Chapter 56

56

They'd taped Meyra up, but they'd stuck some kind of drug on Brandt's neck. And held him down until it had worked. Even though Meyra had been screaming at them to stop.

They'd said he was too big and strong for them to be stupid. There were four of them. And they had said nasty things—to her. About her. She recognized two of them.

They'd been in school together. If she recognized them, they were going to kill her. Meyra wasn't stupid. Her sister was with the FBI—Miranda had told her things and how to stay as safe as possible. She would give anything for Miranda to come to her now. To just fix this. Somehow.

"So this is Barratt's girlfriend?" a guy she didn't recognize asked, running his hand down her front. "She's really pretty. You like rich boys, too, bitch? Money make up for him having a small pecker?"

Meyra just tried not to vomit into the tape they'd put over her mouth when she'd screamed earlier. What were they going to do to them?

He pulled her out of the truck while the other three men grabbed Brandt. And dragged him out.

"Asshole isn't out all the way," the blond one said. Kurt, his name was Kurt. She knew him. She had known him forever.

"Only gave him half a dose," Ashton said. She'd sat next to him in science and history and English for years. His name was Ashton Thompson. And he'd wet his pants in eighth grade when some of the older boys had been bullying him.

Meyra had yelled at them to stop it. To stop being so mean to him.

Yet he was the monster now.

"Why the fuck not?" Kurt asked. Kurt was older than Ashton, but she thought they were related. She remembered him, too. He had always had a bit of a thing for Dixie, but Dixie had said he was a mean jerk. They had been in the diner hundreds of times through the years.

She knew them. How could they do this?

"We don't want drugs in his system on autopsy," another man said behind him. "Everything has to work exactly as I have it planned, you idiots. Step by step."

Meyra recognized him, too. It was Sierra Fisher's dad. The judge. He was in the diner sometimes, or the inn. His wife liked the inn. Sierra ate there with her mom all the time. Sierra couldn't have eggs, either. Meyra talked to her all the time. Meyra had been in the same class as Sierra. They'd even almost been friends, but Sierra had run with a different crowd. The cheerleaders and those louder girls. Meyra had preferred smaller groups. Her dad hadn't ever liked Judge Fisher, though. He'd said he was probably as corrupt as a politician could get.

"Well, Meyra, I do have to say, your presence is a bit of a problem. Not insurmountable, but it requires more thought." He turned to the other men. "Get them inside. Put her…in a closet or something for the moment. While I think about what to do with her now. I don't want her looking at me." He looked back at her. "See all my sins, don't you?"

Meyra nodded. She could see how evil he was now. She wondered how people had missed it before.

Ashton picked her up over his shoulder. His hand cupped her butt. "I have always wanted to get my hands on this little freak. Since like junior high and those little T-shirts she wore that drove a guy crazy. I remember when you got the tits, Mey-Mey. I used to dream about them at night."

She fought. Meyra fought as hard as she could. Brandt wasn't fully unconscious from the drug patch they'd put on him. She could see that.

It gave her hope. If she could get away somehow—they were close to Gil and Sage's house right now. Even if Sage wasn't there, there were ranch hands. And Gil. Gil could be there. Help was just up the road.

"Quit fighting, Meyra Talley. It won't do you a damned bit of good. I do think you are hotter than Barratt's twin sister, though. Can't believe that bitch got away like that," Ashton said. "Either time. Toby and I had planned to have some fun with her the other night."

"If you idiots hadn't wasted so much time in their damned house, the Barratts wouldn't have survived to run their mouths," Judge Fisher said. So…mildly. Without emotion. "I've told you before, you have to be more careful, Kurt. It'll get you into trouble someday."

Didn't they care about anyone at all? She didn't think they did. Miranda said people like that were sociopaths. And that made them very, very dangerous.

"Finish this, boys. Then head to Canada. Don't worry about a damned car or hocking jewelry that can probably be identified. Lie low for a while."

"Sure thing, Uncle Dale," Kurt said. He and his two friends were dragging Brandt to his feet. Meyra just looked at the man she loved.

Blue eyes opened. And narrowed on her face. He looked right at her. And she knew…

She would love him forever. And she would fight as hard as she possibly could to save them both. Meyra wasn't giving up.