Page 39 of Christmas Ransom

Jesse shook her head angrily as she swept past him. She took off her coat, kicking off her boots on her way and leaving a trail of snow behind her. “Someone had to do something, and since you don’t have the—”

“What did you do?”

She pulled the knife from her coat pocket and tossed it onto the table beside the couch. His gaze shot to it, his heart hammering as he looked to see if there was blood on it. There didn’t appear to be.

When Jesse spoke, she spit the words at him. “I tried to kill her.” She wiped the spittle at the corner of her mouth. “I drove right at them, but unfortunately, they swerved. I left them in the ditch. I should have gone back and finished them,” she said, shaking her head. “But I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t be armed.”

Jud groaned. “Don’t you realize what you’ve done? The word on the street was that the feds were looking for me in Washington State. Some of the heat was off and now...” He swore. “What was the point of that?”

“It made me feel better.” She glared at him, daring him to say that wasn’t good enough.

“None of this makes any sense. You do realize that, don’t you?” He shook his head. “We should be miles from here. Staying around to make you feel better...” He didn’t finish as her eyes narrowed.

“I told you. I’m not leaving until she’s dead.”

“Then be smart. There is no way to get to her right now. Once she moves back home—”

Jesse’s laugh cut him off. “You really want to wait that long? Because I don’t. Anyway, how do you know the cowboy won’t move in with her and you’ll have another excuse not to finish this?” She shook her head. “If you ever want to see that money again, you’d better do something and soon.”

WHENJAMESHEARDwhat had happened, he insisted Carla call Agent Grover.

She wasn’t surprised when the agent again didn’t believe her.

“Probably just someone who had too much to drink on Christmas Eve,” the agent said on the phone call. “We have reason to believe that your J might be in Washington State.”

The “your J” grated, but she didn’t let the agent get to her. When she asked what made him think J was in Washington State, he said he couldn’t say but that he would be returning to Lonesome soon for a talk with her, so she’d better have a lawyer.

She hung up more frustrated than ever and repeated what the agent had told her.

“There were several arrested for drunk driving,” Willie told them. “It’s possible that one of them was responsible for running you off the road.”

“The good news is that if they have a lead out in Washington State, then last night was only an accident,” James said.

Carla knew that, like her, Davy wanted to believe that’s all it had been. She’d made a few calls to attorneys, leaving her number since most were out of the office until the end of the year. But she felt better since making the contact. Hopefully, Agent Grover would find J out in Washington and that would be the end of it.

By Christmas morning, both she and Davy were in better spirits. Davy had picked up a small decorated tree for the upstairs apartment and she woke to Christmas music. They exchanged presents.

“It’s just a little something that I saw that reminded me of you,” he said when he handed her the tiny wrapped package he’d taken from under the tree.

For a moment, her heart had begun to drum as she remembered another small box he’d given her all those years ago—one with a diamond engagement ring inside.

She quickly unwrapped the box and opened it with trembling fingers, telling herself Davy would never make that mistake again.

“Do you like it?” he asked, sounding worried.

“It’s beautiful,” she said with relief as she picked up the silver bracelet from its nest in the box. “I love it.” It was delicate, with one tiny star dangling from it.

“For making wishes,” he said, seeming a little embarrassed.

She looked up at him, feeling her eyes sting, and asked him to help her with the clasp. Then she handed Davy his present. She’d gotten him a new leather belt for the many buckles he’d won over the years.

He immediately put it on. It fit perfectly, just as she knew it would. “I’ll wear it tonight at James and Lori’s. You haven’t forgotten that we’re invited for dinner, right?”

They’d both gone to the small kitchen after that to make a Christmas breakfast. Davy had thought of everything. He seemed determined to make her forget her problems—at least for the holidays. It was almost working, Carla thought.

After their near collision, they’d both gone out of their way to avoid any mention of the past or the future. They both had seemed to adopt a “one day at a time” philosophy.

For Carla, it was strange. She’d seldom taken time off from work, accumulating weeks of vacation time. She realized that it was kind of nice not to have to wake to an alarm clock, not to have to go to work.

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