Charmed

by Leona Karr

  He dropped down on the living room couch and the dog jumped up beside him. Brad scratched Rusty head and said, “It’s just you and me, fellow.”

  He must have sat there ten minutes before he noticed the glass door was slightly open.

  He sat up. Had Ashley left it open? She could have decided to take a walk while she was waiting and let Rusty out.

  His thoughts came to a screeching halt. Maybe the dog had gotten away from her and gone off on his own? That would explain Rusty’s runaway appearance at the doctor’s house. Maybe Ashley was still out hunting for him!

  Brad was on his feet and out the door in an instant. From his backyard, he had a good view of the shoreline below the house. Looking in both directions, he failed to see her anywhere along the rugged shore. The beach had narrowed with the incoming tide and as deep white-foamed surf began to assault the shoreline, it would soon completely disappear.

  He raced down to the water and headed for the best view of the surrounding terrain. He quickly climbed to the top of the granite boulders, and let his eyes travel in every direction. No sign of her slender figure anywhere.

  He must have jumped to the wrong conclusion, Brad told himself. Somehow Rusty had gotten out and run away. Disappointed, he returned to the house with muddy boots and hands and went into the bathroom to clean up.

  “What in the—”

  He froze in the doorway when he saw a bloody towel lying on the floor and a mound of bloody tissues stuffed in the wastepaper basket.

  Ashley! What had happened? Had someone attacked her? Left her here, bleeding? Had she injured herself? How badly was she hurt?

  Where was she now?

  She didn’t have a car. Bill had brought her to the house. If she’d hurt herself, she might have called him to take her to the doctor.

  Doctor?

  He’d just been at Dr. Hadley’s house. And so had Rusty! Maybe Rusty had followed her there. Had the doctor treated Ashley and not said anything about it? But why wouldn’t he? Dr. Hadley could have treated Ashley and called the Langdons for someone to pick her up. He quickly called the doctor’s house, but the line was busy.

  “No, you stay here,” he ordered as he shut the dog inside. He didn’t bother with the car. His long legs covered the ground between the two properties at a run. The sight of the bloody bathroom had sent a burst of adrenaline coursing through him.

  A double garage was attached to Hadley’s house, but the doors were shut. He couldn’t tell if the doctor’s car was still there. Brad’s chest tightened. Trying to locate Dr. Hadley could waste valuable time.

  Brad bounded up the porch steps and pounded on the front door.

  “Hadley! Open up!”

  No answer. No hint of movement inside. Maybe he was in the back of the house. Brad sprinted around to the rear door. No answer.

  The backyard was empty. Maybe he was still making trips down to the shore. Brad scanned the rocky beach below. No sign of him. The tide was already coming in.

  As Brad turned back toward the house, he saw that the door to the walk-in shed was open and wondered if Hadley had meant to leave it open. There was nothing in it but tools, gardening supplies, and the wheelbarrow Hadley had been using earlier. The canvas he’d thrown over it hung down one side and as Brad’s trained eyes swept over it, they registered a tiny bright splotch on one corner. He reached for the canvas and jerked it up.

  Blood!

  The inside of the wheelbarrow was smeared with it.

  An instant replay shot through Brad’s mind.

  Hadley coming up the beach path!

  Pushing the wheelbarrow!

  Sweating and ill at ease!

  Fresh blood.

  Brad didn’t waste a split second trying to understand the how or why. He raced down the path to the shoreline.

  Faint impressions of the wheelbarrow’s tires in the wet sand were rapidly being washed away. He followed them to an outcropping of tumbled boulders. Then they disappeared.

  A bewildering mass of granite slabs and underground caverns lay ahead.

  Brad had almost missed the jagged opening between the slanting granite boulders forming the low-ceilinged cave. He’d passed it on his first hurried search.

  As the rising tide swept in, the wheelbarrow tracks had been washed away. Brad couldn’t tell when they ended or how much farther Hadley had gone after all the tracks had disappeared. Tumbled rocks and fallen earth made the side of the high bank an impossible climb.

  Hadley wasn’t muscular enough to have carried her very far.

  He spun on his water-logged boots and quickly backtracked. He looked for any opening in the rocks and bank that was wide enough for a human body to squeeze through.

  If the fading sun hadn’t hit the opening just right, he might have missed the narrow passage through the tumbled boulders. Water was already up to his ankles when he splashed his way into a shadowy cavern.

  He blinked rapidly to clear his vision. When he saw a dark shape on the water-logged ground, he couldn’t believe it was really her until he bent over her crumpled body.

  “Ashley…” he choked as he gathered her close. When he felt the blessed rise and fall of her chest, his eyes were suddenly moist with emotion.

  She was alive!

  He quickly lifted her up and as the fading sunlight hit her face, she seemed to smile. He splashed through the swelling tide and carried her tenderly up the path to Hadley’s house.

  He was prepared to break a window to get in, but the back door was unlocked.

  Once inside the house, he carried her muddy, drenched body into the nearest bedroom and put her on the bed. Her pant leg was muddy, bloody, and wet.

  “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”

  Her eyelashes fluttered and then lay still upon her bleached skin. She was like a rag doll in his hands as he stripped off the wet and muddy clothes and cleaned her wound. Then he wrapped her in blankets for warmth.

  Grabbing the telephone sitting on a nightstand, he dialed an emergency number on the mainland.

  His call was answered immediately. “Helicopter Medical Services.”

  “Officer Taylor on Greystone,” he barked. “Red alert. Send a chopper immediately. A young woman. Life-threatening condition.”

  “You got it, Brad,” a woman replied.

  He called Bill and ordered, “Ashley’s hurt. I’ve got a helicopter coming to the pad. Meet us there!”

  “Yes, sir.” His deputy knew better than to delay by asking questions.

  He hung up and ran out to the garage. Thank heavens the emergency van they kept at the doctor’s house was ready and waiting. Using his keys, Brad opened up the back and put the stretcher in the correct position to handle Ashley’s body when he brought her out. Then he hurried back into the house.

  She was still motionless and unconscious when he lifted her up from the bed. He had always prided himself on controlling his emotions, but as he held her blanket-wrapped body in his arms, she looked so fragile, so vulnerable, so damn helpless, that an all-consuming rage rose in him.

  I’ll kill him. I’ll kill the bastard!

  Chapter Sixteen

  Bill was already at the baseball field when Brad pulled in with the ambulance. When the deputy saw Ashley’s still form on the stretcher, he swore, “What the hell happened?”

  Angrily, Brad told him where he’d found Ashley and the doctor’s part in it.

  “I can’t believe it! Hadley? Why—?”

  “Ashley must have posed a threat, or learned something that could incriminate him. While I wait for the ambulance, get down to the pier and check on Hadley’s boat. My guess is he won’t stick around long. He won’t want to chance someone tying him to Ashley’s disappearance. We need to get him before he leaves the island. Do what you have to do to detain him.”

  “You got it!”

  The pier was only a short distance away from the playing field where the helicopter would land. Brad wasn’t about to leave Ashley until he put her in the care o
f the paramedics.

  He gently brushed back her damp hair and when he cradled her hand in his, he was startled as her fingers tightened slightly. Her eyes slowly opened and focused on his face.

  “Hang in there, sweetheart. Help is on the way.” Even as he spoke, he heard the whirling sound of a helicopter and dirt kicking up on the playing field.

  As soon as the helicopter landed, two paramedics, a man and woman, emerged with a stretcher and headed for the ambulance.

  “What do we have here?” the man asked as he looked down at Ashley’s colorless face and motionless body.

  Brad briefed them as much as he could, but he was at a loss as to what Hadley had done to her before he dumped her in the cavern.

  “Okay, we’ll take it from here.”

  Brad stayed out of the way as the paramedics quickly began their routine and readied her for the emergency flight.

  When they were ready to lift her into the helicopter, Brad kissed her on the cheek and promised, “I’ll come to the hospital as soon as I can.”

  After I’ve arrested the bastard who did this to you!

  As soon as the helicopter had disappeared into the twilight, Brad quickly drove the ambulance down to the pier.

  Before he could get out of the car, Bill ran to meet him. From his deputy’s expression, Brad knew the news wasn’t good.

  “Hadley’s boat’s gone!”

  Brad swore under his breath. “Anybody see him leave?”

  “Yeah, a couple of guys who were just coming in with their lobster catch. About ten minutes ago. Hadley got in his boat and headed north.”

  “North?”

  “That’s what they said.”

  “Is the patrol boat gassed up and ready?”

  “Yes, sir. Filled it up this morning.”

  “Okay, let’s go.”

  The patrol boat sent a high white foam tail into the air as Brad headed north at a high speed. Hadley must have decided going to the mainland was too risky, Brad reasoned. Going north, the doctor would leave U.S. waters behind, and his chances of disappearing would undoubtedly be better if he made it into Canada.

  “We’d better catch him before dark,” Bill said as he searched the waters ahead. There were literally hundreds of places along the eastern seaboard where a boat could disappear for days.

  Traffic had thinned out considerably in just a matter of minutes. They passed fewer and fewer boats the farther north they went, which made it easier to identify the remaining ones heading up the coast to Nova Scotia and beyond.

  Brad was beginning to wonder if Hadley had already pulled to the shore and was no longer on the water when Bill shouted and pointed, “Straight ahead. There he is!”

  The doctor’s small fishing boat was easily recognizable. Everyone on the island had seen him coming and going in it. Brad’s hands tightened fiercely on the wheel. As the distance between them lessened, Brad maneuvered the patrol boat into a position so that it was running parallel with Hadley’s boat.

  The doctor must have realized what was happening and opened the throttle because the small boat suddenly jumped forward at a dangerous speed.

  Brad instantly responded. The larger and heavier patrol boat kept abreast of the smaller craft as it tried to get away.

  As the two boats raced side by side, they could see Hadley’s hunched figure bent over the wheel.

  Bill grabbed a megaphone and yelled, “Cut your motor! Now!”

  Hadley ignored the order.

  Brad dangerously narrowed the distance between the two racing boats, bringing them closer together. Fearing the patrol boat was going to ram him, Hadley gave his boat a sudden turn.

  The result was disaster!

  The high speed and jerky movement brought the small boat up on its side. For an electrifying moment, it wavered, slicing through the water at a pitched angle. Then the boat flipped over!

  Brad was able to keep from crashing into the capsized boat as the patrol boat raced by it. Then, as quickly as he could, he cut his speed, turned around and came to the place where Hadley’s boat was slowly sinking out of sight.

  “Do you see him?” Bill asked, ready to throw a life preserver.

  Brad shook his head. The lights of the patrol boat played over the water, but debris was the only thing coming to the surface as the small boat disappeared. They were miles from any shore. If Hadley had survived and made it to the surface, Brad was confident they would have seen him.

  As the minutes passed, the moon came up and spread a patina of flickering light across the water. Finally Brad said, “Well, I guess that’s it. I’ll radio the coast guard and report the drowning.”

  Justice had been served after all. James Hadley, MD, had met the watery death he’d planned for Ashley.

  ASHLEY WAS still in intensive care the next morning when Brad was allowed to see her. One of the nurses had told her that he’d had been at the hospital all night. When Brad came into the room, he was unshaven, with dark lines under his eyes and worried creases around his mouth.

  “You look awful,” she told him.

  His expression was one of astonishment and visible relief. “No need to ask if you’re feeling better. They didn’t tell me you’re already back to your usual feisty self.”

  “Not quite,” she admitted with a wan smile. “But I can move now.”

  “Terrific.” He bent over and kissed her. “You’re amazing. The last time I saw you—”

  “The paralysis was temporary,” she told him quickly. She explained how her muscles had slowly began to respond as the drug in her body lost its effect. “I’ll have some physical therapy to make sure all my nerves are functioning before they release me.”

  “Then all is well.”

  A rising swell of anger made her ask bluntly, “Did you get him?”

  “Yes.”

  The hardness in his eyes made her gasp, “Did you…did you kill him?”

  “No. He drowned and saved me the trouble.”

  Briefly he told her about the chase and what had happened. “I’m trying to understand exactly what Hadley’s role was in all this. I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”

  She shuddered, not wanting to relive the terror again. More than anything, she wanted to forget those torturous hours, when she was alone and helpless. Would she ever forget the sound of the waves coming closer and closer?

  “I’m sorry but I have to know.”

  She swallowed hard and then she told him how she hurt her leg and had gone to Hadley’s house to have him look at it. She described the fracas between Rusty and the cat. Brad’s eyes widened when she told him about finding the necklace and seeing young Dr. Hadley’s picture opposite Samantha’s in the locket.

  “He must have stopped in the workroom when he was in the house tending Clayton and spied the necklace in the pile of jewelry Lorrie was adding to the inventory,” Ashley speculated. “And thinking Lorrie had already seen his picture in the locket he…” Her voice faltered.

  “He tried to silence her,” Brad finished. “Yes, that must have been the way it happened. Hadley couldn’t have his identity as Samantha’s lover revealed to the Langdons.” Brad whistled softly. “I need to check his blood type.”

  “Whatever for? You’ve lost me. What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Maybe plenty if the match proves Hadley was the father of Samantha’s daughter, Pamela.”

  Ashley’s head was already swimming with too many unanswered questions. She was glad Brad was the one who had to make sense of it all. She didn’t want to know any more about the tangled lives of the Langdon family. As far as she was concerned, if she never heard the name Langdon again, it would be too soon.

  Brad leaned down and kissed her gently on the forehead. “You’re one brave woman.” His voice thickened. “And I love you more than I thought I could ever love anyone.”

  She wanted to declare her feelings for him, but the words wouldn’t come. What good would it do to confess she felt the same way about him?
Why declare a love that was doomed from the beginning? After what had happened, she couldn’t wait to leave and never set foot on his beloved island again.

  THAT AFTERNOON, Brad headed out in the patrol boat for Minnequa Island. He wanted to talk with Mary Sandrow. News about the doctor’s drowning had already been circulating on the mainland. He wondered if Mary had heard about Hadley’s demise. One look at her haggard face when she opened the door gave him the answer. The hatred in her eyes warned him that if she’d had a gun, she might have shot him then and there.

  “It’s over, Mary,” he said in a firm, official tone. “We need to talk. The best thing you can do now is come clean and avoid any legal prosecution.”

  “I haven’t done a damn thing but keep my mouth shut.”

  “A judge might consider that a clear case of blackmail. You really don’t have much choice, Mary. Everything about Samantha and Hadley is going to come out. Medical tests will prove he was Pamela’s father.”

  The woman seemed to visibly shrink in front of his eyes. She lowered her head, her thick shoulders slumped, and her arms fell listlessly to her sides.

  “I know the secrets you’ve been keeping for all these years, Mary. Why don’t you explain everything to me and I promise to help you if I can?”

  She turned slowly away from the door and Brad followed her as she shuffled down the hall to the sitting room. Without speaking she sat down in a large, padded chair. A box of tissues were within reach on a nearby table, and a pile of them were crumpled up in a heap. She took one, dabbed her eyes and blew her nose without speaking.

  Brad almost felt sorry for her. Even though Mary Sandrow been paid well for her silence, he wondered if money had ever been enough to compensate for the loss of the young woman and her baby whom she had loved so deeply.

  When she began to talk, it was as if dammed-up emotions had been seeking release all these years. Brad was looking for verification of what he already knew and she gave it to him.