Fatal Inheritance

by Sandra Orchard

  Sarah flailed out of his grasp. “No, not—” She pushed herself up and immediately blacked out.

  “Sarah?” Josh shook her gently, terrified to move her.

  Her breathing remained steady.

  “I’ll be right back.” He raced up the steep incline, his gaze glued to his cell-phone screen. The instant a signal appeared, he called in an ambulance and police, then rushed back to Sarah’s side.

  She drifted in and out of consciousness, mumbling gibberish.

  At the top of the ravine, a car door slammed.

  “Hello, up there!” he shouted. “I need help.”

  “Josh?” Hunter’s voice floated down the ravine.

  Josh pointed his flashlight toward the ridge. “Down here. Bec’s sister is injured.”

  Hunter and Anne plowed down the ravine toward them. Anne immediately began assessing Sarah’s injuries. “What happened?”

  “Her husband found her,” Josh said flatly. He’d never forgive himself for leading the brute straight to her. “We need to put out a BOLO alert for him.”

  At the mention of a be-on-the-lookout, Sarah’s eyes flew open. “No.” She grabbed his arm when he reached to hold her still. “Not Rowan.”

  “What?” Josh turned the light to her face.

  Her hand went to her throat. “He thought I still had the necklace.”

  “Who?” Josh surged to his feet, praying he wasn’t too late to get to Bec.

  Tears filled Sarah’s eyes. “Neil.”

  SEVENTEEN

  Josh raced back inside the hotel and then forced himself to slow his steps as he reached the entrance to the ballroom. He wanted to storm in, knock Neil’s lights out for terrorizing Bec these past weeks and pull her safe into his arms. Instead, he stood in the doorway and methodically scanned the room.

  If he played it cool, Neil wouldn’t know he’d found Sarah and was onto him. Just like he hadn’t known the jewelry had already been turned in.

  Josh toed off the worst of the mud caked to his shoes.

  A gray-haired lady looked over her glasses at him as she walked past.

  A minute later, a hotel employee touched his shoulder, the nosy woman at the employee’s flank. “May I help you, sir?”

  Josh flashed his police ID. “I’m looking for Becki Graw. She was wearing a long red gown.”

  “The woman with the camera?” the gray-haired lady piped up.

  “Yes. Have you seen her?”

  “She and her husband left about half an hour ago. Probably went up to their rooms. I noticed because—”

  “Can you give me her room number?” Josh asked the hotel employee. “We have reason to believe she might be in danger from the man she was with.”

  “Of course. Follow me.” The employee hurried to the desk and typed on the computer. “No, we have no one registered under that name.”

  “What about Neil Orner?”

  The employee tapped a few more keys as unwelcome feelings crammed Josh’s throat.

  “No, sorry.”

  Josh peeled a business card out of his wallet. “Check the security cameras, bathrooms, everywhere. If you see the woman, call me immediately.”

  His cell phone rang before he made it out the door. Josh checked the screen. Hunter.

  “Anne went to the hospital with Sarah. Neil ransacked her car, too.”

  Josh hit the door at a run. “We’re looking for a red Mustang. Someone saw Bec leave with Neil a half hour ago.”

  “On it.”

  Josh raced up one row of cars and down the other. If only he hadn’t walked out on Bec back at the house, she never would have gone off with Neil. Josh reached the back corner of the lot at the same time as Hunter.

  “It’s not here!” Dread cut off his breath.

  “I put out a BOLO alert with both the local and highway police,” Hunter said. “Sarah said Neil was ranting that he’d lost his job and his house because of them.”

  “That’s crazy. How’s he figure?”

  “Don’t know about the job, but sounds like he was investing on margin and got caught short. Must’ve been counting on selling the jewelry to cover the margin call.”

  Josh climbed into his truck. “Then he’s got to be headed for Serenity to get the rest of the jewelry.”

  “She would have told him he’s too late.”

  “Not Bec. She’d know she had to buy time.” Josh prayed he was right. He smacked his portable light onto his roof. Neil must’ve showed up at the house ready to demand the jewelry, only Bec surprised him by inviting him on the tour. Maybe gave him hope that he could win her back, or at least that he could get the jewelry without her learning the truth about him.

  Hunter jogged to his truck. “I’ll call the captain. Tell him to have someone watch the house.”

  Josh barreled out of the parking lot and floored the gas with Hunter on his tail. Please, Lord, let our guess be right. Neil had already lost his job, his house and his girl. He had nothing left to lose. If he couldn’t get away with the jewelry, there was no telling what he’d do.

  * * *

  Eyes closed, Becki smacked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, trying to draw moisture to take away the strange taste. Her seat bounced, jostling her. Where was she?

  She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn’t seem to make her eyelids cooperate. The whir of an engine filtered through her thoughts. She was in a car?

  She couldn’t remember leaving the reception.

  She turned her face toward the driver and this time managed to pry open her eyes.

  Neil glanced from the road to her and smiled. “Have a good sleep?”

  She blinked, straining to make sense of how she’d gotten here. Her mind flailed back over the evening. She remembered Josh leaving the reception to make a phone call. After that, things got fuzzy.

  “I knew if I was patient you’d realize we were meant to be together.”

  What? If he thought they were a couple again, he’d totally misinterpreted her invitation to the reception.

  Wait. Her sister. He’d said they had to hurry, that her sister needed her. Only... She pressed her fingers to her temples, straining to remember what he’d said.

  Images flashed through her mind. She’d been about to climb into his car when she’d heard Josh shout from the direction of the ravine.

  “You don’t want him,” Neil had snarled into her ear as he clamped a cloth over her mouth and nose, and her mind drifted into oblivion.

  “After we pick up the rest of the jewelry, I was thinking we could fly to the Caribbean,” Neil said. “What do you think?”

  The jewelry? He knew about that? She felt in her lap for her purse.

  He patted his pocket. “Don’t worry. The necklace is safe and sound.”

  “That’s all there is. My gran never had—”

  Neil cackled. “You and I both know that necklace wasn’t your grandmother’s.”

  “But...how do you know that?”

  His grin chilled her to the bone. “Because I took them.”

  “You?”

  “Is that so hard to believe? I have many talents. I could have made you a wealthy woman.”

  “I—” She caught herself before saying she didn’t care about money. “I’ve always wanted to go to the Caribbean,” she mumbled instead, hoping that playing along with his delusion would buy her time.

  He turned his car onto her road, cruising slowly past her house.

  “Where are you going? You passed—”

  He pulled into the rutted farm lane behind her property. “My parking spot.” He threw her another creepy grin.

  It was now or never. She quietly unfastened her seat belt and sprang out the door. Hiking up her long gown, she sprinted for the
trees, remembering too late that her ankle couldn’t handle the strain.

  He tackled her, and she pitched face-first into the dirt.

  “I should have known you were lying.” He wrenched her arms behind her back and cinched them with a zip tie until the plastic dug into her wrists. She’d never be able to outrun him now.

  She rolled onto her back and struggled to get up, refusing to ask for help. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  He hauled her to her feet. Snatched her purse from the front seat of the car, extracted her key and jabbed it at her face. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

  “I don’t know where the rest of the jewelry is,” Becki yelled, hoping against hope that someone would hear her and send help.

  “Don’t lie to me. I saw the earring, remember?” Neil’s grip tightened painfully around her arm. “I don’t want to hurt you, Rebecca, but if you don’t start telling me what I want to know, you’ll be joining your sister.”

  “What did you do to her?” Sarah couldn’t be dead. Please, Lord, I won’t believe it.

  Neil shoved her ahead of him through the damp meadow that backed onto her house. Josh’s yard light scarcely cut through the thick darkness of the moonless night. But Neil moved confidently, as if he’d been that way before.

  Just as Josh had first suspected. Why hadn’t she listened?

  As they got closer, the familiar shape of her grandparents’ house emerged. A smidgen of hope surged through her.

  Somehow she had to stall Neil, buy time until Josh figured out where she’d been taken.

  Thank God she didn’t tell Neil that the rest of the jewelry had already been turned in. If he killed her sister—please, Lord, don’t let that be true—he wouldn’t hesitate to finish her off, too.

  A car rolled slowly up the road. Neil slapped his clammy hand over her mouth and clamped his other arm around her waist, drawing her tight against his chest, and hauled her to a stop.

  As the car drew close, Becki could just make out the outline of something on its roof. A patrol car!

  She struggled against Neil’s grip, praying the officer would spot her. Had Josh sent him? She knew she could count on him.

  The patrol car turned into her driveway and two officers got out.

  Neil’s arm snaked from her waist to her neck and squeezed. The air stalled in her chest, flaming through her throat. Searing pain shot to her head, and what little she could see began to fade. “I don’t need you alive to search that house, Rebecca,” Neil hissed into her ear.

  She stopped fighting, and his hold loosened a fraction.

  She sucked in a lungful of air. Oh, God, he’s going to kill me.

  The officers shone their flashlights around the yard, peered through the windows, checked the barn.

  Neil drew her deeper into the shadows.

  “Let’s go,” one of the officers said, turning back to the car. “There’s nobody here.”

  Becki lurched forward and tried to shout, but with Neil’s hand clamped over her mouth, she barely managed a squeak and a scuffle.

  The second officer turned his flashlight in their direction.

  Neil pinned her against his chest.

  The light beam scraped the ground yards from their feet, then abruptly spiraled toward the driveway.

  The officers climbed back into the car and slammed the doors.

  “Serenity’s finest at work,” Neil said with a sneer. “Your new boyfriend won’t come to your rescue this time. Trust me. Guys don’t like to be snubbed for another man.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she mumbled through his fingers.

  “I need the money. Why else?”

  The patrol car backed slowly down the driveway and kept on going.

  No! Come back! the voice in her head screamed.

  “Move,” Neil snarled, shoving her forward again. “This is your fault. If you hadn’t broken up with me when I got back from the car tour, we would have paid your grandparents a nice friendly visit. I would have recovered my jewelry from the hiding place in your grandfather’s car. And no one would have been the wiser.”

  “You were on that tour?”

  He laughed. “It would’ve been perfect. If they hadn’t croaked.” Another set of headlights turned onto the road.

  Neil dragged her into the shadow of the barn and crouched low.

  She couldn’t see the car, but its headlights draped the far-off trees in a ghostly light.

  Neil’s back teeth clicked in the familiar rat-a-tat that meant he was growing impatient.

  Finally the car passed and disappeared down the road.

  “C’mon.” Neil pushed her toward the house.

  She dug in her heels. “But you said the jewelry was in the car.”

  “Nice try. I already checked.”

  “You’re the one that clobbered me over the head my first night here?”

  “I couldn’t afford to let you see me.” His foot kicked something, sent it rattling against the barn wall. “What the—” He flicked his flashlight toward the sound.

  The gasoline can. Josh must’ve left it out after he topped up the car.

  Neil picked up the can and shook it. Gasoline sloshed. “This could come in handy. Maybe you’ll start talking if I threaten to burn down your beloved house, room by room, eh?”

  “No, please.”

  “Begging doesn’t become you.” He shoved her up the back steps.

  She stepped on the hem of her gown and pitched to her knees.

  He grabbed her arm and lifted her back to her feet, causing the bottom of her gown to rip. “Move.” He jostled the can of gasoline tauntingly.

  Her legs moved woodenly. Think. She had to stall him. “So you put that note in my mailbox, too,” she asked loudly, hoping to alert Bruiser.

  “Yup.”

  “And the sulfur in my well?”

  “Sulfur? No, can’t take credit for that.”

  “But you made those phone calls and tampered with the brakes and shot at the house?”

  “The potshots were inspired, don’t you think? Made it look like an incompetent hunter to show you how dangerous country living was. Too bad you didn’t take the hint.”

  “So I’d come back to you?”

  “I figured you’d see the light sooner or later. How long could a neighbor-farmer boy keep a sophisticated woman like you entertained?” Neil peered through the window on the kitchen door. “Where’s your dog?”

  Becki looked, too. There was no sign of him. “I don’t know.”

  Neil tapped the door.

  Still no barking.

  Becki’s hope drained. Josh had said the police had searched her house. He must’ve taken Bruiser away.

  Neil unlocked the kitchen door and pushed her inside.

  Automatically she hitched up her elbow to flick on the light switch.

  He slapped it off. “Nice try.” The dead bolt clicked with a sickening ping. Then he caught her by the chin and pushed her up until she was standing on her tiptoes, back pressed to the wall. “Try anything like that again and you’ll regret it.” In the dim light seeping through the windows, he studied her face for a long moment, pressing her head harder against the wall. His thumb licked across her bottom lip.

  Closing her eyes, she sucked in a breath. Please, Lord, don’t let him hurt me.

  As suddenly as he’d grabbed her, he flung her away. “We could have been good together.”

  She scanned the room for a weapon, struggling to regain her balance. There were plenty of knives, but with her hands tied behind her back, how would she use one?

  Neil snapped down the kitchen blinds, then stalked into the living room and drew the drapes. Utter darkness swallowed her.

  Darkness is as li
ght to God. Her Gran’s words whispered through her mind. She began to make out shapes in the room. She knew every inch of this house in the dark or light. If she could just free her hands...

  Neil disappeared down the hallway, followed by the sound of more blinds snapped shut. Did he plan to turn on the lights?

  Or was he afraid she would?

  She twisted her hands within her binds, straining to pull free. But she could scarcely move, let alone manipulate the tie with her numb fingers. She plowed backward until she slammed into the wall, then felt her way toward the door. Her fingers contacted the cool metal of the doorknob, and she inched them higher toward the dead bolt.

  A light suddenly flashed into her eyes. “Where do you think you’re going?” Neil’s long strides swallowed the distance between them. He grabbed a hunk of her hair.

  Pain screamed through her scalp.

  He pushed her toward the living room. “You love this house. Isn’t that what you told me?”

  He let out an icy chuckle, punctuated by the slosh of gasoline.

  A chill shivered down her arms.

  “If you don’t produce the rest of my jewelry, your stay will be permanent.”

  EIGHTEEN

  Josh pulled up to the makeshift command post behind Bec’s house, where Serenity police had found Neil’s car. “See anything?” He yanked off his white shirt and tugged on a spare black T-shirt.

  Wes handed him a Kevlar vest, then held up a stained white glove. “Found this on the floor of the car. Recognize it?”

  “Yeah.” Heart racing, Josh thumbed through his keys for the one to the lockbox bolted to his truck floor.

  “There are no lights on in the house. How do you want to play this?”

  Play this? This wasn’t a war game. This was Bec’s life. “We’ll scout the situation first.”

  “The tactical team’s on its way.”

  Yeah, he wouldn’t be waiting. He pulled out his gun and loaded a clip.

  Hunter strode up, already outfitted in full tactical gear. He handed Josh a black paint pot and night-vision goggles. “Just saw a flash of light in the second-story window, west wall, second from the back.”