“Because you’re screwing things up.” Lillian’s voice rose, and for an instant her eyes shone with a crazed fever.
“Lillian, put the gun down and let’s talk.” Amanda tried to keep her voice as soft and on as even a keel as possible. “I’m sure this is all just a misunderstanding. Put down the gun and we’ll talk.”
“No misunderstanding,” she replied. “You’re in my way, and now I have to get rid of you.”
Amanda felt as if she’d slipped into an alternate universe. Although on some primal level she knew she was in danger, she still hoped to figure out exactly why this was happening. She still hoped she could talk her way out of this.
“Lillian, I thought we were friends. Can’t we talk this out without the gun?”
“We are friends,” she replied. “But sometimes friendship isn’t enough.” She motioned with the gun toward the studio door. “We’re going to take a walk.”
Amanda knew if they left the studio the level of danger would increase. She didn’t know what was going through Lillian’s head, but it was obvious the woman wasn’t rational.
“Lillian, please. Tell me what’s wrong,” she stalled.
“There’s nothing wrong now. After you’re gone everything will fall into place. None of this would have happened if Erica had been reasonable, but she was such a selfish, hateful woman.”
All the blood in Amanda’s body froze. “You?” The word whispered out of her. “You killed Erica? Was it because she had an affair with James?”
Lillian’s features transformed into something hard and ugly. “I should have killed her for that…James, too. That night, the night of the murder, James came to me and confessed everything. He’d been weak and Erica had been persuasive. They’d been carrying on for two months. He was through with her, promised me he’d never see her again, and then he told me Erica was pregnant with his child.”
She stepped closer to Amanda, the gun never wavering from its target. “After James confessed, I came out here and sat and thought about things and I realized all of it might be a blessing in disguise. She was carrying James’s baby, the baby I’d never been able to give him. God, but I’d wanted a baby so badly, but I couldn’t have one. That’s why I had my dark period.”
She frowned for a moment, the gesture tugging her pretty features into something nearly unrecognizable. “I called Erica that night and told her to meet me on the dock. I told her I’d made a new mask and wanted to show it off to her.”
As Lillian spoke, Amanda tried to absorb what she was saying and at the same time tried to find something, anything that might be used as a weapon. But there was nothing to compete with the gun Lillian held.
“I grabbed a mask and went to the dock,” Lillian continued. “Erica was there waiting for me. She had the knife with her. She told me she was going to carve the initials of all her lovers into the dock. I asked her if James’s initials would be one of the first or one of the last she carved.”
Amanda dismissed the idea of screaming for help. Who would rush to save her? James? He had to know that his wife was responsible for Erica’s murder and had done nothing about it. Besides, the last thing Amanda wanted to do was draw Melanie’s attention. She had no idea how much trauma the child could endure before she fractured apart forever.
“She told me not to look so serious, that she was just passing time with James until somebody better, more exciting came along. I didn’t go there to kill her,” Lillian said. “I told her I didn’t care about the affair. All I cared about was the baby…James’s baby. I wanted her to have the baby and give it to us. Then James and I would have the family we always wanted and Erica could go on her merry way.”
Lillian’s voice grew more shrill with each word and the hand holding the gun trembled violently. Amanda didn’t move a muscle, afraid that the blink of an eye, a jerk of her head might cause Lillian’s finger to twitch on the trigger.
“She laughed at me.” Hysteria forced Lillian’s voice up an octave. “She told me she was going to have an abortion, that there was no way she was going to go through another pregnancy. She wasn’t going to get fat and hormonal for anybody. I got so angry and suddenly we were fighting and the knife was in my hand and I stabbed her and stabbed her and—”
She drew a deep breath as if to steady herself. “Melanie must have seen the mask on the dock and in her confusion didn’t realize it was me. The movie is going to be over soon and the last thing I want to do is upset Melanie, so you and I are going to take a walk. And if you don’t do what I say I’ll shoot you right here and let Melanie see your blood splattered all over the walls. Now move slow and easy and get outside.”
“But I still don’t understand,” Amanda said as she walked to the door. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“I told you why,” Lillian replied as the two of them stepped out into the hot, humid night air. “Because you’re in the way.”
“In the way of what?” Amanda blinked against the sting of hot tears.
“I had it all worked out. Sawyer goes to prison for Erica’s murder, and James and I raise Melanie. We’re her godparents, you know. But then you came along and screwed it all up.” The hardness was back in Lillian’s eyes, a killing hardness that expanded the knot of terror in Amanda’s chest. “Walk, Amanda. I’m tired of talking.” Lillian pointed to the dark path that led to Sawyer’s property.
Help me, a voice inside Amanda screamed. Dear God, help me. Her thoughts raced a frenzied path through her head. She couldn’t outrun a bullet. It also didn’t appear as if she was going to be able to talk her way out of this.
Nobody but Sawyer knew where she was, and he was locked up behind bars and would never know what had happened.
“You’ll never get away with this, Lillian,” she said as the woods closed in around them. “You won’t be able to blame my death on Sawyer.” She stopped walking, then gasped as the barrel of the gun jabbed her in the back.
“Keep walking.” Lillian’s voice held the cool command of determination.
Under ordinary circumstances, anyone would probably be afraid to be in the woods in the dark, but the night and the nearby swamp held no terror to compare to that of Lillian’s gun pressed painfully against Amanda.
“Where are we going?” she asked as her gaze went first to the left, then to the right, seeking an escape route.
“To the dock. We’re going to have a fight. When you’re dead, I’ll call the police and tell them you attacked me, that we were arguing because I wondered out loud about Sawyer’s innocence. You went crazy and pulled a gun. We wrestled and the gun went off, tragically killing you.”
This woman might win. She might not only kill Amanda but also gain custody of Melanie. The very idea of Lillian raising the little girl Amanda had grown to love created a soul-stirring white heat of rage in Amanda.
She would not be a prop in Lillian’s drama, and she refused to walk dutifully to her death. If she could somehow escape Lillian and make it to Sawyer’s house she could throw something through the window and set off the alarm, and the alarm would summon help.
Escape. The word thundered in her head to the beat of her frantic heart. She hadn’t been able to save Bobby, but she’d do whatever possible to see that Lillian didn’t achieve her ultimate goal. Amanda had to stay alive to save Melanie.
Each step took them deeper into the woods. Insects whirred and buzzed an incessant tune. The scent of decaying vegetation and fish grew more pronounced, telling Amanda they were precariously close to the swamp water.
The moonlight disappeared, unable to break through the snarled tangle of branches overhead. Beneath their feet thick vines crossed the path, making the footing treacherous.
“I’ll be a good mother, you’ll see,” Lillian muttered beneath her breath. “I should have had a baby of my own. I wanted one more than anything in the world, but now it’s okay. Now I’ll have Melanie. We’ll be the family we should have been.”
She’s crazy, Amanda thought. Crazy and ruth
less, a deadly combination. She’d already killed once, and there would be no hesitation in killing again.
Amanda knew if she was going to make a move it had to be now, here where the darkness was almost impenetrable.
Amanda’s heart rate reached a fever pitch. There were only two outcomes to what she was about to do. She’d either survive or she wouldn’t.
With a silent prayer, she threw herself to the ground and rolled off the path.
SAWYER PACED the cell like an agitated lion. He told himself that his anxiety level was way out of proportion, that even if James had killed Erica that didn’t mean that Melanie and Amanda were now in imminent danger.
He summoned to his head words of comfort, of calm rational thinking, but all of it was chased away by the irrational gut-wrenching feeling of something bad happening just out of his reach.
“Maylor!” He yelled for the young deputy, who seemed to be the only person in the station besides Sawyer. “Did you get Lucas on the radio?” he asked when Maylor appeared in the doorway.
“He’s on his way back here now,” Maylor replied. “Should be here in the next couple of minutes.”
“Tell him I need to talk to him the minute he comes in.” Sawyer went back to the bunk and threw himself down, once again seeking some internal assurance that everything was all right.
But by the time Lucas came in, Sawyer was once again pacing the floor, every nerve ending in his body screaming alarm. “You’ve got to let me out of here,” he said to Lucas. “I need to check on Melanie and Amanda.”
“You know I can’t do that.” Lucas looked pained. “I’ll check on them. They’re at your place, right?”
“They’re at the Cordells’. Lucas, I think James killed Erica.” He quickly filled Lucas in on what thoughts had been whirling around in his head. “Don’t call over there. If what I think is true, then we don’t know how desperate he might be. We can’t be sure what he’s capable of.”
Sawyer grabbed the bars so tightly his knuckles turned white. “Let me go over there. For God’s sake man, it’s my daughter who might need me. I swear if you let me go, I’ll come right back here if I see that they’re okay.”
Lucas hesitated and Sawyer pushed him harder. “You know you can trust me to turn myself back in. I’ve got that bad feeling in my soul. They need me. Let me go, Lucas. For the Brotherhood.”
Reluctantly Lucas pulled his keys from his pocket. “You’re going to get my ass fired sure as I’m standing here.” He paused with the key in his hand. “I’ll let you out on one condition. You remain in my custody. I’ll drive out to the Cordells’ and when we get there you remain in the car. No funny business, Sawyer.”
“Fine. Just hurry.”
Minutes later the two were in Lucas’s patrol car heading toward the Cordell house. Deputy Maylor followed behind them in his own car. He would provide backup should they encounter any problems.
It was a silent, tense ride. Sawyer fought against the overriding sense of doom that threatened to swallow him. His palms were damp with anxiety, and his heart raced from the effects of adrenaline.
Amanda’s car was parked in the driveway, and the sight of it alleviated some of Sawyer’s fear. Surely he’d overreacted. Surely they were all inside, safe and sound, having just finished a pleasant meal. There was no reason for James to go after Melanie or Amanda.
Sawyer watched as Lucas and Ed Maylor went to the front door. James answered, and the two officials disappeared into the house. A moment later Lucas came out alone. Unable to sit another minute, Sawyer got out of the patrol car. “What’s going on?”
“James and Melanie are inside. They were watching a movie. He said that Lillian and Amanda are out in the studio.”
Knowing that Maylor was inside the house and Melanie was safe, Sawyer’s thoughts turned to Amanda. If James was in the house, then surely she was okay.
Sawyer and Lucas had just rounded the house and were almost at the studio when a crack of gunfire coming from the nearby woods exploded the silence of the night.
AMANDA SWALLOWED the scream that clawed up the back of her throat as the bullet that Lillian had fired slammed into a tree trunk mere inches from her head. Silence followed the shot, the waiting silence of a hunter seeking prey.
Amanda was afraid to move, knowing that the snap of a branch, the rustle of a vine would alert Lillian to her location.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Lillian’s whisper dripped malevolence. Amanda’s heart beat so hard, so fast she wondered if Lillian could hear it. She tried to see where the other woman was, tried to hear anything that would let her know how close Lillian was to her.
The second shot kicked up brush inches in front of where Amanda lay on her side. Move! A voice in her head screamed the alarm. For God’s sake move before she finds you!
Wasn’t a moving target more difficult to hit than a static one? Drawing a deep breath, Amanda sprang to her feet and crashed through the underbrush in the direction of Sawyer’s house.
Although there was no resulting gunfire, Amanda heard the sound of Lillian’s pursuit. Thrashing brush, the pound of footsteps. A sob ripped from Amanda as a tree branch slapped her face and thick kudzu vines threatened to snag her and hold her captive.
To her right the sound of something big splashing in the water let her know another hunter had captured some prey. Amanda’s terror flamed hotter.
She had to stay alive for Melanie’s sake. She had to escape to tell somebody about Lillian so that Sawyer didn’t spend the rest of his life in prison for a murder he hadn’t committed.
Lillian’s labored breathing seemed to warm the back of Amanda’s neck as she fought her way through the darkness, through the woods.
She suspected the only reason Lillian hadn’t fired again was because she didn’t have a clear shot and didn’t want to waste a bullet.
Somewhere in the back of her mind Amanda knew that once she reached the clearing of Sawyer’s property she would be most vulnerable. She had only two choices, remain in the woods until Lillian managed to get off a lucky shot or expose herself and pray she could make it to the house and set off the alarm. Neither choice offered much hope.
However, Amanda was an optimist. She had no weapon, no way to defend herself, but she was armed with a healthy dose of hope. The streak of optimism burned brighter inside her as she saw the clearing ahead.
The tall rosebushes in Sawyer’s backyard might provide some cover. There were several trees and the patio furniture.
All she really needed to do was make it to the patio, grab a chair and smash the glass of the French doors. The alarm would ring and surely she’d be able to hide from Lillian in the big house until help arrived.
She burst into the clearing, legs pumping and lungs threatening to explode. She refused to look behind but kept her focus on the house in the near distance.
I’m going to make it, she thought. I can make it! She pushed harder, running faster than she’d ever run in her life. As she ran she heard the sweet sound of Melanie’s laughter ringing in her head, felt the warmth of her little hand in hers.
Those images were replaced with ones of Sawyer, his eyes gleaming with desire as his lips curved into a tender smile. She tasted the fire of his lips as she ignored the stitch in her side.
She was almost to the back porch when the gun cracked again. Instantaneously pain seared through her thigh, and her leg buckled beneath her, throwing her facedown on the ground.
For a moment she was so stunned she couldn’t move. The agony in her thigh ripped through her. Through a haze of pain she rolled over on her back to see Lillian standing over her, the gun pointed at Amanda’s head.
At that moment Amanda’s hope ebbed away, like the blood that bubbled warm and sticky out of her thigh.
She closed her eyes, not wanting to see death’s delivery and instead thought of Sawyer and Melanie and prayed that somehow, someway they would be all right.
“Lillian!” The familiar deep male voice boomed li
ke thunder in the night.
As Lillian turned toward Sawyer’s frantic voice, Amanda kicked with both legs, connecting with Lillian’s knees. With a scream, Lillian stumbled backward and fell to the ground.
In an instant Lucas had kicked her gun away and had her in custody. Sawyer rushed to Amanda, a sob ripping from his throat as he gathered her into his arms. “Get an ambulance, she’s hurt,” he yelled at Lucas, then gazed down at her. “It’s all right now,” he said softly. “Amanda, do you hear me? Everything is going to be just fine.”
“Melanie?” she asked.
“She’s okay. She’s safe.”
“Wh-what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in jail.”
He smiled, a tense smile that didn’t quite touch his eyes. “It’s a long story, but I’m here now and we’re going to get you help.”
“This definitely wasn’t in my job description,” she said, surprised that her voice sounded very faraway as darkness closed in around her.
Chapter Sixteen
Amanda stood at the window in her bedroom and stared out at the lawn where Buddy and Melanie were playing under Helen’s watchful eye. Sawyer was downstairs in his study. He’d decided that Bennett Architectural Enterprises could just as easily be conducted from here as from an office in town. Earlier that morning he’d landed a huge job that would keep him busy for the next couple of months.
It had been ten days since that horrible night when Amanda had nearly lost her life. Lillian had confessed to Erica’s murder and to plotting to see Sawyer in prison so she could raise her goddaughter.
Thankfully, the wound on Amanda’s thigh had been superficial, and although there would probably be a scar it would be nothing compared to the scar she’d carry in her heart.
James had put the Cordell house up for sale and had left town. The most difficult part of everything was trying to find a rational explanation for Lillian’s actions for Melanie. Amanda and Sawyer had finally agreed to tell Melanie that her aunt Lillian had been sick and it had been her sickness that had made her do bad things. Melanie accepted that explanation and they all spoke no more about Lillian.
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