Fugitive (A Rocky Mountain Thriller Book 2)

by Ann Voss Peterson

  “You’re going to run, right?”

  His chest rose and fell, sweat slicking his bare skin.

  He didn’t have to say it. She could tell from the weight of his silence that he’d made his decision. A decision he thought he had to make to protect her. “You can’t be here when Layton arrives, Eric. He might bring the sheriff.”

  He pressed his lips into a bloodless line.

  “Eric, the sheriff will kill you.”

  “Layton said he won’t.”

  So he’d made a deal with Layton. If Layton took care of her, he’d turn himself in to the sheriff.

  Sarah felt tired, so tired. As if getting each word out of her mouth was a desperate undertaking. “Please.”

  “I had to.”

  For her. He was doing this for her. Giving himself to the sheriff. Throwing his life away to make sure she was safe.

  “Eric.” Her voice sounded dry in her throat, dryer than the land she was lying on.

  He leaned close to her, his mouth only inches away, and suddenly all she could think about was kissing him. Pulling him down to her. Tasting his passion. Here she was hurt, Eric was going to die, and the only thing she could focus on was how much she wanted him. How much she needed him.

  And how she might never see him again. “I don’t want to lose you, either, Eric.”

  Tears glistened in his eyes. “You have to trust me.”

  Trust him? Trust him to do what? Get himself killed? Throw his life away in exchange for hers? “You’re not listening.”

  He leaned a little closer. “I’m listening now.”

  “Run.”

  He shook his head. “That won’t work. They’ll have you.”

  “But at least they won’t have you, too.”

  “And when they threaten to hurt you, then what should I do, Sarah? Turn and walk away?”

  “Layton won’t—”

  “But the sheriff will.”

  “Then pretend you don’t care.”

  “And you think they’ll believe that? You think they’ll believe I would let you and our baby get hurt? Die? Because I’m not that good at pretending, Sarah.”

  A shiver shook her, one she would never be able to warm. “What did you tell Layton? What did you promise?”

  “He’s coming to take you to the hospital. The sheriff is with him. If I go without a fight, he’ll say I kidnapped you. I made you go with me against your will. You won’t be charged with anything. And you’ll go to the hospital. They’ll stop the bleeding. You’ll be okay. Our baby will be okay.”

  Tears streamed down her cheeks. Pain hollowed out her chest. Emptiness. She couldn’t let Eric give his life, yet he was right about the baby. She had to think of their unborn child. “Layton will make sure I get to the hospital no matter what else happens. You don’t have to make this bargain.”

  “Here he comes. Just hold on, Sarah. Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

  Even without lifting her head, she could see the plume of dust rising from the road. “Eric.”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  “Please, Eric.”

  He shook his head. “I told you I would never leave you, and I meant it. I love you, Sarah.”

  She’d yearned to believe those words. Prayed for it. Never thought she could really let herself. But she believed him now.

  Only now it was too late.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  THE SHERIFF’S WHITE SUV FOLLOWED Layton’s pickup into the tiny parking area. Sarah watched it approach, her eye drawn to a black-and-white dot in the truck’s bed just before the world smeared into a blurry mosaic of color.

  She tried to blink back her tears, but it was no good.

  Layton climbed out of his pickup, a red box in his hand. The first-aid kit he always kept in his truck for the horses and ranch hands. He ran along the trail, racing straight for them.

  The sheriff dismounted from his vehicle and followed in Layton’s wake. As they drew closer, Gillette pulled a gun from his holster and leveled it on Eric. “Stand back from her, son.”

  Eric gave Sarah a long look, then slowly climbed to his feet and took several paces back.

  The sheriff positioned himself between the two of them, his back to the edge of a small drop in the canyon. “That’s fine. Stop right there.”

  Layton ducked to her side. He kneeled down and looked into her eyes. “Oh, Sarah.”

  She had the urge to fold herself into his arms, to let him make things all better like he’d tried to do when she was a kid and her parents had just had a knock-down-drag-out or Randy had just done something stupid and risky. “You can’t let the sheriff take Eric, Layton. He’ll kill him.”

  Layton lifted the saturated shirt from her thigh and replaced it with two layers of cotton quilting used under horses’ leg wraps. “Ain’t nothing I can do, honey.”

  She opened her mouth to correct him, to make him see, then closed it without speaking. It was no use. Layton had never believed Eric was innocent. He’d only gone along with it, because he’d been scared for her.

  “Let me see your hands,” the sheriff ordered.

  Eric raised his hands, palms out. “Get Sarah to a hospital. Dennis Prohaska here, too. I think he’s still alive. He was a moment ago.”

  The sheriff glanced down at the still bulk of the reporter, then back at Eric. “So you had to drag someone else into this mess?”

  “You’ll find your boy Burne over there,” Eric said, indicating the other side of the rock formation with a nod of his head. “I hope he paid your bribe in full, because he’s not going to be able to make good on any outstanding promises.”

  The sheriff frowned. He glanced at Layton. “Burne? Who the hell is Burne?”

  “There’s no reason to pretend.” Sarah knew she should keep her mouth shut, but the words flowed out on a tide of anger and frustration, injustice and grief. “We know he paid you to kill Larry Hodgeson.”

  The sheriff swung his gaze to her. A chuckle broke from his lips. “Oh, you know that, do you? I guess you were right, Layton. We don’t have to worry about this one.”

  Layton kept his eyes on Sarah’s wound as if he hadn’t heard the sheriff. He wrapped a pressure bandage around her leg as tenderly as he could, securing the quilts over the wound.

  “Hodgeson was paid, too, wasn’t he, Sheriff?” Eric said. “Just like you. Paid to do whatever a drug dealer wanted. Even kill.”

  The sheriff shook his head. “Get down on the ground. On your belly.”

  “Get Sarah and Prohaska to the hospital. Then I’ll do whatever you say, no fight. Just like we agreed.”

  “You won’t fight me now. Not unless you want a bullet in your head.”

  “That’s been your plan all along, hasn’t it?”

  The sheriff’s shoulders seemed to slump, just a little, as if he was as bone tired as they were. “None of this has been my plan, son. Trust me on that.”

  Sarah wanted to scream. “No one is making you do this. Burne is dead.”

  “I don’t know any Burne.”

  “Then who is paying you?” Eric asked.

  The sheriff scoffed and shook his head. “I’m not for sale. Don’t you forget it. I’ve never been for sale.”

  “Then why kill Randy? And Glenn?” And now he was going to kill Eric, and for what? If Sarah had the strength, she would scream. As it was, she would ask the question until she could no longer speak. Until the sheriff paused. Maybe rethought. It was the only chance Eric had. “Why are you doing this?”

  Gillette let out a long breath as if blowing smoke through tight lips. “Justice, that’s why.”

  The most ridiculous answer Sarah had ever heard. “How does what you’re doing have anything to do with justice?”

  “We agreed. Sarah’s out of this.” Layton’s voice rang vicious as a growl.

  The sheriff shrugged a shoulder. “The lady asked.”

  Sarah looked from Layton to the sheriff. Something was going on between them. Something she
didn’t understand. An argument unvoiced. “What does justice have to do with Randy’s death? Glenn? And Eric? How can any of what you’ve done have to do with justice?”

  Eric took a step forward.

  The sheriff spun to face him. “On your belly, Lander. Now.”

  Eric didn’t move.

  Sheriff Gillette swung around and pointed the gun at Sarah.

  Layton sucked in a breath. “Dan…”

  “Fine. Fine. I’m down.” Eric lowered himself onto his stomach, hands and legs straight out from his body.

  The sheriff swung his weapon back in Eric’s direction. “Cross your ankles and place your hands behind your head.”

  This time, Eric followed instructions.

  Tears clogged Sarah’s throat. Her stomach swirled. Her leg started throbbing, making her wish with each beat of her pulse that she could go back to numbness. But no physical pain was as bad as what was unfolding in front of her. What she couldn’t understand, let alone stop. “I don’t think you know the meaning of the word justice.”

  The sheriff grimaced. “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. It was never supposed to happen this way.”

  “Then why are you doing this?”

  The sheriff didn’t look at her. Instead, he stared at the rock formation beyond the spot where Eric lay, as if he was talking to a ghost. Or just muttering to himself. “It’s not the way things should work. He’s guilty. He was sentenced. He needs to pay.”

  Guilty? Sentenced? What was he talking about? “Burne was acquitted.”

  Unless he wasn’t talking about Burne. Unless he was talking about someone else.

  Sarah thought of the articles Eric had read in the library. The other cases in which Hodgeson had testified, and the very important one where he’d delivered the crucial piece of evidence to get a conviction. “Not Burne. You’re talking about the drunk driver who killed your sister.”

  The sheriff spun around and stared at her as if he’d just discovered she was still there. “How do you know about that?”

  “Sarah.” Eric’s voice was muffled, his face down in the dust, but she could still hear the warning tone in his voice, clear as if he’d shouted.

  Eric wanted her to keep quiet. Not put the pieces together. Not push for the truth. He wanted her to let things just go on as they were. Where the sheriff put a bullet in his brain to keep him quiet, and she walked away, with Layton at her side protecting her.

  But if what Sarah thought was true, it was already too late. She’d said too much. The sheriff couldn’t let her walk away now. He would have to kill them all. But if they acted now, if she made Eric and Layton understand, fight would be three-to-one.

  She knew Eric had added up all the pieces on his own. But Layton? If they were going to get out of this, she needed to convince Layton.

  “Hodgeson was going to give himself up, wasn’t he, Sheriff? He was going to admit he took a bribe to lie about the fingerprints in the drug case against Walter Burne.”

  The sheriff glowered at her, but he didn’t argue. He didn’t say a word.

  “The only problem with him confessing was that it would call all his fingerprint identifications into question, wouldn’t it? All the fingerprint evidence Hodgeson analyzed over years… in crimes across the whole state.”

  Her hands shook. Her back was slick with clammy sweat, but she forced herself to continue. She focused on Layton now. Not the sheriff. Willing him to understand. “And that means the drunk driver who killed the sheriff’s sister would get a new trial. That is, if the state decided to spend money trying him again. If they didn’t just let him go with time served.”

  Layton closed his eyes. His shoulders slumped forward. He looked tired. Old. His face gaunt and mouth slack. “Oh, God, Sarah.”

  She reached out and gripped his shoulder. “It’s true, Layton. It all adds up. You’ve got to believe me.”

  “Oh, he believes you,” the sheriff said.

  “Layton?” She looked from Layton to the sheriff and back again. A weight settled, sick in her stomach. It hadn’t dawned on her. The entire time she’d been outlining the sheriff’s situation, it hadn’t dawned on her once.

  The drunk who killed the sheriff’s sister had been convicted on the strength of fingerprint evidence. It had happened only eight years ago. Recent enough to be in the newspaper’s Internet archives.

  But he wasn’t the only one who’d had a loved one murdered.

  A murder solved by fingerprint evidence. A murder that could be tried anew or even overturned. Sheriff Danny Gillette wasn’t the only one here willing to do anything to preserve justice.

  She looked up at her mentor, her father in heart and word and deed. But he was the real father of another girl before he even knew Sarah. A girl who was taken from him. A girl for whom he’d pledged his life to see justice was done.

  And that it stayed done.

  “Layton, how could you have murdered my brother?”

  ______

  Even from twenty feet away, lying face down in the dirt, Eric could see Layton’s face blanch. The older man opened his mouth, then shut it without saying a word. Tears wound down his worn cheeks.

  “Your brother was a troublemaker, Ms. Trask. Always was,” the sheriff said. Even he sounded tired, beaten down like Layton. “He was a loser out for an easy buck, whether he had to cheat, steal, or cook meth to get it.”

  “Randy didn’t deserve to die.”

  Sarah raised her chin. Her eyes hardened. The breeze blew back her hair. She looked like a warrior woman protecting her own. Breathtaking. Beautiful. Brutal.

  And if Eric had anything to say about it, she wasn’t going to fight this war alone.

  Slowly he moved his hands off the back of his head. He uncrossed his ankles. With Sarah commanding the sheriff’s and Layton’s attention, maybe he could get into a better position unseen, a position where he could get the jump on Gillette.

  The sheriff tilted his hat back and wiped a hand across his forehead. “If you want to blame someone, blame Randy. He was the one who went looking for Hodgeson’s body for his own gain. Or blame Hodgeson. He’s the one who took the drug dealer’s bribe. And then he had to ease his conscience, damn the consequences. Damn the whole system.”

  “They didn’t kill anyone,” Sarah said.

  “Really? Both of them would have brought down the whole justice system if we’d let them. You think flooding the courts with appeals for new trials isn’t going to lead to some criminals being set free? Criminals who should rightly spend eternity behind bars? Criminals who will take innocent lives as a result?”

  She looked from the sheriff to Layton. “You were the one. You killed Randy, didn’t you.”

  The sheriff was the one who answered. “Your brother went looking for Hodgeson’s body so he could blackmail us.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Sarah stammered.

  “Believe it,” the sheriff said. “He paid me a visit as soon as he was released from jail.”

  Sarah was silent for a long time. Finally she spoke. “How about Glenn? He was an innocent.”

  “Glenn Freemont? An innocent?” The sheriff barked out a smoker’s laugh. “Not hardly. He was a coward with a weak stomach. He couldn’t stick to the plan. He talked big about justice, but when it came to doing what was required, he couldn’t hack it.”

  “Glenn? He was working with you?”

  The sheriff didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to.

  Eric tensed his arms, ready to raise himself in a pushup and from there, spring to his feet. He had to move slowly, carefully. One sound or sense of movement and it would be over.

  “And Keith Sherwood? Is he working for you, too?”

  “Keith? He’s a loser. A loose cannon and a drunk Has an obsession with guns and no sense of responsibility to go with it. Do you think I’d take a chance on someone like that?”

  Eric took his weight onto his arms and gathered his legs under him. So they’d been wrong about Keith Sherwood. It had
been Glenn Freemont and Layton who had dressed as deputies and shot Randy.

  “And this Bracco who died in jail,” Sarah continued. “That wasn’t suicide, was it? You killed him, too.”

  The sheriff continued. “You have no idea what a piece of scum Bracco was. If you want another one to blame, he’s a good one. Him and his blabbing mouth. If he hadn’t told Randy where to find Hodgeson’s body, Randy wouldn’t have been involved at all. If I made a mistake in all this, it was in trusting Bracco.”

  Sarah breathed hard, as if she couldn’t quite catch her breath.

  Or maybe her blood loss was catching up.

  Eric tensed.

  “We didn’t mean to have any of this happen, Sarah.” Layton’s voice was so weak, Eric could barely hear it over the whistling wind. “We just couldn’t…I couldn’t let Allison’s murderer get a new trial for something that had nothing to do with his case. Not when I could stop it. I couldn’t risk that he’d go free on some technicality when he took my Allison...”

  Sarah’s face drew tight. “You killed Randy!”

  “The blackmail… I couldn’t risk… It couldn’t be helped.”

  “And Eric?”

  Eric held his breath, hoping Sarah’s mention of his name wouldn’t cause Layton to glance in his direction.

  Sarah swiped at her eyes with the back of one hand. She paused, her gaze landing on him for a split second, then she focused back on Layton. “You and Glenn dressed as deputies and shot at them. You killed Randy in cold blood.”

  “I’m sorry, Sarah.”

  “And me? Were you going to kill me?”

  She was provoking now, giving Eric a chance to get in position, to make his move. But even though he was grateful for the chance, deep down he wished she would stop. He didn’t like the way she was challenging them, casting herself as a threat.

  “I know too much now, don’t I? You’re going to have to kill me.”

  Layton shook his head. “No, I’ll always protect you, Sarah. You know that. I’ll never hurt you.”

  “It’s necessary, Layton.”

  Layton twisted around and stared a hole through the sheriff. “You gave me your word. If I brought you out here, you’d let me take Sarah to the hospital.”