by Boone, Lisa
Sarah laid her hand on her sister’s arm with a horrified gasp. “What if it wasn’t Ethan?”
“Who else would be visiting us at this time of night?”
They jumped at the sound of gunfire. Two quick bursts, then nothing but Rory’s barking.
Madison gripped the gun tighter in her hand, waiting for something else to happen.
The minutes ticked by without a sound or even a clue as to what was happening outside, then suddenly there was a banging on the kitchen door and a frightened voice shouting, “Help! Help! Help! Please, dear God, Help!” repeatedly.
Sarah and Madison cautiously walked to the kitchen, only taking a moment to place Rory in the bathroom before continuing the rest of the way to the door.
The pitiful begging only intensified as they hesitantly approached the door.
“That doesn’t sound like Ethan,” Madison whispered.
Sarah kneeled on the window seat and looked outside.
Madison cocked her head to the side trying to make out whom the high-pitched terrified voice on the other side of the door belonged to. “He sounds familiar.”
“That’s because it’s Derek and he’s bleeding!” Sarah said as she bounded off the seat towards the door. Pausing at the door, she glanced back at her sister with a questioning look in her eyes.
Madison nodded as she stepped back, bringing the gun back behind her back.
As soon as the door was open, Derek crab-crawled inside. Once in, he turned and kicked the door shut with his foot. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he mumbled as he fell flat on his back. He pressed a shaking hand to his forehead as blood streamed from a gash just above his eye and pooled on the white tile beneath him.
Sarah locked the door before snatching a dishtowel off the counter and pressing it to his forehead.
He gripped her hand as he moaned. Soon his eyes shut and his hand limply fell to the floor.
“Is he dead?” Madison asked in horror.
Sarah pressed her fingers to his neck. “No, he’s still breathing. I think he just passed out.” She sat back on her knees. “What should we do?”
“The police are on their way, so I guess we wait. Just keep the pressure on his forehead.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“I have no idea. I don’t even know how he knew we were here.”
There was another soft moan as Derek’s eyes fluttered. He looked around in a haze. “Where am I?” he asked before awareness settled in. Fear quickly replaced confusion as he painfully sat up and crawled over to the door.
“Derek,” Sarah said, crawling over to him and pressing the towel to his head, “you shouldn’t move.”
Every nerve ending on alert, Madison leaned back against the wall. “What are you doing here, Derek?”
“Getting shot at!” Wincing, he covered Sarah’s hand at his head with his own. “There’s some maniac out there with a rifle shooting at people. He almost killed me. Then when I crawled out of the car, he started shooting at me again. I thought I was a dead man. I saw the house and just started running. I thought for sure that at any moment, he was going to catch up to me and finish the job.”
Madison glanced at the window. “I wonder why he didn’t.”
“I don’t know.” Derek brought his knees up and leaned his head back against the door. “I don’t understand how he got here before I did.”
“Who?” Madison asked.
“Ethan or Alex or whatever his name is.” He looked at Sarah with a small smile. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Me too. Hold this,” she said removing her hand out from underneath his. “I’ll go get the first aid kit.”
Derek turned his attention back to Madison. His smile turned into a scowl. “I know I got on that road before him. A buddy of mine works at the police station. They were chasing him on the other side of town when I set off to warn you two.”
Sarah returned with a first aid kit and kneeled down next to him. “Are you talking about Ethan?”
“Yeah, he escaped a few hours ago,” he said, tilting his chin to let Sarah clean his face.
“I know,” Madison said.
Derek pushed Sarah’s hand away as he looked up at Madison with an outraged look. “What do you mean you know? Are you telling me that I just risked my life to deliver news you already had?”
Sarah smiled apologetically. “Thanks anyways.”
“Geesh.” Derek winced as Sarah moved the dishtowel away and pressed a bandage to his forehead. “I feel a bit like an idiot. Why aren’t you answering your phone? I’ve been calling all night.”
“We had our phones with us,” Sarah said.
“I don’t suppose you saw the police on your way here,” Madison said.
“They’re not coming,” he said matter-of-factly. “At least, not right away.”
“Why not?” Madison asked warily.
“They’re closing down roads left and right. I passed a couple of accidents on my way here. There’s also a massive tree blocking the main road leading into here. “
Madison frowned. “Then how did you get past it?”
“Luck. It missed me by only a few inches. You should see the back end of my car. Of course, that’s nothing compared to how the front bumper looks. I’m afraid we’re stuck here for the night.”
Sarah bit her lip as she returned to bandaging Derek’s face. “I think you need stitches.”
Derek narrowed his eyes as Rory let out a pitiful whine from the bathroom. “Do you hear that?”
“It’s just my dog,” Sarah explained before she turned back to Madison. “At least we got some good news.”
Madison raised her eyebrows. “What good news?”
“Ethan’s stuck on the other side of the tree. He won’t be able to get here.”
Madison jerked her chin towards the window. “There’s still the maniac out there with a rifle.”
Sarah pursed her lips together as she stood up. She pressed the dishcloth into Madison’s hand before turning around and reaching for her coat.
“What do you think you are doing?”
“I’m going to talk to Jamie.”
“Uh.” Derek’s face twisted into a grimace as he tried to think of a diplomatic way of phrasing his words. “Umm, maybe we should think about that just a little more,” he said gently.
Madison was less kind. “Have you lost your mind?”
Sarah slipped her arm through the pink sleeves. “He obviously thought Derek was Ethan.”
“I’m so glad it was obvious to you,” Madison said sternly. “It’s not so obvious to me.”
Sarah flung out her hand toward Derek. “Jamie didn’t kill him, did he?”
“Not for lack of trying,” Derek grumbled.
“Sarah, Jamie’s the one with a rifle. He’s safe. We don’t need to check up on him.”
Derek reached up and took Sarah’s hand. “Please don’t leave me. My head is killing me.”
Sarah sank down to her knees next to him and gently ran her hand through his hair.
“How did you know we were here, Derek?” Madison asked.
“Keith told me.”
Madison’s eyes widened. “How did he know?”
“He overheard you and Becca talking by the elevators.” He took a shaky breath. “Becca tried to act like you were somewhere else, but Keith didn’t believe her. It’s no big deal,” he said gingerly pressing the large white bandage at his head. “Keith wouldn’t say anything to Ethan. He hates the guy. I know you’re not going to believe this, but Keith’s crazy for you. He talks about you all the time.” He hissed lightly in pain as he tried to make himself comfortable on the cold floor. “Whenever he hears you get up to leave your office, he jumps up and dashes into the hallway to ‘accidently’ bump into you.”
“Keith didn’t like Quincy either,” Madison said absentmindedly. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at an old mariner’s clock on the wall next to a cabinet filled with her grandfather’s books and knickknacks. Her
gaze shifted to a picture of her grandfather in his naval uniform.
“Madison?”’ Sarah asked.
Madison kept her eyes fixed on the clock. “Hmm?”
“I think we need to get Derek to a hospital. He’s bleeding pretty badly.”
Derek waved his hand. “Eh, head wounds always look worse than they are.”
“Becca…” Madison narrowed her eyes as she continued to stare at her grandfather’s picture. “Becca gave me a picture of Ethan in his uniform for my birthday. She got it from her husband, who got it from a friend in the Navy.” Smiling, she closed her eyes with a smile. “I can’t believe I fell for Gina’s lie. Why didn’t I think of that before? Ethan’s not Alex. He can’t be.”
“Why not?” Derek asked.
“If Alex had just assumed Ethan Parker’s life like we thought, then Becca would have received a picture of a man she wouldn’t have recognized, but she didn’t. She received Ethan’s picture, which means Ethan is exactly who he says he is.”
“But the cabinet,” Sarah said. “You saw—”
“I saw exactly what Alex wanted me to see. He moved all of Ethan’s things from the cabinet to the table in the corner of his office and then filled the cabinet up with all those…things.”
Sarah frowned. “What about the picture of him and Todd that you found?”
“Pictures can be faked.”
“If that’s so, why would you assume the picture you got from Becca is real,” Derek said. “Perhaps, that one’s fake.”
“It could be, but I doubt Alex’s smart enough to remove Ethan’s official photo from military records. Then there’s the fact that he and my grandpa spent an hour talking about the service during Christmas. I’m pretty sure Grandpa would have been able to tell if Ethan had been lying about his Navy career. They were tossing back all sorts of acronyms that I had never heard of. Besides, the cabinet…” Madison froze as another thought came to mind.
“What’s wrong?” Sarah asked.
“Ethan’s cabinet contained things that had belonged to his victims.”
Derek made a disgusted face. “That’s horrible. Don’t think about it.”
Her eyes lost focus as she struggled to remember. “Didn’t you tell me that you had seen the inside of that cabinet before?”
Derek started to shake his head but then groaned in pain.
“No,” Madison said, “I distinctly remember you saying it was full of medals when you saw it.”
“Uh uh,” Derek said, “I said the medals were in the display case on the other side of the wall.”
“Oh,” she said softly. “Hmm. Guess what I found in the cabinet.”
“What?” Derek asked.
“Quincy’s pocket watches. You remember the pocket watch, don’t you?” She tilted her head to the side. “What exactly did Quincy tell you about it?”
A small smile played along Derek’s lips as he watched Madison. “Only that it had belonged to his father.”
Madison, hands still behind her back, flexed her fingers on the gun. “Oh, that’s right. Quincy told you that he inherited it from his dad.”
“Sure did,” Derek said with a curious expression on his face. “It even had his old man’s initials on it and the scar from a bullet where someone took a pot shot at him.”
“Oh, I didn’t see his dad’s initials on there,” Madison said, furrowing her brow. “What were his initials?”
“A.J.S.,” Derek said in amusement.
“Right,” Madison walked over to the kitchen island, making sure to keep it between herself and Derek. She looked at her sister and jerked her head to the side. “Why don’t you get Derek a drink? It will help with the pain.”
Derek wrapped his fingers around Sarah’s wrist. “It’s all right. I’m not much of a drinker.”
Sarah’s expressive face tightened. “Derek, let go. You’re hurting me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
12:22 A.M.
Derek grabbed Sarah’s arm and jerked her close to him, causing her to squeal in surprise. He dug a gun into her side as Madison pointed her own weapon at him.
“Don’t even think about it, Madison,” he said digging a gun deeper into Sarah’s ribs.
Sarah cried out in pain.
“Shut up!” he snarled. He turned back to Madison. “I was there the day that Ethan took you to the shooting range. There’s no way you’d hit me.” He looked over Sarah’s shoulder with an annoyed expression on his face. “I take it that Quincy lied to me about that pocket watch belonging to his father. Who did it belong to? His grandfather? His uncle? He picked it up at a flea market somewhere? What?”
“It didn’t belong to him at all. He got it from a client a few hours before he disappeared. You couldn’t have seen that pocket watch unless you were the one who kidnapped him.”
She could have kicked herself. All along, she had assumed the watch the old lady had given Quincy was a wristwatch. If she had known it was a pocket watch, she might have realized Derek was the killer as soon as he admitted seeing Quincy with the thing. In any event, she should have realized the truth last night. The answer was right in front of her when she opened the cabinet, but she let her emotions run away with her.
“Drop the gun, Madison. I’ll shoot her if you don’t,” he said digging the gun into Sarah’s side.
Sarah yelped in response. “Don’t do it, Madison. He’s going to kill me anyway.”
“She makes a good point, Derek,” Madison said, cocking the gun. “If you kill her, there is nothing to stop me from emptying this gun into your gut. You’re only a few feet away. I’m pretty sure I can hit you.”
Derek smiled in amusement as he held up his gun. “I hate these things. I just can’t stand them. Never could. They’re so cold.” He made a face. “Plus, I just hate the way they sound. Have you ever killed someone with a gun? Probably not,” he said with a causal shrug. “It’s just so impersonal.”
He set the gun on the floor and then pushed it towards the cabinet. When Sarah began to struggle, he wrapped his arm around her neck. “I can kill you in seconds,” he whispered into her ear as he pressed a hunting knife to her throat. “Ethan has a great collection of knives. I borrowed this little beauty from his office a couple of days ago.”
“Derek, it’s over,” Madison said.
“Alex. My name is Alex.” He pushed against Sarah’s back. “Come on beautiful, help me up.”
“Help yourself,” Sarah snapped.
He pressed the tip of the knife closer to her throat. “Don’t get nasty.”
“Just do as he says, Sarah.”
Sarah looked ready to argue but in the end wrapped her arm around Alex’s waist and helped him to his feet.
Alex’s eyes started to roll back in his head, giving Madison and Sarah a small bit of hope for a moment, as he lost his footing for a moment. Grimacing, he held onto Sarah, making her take most of his weight. “That moron out there really did a job on me.”
He grunted as he planted his feet and pulled Sarah out in front of him. He pointed the tip of the knife at her throat. “Okay, drop the gun onto the counter. Now, now, if you don’t, I’m going to start carving up your little sister. I’ll just take my time with it. Do you really want to sit there and watch it happen?”
“It’ll happen anyway,” Sarah said through gritted teeth.
He jerked her head back a little causing her to shut her eyes tightly. “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I didn’t really want it to end like this. You, I actually liked. In fact, I was going to let you live.” He held her chin tighter. “Such a shame we didn’t get to know each other better. You can blame your sister. She really dropped the ball on that. I tried to get her to set you up with me earlier, but she was always too busy.”
“Yeah,” Sarah said, “I’m really disappointed—”
He jerked her head back again cutting off whatever she was going to say. “I know you are. You should be. I could have been very nice to you, Sarah.” He pressed his lips to her cheek. “Ver
y nice.”
She jerked her head to the side.
“Be nice now or you may get to join your would-be boyfriend.”
Sarah stilled. “What do you mean?”
“You should thank me. I took care of that creep that was following you around.”
“How?”
“I shot him in the back. POW!”
Sarah flinched. Her face slowly began to crumble as she looked toward the windows. “What?” she asked in horrified whisper.
Alex ignored her. He glanced toward the living room door as Rory resumed his barking. “Stupid dog,” he muttered before turning back to Sarah. He puckered his lips. “Oh, don’t cry, Angel. Your creepy bodyguard went quickly. No pain.”
“I’m surprised you were able to get the drop on him,” Madison said trying to distract his attention away from Sarah.
“I had help.”
Madison pursed her lips together. “Gina?”
“Dear sweet Gina. I don’t usually work with a partner, but she and I have a connection with one another. We both loved Todd and we both hate you. She’s outside waiting and keeping watch.” He grinned. “She turned out to be quite handy to have around. First, there was that wonderful performance she put on for you when you called her out of the blue. Then while I was playing dead out there, she helped distract that maniac long enough for me to shoot him in the back.”
Sarah choked back a sob. “Are you sure he’s dead?” she asked tearfully.
Alex laughed. “Am I sure? Do you see him here?” His smile fell as he looked at her tearstained face. “Stop crying.” He jerked her head back against his shoulder. “I won’t have you crying over some other guy. Do you hear me?” When she didn’t answer, he shouted at her again. “Stop it!”
Sarah pursed her lips tightly together as she gave a short curt nod.
“You know, I had such a hard time deciding which of the two of you to seduce. I finally decided on you, Sarah.” He glanced at Madison. “No offense, but I already had a predisposition for Sarah. We have a connection.” He ran his fingers across the scar on her cheek. “I’ve been dreaming of you ever since that day in July. I was hoping to get closer to you, but every time I tried to get close, that lowlife bum that follows you around would show up. He was always around. The other night when we went out was especially bad.” He looked at her in disappointment. “I had made plans for us that night. Special plans.” He turned back to Madison. “I tried to get her to ditch her bodyguards and sneak away with me, but little Miss Goody Two Shoes here wouldn’t do it.”