Rising Darkness

by Nancy Mehl

  “So Chase went to Washington to see you.” I couldn’t believe I was finally hearing the whole story. “That’s where he met Tom.”

  “Tom? Oh, you mean the kid who sold license tags? Yeah, that’s when they got together.”

  “Why did you come here?” Jonathon asked.

  “Chase said it was a good place to hide. And the money was here. He said he felt bad about leaving me behind and wanted to make it up to me. I think he meant it.”

  His innocent, geeky persona had disappeared, and I could see the hardened criminal he actually was.

  “When I got here, Chase told me he’d give me half, but I told him no. I’d spent years living like a dog, hiding from the cops. I deserved a lot more. But he refused. We got in a fight, and I killed him. Didn’t mean to. Not before I got my money, anyway. I just made up a story about him going back home to care for our poor old mama. My mistake was in not letting him live long enough to tell me exactly where the money was.”

  “You . . . you killed him?” I was horrified. “Chase is dead?”

  “Well, I hope so. I threw his body down a deep shaft in that old mine outside of town. If he wasn’t dead then, he certainly was after that. And then I went looking for the money. I figured it would be easy to find. But Chase messed me around again. I’ve never found it. The joke’s on me, huh?” His toothy grin couldn’t hide the cruelty in his eyes.

  “If you’d gotten the money, you would have left town,” Jonathon said matter-of-factly.

  “Obviously. I’ve been stuck in this stupid, one-horse town ever since. But I’m going to get what I deserve now, aren’t I, Sophie? You’re going to tell me where it is.”

  I stared at him with my mouth open. “Is that what this is about? You’ve done this for nothing. I don’t know where Chase hid the money.”

  He stood up, his face twisted into a snarl. “I was ready to walk away. After your comical attempt to find Chase ended in the church, I thought I was through with you. But then you said you had an idea where the money might be.”

  “Oh my goodness. An idea doesn’t mean I know anything for certain.”

  He advanced on me with the gun. “You’re going to tell me where you think it is. And if you don’t”—he swung the gun toward Jonathon—“I’m going to shoot your boyfriend. You hear me?”

  Fear coursed over me like a cold shower, driving all the feeling from my body. Even my lips felt numb. I tried to form words, but terror made me mumble and make noises that couldn’t be understood.

  “Put the gun down,” Jonathon ordered. “You’re scaring her. If you don’t stop, you’ll never find out what you want to know.”

  Osborne slowly lowered the gun. “Okay. Now spill it. Where is it?”

  “That was you in the basement, wasn’t it?” I asked. “You hit me on the head and took my notes. I thought it was Donnie.”

  “Yeah, it was me,” he snarled. “I knew what you were up to when I saw that picture in the post office. I kept hoping you’d give up. When Pastor Troyer told me you were going through those church records, I figured out what you were looking for. I even burned the books so you wouldn’t be able to find anything that pointed to me. But you still wouldn’t take the hint.”

  I took a deep breath and tried to slow down my breathing. My heart pounded so hard it felt as if it would jump out of my chest. “I—I only thought . . . I mean, Tom said he heard Chase on the phone, talking to someone. He . . . he mentioned Sanctuary, and he said . . .”

  “It was protected by an angel.”

  I gulped in surprise. “Yes. That’s it.”

  “That was me on the phone. But I couldn’t ever figure out what he was talking about. I figured he got religion.”

  I shook my head. “Look, today at the restaurant, we were talking about the mine outside of town. Someone mentioned the original name of the mine. It was called the Gabriel Mine. See what I mean? I just wondered if he might have been referring to the mine. Maybe he hid the money somewhere in the mine.”

  Osborne’s jaw dropped. “I’ve been in that mine several times. I never saw any money.”

  “There are a lot of tunnels inside,” Jonathon interjected. “I doubt seriously that you searched them all.”

  Osborne nodded, as if coming to some conclusion. “You’re right. The money’s probably been there all this time. I’ve been tearing Chase’s house and yard apart. And checking every spot I could think of in the post office. I—I never thought about the mine. It’s so public.”

  “But it’s not,” Jonathon said. “We do everything we can to keep it closed because it’s unsafe. Actually, it’s the perfect place to hide something.” His eyes widened. “Look, if you’re thinking about searching that mine before they blow it up tomorrow morning, forget it. There are spots inside already collapsing. And most of the supports have been removed. It’s way too dangerous. You could die. Is it really worth it?”

  “Is it worth six million dollars?” Osborne laughed maniacally. “Yes, it’s worth it.” He backed up a bit, the gun still pointed at us. “I’ve been stuck in this town all these years because I was determined to get what I’m owed. I’m not giving up now.”

  “You accidentally killed Terrance Chase, a notorious thief and murderer,” Jonathon said. “There’s still hope for you. Why don’t you give yourself up? You’ve been a model citizen in Sanctuary for several years. You might be surprised by the light sentence you could get.”

  Osborne’s expression tightened. “You don’t get out of prison for killing three people.”

  “Th-three people?” I stammered. “You killed the guards?”

  “While Terry went to get the money, I shot them. First up was the one who was supposed to let us in. He wimped out and tried to call for help. When I shot him, the other guard shot me. Almost killed me. I shot him just as Terry came back. That guard just wouldn’t give up. He fired off one more shot before he kicked the bucket. Hit Terry in the arm. Boy, Terry was mad. He didn’t want anyone to die. He was weak, but I’m not. I went in there knowing we had to clean house. Especially the guy who wanted out. He knew our names. He would have turned us in.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I realized in that moment that Osborne planned to kill Jonathon and me.

  Osborne looked at his watch. “We need to get going.”

  “Get going?” I said. “Where?”

  He pointed the gun at Jonathon. “You’re going to drive your truck to the mine. I’ll be right behind you. With her. If you do anything funny, I’ll kill her. Then I’ll come after you. You understand?”

  “You’re going to kill us anyway,” I said. I sounded calm, but I didn’t feel that way inside. I’d just begun to find something in my life. Something wonderful. And this criminal was about to take it away.

  “I’m not going to kill you,” he said. “I’ll leave you tied up inside the mine. When I have the money, and I’m far enough away, I’ll call and tell someone where you are.”

  I knew he was lying, and from the look on Jonathon’s face, he knew it, too.

  “Now get up.”

  It was clear to me that if we got in those cars, we wouldn’t be coming back. In my mind, I cried out to God for help. Jonathon and I were walking toward the front door when I suddenly heard a screech that sounded like something from another world. I turned to see Clyde streak out of the room as if he were being chased by demons. Obviously, he’d gotten under Osborne’s feet, and Osborne had stepped on Clyde’s tail.

  I took that moment of distraction to fling myself at the gun, trying to grab it out of Osborne’s hand. As I yanked it away, Jonathon tackled him, throwing him to the floor. Osborne began to fight back, striking Jonathon in the face. I began to pray. If I had to shoot Osborne to save Jonathon, I would. But I knew it would haunt Jonathon forever, so I decided to give him every chance to subdue Osborne without me pulling the trigger. Finally, after Jonathon landed a few good punches, Osborne was unconscious.

  “Get something to tie him up with, Sophie!” Jonathon yel
led. “And give me that stupid gun!”

  I handed him the weapon, glad to get rid of it. Then I ran upstairs and grabbed some scarves and a couple of belts out of my luggage. I hurried back down the stairs, taking two steps at a time until I reached Jonathon. Together, we trussed up Osborne so tightly, there was no way he could get loose.

  “Call Paul,” Jonathon instructed me, still training the gun on the hog-tied criminal. He rattled off the number while I dialed. When Paul answered, I tried to explain the situation to him without sounding insane. I must have done a reasonable job because he promised to be right over. When I disconnected, I slumped down on the couch and cried, waiting for Paul to arrive. My tears were tears of relief and thanksgiving to God for hearing my prayers. Who knew He would use a cat named Clyde to save our lives?

  Chapter

  Twenty-Five

  A week later, Jonathon and I sat at a table in The Oil Lamp, having breakfast. The authorities had recovered Terrance Chase’s body from the mine. They’d searched as much as they could for the money, but it wasn’t found. There were smaller tunnels that had already caved in. It was highly likely the money was in one of them. But trying to recover it was just too dangerous.

  There weren’t many people in the restaurant this morning. Most of them were out near the site of the old mine, moved back to a safe distance, while they waited for the mine to be blown up. I was certain Sarah Miller and Paul were there. Esther had told me about Sarah almost losing her life inside that mine. Seeing it destroyed would be cathartic for both of them. But I just wanted to move on. The mine didn’t mean anything to me. Frankly, I was grateful for the quiet this morning. I’d said good-bye to almost everyone and planned to slip out of town unnoticed. Leaving Esther had been really difficult. Her prediction had been right. I believed with all my heart that God had sent me to Sanctuary. I was leaving with much more than I’d planned on. My article had been written and turned in. It didn’t work out quite the way I thought it would, but in the end, I had found Terrance Chase. My story was on the front page, and my editor had told me when I got back, we needed to talk. I was pretty sure an offer would come. One that would give me everything I’d wanted. Oddly, in the end, that thought didn’t make me as happy as I’d once believed it would.

  My editor agreed to contact the authorities in Kansas to see what could be done to help Tom. I couldn’t be sure it would do any good, but at least I was able to keep my promise to him. I’d talked to him on the phone. He was fine, although finding out his friend Donnie had arranged for him to be beaten up was hard on him. The sharp-faced guard who’d helped Donnie carry out his plan had been fired. Of course, Donnie had lost his job, as well, but other than that, he would probably get off lightly due to the circumstances. I really hoped so.

  Most importantly, I was happy that Donnie and his family could get some satisfaction knowing that the man who killed their brother and son was going to prison. And I prayed that finding out that, at the end, their loved one had tried to do the right thing would give them some comfort, too. Of course, the family of the other guard would have closure now, as well. Those outcomes made everything worth it.

  I’d just taken a sip of coffee when the ground shook slightly.

  “There it goes,” Jonathon said. “That ends it, I hope.”

  “Unless the story gets out that there might be six million dollars buried underground.”

  “I think we’ll keep that to ourselves. I’m glad you didn’t say anything about it in your story.”

  “I think Sanctuary has had enough attention lately. Having a bunch of people digging holes around the mine isn’t something you need. Besides, I’m still not sure the money was in there. Chase could have done anything with it. We may never know.”

  “You’re right about that.”

  Another small shaking signaled the second blast. There were supposed to be three. I downed the rest of my coffee. I wanted to be gone before everyone headed back.

  “I’m going to miss you.” Jonathon fastened his incredible blue eyes on me.

  “I’m going to miss you, too, but I’ll be back soon. My editor is giving me an extra two weeks of vacation since I worked during this one. I’ll be here in May. We’ll have lots of time together. We can sort out everything then.”

  He leaned toward me. “Unless you get so enamored with your new job you decide you’re too important to spend any time in a small hick town.”

  “Sanctuary isn’t a hick town,” I shot back. “I love it here. This place—and you—changed me.”

  He smiled. “I’d rather think that we helped you to become the person you were always meant to be.”

  I stared down at my coffee cup. Was he right? More than anything, I’d wanted to become an important person. Someone people looked up to. I’d worked hard to get rid of the dirty, ignorant girl from Kingdom. But instead of banishing her, I’d begun to care about her. To have compassion for her. As ashamed as I’d been about my past, I was beginning to embrace it. That girl was part of me. Someone Jonathon had cared about. Someone God had loved. Although I still had a lot of healing to do, I knew God and I would get through it together.

  “I should get going. They’ll all be back soon.”

  He reached over and took my hand. “I’ll miss you.”

  I smiled. “You already said that.”

  “I know.”

  As prepared as I was to leave, I realized it would be harder than I’d anticipated. “Everything will work out. You’ll see.”

  “If you say so.”

  “You really think I’m going to fall in love with my new job and forget about you?”

  He didn’t say anything, just looked at me.

  “I won’t. You’ll just have to trust me.”

  “Okay.”

  I pulled my hand away. “Walk me to my car?”

  “Sure.”

  He picked up our ticket, and we went up to the cash register by the door. Maxie met us there. She took the ticket and stuck it on a metal spike sitting on the counter.

  “It’s on us. Randi said not to charge you. It’s our going-away present.”

  “But I’m not going,” Jonathon said. “Let me pay for mine.”

  Maxie shook her head. “Nope. Randi would chew me out royally if you paid a penny. What Randi says goes around here.”

  Jonathon chuckled. “I can believe that.”

  “Thank you, Maxie,” I said. “I’m going to miss the good food here—and the good company. Would you say good-bye to Mary and Rosey when you see them?”

  She nodded. “They closed up so they could see the mine blow up. Randi considered it, but she and I didn’t care about it much. Figured we’d stay here and serve the customers who don’t like explosions.”

  “I’m glad you did. Great breakfast.”

  “I’m happy you liked it. You take care, honey. And come back soon, okay? I know this man will miss you a great deal.”

  I waved and walked out the door into a clear, crisp March morning. Had it really only been two weeks since I’d driven into this town? In that short amount of time, everything in my life had been turned upside down.

  I opened the car door and swung around to gaze up at Jonathon. The look on his face made my chest hurt. I reached up and stroked his cheek.

  “I want to kiss you, but I won’t,” he said, his voice breaking. “Someday, I hope you’ll ask me to.”

  I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him softly. This time there was no fear. All I felt was love. The ground shook one more time. “Either that was one great kiss, or they just set off the last blast,” I said with a smile.

  Jonathon laughed. “Both, I think.”

  “Who knew that one day Jonathon Wiese and Sophie Wittenbauer from Kingdom, Kansas, would fall in love?”

  The corners of Jonathon’s lips curved upward. “God knew.”

  People would be heading back to town any minute. I turned away and got into my car, closing the door. “I’ll call you when I get home,” I said through the open wi
ndow.

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  It took almost everything inside me to put the car in gear and drive away. When I reached the main road outside of town, I could see cars coming from the other direction. I turned and drove down the road leading to St. Louis, glad I wouldn’t have to say good-bye to anyone else.

  Wanting some music, I turned on the stereo. Immediately, my positive affirmations began to play. I hit the button to eject the CD. The system made a whirring noise, and the CD popped out. I picked it up and flung it out the window. I didn’t have any further use for it.

  I turned on the radio, and a song I knew came on. John Denver. He began to sing about country roads taking him home. When he reached the part about the radio reminding him of a home he should have reached yesterday, I pulled over and stopped the car.

  Then with a smile, I turned around and headed home.

  Acknowledgments

  My thanks to my Inner Circle for their support and encouragement: Mary Gessner, Tammy Pendergast-Lagoski, Lynne Young, Zac Weikel, Michelle Durben, Michell Prince Morgan, Karla Hanns, Shirley Blanchard, Elizabeth “Liz” Dent, Tara Jo Banks, Bonnie Traher, Mary Shipman, Rhonda Nash-Hall, Cheryl Baranski, and JoJo Sutis. God bless you all for your support and prayers.

  As always, thank you to my friends and editors at Bethany House. Working with you is a privilege.

  About the Author

  Nancy Mehl is the author of twenty-one books, including the ROAD TO KINGDOM and FINDING SANCTUARY series. She received the ACFW Mystery Book of the Year Award in 2009. She has a background in social work and is a member of ACFW and RWA. Nancy writes from her home in Missouri, where she lives with her husband, Norman, and their Puggle, Watson. Visit www.nancymehl.com to learn more.

  Books by Nancy Mehl

  From Bethany House Publishers

  ROAD TO KINGDOM

  Inescapable

  Unbreakable

  Unforeseeable

  FINDING SANCTUARY