Page 115 of One In Vermillion

I sat for a moment, frozen. I looked at the back door. Vince was in there, making sure everyone was safe. But he was in the wrong place.

I scrolled through my call list and found Margot’s number and after what seemed like a hundred years, she answered.

“Wha . . .?”

“Margot, is Peri in her bed?”

“What?”

“Go check on Peri right now.”

I waited for what seemed like another hundred years and then she came back on.

“She’sgone. Where is she?”

“Cash says he took her. I’m going to get her now. I will get her back, Margot.I will.Wake up George and Anemone. Tell them to come to the factory.”

She was crying when I hung up but also on her way to alert Anemone and George.

I looked at the back door. Cash was in Cleve’s office. With Peri. He’d see anyone who pulled up to the factory. If he saw Vince, he’d . . . I didn’t know what he’d do. I couldn’t take the chance. It was down to what I’d already known it would come to. Me against Cash.

I pulled out of the parking lot fast, heading toward Factory road.

I was going to get my kid back.

CHAPTER 60

I sat in the driver’s seat and hit favorites #1. When Liz answered I could hear the engine of the Camry revving in the background.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Cash has Peri,” Liz said. “He’s in Cleve’s office. He told me to come alone. I’m getting her.”

Surprisingly, I didn’t get angry. I was scared. For Peri. For Liz. “I’ll be there.”

“I knew you’d follow, just give me time,” Liz said. “He’s stoned out of his mind and nuts on top of that. Let me get Peri from him before you do anything. Please.”

She already had a lead on me, so that was a given. “All right. But I’ll be there.”

“I know you will. I’m pulling in now.”

The phone went dead.

I got out and went back in the bar, going straight to Jill. “I need help.”

The urgency in my voice caused her to stop smiling. “What’s wrong?”

I summed it up in a couple of sentences and ended with: “Call everyone.”

“You got it,” Jill promised and then I went out to my Gladiator to get my girls.

CHAPTER 61

The factory was mostly dark when I got there. There was a curious sense of déjà vu: I’d come here to face down Mickey Pitts. At least then I’d had Anemone’s little pink gun.

The stakes were higher now. Cash had Peri.

But I was better armed emotionally and mentally. I wasn’t afraid of Cash; just for Peri. He had no power over me anymore. He was about to face somebody he didn’t know, somebody who was coming after her kid and didn’t care what happened to him.

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