“You’re who Daniel was talking about,” Caleb said thoughtfully. “When he said, ‘but then she called.’ I think you’re right. I don’t think he had a clue about the fires. I think he went and confronted Jay and Jeremy and found the kerosene. Decided he didn’t want any part of it. Jeremy or Jay found out and one of them tried to end him but his girlfriend spooked them before they could finish the job.” Caleb refrained from adding then Jeremy went to try and end you, but by the look in her eyes, Delores had already put that together.
“We can get into the specifics later,” Jazz intervened. “We know Jay doesn’t have Declan and Nina, Jeremy does. We know, based on what you told us, Caleb, that Jeremy probably wants some kind of revenge for her testimony against his father, but where would he do it? And how? I hate to say it, but if he’d wanted both of them dead he could have done it easily right here.”
Caleb didn’t like that thought, though he knew it was true.
“Why did he go through all of whatever it is he did when it would have been much simpler and less risky to just grab her? Or, well, kill her.”
“He has to make it dramatic.”
Caleb was sure of it the moment it came out.
Realization lit up Jazz’s expression.
“Because the trial was.”
Caleb nodded. “Not only was his father facing prison and then sentenced, but it was turned into a spectacle. Some of the media even called the outcome poetic.” He balled his fists in anger. “The pictures taken of Nina here were all of her smiling. A smile was what doomed his father. The smile she saw but he didn’t. It’s not just enough for Jeremy to win, he has to do it in style for it to count.”
“That theory makes sense,” Delores said. “Almost like an eye for an eye.”
“How do the fires figure into this? He’s trying to recreate the actual event?” Jazz paused before she said the next part. “Trapping her in a car and setting it on fire?”
They all quieted as they thought. Caleb pushed past his rage again. He didn’t need the distraction right—
“Distractions,” he said, more to himself. The one word sent a series of thoughts tumbling. “Jeremy has been in town for months, masterminding some kind of finale. We might have messed that up but he’s not just going to scrap everything. Now, why would a man that dedicated and clever team up with someone like Jay DeMarko? An arsonist. Starting a fire isn’t hard.” He knew he must have looked crazed when he spoke next but his gut was finally syncing up with his head. “What are fires, Jazz?” Her eyebrow quirked up. He answered before she could. “They’re dangerous, hard-to-miss, distracting.”
“So you think he only used Jay to keep our attention on Jay.”
“And Daniel Covington,” Caleb reminded her. “We didn’t even know there was a third guy and might not have if it wasn’t for Delores.”
Delores didn’t comment on the compliment. Instead she voiced her own question.
“If he’s not going to mirror what happened to Nina’s mother then maybe he doesn’t have a set pathology. Maybe he doesn’t need to be that dramatic.”
“You don’t go through this much trouble just to smear the details at the end,” Caleb said, sure in his words. He rubbed his jaw. Another uncomfortable thought pushed its way through. “Nina said that smoke inhalation was what killed her mother. But that’s not true.” Both women raised their eyebrows in question. “She was trapped. That’s what really killed her. That’s what sealed her fate. And Jeremy’s father didn’t try to save her.”
“But where would Jeremy try to trap her?” Delores asked.
Caleb’s mind was racing.
“If he was using an arsonist as a distraction, then maybe he’d get his revenge in the last place we would think to look for one.”
* * *
NINA LOOKED FROM the car down to the river. Her wrists were now tied behind her back and she was terrified.
“I thought you wanted to talk,” she reminded Jeremy. He had walked her at gunpoint from the abandoned house’s back door to where the Overlook Pass bridge had once been. Together they now stood at the river, Nina so close to the edge the temptation to leap in swayed through her while Jeremy kept his distance. The car she’d originally been forced into was parked a few feet from them, facing the water. Nina’s heart squeezed as she saw Declan hunched over in the back seat.
Jeremy didn’t make any assurances that talking was the only topic on the agenda. Instead, he jumped into a story that hardened his gaze and felt more than rehearsed.
“I see the way you look at me,” he started. “You’re trying to figure out if I’ve always been crazy or if it’s a more recent development. Why am I in Overlook? Why did I abduct you? Why, why, why. The truth is, I’m not crazy, which honestly is worse, I think. I’m smart, hardworking and no stranger to sacrifice. I’m a trifecta, Nina. One this little town never stood a chance against.” He smirked. “But why, the little girl thought?” he added, adopting an almost whimsical tone. Nina found it more frightening than if he had been yelling.
His smirk was wiped clean by practiced indifference.
“You know, I didn’t think about you for a few years. I actually did quite well for myself. I’d always had an interest in the medical field but figured out that the mind is a much more challenging beast to tame. So I became a psychiatrist. I went to college on an academic scholarship, graduated with an MD, completed a quite grueling residency and then joined a psychiatry practice where everyone called me Doctor Bowling. It reminded me of all the things I’d gained. And then my father died in prison.”
Nina was speechless on more than one account. Jeremy was right. She had assumed he was crazy, imaging a young boy warping into a disturbed man. But a psychiatrist?
And his father had died?
How had she missed that information? The local media had proven to be sharks when it came to the trial. Surely they would have used his death to rehash it.
“Not many people know,” he said, picking up on her thoughts. “His suicide wasn’t tantalizing enough. The money I spread around to keep it quiet helped, too, I’m sure.”
“I’m sorry.” Nina meant it, even if she would never forgive the eldest Bowling. Still, losing a parent was heartbreaking, especially when they didn’t die naturally.
Jeremy gave her a critical eye, then nodded.
“Do you know he was one of the only two living relatives I had? After the trial I was shipped off to his mother’s. I don’t think I’ll ever meet someone as horrible as her. She didn’t care for my father and she only cared to yell at me. When she died the world became a brighter place. I was finally free of all the bad.” There was a fire in his eyes. Nina wondered how his grandmother died but didn’t want to interrupt his speech. Every moment they kept talking was another moment given to Caleb and the department to try and find them. Nina didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious. She wanted to make sure she stalled as long as she could.
Plus, Jeremy had an intriguing air about him. He was oddly captivating when he spoke. Nina assumed that was thanks to his profession.
“But when Dad died, I realized freedom and escape were illusions I’d made to cope with my grief. That there was a truth I’d been avoiding for years.” He lowered the gun. Somehow it made him appear far more menacing. “You, Nina Drake. You lied. My father never smiled.”
Nina broke through her decision to keep quiet.
“He was smiling, Jeremy,” she said, voice low but strong. “I saw him. He was standing there and—”
“He said it was an accident,” Jeremy roared.
Nina flinched but refused to cower.
“He hit the car on the purpose,” she shot back. “The investigation showed that he didn’t once hit the brakes! You were in the car! Did it seem like an accident?”
Jeremy’s face reddened in anger.
“I never saw him smile!”
Jeremy brought the gun up and shook it. He took a step closer. This time Nina did move backward.
“Shut up,” he seethed. “You lied! I saved you and how do you repay me?” Nina couldn’t step back any farther without falling off of the ledge and into the water. She had nowhere to go as Jeremy moved so close to her that she felt his breath against her face as he yelled. “You lie! You lied to the cops, you lied on the stand, and worst of all, to everyone you became the hero!”
He pushed the gun to her chest and used his other hand to point to himself.
“I was the hero!”
Nina feared that this was it. That she had run out of time. Whatever poise Jeremy had possessed was clearly gone.
What did they say about reasoning with a madman?
Don’t.
Nina kept quiet, her heart hammering in her chest.
Finally the heat behind Jeremy’s eyes seemed to cool. He lowered the gun and actually laughed.
“Now it’s time to go.”
He stepped back and motioned to the car.
“What?”
He continued to point.
“Go to the car now and get into the driver’s seat or I’ll go kill the sheriff.”
The space between the riverbank and the car seemed dreadfully long. And it felt too much like a dead man’s march.
“So you’re going to kill us?” She chanced the question as she reached the door. He still had his gun trained on her. “As punishment for what you believe?”
He cracked a smile that in every way was opposite of the ones Caleb had given her. The detective’s were warm, kind and compassionate. Jeremy’s were twisted and menacing, and promised pain.
“I’m going to give my father justice by showing you the truly bad intentions you made others believe he had that day.” He glanced at the water. “This is the deepest part of the river for miles and miles. I convinced Jay to hone his arson’s method on the bridge that used to be here so there would be enough room.” His twisted smile stretched. “You’re going to drive this car right into it, where you’ll then sink to the bottom and become trapped.”
Nina’s blood froze.
“Why would I do that?” she asked, unable to stop the waver that broke through. “Why wouldn’t I just let you shoot me now?”
Jeremy pointed to the backseat.
“Because of him,” he said of Declan. “If you drive the two of you into the water there’s a high chance you’ll both drown. But if you don’t there’s a one hundred percent chance he will receive a bullet to the head and then I’ll simply throw you in the car myself to get the job done. Now, get in the car or—” he moved so his aim was on Declan’s unconscious form “—the sheriff never wakes up again.”
Nina nodded that she understood. Jeremy opened the car door and let her maneuver into the driver’s seat. He put the car in Drive.
“Not only am I smart, Nina, I’m an excellent shot, even with moving targets,” he said. “All you will do is floor it, and gravity and inertia will do the rest. Anything else and you’ll just drown with a corpse.”
Nina felt sick to her stomach.
“This won’t change anything,” she said. “This won’t bring either of our parents back.”
Jeremy shook his head.
“What you don’t understand Nina, is that I know people. I know what they’re thinking. In hindsight you would have died, too, that day, trying to save your mother. You’re only here now because I saved you. Now I’m correcting the mistake. We’re correcting a mistake.”
Jeremy started to shut the door but paused. He had one last dramatic parting shot.
“And then, while you’re drowning down there, do you know what I’ll do, daughter of the victim?”
She didn’t respond.
She already knew the answer.
“I’ll. Just. Smile.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Nina thought they would be okay. At least, she had hope still as they started to sink. She guessed the water was around twelve-feet deep, maybe more. The drop to meet it she hadn’t been nearly as far. All the windows were up which meant they would hopefully just go to the bottom and sit there, giving Caleb and company more time to find them. At least she hoped that was what might happen. In truth she had no idea what to do. She also hoped the man who attacked them at the main house, who she guessed was their arsonist, had survived and told Caleb everything. Including where this plan had ended. Though, as the water rose above the door handles just outside, Nina made another guess.
Their arsonist hadn’t been in the loop.
Which meant there might not be any bread crumbs to follow to save her and Declan.
Those weren’t happy thoughts to have but, again, she still had hope as the windows were covered by a brilliant, cool blue.
But then the water started coming in.
Declan groaned, bringing Nina fresh relief, until she saw what had stirred him.
The window behind his head was cracked open and water was coming in fast. On reflex Nina tried to angle her hands to the power window controls but nothing happened. She let out an anguished cry. Now their hope of sitting at the bottom of the river was gone. Now they had until the water filled the car.
“Declan?”
The sheriff’s eyes opened slowly, water spilling down his shoulder. Nina did an awkward scurry over through the middle of the seats until she was falling against the man.
“What’s going on?” he managed, catching her.
Nina could have sung for joy in an instant.
“Untie my hands,” she yelled.
Bless him, the sheriff immediately went into action. The power in the car cut out. The light outside was fading as the water poured in.
Her bonds loosened and fell away. Nina immediately turned and helped Declan move as far away from the water as the back seat allowed. The movement came along with a string of moans from the man. When he spoke again his voice was dangerously weak.
“When—when the water gets to your chin you—you might be to open the door. If not, wait. It’ll pressurize when it’s—when it’s full” He started to fall over. Nina used her position against the door to wrap her arms around him, letting her chest hold up his back.
“Then we’ll swim out,” she said defiantly.
He was barely able to shake his head.
“Leave me.”
“I’m not leaving you, Declan. Do you hear me? I am not letting you die down here.”
Nina waited for his retort. Instead his body went limp against her. The added weight was surprising. It pinned her against the door.
Declan remained silent.
The darkness was a terrifying companion to the rising water. Nina should have been scared, and yet her body was calm.
And she had Caleb Nash to thank for that.
She hadn’t known the man for long but knew one thing was certain. He would fight to his very last breath to save the ones he loved.
Which was exactly what she was going to do for him.
She pressed one hand against Declan’s gunshot wound and waited. If she couldn’t get out when it got to their heads then she’d have to get them out as fast as possible when the inside was completely flooded.
There were no other options.
The cold from the river wrapped itself around her, crawling higher and higher.
“Easy peasy.”
* * *
CALEB HAULED ASS to the Overlook Pass. He didn’t even slow down as he rounded the house that stood sentry across from it. He didn’t even reduce speed when Jeremy Bowling raised his gun and started shooting.
In fact, what Caleb felt was an overwhelming amount of relief. He had been operating under a theory, a hunch. One that could have been devastatingly off. Yet, there Jeremy was, standing by the river.
The river.
Caleb took a sharp turn and hit the brakes. He jumped out shooting, using his car as cover. Jazz and Delores were right behind. There was nowhere for Jeremy to run and hide now.
He took three bullets to the middle before he dropped his gun. Caleb was running to the riverbank before Jeremy’s body hit the ground.
“In the water,” he yelled back as soon as he saw the distorted darkness at the bottom of the water and bubbles coming to the surface.
Caleb dropped his gun and took a running jump. He dove in headfirst, Jazz yelling behind him.
The water was cold. It would have been a shock to his system had his blood not been coursing with full-blown adrenaline. He pumped his legs and arms and descended into the darkness. It wasn’t until he was a few feet from the car that he saw the terrifying sight.
The back door was open. One body was floating outside of it. Caleb didn’t have time to sort through the terrible thoughts before movement caught his eye. The body outside of the car was Declan’s, the one moving next to him was Nina. Her eyes widened as he reached them. She didn’t waste any time. She pointed to Declan and then up to the surface. She even gave him a push.
Caleb realized then Declan’s eyes were closed. It tore at his heart. Nina pointed again. Caleb looped his arm around his brother and used the car’s hood to push off. They soared through the water. Two splashes displaced the area next to them as they broke the surface. Jazz was already reaching for Declan, Delores at his side.
“Help me get him to the bank over there,” Jazz yelled. Delores followed directions. They pulled Declan from his arms.
“Where’s Nina?’’
Caleb turned, expecting to see her break the surface next to him and smile.
But she didn’t.
Caleb dove back under, heart two seconds from breaking loose and going to get her itself, and swam the fastest he ever had back to the car. Nina was still moving but she wasn’t going anywhere. Her foot was caught on something in the car.
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