by Terri Reed
Where could she be?
“Dear Lord, help!” Don cried.
A strong hand clamped over Caroline’s mouth. The barrel of a handgun dug painfully into her ribs.
“Move!”
The harsh masculine command echoed in her head. There was something vaguely familiar about the voice, but her overwhelmed senses couldn’t latch onto where she’d heard it before.
“Down the stairs.”
Darkness was disorienting. She stumbled down the steps, missing the last stair and landing at the bottom on her hands and knees. She felt an earthen floor. Cool air touched her skin.
The man jerked her to her feet, his hand still in place over her mouth, the gun now at her kidney. “Walk!”
The fire’s toxic fumes didn’t penetrate the tunnel she was being forced to move through. She breathed through her nose. The musky smell of dirt filled her nostrils.
Elijah had been right. There were secret passageways in the house. She’d been following Don when someone grabbed her from behind and dragged her into what she thought was a closet, but actually was the opening to a tunnel. Faintly, she heard Don yelling her name. He must be out of his mind with worry. She knew how important protecting her was to him. Would he think to look in the closet? Would she ever see him again?
Please, God, let him find me before it’s too late.
She had to do something to alert him. Something to save herself. She cocked her elbow and then swung her arm back, using her elbow like a hammer, delivering a hard blow to her captive’s chest.
“Oof!” His hold over her mouth slipped.
She took advantage and sank her teeth in his flesh.
He yanked his hand away with a curse.
Immediately, she let loose as loud a scream as her oxygen-deprived lungs could muster as she tried to push past the man. He caught his balance and punched her hard in her stomach. She doubled over with a swoosh as the air left her body in a pain-filled exhale.
“Your boyfriend won’t hear you,” the man mocked and shoved her forward. “Keep moving.”
Her hands groped the slimy moss-covered sides of the tunnel. Loose dirt tumbled through her fingers. They were far beneath the house. She stumbled on the uneven floor. “Where are you taking me?”
“Shut up!”
Another hard shove sent her lurching forward.
Hopelessness threatened to bring her to her knees. Was this dank blackness going to be her coffin?
Remembering the squeak of a hinge, Don flung open the nearest closet door. He struggled to pull in a breath. Through the thickening smoke he saw hanging coats pushed to one side exposing the back wall. A sooty handprint marred the white paint.
Pulse racing, he stepped into the closet and pushed at the wall. It swung open, revealing a dark hole. Without hesitation, he stepped through. His foot hit the edge of a stair, then air. He went tumbling down, bouncing over the crude stairs, feeling the dig of pain with each bump. He curled, protecting his neck until he landed in a heap at the bottom, the air knocked out of his lungs.
He lay in the pitch-blackness, orienting himself.
None of his nightmares came even close to the suffocating panic rising to choke him.
A woman screamed.
Caroline!
Pulling himself together, he rose and ran toward the sound, toward the woman he loved.
He loved her.
The thought reverberated through him, stretching his already strung out nerves to the point of breaking. He had to find her. Help her. Save her.
If he let her down, he didn’t know what he would do. Or how he would survive knowing he’d failed at the most important moment of his life.
Several agonizing minutes later, Caroline rammed up against a wall. “Ouch!” She rubbed her nose.
The man reached around her. The wall slid back. Light invaded the tunnel revealing another flight of stairs.
“Up!” the man barked. “Don’t try anything funny or I’ll shoot you.”
Scrambling up the steps, she could only hope escape awaited at the top. She wanted to see Don again. She wanted him to hold her and make the big, bad world go away. With him she’d be safe.
The staircase led to the interior of a shed filled with wood workbenches, cluttered with rusted tools. A bright yellow riding lawn mower occupied the space in the center and an overflowing can of empty, glass wine and beer bottles sat in the corner. Possible weapons, if she could only get to one.
Caroline knew where they were. The ramshackle outbuilding on the other side of the detached garage. In the distance she heard the commotion of the firefighters working to control the flames engulfing the main house.
She sent up a silent plea, Please let Don have gotten out in time!
Assessing her surroundings, she gauged the shed to be about five by eight. A set of double doors behind the mower gave her hope. An escape route.
“Don’t even think about it!”
She twisted to look at the man climbing out of the stairwell behind her, holding a gun aimed at her chest.
Paladin.
Confusion whirled in her mind. “Why are you doing this?”
He shoved her away from him. “You’re an abomination. You should never have been born.”
“I don’t understand,” Caroline said. “You’re Aunt Abigail’s brother. You’re family.”
His lips twisted in a sinister grimace. “I’m not family. I should have been. But no, Isabella thought she was too good for me. Me!”
Of course! The pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “You loved my mother. You were the man she talked about in her diary who wouldn’t leave her alone. The man she was afraid of.”
His lip curled at the corner. “If she’d only listened to reason. I would have been good for her.”
She needed to keep him talking and distracted while she inched her way closer to freedom, she said, “But she didn’t love you. She loved Dennis.”
Hatred spiked his gray eyes, making them appear to shine. “That’s right. She married the son of the hired help.” He snorted in derision. “It was insulting.”
“Is that why you claimed to disapprove of Abigail’s marriage to Samuel?”
“Yes! It wasn’t fair. I should have been the one to be accepted into the Maddox clan, not her.”
Swallowing back the rising tide of bile, she stared, seeing the madness in his gaze. “The day of Dennis’s death. You were with him. He told you about the elopement and you pushed him from the hunting perch.”
“No one can prove that.”
Heartsick, she asked, “Does Abigail know? Does she know you killed Dennis and my mother?”
He gave a short bark of dry laughter. “Abigail. Miss High and Mighty. Nabbed the wealthy Samuel Maddox. Rubs my nose in it, she does. She was good enough for a Maddox, but I wasn’t.”
“So you did kill them both.” Caroline inched closer to the mower. If she could get on the other side of the large piece of machinery, she could use it as cover if he started shooting. Her foot rolled on a loose piece of pipe.
Carefully, scooting the pipe behind her with her toe, she asked, “So why did you switch Elijah’s pills?”
“Pills? What are you talking about?” He sounded truly puzzled. He waved the gun. “Stop moving.”
She took another step back. Either he would shoot, or he wouldn’t. “But why come after me? What have I done to you?”
A vein began to bulge on his forehead as his aggravation increased. “You’re a reminder.”
Caroline shuddered. Clearly the man had issues. “Were you the one who tried to strangle me in my room?”
He snorted. “Yes. You’re stronger than you look.”
And hopefully smarter. “And the tree? Did you
set off the charge that brought it down?”
His mouth curved. “I did.” Pride infused in his voice. “I needed some way to keep everyone distracted while I hid and waited for the right moment to strike.”
Her stomach roiled as she inched farther away, moving the pipe on the floor with her foot. “How did you find the passageway under the house?”
“We found it when we were kids.”
“We?”
“Isabella, Dennis and me.” He cackled. “It was our secret.”
She bumped up against the nose of the riding mower. She watched Paladin’s eyes flare as he realized what she was about to do. A bullet slammed into the mower’s engine. She dived behind the mower, her hand quickly palming the pipe and crawled toward the door.
Paladin was on her fast, his hand fisting in her hair. He jerked her to her feet. She came up swinging. The metal piece of pipe glanced off his shoulder. He grabbed her wrist before she could bring the pipe down on his head. He yanked her arm behind her so far she thought it would snap.
“You stupid girl, you’re just like your mother. No one bests me.”
He pushed her toward the mower. “Sit!”
Fear seared her senses. She twisted and lashed out with her fists, her blows landing with useless thuds. Unfazed, he roughly forced her to sit on the wide metal seat. From the pocket of his coat he brought out two white plastic zip ties.
Horrified, Caroline tried to bail off the mower in the opposite direction. He smacked her across the head with the gun. Pain exploded behind her eyes. The room spun. Her arms were jerked forward and bound to the mower’s steering wheel. Next he secured her feet together. The plastic cut into her flesh.
She blinked to clear her vision. Focus, focus. Deep down inside she knew he was going to kill her. Murder her like he’d murdered Isabella and Dennis. Panic threatened to rob her of sanity. She filled her lungs and let out a bloodcurdling scream. Another vicious blow cut the scream off. He yanked a rag from a nearby workbench and stuffed the filthy material into her mouth. She gagged on the bitter taste of mechanical grease and turpentine on the rag.
He rummaged around until he found a can of gasoline. The grin spreading across his face sent terror sliding over her. “Too easy.”
He unscrewed the cap and doused the workbench and walls with the accelerant. He took out a matchbook from his breast pocket. “By the time they all realize there’s another fire, you’ll be a crispy critter.”
With a glee-filled laugh, he lit a match and flipped it toward the workbench.
The horrifying rumble of the gasoline igniting filled her ears. Beyond terrified, Caroline watched the growing blaze consume the shed. She tried to wrench her hands free, her feet. She couldn’t move. Tears stung her eyes. Scorching heat blasted her in the face. She was going to burn to death. An image of Don seared her brain. His beloved face, those mesmerizing eyes. She’d never see him again. Never be able to tell him—
Paladin leaned in close cutting off her thoughts. “Say hello to your mother.”
Then he disappeared out the double doors and into the night. She heard the sound of a motor turn over. The glare of headlights swept past the opened doors as he roared away. She was alone.
Please, Lord, her mind screamed as she yanked against the binds holding her in place. Please don’t let me die like this.
Again she prayed that Don would find her in time. That she’d have the chance to tell him she loved him.
But how would he know where to search?
Don reached the dead end of the tunnel. “No!”
Fear sliced deep gouges through him. He pounded his fist against the wooden wall. He forced himself to breathe. There had to be a way to open this panel. He pushed at the wall. It didn’t budge.
Trying to remain calm and in control of the raging terror strangling him, he ran his hands over the edges until he felt an anomaly in the highest corner. A small lever. Using his fingers, he depressed the lever. The wall slid open to reveal another staircase. Bright light chased away the dark. He flinched, his eyes adjusting. The strong smell of gasoline assaulted him. The sizzle of a blaze raised the hairs at the back of his neck.
Caroline.
He rushed up the stairs. The sight that met his eyes stole his breath.
Caroline was secured to a lawn mower. Her head lolled to the side, her eyes were closed. He had to reach her before the fire caused the gas in the mower’s tank to explode.
“Please, God, don’t let her die. Please answer me with a yes this one time!”
He rushed forward. The walls began to crumble around them. Cinders burned through his shirt but he barely noticed the sting. A pair of garden shears hung on a hook by the door. He yanked them down and snipped the ties binding Caroline to the mower. He scooped her up in his arms and ran out the double doors.
Dropping to his knees a safe distance away from the burning shed, he laid her carefully on the soft, wet ground. He placed two fingers on the artery in her neck. She had a pulse. “Thank You, God.”
But she wasn’t breathing.
A fresh wave of alarm broke over him. He tilted her head back, pinched her nose, closed his mouth over hers and exhaled. When the air was expelled from his lungs, he lifted his head to draw in a big breath and repeated the process, filling her with oxygen.
She coughed. Relief infused him, washing away the tension in his chest. He gathered her close, love for this incredible woman overflowing within his heart. She’d endured so much.
“Caroline, talk to me,” Don urged, stroking back a lock of hair from her beautiful face. Using his thumb, he wiped black soot from the fire away from her cheek.
Her eyelids fluttered open. Fear flared. She let out a gasp.
“Shh, you’re safe.” Don drew her closer.
She struggled to sit up. “Paladin. He’s getting away. He killed Isabella and Dennis.”
Sheriff Gantz crouched beside them. “He won’t get far.”
Suddenly they were surrounded. Firemen in turn-out gear worked to put out the burning shed.
The Maddox family crowded around them. Concern and fear was etched on their faces.
“What happened?” Samuel asked, alarm ringing in his tone.
Abigail wiped at her tears. “Is she okay?”
The twins huddled close to their parents.
“The paramedics are waiting.” Gantz gestured to the two uniformed men hovering nearby with their gear.
Don acknowledged them with a nod. “Let the paramedics take care of you.”
He tried to hand her over, but her hands fisted in his shirt, keeping him from moving.
“You’re here,” she said with awe in her voice. “I prayed you’d come.” She snuggled closer, laying her head against his heart. “I love you.”
Her words seared through him more painfully than any fire possibly could. He loved her, too. Loved her enough to know that he had to let her go. For her sake. He couldn’t take the risk that he’d ever hurt her, disappoint her. She’d had enough of that in her life. Tears burned the back of his eyes but he forced them back.
The Rules of Protection were in place for a reason. If he stayed true to the tenets he’d lived by his adult life, then he couldn’t hurt or disappoint anyone.
Hardening his heart against the ache of loss that scored him to the core, he staggered to his feet and carried Caroline to the waiting ambulance bay. The paramedics took over, placing her on the gurney and hoisted her into the back of the vehicle. Don climbed in beside her.
He job wasn’t finished until Paladin was captured.
She clutched his hand, her gaze searching his face. “Don?”
“Everything will be fine,” he assured her.
Though he knew he’d never be fine again. Not without her.
&n
bsp; “Randall is behind bars,” Sheriff Gantz announced as he entered Caroline’s hospital room.
Caroline let out a sigh of relief. The threat to her life was over. She no longer had to fear that someone wanted her dead.
“Where did you find him?” Don rose from the chair he’d been occupying for the past twelve hours while she recovered from smoke inhalation.
Her injuries could have been so much worse. She could have been burned, but she knew deep in her soul God had put a hedge of protection around her, keeping the fire at bay until Don arrived. Her hero. Love flooded through her. She vaguely remembered telling him of her feelings, but the memory was jumbled. Had she only thought the words, or had she said them out loud?
Needing to feel connected to him, she reached for his hand.
He slipped his hand over hers, the warmth of his skin sending tingles up her arm. He had to have feelings for her too, right?
“Nabbed him at the airport. He had a one-way ticket to France. Cashed out his bank accounts and intended to disappear,” the sheriff said. “He made a full confession to the murders of Isabella and Dennis, and the attempts on Caroline’s life.”
Don narrowed his gaze. “And what of Elijah and the pills?”
Gantz shook his head. “Denies any involvement in that.”
“He said the same to me,” Caroline stated, remembering Paladin’s puzzlement when she brought up the subject.
“However, we do have a suspect in custody in the attempt to poison Mr. Maddox.”
“Who?” Caroline asked.
“Abigail Maddox,” Don supplied without any surprise.
Caroline gasped.
“That’s correct,” Gantz confirmed. “We traced the purchase of the salt tablets to her.”
Stunned, Caroline tried to make sense of it. “Why would she do that?”
“Apparently she’s been pressuring Samuel to move away, but he won’t leave while Elijah is still alive,” Gantz supplied.
Don squeezed her hand. “When Elijah became ill she saw an opportunity to hurry his death along.”