LLucy’s Revenge(Divine Creek Ranch 15)(134)
Moments later they heard footsteps in the kitchen and a beautiful curvaceous blonde was pushed into the entry way leading into the living room. Baxter had her by her arm and had the gun pointed to her head. She looked at Emily Anne and gave her a weak smile. “Hey, there.”
Baxter jerked her roughly to the table by the couch and tied her wrists with another piece of rope, tight enough to make her gasp in pain. She turned back to look at them. “You okay, Emily Anne?”
To himself, Baxter muttered, “Hookers. Hookers. And now more damn hookers.”
Emily Anne nodded at Chloe and didn’t say anything else. Baxter jerked Chloe around again and pushed her down so she sat on Lucy’s other side then tied her ankles tight, too.
Lucy tried to hide her smile. I can work with this. His mistake was putting us together.
Baxter pointed the gun at them. “Stay your asses there. I’m nearly ready to go.”
Lucy turned to Emily Anne. “We’re running out of time. You remember what you told me about Ginny Kendall and you get pissed, Emily Anne, you hear me? Pissed as hell.”
“Okay. I can help. I know I can. What are we gonna do?”
“We’re gonna have us an old-fashioned catfight.”
Emily Anne’s eyes went wide “Um, Lucy, I swear Chloe didn’t mean to hurt Beck. She’s so sweet. Please don’t—”
Lucy smiled at Emily Anne and said, “I may be a bit bitchy but I’m not that bitchy. We have to work together.” She turned to Chloe and couldn’t help but notice her pretty doe eyes. “Chloe, I’m Lucy Carter. I’m sorry to say that up until a few minutes ago I might have enjoyed this, but I’m about to kick your ass and say mean things. Can you follow my lead?”
Chloe bit her lip and fought her smile as understanding came into her eyes. “Pleased to meet you, Lucy. Beck is totally in love with you and I’m about to kick your ass, too. How do you want to do this?”
They whispered their plan back and forth until all were in agreement.
* * * *
Beck could see Hank Stinson’s frustration as he stood looking at them, from their position out of view of Baxter’s house. “One question before we go any further. Why the hell wasn’t I informed that there was a murdering lunatic living in my jurisdiction?”
Mel replied, “We didn’t know he was a murdering lunatic. We had suspicions that aside from robbing two young orphans of their inheritance, he’d also committed murder about fifteen years ago. But we only had suspicions. We were working on finding evidence sufficient for a warrant to search the place, and once we had that evidence, you were going to be our next stop, Sheriff. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to any of us, Bruce Smith—aka Ralph Baxter—overheard our planning session this morning.” Then he looked at Connor for a moment, before he met the sheriff’s gaze again. “One of the women he’s taken belongs to us, Sheriff.”
Hank let out a slow breath. “Right now, Mister Richardson, those women—all three of them—belong to me.”
Whoa. “All three of them?” Beck asked as he moved closer to the group.
Hank nodded as he pulled off his sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Apparently Miss Rhodes is also in that house. Her vehicle is that Lincoln parked over there. Her cell phone and purse are still on the seat.” He shook his head. “She locked her car, and then headed right into harm’s way. I just spoke to Adam Kendall, and he told me that it’d make perfect sense to her to try and rescue her friend. Then he mentioned something about wanting to go back in time and have a talk with one of his ancestors about Town Trust rules, whatever that means.”
Chloe is in there, too! What a cluster fuck!
The men worked together to get a grasp of the layout of the house, aided by Connor who drew out a rough blueprint. Beck hated it that Hank told him and Patrick to stay back by the vehicles during the rescue but he agreed. The house wasn’t that big and too many bodies might only create more chaos. The very last thing he wanted was to put Lucy, or any of the women, in greater danger. He raked his fingers through his hair as he made eye contact with Patrick. His best friend nodded.
“We’re going to get her back.”
* * * *
They watched as Baxter rushed back and forth stuffing clothes and household items in the duffle bags. They whispered when he left the room after waving his revolver at them, which made Lucy’s heart drop every time he did because the safety was off.
Lucy nodded at Emily Anne and then turned and grabbed hold of Chloe’s pretty blonde hair and screamed at her. “You can’t have Beck back, you bitch! He’s mine. I can’t stand sitting next to you one more second. Get your ass away from me before I scratch your eyes out!”