Spencerville

"Larry, listen, I know you can handle that guy, but I don't want him to know there's any connection between what's happening tonight and you and your wife."

"Don't matter."

"If I get pulled over in your car, there's going to be trouble for you. That bastard will be out to get you even if it takes him twenty years."

"Don't worry about it."

"I am worried about it. Look, like it or not, he's your kin. His children are your niece and nephew, and your children are his children's cousins, and you have the same in-laws for now. You don't need that kind of bad blood in the family. I'm okay in my own car."

Larry didn't reply.

Keith added, "And to tell you the truth, I don't want to alarm the women."

Larry nodded.

Keith said, "I don't think there'll be an all-points out for a few hours, anyway, and they're going to look for Annie's car first, then maybe mine. That's all the time I need."

Larry thought a moment, then said, "Keep to the interstates as much as possible. Shouldn't be any county police on those roads." He added, "I don't think the state highway patrol will get any all-points unless Baxter has some specific charge."

Keith replied, "He's got no lawful charges against me."

"Well... you never know what he can come up with. It don't take much for a pullover. Then they got you, and they'll call him."

"I understand."

"Where's her car?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, if it's just sitting on the side of the road, or in some parking lot, and she isn't around, Baxter damn sure will call the state police and say his wife's been abducted."

Keith nodded.

"If her car's at home, and she's not, or if no one can find her car, then a lot of cops think domestic problem, or no problem, until they get more information. Understand?"

Keith nodded again, then said, "The car is hidden."

"Good."

Not good, Keith thought, if the car is hidden in my barn, and they find it.

Larry said, "You'll be okay in Chatham County. I'll see to that."

"Thanks."

Annie and Terry came outside, and Keith saw that Annie was holding a teddy bear. Annie looked at both men and asked, "Is everything all right?"

Either she was too perceptive, Keith thought, or very nervous, or Keith and Larry weren't the poker-faced studs they thought they were. Keith replied, "Everything's fine. What did you find?"

She threw him the teddy bear, and he examined it. "I didn't give you this. Wrong boyfriend's trunk."

Annie smiled and said to Terry, "I told you. He's sarcastic, and he thinks he's funny."

Keith said, "Well, we should be heading out." He shook Larry's hand. "Thanks again."

Annie hugged her sister. "You've been wonderful. Thank you. We'll call you from New York. Oh, I think I'm going to cry."

She hugged Larry, and he said, "You take care now. Don't worry about anything here."

Keith was about to take Terry's hand when the phone in the kitchen rang. They all stood still, and the same thought passed through everyone's mind.

Keith said, "Maybe you should get that."

Terry nodded and hurried into the house. Keith, Annie, and Larry followed.

Terry picked up the wall phone and said, "Hello?"

Keith could tell by the expression on her face that it wasn't her kids calling to say hello.

Terry looked at the three of them as she listened, then said into the phone, "No, Cliff, I haven't seen her."

Annie took Keith's hand, as though, he thought, just her husband's presence on the telephone made her uneasy.

Terry said into the phone, "No, she was here yesterday morning and stayed for lunch. I stopped by your place after church today, and I saw her... No, she didn't mention she was going anywhere... Well, she did say she had a lot of food shopping to do... No, I don't know why she didn't do it yesterday..." Terry stuck her tongue out at the mouthpiece, and, despite the situation, everyone smiled.

Terry said, "How would I know if her car phone is working?" Terry listened, then, to everyone's surprise, she said, "Look, Cliff, why don't you stop checking up on my sister? I'm tired of..." She listened, then said, "Cliff, go to hell." She hung up and said, "That felt good." She looked at Keith, Annie, and Larry and said, "Well, you know who that was."

Larry asked his wife, "Did he cuss you?"

"Sort of."

Larry frowned.

Annie said to Larry, "You don't have to consider him your brother-in-law any longer."

Larry nodded, and Keith could only imagine what those sweet words meant to him. Keith asked Terry, "Where was he calling from?"

"He said he was home. Got home earlier than he thought."

"How did he sound?"

She shrugged. "Same. Annoyed."

Annie commented, "He's finally got something to be annoyed about."

Keith glanced at the kitchen clock and saw it was seven forty-five P.M., and Cliff Baxter was in Spencerville, missing his wife. They didn't have much time now. He said, "All right, we should head out."

They all went outside and again said their good-byes, but this time with some sense of urgency.

Within a minute, they were in the Blazer, backing out of the driveway and waving, the teddy bear sitting between them.