North Rim Delight

by Regina Duke

  Russ took care of that one, too.

  Terri followed him into the bathroom. “Will water be enough? What if they’re waterproof?”

  “It muffles sound, and there’s nothing to film but the porcelain sink. We’ll take them outside and crush them with a rock, if that will make you feel better.”

  “Oh, let me, let me,” dead-panned Terri.

  Russ had to laugh. He gave her an impulsive hug. “You are something else, you know that? Most women would have turned around in Beatty and drove straight home.”

  Terri smiled grimly. “I think I’ve been in denial. My friends at work have been telling me I should get a restraining order on Gavin, that he’s way over the line. They were right.” She had a sudden thought. “Oh, good grief, Calin must be wondering why I haven’t called her yet!”

  “Well, we’ve had a few things on our mind. Besides, you have the perfect excuse. You probably busted your phone when you threw it against the wall.” He patted her shoulder. “Come on, we have work to do.”

  “Now?” wailed Terri. “I’m tired.”

  Russ laughed again. “With all this adrenalin coursing through us, we are not going to sleep for a while. It’s as good a time as any for a lesson in self-defense. You said you flunked that class?”

  Terri made a face. “Thanks for reminding me how hapless I am.”

  “You’re not hapless. You’re a hundred and thirty pounds with no military background. You’re not supposed to take down two-hundred-pound men with prison weight lifting behind them. Come on, I have to go to the car, and I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

  Terri didn’t realize she was holding her breath until they were close enough to the Mercedes to see that the tires were all in the same condition as when they parked it.

  Russ opened the trunk and pulled out a small canvas bag, similar to the one he had kept in the glove box. Then they returned to the cabin.

  Inside, he propped a chair under the door handle and sat on the edge of the bed to open his bundle. It contained a black web holster with a small firearm inside. He opened it and took out the gun.

  “Okay, Terri, here’s where we even things up between you and DaSilva. This is a .38 caliber dual-action revolver.” He pressed the release and the chamber fell open. “It’s not loaded. I want to show you how to hold it and fire it before I put bullets in it.”

  “It’s not very big,” said Terri.

  “It’s big enough to stop a man at close range if he’s not on PCP,” said Russ. “Here. Take it.” He gave her the gun then moved behind her. “If you have to use it,” he said, running his hands down her arms and lifting them so the gun pointed at the cabin door, “just point and pull the trigger. Go ahead. Do it.”

  Terri pulled the trigger. “That was easy. Is there a safety or something I’ll have to deal with?”

  “No. Not on this firearm. You can either pull the trigger, or you can cock it, like this, and then pull the trigger. Dual-action. Works either way. In an emergency, the less you have to think about, the better.”

  Terri nodded. She liked the feel of the gun in her hand. “A bullet in the leg should stop him.”

  “No.” Russ turned her to face him. “If you have to shoot, you shoot to kill. Aim for the chest. If that doesn’t drop him, aim slightly higher for a head shot. He might be prepared enough to wear a bulletproof vest. I don’t expect that because he thought his prey was going to be a helpless unarmed female. He didn’t realize I was coming along for the ride until I ruined his plans in Beatty.”

  Terri looked down at the weapon in her hands. “I don’t know if I could shoot to kill,” she stammered. “I couldn’t even pass my self-defense class.”

  “That was hand-to-hand,” said Russ. “I would never advise a woman to protect herself hand-to-hand unless it was a last resort. If you get a bad guy that close to you, he’s going to be all over you in a heartbeat. He’s not going to stand there like your instructor and wait for you to pick a vulnerable area and generate enough body movement to bruise him with your fists or feet. A woman should protect herself from a distance. And this is how you do it. Now turn around and fire it again.”

  Terri did as he told her. After several “click,” “click,” “clicks,” Russ took the revolver.

  “Okay, I’m going to load it now. If you have to shoot, be prepared for some recoil. Hopefully you’ll only have to shoot once, so it shouldn’t be a big issue. Besides, with this firearm, it won’t knock you down or anything.” He opened the canvas bag again and retrieved a box of ammo.

  Terri felt like her world had turned upside down. “I can’t believe I’m doing this. Is it even legal to have guns in the park?”

  Russ gave her a reassuring wink. “It didn’t used to be. But in 2010 they changed the law. These are perfectly legal. I have a CCW. Permit to carry concealed.”

  “Well, I don’t.”

  “No, but you won’t have to carry it around. This is just a security blanket for here in the cabin, in case I have to step out or chase somebody down. Or, you know, in case DaSilva gets really rough and decides to take me out first.”

  “Oh, my God.” Terri sat down on the edge of the bed. She rubbed her bare arms. “I’m shaking. This is really happening.”

  Russ eyed her with concern. “Going over the side of the Canyon didn’t bring it home for you?”

  “Well, I could almost write that off as an accident.”

  “Which is exactly what DaSilva was hoping the rangers would call it when they scraped your mangled body off the canyon floor.”

  “Speaking of rangers, don’t you think we should tell them what’s going on? Alert them to DaSilva?”

  “I thought you were the woman who did not want to spend her vacation giving police statements and being held in protective custody.” He began loading bullets into the revolver. “Besides, I have no warrant with me for DaSilva. It was just luck that I happened to be tailing him when he started following you.”

  Terri held out her hand for the revolver and picked up a bullet. “Let me do one. Just drop it in there and close the chamber?”

  “That’s right. It’s ready to go.” He tucked it back in its black holster and laid it on the bed.

  Terri had more questions. “Just why were you following DaSilva? You never explained that part.”

  Russ looked away. His jaw worked back and forth for a moment. “It’s a long story.”

  “We’ve got time. Adrenalin, remember? I promise not to fall asleep.”

  One corner of Russ’s mouth went up in a smile. “So, you’re going to hurl my words right back at me?” He sobered again. “It was a long time ago. I was just a kid.”

  “A teenager.”

  He looked up, surprised.

  Terri laid a hand on his arm. “You can take your hoodie off now. No one can see your shoulder holster in here but me. And no, I’m not psychic. When Tony broke into the cabin, you said boys that age don’t have the mental hardware to make smart decisions. Or something like that. I figured you must have had some personal experience in that area.”

  Russ humphed and nodded. “You might say that.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I will. Soon. I promise. But it makes me sad, and right now I need to be strong and alert, okay?”

  “Okay.” Terri let her hand massage his bicep beneath the sleeve. “Does it have anything to do with why DaSilva called you a killer?”

  Russ stiffened and pulled away. He got up and took off his hoodie, making a production of putting it on a hanger. “And you believed him?”

  Terri was alarmed. “No! I mean, I don’t know what he was talking about. The memory just came back to me. Before he pushed me over the guard rail, he said something about me being stupid to trust you because you were a killer.” She stood up and went to him, trying to say something that would ease the tension in the air. “Russ, he’s a jerk and an ex-con, and he obviously hates you, and he has tried to kill us both. I have no reason to believe him.”

  “Yes
, you do,” said Russ. He turned toward her. The grief on his face broke her heart. “Because it’s true.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “OH, RUSS, I don’t believe it. What could you possibly have done?”

  Russ paced the length of the cabin, refusing to allow Terri to comfort him. “I was sixteen. I had my driver’s license and my first car. My mom was having a root canal done that day. Dad took her, then dropped her off at home with her pain medication. She had a rough time of it. Dad made her take a couple of pills, then he had to go back to work.

  “He called my school and left a message for me to pick up my sister Tiffany from soccer practice because my mother was unable to drive.” He rubbed a hand over his face. Telling the story was taking its toll.

  “Go on,” said Terri.

  Russ took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was sixteen.” He tapped his temple. “Faulty hardware. A couple of my friends wanted to go for burgers and shakes after our last class, and I wanted to show off my car. I completely forgot about my sister. I totally blew it off.” He was working up more self-destructive anger with every word.

  “That sounds like normal teenage behavior,” said Terri softly.

  “Yeah. Right. My kid sister was waiting for me, wondering where her ride was. Where her brother was. She must have stood around for more than an hour. Then she evidently decided she could walk home.

  “Meanwhile, my mom was worried sick. I wasn’t home. Tiff wasn’t home. And mom wasn’t thinking straight. She was loopy on her pain meds. She decided to go look for Tiffany.

  “We didn’t have cell phones. My dad thought they were too expensive, and we were just kids. We might lose them or something. Until that day, we had never needed them. It wasn’t like now, when practically every kid has his own phone. There was no way for mom to reach Tiff and let her know she was on her way. Tiff started walking. Mom started driving.

  “But she couldn’t find Tiffany. And she had trouble finding her own way home. She was in a panic, on meds, and not thinking straight. She thought she hit a dog with her car, but she was so upset, she didn’t stop to check.

  “By the time she got home, my dad was home. He got her inside and was about to call the police to help find Tiff when a patrol car pulled up to the house. Tiffany had been hit by a car. She died on the scene.”

  “Oh, no! Russ, you poor thing.”

  “I was an idiot! I killed my sister! If I had done the right thing, she would be alive today.”

  “You can’t think that way,” said Terri. “You were only a kid yourself. I’m sure your parents don’t blame you.”

  Russ’s expression grew even more mournful. His eyes were dangerously full of feeling. “There’s more.”

  Terri dropped onto a chair. “Okay. Let’s hear it.”

  “In the midst of our grief, this slimy bastard shows up at our door the next day and claims he saw the accident. He saw my mother’s car hit my sister, then leave her in the road.”

  “Oh, no!”

  “It wasn’t true. It can’t be true. She might have hit a dog, especially if one darted into the street, too low to see if it was bumper-high. But my sister was tall for twelve. If mom had seen Tiffany, she would have stopped. She was functional enough to drive the car, for God’s sake. She would have pulled over and picked up her daughter.

  “The root canal was so difficult for her, she was still on the pain meds twenty-four hours later. She wasn’t thinking straight. She was horrified by the accusations.” Russ’s voice grew more strained with every new development.

  Terri wanted to comfort him, but it was obvious he could accept no good will in his current state. Softly, she said, “I’m listening, Russ.”

  Russ took another breath and forced his shoulders back. “She stood up to the bastard, right there in front of dad and me. She told him he was nothing but a criminal, a slimy blackmailer, and if he didn’t leave the house, she would call the police herself.

  “He left. He was clearly pissed, but also surprised that she would face him down. I was so proud of her.” His voice broke for moment. After a few seconds, he continued. “My dad wanted to call the police right away and report the guy. But as soon as the jerk left, my poor mother fell apart. All her strength was gone. She was terrified that he had really seen her run down her own daughter. We tried to comfort her. Told her he was an asshole, an opportunist, a crook. And I couldn’t bear to see her so distraught when I was the reason for it all.

  “The house was in turmoil. The dogs were crazy, looking for Tiffany in every room. But when mom fell apart, it’s like they knew. They understood what was happening. They leaned into her like they were holding her up. She told us she wanted to take a nap with the dogs, and later we would decide how to deal with it all.

  “I was useless. I felt so guilty. I was waiting for them to turn on me, tell me what they were really thinking. My dad was still making phone calls. You know, those ugly calls you pray you never get. Someone died. Especially a perfect little girl like Tiff.” He stopped again to control his voice.

  Terri took a chance and moved to touch his bare arm. “Russ, you were only sixteen. You were a child yourself. You did not kill your sister!”

  “No. But if I had done what I was supposed to do, my sister would be alive, and my mother would not have killed herself.”

  Terri gasped. A moment later, she was hugging him as tightly as she could. “No, no,” was all she could say. She could feel his pain as if it were her own.

  Russ found himself hugging her back, clinging to her for dear life. The hot tears that filled his eyes began to fall. He swore and wiped at his face.

  “Sorry.” His voice was rough. “Might as well tell it all. She went into her bedroom with the dogs. Dad swears it was an accident. She took more pain pills. Then he thinks she lay there a while, forgot she had taken the pills, and took more.”

  Terri pulled away just enough to look into his face. “What do you think?”

  “She took the whole bottle,” said Russ flatly. “Excuse me.” He extricated himself and went into the bathroom.

  Terri could hear water running. She wandered around the cabin, fighting the memory of her own grief over her parents and marveling at how much pain Russ was able to control on a daily basis. She wondered what had happened to the scam artist who had tried to blackmail the family.

  Then it all became clear. When Russ entered the room again, Terri spoke.

  “It was DaSilva, wasn’t it? DaSilva tried to blackmail your mother.”

  Russ nodded. “Yes.” Confiding in Terri took a huge weight off his shoulders. He straightened up. “Yes, it was DaSilva. We never saw him again, at least not that year. Dad was too torn up to make a police case out of it, and I was so messed up that Dad made me spend a year talking to a counselor. He went, too. We came out of it closer than ever.

  “I made a promise at the funeral, a promise to my mother and my sister, that I would find the person responsible someday. That’s why I decided to study criminal justice in college. Afterward, while I was trying my hand at being a private detective, I saw that face. I tracked him, I researched him, I watched him so closely, he threatened to get a restraining order. At first, I don’t think he remembered me. But it slowly dawned on him. Obviously he knows now. Otherwise he wouldn’t be dropping hints about me being a killer.”

  “Thanks for telling me,” said Terri. “I know it wasn’t easy.” She slipped her arms around him again. “Would you mind? Do you think we could” —she looked away— “share the same bed tonight?”

  “Oh, Terri.” Russ cradled her face in his hands and tipped her chin up for a kiss. “I didn’t want to rush you.”

  Before she could reply, his hot spicy kiss took her breath away. They danced against each other, their bodies seeking comfort, warmth, and pleasure to chase their shared grief away.

  “Let me undress,” whispered Terri.

  The banging on the cabin door was the last thing she wanted to hear. “Terri? Terri, open up
!”

  It was Gavin’s voice.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “OH, NO, not now,” groaned Terri.

  Russ grinned. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”

  Terri heaved an exaggerated sigh. “I’m going to kill that man!”

  “If he keeps banging on the door, someone will complain to the rangers.”

  “I’ll let him in,” said Terri, exasperated.

  “No, wait!”

  But it was too late. She already had the door unlocked.

  Gavin pushed it in as soon as he could turn the knob, and slammed it behind him.

  Terri staggered backward at the sight of him. “What happened to you?”

  Gavin’s face was a study in scarlet and purple. “This is all your fault! If you had helped me when I asked—” Gavin’s advance on Terri was halted abruptly by the sight of Russ aiming his firearm at him. His demeanor changed abruptly. He put his hands in the air and assumed the manner of a kicked puppy. “Hey, no call for that. See? I was just mad because DaSilva beat the crap out of me.”

  Russ met Terri’s questioning glance. “He blew their surveillance by calling you on the phone.”

  “DaSilva works fast,” said Terri, eyeing Gavin’s injuries with suspicion. “Some of those bruises are more than an hour old. Like, two days older.”

  Gavin made an obvious effort to calm himself down. “He tried to run you guys off the road. I was in the truck. I stopped him.”

  “Oh, really?” Terri’s sarcasm level automatically skyrocketed when Gavin was in the room. “I thought it was the car coming head-on in the other lane that saved us.”

  Gavin’s control was precarious. He teetered toward rage again, this time flavored with jealousy. “You’re my girl. He tried to kill my girl. Nobody touches you but me.”

  Though his decibel level had fallen, his intensity had not. Terri backed away, allowing Russ to shield her.

  Russ was still pointing his firearm at Gavin. “So, why are you here? You just admitted to being in the truck that tried to run us off the road. Why should we help you?”