by Vella, Wendy
“Mel!” Lani dug deep and found the strength to put a smile on her lips as she eased her arm from Katie’s grip. Pointing to the phone she then mouthed the words, “won’t be long,” and headed out the door. Please don’t follow.
“Not Mel, but your worst nightmare. Don’t run from me again, Lani. This time I have you.”
Once she was out of sight, she dropped the phone and ran. Sprinting down the street, fumbling with her keys, Lani managed to find the right one when she reached the back of the shop. Unlocking the door to the Howlery, she took the stairs two at a time. Grabbing her bag, she grabbed a handful of clothes and pushed them in. She likely had five minutes before someone arrived, probably Noah.
Don’t run from me again, Lani. This time I have you.
Fear clawed at her as she tried to pack her things.
Where was he? Was he in Lake Howling?
The moan slipped from her lips, so she clamped them together. Her thoughts were a mess and she was struggling to function. Running back down the stairs with her things spilling out of her bag, she found Buddy. Dropping to her knees, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I love you, B-Buddy, but I can’t t-take you with me.” The dog whined and leaned into her. Tears choked her as she struggled to let his large warm body go.
“Remember me, and take care of Bandit,” she whispered with a final kiss on his head. She walked out and didn’t look back. Unlocking her Bronco, she climbed in and turned the key in the ignition with tears raining down her face.
“I thought my phone call would have you running, Elaine. Now let’s find someone to marry us, and then I’ll kill you.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Jake had won him at auction, which did not bode well for Noah, because he’d be mowing his lawns and cleaning his gutters for a day. He’d have something to say to Lani when he reached her. She’d promised him. Mind you, he knew how persuasive his friend could be.
Lani. He looked to where she had stood next to Cubby and found her gone. Restroom, he thought. She’d be back. Why, then, did he suddenly feel on edge?
Leaving the stage, he nodded and shook hands on his way to the table. Cubby intercepted him.
“Something’s off with Lani. Come with me.”
He didn’t hesitate, just followed the sheriff to the reception area where they could talk.
“What’s going on, where is she?”
“Tex showed her the newspaper with her picture in it, the one of us all at the Potato Festival, and she freaked out. Went pale and started shaking. I stood with her, and then the Findlays started acting up, so I had to go bang their heads together. She took that moment to leave, but Katie intercepted her.”
“Where is she now?”
“Ella said there was a call for her. She took it, and someone called Mel was on the other end. She fake smiled to Katie, then walked out the door. Katie took a minute to find me and let me know she was going after her.”
Noah didn’t hesitate he ran through the Howler and out the back door, sprinting to where Lani’s Bronco should be parked with Cubby on his heels.
“She’s gone.” He felt like someone had punched him hard in the gut. His breath came out as a wheeze.
“Head down between your knees, bud.” He felt Cubby’s hand on the back of his neck.
“I’m okay, just a shock,” he managed to get out. “She promised she wouldn’t leave without talking to me first.”
“I don’t think she intended to.”
“Sure she did.” Noah hauled in a deep breath. “She wanted to go, so she went.” Ice filled his veins. “Her choice.”
“You’re shitting me, right?” Cubby got up in his face. “The girl clearly loves you, and left because something scared her.”
“What’s going on?” Katie and Tex arrived. “Katie said something’s off with Lani.”
“She’s gone, end of story.” Noah felt weird, like he couldn’t think clearly. His hands were sweaty and his vision was all over the place. Maybe he was having some kind of medical emergency. At least Cubby and Katie were here to save him.
“What? Don’t be an idiot. She’s running because of that phone call and her picture in the paper,” Katie said.
“I need to get back to the Howler. Faith will be wondering where I’ve gone.” His voice sounded distant.
“Don’t be a fuckhead,” Tex snapped. “Snap out of it!”
“Get out of my way,” Noah growled at the Texan as he blocked his next step. “Her choice was to leave me.”
“She’s in danger, Noah. The woman you love is running scared, and you’re letting her go.”
“She’s running from me!”
The slap came from Katie, and it was hard enough to snap his head sideways.
“Now you listen to me, bonehead. That girl was happy tonight, and for whatever reason, she’s decided to love you. She’s now in trouble, and we’re all she has, so snap out of whatever is going on with you so we can start looking for her. If she promised to tell you when she was leaving, she would. So wise up!”
And just like that, the fog in his head lifted and he looked around at the faces of his friends.
“Shit!”
“Well hallelujah, he’s back,” Tex said.
“I— That was weird.” He shook his head, then ran to the back door of the Howlery. Hoping Lani hadn’t locked it, he tried the handle. Buddy was barking as it swung open. The dog bounded out, and Noah headed for the stairs with the others on his heels.
“She may have left something, anything to say who she is or where she’d go.” Now that he was thinking rationally, he was filled with panic. Lani was in danger, he knew it. She needed him to find her.
“I’m going to lift the mattress now, Bandit, so you hold on,” Cubby said.
They searched everywhere. It was Jake who found the small brown envelope in the bottom of a drawer, wedged in the pages of a book on dog essentials.
“It could be nothing.” Tex handed it to Noah. “Or something.”
He opened it and pulled out the contents. One was a credit card, the others were newspaper articles and some paper with handwriting on it.
“There’s a name on the card, Elaine May Dwight.” Was that Lani’s real name?
“I’m guessing that’s her name,” Katie said, “and it’s no shock because we knew something was off with her, that she was hiding. What we don’t know is why.”
“Jesus,” Tex said.
“What?” Noah and the others looked at him.
“I’m 90 percent sure I know that name.”
“From where?” Noah felt a fist squeeze his lungs as he looked at his friend. He’d wanted to know about her, needed to know her story. It seemed now he would.
“Not sure, but give me a minute.”
“I need to find her. Where do we start?” He looked at Katie and Cubby.
“Let’s take this to the Lair, where I have a computer and can research what we need and work out how to get her back,” Cubby said.
“If the danger she’s running from has caught up with her, there’s no time to waste,” Noah said. “We have to start looking now!”
“I understand that, but we need to do this right, and first things first, Cubby can put out a bulletin that he wants her found, and the details. We don’t know where to start, Noah, or what we’re facing. Doing this will help us with that, and likely find her faster.”
He didn’t want to wait; he wanted her back now. Was she scared? Hurting? The thought made nausea roll around in his stomach.
They ran to the Lair with Buddy on their heels. Cubby unlocked it and sprinted through the office to deactivate the alarm. The others followed silently.
“What’s going on? I saw you guys running across the street.” Buster had bruises under his eyes and wore ripped shorts and a faded sweater. He was wearing his usual worn sneaker’s. “I was out walking. Willow and Emily are down for the night.”
“Lani’s gone, and we think something from her past sparked that,�
�� Cubby said. “Take a load off, Daddy, we’re just about to learn her identity. Katie, you call in Tank. And I’ll put out the word anyone sighting the Bronco needs to call me ASAP.”
“Okay. Elaine May Dwight.” Cubby typed the name into his laptop. “Talk to me, Tex.”
The scent of coffee soon filled the room as Katie prepared it. Everyone either stood or sat and waited.
“I think she may be the only child of Sydney and Michelle Dwight. The father is a big deal in foreign investments. He’s like this business guru and everything he touches turns to gold. He takes losses but mostly wins. My uncle knows him. He’s worth millions. But I remember there was something off that happened with them a few years ago.”
Lani was rich. Then why was she running?
“Was worth millions. Both parents are dead in a boating accident.” Katie read the words over Cubby’s shoulder.
Noah opened the newspaper clippings he still held in one fist. One was of a much younger and happier Lani. She wore a suit and stood between who he guessed were her parents. Smiling, she had blonde hair and carried more weight.
“She’s their daughter, all right. It’s got all their names here, and a picture of Lani with blonde hair.” He handed it to Buster and then opened the paper with writing on.
“I noticed her roots were light,” he said, taking the clipping.
“It disturbs me when you say stuff like that.” Cubby glared at Buster. “Man the fuck up.”
Noah opened the piece of paper he held and looked down at the words. Lani’s handwriting.
“‘If you find this and I’m dead, you need to know that I was murdered by Barnaby Lester.’ Jesus!”
Buster sat with a thud. “That’s one hell of an opening line right there.”
“It’s a few pages, let me read it, then I’ll tell you what it says while Cubby looks up any info he can find.”
Noah read, while around him they talked, and by the end of the pages he knew exactly why Lani was on the run and that he wanted to kill the bastard responsible.
“Listen up.” All eyes turned his way.
“It says her parents died and she became friends with the family lawyers, mainly the son. After a year, they became engaged. One night she paid him a surprise visit and he was in bed with a woman. She overheard them talking. He said he’d marry Lani—or Elaine—”
“She’s Lani to us,” Tex added.
“The fiancé said he’d then get rid of her and change the will and they’d be rich.”
“Asshole,” Buster snarled.
“She tried to leave, and he heard her. Then the explanations came, how he was sorry. She didn’t buy it and said she wanted to end the engagement. He grabbed her.” Noah could feel his blood heating up. He’d kill the bastard when he got hold of him.
“What do you mean, grabbed?” Tex asked.
“Kidnapped her and put her in a room for four fucking days!” Noah got to his feet and walked in circles as he read the letter again. “He then tried to drug her, but Lani was on to it and managed to spit it out when he left the room. Short story, he was going to marry her and had a tame priest to do it. Lani knew after he’d manipulated the will she’d be a dead woman, so she climbed out the window and managed to get to her friend. Once there, she called in the police and told them her story.”
“Don’t tell me, let me guess.” Cubby held up a hand. “They didn’t believe her. These lawyers were a big deal in town and had a bit of pull?”
Noah nodded. “The police called the guy and his dad; seems the old man was in on it. They wanted Lani’s money. She said in the letter her parents made the lawyers executors, and she couldn’t get her inheritance till she turned thirty.”
“That doesn’t sound right. I don’t know anyone who has that setup,” Tex said. “Sounds like the lawyer may have changed something there.”
“Likely there was a dirty cop in on it too. It sounds like every bad movie I’ve ever watched,” Cubby snarled.
“Yes, and she realized there was no hope, so she ran again with her friend’s help. The friend, her number is here, her name is Mel.”
“Give it to me, I’ll call her,” Katie said. “That’s the name Lani said into the phone earlier.”
“There’s a lot of stuff here from the ex asshole saying he’s desperate to find her, and that he fears for her mental state,” Cubby said reading the screen. “How he wants her back because he loves her which is clearly all a cover up.”
“What if he has her?” Noah needed to move. Had to find Lani, the woman he loved with everything he had. He realized now what he’d felt for Samantha was nothing compared to this. He would have made a life with her and the child, but this… this hurt. The pain of knowing that Lani was out there somewhere scared, possibly alone… or maybe not.
“Is this Melanie Green?”
“It is. Who is this?”
Katie had put the call on speaker phone.
“I’m a friend of Lani’s, or should I say Elaine’s.”
There was silence on the other end.
“I’m from Lake Howling, Oregon, and Lani has been staying and working here,” Katie added.
“How did you get my number?”
“From a letter Lani had in her room.”
“Where is she?” There was panic in the voice now. “Has that bastard got her?”
“We don’t know but we think she’s in trouble.”
“It’s him, it has to be!”
“This is Noah Harris, Melanie, I’m close with Lani.”
“Are you her Noah?”
“What?”
“She mentioned you, said you were a nice guy. Are you that guy?”
Lani had talked about him. The thought was a good one but did nothing to ease the panic inside him.
“I am, and I love her.” It felt right to say it, so he did. “I need to find her, Melanie.”
“Mel, and I hope you are a good guy or I’m hurting you.”
“I’d deserved it if I did. I read the letter she left in case he got her.” Noah couldn’t say, killed. “This guy, her ex, he’s still looking for her, right?”
“He is, and won’t stop because he wants her money and walks just this side of insanity, but there’s something else you don’t know.”
Noah wasn’t sure he could take more.
“She attacked the asshole the same night he told her he was keeping her in the room until she changed the will and married him.”
“What did he do to her?” It came as a low growl.
“He tried to rape her, but Nutty used her comb on his face and now he has a scar, and that’s why this is about more than just money. He was handsome and vain. He blames her for ruining his looks and told me he wouldn’t stop until she was dead.”
“Nutty?” Katie asked.
“Her love of peanut butter,” Noah and Mel said at the same time.
“A local paper ran a picture of her. She took a call and said it was you, but I think it was him,” Katie said.
“He’s got contacts for sure,” Mel said. “He’s never stopped looking for her and if he saw the paper he’d have headed to your town immediately.”
“Got a sighting of her Bronco,” Cubby said. “Let’s go! Tex, put the helicopter up and head to Watling Lake. The sighting was on Johnson Hill, which comes down into there.”
“Buster can be my eyes,” Tex said. “Let’s go, Baker Boy.”
“I just wanted a peaceful walk in the night air.” Buster sighed, following the Texan from the room.
“Find her, Noah, and bring her back, and if you happen to get rid of that asshole, I won’t be upset,” Mel said before he cut the call.
“Right, let’s get your girl back.” Cubby armed himself and Katie, then threw a badge at Noah and handed him a gun. No shooting, leave that to me if necessary. This is for intimidation.”
He nodded, but he’d shoot if Lani was in danger. She was his now, and he wanted her back. Then he’d never let her go again.
“Pete from
Brook was heading back from his brother’s place and saw the Bronco. He passed, then pulled off the road. He’s following, so we’ll get him on radio in the car. He said there are two people in the Bronco.”
Noah’s veins filled with ice.
“Let’s go, Buddy, we’re going to bring our girl home.” The dog had been pressed to his side since they’d entered the Lair.
“If he puts hair all over the place, you’re vacuuming,” Cubby said.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Four years, Elaine. Four years of hating you and waiting. Four years of pretending you’d gone mad and run away. I talked to the press constantly, saying how worried I was for your state of mind since your parents died. No one will be surprised if you’re found dead. That bitch Melanie tried to speak out, but my voice holds more weight than yours.”
“You leave Mel alone!”
“If you sign those papers, I will.”
He sat beside her, gun pointed at her head. The man who had forced her to run from the life she’d always known. Looking at him now, she realized she’d been a coward. She should have tried to fight. Find a way to get her money and do that. She’d been scared and unworldly; she was neither of those things now.
“How did you find me?” It was dark out, the Bronco’s headlights picked up the road and trees but little else. They’d left Lake Howling and the man she loved behind thirty minutes ago, and only now was Barnaby Lester talking. Everything was always on his terms Mind games were how he lived his life and got his kicks. She’d been blinded by his looks and charm. Grief had overwhelmed her, and she’d fallen for him hard when he’d shown interest in her.
“I’d been monitoring Melanie’s calls, and imagine how good I felt when I realized you’d made contact. I couldn’t get a location, but then my luck changed. Actually, quite by chance. We have clients in the gene modification industry, so I saw what had happened there and looked online, and there you were in that photo. Who is the man you were tied to in the race? Someone special?”
“No.”
“I believe that. You were always the ice queen. Mommy and Daddy’s little princess. Spoilt with no clue how the real world works.” His words were a sneer.