"We hope." He looked grim. He rubbed his face.
Marli bit her lip. Now they seemed to be close, her uneasiness was growing. And the fact Trey was so distant and cold didn't help. All along, his big, comforting presence had made everything bearable. She wasn't sure if she could do all this without his reassuring support.
She took a breath. She had to get through this.
"So what do we do now?" she asked, trying to keep her voice cool and steady.
"Damned if I know." He pulled away from the curb and drove slowly down the narrow street, mindful of the kids playing.
"If he was here, we just missed him," he said thoughtfully. "He didn't get that much of a head start on us." After a moment, he said, "He must've shown up in the afternoon, while the kids were at school. I bet he'll be back. That's why she's afraid. He probably wants to see the kids."
He stopped at a stop sign, then made a right turn. "I need to think." He drove down a street lined with strip malls and fast food restaurants. "I'm trying to remember where her husband works. She told me. Damn. Usually I remember everything."
"It'll come to you."
"Yeah. Let's get some food." Trey pulled into the parking lot of a donut shop.
They stood in front of the counter, eying the pastries.
Marli sighed. "I'll have a coffee and a glazed donut."
The woman working there filled a cup, plucked a donut out of the case and slipped it into a paper bag. She looked at Trey.
"Uh, coffee and...pecans."
Marli blinked. He turned to her and flashed a grin. "Pecans. He works at a pecan factory."
It took her brain two seconds to realize he was talking about Teresa Fisher's husband. She laughed. "The cinnamon pecan roll reminded you?"
"Yeah." Still smiling, he ordered one of the sweet rolls, then pulled a few bills out of his pocket to pay.
"Let's eat in the car."
He booted up his laptop, perched on the console between them, while they ate their snacks and sipped coffee. Then his fingers flew on the keyboard as he searched various engines and finally found it. "The Texas Pecan Company." He made a disgusted noise. "I couldn't remember that?"
"You have the address?"
"Yup. And directions how to get there." He closed the computer. "Our next stop."
Marli expected a big manufacturing plant, but the pecan company operated out of a small brick building.
"This is good," Trey said as they walked to the entrance. "If it was a huge place, they'd have security and might not even know him."
He asked at the reception desk, and the woman working there paged Barry Fisher. A few moments later, a man appeared in the small lobby, wearing a beige uniform. "Hi," he said, eyes wary. "What can I do for you?"
Marli let Trey explain who they were and ask if there was somewhere private they could talk. Barry led them reluctantly into a small office.
"Yeah, he showed up yesterday," he confirmed, hands rubbing together. None of them elected to sit in the office chairs. His eyes darted between Trey and Marli. "He scared the shit outta Teresa."
"Did he see the kids?"
"No. They were in school. Teresa told him to come back after supper, but she got the hell out of there before he came back."
"Where'd she go?"
Barry looked at them. "I'm not telling you that."
Trey nodded. "Okay. Is she safe?"
Barry nodded.
"Any idea where Barnes is now? Where he stayed last night?"
"Nope. No idea. I hope to hell he left town."
Trey shot a glance at Marli. Damn. They knew he'd been there now, but this wasn't helping find him.
"Anything you think of, let me know, okay?" Trey handed the other man a card. "We just want Teresa to be safe."
Barry nodded, his mouth a thin, unhappy line, eyes shadowed. "Okay."
Back outside in the baking parking lot, Trey and Marli paused.
"What now?" she asked him.
He said nothing, just stared hard, one hand on the frame of the car door. "Let's head back to the Fishers' neighborhood. If Sheldon's anywhere in El Paso, that's where he'll be."
"I could use a bathroom."
"Oh, sure. I need gas again. Keep an eye out for somewhere."
As they neared the Fisher home, Marli pointed out the Happy Pumper station, and Trey turned in, pulling up to the self-serve gas pumps. "Go on in," he said curtly. "I'll fill up."
She went into the gas bar and convenience store. Racks of junk food, soda and magazines crowded the small space. A couple of customers were paying for gas, chips and cigarettes. The gas station attendant behind the counter looked barely old enough to be working there.
Marli spotted the sign for the bathroom and went down the short, narrow hall, carefully locking the door behind her. She turned up her nose as she looked around. Not the cleanest place, but she had to pee, so it would have to do. She carefully lined the seat of the toilet with toilet paper before perching on it.
She scrubbed her hands clean and then, thinking about maybe getting a coffee if it didn't look too bad, she walked out of the restroom. A man came down the hall toward her, and she glanced at him as she moved to her right to go around him. He looked familiar. Where did she know him from?
It was the bartender from Cactus Jack's. He'd been serving her Diet Cokes for the last few nights. What was he doing here in El Paso?
Their gazes met hers and recognition flashed in his eyes, too. Those eyes...
Oh. My. God.
Marli stared at him in shock and then she saw it--the tattoo on his arm. A lasso.
Chapter 18
The world froze around her and her limbs felt heavy and stiff. With a fearful little squawk, she started to rush past him, but he put out an arm and easily stopped her.
"Hey." His other arm came around her and, to her horror, she saw he had a gun in it.
She started trembling uncontrollably. "Trey!" she tried to cry out, but the man's arm cut across her throat. It hurt, and all that came out was a hideous gurgle.
"Well, well, Marli," Sheldon Barnes said, "I can't believe my luck. I'd just given up on you."
She reached up and clawed at the arm squeezing around her neck.
"No, no, don't," he said, waving the gun. "You'll get hurt."
A sweat broke out, dampening her forehead, stinging her underarms. Her stomach churned, the coffee and donut she'd eaten earlier threatening to come back up. What on earth did he think he was going to do to her? Frantic thoughts ran through her mind. There was no way out except the front door. They had to go back into the store. There were other people there. They'd see them. He couldn't do anything in plain sight of other people.
Yes, he could, her nearly hysterical inner voice said.
Calm down, calm down, she chanted in her mind, her gaze bouncing wildly around.
Apparently, Sheldon had come to the same conclusion she had. Either he was going to drag her into the bathroom and rape and murder her, or he was going to have to go out through the store somehow. And Trey was out there.
Please, please, please, Trey, she silently begged him. Save my life...one more time.
Maybe he heard her.
There he was. She could just see him walking up to the counter, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket to pay for the gas. The attendant said something to him.
Sheldon saw him, too, and he turned and shoved her in front of him, back down the dingy hall. He pushed her into the men's room, and she almost stumbled and fell on the grimy floor. She put a hand out and it flattened on the tile wall, cool and smooth.
She turned, shaking, lungs taking in shallow breaths.
Sheldon slammed the door shut and locked it, then turned to her with the gun in his hand. It gleamed dully in the flickering fluorescent light.
Her body tight, she stared at him and blinked.