Annie raised her chin and remained silent as she fought to still the trembling inside.

“Why didn’t you just leave it alone?” Tammy’s brow tightened. “Why’d you have to push it when you already had your killer?”

Annie matched the woman’s gaze, remaining quiet and unmoving. Finally, she spoke. “I wasn’t convinced.”

“The police are convinced. Rocky Shaft killed my husband and the evidence against him is overwhelming. I made sure of that.”

“Yes, you did,” Annie said. Her eyes moved to the weapon, and then back to the killer’s face. “It was brilliant, a perfect plan, until you called me pretending to be your husband.”

“That should’ve worked. In fact it did work. It had you all fooled, but sadly, I never thought you might record the call.” Tammy shook her head, her lips tight. “That was my only mistake, but it’s still something I can overcome.”

“The police will figure it out eventually,” Annie said. “And Jake will too. And when he does, he’ll track you down like a dog and you’ll be finished.”

Tammy gave a short laugh. “Perhaps he will, but we won’t be around if he does.”

“Where are we going?”

Another short laugh, then, “You’ll see. I’ll come up with a plan. Something to cover me.” She laughed out loud. “I can either frame you, or make you disappear forever. Or both.”

“You tried that already,” Annie said. “With Punky Brown.”

Tammy sighed deeply. “Punky Brown. That was my last dumb move.” She chuckled. “Hiring a punk to take care of something I should’ve done myself. After that fiasco, I made it my resolve to do my own killing in the future.”

“The police have the recording.”

“But they won’t have me.” Tammy smiled with her lips but the ice remained in her eyes. “And if you disappear as well, who’s going to know the truth?”

“You might kill me, but they’ll find you.”

Tammy’s eyes glimmered. “I have half a million to keep me company and keep me hidden for a good long time. It’s not hard to buy a new identity and start a fresh life elsewhere. It’s a big country.”

“It’s greed that got you into this and it’s greed that’ll get you caught. You have the robbery money, don’t you?”

Tammy drew herself up and sneered. “Of course. Who do you think ran the whole show?” She rolled her eyes. “Do you think I would trust those bozos to do what only I could do?”

“So you double-crossed them. You used them to do your job for you, then killed them because the money got to you.”

Tammy shrugged. “I got tired of waiting, and frankly, I got tired of them.” Her eyes glazed and she motioned with the pistol. “Enough talk. Time to go.”

Annie didn’t move. “What about Rocky Shaft? He knows what you did.”

Tammy laughed, long and hard. “Rocky Shaft knows nothing. The poor sap was in the right place at the right time to fall neatly into my plans.” Tammy’s face grew cold and her eyes tightened. “After I got rid of his brother, the idiot came to me with some story about his brother and my husband committing a robbery. He wanted to cash in on his brother’s share. He didn’t know I was the boss and I didn’t tell him. But that’s when I saw him as the perfect patsy.” She shrugged and grinned. “And my plan evolved from there.”

Annie knew she was up against a cold-blooded killer who would do whatever it took to get what she wanted. Annie also knew she had some time to come up with a plan of her own. The killer wasn’t going to shoot her here. That wouldn’t fit in with her scheme to make Annie disappear and make a clean getaway.

“It’s time to go,” the killer said, waving the gun again. “Back up. Into the kitchen.”

Annie adjusted her handbag, turned slowly, walked down the short hall, and into the kitchen. She stopped and waited, trying desperately to come up with some means of escape.

The back door was dead ahead. Maybe she could make a run for it. She looked to her left. The kitchen circled back around to the living room. Could she take a chance? She shuddered at the thought of a bullet entering her back as she run. No. That wasn’t the answer.

“You don’t need this anymore,” Tammy said, pulling the handbag from Annie’s shoulder. Annie turned her head and watched as the woman dug around inside the handbag, removed her cell phone and car keys, and handed the bag back. “We can’t leave this lying around, can we? You’d better take it with you.”

Annie put the bag over her shoulder, her mind still in turmoil as she tried to devise a way out.

Tammy took a step back, kept one eye on Annie, and fiddled with the cell phone with her free hand. “There,” she said at last, holding up the phone. “Just in case you’re wondering, I turned off the GPS. Unfortunately, I’ll have to discard this thing once we get out of here.”

“Where are we going?” Annie asked.

“You’ll see.” Tammy backed to the counter, picked up a key ring, then moved back and opened a door. She waved the pistol. “In there.”

Annie turned and looked through the doorway leading into the garage. Tammy’s dark-blue Ford Probe was parked inside. The barrel of the pistol pressed into her back as Tammy prodded at her from behind. A beep sounded as she stepped into the garage and the trunk lid of the Ford popped open.

Annie considered swinging her handbag in an attempt to catch Tammy unawares and maybe disarm her. The killer would be nothing to handle without her weapon, but the woman seemed to be quite capable with it. It was a dangerous plan, and Annie decided to wait for a more opportune moment.

“Get in the trunk,” Tammy said, standing well back and motioning toward the vehicle.

Annie looked at the open trunk, glanced across the darkened room toward a door leading to the outside and freedom, and hesitated.

“Get in,” the killer repeated. “You won’t get away through there. I’m an expert shot and you wouldn’t get halfway to the door before I kill you.”

Annie crossed her arms and glared at Tammy. “Where are you taking me?”

Tammy’s eyes narrowed, a sneer appeared on her lips, and she thrust the gun two inches closer. “In.”

Annie gave her captor a black look, then climbed into the trunk, turned onto her back, and lay still. Tammy’s smug face disappeared from her view as the trunk lid slammed, leaving Annie in total darkness.

Chapter 46

Friday, 10:11 a.m.

WHEN JAKE ARRIVED home, he was surprised Annie’s car wasn’t in the driveway. He knew she called had Tammy Norton earlier, requesting an interview, and he assumed that’s where she was.

He pulled the Firebird into the garage and revved the engine a couple of times before turning the key off. He went into the house, peeked into the office, then dug out his iPhone and sent her a text message: “Home now. Miss you.”

When he didn’t get a return message, he assumed she was deep into the interview. The text tone sounded on the phone as he was pushing it back into his pocket. It was Annie: “Miss you too. See you soon.”

He wandered into the kitchen to find something to soothe his growling stomach and saw a note from Annie propped up against the coffee pot. She was at Tammy’s. No surprise.

He made a cup of coffee, found a leftover chicken drumstick in the fridge, and sat at the table, enjoying his snack and sipping coffee.

When he finished, he put the dishes in the sink and looked at his watch. Unless something else came up, Annie should be on her way home now. He called her number and it rang several times before going to voice mail. She was probably on the road. His wife was a stickler for not talking on her cell while driving. It was a habit he had yet to break.

After a few more minutes, he tried her number again. There was still no answer and he began to be concerned. This wasn’t like Annie.

Jake booted up the “Find My iPhone” app but Annie’s cell location didn’t show up. He frowned at his phone. Something didn’t make sense. Why would she turn the GPS off?