Page 62 of Vanishing Point
“He loves me,” Dianne said, as if under some kind of spell. “And once this is over, I won’t be getting on his nerves anymore. It’ll go back to the way things were. And we’ll be happy. Once you’re out of the way, we’ll be happy.”
“Is that what he told you?” Vi shook her head, and it was impossible to keep the tears in check right now. “He doesn’t. He doesn’t love anyone or anything, including himself. He’s broken, Dianne. And if someone can save him, it’s a trained professional.Notus.”
“I have saved him, and I will again.”
“No. You won’t. He won’t go back to the fake guy who talked you into loving him. He didn’t hit me until I was married to him, did he tell you that? We dated for almost a year, and he never once laid a hand on me. Not because ofme. Because ofhim.”
Dianne rolled her eyes. Some of that fight was coming back, but only against Vi. Not for them.
“Dianne, you do not have to live like this. You are apostal inspector. The cops will help us. Everyone will—”
“Just shut up, or I really will knock you around. And I’d be happy to end it all.” She looked at the gun in the corner, as if considering it, even though she’d said the bullets weren’t in it. “Right here, right now, not drag it out. So I can get on with my real life.”
Which was enough of a threat for Vi to keep her mouth shut. And she went back to thinking about her sad little weapons and what she could possibly do with them.
Legs free, she could run. Arms free, she could fight.
Someway. Somehow. Because Dianne might still be a victim of Eric.
But Vi wouldn’t be.
Chapter Eighteen
Thomas screeched to a stop in front of Sunrise’s Fish ‘N’ Ammo, little more than a shed off the highway and in the very outskirts of Sunrise proper. He beat Rosalie to the door, but only narrowly.
There was a young man behind the counter, early twenties. Thomas didn’t recognize him but supposed he couldn’t knoweveryonein Bent County. “Is Vern here?”
The young man looked from Thomas to Rosalie. His eyes lingered on Rosalie. Who smiled wide and bright at the kid.
“Faster the better, sweetheart,” she said with a wink.
The guy blushed, then scurried out from behind the counter. “Yeah, sure.” He went into the back room and when he came out, Vern, followed.
He was a short, burly man in his late seventies who’d been running this hole-in-the-wall of a shop since Thomas could remember.
“Hart,” he offered gruffly. “Ma’am.”
Rosalie rolled her eyes, but she didn’t say anything.
“I’ve got a few questions about the incident you had here with a man on Saturday.”
“Out-of-towner,” Vern said with a sneer. “If it ain’t some dumb kid, it’s some out-of-towner.”
Hart nodded, trying to find some deeper well of patience left inside of him. “Sheriff told me you guys had a little argument.”
“That’s right. He comes in here, complains to my face, then thinks I’m going to sell to him? Fat chance. He got real agitated and I figured best if I had a deputy nearby. Had Gav here call the cops.” He jerked a thumb at the kid.
Gav nodded, still looking a little lovelorn in Rosalie’s direction. The Fish ‘N’ Ammo wasn’t exactly a hot spot for young people.
“He left though. He definitely wanted a fight, but something scared him off.” Vern shrugged.
“When he drove away, did you see which way he went?”
“Yeah, west into town.” Vern pointed out the door. “I talked to Gladys at the diner Saturday night, and she said she saw the car speed past, so I know he went that way.”
That was good information. Maybe. But west of Sunrise still wasn’t alocation. Still, he thanked Vern, handed his card to the man with instructions to call if he returned or if Vern thought of anything else.
Before Thomas and Rosalie could leave and decide their next move, a bell tinkled above the door. Jack Hudson strode in. He nodded his head at Vern, approached Thomas and Rosalie. “Hart. Rosalie. Figured this’d be your first stop. When Vern told me Gladys had seen the car too, I decided to go around and talk to the business owners along the highway and see if anyone else had seen the car. We don’t get a lot of traffic all the way out here, so I figured we’d get a few mentions. And I was right.” He pulled out a small spiral notebook from his front pocket, flipped a few pages.
