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.Cecilia and Lark clambered in after her, leaving Rachel the front.Katie pulled her purse into the middle.“Climb in.”“Your dad’s in a lot of trouble,” said Rachel.There wasn’t time to break the news slowly, so Rachel blurted it out, explaining what had happened out in the swamp.“We’ve called Detective Stone, and he’s due here soon, but.”Katie didn’t seem too worried.“Dwayne would never hurt my daddy.”“Did you not hear a word she said?” asked Lark.“He has him at gunpoint.”“It’s not what you think.”Rachel didn’t like how calm she was acting.“Is there something we should know?”Reaching out for Katie’s arm, Rachel’s hand struck Katie’s purse.It gaped open, and she could see the cold edge of a steel film reel.A stab of fear shimmied from her heart to her throat.It was Katie who had taken the film, Katie who had pushed the threat underneath her door.“How is it not what we think, Katie?” said Rachel.Katie snatched up the purse and stuffed it under her legs.Her foot pressed on the accelerator and they lurched forward.“Daddy’ll understand when he hears about the treasure.”“You think he’s going to understand being marched by gunpoint through the swamp.” Rachel was putting two and two together.“Dwayne’s your baby’s father, isn’t he?”Katie startled.“How did you know I was pregnant?”“I overheard you arguing with your mom.But then, you knew that, didn’t you? At the time I thought you were carrying Paul Becker’s child.”Katie giggled.“That old fart? Not that he didn’t try.I wasn’t interested.”“You and your mom were fighting about your going to Sonja Becker.I thought you wanted child support, but you were after the film.”“Sonja Becker hates birdwatching about as much as my mother hates golf.It paid the bills, that’s all.I figured she would happily give me the film if she had it, and I was right.It just turned out she didn’t.”“Did Dwayne kill Becker?”“No, that was his idiot brother.”They had reached the turn into the Okefenokee Swamp Tours headquarters, and Katie turned on her blinker.“Dwayne wanted to scare him, that’s all.But Dwight was afraid he’d talk about the burial mound, and killed him instead.”Lark, Dorothy, and Cecilia sat wide-eyed in the back.Rachel saw Lark reach for the door handle, but Katie hit the door locks and held down the switch.“Did he kill Knapp, too?” asked Rachel, her mind searching for options.They didn’t have much time.The four of them could handle this little woman-child, but the men would be breaking out of the woods at any minute.Katie pulled up next to Wolcott’s car in the parking lot.Fancy’s truck was gone, but Dwayne’s truck was in the parking lot.“He killed Knapp for the same reason,” said Katie.“I figure he’ll go gunning for Guy Saxby next.”“So what’s to stop him from killing your dad?” asked Rachel.“We’re family now.My daddy won’t want to see his little girl go to jail for being an accessory to murder.”Daddy’s little girl was no dummy, thought Rachel.Katie understood the hot water she was in.Still, she had that invincibility thing going on that teenagers tended to have.In her mind, nothing could happen to her.Rachel wondered when it was she had grown out of that.Recently.She glanced at her watch.There were still fifteen minutes before Detective Stone’s men were scheduled to arrive.A lot could happen in fifteen minutes.A flashlight beam split the night, and Katie jumped out of the car, still holding her finger on the lock button.“Over here, Dwayne.I have them.” Katie stuck her head back inside the car.“You’re not the only one with a cell phone.”Rachel lunged forward, knocking Katie’s finger off the door lock.She unlocked the car doors, and the four women tumbled out of the vehicle only to stare down the barrel of a gun.“Over there.” Dwight gestured with the gun, herding them into a tight little ball with the men.“Hi, baby.” Dwayne gave Katie a kiss, and winked at Rachel over the top of her head.Rachel’s stomach twisted.And to think she had once thought him cute, in a rogue sort of way.“Katie?” whined her father.“Don’t tell me you knew?”“Of course I knew, Daddy.But it’s okay now.Dwayne’s going to let you go.”“The hell he is,” said Dwight.Katie fingers clutched at Dwayne’s arm.“You tell him, Dwayne.He’s my daddy, and he’ll keep his mouth shut [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]