A Box Full of Trouble

by Carolyn Haines

  “He’s mighty defensive of Brady. And he’s been zero help so far.”

  “He has a phone.” She knew that because she’d ordered books for him and called him when they came in. “I think we should try him. I’ll go up and ask to use the phone. If he acts creepy, you can knock him out.”

  “Just knock him out. Just like that?” Aiden sounded surprised.

  “Just like that. We can apologize later if we’re wrong, but we need to use that phone.”

  “I concur.”

  They came to a crossroads—little more than two barely discernable trails. Aiden pointed to the west. “That way. It’s about three miles. And we need to jog it if you’re up for that.”

  “I’m ready.” The sun was climbing to mid-day. They didn’t know where Brady or Paula Scott might be. Their only real hope was to get to the phone and call Rob to help them.

  Chapter Fifteen

  For all that they were sitting ducks trudging through the woods, Aiden couldn’t stop the joy and relief from rising in his spirit. Tammy was alive. She wasn’t seriously hurt. He reached out and touched her shoulder, a sign of support and encouragement. He wanted to sweep her up and kiss her until they both couldn’t breathe, but not now. She’d been through a lot, but she wasn’t flagging. She was a fighter. And they had to fight if they wanted to survive and catch a serial killer.

  “I’m okay,” she said, reading his mind. “I’m not hurt.”

  “I think about what could have happened…” He couldn’t stop himself. He pulled her against him and kissed her long and hard, but then he stepped back. “Thank goodness you’re okay. I don’t know what I would have done.”

  Tammy put a hand on his face. “When this is over, I want to tell you exactly how I feel. Chained to that rock, I had a little time to think about…what I want.”

  “I have some things to tell you. When we’re safe.” They couldn’t linger along the trail. A man with Brady’s sniper abilities could pick them off with ease. They had to keep moving as fast as they could. There were no other options to hiking. They didn’t have a vehicle and they couldn’t go back to Brady’s cabin. They needed a phone, and Tom Wells had the closest one. They could only pray that Tom would believe them about his tenant and help them.

  Birds flitted through the branches of the hardwoods and pines as they made their way over the rough terrain. Above them a red-tailed hawk circled, but Aiden kept his focus on his footing. The meteorite that had struck millions of years earlier had hit with such force that the buckles in the earth’s crust were similar to walking over ground that had been blasted by explosives. Geologically, it was a fascinating area. For practical hiking purposes, Aiden could have done with a flat slog. Tammy was struggling, but she was too hardheaded and tough to say anything. She was inappropriately dressed, and so far she’d refused his coat. When they stopped for a few minutes, he’d make her take it.

  Trouble was the only member of their party to show no strain. He bounded ahead, and Aiden found he relied on the cat to alert him to danger. Trouble had a far more developed sensory system than humans did, and the cat’s intelligence was almost spooky. Once they captured Brady and had both killers behind bars, Aiden wanted to sit down with Tammy and hear the full story of Trouble’s legendary dad, Familiar the black cat detective.

  He wanted to know everything about Trouble and his owner. He glanced back to see Tammy soldiering up an incline. Sunlight glinted in her red curls, and her pale cheeks were pink with effort. Her lovely green sweater had snagged on numerous limbs, and leaves had tangled in her hair. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  “How much farther?” she asked.

  “Not one more step.” The words came from behind a rock, and Thad Brady stepped out with a rifle pointed at Aiden’s chest. To Aiden’s surprise, Trouble sat on the rock beside him. The cat hadn’t given them any warning.

  “This is going to end, Brady,” Aiden said. He kept his voice level. “The sheriff will be here any minute. Frasier is apprehended. Make it easy on yourself and work with us.”

  Brady laughed. “You want me to work with you?”

  “It would be in your best interest.” Aiden relaxed his stance and motioned for Tammy to sit down on a rock. He had to keep control of the situation and make Brady believe help was on the way. “This is the end of the line. Frasier hasn’t talked yet, but he will. You know the drill. The first one of you who talks gets the best deal. I can help you avoid lethal injection.”

  “Oh, really.” Brady’s expression showed amusement. “Are you so sure of that?”

  “I can’t make any promises, but if you help us, it will go in your favor.”

  “I tried to help you. More than once. I’ve been trying to help ever since that woman got dumped in the crater. I’ve done nothing but try to help. For my trouble, I got my legs slammed in a car door. I’m surprised I can walk.”

  “What are you talking about?” Tammy said. “You were hiding in the bushes at my house. Of course, I did what I had to do to get away. Where is Paula Scott?”

  Brady shook his head. “You never even gave me a chance to explain. Now you’re asking me where Paula is. That’s a good question. She’s has been missing since last night.”

  “Missing? You make it sound like she ran away.” Aiden tried to keep the edge out of his voice with limited success.

  “What do you think I’ve been trying to tell you,” Brady said. “I was at Ms. Lynn’s home because I thought Paula would go there. To hurt Ms. Lynn. Once I figured out what she was up to, I--” A shot cracked through the stillness of the woods. Brady uttered a curse and fell backward.

  “He’s been shot,” Tammy said, ducking behind the rock she’d been sitting on. “Who’s shooting?”

  “Good question.” Aiden wasn’t certain which direction the shot had come from. Frasier could have escaped. Or it could be Paula Scott, if Brady had been telling the truth. Which would mean that Frasier’s partner was a female. “Are you hit, Brady?” he called out.

  Silence was his only answer, and he couldn’t see how badly the former ranger was hurt.

  “Stay down, Tammy,” Aiden ordered. “Keep Trouble safe.”

  “But I—

  “No buts. Just stay down so I can do my job.” Aiden darted toward the place Brady had fallen. He found the former ranger holding pressure to a shoulder wound that was bleeding profusely. “You need help.”

  “I do, but the likelihood the paratroopers will fall from the sky is pretty slim.”

  “Who’s shooting at us?” Aiden asked.

  “If I had to take a guess, I’d say Paula.”

  “The woman you’ve been dating?”

  “Yes, my girlfriend.” Brady laughed bitterly. “She played me like a French fiddle. She’s the minister’s accomplice. Not me. I was the patsy. They were setting me up to take the fall. She used my weapon to shoot at y’all down in the crater. She’s been planting evidence for the last week and I was too dense to see it.”

  “Do you know where she’s shooting from?” Aiden asked. The blood was flowing too freely. They had to get help—and soon, or Brady would be a dead man. He knew it too. Aiden took off his coat and used it to cover the wound so he could apply pressure. “Tammy, can you get over here?”

  “I think so.” She started toward him but a bullet chipped into the ground right at her feet. Instead of stopping, Tammy hurled herself forward and landed beside Brady just as more shots chewed the ground beside her, missing by only inches.

  “Paula’s got my semi-automatic,” Brady gasped. “You two take off. Save yourselves.”

  “We won’t leave you,” Tammy said.

  “I’m going to die.” Brady was matter-of-fact. “It’s a bit of an irony that I’ll die at the hands of a woman I considered my lover. Damn. Tom won’t believe this. He never really liked Paula. Tell him I said he was a good judge of character.”

  Brady lowered his head to the ground, too weak to hold it up. “Go! Now! You can’t save me and you�
�ll only get yourselves killed.”

  Aiden caught movement going up the incline. Trouble. The cat was streaking through the woods like a creature possessed. “How far to Tom’s cabin?” Aiden asked.

  “Half a mile. Maybe a little more. Tom isn’t home.”

  “But he has a telephone,” Aiden bunched his coat to make a bigger compress. “Hang on. We aren’t giving up.” He signaled Tammy to take over putting pressure on the wound. “Don’t let off. You have to stay here or he won’t last another five minutes.”

  Tammy nodded. “Where are you going?”

  “Trouble needs me.”

  He didn’t wait for an answer but picked up the M24 and ran into the woods in the same direction the cat had gone.

  * * *

  Tammy used her full weight to press against Thad Brady’s shoulder wound. The blood flow had slowed, but Brady didn’t look good. He was pale and in intense pain. If help didn’t arrive soon, he wouldn’t make it.

  He moaned softly and opened his eyes. “I was trying to warn you,” he said. “I realized Paula wasn’t…right. She was damaged. Like me. But I never considered she was a killer. I found a box of stockings and some necklaces with crosses attached. I recognized the necklace Debby Caldwell wore. She had it on every day at the bank drive-through. I didn’t want to believe Paula was involved, but I think she would give a necklace to each intended victim. Then she and that preacher would stalk them. I have to stop her.” He tried to push up.

  “It’s okay.” Tammy pressed him back to the ground. If he didn’t stop struggling, he would make the wound bleed more. “Just take it easy. You can help by giving me some information. Does Tom know about Paula?”

  “I left him a note. Last night. Before I went into town to try to talk to you. I haven’t seen him, though.” Fresh worry crossed his face. “Do you think Paula killed him?”

  “No, I’m sure he’s fine. Tom is a lot smarter than you give him credit.”

  “I was trying to help you.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Brady. I should have given you a chance. I was afraid of you.”

  “Most of the time that works in my favor. Not so much this time. I just like my solitude. Paula was the first woman in a long time…”

  “How did you meet her?” Tammy needed to keep him calm, to pass the time with him relaxed.

  “At the Crater Bar. She bought me a drink.” He winced. “Setting me up from the get go.”

  “What did you learn about her?”

  “She had my same background. Special forces. Tour in Iraq. No family. I thought we might make a go of it.”

  In the distance Tammy could hear shouting. She couldn’t do anything but hold pressure on Brady’s wound. “You need to get out of here,” Brady said. “Paula knows this place like the back of her hand. She’s hiked every trail. She knows every vantage point. I thought she was determined to learn the woods because she cared about me, so we could share hiking together. What a fool. And now you’re a sitting duck here.”

  “It’s okay.” But it wasn’t. Someone was on the fringe of the woods. Tammy saw movement, a slender body shifting in and out of the dense underbrush. She kept the pressure on the wound even as the figure materialized and came toward her. She didn’t know the brunette, but she was pretty certain it was Paula Scott, the missing girlfriend and partner of the SSK.

  “She’s here,” Tammy whispered to Brady. “Be quiet and stay calm. She’s got a big rifle. We can’t fight her.”

  Brady’s rasping breath seemed like the sound of a chainsaw to Tammy as she pressed hard against the wound. She could hear movement around her, but if she let the pressure off the wound, Brady would quickly bleed to death. She was as trapped as if she’d been cuffed and chained.

  Brady’s eyes opened and focused behind her. The expression that crossed his face told her that Paula Scott had found them. Tammy turned her body slightly to face the approaching woman.

  “Sorry about the gunshot wound, Thad,” the woman said as she came up, the gun pointed at Tammy’s heart. “You shouldn’t have gone through my stuff. I told you not to do that. We had a deal, remember? I didn’t pry into your past and you stayed out of my stuff. Now you’ll pay the price.”

  “Leave him alone,” Tammy said. “He’ll bleed to death if he tries to move.”

  “Well, that’s sort of the goal when you shoot someone. You want them dead. He’s halfway there, so I only have to finish you off.” Paula swung the gun barrel to point at Tammy’s head. “Quick but messy. John prefers strangulation. I’m beginning to see the merits. We don’t like to leave a mess, but this time may be the exception.”

  “I know you were setting me up,” Brady said. “The whole time.”

  Paula shrugged. “Not the whole time. But when Tammy stumbled on the body dump and then saw Frasier again in her parking lot, we couldn’t risk it. Someone had to take the fall. We were going to move along, find a new town, a new persona. It keeps life interesting.”

  “How long have you been working with Fra—John?” Tammy asked.

  “Maybe five years. I came back from Iraq and I thought I was losing my mind. No one here seemed to care about the carnage, about the soldiers with head wounds and lost limbs. People are oblivious. They’re more interested in a pair of shoes than the soldiers fighting so they can have oil for their SUVs. I knew I had to take action, but it was John who showed me the path.”

  “The path?” Tammy wasn’t pretending curiosity. “What are you talking about? You murder women. Women who have husbands and children who miss them. You destroy people’s lives. None of those woman harmed another person.”

  “Yes, that might be true, but it’s part of the process. John believes that he’s waking up communities. People have to be kicked awake. That’s what he says. Only pain will bring the public out of its consumer-induced lethargy.”

  “He doesn’t give two shakes about waking people up. He kills because he enjoys killing.” Tammy couldn’t fight down the hot fury. “Debby Caldwell, Beverly Welch, Jessica Whiddon—they didn’t do anything but work a job and take care of their families. You’re a fool. Frasier will give you up like the useless piece of garbage you are.”

  Paula’s face hardened and she stepped closer. “You can’t speak to me like that.”

  Behind Paula, Tammy saw a familiar black shadow moving in. Trouble had returned to her, and he was sneaking up behind Paula. Tammy had to force herself to breathe. She knew what she had to do. Keep Paula distracted. The easiest way to do that was goad her and infuriate her. And hope Paula didn’t’ retaliate by pulling the trigger. “Or you’ll do what? Shoot me? Strangle me? You’re going to do that anyway.”

  “Yes, I am. But first you’re going to tell me where my partner is. How’d you get away from him?”

  “Frasier is in Brady’s cabin. Hog tied. And the sheriff is on the way. You won’t be able to free him in time, and once he’s arrested you can believe he’ll spill his guts to save his own skin. If I were you, I’d haul ass right now.”

  “Not likely,” Paula said. “No one has called the sheriff. No phone service. You didn’t make it to Tom’s place, and he has the only working phone for miles around.”

  Tammy watched the black cat slowly approach Paula Scott from behind. Trouble moved with such stealth and grace. His green gaze followed every minute movement Paula made. “You’re really stupid, aren’t you?” Tammy laughed. “You think you’re John Wexler’s partner. How gullible are you?”

  “Shut up.” Paula brought the gun to her shoulder and sighted on Tammy.

  “Don’t like hearing the truth, do you? Stupid people never like to be called out.”

  “I’m going to enjoy splattering your brains against the tree trunks.”

  “You want to know what Frasier said about you?” Tammy was making it up as she went along, but she knew she’d struck gold when she saw Paula blink. “Yeah, he told me some things. How you groveled for approval. How he held you in such contempt.” She pressed harder against Brady’s should
er as he tried to struggle to silence her. “You were never going to leave these woods alive, Paula. He meant to kill you here.”

  That last arrow hit home. Paula lowered the gun for just an instance, and Trouble struck. He leaped onto Paula’s back, knocking her forward and to her knees. The semi-automatic went-off, and bullets sprayed the ground. The kick of the gun whammed into Paula’s shoulder, but she managed to gain her feet.

  Before she could pull her weapon around, the cat jumped onto her shoulder, clawing her face. Paula whirled, blinded by blood, and slammed into a tree. She sank to the ground and Tammy made the only choice she could. She abandoned Brady and rushed to pick up the gun. Using the butt as a weapon, she made sure Paula Scott was unconscious. She rushed back to Brady, glad to see he was still alive. She resumed the pressure.

  Trouble came over and head-butted her. “Thanks,” she said. “I think you’ve just earned your keep for a long, long time.”

  Tammy leaned close to Brady’s ear. “Stay very still. I need to tie her up.”

  “Will do,” Brady whispered.

  Tammy took off Brady’s belt and her own and used them to strap Paula’s hands and feet to together. By the time she heard Aiden coming back through the woods—with Tom Wells and a litter—she had Paula secured.

  “Thank goodness you’re okay. The ambulance will meet us at the turn off,” Aiden said. “And the sheriff.”

  With Tom’s help, they lifted Brady onto the makeshift stretcher and began the journey to the road. Tammy and Trouble pushed a groggy Paula forward whenever she tried to lag behind. When they could hear the sirens, Tammy felt her knees go weak. It was over. She couldn’t believe it, but it was finally over.

  * * *

  With Rob’s assistance, Aiden shoved Paula into the back of one cruiser and Frasier McNaughton, or John Wexler, into another. Brady had been put in an ambulance and sent to the hospital first. Now it was a matter of finishing the crime scene work.