Page 49 of Vanishing Point
He had to think of it that way.
VI LAY INthe back seat of the postal inspector’s rental car in stillness and tried to see what she could out of the window as the inspector drove. Mostly, she just saw sky, but if she could catch a glimpse of the tops of mountains, she at least would know what direction they were driving in.
She was pretty sure they’d headed south-ish out of town. She could be wrong, because really there wasn’t much south of Bent. Ranches and small towns. Sunrise, eventually.
Her wrists and ankles were zip-tied, so she knew there was no getting out of the bonds, but if she could have some idea of where she was, then she still had a chance.
Except, small towns and ranches meant plenty of places to hide.
Plenty of places to dump a body.
She blew out a breath.We’re not going to think like that, she told herself sternly. A trick she’d learned in therapy when her thoughts spiraled to blaming herself for Eric’s abuse. Usually she said it out loud, but with the postal inspector right there in the driver’s seat, Vi kept all words internal.
Maybe she should have fought her. Maybe she should have taken the chance. But the inspector had given her a choice—leave with her out the bedroom window, or they could sit there and wait for Thomas to come home and she would shoot him in the head when he walked in the door.
Maybe it had been a bluff. Maybe Vi should have called it.
But she thought about his story with the dime, how he’d already narrowly escaped a gunshot wound to the head once. She just hadn’t been able to take that kind of chance.
So, she’d let the zip ties be put on her wrists. The only thing Vi had bothered to ask was if the woman was really a postal inspector. Dianne had just laughed and tightened the zip ties.
Vi didn’t know what that meant, really. She supposed it didn’t matter.
She’d let the lady pull her through the house, into the bedroom, then the woman had opened the window and pushed her out.
Vi’s ankle had rolled on impact and it ached even now, but she was well-versed in aches you had to just live through.
She was going to find a way to live through this. She had a daughter. She had a man who loved her. She hadfamily, andeven if she’d made a mistake in being allowed to be taken to a second location, she would fight.
Because wherever the inspector was taking her was hopefully away from Thomas and anyone else who might get caught in the crossfire.
Maybe she didn’t know what the inspector wanted, or why Vi was the target, but she’d fight her like hell…as long as no one else could possibly get hurt.
She tried to keep track of time or miles oranythingabout the car ride, but in the end, she had no idea how long they drove. How far. Even when the inspector pulled the car to a stop, opened the back seat door, and then pulled Vi up and out of the car, Vi didn’t know where they were.
Deep in a wooded cove. Mountains seemingly all around them, blocking out the sky. There was a dilapidated-looking cabin a few yards away.
“I don’t know why you bothered to bring me all the way out here just to kill me. Thomas is going to find you.” Vi was going to believe that was true. She’d been purposefully rude to his neighbor who had stopped her and Dianne, because she knew Mrs…well, whatever her name was, was a bit of a busybody and always bothering Thomas with silly neighborhood disputes.
If the neighbor didn’t go running to tell him about the car and the woman with her, Vi would eat her hat. She’d only wished the inspector had put the zip ties on her ankles at that point, but the inspector had made sure it looked like she was walking around of her own volition.
The inspector didn’t really say anything as she pulled Vi out of the car. She just pointed at the cabin, gave Vi a careful nudge—because too hard of one would send her toppling. “Let’s go.”
The inspector had her elbow and was trying to move her forward at the snail’s pace required of having her ankles tied together.
Vi eyed the cabin. It looked like it had been abandoneddecadesago.
“I’m not going in there.”
“Yes, you are,” the inspector said, pulling her by the elbow.
But Vi had a one-year-old. She knew all about dead weight. So she simply dropped to the ground. When the inspector just grabbed her by the wrists and began to painfully drag her across the ground, Vi bucked and wriggled and did everything she could to get the inspector off her.
The woman just grunted and fought right back, and since she had free hands and apparently impressive strength, she kept making progress toward the cabin.
Vi tried not to feel defeated, but by the time they reached the one stair up to the porch, and the inspector used two hands to painfully jerk her over it and onto the porch, Vi didn’t know what she was going to accomplish trying to fight anyone, all tied up the way she was.
“On your feet.” The inspector jerked her up. Vi considered just flopping back on the ground, but what did that do? Maybe if she was upright there’d be some way to kind of throw herself into the inspector. Push her in some way.
