Page 122 of Call Back

Chapter 24

It only tookus ten minutes to find the gold in the basement.

“Maggie,” Colt called out in excitement. “I think I found it.”

I’d been searching through a stack of boxes in the corner while Colt had been combing through shelves covered in tools and paint cans.

“All of it?” I asked.

He lifted a paint can with his fingers. “No. But judging by the weight, a good portion of it.”

Dr. Lopez had hidden it in Ziploc bags, stuffed into three separate paint cans. Colt washed the bags off in a utility sink, while I went upstairs and found clean Ziploc bags as well as a canvas tote bag.

As soon as we finished the transfer, Colt put the cans back where he found them, and I made sure the sink was clean.

I was eager to get out of the Chattanooga house, but the thought of returning to Franklin lodged a great big boulder in the pit of my stomach. There was a killer waiting for me there, and I still didn’t know where I was staying tonight. If I confessed the danger I was in to Colt, he would probably let me come with him to his gig, but was that a good idea?

A terrible feeling stole over me as Colt pulled onto the highway. I was sure something was wrong, beyond the normal dose of crazy, but when I checked my phone, the only message I’d gotten was a check-in note from Brady, telling me he didn’t have any news yet.

I’d hoped to get a text from Belinda, but so far there was nothing. I told myself she’d forgive me in time. I had to believe it was true.

Even though I’d had plenty of sleep the night before, my breakdown earlier had worn me out. We weren’t on the road more than ten minutes before I fell asleep.

A couple of hours later, I woke up to my cell phone ringing.

“Maggie,” Colt said, his voice tight. “You need to answer that.”

“What?” I asked, sitting up in the passenger seat.

“It’s Tilly. You need to get it.”

I pulled my phone out of my purse, wondering if Colt had suddenly become psychic because, sure enough, it was Tilly.

“Hey, Tilly,” I said, casting Colt a weird look. “What’s up?”

“Maggie. It’s your momma.”

I gasped. Bill James had killed her. “What happened?”

“Your momma is at Vanderbilt Medical Center. Her doctor admitted her.” She paused. “Maggie, sweetheart. You need to get here as soon as you can.”

“Oh, God,” I breathed out. “Is she dying?”

“She’s been dying, sweet girl,” Tilly said in a broken voice. “But the end is coming faster than we’d hoped.”

Pure panic flooded every cell of my being. I wasn’t ready to lose my mother yet. We were still fixing us. There was still so much I wanted to say to her. So much I didn’t know.

I looked out the windshield, searching for a road sign or mile marker to see how far away we were. “Colt. How far are we away from Vanderbilt Medical Center?”

Colt covered my hand with his own. “Twenty minutes, Mags.”

“Twenty minutes, Tilly,” I breathed into the receiver. “I’m twenty minutes away.”

“She’s in room 433.”

“Okay.” I hung up the call and clutched my phone in my hand. “I need to call Belinda . . . and Roy.”

“Tilly’s already called them.”

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