by C A Phipps
“I’m so glad you could make it. Come in.”
Caleb!
A light flicked on blinding them all for a second. The darkness had hidden not only Caleb but also Brad and Angel, who were tied to chairs.
Laura gasped once more, Suzy said something rude, while Maddie fumbled in the corner for Grandad’s shotgun. It wasn’t loaded, but he didn’t know that. A large hand clamped over her wrist and squeezed until she let the gun fall to the ground. She’d momentarily forgotten about Ambrose and paid the price. Her hand throbbed.
Caleb’s self-satisfied grin was therefore doubly annoying, but worse, he held a wicked looking army knife at Angel’s throat.
“What a bunch of fools you are.” He nodded at Maddie. “I figured you’d still be the most trouble. You have a reputation for interfering—from Maple Falls, all the way to Destiny. Luckily I anticipated your every move, down to finding getting my idiot brother to come out of hiding. A clever move, taking your phone, Angel. It forced Brad’s hand which was very timely.”
Maddie’s wrist ached where Ambrose still held a firm hold. She tried to shake him free, but he twisted her arm behind her back. She winced.
“Stop that!” Angel’s face turned a mottled pink as she struggled against her bindings.
Caleb laughed. “I hardly think you’re in a position to tell me what to do.” The knife pricked her skin, and a droplet of blood appeared. “Did you have something else to say?” he asked pleasantly.
“What do you want with us, Caleb?” Chillier than the lake in winter, Angel’s voice rang around the cabin.
“It’s simple. I want the tin, Angel. Perhaps, with your friends likely to get hurt if you don’t, you’ll now tell me where it is?”
Angel’s frustration boiled over as she pulled at her bonds. “I’ve told you over and over. I know nothing about a tin.”
“Don’t play games,” he sneered. “You better hand it over if you don’t want your friends to get hurt.”
Angel strained at her ropes, and few more drops of blood appeared. “Leave them out of this. I can’t help because I’ve never seen the darn thing!”
“Too late. You should have thought about them before you began snooping and inviting everyone to play in Brad’s game.”
“You have me. Leave them alone!” Brad squirmed in his bonds, angry and suddenly not afraid to show it.
Caleb back-handed his brother, snapping his head back, and Brad hissed through his teeth. The whack added a welt to other injuries. Namely, a black eye and dried blood under his nose which was very red.
Brad and Caleb eyeballed each other, and it wasn’t pretty. It was an odd thing to see two men looking exactly alike and yet so different. One’s face was filled with hatred and murderous intentions. The other a mixture of angry and sad.
Brad tried again. “We don’t have to do this, Caleb.”
His brother sneered. “You’ve made sure that we do. Without that tin, you’re no use to me at all.”
“It’s too late to pin anything in me, can’t you accept that?” Brad pleaded.
“I’m accepting nothing. If you hadn’t been such a wimp, we could have carried on making a fortune forever.”
Brad shook his head morosely. “We were going to get caught, it was a matter of time.”
“Who says? You? A pathetic loser. You were the perfect patsy. I could have got away with everything if it hadn’t been for these interfering women. Namely your wife.” Caleb spat the words out with venom as he poked Brad in the chest several times.
Angel took exception. “Ex-wife, if you don’t mind? All we can hear is how tough things are for Caleb. You are the most selfish and despicable brother alive.”
“Careful, Blondie. You aren’t in any position to bad-mouth me. You lived with a drunk and you spent his money. Where do you think that came from?”
“I made my own money, thank you very much. FYI, it’s called loyalty and love, things you have no idea about. Brad had that in spades for you, but you could never see it. He might have lived a normal life without you pushing him to do your dirty work while you sat back and took most of the profits. If he’s a drunk, then so are you.”
Caleb’s attention was now focused solely on her. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Really? Just because you think I’m a dumb blonde doesn’t mean I was blind. Ask Brad. I begged him so many times to tell you to go away and leave us alone. Those were the times he got violent because you are the only kin he cares about. Doesn’t that speak more than words?”
Caleb shrugged. “I can pay people to work for me. I don’t need anyone else.”
Angel shook her head. “Why that’s just the saddest thing I ever heard. We all need someone. You’re going to end up one very lonely old man.”
Caleb gave a horrible laugh. “Don’t bet on it. Women love money. That’s all they care about.”
Laura recoiled, and Maddie gripped her hand to keep her from commenting. Angel had this. She was a warrior and awesome to witness in action.
Caleb nodded at the heavy. “Get outside and make sure we’re not disturbed, this may take some time.”
He actually rubbed his hands together.
“Brad? Are you okay?” Maddie called to him.
Did Caleb attack his brother or was it something that happened in his escape from jail? Where was the tin of proof, if neither twin had it?
She was so confused around the how and why of this and only Brad could answer those questions.
“Don’t tell me you’re carrying a torch for the good twin when you have a Sheriff in the wings? You could have been with a real man, same as Angel if she’d bothered to look around, but the school jocks always trump the scholar, right?”
The sarcasm dripped from him like acid. He smacked Maddie across the face and threw her onto the sofa then grabbed Angel by the hair. She shrieked with pain, and the other women moved forward as one.
“You think you can take me before blondie gets this knife in her throat? Shall we see how that ends?” He waved to them with the knife, his face alight with a sickening excitement.
He must be drunk. Surely that’s what was wrong with him; what fueled his anger to this disgusting extent?
Maddie narrowed her eyes, standing slowly, waiting until the knife was in the highest arc before lashing out with her leg in a swipe she hadn’t used since she was a teenager. It was a move Grandad had shown her, and she put everything she had into it.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Caleb’s legs folded and Suzy jumped on his back. Small she might be, but when it came to her friends, she was like a tiger, twisted ankle or not. She scratched his face as he tried to shake her off. Meanwhile, Laura locked the door, picked up the lamp and without hesitation smashed it over Caleb’s head before he could call out.
He collapsed onto the rug—out cold.
Maddie crouched beside him and checked his pulse. “He’ll be okay,” she reassured the pale-faced Laura. “Suzy, cut the knots on the ropes but leave them long enough so I can re-use them. Laura check the back door’s locked, but stay away from the windows.”
Suzy made quick work of it, and soon Maddie had bound Caleb hand and feet with knots that would certainly hold until help arrived.
“What about the big guy,” Suzy asked, watching the door, her faced pinched. Clearly, even kneeling to cut the ropes caused her considerable pain.
Maddie pulled out a drawer from the large oak dresser and grabbed the key for the gun cupboard. Laying in the drawer alongside them was an old phone that had been left here for emergencies. This certainly qualified. Maddie switched it on, with fingers mentally crossed. She already knew there was no reception inside the cabin or close by, and one bar of battery indicated she wouldn’t have much time.
“Ahh, Maddie.” Suzy pointed at the gun cupboard.
Maddie hadn’t noticed that it was jimmied open, and she began a search of the cabin.
“Over here,” Angel found the guns and ammunition in a
duffel bag in a corner of the room.
Maddie took the ammunition and quickly loaded Grandad’s shotgun.
“Will you kill him?” Laura’s horror etched itself on her face.
“Not if I can help it. Come with me to the back door and lock it after me.”
Angel grabbed her arm. “Stay in here. Please? We can hold him off.”
Maddie glanced around at the other women who had no idea how to shoot a gun. Brave as they were it was up to her to make sure they stayed safe.
“We can’t take the chance that the guy out there isn’t capable of breaking in and killing all of us, so we don’t identify him.”
“I should be the one to do this.” Brad volunteered. “Ambrose White has a chip on his shoulder, and he’s no gentleman.”
“I’m a pretty good shot.” Maddie had no false modesty over this fact.
“Then I’ll come to be your backup. It’s only right.” He helped himself to another gun and loaded it.
Maddie hesitated, and Brad saw her uncertainty.
“What? You still don’t trust me?”
“I did, until your escape.”
“I had nothing to do with it. And it was no escape. Caleb had inside help, and he wanted the papers in the tin. He thought I knew where it had been moved to.” He shrugged. “I don’t, in case you’re wondering.”
Maddie had been wondering exactly that.
“Someone in the department? How could that be?”
Laura’s shock matched everyone else.
“Who would help Caleb?” Maddie asked.
“Deputy Neilson. I didn’t want to go, but he pulled a gun on me. That surprised me too, as much as any of this.”
Brad said it with conviction and Maddie was torn.
“You’re kidding me?” Suzy crawled to the couch and pulled herself up onto it with Angel’s help.
“This is hardly the time for a long conversation. Ambrose will be back to check on things anytime. Are we doing this or not?” Brad raised an eyebrow at Maddie.
He was right. There was no luxury of time to figure this out.
“Let’s go. But we don’t shoot anyone unless there is no other way, Brad. Got it?”
“You’re the boss,” he acknowledged with a tight smile.
“You better believe it,” Angel warned him.
With the moon hidden behind low clouds, they slipped out into an even darker night, walking as close as possible to each other, guns up and ready. The rain had abated for now which helped immensely. Ahead a light blinked, flared and disappeared. A second or two later it was repeated.
A cigarette!
She crept forward to find the man leaning against Honey. He took another puff.
“Put your weapons on the ground. Now!” Maddie yelled.
He swung around fast, his hand already inside his jacket.
Maddie fired the gun.
The force against her shoulder was expected, while Ambrose had perhaps thought a woman Maddie’s size wouldn’t be able to shoot straight. Wrong! And, he was darn lucky her accuracy hadn’t failed. He dropped his gun as shot kicked up forest floor debris between his feet.
“Brad, check him for anything else.”
Having the good sense to leave his gun with Maddie, Brad did as she asked, warily frisking the furious tough guy.
“He’s got nothing else.”
“Okay. Head back to the house, Mr. White.”
She pointed with the gun and Brad prompted him with a decent shove in his back. She kept far enough from Ambrose, so he stood no chance of disarming her. Tucking Brads’ gun under one arm, she kept the other trained on him.
Angel had been watching for them and unlocked the front door, standing well back with a frypan as a weapon.
Inside Maddie used the last of the rope to secure Ambrose and checked each knot when she was done.
“There’s no reception in here, so I’m going to try outside. Lock the door again and keep an eye on these two. We know how tricky Caleb can be.”
As she opened the door, Brad poked his brother, eliciting a groan.
“He’s not going anywhere after the whack Laura gave him. But I’ll make sure of it.”
“I’ve never done anything like that in my life,” Laura mumbled, her cheeks pinker than ever.
Maddie gave her a hug. “I’m glad you chose that moment to show us you could stick up for yourself in any situation.”
Slightly mollified, Laura came to lock the door after Maddie left.
The moon shone bright overhead. Maddie marveled at the irony of having needed it more several minutes back. She shut the cabin door behind her and headed down to the jetty, watching the bar on the phone appear and disappear until she was right at the edge.
Reaching her hand out as far as she could, leaning over the water, she managed to get two bars. Maintaining her balance while pressing the necessary keys was awkward, but satisfying when she heard it ringing. Until Ethan’s voice advised that he was unavailable for the moment. She sighed and waited to leave a message. He seriously needed an answering service.
“Ethan we’re at Grandad’s cabin. Can you come right away? We have Caleb and Ambrose White, and we need you.”
She spoke loudly so that he might hear her, then the phone went dark. She couldn’t be sure if Ethan got the message or not and the phone wouldn’t switch on again.
Frustrated, she put it in her pocket. Then, something caught her eye. Beneath her feet, a small piece of material fluttered above and below the jetty with the breeze. Kneeling she looked over the edge and held it between her thumb and forefinger, then realized there wouldn’t be any chance of fingerprints or DNA since it looked like it had been there some time. The cloth was a jagged piece of flannel of muted colors, frayed on all edges and hung on a nail which stuck out about an inch from the wood.
“Maddie!” A hoarse whisper called from behind her.
She knew that voice, and had never been so happy to hear it.
“Ethan! How did you get here so fast? I heard you had car trouble near Destiny?”
He grinned. “Is that what you heard?
“You made it seem that way? Never mind, it doesn’t matter either way.” She ran to him and welcomed his arms around her, oblivious to the man at his side.
Detective Jones coughed. “Can we assume that you are no longer in any danger?”
She smiled at him over Ethan’s shoulder. “Caleb and Ambrose are tied up inside.”
“And Ms. Broome?” He asked with a deadpan expression.
“Safe and sound. Follow me.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
They went back to Gran’s cottage with Laura, the only one with no injuries, driving Honey, while Ethan and the detective took Caleb and the still groggy Ambrose in separate cars, handcuffed, with no way to escape, to the station.
Deputy Jacobs took Brad in his car. He still wasn’t home free, but Maddie thought he looked a lot less guilty than he had twenty-four hours ago and hoped the system would agree.
A split lip and a bruised body were the sum total of Maddie’s injuries. She must look worse than she felt because her friends and family had hovered around her for the last few hours. Even Big Red lay beside her purring contentedly and giving her a lick with his raspy tongue every time she moved. While Gran had insisted she sit in her large wing back chair and propped pillows around her.
They had all had showers and wore clothes that belonged to Maddie’s mother, who had always said she would home for them one day. A perfect fit for Maddie, they were short for Angel and too long for Suzy, but they were clean and dry.
“I still think we should take you to the doctor,” Suzy called from the overstuffed couch, several feet away.
“I’m fine. Worry about yourself,” Maddie insisted.
Suzy scoffed. “I wasn’t thrown across a room, or beaten.”
“But your ankle sure looks a mess.”
It was true. Suzy’s ankle was already black and blue. The swelling protruded from the leg of he
r rolled up trousers down to her toes. An ice pack lay across the middle of the worst of it.
“Let me call your parents?” Laura asked.
Suzy shook her head. “No way. Dad would be braying for blood if he knew this happened. I’ll find a way to tell them tomorrow. A day later might be less of a shock for mom too.”
“I think we just need to sit here and enjoy the warmth and peace, but if that foot doesn’t look better tomorrow, you are going to the hospital.” Angel folded her hands in her lap.
She too had several bruises where she had fought her captor but looked strangely elated, and that made Maddie happy. It was done. Not done well admittedly, but Caleb could no longer harm Brad or any of them which was a fantastic feeling.
“I don’t like to promote violence, but that man deserved all he got,” Laura fussed with their blankets.
“Let’s hope the law makes sure they can’t hurt anyone else.” Gran poured hot water into the largest teapot she could find. “There’s a few different teas in here that should help us all.”
Maddie smiled, then winced at the pain. Putting an ice-filled cloth to the split, she tried to talk through one side of her mouth. “I don’t know how much more tea I can drink, but I am hungry.” It had been hours since she’d eaten and the other’s perked up too.
Gran beamed. “Now, that is good news. I’ll be back directly. Laura, do not let them budge.”
“I won’t,” she said, with a stern look at her charges.
An open fire crackled in the grate and conversation stalled as fatigue washed over them. Maddie must have dozed because the next minute a knock at the door made her eyelids shoot open.
“Who is it,” she asked, groggily, as Gran came from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron.
“Don’t get up, it’s only Ethan.”
She had in fact been trying to get out from under the blankets, but she relaxed back into the chair as he came to her side.
“How are you doing?” He crouched beside her and ran a finger gently down her cheek avoiding the bruise and the cut lip, then kissed her forehead.
She smiled. “Better now we’re home, and you’re here. I have an awful lot of questions.”