Framed For Love Read online

  “She’s got five little children,” Fred said. “She needs to know that he might have left on his own accord, and that he might not be coming back.” He looked briefly in the mirrored surface of his fifteen-year service plaque on the wall behind his desk to make sure his breakfast crumbs weren’t still in his short moustache. Normally, he wouldn’t care, but a confident appearance was important to victims.

  Renae Benson had medium-length blond hair and blue eyes that looked red from crying. In her arms she held a small baby, most likely a boy if one could tell by the blue blanket. “Thank you for seeing me,” she said as she seated herself in the chair in front of the desk. “I flew in this morning from Los Angeles because nobody there is taking my husband’s disappearance seriously. They keep telling me he’s left me and the children, but that’s ridiculous. Everyone who knows Trent knows how much he loves his family. He lives to be with his kids.”

  “I know it isn’t pretty,” Fred began. “But do you know how many men up and disappear each year? And how many we catch up to who tell us they left to get away? And quite frankly, your case isn’t in my jurisdiction. I only know about it because Linden mentioned it last night, and I requested a copy of the file to see if there was some connection with another case.”

  “Trent did not leave me.” Renae’s words weren’t angry, but they held impatience. “And you would know that if you talked to Cassi Mason. That’s another reason I’m here. I’ve tried calling her and going to her house this morning, but there’s no answer. Do you know where she is?”

  Fred swallowed hard. “She’s missing.”

  “She was fine last night when she called about the envelope Trent sent Jared.”

  “What envelope?” Fred asked, sitting up in his chair. “Are you telling me your husband had some connection to Jared Landine besides your friendship with his fiancée?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Why else do you think I came to you? It wasn’t easy finding out that you were Linden’s contact here. Anyway, a week or so ago a messenger came to the house with an envelope, and Trent called Jared about it. Then he sent it to him. That was right before he disappeared.”

  “Do you have any idea what’s in the envelope?”

  “None at all, except that it involved his work and something about art. Trent didn’t want me to know more. He said Jared would take care of it.”

  This information changed everything. “So what did you and Cassi talk about last night?” Fred asked.

  Renae thought for a moment, bouncing the baby gently as he began to fuss. “She told me she would give the FBI the envelope, and that she’d let me know what they found out.”

  “So she had the envelope.”

  “That’s what it sounded like to me. But where is she? You say she’s missing, but how?”

  Fred met Justin’s eyes over Renae’s head. She caught the look. “Just tell me,” she said. “I can take it.” Fred noticed she held the baby more tightly.

  “Last night after Cassi talked with you on the phone, some men broke into Linden’s house and shot him a total of five times. Linden had called me a short time before, warning me that he was worried something like that would happen. In fact, that’s when he mentioned your husband. But by the time we made it to his house, he was unconscious in his bedroom. They had just broken into the room when we appeared.”

  Renae gasped. “Is he okay?”

  “No.” Fred held his face firm. “He’s in a coma now. They don’t know if he’ll make it.”

  “And Cassi?”

  “She was gone. We found her purse spilled in Linden’s study and a gun with her fingerprints on it.

  “You don’t think she shot Linden!”

  “No, the bullets matched up with a few wounds on some of the goons we found. She’s a dead-eye, that woman.”

  “So where do you think she is?”

  “We don’t know. We don’t think Linden’s attackers had time to get her out of there before we arrived, but it is possible. If you hear from her, you must let us know immediately.”

  “I will,” Renae said.

  “Rest assured we are doing everything in our power to find out what’s going on. I’ll have your husband’s work checked out thoroughly. It seems these cases are connected after all.”

  “Of course they are.” Renae stood. “I’ve been trying to tell you all along.”

  Fred smiled. “We’ll be in touch, Mrs. Benson.”

  “Thank you. Here is the number of the hotel where I’m staying for a few days. I left the other children back in Covina with a friend, so I have to get back there before long, but first I want to see Linden. What hospital did you say he was at?”

  “They won’t let you in,” Fred said. “We have him under protective surveillance.”

  Renae bristled. “You have to let me in. With Cassi gone, he doesn’t have anyone else. She’d want me to see him.”

  Something in her weary face moved him. “All right, but my officers will need to be present.”

  With a polite nod she left the room, cuddling her baby to her chest.

  “There goes one brave woman,” Justin said.

  “Yeah,” Fred agreed. “It seems we never remember the people who are forced to stay behind. Maintaining hope has got to be a heavy task, especially for all those kids.”

  “Well, let’s try to not let them down.”

  The phone rang, and Fred picked it up. When he finished talking, he stared at his Justin, stunned. “There’s been positive identification of the voice they found earlier on Cassi’s voice mail. It’s Laranda Garrettson.”

  Justin’s jaw dropped, and his hand paused over his notes. “Oh, no. That changes everything.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  WITHOUT STUDYING THE TWO CARS further, Cassi whipped her car to the left and gunned it, leaving the freeway behind. The other cars followed. Cassi pushed harder on the gas pedal, grateful to feel the engine leaping to life under her.

  There was space between her and the following cars, but ahead Cassi could see the road begin to curve around a hill and out of sight. What if the road ended? Out this far away from the interstate, she would be at their mercy. She had to get away.

  The bend came more abruptly than she expected, and Cassi barely managed to hold the car on the road. There was another turn ahead. She continued on as fast as before, noting that she had pulled even farther ahead of the others.

  Three more turns, and Cassi had pulled far enough ahead to lose them from sight around each bend. Exhilaration from her speed took the edge off her fear. She saw a lake in the distance but was unsure if it was a mirage. The desert sometimes did that to a person.

  Stubby trees and brush appeared next to the road in the red dirt, and a forest of trees sprang up ahead. Maybe there was a lake. Maybe there were people there who could help her. On the next straight pass, Cassi floored the car. She risked a peek in the rearview mirror and saw that the blue car had rammed into the white one in its rush to follow her. She gave a grim chuckle. Serves them right!

  The next minute another bend appeared. She wrestled with the steering wheel, but she was going too fast to make the turn. Suddenly the car left the road and plunged off the side.

  “Oh, no,” she groaned.

  The car slammed into uneven ground, the front window shattering into an opaque crystal web. Fortunately, she’d landed on a decline with only sparse foliage. Even so, it was all she could do to avoid the few trees, seen so poorly through the broken window. She had nearly regained control when the car again left the ground, dropped down several more feet through the air, and dived into the water.

  The engine cut off abruptly. Cassi had a full ten seconds to breathe a sigh of relief that she was still alive before she realized that the car was sinking. She tried to open the windows, but the electrical system didn’t work without the engine. At least her door was unlocked. Cassi pulled the handle and pounded against the door to no avail. Water seeped in the seams, slowly but surely filling up the inside.
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  “Think,” she told herself aloud. She tried to remember everything she could about being trapped in a sinking car. “The outside water pressure is what’s not letting the doors open,” she said. “So that means I just have to wait until the water fills up the car, and then I can get out—if I can stay conscious long enough.”

  She also thought about trying to break the shattered front window out of its frame but knew from childhood experience with one of Robert’s old cars that doing so was harder than it looked. Better to save her energy for the door.

  There were many variables that Cassi didn’t allow herself to ponder. The car door could come to rest against a big boulder, or Cassi could get stuck. The list went on in her mind, but she refused to dwell on it.

  “Oh, Jared,” she mumbled. “I’m glad you’re not here, but I wish you were.” None of the words made sense, but they did remind her of the manila envelope.

  She grabbed it off the seat and wrapped it into her remaining plastic grocery bag. Then she scooped up the tapestry case and pushed the bag inside among the clothes. Surely, coming from such an expensive house, the case would be waterproof. No matter what, she had to keep that envelope safe.

  The water reached the seat now, and Cassi’s heart pounded. What if she couldn’t hold on to the case? What if it was too heavy? Thinking quickly, she balanced the case on the steering wheel and opened it long enough to remove everything but the plastic-wrapped envelope and the money and phone card Quentin had given her. It would be lighter now. She also tied one end of the gold silk dress pants onto the handle and the other around her waist.

  Soon the water swirled to her chest. Cassi struggled to stop panic from paralyzing her body. She tried each door twice more, but it was hopeless.

  Cassi held the case out of the water for as long as she could, but eventually she was standing on the seat, holding her face up to the ceiling for every last breath. Then the air was gone, and she was completely underwater. She worked her way to the passenger door and pushed with all her might. Just when she thought she would have to try another door, it opened and she dived through, feeling the case trailing behind.

  Her lungs burned as she swam up and away. Where was the top? She was already dizzy with lack of air, and it was all she could do not to give herself up to the welcoming water that embraced her body like a soft bed. Then her head burst through the surface, and she gulped life-giving air.

  Cassi heard voices, and instinctively she swam away from them toward the low brush near the edge of the lake. It seemed to take forever to reach the shore. At last she pulled herself out and the case with her. She lay on the bank for a long time, listening to the faraway shouts, before she found the energy to open the case to check her precious cargo.

  Water had seeped into the case, but not much, and the envelope inside the plastic bag was only damp in a few spots.

  Unlike me, Cassi thought.

  When she had rested enough, Cassi dragged herself to her feet and began walking, suitcase in hand. She didn’t know where she was going, but she had to put some distance between herself and the car. What would they do when they found she wasn’t inside?

  After twenty minutes, she happened upon a large campsite where three tents were pitched near the lake. She had dried enough not to be noticeably wet, unless someone touched her, and she felt she had no choice but to ask for help.

  “Hello,” she said, faking a brightness she didn’t feel.

  “Hello,” echoed a woman near a fire. A younger woman with her smiled.

  “I was wondering if you had a phone,” Cassi said. “My car broke down up the road, and I need to call someone.”

  “We don’t have a cell phone,” answered the older woman. “But there’s a little restaurant up the road. They ought to have a phone. I’d have my husband take you, but he and my brother-in-law took the kids down the way you came. It seems there’s been some kind of accident. Didn’t you see it?”

  “No. It must have been farther down. But thanks. I’ll go up to the restaurant.”

  “Any time.”

  Cassi waited until she was out of sight and then began running, ignoring the smarting of her leg. How long would it be before news of the accident reached the restaurant? She had to be gone long before then.

  The place was larger than she expected. Several tables were full, and three truck drivers sat at the bar, chewing away at thick hoagie sandwiches. “Please, may I use your phone?” Cassi asked the black-haired woman behind the bar. “Actually, what I really need is a taxi. Are there any around here?”

  “Afraid not. At least none that could get here in less than thirty, maybe forty minutes.”

  “Oh, no.” Cassi sat down on a barstool and put her head in her hands.

  “Where do you need to go?” the woman asked.

  “I’m headed to Provo, but my car broke down. I guess I’d like to go someplace to rent another until I can send someone for it. I’m in rather a hurry.”

  The woman lifted her eyes to indicate the truck drivers. “They’re all going that way. You might ask them.”

  Cassi looked at the men. They were all large, and none was clean-shaven. Everything she had ever heard about taking rides from strangers came to mind.

  “Oh, I know what you’re thinking,” the woman said. “And about Bert there in the middle you might be right, but not about the others. They’re good men. Real good men. Why, Joe there’s even one of those Mormons, and he’s got about a hundred kids back in American Fork and a real nice wife. She comes with him now and again, but she’s expecting another baby. He’s headed now to see her.”

  Cassi glanced at the man in question, noticing that he drank 7-Up while the other two sitting with him gulped beer. “Thanks,” she said to the woman.

  “Sure. Let me know if I can make you anything to eat.”

  Cassi nodded, her eyes fixed on the truck driver. She slid off her stool and went to sit on the one next to him. “May I talk with you a minute?” she asked quietly when he looked over at her.

  He regarded her a full five seconds before giving a quick nod. “Excuse me, guys. Nice seeing you.” The other men eyed Cassi curiously, and one made a low comment she couldn’t hear. It was probably just as well. With her new botched haircut and soiled clothing, it wasn’t going to be complimentary.

  The Mormon truck driver slid his sandwich and 7-Up down the bar. “So what’s this about?”

  Cassi glanced at the woman behind the counter, who was now chatting with the other two truck drivers. “She told me you were on your way to American Fork. I’m trying to get to Provo. I was on my way to visit my family there, but my car kind of broke down. It’s pretty much gone, I think. So what I’m wondering is if you’ll give me a lift. You don’t have to take me all the way to Provo, if you don’t want to. Maybe if you know someplace on the way that rents cars . . .” Of course, she didn’t have her credit card and no one would rent to her. “If you do take me to Provo, I can pay you,” she added hastily.

  “I know a little something about cars,” Joe said. “I could take a look at yours.”

  Cassi stifled her impatience, reminding herself that he was only trying to help. “Well, like I said, it’s pretty, uh, sunk. I mean broken. I think it’ll need a whole new engine.”

  “I see,” Joe said.

  Cassi guessed he was probably wondering what she knew about cars. “I’d really appreciate it.”

  “Well, sure, I can give you a ride. I don’t usually pick up passengers. My wife hates it when I do that, but I don’t like to turn my back on a woman in need. I’ll take you to Provo. I’ve even got a cell phone, and we can call your family when we get closer so they can meet us along the freeway. I’m in kind of a hurry. My wife could go into labor any time now. This is the first time all day that I stopped to eat and stretch, and I haven’t slept in two days.”

  “How many children do you have?”

  “This’ll make six.”

  “That’s neat.”

  “What about y
ou?” he said, looking down at the ring on her finger.

  “I’m not married yet. I’m supposed to get married on Saturday.”

  “Oh, so that’s why you’re going to Provo. Well, by all means, let’s get you there on time.” Joe grabbed his sandwich and gave a wave to his friends and the woman behind the bar.

  “Well, I’m not. . .” Cassi hated lying to this nice guy.

  “Not sure you’re getting married? I wasn’t either. But it’s the best thing I ever did.” He went on talking as he helped Cassi up into the high cab. She gave up and listened.

  As they passed the area near where she had driven into the lake, there was a roadblock and Cassi knew she’d been caught. The people stopping them didn’t have uniforms, though she could see some policemen up the road. Fear pounded in her chest. She thought about jumping out and making a run for it but knew she would never make it.

  It was their turn. Cassi held her breathe as a man with a gun strapped around his waist glanced inside the cab and waved them on without a word.

  “What do you suppose they’re looking for?” Joe asked.

  She shrugged.

  “Hey, what’s your name, anyway? I’m Joe.”

  Cassi smiled. “I know. The waitress told me. You can call me Kellie.”

  “All right, Kellie. Tell me about yourself.”

  “Oh, no, I’d much rather hear about your cute children.”

  “What happened to your knee? That looks like a mighty big bandage.”

  “It was an accident. They seem to follow me around.”

  “Yeah, well, I got a kid like that. Her name’s Becca. She gets into every scrape imaginable. The last time was when she fell out of a tree and broke her arm. She was trying to save the cat.”

  Cassi listened to his story, but didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until they entered the freeway. She drifted off to sleep hearing how Becca smuggled a baby pig into her bed.

  The next thing Cassi knew, Joe was shaking her. “We’re there,” he said. Cassi looked around, getting her bearings. “Hey, your clothes are kind of damp. I didn’t realize that. You must be cold.”