Those words hit Sophia like a fist to the stomach. Cooper had been one person she’d always trusted. “What’d you say?”
“I said Sheriff Cooper will handle it.” He grinned at her stricken expression. “How do you think he could afford that fishing trip to Alaska last summer? He took his brother and his best friend. A trip like that costs over eight thousand dollars.”
“You paid for it?”
He winked. “Now you’re catching on.”
That meant Sheriff Cooper wasn’t coming, unless he planned to help Gary. She should’ve called Van Dormer. But she hadn’t even considered it. The deal was that the county provided her backup.
“How many others?” she asked. “Who else do you have on your payroll? Lindstrom?”
“No, not Lindstrom. I don’t need her on payroll.”
“Because she’s easy enough for you to manipulate without money.”
“Not me. I don’t even know her. Leonard’s the one.”
“Leonard’s involved?”
“I never liked him much, either. But I’m a businessman, Sophia. I work with people who have something to offer.”
“What does a chicken farmer have to offer a human smuggler?”
“He hasn’t always been a chicken farmer. I hired him when he was a cop to help out at the safe house now and then. The men I brought in to run it are effective but not always trustworthy, you know? I don’t want them skimming. Having some insurance helps. Leonard was also my eyes and ears inside the police force. When it looked like he’d become chief, I had it made. But you got in the way of that.”
“If it wasn’t for the murders, I never would’ve realized what you really are.”
“Everything was working just fine until someone started killing Mexicans,” he said.
“You’re saying that had nothing to do with the safe house?”
“Nothing. Why would I kill those poor defenseless bastards? Seeing them safely across the border is how I make my living.”
“So it must be Leonard, trying to get back at the woman he raped and get me fired?”
“If he was hoping to get you fired, it almost worked, didn’t it? Then maybe he would’ve been useful again. But I don’t know. The men who run my safe house deal with coyotes all the time. They don’t have any idea who’s behind the killings, either. No one does.”
The hard, rocky ground hurt her palms, but Sophia didn’t shift. She wanted to keep Gary talking as long as possible. And he was so proud of what he’d accomplished, of how he’d fooled her and everyone else, he was eager to brag. “Leonard’s dead,” she told him. “You know that, right?”
“I heard.” Gary made a tsking sound. “Too bad. Losing the future chief of police will hurt. But sometimes employees have to be replaced. I’ll work with it, see what other candidate I can groom. I’m sure Cooper can recommend one of his deputies. With the abysmal salary those guys make, it shouldn’t be hard to find someone who’s interested in a significant raise.”
Beads of sweat ran down Sophia’s back and between her br**sts, making her T-shirt cling to her. “What about Stuart? Don’t tell me he was working for you, too.”
“No.” Regret glimmered in his eyes. “I don’t know what happened to Stu. I didn’t have anything to do with that, either.”
Apparently, he wasn’t enjoying the conversation anymore because he jerked his gun toward the shed. “That’s enough. Get inside and take off your clothes.”
Sophia’s heart began to pump even harder. “What for?”
“I’ve come this far, I might as well get what I’ve always wanted. Before it’s too late.”
The memories of him slipping into her room when she was a teenager came tumbling back to her. Here he was again, after the same thing. It had a sick kind of symmetry, she thought bitterly. “You’re going to rape me?”
“I’m going to get what I’ve always wanted,” he said with a grin she’d never seen before.
Where was Rod? How would he find her? Maybe he was here already, searching…. “I’m your stepdaughter.”
“That makes us no relation.”
“I won’t let it happen,” she said. “Why would I? You’ll shoot me no matter what I do.”
“True. But there are two ways to die. One is quick and easy—a bullet in the head. If you pretend to like it, that’s how I’ll end this. With as little pain as possible. That’s how I’d prefer to do it. I’m really not a violent person. But if you refuse…you’ll give me what I want, anyway, and then I’ll tie you naked to a tree out in the desert and let you die of sunburn and dehydration, which could take days.” He studied her. “You choose.”
Rod saw the pearl-colored Escalade parked behind the Hummer as soon as he pulled into the lot and exhaled in relief. If both cars were here, Sophia was probably still on the premises. If Gary had taken her somewhere else, Rod knew he wouldn’t have a prayer of finding her in time. He wasn’t sure he’d find her in time, anyway. He was beginning to tremble and feared he was going into shock from loss of blood.
Ignoring the pain that radiated through his whole body as he got out, he checked the cars, found both empty, then went to the cabin. No one was there, either. It looked exactly as it had when he’d left it earlier.
The terror he’d heard in Sophia’s voice seemed to echo in his brain. He’d texted her several times, asking for more information, but he hadn’t heard back from her.
Hoping the manager could tell him something, he limped to the office.
Glancing through the window, he saw that the front desk was unmanned, but once Rod stumbled inside, he could hear a television blaring in the back. Someone sat in what appeared to be an office. He rang the bell, but there was no response. Whoever it was couldn’t hear him above the damn TV.
“Hey!” Determined to rouse the man, Rod dragged him self around the desk—and found the manager unconscious.
Sophia lay on her back, staring up at a hanging light-bulb Gary had turned on when he’d dragged her into the tackle shed. He was crouched over her, holding the gun. Her blouse lay open, exposing her bra, but she wasn’t taking her pants down fast enough to suit him. She was drawing it out, bargaining for more time.
“Hurry up or I’ll start shooting your fingers off,” he said.