Spencerville

"Can you call the Chatham County sheriff later and see if there's an all-points out for my Blazer or her Lincoln?"

"Will do."

"I'll call you from the road."

"Okay." He added, "Tell you what. You take my car."

"No, I can't do that."

"Sure can."

"Larry, listen, I know you can handle that guy, but I don't want him to know there's any co

"Don't matter."

"If I get pulled over in your car, there's going to be trouble for you. That bastard will be out to get you even if it takes him twenty years."

"Don't worry about it."

"I am worried about it. Look, like it or not, he's your kin. His children are your niece and nephew, and your children are his children's cousins, and you have the same in-laws for now. You don't need that kind of bad blood in the family. I'm okay in my own car."

Larry didn't reply.

Keith added, "And to tell you the truth, I don't want to alarm the women."

Larry nodded.

Keith said, "I don't think there'll be an all-points out for a few hours, anyway, and they're going to look for A

Larry thought a moment, then said, "Keep to the interstates as much as possible. Shouldn't be any county police on those roads." He added, "I don't think the state highway patrol will get any all-points unless Baxter has some specific charge."

Keith replied, "He's got no lawful charges against me."

"Well... you never know what he can come up with. It don't take much for a pullover. Then they got you, and they'll call him."

"I understand."

"Where's her car?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, if it's just sitting on the side of the road, or in some parking lot, and she isn't around, Baxter damn sure will call the state police and say his wife's been abducted."

Keith nodded.

"If her car's at home, and she's not, or if no one can find her car, then a lot of cops think domestic problem, or no problem, until they get more information. Understand?"

Keith nodded again, then said, "The car is hidden."

"Good."

Not good, Keith thought, if the car is hidden in my barn, and they find it.

Larry said, "You'll be okay in Chatham County. I'll see to that."

"Thanks."

A

Either she was too perceptive, Keith thought, or very nervous, or Keith and Larry weren't the poker-faced studs they thought they were. Keith replied, "Everything's fine. What did you find?"

She threw him the teddy bear, and he examined it. "I didn't give you this. Wrong boyfriend's trunk."

A

Keith said, "Well, we should be heading out." He shook Larry's hand. "Thanks again."

A

She hugged Larry, and he said, "You take care now. Don't worry about anything here."

Keith was about to take Terry's hand when the phone in the kitchen rang. They all stood still, and the same thought passed through everyone's mind.

Keith said, "Maybe you should get that."

Terry nodded and hurried into the house. Keith, A

Terry picked up the wall phone and said, "Hello?"

Keith could tell by the expression on her face that it wasn't her kids calling to say hello.

Terry looked at the three of them as she listened, then said into the phone, "No, Cliff, I haven't seen her."

A

Terry said into the phone, "No, she was here yesterday morning and stayed for lunch. I stopped by your place after church today, and I saw her... No, she didn't mention she was going anywhere... Well, she did say she had a lot of food shopping to do... No, I don't know why she didn't do it yesterday..." Terry stuck her tongue out at the mouthpiece, and, despite the situation, everyone smiled.

Terry said, "How would I know if her car phone is working?" Terry listened, then, to everyone's surprise, she said, "Look, Cliff, why don't you stop checking up on my sister? I'm tired of..." She listened, then said, "Cliff, go to hell." She hung up and said, "That felt good." She looked at Keith, A

Larry asked his wife, "Did he cuss you?"

"Sort of."

Larry frowned.

A

Larry nodded, and Keith could only imagine what those sweet words meant to him. Keith asked Terry, "Where was he calling from?"

"He said he was home. Got home earlier than he thought."

"How did he sound?"

She shrugged. "Same. A

A

Keith glanced at the kitchen clock and saw it was seven forty-five P.M., and Cliff Baxter was in Spencerville, missing his wife. They didn't have much time now. He said, "All right, we should head out."

They all went outside and again said their good-byes, but this time with some sense of urgency.

Within a minute, they were in the Blazer, backing out of the driveway and waving, the teddy bear sitting between them.

Five minutes before, Keith would have given himself and A

Chapter Thirty

County Road 6 was straight and flat, and there was very little traffic on a Sunday night, so Keith kept his high beams on and pushed the Blazer up to seventy miles per hour.

A

Keith replied, "I didn't want to worry your sister."

"Everything is not all right."

"Well, the question is — how long will it take Cliff to figure it out? Maybe you can answer that question."

She thought a moment, then replied, "It's nearly eight o'clock, and I've never been out this late without him knowing exactly where I was."

Keith didn't reply.

She said, "I guess we really needed that ru

"Takes the fun out of it."

She looked at him and saw he was smiling, so she smiled, too, but both of them knew it wasn't fu

"No. Even if I could, I wouldn't. I'm with you, and I'm never going back there again. And you're not responsible for me saying yes tonight. Okay?"

"Okay."

They continued east and left Chatham County, crossing into Dawson County. Keith asked her, "What will your trusting spouse do next?"

"You mean Peter, Peter, the pumpkin eater? Well, he'll call my car phone every two minutes — that's why he was so generous about having Baxter Motors install it. In between those calls, he'll call my parents, relatives, and friends, including Pastor and Mrs. Schenk, for instance. He's absolutely shameless when it comes to tracking me down, and he's not very subtle when he gets people on the phone."

Keith smiled and said, "They must all think you fool around."

"No, they think he's nuts." She added, "He thinks he's embarrassing me and punishing me for not checking in with him every time I go somewhere. But he makes a fool of himself."

"Better yet, it takes time to make those calls... what order is Terry on the list?"

"Usually second, after my parents. So he's got about a dozen more calls to make."