“You. You’re the one who hired the people to damage Will’s farm just so he’d leave Kentucky? Boy, are you stupid. Even after knowing Will for five minutes, I could tell you that wouldn’t work. Is that why you tried to run me over in the truck? So I wouldn’t be competition for you? Umph!” Kenna was flipped on her back and Whitney jumped on her. She felt Whitney’s cold, tiny hand reach for her throat and panicked. She started to kick and flail.
“Ha! You’re so stupid. That was Chad. He flew here right after our lunch in D.C. to see you for himself. I'm just sorry that he missed you. He was just having too much fun scaring you to just get the job done.”
Kenna froze at Chad’s name. Of course it had been him. The way he tormented her was just like what he had done in New York. For once, Whitney was right. He liked to scare you more first. He had toyed with the stripper. He had toyed with her, not once, but twice. If he hadn’t gotten off on seeing her scared, she’d be dead twice over by now.
“This is what we're going to do. I'm going to hand you over to your boyfriend and let him take you back to New York where you belong. Chad will be so happy I managed to get you away from Will. Then Will and I will live happily ever after.”
Kenna bucked and Whitney fell on top of her. Kenna grabbed her perfectly dyed blonde hair and pulled for all she was worth. Whitney screeched and rolled off her. Kenna rolled with her and was now on top.
Kenna grabbed handfuls of Whitney’s hair and started banging her head against the ground. “Where is Chad? Where is that son of a bitch?”
Whitney’s laugh sent chills running down her spine. “You’ll never find him. But he will find you.” Whitney laughed again.
Kenna lunged for her throat and started squeezing it. “You will tell me where he is.”
But all Whitney did was laugh.
Kenna felt an arm come around her from behind and wrap around her waist. “Kenna, let go. We got this now,” she heard Will’s voice whisper to her through the haze of anger. “Come on, sweetheart. Let go. She’s not going to get away.”
“She knows where Chad is. He… he tried to kill me.”
“I know, love. We’ll find him. Just let go.”
She had to will herself to unlatch her fingers from Whitney’s throat, the maniacal laughter still sounding. Kenna looked behind her and saw Mo, Paige, Cole, Noodle, Dinky, and Ahmed all standing at the stall door.
“From what we heard, we have enough to put her away for a long time although, I think she may end up in a padded cell,” Cole said as he approached her with his handcuffs out.
“Wait a minute, Agent Parker. I think I hear something outside. I believe everyone needs to check it out. Maybe it’s Chad,” Ahmed said, not moving from where he was leaning against the stall door.
“What? Why would we leave her here to go check out some noise?” Dinky asked as he put his hands on his hips.
Ahmed stared at Cole. “You know it’s not over. You know we have to find Chad for it to be over and to bring down the whole circle of corruption.”
Cole looked down at Whitney and back to Ahmed. His lips were pressed together so tightly they were turning white.
“Why would...Oh, I see.” Kenna looked down at Whitney and frowned. She was clearly over the edge of madness. If she was turned over to Cole, she’d be sent to a minimum security mental resort for a couple of months to serve a sentence for hiring people to cause these accidents. Her father would make sure she talked to no one. She'd be out as soon as the scandal left the minds of the press.
If Ahmed took her, his diplomatic immunity would allow him more leeway in questioning her. He might be able to find out what she knew about her father’s involvement with Chad, not to mention who else might be involved. She could be the key to unlock the whole thing.
“I hear it, too. Let’s go, boys. We need to check it out,” Cole ordered as he ushered a sputtering Noodle and Dinky out of the barn. Cole stopped next to Ahmed. “Follow Geneva or we'll have a problem. Make sure she gets turned back to me when this is over. That’s all I ask.”
Ahmed gave a slight nod of his head, and Cole walked out with Mo and Paige leading the way. Noodle and Dinky followed Cole as the puzzle pieces fell into place for everyone else.
“Let me know what you find out,” Will said to Ahmed.
Kenna was pulled to her feet and Will wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her in tight. “How did you all find me? And, thank you. I'm sure I'd have been sorry if I had hurt her.”
Ahmed gave a knowing smile. "The group came down because Paige wanted a picture of you two with Boots before the big race. When you didn’t turn up, we headed over here. We heard Whitney scream and followed the noises of the fight. We got here right in time to hear her tell you she had planned the whole thing. We also heard that it was Chad who tried to kill you.”