Red Sole Clues

by Liliana Hart

  So when Sonny looked at his phone, then tossed a few bills on the bar and walked out, Lily did the same. She got in her car and followed him out of the lot. When Mary called a few minutes into the drive, Lily told her which way she was headed, then kept her focus on not being spotted while keeping up with Sonny. Mary called again a few minutes later, but she ignored the call. Tailing a suspect wasn’t exactly something she had experience with, and it turned out it wasn’t easy. At least not with her blood pounding in her veins and her palms so sweaty she thought the wheel might slip out of her grasp.

  She followed him another ten minutes outside of town, all the while arguing with herself over just how stupid this actually was. Because, now that she was out in the dark alone, she recognized the immense stupidity of what she was doing. Her body seemed to recognize it, too. Everything in her screamed to turn around. To go back. Her palms were sweating and her heart felt like it would explode any minute. As a doctor, she knew it could beat that fast and not explode, but rational thought had abandoned her around the time she walked into that bar.

  Around the fifteen-minute mark Lily began to feel truly panicked. It was also around that time that a truck came up behind her. The truck was only behind her for a minute before its high beams began to blind her through the rearview mirror and she could swear it was inching closer and closer to her bumper. So when Sonny’s car turned off on a side road, Lily didn’t have the nerve to follow. She kept going straight, planning to drive farther up the road to turn around and head back to her house. She couldn’t do this. Just plain didn’t have the guts to walk in there. As much as she’d hoped to get pictures or video of the people in charge, and evidence of gambling taking place, she just wasn’t brave enough.

  The truck stopped in front of the turn-off, looking for all the world as though it might follow her. Lily lost all ability to breathe. She gripped the steering wheel tightly and kept her eyes on the rearview mirror as she felt the first sign of tears in her eyes. This was beyond stupid. It was foolish and dangerous and she was an idiot for thinking she could do what the police couldn’t do.

  When the truck turned slowly down the road Sonny had gone down, she took a gulp of air, her hands shaking as she kept going straight. Forget pulling a U-turn to get home. There was no way she was going anywhere near that turn-off again. If she kept going, she’d hit another road that would take her around to the highway. She could take that home. It would take a lot longer to get home than turning back, but she could deal with that. Eyeing her rearview mirror the whole way home, Lily prayed she wouldn’t see the truck or Sonny’s car again.

  Chapter Ten

  Lily’s hands shook as she unlocked her front door. That had to be one of the dumbest things she’d almost done in a long time. Okay, ever.

  “Evvvvverrrr,” she said to herself as she bolted the door shut behind her. But at least it was over and she hadn’t done it, hadn’t ended up in a spot she couldn’t get herself out of.

  She walked into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of wine from the top shelf of her pantry. She wasn’t a big drinker, but a time like this called for something to settle herself. Since she had a feeling she’d spew a shot of whiskey across the room if she ever tried to down one, she was going with wine. Wine would work. As she poured herself a glass, she thought about calling Carter. She should let him know where the race was happening. He’d said he didn’t have the budget for a big investigation, but maybe he could send someone over there to check things out. Maybe they could send someone in plainclothes, or whatever you called it.

  She chewed on her lower lip for a minute trying to decide if she should just text him the location or what. He’d be ticked. Well, ticked didn’t begin to describe it. Furious, was more like it. But if that meant getting those animals away from criminals who would shoot them at the drop of a hat, it was worth Carter’s wrath, right?

  She sipped her wine and looked at her phone sitting on the counter. Maybe she could have Mary call him or text him? But would he listen to Mary or ignore her? If the information came from Lily, wouldn’t he be more likely to believe her and get someone out there right away?

  Lily picked up her phone and tapped the screen, watching it come alive.

  She put it down again. Sipped her wine. Picked the phone up. Put it down.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  She damn near jumped out of her skin at the sound of the knock on her front door. Frozen in place for a moment, she wondered if someone might have followed her home. That was silly, though. She had watched her rearview mirror the whole ride. If someone had followed her, she would have seen them. Right?

  She went to the front door and looked through the peephole, letting out her breath when she saw who it was. In the background, she heard her phone ringing, but she ignored it for the time being. Swinging the door open, she smiled at Ryan Crawford. She wasn’t overly fond of the man, but somehow having someone with her right now seemed like a good idea. The house felt too empty. Too isolated. And she was too on edge.

  “Hey, Ryan, what are you doing here?”

  Relief flipped to shock when he stepped inside, shoving her into the house with one arm. He slammed the door shut behind him.

  Lily didn’t see the first blow coming—only felt the pain shoot through the side of her face as she fell back onto the couch. His face had gone from smiling and easygoing to ugly in the blink of an eye. Confusion and fear battled in her mind as Ryan loomed over her. Why had she ever thought he was short? He seemed to have gained inches and pounds somehow. Not to mention a whole lot of muscle and fists the size of dumbbells.

  “Did you tell anyone, Lily?”

  She shook her head and knew she was crying when she felt the sting of tears on her cheek. It burned, but the look in his eye told her he could do a lot worse. Cold rushed through her, but confusion came right alongside it. “Tell anyone what? I don’t—”

  He kneeled down in front of her, his eyes cold and hard and insanely at odds with the man she’d met in the past. She frantically tried to think of anything she could use to defend herself, but there was nothing. She didn’t keep a weapon of any kind in the house, and she couldn’t hope to match his strength. Her mind spun. Until he stopped it with one sentence.

  “You’re going to die tonight, Lily.” He didn’t bat an eye as he said it. Just looked at her as though the statement was completely normal, and that made her believe he meant it all the more. “Before that happens, I need to know if you told anyone the location of the dog race tonight. My dad needs to know if we have to clear the damned place out after your little stunt.”

  “What?” His dad? Nothing about this made any sense. And no matter how many times she shook her head, she couldn’t seem to get the pieces to fall into place. Her phone rang again, sounding much too far away.

  Ryan’s meaty fist gripped her hair and twisted, wrenching her scalp. She raised her hands to relieve the pain, to try to stop him, but there was nothing she could do as he pulled her off the couch, dragging her through the house. “Let’s go see who that is, shall we, Lily?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Carter tried to quell the anger in his gut as he pulled in every available deputy he could to raid the underground racing ring. No, that wasn’t right. If he was honest with himself, it wasn’t anger. It was fear. Fear for Lily. Fear he wouldn’t be good enough to save her. He’d be damned if he’d let fear stop him, so he was stoking the anger instead.

  When Mary Greene had called him in tears and told him Lily had followed Sonny Daigle out to one of the rural farm roads, he’d begun a crazed circuit from livid to terrified and back again. He’d cross checked the area with his list of abandoned properties and narrowed in on her probably location quickly. If he got her out of there safely, he’d wring her neck. Then he’d kiss the ever-loving daylights out of the woman. Then wring her neck again.

  Because the other bit of information Mary had imparted was that Lily wasn’t answering her phone. She’d been unresponsive for over twenty-five m
inutes before Mary called Carter. There was nothing about that situation that could be good. Not a damned thing.

  He scrambled to cross-reference the location with the list of abandoned properties he’d been working his way through and wasn’t surprised when the one property out that way turned out to be a property the bank was in the process of seizing. The lawyer handling the case for the bank? Alton Crawford. Carter’s gut had been right. Alton’s interest in Honey had seemed off from the get-go.

  An hour later, when they’d completed the raid, some would say the results were positive. Only one deputy had been injured, and his injuries were minor; they had seized thirty-five dogs and ten rabbits; and had detained Jenk Wilson and Alton Crawford. But they couldn’t find Lily anywhere. Much as he’d like to say he was staying calm and working through the problem, Carter had to admit, he felt like he might lose it any second. He had half a mind to drag Alton Crawford off into the woods to talk to him one-on-one. Carter had never crossed the line in his work before, but he was preparing to blast right on through it. Because losing Lily was not an option.

  “Boss.”

  Carter didn’t bother to correct Deputy Widen, even though he felt nothing like a boss at the moment. He felt lost. He turned to the man addressing him and waited.

  Widen nodded when he saw he had Carter’s attention and leaned close. “We threatened to take a few of the spectators in for illegal gambling if they didn’t talk. No one saw Lily. There are very few women here, so I think they would have spotted her. A couple of them said Alton’s son, Ryan, was here earlier and hauled ass out of the place after a lot of shouting between Ryan and Alton and Jenk. Said they started the races late because of it.”

  Carter nodded. “Find out what Ryan drives and call in a BOLO.”

  As Danny walked off to coordinate the be on the lookout with other law enforcement on site, Carter crossed his arms and glared at the surrounding farmland. It was a useless gesture. The landscape couldn’t produce Lily safe and sound any more than Carter could, and that fact was tearing at his gut.

  “Danny!” Carter shouted across the field. “Send someone over to Mary Greene’s house and find out every damned thing she knows about where Lily went and who might be involved in this. And haul Sonny’s ass down to the station and find out what he knows. Find out who might have seen Lily following him, and anyone and everything he saw.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Lily stood with her back to the kitchen counter, bracing herself for the next blow. Ryan was scrolling through her phone, but she knew that wouldn’t keep him busy for long. Reaching behind her into the sink, she felt around for the knife she’d used at breakfast that morning. Her eyes never left Ryan as she moved her hand slowly across the sink. Part of her wanted to lie down and curl into a ball, hoping this would go away. Hoping Carter would burst through the door any minute to save her.

  But a bigger part of her knew if she was going to get out of this, she had to fight. Something about the eerie calm of Ryan’s demeanor told her he’d meant it when he said he planned to kill her tonight. She knew who he was and knew what he was doing. He’d assaulted and threatened her. There was no way he could let her walk out of here alive.

  Her hands closed over the handle of the knife and she swallowed back a sob as she dove for Ryan. She had very little hope of winning this fight, but maybe the fact that he wouldn’t expect her to attack would give her a leg up. As she came at him, he turned and raised an arm to slap her back, easy as swatting a fly. The refrigerator met her head with a violent crack as she landed.

  If Lily could have slowed the scene down, she might have some idea of what happened next, but as it was, things occurred in a blur. Whether Ryan never saw the knife in her hand or simply misjudged her and didn’t think she’d been able to hold onto it as she flew across the room—she simply didn’t know. Time slowed as he sneered and told her she’d pay for fighting back. Instinct had her raising the knife as he threw himself toward her. The look of shocked rage on his face, mere inches from hers, would live with her forever. It would haunt her in ways she never imagined possible. She knew in that instant, she’d taken a life as the blade sank deep into his gut, his own momentum providing the power she needed.

  It didn’t matter that it was his life or hers. It didn’t matter that the look on his face said he likely would have hurt her badly before he had killed her. That she might have wished for death when he was finished.

  Lily shoved at him hard, tossing herself sideways to get out from under him as he went limp. Uncontrollable sobs wracked her body, but no sound came out. She looked down at her hands and found them shaking and bloody, but she felt detached, like she was watching someone else. She recognized the signs of shock as she began to feel numb, but wasn’t functioning as a woman with medical training right now. The moment that knife struck, she’d started functioning as a victim of a horrific crime. And part of her knew, from now on she would forever be just that. A victim. She would carry this with her forevermore. And she had no one to blame but herself. She’d foolishly put herself in Ryan’s crosshairs.

  Lily’s gaze fell to the phone that Ryan had dropped when he’d come after her. She crawled to it and cradled it to her chest before scooting into the living room. She couldn’t look at the growing puddle of blood on her kitchen floor. Couldn’t stomach seeing Ryan’s body. Her hands shook as she dialed Carter and she desperately tried to forget the way it felt to sink a knife into another person’s stomach. That feeling would never go away.

  “Lily!” Carter’s voice came through the line loud and clear, and she fell against the base of the couch, bringing her knees to her chest.

  “I killed him.” Her words weren’t very clear, at least, they didn’t sound clear to her.

  “Where are you, sweetheart?” He sounded so calm, as though he had everything under control. She hoped he did. Hoped he would come get her, take her away from the blood.

  “I’m h-home. He’s dead, Carter.” Another sob tore through her body and she knew she needed to get herself together, and calm herself down before she went into shock, but she didn’t honestly know if she could do that.

  * * *

  Carter was moving to his SUV long before Lily told him where she was, motioning to Danny Widen over his shoulder. Before Danny could reach him, a chilling scream came through the line. Lily was far from safe. The relief he’d felt moments before was gone as adrenaline once again surged through him.

  Danny must have heard the scream, because he was right with Carter as they hit the ground running. By the time they slammed open the doors to Carter’s vehicle, Danny had radioed to one of the other men on scene to take over.

  “Is anyone closer to Lily’s house than we are?” Carter’s voice was clipped and strained. They were only fifteen minutes from Lily’s place, but that fifteen minutes could very well be too long. If she was under attack, Carter needed to get to her. Now.

  “No.” Danny’s tone was just as grim.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lily cried out as Ryan’s fist slammed into her again. He leaned close to her, his breath hot in her ear, full weight pinning her to the floor as he spoke. Her blood went cold. He would follow through on his threats. He just enjoyed letting her know what was coming.

  “You’re going to wish to God you had killed me back there, Lily. By the time I’m through with you, you’ll pray for death. Beg for it.”

  As he spoke, he thrust against her with his hips and she cringed, drawing a laugh from Ryan.

  “I’d say this is going to be fun, but I’m afraid it’s only going to be fun for me.”

  One arm pressed across her shoulders as he rolled to the side and reached for the belt buckle at his waist. Metal scraped metal and her stomach churned.

  No!

  The thought hit Lily hard and strong and she reacted instantly. She needed to fight this. Her arms might have been pinned by her sides, but she still had some freedom of movement in her hands. Bracing, she clawed at his abdomen, searching
for the spot where the knife had sunk deep earlier. When she felt the warm blood, she plunged her thumb deep before ripping as hard as she could to the right, putting everything she had into the move, knowing it was the only one she had.

  The cry from Ryan was deep and guttural. He spun from her, clutching at his stomach. Lily kicked out and ran, heading for the stairs. Her breath came in jagged pants and she focused on one thing. Getting to the top. She didn’t think about the fact that getting to the front or back door might have been wiser. Ryan had been between her and the front door and when she’d gotten up to run, the stairs had been right there. As she crested the top, she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d end up like one of those horror movie chicks who got herself trapped instead of getting away.

  Honestly, if she were watching this movie, she might have been yelling at the screen, telling herself what an idiot she was. There wasn’t time for that. She could hear Ryan on the stairs behind her. She slammed into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

  Now she knew she was one of those stupid horror movie chicks. She’d just locked herself in a room with a very flimsy lock and nothing to use for defense. She fell to the floor, leaning her back against the door as she scanned the room. There wasn’t even anything to barricade herself in with. Lily screamed and jumped when Ryan’s body hit the door behind her. He was cursing with each attempted breach and his strength seemed to wane. She wanted to curl in a ball and cover her head with her hands. The window in this room was too small to climb through, even if she could climb up to it. The modern architecture had seemed charming until now, the slit of a window up near the ceiling providing light in the room, while allowing for privacy. Brilliant.