Holding the Truth Read online

  "Back downstairs. Our first priority is safety from the storm. We'll handle this later.”

  "Extenuating circumstances." Bailey pulled her cell and started taking a few photos. Just because they were out of service range didn’t mean the phone couldn’t come in handy.

  "I hope that'll hold up. If not, we'll just call in a tip to Chief Marshall and let him know how we discovered it. Hell, that's all we'll be able to do, as it is."

  "Back to the kitchen? There's that radio in there. Maybe...maybe we can get a station. Find out what is going on out there." Bailey thought the storm had turned toward Finley Creek after it had knocked the Tahoe over like a matchbox car. If it had touched down, there were going to be injuries. Damage.

  Fear for the people she cared about in the city filled her for a moment. "Let's get in there. I want to hear what's happening."

  "Grab the radio. We'll go to the hallway. I didn’t see an entrance for a basement. I want away from any windows. Until we know what's going on."

  Chapter 106

  Clay grabbed an old chaise lounge from the patio and dusted it off. He carried it into the hall. It was a wider chair. They could both sit in it comfortably. It took up most of the hallway, but it worked. "Sit. I want that leg propped up."

  He hadn't missed the way she had been favoring it. "Take off the pants. I found these upstairs."

  Found, and appropriated. She took the sweatpants and T-shirt gratefully. "Turn your head."

  "Yes, ma'am."

  He listened to her shuffle around for a few minutes. "You can turn around now. Did you find you anything dry to put on?"

  "A second pair of sweatpants. A bigger pair."

  "So we're looking for at least two men doing this?"

  "Or a man and a woman. Those sweats there can go either way." He didn't bother turning away from her. "Turn around for a minute, sweetheart, or you'll see something special about the sheriff of Barratt County."

  "You're a cross between an idiot and a twelve-year-old boy, Clayton Addy."

  "Fourteen. I wasn't that precocious at twelve. Jake was."

  "Do you think they're ok?"

  "They should be. Jake's smart enough to watch the weather." And Jake was the cautious type. He’d never take risks with his son’s safety. Neither was Bert.

  But that didn’t mean something couldn’t have happened. The storm had come up on them without warning, and they’d had a damned radio on the entire time.

  "There's a shelter at home. Bert's never been careless about storms."

  "See? Jake's probably snuggled inside it with that kid of his and his daddy. Probably worried about you, though."

  She nodded. She plugged in the old radio and fiddled with the buttons.

  The National Weather Service warning beep sounded in the hallway. The tornado warning for Barratt County had ended more than two hours ago. But the watch was still ongoing. There could always be another storm.

  Clay hoped the people in his county were still heeding it.

  They would be looking for him to tell them what to do. Him and the mayor of Value. Clay threw off the itch to get back to his town and his people.

  He wouldn't do anyone any good if he got himself killed out on the road, walking in a storm. And he couldn't leave Bailey here in a house full of drugs alone—even if he had a vehicle.

  The radio crackled to life. "This is Finley Creek TSP Chief Elliot Marshall with an update. At six forty-three this afternoon, a tornado preliminarily ranked as an F4 on the Fujita scale struck the south side of Finley Creek city limits before heading north toward Wichita Falls and Burkburnett. It crossed the state line into Oklahoma at 7:17. There have been reports of casualties. Finley Creek General Hospital took a partial hit, as did the Finley Creek TSP post, the Hope Life Church on South Boethe Street, and several public schools. City hall has been leveled. Survivors were pulled from city hall, including Mayor Turner Barratt, at near eight p.m. this evening. Surrounding counties, including Barratt County, are reporting extensive damage as well. Anyone needing medical assistance can be seen at the triages at Finley Creek General, Finley Creek County, Barrattville Med Center, and Barratt County General, plus any hospitals in the surrounding counties. Please be aware that there are downed power lines in many places, trees blocking the roads, and extensive flooding. Please only leave your home if it is a genuine emergency. We do not need to clog up the streets with gawkers preventing emergency teams from missing our neighbors who are in trouble. There are also more storms on the way. Please heed all warnings and use common sense. I repeat: unless it is a true emergency, please keep our roadways clear. This may not be over yet."

  Clay was silent for a long moment. "Damn it! We need to be out there!"

  "I know." She tried to stand up. "Maybe we should hike to the highway. See if we can catch a ride. The rain’s let off now."

  "Hell, no. Not on that leg." He wasn’t about to risk her. Not for anything. As much as he didn’t like it, he wasn’t taking her back out there again tonight.

  But he wasn’t blind to the possibility that the owners of those little packets in the back room couldn’t show up at any time.

  He didn’t think it was likely. The traffickers wouldn’t want to catch someone’s attention by being on the roads tonight.

  "We need to be out there."

  "We wait, Bailey. I'm not risking you. Not for even a moment." He crowded his favorite deputy back on the lounge chair and leaned over her. Bailey-blue eyes widened. One small hand landed on the center of his chest. Her fingers spread. Fire focused where her skin met his. "I will never risk you. I will protect you, keep you safe. No matter what I have to do. Because you matter too much to me for me not to. Because of this..."

  He covered her lips with his again.

  Bailey’s fingers flexed on his skin, and her other arm slipped around his waist. Clay tried not to press on her injured leg. The only other place he could hold her was on her rear. So he did.

  It was Bailey, and she was safe in his arms.

  He could have lost her tonight. Clay would never forget looking at her just as the damned truck had been pushed off the road. He'd have given his entire life to keep her safe in that moment.

  Because Bailey Moore was his life.

  He just didn't have the words to tell her that.

  Chapter 107

  Charlie didn’t know how he’d ended up with Lou again. The last thing he wanted was to have Lou showing up whenever he damned well wanted to.

  Lou was just too careless for Charlie’s peace of mind. He was going to bring the TSP down on them both.

  Charlie was going to have to consider leaving the area sooner than he’d planned.

  He felt conflicted on that—he wanted to make certain Lou didn’t cause any problems for Celia. Not now that she was in the early stages of a relationship with Jake Dillon. She deserved time to figure out if there was something there.

  And he didn’t want the fool that Lou was anywhere near his family. Not Celia, not Becky and Ronnie, or any of the others. Period.

  “Lou, you can’t keep coming out here. Someone’s going to find you.”

  “I was careful. I just couldn’t stay in my apartment. I can’t find my girl.”

  “What do you mean?” Lou changed whenever he spoke about his daughter. Became more neurotic—more psychopathic.

  Frightening. There was something obsessive about the way he spoke about that girl.

  Charlie was there to watch over Celia, but he knew the boundaries. He knew what he’d done to her and the repercussions of his actions.

  But Lou? Lou seemed to think by doing something for Bailey now, he was going to fix everything that had happened before.

  That just wasn’t going to be possible.

  Lou was sullen and snarly. Charlie wanted to tell him to leave, to just get out and stay away. But Charlie had spent years learning how to manipulate people to serve his purposes.

  As long as Lou was loose, the man was a loose cannon. And that made him a d
anger to Charlie.

  He’d have to keep a close tab on him.

  Until Charlie was certain Lou wasn’t a threat to his Celia at all.

  The small crank radio he had in the corner blared to life. He listened to it frequently, both for the noise and because it was a lifeline into what the police in his area might be up to. It was a weather bulletin update.

  And a report of missing persons.

  When Charlie heard the names of the two most prominent missing from Value, he cursed.

  Lou rushed out of the cabin and toward his ratted out Chrysler.

  Almost before Charlie could stop him, Lou had sped away.

  Charlie said a quick prayer that Lou didn’t hurt anyone—and that Bailey Moore and Clay Addy were out there somewhere, and safe.

  Chapter 108

  It was hours after the storm passed, and Jake was finally starting to feel the strain of keeping himself calm. Bailey should have called by now.

  His father should have called by now, too.

  He hadn't heard from anyone.

  Celia was stranded at his place—a tree had fallen on the front of her car, but she'd been able to get a callout to her sister, the mayor's wife. The mayor's family and the Sandovals—her sister Becky’s family—were all safe.

  But no one had heard from Bailey or Clay.

  Even Deputy Tolvert had come by. He'd used his chainsaw to cut the fallen tree off the driveway for them. Jake loaded Celia, Cam, and Liam into his truck after taping a note to the front door of the house.

  He had to find his family. He was on the volunteer fire-and-rescue crew as an emergency coordinator, and he had gotten the call to report for the afternoon shift tomorrow. He’d drop Celia and the boys off at her sister’s.

  But before he made it to fire-and-rescue, Jake hoped to find his family.

  Finley Creek County was on an emergency state of alert, but Barratt County was still open. People would be coming in toward Barrattville Gen. Many would have to pass through Value.

  The drive into town made it clear that, whatever had hit the region, it had been a monster. The cabin where Kyra and Bailey had first been abducted by Charlie Lake was destroyed. Leveled completely. No one had used it since the day everything had happened.

  Jake wasn't sad to see it gone.

  The normally forty-minute drive into Value took them almost two hours. Even Cam seemed to understand that something major had happened. He sat quietly in the back seat next to Liam, clinging to his stuffed dog.

  The closer they got to Value, the more evident it was that the storm had mostly missed the small town. Jake gave a prayer of thanks for that. It was mostly the houses north of town that had taken the worst damage. His ranch was to the northwest of town. About half a mile away from the worst of the damage.

  They had been extremely lucky.

  He'd already seen some of the images of what had happened to Finley Creek, thanks to news reports on his phone. He had friends in the city, and he knew Bailey and his father did, too.

  He hoped everyone had made it.

  The radio was reporting thirty-eight dead now.

  Jake parked his van behind the sheriff's office. Celia got the boys out of their car seats—she’d retrieved Cameron’s from her destroyed car—while he got himself situated in his chair.

  First order of business was to find Bailey. Then Jake's father. Or whichever one they found first. Celia and the boys waited while he finished adjusting his legs, then they headed inside.

  To utter chaos. Chaos that continued for hours.

  Jake and Celia made it down to the library. People were gathering there. He unlocked the doors, and Celia carried the boys inside.

  Some of the windows on the upper-floor storage room were broken. That was the extent of the damage.

  “Jake!” A woman who had taught him in the third grade was the first to reach him. He listened as she told him over and over that she couldn’t find three of her six kids. All who lived in Finley Creek.

  And the sheriff’s office was in such an uproar trying to coordinate rescue efforts that they didn’t have time to take the names of the missing.

  Someone had to step up and take charge before they had chaos developing here as well.

  Jake’s eyes met Celia’s. “Grab a notebook, sweetheart.”

  She nodded. “The baby’s in his playpen, and I put Cam in the children’s section behind the gate with orders not to leave that area at all. What do you need me to do?”

  “Start taking names. We’ll coordinate with the sheriff’s office. Then once you have a list of a dozen names or so—start calling hospitals. We need to find people. Keep panic down and keep unnecessary people off the streets if we can.”

  Jake took her notebook and wrote two names at the very top of her list. His father’s, Clay’s, and Bailey’s. “Let’s get started.”

  Chapter 109

  Murdoch saw the couple walking along the road when he was halfway between Value and his brother-in-law Lamar's land around nine the morning after the storm had hit.

  As soon as he’d heard what had happened in Value and Barrattville and Finley Creek, he’d hit the road. He’d gone straight to Finley Creek, bypassing Value and Barrattville though he’d wanted to go there first. Every hand on deck for the TSP.

  The Finley Creek post had taken a direct hit. They needed able-bodied volunteers everywhere in the city.

  Murdoch had worked all night, then finally left when he’d been told to.

  He’d headed down a different highway than one he’d come up—this time headed toward Value.

  He'd stopped off at Ronnie's first around eight a.m.; now he was on his way to Becky's to check on his younger sister. He’d swing by Celia’s last. Just to make certain she was ok. He’d spoken with everyone on the phone the night before, but that didn’t mean shit.

  He needed to see his sisters with his own eyes.

  Then he’d head over to Garrity and get a feel for how the place was run—before he took over. If Garrity had taken much damage, he needed to be there to help however he could.

  Murdoch’s GPS diverted him around a road closing—and there they were.

  Two of the eight missing TSP everyone was worried about.

  He recognized Addy and Moore easily. Murdoch had heard the bulletin about them being missing on his drive up. He was going to volunteer to help search for them after he’d left Celia’s. Before heading to Garrity.

  It hadn’t surprised him when he’d heard it was Deputy Moore missing with the sheriff. He had a feeling Addy kept her pretty close.

  The other sheriff had it bad for his own deputy. Not that Murdoch could blame him. Murdoch felt a bit protective of her too, considering what his uncle had done.

  He pulled his Tahoe to the side and rolled down the window. "Good morning, Addy. The entire county is out looking for you. Just my luck I’m the one who found you. Can I give you a lift?" It wasn't really a question, and they all knew it. The deputy opened the passenger door first. She slipped into the back seat quickly. Murdoch watched. She really was a cute little thing, just like his brother Cam had said. Cam and Kyra were apparently on their way down today to help with search-and-rescue efforts, as soon as they could get there.

  “Where to, folks?”

  "We were headed to where we could get cell signal to call for a ride, but if you wouldn’t mind, I'm sure Lamar has someone who can drive us into town,” Addy answered. The other man turned around and looked at the girl quickly. There was worry in his eyes. "Have you been through town yet? Did it take much damage?"

  Addy may have a thing for that little deputy sitting behind him; but he was also concerned for his town and the people in it. He and Addy were a lot alike, and Murdoch knew it. "Several businesses on Main Street took indirect hits. George's taking stock of things now. From what I’ve heard, minor injuries. Tolvert’s got a couple of your deputies out searching for those who need help. The storm skipped Value and Barrattville and most of the surrounding county. Only prope
rties along this highway were hit. Northern corner of Barratt County. Which is good—it’s mostly fields up that way. Finley Creek took a direct hit. FCGH lost an entire wing. City hall was destroyed, churches, schools, entire neighborhoods. It doesn’t look good up there.”

  “Any update on the mayor? He’s a cousin.”

  "He was on the news about two hours ago, giving another press conference. Bruises, I think. But is in one piece. He got lucky. Reports are saying a quarter of the city up there was hit.”

  Addy cursed. Murdoch got it. Their first responsibility in this job was to the safety of their jurisdiction. But they were family men, and that mattered. Addy wanted to check on his family, but he had a duty to Value. Just like Murdoch did to his town. Even his new town.

  "So what happened to the two of you?" The girl had a bruise on her cheek that stood out. Probably because she was so pale. Her uniform was torn and dirty, but she was in one piece. She’d been limping when he’d driven up beside them, Addy hovering over every step she took.

  Addy fared a little better. He kept looking at the deputy, though. With that worried-lover look that Murdoch recognized. Guy was far braver than Murdoch would ever be. He’d never get involved with a woman he worked with. That way was a surefire way to hell and back.

  The sooner he dropped them off with his brother-in-law, the better. Murdoch had things to do, and no doubt Addy did, too.

  First was to get that girl’s leg looked at.

  “Why don’t I drop you off at Barratt County General instead? Get her looked at?” No sense adding a middle step if he was headed in that direction anyway.

  “Deal. And Lake...if you ever need a favor, I owe you two.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”