“You and Grady. You’re made for each other, except you did something really stupid. You gave his baby to those Biblethumpers.”
“So?” Linx’s stomach crunched into her spinal cord. These were only words. They’d long ago lost their ability to hurt her. She had to keep her mother talking, no matter what. “They were a good and stable family. They could give her a betterlife.”
“Except Grady never gave consent. He’ll grow to hateyou.”
“Maybe he will, but what’s it to you? How do you know all this? Who’ve you been talkingto?”
The reply was another long bout of coughing andchuckling.
“I can fix everything for you and give you everything you want. How’s that for motherlylove?”
“I don’t need your kind of love. Tell me what you did. Is it Jessie? Did you kidnap her?” Linx finally navigated off her father’s land and turned her SUV up the grade toward Grady’scabin.
“I fixed your biggest regret. That’s what mothers do. All you have to do is receive mygift.”
“No, Minx, don’t tell me you did this. Please, let her go. Don’t hurt her.Don’t.”
“It’s a big surprise, you’llsee.”
“I don’t like surprises, Mom,” Linx said, needing to keep the conversation going. “Not after you ruined that red dress I got for Christmas. After that, no moresurprises.”
“Okay, no surprises, you just show up at Grady’s trailer and it’s allyours.”
“If you’ve hurt Jessie, I’ll never forgive you.Ever.”
“Nuh, uh, uh. No getting the surprise out of me,” her mother admonished. “I’ve got to be going. See yousoon.”
“Wait, don’t hang up.” Linx gritted her teeth as a plume of sweat dampened her forehead. “Mom, I just want to talk to you. I want to get to knowyou.”
“You don’t need to know anything aboutme.”
“Who’s my father?” The words slipped from her mouth. “You said I wasn’t really aColson.”
“I was playing with you, girl.” The older woman cackled. “Just joking withyou.”
“It’s notfunny.”
“Ha, ha, ha. How far away are you from Grady’splace?”
“I don’t know, Mom. I’m coming from the ranch where I found your collection of bones and spikes. Whose bones are they? Animal orhuman?”
“What does your dark and evil heart tellyou?”
“Whatever your dark and evil heart says,” Linx replied. She marveled at how calm she was, but she needed to keep Minx on the line. Unfortunately, keeping her on the line also meant she couldn’t call Todd, unless she could somehow put her on hold without her knowing, and she could three-way conference him in. “Mom, tell me a bedtime story, will you? A long one, so I can concentrate on driving without falling asleep. I can’t wait for yoursurprise.”
“Have I told you the one about the Black Widow and The Firestarter?” Minx cleared her throat. “Guaranteednightmares.”
“Oh, goodie,” Linxencouraged.
“Yes, goodie,” Minx said. “You always liked fire. You played with matches. You burned noodles on the gas fire. You even blackened my steak knives. Oh, but you were a realfirebug.”
“Yes, Mom, I was, so tell me about the Firestarter and the BlackWidow.”
“It was yourfavorite.”
Once her mother started the story, she put her on hold quickly and called Todd. “I’ve got Mom on the line. She says she has a surprise for me at Grady’s plot of land. She says she’s going to fix my biggest mistake. I think she has Jessie and she’s holding her there. I’m staying on the line so you can trackher.”
“Good, let me call the phone company and see if they can get a GPS location for her. Don’t go to Grady’s place, no matter what. She could bedangerous.”
