Thirty-One and a Half Regrets
Page 75

“I don’t know,” I whispered.
“Then let’s assume your vision is true. That means we could potentially buy some time if we head for the forest.”
“Okay.” I was grateful that he was including me in our decision. The need to concentrate was helping me rein in my fear. “Do you know which direction to go?”
“Ideally we’d head north to Moore County, but the fields lead north. So we can head east a bit in the woods and then turn north.” He looked down at my little dog, who was sitting at my feet. “What about Muffy? Can she keep up? Will she alert them to where we are?”
I squatted and turned her to face me. “Muffy, we’re going on a walk and I need you to listen to me.”
Her tongue hung out of her mouth, but her eyes were focused on mine.
“No barking. And no running off. You have to stay with me.” I leaned into her face. “This is very important, Muffy.”
She stood up on her back legs and licked my chin.
It was the best I could do.
“Do you think she actually understands?”
“I don’t know, but she’s given me reason to trust her in the past. She’d gotten me out of some tight situations.”
“Good enough for me.”
Banging and shouting came from the direction of the house. They knew we were gone. The sooner we left the better. “Then let’s go.”
Mason looked down at the gun draped over my shoulder. He pulled it off and turned it around, grimacing. “If it hangs this way, you can lift it and point. The other way you’ll fumble with it.”
I couldn’t even imagine shooting someone, so I didn’t see the point. “Maybe I shouldn’t have this. What if I shoot you by mistake?”
He lifted the barrel and examined the side. “The safety is on. Don’t touch it and we’ll be fine.”
Pushing the door open, he took a step out of the barn and glanced in both directions. “Okay, it’s clear.”
He held the door for Muffy and me. The wind felt colder than before we’d entered the barn and the sky was a darker gray. Mason carefully closed the door and followed my gaze.
“The storm’s moving in quickly. That doesn’t bode well for us, although the wind will make it more difficult for them to track us by sound.”
We ran to the edge of the forest, clomping over the dried leaves that covered the forest floor. The brush was thick at the edge, so we would have to force our way through it.
Mason turned back to look at me. “This is going to seem counterintuitive, but I want to head south for a while before we veer into the woods. If we charge in now, they’ll be able to figure out where we went in from the broken brush.”
“Okay.”
“The huge risk is that they’ll see us from the house, but we’re both wearing dark colors, so we won’t jump out at them unless they know where to look.”
He turned to the right and skirted the tree line while Muffy and I followed close behind. After glancing at the house, Mason picked up the pace.
Shouting broke out behind us and Mason stopped and pulled me into the shadows of the trees and down to a crouch. Muffy followed, lying on the ground next to me. I reached down and rubbed her head.
Three men burst out of the back door of the house. One of them pointed to the barn and then the field, and the others took off in the indicated directions. But my attention was squarely on the man who’d given them their orders and was standing in the middle of the yard, his hands on his hips.
“It’s Daniel Crocker.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Mason’s grip on my arm tightened. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I tried to calm my rising panic. Of course he was here. He’d been in my vision, after all.
We heard more shouting and Crocker moved to the edge of the field, Deputy Gyer going with him.
“Come on.” Mason tugged on my arm. “They’re following my tracks from when I checked out the field yesterday. It won’t buy us much time, though. I didn’t get very far.”
About ten men spilled from the front of the house and headed toward the field as Mason, Muffy and I began edging down the tree line away from Crocker. We had gone about fifty feet when Mason slowed and turned toward the trees.
“There’s a natural break in the brush. If we’re careful, we can slip in here and conceal our tracks.” He moved first, picking his way carefully and trying to step on bare spots of ground. When he made it through the narrow gap, he motioned for me to follow.
I looked back down at the house and fields. There was more shouting and I heard my name on the wind, the sound sending a shiver down my back. I was terrified, but I couldn’t think about that now. We had to get away. Mason waited, his hand extended. Taking a deep breath, I picked my way across the six-foot expanse, easing myself through the narrow opening. But we were in more thick brush, and the only way for us to continue was to break the branches of the bushes around us.
“There’s no helping it, Rose,” Mason said, pushing deeper. “We’ll just have to hope they won’t realize we snuck in here.” After about fifty feet, the brush gave way to partial growth. “Let’s go farther east before changing direction.”
“How far are we from Columbia County?” I asked. “If we keep going east we’ll end up there, right?”
“It’s a good thirty miles.”
My shoulders sank. “And how far is Moore County?”