Blame it on Texas Page 7

  Vets couldn't afford to invest emotionally in the animals they treated. That was a sure fire way to get her heart broken. But she'd waved away his concerns and said that her love of animals was the reason for her career choice and if she quit falling in love with them, she might as well quit her profession.

  Women. They let themselves get too emotionally involved in everything, and ended up hurt time after time.

  Logan grabbed a pitchfork and started mucking out the stall, piling the blood stained hay in a corner until he could dispose of it. Then he used a power washer to clean the floor before putting clean hay in the stall. He hoped the physical labor would make him tired enough to finally be able to sleep.

  ***

  Megan sat straight up in the bed, awakened from a deep sleep by a noise she couldn't identify. Then she heard it again. A deep, guttural growl. A coyote? No, they howled, didn't they? When it happened again, she shoved the covers back and slipped her shorts on under her long t-shirt, then slid her feet into her tennis shoes.

  Before she reached her bedroom door, she heard ferocious barking, then the sound of glass shattering. She took off running. Charlie's room was next to hers, so she stopped to check on him first. His eyes were open wide with fear. "Katie," he said in that strange, twisted language of his.

  "It'll be okay. I'm going to check on her now."

  Nancy and Jean met her in the hall.

  "What's going on?" they both asked at once. Jean looked scared, Nancy more curious than frightened.

  "I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Would you two stay with Charlie? He's worried about Katie."

  They nodded and went into his room and closed the door, so Megan went to Katie's room. Where was Logan? Surely he'd heard the ruckus?

  Carol was in Katie's room, on the phone. She waved at Megan to be quiet. "Jake, please, can you come over here? We've had a break in, and I can't find Katie. I don't know where Logan is. Please hurry."

  She put the phone down. "Katie's gone. She's not in here, or in the bathroom. I'm going to check the rest of the house."

  As they left the room, they heard more barking, farther away this time, a yelp, and the sound of an engine starting up. They ran for the front door and saw a car pulling away at the end of the driveway. "Oh my God." Carol slumped against the doorway, one hand on her chest.

  Megan looked over and saw the shattered window, blood on the glass and on the porch. "Blue must have been in the house and went through the window. He's bleeding badly. We've got to find Katie, and I've got to find Blue, too, or he'll bleed to death."

  Carol looked down at her nightgown. "Let me grab something to cover up with. Jake will be here any minute. He and I will go after Katie, you can find Blue."

  "Okay, but hurry. We don't have much time." Megan ran to Charlie's room and sent Nancy to find Logan and had Jean call the Sheriff. Then she grabbed a bath towel from the linen closet.

  Two minutes later they met Jake in the driveway. Carol jumped into the truck and they sped down the road in the direction the car had gone. Megan got in her car to follow Blue's trail of blood.

  She drove slowly, her door open so she wouldn't lose sight of the dark puddles he'd left behind. At the rate he was bleeding, he wouldn't be able to go too far.

  A mile down the road she found him, collapsed by the side of the road. She stopped the car and got out, approaching him carefully. He was a working dog, and she was still somewhat of a stranger. There was a strong possibility he might see her as a threat and try to attack her. But when she knelt beside him, he looked up with pain-filled eyes, wagged his tail once, and laid his head back on the ground.

  Megan turned on her flashlight and looked to see where he was hurt. Only the swelling of his right paw and the matting of blood clued her in to his injury. She quickly opened the first aid kit she kept in the car, took out a stocking she carried in case of just this kind of situation, and wrapped it around his snout to muzzle him.

  "Sorry boy. I know that's not comfortable, but it's necessary." He growled when she picked up his paw but the hose held his mouth closed. She took some gauze and tape from the first aid kit and made a pad to slow the bleeding. Then she wrapped the tape around it to hold it in place, picked Blue up, and put him in the car.

  "Hang on, boy. We're going to finally meet the vet."

  ***

  Logan had just finished cleaning out the stall where Big Mac had made his entrance into the world when he heard a woman screaming his name. He dropped the hayfork and ran for the house, twisting his ankle in a gopher hole in his rush. He met Nancy halfway across the pasture. She was still screaming his name as she ran in the dark, barefoot.

  She screamed again when he ran up to her. "Oh, it's you. Thank God." She collapsed against him, her chest heaving from exertion. "Katie, Megan went…"

  Logan grabbed her shoulders and set her back a step. "What's happened? What about Katie?"

  Nancy gulped in air and tried again. "She's gone. Kidnapped. Megan went…"

  "Where? Megan went where?"

  "After Blue. He's hurt."

  Logan didn't wait to hear any more. He grabbed Nancy's hand and ran for the house, dragging her along behind him, afraid if he didn't hold onto her there would be one more female lost. Damn Megan. How could she go after the dog when his daughter was in danger?

  "Hey, that hurts!" Nancy yanked her hand back and rubbed it.

  Logan hadn't even realized he'd clenched his fists, pinching Nancy's hand in the process. He didn't slow down, just glanced over his shoulder. "Sorry. You need to keep up so you don't get lost in the dark."

  "I'm trying, Cowboy, I'm trying."

  Logan's heart lodged in his throat when he saw the blood and the glass scattered across the front porch. Was that Blue's blood, or Katie's? He turned to Nancy, who was pale and shaking in the light of the porch. "Where is everyone? Are Dad and Carol all right?"

  "Jean's with your dad. He's okay, just very worried. Carol went with Jake to try to chase down the car they thought belonged to the kidnapper. Megan went after Blue. I haven't heard anything yet." She put a hand on his arm. "It will be okay, Logan. They'll find Katie. And Megan will take care of Blue."

  Damn it. Why hadn't he been in the house, working at his computer like he always was? Why hadn't he been here to take care of his family? Thank God he'd put Blue in the house. If anyone could track her down, he could.

  No, dammit, not if he was hurt. If he'd left the dog outside, Blue would have torn apart whoever took Katie before they ever got to her.

  Any way he looked at it, it was all his fault.

  He strode into his office and dialed 911. The dispatcher assured him they'd already been called and deputies were out looking for his daughter. He gave the woman his cell phone number, then grabbed the phone off his desk and went to Charlie's room.

  Jean and Nancy sat on either side of Charlie's bed, each of them holding one of his hands. His face looked pale and drawn, his eyes were closed, his mouth slack. Logan moved closer and whispered to Jean, "Is he okay? He doesn't look good."

  "I think he's fine. Just worried and a little stressed. But he's gone back to sleep, and that's probably for the best right now."

  "Yeah, probably." Logan took a piece of paper and a pen out of the night stand and wrote his cell phone number on it, then handed it to Jean. "I'm going to go out and look for Katie and Megan. Call me if anything happens or you get any news, all right?"

  "Of course. You go on. We'll be here until you bring Katie home.

  He started to turn away, then turned back. "Thank you," he said, encompassing both of them. "I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here to watch over Dad."

  They nodded and shooed him away to go find his daughter.

  ***

  Logan broke every speed limit on the way to town. He slowed at intersections, looking both ways for taillights or anything that looked out of place. Nothing.

  When he reached Morris Springs, he was stunned to see so many cars on the road, drivin
g slowly through town, speeding away down side roads. The town normally rolled up the sidewalks at six sharp.

  When he stopped at the one light in town, someone in the car next to him honked the horn. He glanced over to see Randy Marin roll his window down. He rolled his own down on the passenger side and leaned toward it. "Hey, Randy. What's going on?"

  Randy held one thumb up in the air. "Don't you worry, Logan. We're gonna find that girl of yours."

  "You're looking for her? How did you know?"

  "Heard it on the scanner. Hell, man, half the town's out looking."

  Logan's jaw dropped as he looked through the windshield at the cars passing through the small town's streets. "That's what all this is about? I had no idea."

  "We take care of our own out here, Logan. Ain't nobody gonna get your little girl outta the county."

  The light turned green and Randy peeled away with a squeal of his tires and a one-armed wave out the window. It took Logan a few seconds to absorb what he'd heard before he pulled away from the light. One of their own.

  Randy had been the captain of the football team, one of the most popular of the town kids. Logan had been insanely jealous of him as a teenager. He was what Logan hadn't been. Someone who belonged. Yet he considered Katie one of their own?

  He drove down the street, looking down alleys and into parking lots, not knowing what kind of car he was looking for or if he'd know it if he saw it. He didn't know who drove what in this town. But hopefully some of the people now searching for his daughter would recognize a car that didn't belong.

  When he passed the vet's office, he saw Megan's car parked in front and pulled in beside it. Guilt, heavy as a boat anchor around his neck, weighed him down as he climbed from the Suburban.

  Megan didn't need to know his first thought was that she'd left his daughter to fend for herself with a kidnapper while she chased after the dog. But he knew it. He realized now that she would have left Blue to die if there had been no one else to go after Katie. As it was, she'd done everything she could.

  Much more than he had done.

  He knocked on the clinic door and leaned his aching head against the frame while he waited for someone to answer.

  Megan opened the door, tears pricking the back of her eyes at the sight of Logan, looking exhausted and scared, leaning on the door jamb.

  He lifted his head and his gaze met hers, locked with hers for a heartbeat before he straightened. "How's Blue?"

  "He'll be okay. He punctured a blood vessel in his paw and lost a lot of blood, but he's strong and tough. He'll make it. The Doc just finished stitching him up. He's been sedated, so I'm leaving him here until morning." She reached a hand up to cup his cheek. "Katie?"

  "Nothing yet." His fists clenched and he willed them to relax. "The whole town is looking for her, though."

  "Yeah, I know. Doc has a scanner. We've been listening. I'd just hoped…"

  "Yeah, me too." Logan reached for Megan, needing the comfort of her in his arms and she came to him willingly. With her snuggled against him, he felt like he might be able to hold himself together. She held him tightly for a moment with her head pressed against his shoulder, then she released him and stepped back.

  Logan ran his hand down her hair and rubbed the ends of the silky strands between his thumb and finger. "Are you through here?"

  "Yes. I just need to clean up and let Doc know I'm leaving." She cupped his cheek again, then turned and went into the back of the clinic, returning a moment later with a bloody towel.

  "Good Lord. He bled that much?"

  Megan grimaced and said, "He bled that much after I'd put a temporary bandage on his paw. He bled a lot more than that during his mile run chasing the car. He's quite a dog. It's amazing he's still alive."

  Logan held the door as she went through, sucking in a breath as she brushed against him. Hell of a time to get turned on by a woman, when his daughter was out there somewhere with a criminal.

  He'd helped Megan into the Suburban and started around the front of the vehicle when a sheriff's deputy pulled up behind him. He walked over to the car and gripped the window frame. "Tommy. I didn't know you were a deputy. Have you heard anything about Katie?"

  "Not yet. We have someone on every back road in and out of the county, and the highway patrol has set up a road block on the main highways. People are checking the outlying motels and rest stops. We'll find her."

  Logan pushed a hand through his hair, frustrated with his inability to do anything to find his daughter. "What can I do? I can't just sit and wait for someone to find her."

  "Actually, that's probably the best thing you can do. Go to the diner, have a cup of coffee, and sit tight where we can find you. Let us do our job."

  Megan walked up and slid an arm around Logan's waist. "What he says makes sense, Logan. You don't even know what to look for."

  "Yes, I do. My daughter." Logan rubbed a hand around his neck and cursed with frustration. "I'm going to drive around for a while, just so I can feel like I'm doing something. If I come up blank, I'll go to the diner. How's that?"

  Tommy nodded once and flipped the lights on top of the car back on. "Keep in touch and let us know if you see anything. I need to get back out there."

  Logan stepped back and the squad car pulled away. He looked down at Megan. "Do you want to ride with me, or go back to the house? You must be exhausted."

  "I'm going with you. I couldn't sleep as long as Katie's in danger."

  They climbed back into the Suburban and Logan pulled out onto Main Street. They cruised through town, stopping from time to time as people waved them down to offer their sympathies and their help. Finally, they reached the outskirts and pulled onto the highway.

  "Where are we going?" Megan asked.

  "I don't know. I'm trying to think where someone who wasn't familiar with the area would go."

  "Why do you think it's an outsider?"

  "Because I can't imagine anyone here doing something like this. But I can imagine Sue Ann doing it. Or having someone else do it for her."

  "You think her mother kidnapped her? Why would she do that? She's the one who agreed to let her stay."

  Logan turned to glance at Megan, his hands clenched on the steering wheel. "You remember I told you she'd said something strange? I had a feeling she was going to pull something stupid. This has Sue Ann written all over it. What scares me, though, is that she wouldn't dirty her hands doing it herself."

  "Surely she cares too much about Katie to trust her safety to a someone she doesn't know?" Megan scooted around in the seat until she was facing him. "She'd hire some thug to take her own daughter?"

  "When she's desperate, she doesn't think ahead. She just acts. So yeah, she'd hire some two bit con man to do her dirty work, not thinking about the danger she's put Katie in." And if she was behind this, he'd make sure the closest she got to Katie again would be supervised visits.

  ***

  Katie cowered in the corner of the front seat, one hand on the door handle, waiting for an opportunity to escape. They'd been driving for a long time, turning down another dirt road every time a pair of headlights approached. She suspected they were lost, but Jerry wouldn't admit it.

  She'd tried to talk to him, to get him to take her back home, but he'd threatened to hurt her if she didn't shut up, so she'd been quiet for the last hour. But she had to go to the bathroom and if he didn't stop the car soon she was going to have an accident.

  "Jerry?"

  "I thought I told you to shut up," he growled. "I don't want to hear anymore of your whining."

  "But I have to go to the bathroom. You have to stop."

  He glared at her, then sighed. "I can't let you out of the car. You might take off."

  Katie glared right back. "If you don't stop, I'm going to make a mess out of your car."

  "Damn kid. I hope your mother appreciates what I've done for her. You're more trouble than you're worth. I don't know why she wants you back so bad."

  Katie's sto
mach felt sick and she was afraid she was going to throw up. "My mother sent you to kidnap me?"

  Jerry snorted. "No. But she kicked me out when she figured out I helped you run away. I'm hoping bringing you back will get me back into her good graces." He saw another set of headlights approaching and pulled off the road into a field. He stopped behind an old barn and turned the engine off.

  They'd been driving with the headlights off so other cars wouldn't see them. In the darkness of a cloudy night, Katie could barely make out the outline of the cotton gin in the distance. "We're still in Morris Springs," she murmured.

  "No way. We've been driving so long I'm almost outta gas."

  Katie rolled her eyes and looked out the window again. "You've been driving in circles. Some kidnapper you are."

  "Okay, Miss Priss, since you know so much, how do I get out of this one horse town?"

  She shrugged. She didn't want to give him any information that would help him get away. She wasn't scared anymore because she knew he wouldn't dare hurt her. Her dad would kill him if he did and her mom would never forgive him. But if she got him back on the highway, maybe her dad could find them.

  She pointed toward the cotton gin. "The main road is over there. You need to get on it, because it's the only way out of here."

  He cursed and started the engine again, then pulled back onto the road. "We need to find a place to lay low for a little while, at least until the cops think we're out of the area. And I need to be able to get gas somewhere before we run out."

  They found the main road and Jerry turned away from Morris Springs, driving carefully, watching closely for approaching cars. By the time they reached Slaton, the gas gauge was almost to empty.

  CHAPTER EIGHT