Colton and the Single Mom

by Jane Godman

  “Lulu. What the hell—” He reached out a hand, but she cowered away like a frightened animal.

  “Get away from me!” She attempted to step around him, but Brayden blocked her path. Turning her head to look over her shoulder, she came to a trembling standstill. Her eyes were hidden behind huge shades, but tears had left tracks in her makeup and her cheeks were still wet. “Please. Just let me go.”

  “Not until you tell me what’s going on.” Impatience and instinct were at war inside him. He needed to find Esmée and he had to do it fast, but his gut was telling him Lulu’s fear must be connected to Keene.

  The fight went out of Lulu and her whole body slumped. Brayden caught hold of her by the elbow and led her to a large rock. He took a moment to check on the baby, but she looked fine. “You don’t understand.” Lulu hitched in a breath. “You don’t know what he can do.”

  “Tell me.” He kept his voice firm and calm, sensing if he offered her sympathy, her distress would increase. He would get her help later. Right now, he needed her lucid.

  “He said he’ll kill me and my baby—”

  “He won’t be able to do that if he’s behind bars, Lulu. Now, where is he? Is he in the Angel Cave?” She nodded. “And Esmée is with him?” Another nod. “Is he armed?”

  “Gun.” Lulu swallowed hard. “He took my baby...made me bring Esmée to him.”

  Brayden was aware of time slipping away. Lulu still didn’t know Keene had killed Richie. If he broke that news to her now, he couldn’t give her the support she needed and go after Keene. Esmée’s life was in danger. Even if she wasn’t the woman he loved—even if they’d never met—saving her had to be his priority.

  “This is what I need you to do.” He squatted beside Lulu. Speaking slowly, he made sure she was looking his way in spite of the oversize shades. “Get back in your car. Drive to the Red Ridge PD building and go to the front desk. Tell the secretary there Brayden Colton sent you. Ask for a K-9 cop called Juliette Walsh. When you see her, I want you to tell her the whole story.”

  “I can’t.” Lulu cast another glance along the track toward the cave. “He said...”

  “Lulu, this is the only way you are going to keep your baby safe.” If she didn’t respond this time, he would have to leave her. He couldn’t waste any more of Esmée’s precious time.

  To his relief, Lulu got to her feet. “Okay.” Her lip wobbled. “I’m so sorry.”

  He gave her a gentle shove in the right direction. Only time would tell if she listened to his advice, or got in her car and took off. No matter how the forthcoming confrontation ended—and Brayden was determined to make sure it ended the right way for Esmée—Lulu would be needed as a witness against Keene. He hoped she’d make it easy on herself and stick around.

  Brayden gave Echo the command to stay at his heels, then broke into a run and covered the distance to the cave. He drew his gun and paused at one side of the entrance, taking a moment to breathe deeply before he prepared to step inside.

  As he did, a woman’s scream echoed off the rocky walls.

  Chapter 18

  “I don’t have any information for you. I don’t know anything about you.” Although it was the gun that stopped Esmée from running, she was more worried about Keene’s hands. Neckbreaker. She couldn’t get the word out of her head.

  “That’s what I thought you’d say.” Keene gave an exaggerated sigh. “But we both know it’s not true. And I don’t have time to waste on chitchat. I have business associates in Red Ridge who need to get moving on a deal we’ve made, but your habit of making friends with police officers could screw things up for me. I’ve waited a long time for this. I need to know who you’ve spoken to and what you’ve said. Then I can tidy up here before I move on.”

  Esmée was trying to maintain control over her thoughts, even as they were skittering wildly in every direction. She hadn’t seen Richie Lyman’s body, but Brayden, a hardened police officer, had been badly shaken by what he’d witnessed. She had a feeling Keene’s idea of “tidying up” was to dispose of anyone who got in his way. When he talked about her friendship with police officers, he must mean Jack and Brayden.

  Jack had known about the safe-deposit robbery, but her friend was dead. Telling Keene what Jack knew couldn’t hurt anyone, and it might buy her some time. “Are you talking about the robbery that took place ten years ago at the bank?”

  “See? I knew you were a sensible woman. Not sensible enough to get out of town after I gave you a few warnings, but not so stupid that you’re going to pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.” He cupped his fingers invitingly around his ear. “Tell me more.”

  “Jack Parkowski suspected you and Richie Lyman were involved, but he had no proof.”

  “You’re telling me stuff I already know. Let me make it easier for you so we can skip over the next bit. I got a call from Richie that our old friend Detective Parkowski had shown up here in his hometown. Richie wasn’t happy to see him. He liked Red Ridge. Had a girlfriend, baby on the way, was working for some guys who run the place like a well-oiled machine. He asked me to pay a visit. Wanted me to come to Red Ridge and get rid of Parkowski once and for all. But there was something more in it for me as well. Richie’s bosses were interested in some items I have. Let’s just say they’re pretty special and the market for them is rare.” He took a step closer. “When I reached town, turns out this crazy Groom Killer everyone’s talking about had already done the job for me with Parkowski. But then you started snooping around.”

  Esmée swallowed hard. “I wasn’t investigating you. I’m making a documentary about the Groom Killer.”

  “I know that.” He flapped an impatient hand at her. “I even know you and your kid didn’t come snooping around here deliberately the day you found my knife.” His eyes narrowed. “I should have finished you off then, or all the other times I had the chance. But I already had Richie’s body on my hands. Like I said, my business associates don’t want any trouble coming their way. They just want a nice payoff when we dispose of these items.”

  He seemed happy to talk. Keep him talking. “Why did you kill Richie?”

  A frown descended on Keene’s brow. “He knew I had these items, even though he didn’t know where they were hidden. Ten years ago, he helped me get away and we agreed he’d get a share of the proceeds when they were sold. I caught him snooping around in this cave one day.” He cracked his knuckles again. “So I got rid of him. I wanted to cut him up small.” Esmée shuddered at the way he said it so matter-of-factly. “You know, so I could spread the pieces over a wider area and there’d be less chance of him being found? Didn’t work out.” He shrugged. “With him gone, I get a bigger share of the payout. And Lulu? She thinks she walked away just now? I’ll be visiting her again soon. I don’t leave any loose ends.”

  Esmée guessed he was planning on killing her as well by the amount he was telling her. As far as Keene was concerned, there was no way she was leaving this cave alive. “I still don’t know what you want from me.”

  “I need to know what your new guy has on me. He’s the one my business associates are worried about. They won’t risk this deal if there’s a chance the cops will come sniffing around them and Richie’s body already has them jumpy.” He reached out a hand, gripping her upper arm so tight she thought his fingers would embed themselves in her flesh. “This is where you tell me all about the Colton search-and-rescue cop you’ve been cozying up to. How much does he know about me? Do I need to get rid of him as well as you?”

  “No!” The word came out on a gasp. “We haven’t talked about you.”

  His eyes narrowed and she knew he’d been toying with her. Telling Lulu he needed her alive, claiming he wanted information from Esmée... Keene enjoyed psychological torture as much as he enjoyed violence and killing. He had said it himself. He didn’t leave loose ends. He had wanted to find out what she knew, but h
e didn’t intend to keep her alive. Once he had killed Esmée, he would go after Brayden and anyone else who stood in his way. If his business associates didn’t like it, he would move on without a backward glance. The Angelika diamonds were timeless. One day, Keene would sell them and get his billions.

  Now that she knew she had nothing to lose, her spirit came back. He might be bigger and he might have killed, but this man was a bully the same way Gwyn had been. After that day in Wales, Esmée had sworn that if she was ever in a position where another person sought to browbeat her by using superior physical strength, she would fight back. She would never cower in fear again.

  I guess the time has come to put that to the test.

  In her self-defense classes, she had learned one simple rule. Her instructor had taught her the basics, but, ultimately, there were no rules. Whatever it took to get away was what she had to do. There were some key body areas she could strike. No matter how big her opponent may be, he was still vulnerable to a well-timed blow.

  “You’re lying,” Keene growled as he pulled her closer.

  Esmée hit him in the throat with the heel of her hand. At the same time, she jerked her knee up hard between his legs. Although he grunted and released her arm, as she turned to run, he twisted his hand in her hair and dragged her back to him. He swung a fist like a sledgehammer in the direction of her face and she managed to dodge it at the last minute. Even so, he caught her on the shoulder and she screamed in pain, the sound echoing off the rocky walls.

  One chance. That was all she had. He wouldn’t miss next time. As he raised his arm again, Esmée braced herself against the wall of the cave and kicked out with both feet. She hit Keene hard in the stomach and, as he staggered back, she scrambled wildly for his gun. Her hand closed on something hard and she grasped it. As she pointed it at Keene, she realized to her horror that she’d picked up Venus Love’s rattle instead of the gun.

  She had one chance, and she’d blown it. She was confronting the Neckbreaker...with a baby toy.

  Keene stayed on his knees, staring up at her with a wary expression. “Give me that.”

  That was it? No fist slamming into her face? No hands closing around her throat? No swiping her legs out from under her? Just his eyes fixed on the baby rattle and that quiet tone. She looked again at the ungainly plaything. What was it about this toy?

  “You want this?” She held it up like it was one of Echo’s balls. “You go get it.”

  She threw the rattle as hard and as far as she could, then waited for him to get to his feet and dash after it before taking off in the opposite direction. Her feet skittered over the uneven rocky surface and she held one hand out in front of her in the darkness. With the other hand, she fumbled in the back pocket of her jeans for her cell.

  Forcing herself to remain calm, she checked the screen and almost cried. She had no signal. All her clever plans had been for nothing. Her phone was useless. She couldn’t even use it as a light source in case she gave her location away to Keene.

  There wasn’t a moment to catch her breath. She could already hear Keene approaching. As she tried to slide her cell back into her pocket, it slipped from her hand. Unable to see it in the gloom, she left it. She didn’t have time to waste on something that wasn’t going to help her.

  With a growing sense of despair, she moved deeper into the tunnel.

  * * *

  At the sound of Esmée’s scream, panic rose up inside Brayden. It was like a wolf tearing into his chest with sharp teeth and claws. It threatened to devour him, leaving him useless and incapable of action. All he knew for sure was, if he gave in to it, he would hear more of those screams. With no more hesitation, he went into the cave.

  It was impossible to see anything, so he unclipped the small flashlight from his belt and held it in front of him. It gave him some light, but only a few feet in front of him. He thought he heard the sounds of a scuffle and voices up ahead, but he couldn’t be sure. The acoustics in the cave made it difficult to hear and it was impossible to distinguish the direction of a sound.

  His initial panic subsided slightly. The fact that he could hear some sort of interaction must mean Esmée was still alive. That was good news. It also meant she was with Keene, which was not as good. If he called out to her, he would alert Keene to his presence and lose the element of surprise. All he could do was keep moving deeper into the cave in search of them. Echo seemed to sense the danger and kept his nose pressed up against the back of Brayden’s leg.

  There was a reason why the town council had issued a warning about this cave. The layout was unlike the smaller caves lower down the trail. In the Angel Cave, there was a large cavern with several tunnels leading off. The rocky floor was treacherous, often becoming dangerously steep or even opening out without warning into sinkholes.

  Brayden moved carefully. With his gun in one hand and his flashlight in the other, he couldn’t steady himself against the rock wall. Once he reached the cavern, he shone the light around. It was a dramatic sight, with limestone structures and huge stalactites hanging from the roof. He could see several tunnels leading off from the main cave and he paused. Which way should he go now? An object on the ground caught his attention. Pausing to put on a pair of disposable gloves, he stooped to pick it up. It was Esmée’s cell phone.

  At least now he could do something more than wander blindly through the dangerous tunnels. It wasn’t an ideal situation. The cell wasn’t a good scent article. It wouldn’t hold Esmée’s smell the way a piece of clothing would. But she had been holding it recently and Echo knew her. The other problem was the cave environment wouldn’t carry a scent to the dog’s sensitive nostrils the same way the outdoor air would.

  He was counting on his partner. Echo was an experienced dog. They’d been in difficult situations before. Maybe none with so many variables as this. A hostile environment, a killer...and the woman I love just happens to be down here somewhere. He had to stay focused. Putting his personal feelings aside and staying professional was hard, but it was the only way to save Esmée.

  He held the cell phone out to Echo. The dog sniffed it all over. Soon, his tail began to wag eagerly.

  “Go find Esmée.” Brayden didn’t want to speak too loud, but Echo needed to hear the familiar order.

  Echo took off along the narrow tunnel. Generally, Echo switched between sniffing the air and scenting the ground, but he kept his nose down, indicating that tracking Esmée was easier that way in the cave. Brayden followed close behind, shining the flashlight ahead of him. He was conscious that Keene was still likely to be somewhere in this cave. He didn’t think the Neckbreaker had fled. Keene still had unfinished business. The killer could be behind Brayden, or he could be up ahead, sneaking up on Esmée.

  The thought of her in danger was like a dark storm cloud inside his skull, gathering and growing heavier, the pressure increasing until it was unbearable. The coldness in his limbs had nothing to do with the dank walls of the cave and everything to do with the fear that gripped him. He was working on instinct, his body going through the familiar, professional routine, while his emotions were in turmoil. His heart struggled to maintain a steady beat, almost as if it was pumping tar around his body instead of blood. Because Esmée had to be okay. He couldn’t have waited all this time to find her only to lose her this way.

  They reached a branch in the tunnels and Echo paused. Lifting his head, he scented the air, then sniffed the ground. Circling the area, he appeared to hesitate, and Brayden clenched a fist against his thigh. If the dog had lost the scent, they had no other way of finding Esmée. He would have to exit the cave and call Mountain Rescue. In the meantime, she would be alone down here with Keene on the loose.

  Suddenly, Echo took off into a passageway so low Brayden had to bend almost to his waist to follow him. It slowed his progress and he lost sight of the dog completely. Biting back a curse as he hit his head on and overhanging rock, he
paused as he heard a sound up ahead.

  “Echo?” He spoke softly in case it was Keene. Although how the hell that guy would fit down this tiny burrow...

  The dog gave a soft woof. It was unmistakably his alert, but the clever hound was doing it quietly as though aware he shouldn’t draw attention to them. With a pounding heart, Brayden made his way along the tunnel.

  * * *

  After she dropped her cell phone, Esmée tried to find her way through the tunnels that led off the main cave. But the warnings that she’d read about, the dangers of this underground system, stayed in her mind. She didn’t want to escape Keene only to fall into a sinkhole, or break her leg and be unable to make her way out.

  Trying to gain control over her terror, she forced herself to think. Keene had size on his side when it came to a confrontation, but maybe she could use that against him. If she could hide in a small space, he wouldn’t be able to find her. Stuck in a cave in the dark, with no way of knowing where Keene was, or what he was doing...it wasn’t a perfect plan. But it was better than his hands around her throat, or a bullet in her back.

  With no light to guide her, she felt her way along the tunnel wall, sliding a foot in front of her to check she wasn’t in danger of tumbling into a hole. When she found a narrow tunnel with a low ceiling, she ducked into it. Making her way along the passage, she discovered a cleft in the rock wall just wide enough for her to be able to squeeze into. She curled into the tight space, tucking her knees up to her chin.

  Despite the cold rock walls surrounding her, sweat drenched her skin. Tension was a throbbing pain behind her eyes, and her heart thumped wildly against her rib cage. Her hands were curled into fists, nails digging into her palms. She tried to regulate her breathing, scared it was coming so fast and hard in and out of her lungs it would give her away and Keene would hear it.

  Brayden. She wanted him so much it hurt. The fear of not seeing him and Rhys again was smothering her. Every time she thought about it, she began to tremble. Her whole body wanted to shut down in panic, but she fought it. Each time it happened, she forced herself to face her fears, to be stronger.