cops. Way too much snow."

"We'll be working accidents all day down here, but I'll keep checking for updates on the truck and I'll call you if we get a hit."

"Thanks, honey. I miss you."

"Miss you, Mom. Tell Lucy I miss her too, and I love her. She knows that but tell her anyway."

"I will."

When I came in from the barn, Travis and Billy were drinking coffee at the kitchen table. I was still thinking hard on the call from Mom up in butt-fuck nowhere, snow up to her armpits. What the hell was Tammy doing? Mom didn't want me to tell Travis yet and I understood that. He'd go berserk if Tammy was goners again. We just found her, for chrissakes.

Should I tell Virgie when he wakes up?

"Did Virge help you with the chores?" asked Travis.

"No. I didn't wake him up. I let him sleep."

"Both of y'all didn't get much rest the past couple of days. We'll have an early night tonight and get caught up."

"Yeah, that sounds good, Dad. I'm moving kind of slow this morning."

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek.

Sunday, but we went to the station as if it was a regular workday. Would be if the accidents kept up. Billy got the list from Molly's desk, and he checked the landline for new calls and wrote them down.

"How many new calls are there?" I asked.

"Only two this morning. I hope everybody realizes it's Sunday and stays home in bed waiting for the roads to be plowed. People are so damned crazy."

Dad sat in the break room with a coffee in front of him and I heard him calling Annie to see how she was doing with the Tammy situation.

"How bad did the storm hit you up there, Annie?"

I sat down across from him, and he put the call on speaker so I could hear it.

"The roads won't be plowed until noon or after, so we're kind of stuck for now."

"So, you couldn't take Tammy to the hospital last night?"

"No. We couldn't go."

I rolled my eyes at Virge, but he was clueless. I hadn't told him yet and wasn't sure I was going to.

Billy came into the break room and handed me a piece of paper. "You and Virge can take this call. I gave Ted a shout out and he'll be waiting for your call if you need the tow truck."

"Okay, sure. We'll take this one." I read the location Billy had written down. Intersection of I-15 and highway two. "Yep. Might be on one of the ramps. Those get slippery. We'll go take a look. Come on Virgie. Zip up that parka you love so much."

He laughed. "Hey, Dad was right about these coats keeping us warm."

"Wear your gloves, Virgie," barked Travis.

"Copy on the gloves, Dad."

I-15 Interchange.

On the drive to the accident site, I decided to tell Virge about the call from Mom. "Annie called me this morning while I was at the barn."

"Sorry, I slept right through chores, Harlan. Don't know when I've been so fuckin tired."

"That's okay. I didn't wake you up. I managed."

"What did Mom say was going on up there on the side of the fuckin mountain? My God, that was far away from the rest of the world."

"Yeah, for sure. She told me some stuff and none of it was good."

"Did you tell Dad?"

"No. Annie doesn't want him to know yet. She's trying to find Tammy first, or at least get a read on which way she went."

"What do you mean—find Tammy first? Didn't we already find her?"

"Tammy is acting crazy, and Mom is so fuckin mad at her, Virge."

"What did she do? She should've taken that Ram and come home when she got away from the kidnappers. That was the first stupid thing she did and I'm not over it. Might never be fuckin over it."

"Yeah, that was a dumb move for sure, but she's adding to the stupid list."

"How stupid was it?" Virge put his hands over his ears, then he took them away so he could hear me.

"Mom said Tammy sneaked out in the middle of the night and drove the semi to the hospital and took that long-haul trucker out of his bed and hit the fuckin road."

"What?" Virge grabbed his long hair and tugged on it. "That is totally insane, Harlan. Why would she do something that fuckin crazy?"

"I don't know. Mom asked me to put a BOLO out on the truck because she didn't know how to do it."

"Did you?"

"Yeah."

"But you didn't tell Dad?"

"No. Not yet."

"Shit, Harlan, when Dad finds out that we knew all along that Tammy did this, we're gonna be in big trouble."

"Yeah. Keeping stuff from Dad is not the best idea. He fuckin hates it. We have to tell him when we come back from this call."

"Yeah," said Virge. "He's gotta know about this even if it's the shits or he's gonna fuckin lose it. If we don't tell him, we'll be locked in the barn until fuckin spring when he finds out from somebody else."

"Jesus, Virge. Think he'd do that?"

Virge frowned. "Course he would. Payback is Dale Burden's middle name."

"What is his middle name? I don't think I ever heard it."

"Just told you it was Payback. Couldn't be anything else."

I chuckled. "You're funny, Virgie."

We got to the crash, and it was a bit more than a fender-bender. Two pickups had gone off the ramp and slid down the bank into the deep snow at the right side of the curve. One of them was on its side half-buried in a drift.

"We definitely need Ted," said Virge. "Where are the fuckin drivers?"

We jumped out of the squad and ran down the bank to the trucks. Both drivers were sitting in the upright truck with the engine running. Keeping warm and waiting for us to show.

"Holy shit, you guys. This is the fucking pits."

"Hey, Sheriff. You got a tow coming for us?"

"Yeah. Sit tight and we'll get you out. Was this a rear-ender or what?"

"I couldn't stop," said the guy behind the wheel. "Road was all icy. Didn't mean to clip him. Just happened."

"Either one of you been drinking?"

"Too early for me."

"All I had was coffee."

"Okay, we'll put it down to weather-related and we'll get you out of here and you both can go home."

"Thanks, Sheriff."

"Stay put and keep warm. Ted will be here in a bit with the tow truck."

Riverside. Washington State.

I woke up in the sleeper with Eldon's body raging hot beside me and I thought he had a fever. My nightshirt was wet and bloody in spots and the sheets were splattered with Eldon's blood.

I sat up and looked down at him and there was enough light from the one tiny window in the sleeper to see how white his face was.

"Eldon, I have to clean you up. You're bleeding."

"Pain pills. Get me the pills."

"I'll get them for you. There's still half a bottle of water to take them with."

I crawled through to the cab and got my purse, found the vial of pills, and crawled back into the sleeper. I held Eldon's head up enough so he could swallow the pills with the water left in the bottle.

"Lay back and let me clean you up and change the bandage, Eldon."

"Don't touch me, Tammy. It fuckin hurts." He tried to push me away but was too weak to do it.

I teared up but didn't give in. "I have to change the sheets and clean up this mess. You can't lie in all this blood."

"Get away from me, Tammy. Don't fuckin touch me. I can't stand the pain."

"I have to touch you to change the bandages."

"And I said don't touch me. Just get me home to my house. I want to die in my house in Texas."

"You're not going to die, Eldon. I'm going to take care of you."

"Grow up, Tammy. You're a baby trying to pretend you're a woman. Stop it and face the facts."

"I don't want you to die, Eldon." I tried my best to keep from crying because Eldon didn't like it.

"Want it or not, it's going to happen. I should've stayed in the hospital. At least I had a chance there. I must have been out of my mind or high on morphine to let you take me out of the ICU. What a dumb fuckin move that was."

"I wanted to take care of you myself."

"Why? You can't take care of me, the shape I'm in. You're not a nurse and you don't know a damned thing about what the hospital was doing for me."

"I thought it was the right thing to do. I wanted to have you near me, and I couldn't see you enough at the hospital. They wouldn't let me stay with you."

"For a reason, Tammy. Because I'm fuckin dying and I needed to be on strong drugs to help me heal."

"I'm sorry, Eldon. I thought you'd be happy to be back in your truck."

"I don't want to fuckin die in my truck, Tammy. Use your head. I'm in huge pain and I'm fuckin starving. Have we got any food?"

"I'll go into the restaurant and get some."

"Get me a sandwich. Coffee would be good and buy more water. How the hell am I going to go to the bathroom, Tammy? Ever think of that?"

"Why are you being so mean to me, Eldon? I'm trying to help you."

"I'm a bit pissed off because I'm gut shot and my life is circling the drain. I'm fuckin dying and I'm only thirty-two. To my way of thinking, that's a goddamned piss-off. You making this crazy move is putting my death on fast-forward, for chrissakes. Go get the goddamned food."

After I used the washroom in the truck stop and cleaned the blood off me, I lined up at the take-out counter and bought a couple of turkey sandwiches and two large coffees.

Passing the men's room on my way out, I realized Eldon was right about me doing a stupid thing. I never thought about how I'd take care of him, only that I wanted him with me because I loved him. It was selfish and stupid. I could see that now.

I won't be able to live with myself if he dies.

While Eldon ate his sandwich, I filled the truck with diesel fuel, started the big engine like Eldon taught me, put it into gear and headed south.

I had to get Eldon to his house in Texas. It was the only thing he was asking for. He didn't seem to be afraid of getting caught by the cops anymore and I couldn't figure out why. I couldn't think straight like I used to. My brain seemed to be all cloudy. That's what the inside of my head felt like—fog.

Weird feeling.

Fontana Residence. Sicamous. B.C.

Annie and Lucy had a long wait before the snowplow finally showed up to clear the mountain road leading to Bobby Prescott's little piece of paradise.

While the girls waited, they took turns shoveling a path to the road so they could get the pickup unstuck and out to the main road.

With the snow problem solved, they packed up, warmed up the truck and headed out.

"How long do we have to get to the airport, Mommy?"

"A couple of hours. I hope we make it in time for our boarding call. I want to go home to Texas. I've had enough snow and wind and freezing temperatures to last me for a long while."

"Me too," said Lucy. "I didn't know there was this much snow in the whole world."

"I'm still shivering." Annie reached over and turned the heater on high.

"Do you think Eldon is still alive, Mommy?"

"He could be but won't be alive much longer. Tammy doesn't have a clue how to look after a surgery patient in Eldon's condition. She made a huge mistake taking him out of the hospital and if Eldon dies, she could be charged with criminal negligence causing death. Not that she would be, Eldon being a fugitive and on the wanted list."

"Why did he go with her then?" asked Lucy.

"I've been asking myself that question. He was on strong drugs for the pain after surgery and his brain could've been foggy."

"Must've been the drugs," said Lucy. "What else would make him go along with Tammy's stupid plan?"

Kamloops Airport. B.C.

Annie and Lucy made it to the airport in time to hear their boarding call. The woman working for the airline called it twice while they ran for the gate.

"We have to run faster, Mommy."

Annie winced with the pain in her bad leg. "Run to the desk and tell them I'm coming, honey."

Lucy's face was flushed as she ran through the airport with her dark hair flying.

When Annie got to the boarding desk, the attendant smiled at her. "You have lots of time, Mrs. Powell. You don't have to hurry."

"Thank you."

Annie took a couple of breaths and leaned on the desk until her pounding heart caught up. She slowly limped down the loading ramp towards the door of the plane with Lucy holding her arm.

"We made it, Mommy."

She and Lucy settled into their first-class seats and buckled up for takeoff.

While the attendant went through the safety regulations, Annie called Travis and told him about Tammy. She gave him the Reader's Digest version and Travis was totally silent when she finished.

"Thanks for the call."

That's all he said, and he was gone.

"I told him, Lucy."

"Is Travis going to blame us, Mommy?"

"That's a sure thing."