Warm, Yummy, Wet & Salty: Black Star Canyon: Book 2 (Black Star Canyon Mystery Novel)
Page 24
Both Sue and Dyer agreed.
“Stay back, but make sure you have her in your sight at all times.”
“Got it,” Dyer said.
The three walked slowly up the hill towards Lookout Point. Sue was flushed. She was blinking her eyes repeatedly. Her mouth was dry.
“You okay?” Lukas asked.
“No, but let’s get this over with,” she said.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Lukas said.
Sue trusted the look in his eyes and smiled. “Okay.”
“I’m not gonna let anything happen to you either,” Dyer said. “Hello?”
Sue quietly giggled. “I know. Thanks. Let’s do this.”
Lukas ran to the cliffside and Sue went up ahead. Dyer stayed about twenty feet behind her with his gun drawn. Sue just walked straight up the hill while Lukas and Dyer had their eyes combing the darkness.
After about fifteen minutes of sneaking around and waiting, Lukas had the feeling that Norm wasn’t going to show. He looked out over the canyon and could see the darkness, the stars, the moon and the city lights, far out in the distance. It was a beautiful place.
Maybe Norm just wanted Sue to remember a place they went when times were good? Maybe, he saw that he and Dyer were with her and aborted whatever sick and horrible plan he had. Lukas looked at his watch and it was twenty-three minutes after.
“I’m calling it,” Lukas shouted. “I don’t think he’s gonna show.”
Just then, other voices cut through the night. “Help! Help us!”
“Eric?” Sue shouted.
Lukas could tell that the voices came from behind him. But that didn’t make any sense because he was on the edge of the cliff. Then it dawned on him to look down.
“Lukas!” Eric yelled. “Help!”
Lukas looked and saw Eric and Elizabeth hanging on for dear life on the edge of the cliff. Lukas dove down just as Eric’s fingers slipped off the side. He grabbed his arm with one hand. Elizabeth quickly grabbed onto Lukas’s other arm.
“Eric?” Sue shouted, “Where are you?”
“I got him,” Lukas yelled back. “I need your help though!”
Dyer and Sue started running towards Lukas’s voice. Once Sue got within sight of Lukas lying on the edge of the cliff, she screamed, “Eric!”
Dyer lifted his gun and brought it down swiftly on top of Sue’s head. She fell to the ground and Dyer put his foot on the back of her neck.
“Help me guys! Come on!” Lukas shouted. “I can’t lift them both up!”
“Mom,” Eric screamed “Help us!”
“Please Lukas, I don’t want to die,” Elizabeth said through tears.
“Dyer!” Lukas shouted. “Get over here and help me!”
Sue opened her eyes. “She couldn’t move her head. All she could see was Lukas’s feet about a yard away from her. “Help.” She said. “He’s here, Lukas. Norm is here!”
“Not Norm, sweetie,” Dyer said. “Just me.”
“Dyer?” Sue said. “What are you doing?”
“I’m showing you how much I care,” Dyer said. “I have been in love with you for the last couple years and all you ever do is go gaga over Detective Wonderful over there.”
Lukas could barely hear what was going on over Eric and Elizabeth’s cries for help. “What is going on you two?”
“I really appreciate that thing about your husband coming to kill you,” Dyer said. “I was really afraid that people were starting to put it together. I thought, I was caught that night and then POW you come up with that Norm story and really calmed my nerves.”
“Dyer, please let me get my son,” she asked.
“No way,” Dyer said. “That’s the other guy that I have been competing with the last couple years. Good riddance.”
Sue was crying hysterically. “Why would you think that I would want you after you did something so freaking stupid like this?”
Dyer wasn’t expecting that question. “Well, the man told me. The man on the phone. He told me that this would work. He told me everything to do. Who to grab. What time to grab them. When to do that on the steps. He knew everything.”
“What man on the phone?” she asked.
Lukas was losing his grip. Not only that, but his body was being pulled closer to the edge of the cliff. “Okay, I don’t know what’s going on behind me right now, but I need one of you to try to climb up my arm and over me to safety. Can one of you do that?”
“I can’t,” Eric said. “My collar bone is broke now for sure. This hurts so bad.” Tears and agony were all over his face.
“What about you Elizabeth?” Lukas asked.
“I don’t want to die,” she said. “Please help me. I don’t want to die.”
“Can you climb up my arm?” Lukas shouted.
“I don’t know!” She screamed. “Just save me, please!
Dyer was getting frustrated. “You know Sue, all that shouting is making me very, very nervous.”
“Please, calm down.” She said. “Please don’t be nervous.”
“Do you remember, just a little while ago, that cowboy over there said he wouldn’t let anything hurt you? Do you remember that?” he asked.
“Yes,” Sue said. “I remember.”
“He is breaking his promise to you right now, don’t you think?” Dyer asked.
“I guess so,” Sue said.
“I told you that I wouldn’t let anything happen to you either, and here I am in complete control of the situation,” Dyer said.
Sue’s hands were wandering down towards her waist.
“What are you doing, lover?” Dyer asked.
“Nothing,” she said.
“Where is your gun?” he asked.
“Waistband,” she replied.
“Then move your hands up above your head please darling,” he said. “But make sure you can still see Lukas lying there. I want you to have the full view when I put a bullet in the back of his head.”
“No, please don’t,” she begged. “He’s trying to save Eric.”
“Oh, I was going to wait until he dropped that little jerk to his death,” Dyer said. “I want your last memory of him being the utter failure that he is. Then, I’ll blow off the back of his skull.”
“No,” Sue cried. “Please, if you love me, you will help him.”
Dyer laughed. “I tried the knight in shinning armor crap with you for two years and it got me nowhere! I decided to be a little more proactive.”
“What do you think I’m going to do after you kill my son?” she yelled. “Do you think I am going to love you?”
Dyer smiled. “Honestly, this is one of those classic, romantic gestures. If I can’t have you, no one can.”
“Just help my son! Please!” she screamed.
“No way!” Dyer screamed back. Lukas has to fail. You have to see it. You have to see your superhero not save your son’s life. You have to understand what a weak and shattered human being he is.
Lukas’s grip was slipping on both of them. He could see the fear in both of their eyes. He was sure that they could also see the fear in his. Slowly but surely, every second that went on, gravity was pulling him closer and closer to falling off the edge as well. Something had to happen and it had to happen fast.
“One of you help me, please!” he shouted. “I can’t hold on much longer!”
Dyer laughed. “See, I told you he was gonna fail. Any second now, your boy toy is going to drop your son and his whore to their deaths.” Dyer pointed the gun at Lukas and pulled back the hammer on the gun.
“No!” Sue screamed.
Their cries echoed through the canyon.
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Summer 2017
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