Her Silent Spring

by Melinda Woodhall

  I need to work on my magic formula. I’m not getting the amounts right.

  He looked around the yard, seeing nothing out of place, and turned back to Skylar.

  “You wait here,” he instructed. “And don’t try to run off. The drugs I gave you are potent. You wouldn’t get far.”

  Skylar remained quiet, and he smiled down at her.

  “Just a few more chores and we’ll be out of here,” he promised. “Then we’ll be together, forever.”

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Veronica sat at the edge of her seat, watching through the front windshield with anxious eyes as the blue Nissan sped down Sky Lake Trail. The darkened road was lit only by the light of the full moon, but Hunter kept his foot dangerously close to the floor.

  “Turn left right there,” Tom called from his seat in the back next to Charlie Day. “See that little dirt road?”

  Hunter made a sharp left turn onto the rutted road. Minutes later the Nissan skidded to a stop in front of a sagging gate. A dented sign reading Silent Meadows Farm had been screwed onto the fence post.

  Opening his door, Hunter jumped out and pushed the gate back, prompting the old hinges to scream in rusty protest. Climbing back into the Nissan, Hunter drove up to the front of the old farmhouse and shut off the engine.

  “This is Curtis Webb’s family home?” Veronica asked, her voice betraying her doubt. “It looks abandoned.”

  “Ma told me it used to be a grand old place,” Tom said. “But Mr. Webb kinda let things go after his wife passed.”

  Charlie leaned forward between the seats.

  “Let’s wait until my team gets here to go in,” she said, checking her phone. “You were going pretty fast, Mr. Hadley. Looks like you lost them back there.”

  Tom rolled down his window and leaned his head out, letting in a heavy scent of magnolia and decay. A thud sounded somewhere nearby, followed by a muffled scream.

  Forgetting Charlie’s words of warning, Veronica jumped out of the rental car. Hunter and Tom chased after her, leaving Charlie no choice but to follow behind.

  Veronica ducked under the flowering branches of a locust tree and followed the overgrown path leading to the front porch.

  “Did that come from inside, or around back?” Hunter whispered.

  “I’m not sure,” Veronica whispered back. “But I think it came from somewhere upstairs.”

  Charlie pushed past them to put a hand on the doorknob. To Veronica’s surprise, the knob turned smoothly in her hand.

  “You all stay outside,” the agent ordered, her voice stern. “I’ll see if anyone’s in here…”

  Hunter raised a hand to protest, but Charlie had already stepped into the dark room beyond the rickety door. He turned back to say something to Veronica, then hesitated and put up a finger, as if listening to the sounds of the night around them.

  “What was that?”

  Turning her head to look toward the side of the house, Veronica heard the faint but unmistakable sound of Skylar humming.

  Veronica’s heart squeezed in her chest, and she hurried around the side of the house with Hunter close on her heels.

  As she rounded the corner, Veronica gasped at the sight of Skylar’s hair shining like a beacon in the moonlight.

  Her sister knelt over a thicket of wildflowers growing along a black wrought iron fence. She was humming as she picked the wilted flowers and laid them in her lap.

  Rushing forward, Veronica tripped over a shattered piece of wood and dropped to her knees. Her eyes fell on a small metal sign.

  Webb Family Cemetery.

  Hunter bent to help her up as Tom pushed through the gate and headed toward Skylar. But before he could reach her, he suddenly stopped still.

  A slim man had stepped out of the shadows and lifted a gun toward Tom’s temple. Veronica recognized Curtis Webb.

  “This is private property, and ya’ll are trespassing,” Curtis said.

  The icy tone of the man’s voice sent a chill up Veronica’s spine.

  “And now that you’re here,” he said, “I can’t let you just leave.”

  Veronica moved back toward Hunter, who was slowly pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. She assumed he was alerting Charlie Day, and she used her body to block the glow of the phone’s display.

  “But me and Skylar have gotta go,” Curtis said, his voice hard. “We have a whole new life ahead of us.”

  “You don’t want to do this, Mack,” Tom said, inching forward. “Now put that down and we can-”

  Curtis rammed the muzzle against Tom’s head.

  “Don’t call me that!” he yelled. “I’m Curtis now, and once I fly away from here, there will be no more Mack. I’m leaving that name and everything else my daddy gave me behind.”

  Tom lifted his hands in supplication.

  “Okay, okay, I get it,” he said. “But you’ve got to listen to reason.”

  “No, what I’ve got to do is get the hell out of here,” Curtis snapped. “And you’re going to help me by tying them up.”

  Nodding to Veronica and Hunter, Curtis nudged Tom with the gun.

  “There’s some rope in that wheelbarrow,” he said. “Now tie ‘em up nice and tight or I’ll put a bullet in your brain. It’d be a pleasure after putting up with you all these years.”

  Tom donned a hurt expression, earning a nasty laugh from Curtis.

  “Don’t tell me you didn’t know Donnie made me hire you,” he sneered. “Why else would I hire a simpleton?”

  Veronica saw Tom lunge toward Curtis just as a shot rang out. Hunter grabbed her and pulled her behind a thick Maple tree.

  “Come on out!” Curtis yelled. “Unless you want her to die, too!”

  Peering through the bushes, Veronica caught a glimpse of Tom’s limp body sprawled on the ground.

  Her heart dropped when she saw that Curtis had a thick arm wrapped around Skylar’s neck as he rested the gun against the silvery wisps at her temple.

  “Skylar!” Veronica couldn’t hold back the desperate scream that tore from her lips. “Please, don’t hurt her.”

  “Come out now, both of you,” Curtis snarled. “Or I’m gonna blow this girl’s head off right here and now.”

  Hunter put a restraining arm on Veronica’s shoulder as she made a move to rise. Then a weak voice stopped her.

  “You stay right where you are, Ms. Lee.”

  She saw Tom struggling to sit up.

  “He’s not gonna hurt Summer’s daughter,” Tom said, sounding breathless. “He wouldn’t hurt his own kin.”

  Curtis frowned down at Tom, who was now sitting upright as blood streamed from his broken nose.

  “You must have broken that stupid head of yours as well as your nose, Tom,” Curtis said through clenched teeth. “This girl is no kin of mine.”

  Tom shook his head, ignoring the drops of blood that splattered onto the ground beside him.

  “Your daddy never told you, did he?”

  Pity shone in Tom’s eyes.

  “Your old man was Donnie’s real father.”

  Tom staggered to his feet.

  “His biological father.”

  Curtis tightened ahis arm round Skylar’s throat, and he shook his head in denial.

  “That’s impossible.”

  “No, it’s true,” Tom said, his voice firm. “Ma told Donnie he was adopted. Told him on his eighteenth birthday. Said he was old enough to know the truth, and that his real daddy still lived in town.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “That’s the God’s honest truth, Mack,” Tom said, finally pressing his hand to his nose to stop the blood that had now soaked his shirt.

  “Your daddy was Donnie’s dad, too.”

  Veronica could feel Hunter’s body tense up beside her in the dark, and she steeled herself, prepared to charge forward as soon as Curtis gave them an opening.

  But Tom was still talking, his voice seeming to transfix Curtis.

  “Donnie was your half-brother,” To
m said. “And that girl there…well, she’s Donnie’s little girl. She’s your kin.”

  Curtis cocked the gun and stuck it straight out toward Tom.

  “You’re a liar,” he muttered, but doubt had crept into his voice.

  Swallowing hard, Curtis took a step back, dragging Skylar with him, his gun trained on Tom’s sad face.

  “I’m sorry,” Tom said. “But you gotta let her go.”

  Curtis didn’t move as Tom stepped forward and took Skylar’s hand, pulling her gently toward him. Curtis released Skylar, but her legs gave way and she sank to the ground between the men.

  Ignoring the girl at his feet, Curtis raised the gun with both hands, pointing it squarely at Tom’s head.

  “I won’t give her up again,” he muttered, his voice flat as his finger tightened on the trigger. “I’ll die first and take you with me.”

  Veronica felt Hunter spring forward just as a shot rang out. She screamed as Hunter tackled Curtis, sending his gun skittering away as they both slammed to the ground.

  Racing forward, Veronica kicked the gun into the bushes and turned to Hunter, weak with relief as she saw him lifting himself up and off the ground.

  They both looked down at the man sprawled in front of them. Curtis Webb had a nasty red hole in his chest. Blood gurgled out of the wound, staining his white shirt, and dripping into the dirt beneath him.

  Footsteps sounded behind them, and Veronica looked up to see Charlie Day holding her Glock toward the ground with a dazed expression on her face.

  “Thank you,” Veronica said, meeting Charlie’s eyes as she hugged Hunter to her. “You showed up just in time.”

  Charlie looked over Veronica’s shoulder at Skylar, who had picked up a shovel and was digging into the dirt with stiff, jerky movements.

  “No, honey, don’t,” Veronica urged, but Skylar just stared down at the dirt, where a pale hand now lay exposed.

  “Oh God, no,” Veronica cried, stepping back in horror.

  Hunter stepped forward, and Tom staggered to his feet and helped him uncover the remains as Veronica stared down into the grave.

  “Could that be…Misty Bradshaw?” Veronica asked, feeling sick to her stomach. “Could this be where he brought her?”

  But as they wiped the dirt away Veronica saw that the poor woman wore a waitress uniform, along with a Frisky Colt Diner nametag that identified her as Darla Griggs.

  “So that’s where she went,” Tom said quietly. “We all thought she just left town, like all the others had done.”

  Veronica looked around the graveyard with wide eyes, wondering how many other women were buried under the dark soil. But Charlie was calling her and the others to join her on the porch.

  “I found a woman upstairs,” she said, her voice dry and shaky.

  Veronica put her hand to her mouth, not sure she would be able to see another dead body without breaking down.

  But then Charlie stepped aside to reveal a young woman huddled in a chair on the porch. Veronica made out big brown eyes and delicate features. She stepped closer and saw the slim hand clutching at a thin blanket. She recognized the tattoo on the girl’s wrist. PS 23:4.

  “It’s Misty Bradshaw,” Veronica whispered. “She’s alive.”

  “She says he was planning to sell her,” Charlie said in a low voice. “He told her she was going to be his last big payday before he left town for good.”

  Looking around at the house of horrors Curtis Webb and his father had created, Veronica suspected she would be forced to revisit Silent Meadows often in her nightmares.

  As she moved toward Skylar, she saw Tom remove his jacket and arrange it over the unearthed remains of Darla Griggs.

  Veronica pulled Skylar into her arms and hugged her, expecting her sister to be stiff and unresponsive. Instead she felt Skylar’s soft arms reach up to return the hug.

  Veronica leaned back and looked down into Skylar’s green eyes, which were so like her own.

  “I knew you’d come for me,” she said softly. “I didn’t know how you’d do it, but I knew you’d find a way.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  The crowd outside City Hall was building as it neared noon, and the bright Florida sun had already prompted several men to remove their jackets. Nessa watched Ling Lee mount the steps to the makeshift stage, then looked down in surprise when she felt a fluttering sensation under her jacket.

  “The baby’s moving,” she whispered to Jerry. “I think this little girl is as excited as I am to see things changing around here.”

  Taking Jerry’s hand, she rested it lightly on her stomach, glad he was beside her to witness the swearing in ceremony for Willow Bay’s first woman mayor, and relieved that her doctor had given her the all clear to keep working for the time being.

  An elbow jabbed into her other side, and she looked over to see Simon Jankowski struggling to get his jacket off. Although it was still officially spring, the weather was acting as if summer had already started, and the brawny detective was beginning to feel the heat.

  She rolled her eyes as he bumped her again, but she was happy to have him with her as well. After everything that had happened in the last month, she was confident Jankowski would be ready to take the helm as acting chief of police when she went out on maternity leave.

  Her old partner had mellowed in the last year, and while he still was hot-headed at times, she knew she could trust him with her life, and with her town.

  A microphone crackled on the stage, and all eyes turned forward as Judge Eldredge stood at the podium.

  “Thank you all for joining us today. As Willow Bay’s City Council president, it is a great honor to be asked to perform the swearing in of our newly elected mayor, Ms. Ling Lee.”

  The older man’s dour expression conflicted with his words, but the crowd erupted into enthusiastic applause, and Nessa couldn’t stop smiling as Ling Lee took her place next to the judge.

  As Ling Lee raised her right hand and began to repeat the oath that Judge Eldredge recited in a dull, flat voice, Nessa recognized a young woman standing just off-stage.

  Misty Bradshaw stood with the rest of Ling’s new staff. As an intern in the new mayor’s office, the young woman was well on her way to starting a new life.

  Thinking of how close the woman had been to a much darker future, Nessa couldn’t help but feel profound relief. Despite her mistake of trusting Amber Sloan, Misty had survived, and Nessa knew she had learned a valuable lesson about setting priorities.

  And that’s a lesson I’m going to have to teach Agent Marlowe as well.

  She didn’t see the FBI agent in the crowd, although Tenley Frost was sitting on her own near the back.

  Perhaps the rumor about those two is just more idle gossip.

  As the ceremony came to an end, the Channel Ten camera crew moved forward to capture the moment.

  Ling Lee turned to receive congratulations from her daughter, and Veronica Lee looked overjoyed as she gave her mother a hug and posed for the cameras.

  Noting that Skylar wasn’t on the stage with them, Nessa looked around, wondering if the crowd and festivities had been too much for the girl to handle. She’d been through a terrible ordeal, and Nessa knew it may take a long time for her to heal.

  Then she caught a flash of movement on the steps just past the stage, and saw Skylar sitting with Finn’s big white dog.

  The girl’s silvery white hair blended in with the dog’s silky coat, and Nessa marveled at the unusual color. She thought of the photo that she’d seen of Summer Fairfax, amazed at the resemblance between the mother and daughter.

  Another flutter in her stomach made her look down with a smile and pat her small bump.

  I wonder if this little girl will be a red head like her mother.

  Standing and filing out of the row behind Jerry, Nessa saw that Agent Marlowe had watched the swearing-in ceremony from the back of the crowd.

  His tall, lean frame towered over a willowy blonde woman in an immaculate suit and hee
ls.

  Charlie Day smiled up at Marlowe as he leaned down to whisper something in her ear. Nessa watched them with raised eyebrows.

  The intimate way they were talking made Nessa suspect their relationship wasn’t strictly professional, and she couldn’t deny they made an attractive couple.

  Deciding not to interrupt their cozy conversation, Nessa moved past them without a greeting, only to hear Charlie call out to her.

  “Chief Ainsley? Could I talk to you for just a minute?”

  Jerry looked back, and Nessa hesitated.

  “Go on,” he said, with a resigned smile. “I’ll wait by the car.”

  Waving for Jankowski to follow her, Nessa crossed to where Charlie and Marlowe were standing.

  “We’ve gotten results from a phone found on Curtis Webb,” she said in a low voice, getting straight to the point. “The phone belonged to Amber Sloan. I think you’ll be very interested to know whose prints we found on it.”

  Nessa leaned in, as did Jankowski.

  “The prints belong to Marc Ingram. I believe he was a former detective in your force.”

  Trying to digest the information, Nessa just nodded.

  “Well, we have a federal warrant for his arrest,” Charlie added. “Just wanted you to know we plan to bring him in later today.”

  She looked at her watch and smiled.

  “The agents should be picking him up right about now.”

  A matching smile spread across Nessa’s face as she walked back to her car. The town had a new mayor, and Marc Ingram was no longer her problem.

  Things were looking up in Willow Bay, and even though Nessa knew she was getting heavier by the day, everything else suddenly felt much lighter.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Peyton paced the hospital waiting room, wondering if the swearing in ceremony had gone well. She would have loved to have been at City Hall to support Veronica Lee’s mother, but her own mother had been scheduled for surgery, and she’d had to spend the morning in the hospital, waiting to hear the results.

  Running a hand through her dark hair, Peyton tried to stay positive, but the feeling that she hadn’t done enough to take care of her mother ate away at her.