The Nora Abbott Mystery series Box Set

by Shannon Baker

  He ran a hand through his hair, now damp with falling snow. “I need to get on with my life. Right now, that means going back to the ranch in Wyoming.”

  She didn’t want him to leave. But did that mean she wanted him to stay? She couldn’t deal with this now. “Do what you need to do.” It sounded more harsh than she intended.

  Nora sped back to the Jeep and helped Petal from the back seat. She’d removed the wet socks and was now barefoot. Nora settled her into the passenger side of Cole’s pickup. The heater made it cozy away from the wintery wind. “Be careful. Cole will help you.”

  Petal reached out and hugged Nora. Her voice choked. “Thank you. You’re a good friend.”

  Charlie and Abigail huddled together under the portico of the bank. Their heads bent together in quiet conversation. Abbey sat at their feet.

  When Nora ran to them, Abigail pulled out her phone. “I already called a taxi. Get going.”

  Nora gave her a quick hug. “Take care of her,” she said to Charlie.

  “She is my galaxy,” he said. Crazy old Charlie.

  Nora followed Cole’s pickup out of the parking lot and west on Baseline. At Broadway he turned south toward the mountains and she turned north.

  Toward…

  She didn’t know.

  44

  Despite the broken boot heel and the snow-dampened hair, Sylvia knew she carried herself with class as she led Daniel through the darkened kitchen to her office suite.

  There, she laid out the maps of Ecuador showing the Cotopaxi volcano and the oil fields in the rainforest. He was suitably impressed by her brilliance.

  At first he acted angry. She assumed that was because he felt inferior to her genius as he struggled to understand the difficult principles behind the plan.

  He studied the maps on the banquet table in front of him. “If you actually make the volcano erupt…”

  She kissed the back of his neck. “Oh, it will.”

  He ducked away from her kiss. “You will kill thousands of people.”

  They weren’t the kind of people who mattered. It was far better to accentuate the positive. “But the Cubrero family will be rich. We can have whatever we want, whenever we want it.”

  He walked to her desk where her monitor showed a diagram of the tower on Mount Evans and the angle of refraction of the beam that would send it directly into the volcano. “When will this event occur?”

  She ran her hands through her hair pulling her arm back to give him a view of her breast outlined through her cashmere sweater. She sauntered to where he leaned over the monitor and hiked a hip on the desk. “It’s scheduled to activate at dawn. About three hours from now.”

  He stepped back from the screen and paced across the office. “And you are the only one who knows of this?”

  He was starting to understand how special she was. “I designed it. I set it in motion. Yes, my love, it is all mine.”

  “My father paid for all of this and yet does not know about the dawn launch?”

  She sprang to her feet. “Eduardo! He’s so unreasonable. I tried to tell him but he hung up on me. Hung up!”

  “And sent Juan.”

  She purred. “But you saved me.”

  Daniel frowned. “If you’re doing my fahter’s bidding, why does he want you dead?”

  She couldn’t stay still and strode across the office. Her skin suddenly felt too small. “He’s irrational. He thinks I killed Darla and Mark and that I stole Trust money. And when last night’s launch misdirected and killed birds, he wouldn’t listen to me.”

  His face froze and he stared at her. “You killed Mark? And you are behind the birds dying?”

  She hurried to him and slid an arm around his neck. She snuggled her cheek into the warm spot where she felt his heart beating. “But you can talk to him. You can tell him about our love and how I am doing what he wants.”

  “Can you stop this beam or whatever it is?” He lifted her hand from his neck and stepped back.

  “Of course I can, but why would I?” She couldn’t stop it, though.

  He ran a hand back from his forehead across his short, black curls. “What if someone tampers with the tower?”

  She waved her hand toward the window. “It’s snowing. Petal was up there earlier today and it’s working correctly. Believe me, it’s safe.”

  “Does Petal know of your plan?”

  She tickled his chest just above the button of his shirt. “She might suspect something but she’s not bright enough to figure it out.”

  “But she could be out there now.”

  A warning flashed in Sylvia’s brain. “Petal. You’re right. She hates me. She and Nora are out to get me.”

  Daniel grabbed her arms. “Why does Petal hate you?”

  “Because I won’t give her mother unlimited money. Because she thinks I stole her ideas. She thinks she deserves the credit at HAARP for taking Tesla’s technology forward. But she worked for me. She couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t nurtured her. If I hadn’t given her the opportunity.”

  He glared at her. “Petal developed this?”

  No. He would not dismiss her the same way they did at HARRP. “No. I did it. I’m the one.”

  He spun toward the door and strode into the kitchen. “I’ve got to stop her.”

  Sylvia ran after him, tripping on her broken heel. “Yes. Go. Don’t let her destroy my tower.”

  She hurried after him from the kitchen to the dark lobby. She bumped into his back. “What?”

  Daniel stood motionless.

  Sylvia shoved him to send him to the mountain. But he wouldn’t move.

  Sylvia stepped around him to pull him forward and she suddenly understood what stopped him.

  Nora Abbott stood just inside the front door, pointing a gun at them.

  45

  Great. Now that Nora pointed Abigail’s gun at Daniel she didn’t know what to do. Fake gun, fake bullets, fake courage. “You aren’t going anywhere.” She sounded a lot tougher than she felt.

  Sylvia whirled around and raced through the kitchen.

  Daniel backed up, keeping his eyes on Nora. “Why are you here?”

  Good question. “To stop you.”

  Daniel held his palms out. “You don’t understand, Nora. I’m not the bad guy.”

  Was Sylvia getting a gun? A butcher knife? Nora was outnumbered, out-experienced, and—wielding a SkyMall Special—out-gunned. With Sylvia probably on her way back with a Katyusha rocket—or just a real gun—Nora had to come up with something.

  Nora spotted the old-school landline on a side table. She walked to it, keeping the gun pointed at Daniel. She picked it up and pushed 9, heading for the 1. She took her eyes off Daniel for the splittest of seconds.

  He charged. With all of his sexy muscle he rammed into her, sending her flying several feet.

  She cracked a hip and her elbow when she landed against the fireplace and slid to the floor. Blood filled her mouth where she bit her tongue on impact. Amazingly, she still gripped the gun.

  He came at her again and she raised it as if taking aim. “I’ll shoot!”

  It didn’t faze him. Maybe he suspected she’d never fire on him. Or maybe he wasn’t afraid of a toy gun.

  He dove on top of her and clawed for the gun. She raised it above her head and he boosted himself across her with his knees to reach for it.

  “Uff.” It felt as though his knees pushed all her organs out of the way and ground her spine into the floor. His hand closed on the wrist that held the gun.

  Nora twisted beneath him. She pushed off with one foot and kicked the knee of her other leg. She knocked him in the back, causing him to lose balance and tip to the side, slipping off her.

  She rose to her hands and knees and scrambled to get away.

  He grabbed her ankle and fell on her again.

  This time he grabbed her gun hand with both of his. He slammed her hand onto the ground and wrested the gun from her grip. Pain shot through her forefinger as tho
ugh he’d snapped it from her hand.

  He sprang to his feet, waving the gun at her. Abigail’s fake-out fooled him.

  What did it matter if the gun could kill her or not? Even without a weapon Daniel was bigger, stronger, and more lethal than Nora.

  He stood above her, hesitating. Nora readied herself to jump up, grab his ankles, tackle him to the floor. And then?

  She might bring him down but Sylvia would show up to kill her any minute. Nora anticipated the bullet ripping into her, shredding her kidneys, mangling her guts. Blood would splatter across the fireplace and soak into the carpet.

  The sound of a gunshot tore open the night.

  Bullets didn’t shred Nora.

  Abigail said it was a fake gun but that was a real gunshot. Nora rolled to the right before Daniel could fire again.

  But the shot hadn’t come from Daniel’s gun. She realized the sound hadn’t come from this room.

  Daniel’s head jerked toward the kitchen. He hesitated only a second then he sprinted to the front door, yanked it open, and dashed into the night.

  The old farmhouse fell silent. Nora lay still, straining to hear Sylvia rushing from the kitchen ready to fire off more shots. This time, the bullets would find Nora.

  Nothing.

  46

  Nora got to her knees and pushed herself up. Someone had stolen her femurs and her legs wobbled. She considered following Daniel out the door and heading directly to the police station.

  Instead, she tiptoed to the kitchen. The back door stood open allowing flakes to blow into the narrow passage. The brisk air washed away the smell of burnt toast.

  With careful steps she snuck past the door heading toward the light spilling from Sylvia’s office. Her footsteps caused the old floors to creak. She inched closer to the lighted office. She didn’t want to see inside.

  But she had to.

  A smell like spent firecrackers and hot oil hung in the air and Nora froze. She listened to the nothingness around her.

  Bang, whoosh, groan. She jerked and catch her breath. The heater kicked to life in answer to the open kitchen door.

  Nora focused on the office door hoping to hear something, anything, moving inside. She slid her foot forward and leaned toward the door. She eased around the door jamb and surveyed the room.

  The office appeared empty. The overhead light glared, reflecting on the maps spread on the table. The computer monitor on Sylvia’s desk cast a faint glow as if she’d been working. Petal’s chair snugged up to her desk and the lamp with the pink silk scarf was off. The papers stacked neatly on Petal’s desk. Nora stepped into the room and moved tentatively toward the desk. Something creeping along the floor caught her eye. She narrowed her gaze to the floor in front of Sylvia’s desk.

  Not creeping. Leaking. Deep crimson, it spread like gruesome syrup, dripping from the edge of the plastic chair runner and soaking into the thin carpet.

  A low moan escaped from Nora’s throat. She held her breath to silence herself. Fighting every step, she advanced until she saw the whole scene.

  Nora fell back against the wall. Part of her fought to deny the image while the other part struggled to understand it. She gagged on the smell of death.

  Sylvia sat wedged in the far corner under the desk. Mascara smeared under her eyes and her black curls flopped in wild disarray. Her eyes stared sightlessly at Nora.

  A river of blood flowed from the mangled flesh that had been Sylvia’s chest.

  47

  Nora staggered out of the office. The kitchen door still stood ajar and freezing night air blew in. She slid down from the sink and sat in front of the blast.

  Earthquakes of revulsion and fear cracked her surface. She couldn’t do this. She shivered and stared into the backyard.

  Get control. Think.

  Sylvia was dead. But Daniel, the man who stood to profit from the rainforest’s destruction, was on his way to the mountain to stop Petal from dismantling the tower.

  Cole.

  He was on the other end of Daniel’s deadly quest. Nora had sent him there. And Charlie had Cole’s phone so she couldn’t warn him.

  She shot to her feet and clattered through the kitchen and foyer, out the front door, and across the porch. She lurched down the stairs two at a time, slipping on the last one and crashing a knee on the ground. The snow had tapered off and the temperatures weren’t at their winter worst. The wet snow stuck to the grass in clumps and would be gone before lunch. She bounded to her feet and sprinted toward the Jeep.

  The Town Car sat next to hers.

  She dove to the ground and rolled under a shrub. Not the smartest move she’d made. If he’d been in the car he’d have already killed her. Now she was wet and muddy.

  The Town Car Guy had killed Sylvia and he wouldn’t think twice about doing Nora the same. She pulled her feet under her and crouched next to the shrub. Obviously he’d used the kitchen door to the back yard. Where was he now? At the edge of the house waiting to gun her down?

  She had no choice.

  Nora dashed to the Jeep. The roar of a pistol did not shatter the silence. The bullets didn’t burn into her exposed body. In fact, she made it to the Jeep without incident even if she couldn’t breathe from terror. She jerked open the door, dove inside and turned the ignition key, seemingly at the same time.

  Hunched over the wheel to make as small a target as possible, Nora punched the gas and sped away. She studied her rearview mirror. Nothing moved at the Trust farmhouse. The black rectangle where the front door stood open gaped back at her.

  Since it was a weeknight—technically a week morning now—it was too late for people to be out and too early for them to be up. She raced through Boulder heedless of the stoplights. The snow had melted on the pavement leaving the streets wet but not icy.

  Nora punched on the heat and let it blast from the vents. Her damp jeans and coat made a comforting wet-Abbey smell in the Jeep.

  She climbed out of town south on Highway 93 toward Golden. As soon as she dipped over a hill the lights of town disappeared. Starless night closed around her. The Jeep’s heater tried, but in the drafty vehicle it couldn’t keep up with the winter chill. Shivers ran through Nora at irregular intervals, nerves and cold vying for credit.

  Two glowing pinpricks at the side of the road alerted her to deer. She tapped her brakes in response. The steering wheel jerked from her hand and the back end of the Jeep swerved to the right. Black ice.

  Heart pumping, she counter-steered. The back end slid the other way, gaining momentum like a deadly pendulum. She yanked the wheel back. This time, the Jeep responded with a swoosh to the right that kept going. And going. The Jeep spun across the road like a drunk ice skater. It finally stopped with two wheels off the pavement, facing back toward Boulder.

  The engine idled. The headlights shone crazily across the center line. She wanted to break into tears and sit still to gather herself. She needed to take the time to stop her shaking. She felt like tearing the seat belt off and jumping out to walk off the adrenaline pumping through her.

  There was only one thing she could do. Nora locked her jaws tight, rammed the Jeep into gear and pulled onto the highway. At least the wild ride warmed her but the sweat would chill her.

  She made it through Golden and onto to I-70 heading into the mountains. It seemed to take ten years to find the exit from I-70. The whole time she expected death to arrive in any number of ways. She could slide across the median and into oncoming traffic; Town Car guy could catch up to her; she could keel over from fear alone. Or she might arrive too late to save Cole and Petal.

  Nora exited the Interstate and began her long climb up Mount Evans.

  Another mountain. Another fight for life. Why did it always happen on mountains? Why did it have to happen at all?

  White, fluffy flakes started falling again. “Of course,” she said aloud.

  Shutters covered the windows of the Park Service toll house and a bar blocked access to the road. Nora eased the Jeep off th
e road and around the barrier. Shoulders hunched up high enough to be ear muffs, she gripped the wheel.

  In daylight, the harrowing road pushed Nora to the limit. At night, the switchbacks, narrow ledges, darkness, and ice became a nightmare.

  She inched her way along the cliff-side road. Snow accumulated over packed ruts. Cole’s pickup probably made those, followed by Daniel’s Prius. She shifted up and down around each precarious switchback. Her headlights revealed a frustratingly small section of the mountain. She knew the edge dropped forever down the mountain but she couldn’t see it. She stayed in the middle of the road, praying her tires would grip the snow.

  What was happening on the dark summit? Her progress seemed like swimming through quicksand. Every time she tried to gain speed she fishtailed. But every second she lost gave Daniel more time to kill.

  She pictured Cole smiling at her on the Pearl Street Mall. The fall leaves a swirl of golds and reds. He had been shy and uncertain about her but he’d been happy to see her.

  “You were happy to see him, too.” She scowled at the shadowy road. “Quit talking to yourself.”

  Was she happy to see him? What about earlier tonight, in her apartment? Didn’t that feel right?

  She’d spent the last year wrapped in a cocoon, gluing herself back together.

  How long are you going to stay shrouded in self-pity? See, you don’t even need Abigail around to harass you with her sloppy poetry.

  She slipped the lever into first gear and pulled around a steep U-turn.

  What if she died tonight? Or worse, what if Cole died? What would all the protecting and taking time to repair her heart get her? She didn’t want to waste any more time shielding herself from life for fear that something might hurt again.

  She wanted Cole.

  Nora turned the last switchback into the parking lot. She ought to slap her headlights off for stealth but she wouldn’t be able to see. Besides, anyone up here would have heard the Jeep’s engine.

  Four inches of snow sat atop Cole’s pickup. Daniel’s Prius still dripped melted snow from the warm engine.