Welcome to Last Chance (Last Chance #1)(39)
Author: Hope Ramsay

Clay exploded from his chair. “What in the hell are you talking about?”

Stone stood up, too, and grabbed Clay by the shoulder before he could rush out into the reception area and confront a couple of G-men and get himself into real trouble.

Damian shrugged. “They got a copy of that pinup photo. They say the woman in that photo is Mary Smith, and they believe she’s involved in some kind of jewel heist. It sure does look like our Jane.”

Sheriff Bennett made a beeline for the door. Clay made to follow, but Stone yanked on his shoulder.

“Lemme go, Stone. Quit being a jerk. I love that woman.” Clay tried to twist away, but Stone pulled a move on him that put him down on his backside looking up.

“You’re the one acting like an jerk,” Stone said. “Just cool your head for five minutes and let me see what this is all about. And as for loving that woman, shoot, boy, you’ve known her for what, four days? Gimme a break.” He pointed down at Clay. “You stay here, or I’ll have to break one of your bones, and I really don’t want to do that.”

Stone let Clay go and turned his back, which Clay took as a sign of filial trust. That and the fact that Clay knew Stone would probably break one of his bones if he made any sudden moves.

So he didn’t. He just lay there feeling like someone had put a hole right through the middle of his chest.

And that’s when the radio dispatch in the outer office went haywire with the news that someone had been shot in downtown Last Chance.

Jane tried hard not to let fear paralyze her. It sure did look like this was going to be her last day on earth. She told the Universe that she was okay with that. Just so long as both of them worked together to make sure that nothing bad happened to little Haley Rhodes.

The Universe, as usual, had a different plan in mind. Or maybe there was no pattern in the Universe. Maybe life was just random.

That was a frightening thought, but one Jane didn’t have time to dwell on. She was too consumed with gut-wrenching guilt over what had just happened to Ruby. Clay’s ma should have run like the wind, but she hadn’t run. She had frozen for one instant—just long enough for Woody to raise his pistol and fire a round at her.

Ruby went down and didn’t make another sound. Then Woody hauled Jane down the remaining stairs and shoved her right into Ruby’s Taurus. The keys were still in the ignition.

Jane figured things couldn’t get any worse, until she spied Haley curled up into a tiny little ball on the floor of the backseat. The sight made her sick and dizzy with fear.

Luckily, Woody hadn’t seen the child. And Haley, bless her heart, had the presence of mind not to say a word or whimper or otherwise give herself away. Which meant the seven-year-old was smarter than your average child. Or maybe she was merely scared to death.

Jane figured it was probably a little bit of both. That thought made her heart rate spike, and her throat close up, and her world tilt sideways on its axis. How could the Universe do this to Haley and Ruby? They didn’t deserve this.

Woody pulled the car out through the alley and turned right on Palmetto, heading south in the direction of Golfing for God.

“Where the hell is this place?” Woody said as he floored the Taurus and broke every speed limit in town. Jane didn’t reply. Instead she prayed that Damian Easley and Stone Rhodes were paying attention, like they always did. A minute went by without any sirens sounding. Obviously, God and the Cosmos were still not listening.

Her chest felt so tight she was having trouble breathing. Time was running out on her. Jane looked up at the big dark cloud that had filled the sky and knew she would probably never see the sunshine again.

“Woody, you need to think things through,” she said around the knot in her throat. Her voice wavered, and she hated herself for her weakness. She gulped down air and continued. “You’re in big trouble now. That woman you just shot was the mother of the police chief.”

“Shut up, you’re just trying to confuse me.” He looked at the rearview mirror. “Shit.”

Jane looked behind her, and sure enough, a dark Cadillac had pulled in behind them. It had Florida tags.

This was not a good sign.

“I’ll bet those are the Colombian’s goons back there, baby. They want their money, and I don’t have it. The Cambodian Camel is the only way I’m going to survive. So you better not be lying to me, you understand?” Woody brandished the gun.

“Have you thought of reasoning with those men?” she asked in a voice that sounded much stronger than before. It was funny how her heart was still hammering, but her head was clearing. The main thing she needed to focus on right now was getting Woody away from the car. She sure hoped Haley had the presence of mind to stay put and go unnoticed.

Woody stared over at her and then back at the road. “Those goons don’t reason, you should realize that by now.”

“But I know where the necklace is.” In the backseat, you idiot, around the neck of a terrified little girl. Jane tried to think of some way to get that necklace and use it as a bargaining chip without letting anyone know Haley was back there, but there was no real hope of that. So she kept talking.

“Slow down, Woody, that’s Golfing for God right up there on the left,” she said. Maybe Haley would be smart enough to leave the car and hide once Jane got Woody away from it. Jane prayed a little harder to the God who never listened. Sweet Jesus, help that little girl.

Right then, the skies opened up. A veritable sheet of water fell down from the heavens and pummeled the windshield with a deafening roar. The road vanished from view before Woody could put on the wipers. Woody slammed on the brakes.

And since he had been doing eighty in a car with tires that Ruby Rhodes had been nagging her husband to replace for the last six months, he went into a skid.

The car slid sideways, and the certainty of death scrolled through Jane’s mind in slow motion. She was going to die, and there was nothing she could do about it.

But Woody surprised her. He turned into the skid, and the Taurus twisted over the wet pavement, tires squealing. Woody cut a perfect doughnut right there on Route 321.

In some corner of her mind, Jane started to feel hope. Maybe she wouldn’t die—at least not in a car wreck. The gray, rain-soaked scenery flashed sideways across the windshield, but Woody had the skid under control. It would be okay.

Only in the next instant, as they completed the 360-degree skid, a large Country Pride Chicken truck materialized out of the rain coming right at them in the opposite direction.

The truck swerved to the right across the Golfing for God parking lot. Jane watched with a kind of detached fascination as the chicken truck plowed head-on into the twenty-foot statue of Jesus Christ at the golf course’s entrance. The statue, already weakened by hurricane-force winds, toppled sideways in slow motion and landed right in front of Ruby’s Taurus. The Savior bounced and cracked on the blacktop as it hit.

The impact knocked the breath right out of Jane as her seatbelt snugged down and the airbag deployed. Pain and pressure flared across her shoulder and hips, and in some surprised part of her mind, she realized, even before the sound of bending metal died away, that she would survive this crash.

As the car jarred to a stop and the airbag deflated, all Jane’s rattled brain could absorb was the sight of dozens of chickens, flying feathers, and the raucous sound of clucking.

Then her brain remembered that chickens were not the only ones in peril. Haley was on the floor in the back, not protected by a seatbelt or an airbag. A new wave of fear and remorse washed through her.

Instinct took over then. She gave one glance over at Woody. A gash had opened in his head, and he was bleeding pretty badly, but she felt no remorse for him.

Jane unbuckled herself, opened her door, and stepped out into a torrential rain that soaked her to the skin. She opened the back door of the Taurus, just as a crack of lightning struck.

She jumped, and the flock of newly released chickens screeched. The little hairs on the back of her neck and along her arm danced. That lightning had hit way too close for comfort.

Jane forced herself not to worry. She had to get Haley. She had to make certain the little girl was okay.

She found the child down on the floor of the Taurus and hauled her out into the rain. The seven-year-old had a scrape across her head and the beginning of a bump on her right temple. She was breathing, but she wasn’t entirely conscious. She gave a little moan as the water hit her face.

Jane almost raged out loud and pumped her fist at the tempest and the Universe. But she didn’t have time for that.

The Cadillac with Florida tags pulled into the parking lot, and four big guys got out of it. In unison they reached into their suit jackets.

In that instant, Jane’s plans became pretty simple and basic. She needed to gather up that baby and run like hell.

Stony’s cruiser shot up Palmetto Avenue with the siren going and lights flashing. Clay raced it on foot, dodging raindrops, as he headed toward the Cut ’n Curl. Dodging the rain soon became as impossible as dodging the truth.

Damn Jane Coblentz and damn his big brother and damn his rotten luck. Why did bad stuff always have to happen right when things were starting to look up? For one split second this morning, he’d had this feeling like God or some benign force had reached down and touched his life. Everything had been perfect.

He was in love with Jane. And Ray, it would seem, had escaped in the arms of the curvaceous Betty Wilkins.

And then Damian Easley had opened that door, and everything unraveled.

Pain burned in Clay’s chest, and it wasn’t just from running like a crazy man, frantic to get to his mother, who, according to the county dispatcher, had been shot.

No, his chest burned with all kinds of emotions: hurt and disgust and deep, deep disappointment.

Lightning streaked across the black sky, and with the crackle of electricity, his emotions distilled down to fear. Fear that his momma might be dead or dying. Fear that his niece might be dead, too. And absolute terror that Jane was responsible.

Clay wasn’t strong enough to handle this. He could feel his emotions bubbling up through his system, torn between loyalty to his family and Jane Coblentz, jewel thief and pinup girl.

Why would the Lord send him a woman like this to love? He wanted to settle down somewhere and raise a couple of kids with someone he could grow old with. He wanted a simple life. Clay didn’t really want to go back to Nashville. Truth be told, there were a lot of positives to living in Last Chance, where everyone cared about him, even if everyone also seemed to have their noses firmly poked into his business.

Clay huffed and puffed his way down the alley to the Cut ’n Curl’s parking lot. The scene looked like something right out of a television cop show. Cop cars and ambulances were converging on the scene with their sirens going and their lights a bright-colored smear against the rain and the tears filling up Clay’s eyes.

He backhanded the water from his eyes and then elbowed his way through the throng of cops to get to his momma. She sprawled on the wet pavement, blood pouring from a wound in her right temple. Stony was on her right side holding her hand tight. Seeing Momma’s blood all over Stone’s hands and the wet pavement turned Clay’s fear into fury.