Lights, Camera, Bones by Carolyn Haines

Author:Carolyn Haines
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

22

As we made our escape, we hadn’t seen the black Escalade. I could only think there was another road in and out of the lodge. I was just glad they hadn’t seen us or the Roadster.

Tinkie drove slowly, watching ahead and behind us for any signs of the two men. “Do you really think Brandon is involved in the kidnapping of his grandson?” she asked. “Why would Senator Brandon do that?”

“It’s impossible to say. Why would he want to wreck his grandson’s career? Especially since the movie paints the Brandon family as noble and heroic for saving so many lives during the flood.”

“Maybe Brandon was meeting with Bilbo to discuss paying a ransom to get Marlon back.”

“That’s a possibility.” We didn’t have enough evidence to make an informed guess, much less a legal charge.

“Where is Marlon now?” Tinkie asked. “If he was the person tied and taped to that chair, where did he go?”

“Do I look like the Wizard of Oz?” I parried, but with a chuckle. “I feel certain that except for the kidnappers, Marlon is the only person who can tell us what really happened.”

“The good news is that I feel pretty sure he’s alive.”

Tinkie was always the optimist, but I shared her feeling. I believed Marlon had been abducted and detained at the lodge. Now he had been moved. If they went to the trouble to move him alive, then he would likely remain alive. “Maybe they just want to kill the movie. If Marlon is out of action for another few days, the cast and crew will disband and go home. The grant for the raft documentary will be withdrawn by the film commission. The movie will be dead and there won’t be any bringing it back to life.”

“Which may be the case. What would the senator have to gain by this?” Tinkie asked just before we hit a bump that knocked the breath out of both of us.

“Control of the family history. Punishment to Marlon because he left Greenville and the family. A payback to the son and daughter-in-law he detested.”

“Old men do carry a lot of grudges,” Tinkie said. “Old women, too.”

I knew she was thinking of her mother, who still hadn’t shown up to see her only grandchild. I was at the point of tracking Mrs. Bellcase down and giving her an earful.

At last we made it to the highway and started back to Greenville. “We need to figure out where Bilbo and Brandon are,” she said. “They may lead us to Marlon.”

“Let’s make sure Ana is out of jail. I’m sure they won’t hold her. But we can get her to follow one of them and I’ll take the other. You need to go home to see Maylin.”

“That isn’t fair. I can’t keep pushing all the work off on you.”

“You aren’t, and there’s something you can do. Rent us a four-wheel-drive truck. I have a very funny feeling we’re going to need it. The Roadster is too recognizable.”

Tinkie’s face lit up. “I’ve always wanted to drive one of those things with the giant tires.

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