by Mya Barrett
Brian shrugged then shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “I guess I’m just not comfortable with you moving back. You aren’t even sure who’s been threatening you.”
She sighed and tried not to be frustrated with the often repeated concern. “No, we don’t.”
“I know you think things will settle down, but it hasn’t yet, and I have to wonder if it ever really will.”
“Brian…”
He held up his hands and shook his head. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. While we’re here, why don’t you check to make sure everything is where it should be?”
She stared at him, feeling confused. “What are you talking about? Hale and I have already been through the house.”
Brian moved closer. “So nothing’s missing? Everything’s in its place?”
Maggie let out a puzzled laugh. “Brian, what is wrong with you?”
He hung his head, and gave a deep, heavy exhale, as if she just wasn't “getting it.” When he looked back, she saw something in his eyes she’d never seen before. Trepidation stirred in her system, causing her to take a step back.
“Where is it, Maggie?” His question was a deep rumble that added another layer of alarm.
“Wh…where is what?” Maybe he had snapped; maybe he was joking.
He shook his head in disappointment. “You know what I’m talking about.”
She was quick with her denial. “I have no idea what you’re asking for.”
“The book, Maggie. Chris’s book. The one with the list of names and bribes. The one with the geological map of your land.”
There was a sudden flash of the image of the small black book she’d found in the treasure box. So the notes were actually a list of names and exchanges of money? But why? And what map? There hadn’t been a map inside, had there?
She swallowed and tried to stall so she had a chance to think through the situation. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would Chris keep something like that?”
Anger rose in Brian’s eyes. “Because he saw things he wasn’t supposed to. Because he wasn’t sure who he could trust. Smart move on his part, I suppose.”
“He was…investigating?”
“Yes!” The word was a hard, vicious sound that made her jump. “Investigating and he should have just left it alone. It’s been going on for years; I don’t know what he thought he was going to change. And it would have been fine, you know; all he had to do was listen to me. He didn’t have to play the game, but he could have forgotten. If he’d just let it go, if he’d just done what I told him to and gotten you to sell this land…”
“Sell my land?” Her voice wavered with bewilderment.
“Yes, your damn land, Maggie Mae!” He shook his head almost violently; when he spoke again he had pulled his temper back down. “They want the land. If you give it to them they’ll forget the pay offs, forget all the money I took in bribes. Bribes your husband was going to expose. But you won’t sell, so it’s come down to this.”
Tears began to well in her eyes as she thought of Chris. He had always seen things in black and white; for him, gray had been a very small sliver of life. It didn’t surprise her that, if he’d seen something that wasn’t on the up-and-up, he would begin digging.
“Maggie, give it to me.” Brian was holding his hand out, standing so close now that she couldn’t step around him.
“I don’t have it.”
His hand moved so quickly she didn’t see it coming. There was instant pain, a sting that radiated through her cheekbone. She barely managed to keep her balance, not that it mattered; his hand was clamped around her arm, holding her still as his gripped bruised her flesh.
“I don’t want to have to hurt you,” he said in a chillingly calm voice. “But I have to have that book.”
“I don't have it!” she repeated.
“You have to, Maggie! I’ve looked everywhere in this house. I know Chris couldn’t have hidden it anywhere else; I searched everything he touched and everywhere he went. That means you have to have hidden it yourself.”
Her eyes went wide as a piece of the truth fell into place. “You’ve searched my home? Is that why you kept telling me to leave, to take a vacation? So you could have more time?”
“It would have been so much easier if you’d listened,” he admitted. “Do you know how hard it was for me to get you out of this damn house?”
“Then Hale came back to town,” she said slowly as realization dawned. “It gave you the perfect opening.”
“Chris told me how much these people tortured you. It stood to reason they might start again if the waters were stirred.” He tightened his hold and pulled her, hobbling, into the office. “The fire might have shaken some people, but not you. Even when I killed your garden you refused to leave.”
Her cheek was throbbing now; she could feel it swelling and taste the copper tang of blood in her mouth. She had to keep him talking, had to rattle him, had to somehow throw him off his stride. “So you had to do something else, something I couldn’t shrug off.”
He spun around and narrowed his eyes accusingly. “You wouldn’t do it, damn it. You just had to stay here. Do you think I wanted to run you over with a truck? I didn’t even know you were here, damn it! It doesn’t matter now. Since you wouldn’t take Brylon’s offer I had to have the book. To find the book, I had to have time, and you weren’t giving it to me.”
“Why did you need time, Brian? Because your name is on Chris’s list?”
Fury spiked a red flush through his face. “I had to take care of Chris; I was the lowest rung on the ladder. I hadn’t been involved for more than a few months. But then he got too close and I didn’t have a choice. They made sure I didn’t.”
His words were as effective as a blow to her chest. She gasped, so taken aback that she didn’t fight as he finally jerked her into the office. He yanked her around, bringing her face to face with his fury.
“You…you killed Chris? You…oh, my God, you shot my husband?” Her entire body began to tremble with so many emotions she could barely breathe.
“I told you I didn’t want to. He made me. He brought it on himself.” He shoved her toward the closet. “I’ve dug through every room of this house; the only place I haven’t completely pulled apart and put back together is this room. I did manage to tear through it while you were in the hospital, but then your fiancé and his brother kept coming by to check on the house. This is your last chance, Maggie.”
She couldn’t feel the fear she knew she should have; she could barely hear his threatening words. She was still reeling from the fact that it had been Chris’s best friend who had taken his life. Brian had betrayed their friendship for money?
“But how…how did you manage it? How did you shoot Chris?”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You mean because of the dash cam? Easy enough. I knew when and where he was patrolling. Someone made sure I had a car that fit the description of a local gang member’s. I obscured the plate just enough that there was no way to see the full number. I cruised until I got to his territory then sped like crazy. It took me nearly all night before he finally pulled me over.”
“Did he recognize you?” The thought that he might have known, might have been broken hearted in the last few seconds of his life, made her want to weep.
Brian shook his head. “I don’t think so. I kept my face covered. Afterward, they helped me ditch the car and the clothes, made sure the tape showed what we needed it to. Everyone had an alibi so the investigation only got so far. We made sure of that.”
“How could you? How could murder your best friend?”
“I didn’t have a choice! It was a pyramid. Brylon paying people off, those people paying judges and officers, and Brylon keeping tabs on it all. They were going to expose me. No one would have helped; they would have made sure I was the scapegoat. I would have lost my job; all my arrests and testimony would have been questioned. My reputation would have been ripped to shreds. Do you know what that
would have done to Eric? It would have killed him!” His shout nearly deafened her. “Damn it, I don’t have time for this.”
He whipped out a gun and pointed it at her chest. “I owe people, Maggie. I have to get this book and give it to them, or they’re going to turn me in. If you’d just done what I’d said I wouldn’t have to do this. Brylon would have been happy enough to have your land that my name would have disappeared. You would have moved, and I would have been a good friend, sent you on a nice cruise while I packed your things—”
“And found the book.”
“Exactly.” He waved the gun, motioning her further into the room.
“I don’t understand. The land—”
His laugh was harsh, jagged, and slightly hysterical. “You have no idea what you’re sitting on, Maggie. Chris knew.”
She needed to keep him talking while she tried to formulate a plan. “Knew what?”
“Knew you’re sitting on silver, sweetheart. Not just silver, but lead and zinc, too. Do you have any idea what it’s worth?” He shook his head and laughed again. “All those jams and quilts and preserves, they’re nothing compared to what Brylon could get out of this mountain. I tried to tell Chris that. This is all his fault, you know. He got himself killed, and he’s the reason you’re in this situation right now, all because he couldn’t look away just one damn time.”
She didn’t try to reason why he was so convinced it was everyone else’s fault but his own. There was no rationalizing with someone so clearly unstable.
He stuck his hand out again, his face grim. “The book, Maggie.”
She hoped she could keep her voice calm, even with tears rolling down her cheeks. She had to get herself out, anyway she could.
“All right, I’ll get it for you. I understand, Brian. You get in situations you don’t have any control of.”
“I was just trying to keep Brenda happy; she wanted so much, and I couldn’t give it to her.” His outstretched hand wavered for a moment. “I’ll take it and leave, then you can go back to Hale.”
She didn’t believe him, but she nodded quickly, as if she did. She turned to the closet and mentally ran down the list of what had been left behind. There were only a few things left after she and Hale had sorted through everything. Then she remembered something of Chris’s that they’d tucked away.
She only had one real chance, and as crazy as the plan sounded in her head, she knew she didn’t have any choice but to try. Picturing what she would do, Maggie pulled Chris’s box from the office closet. She let it settle in front of Brian.
He motioned to it with his gun. “Go on.”
“I can’t kneel down; you’ll have to put it on the desk.”
He studied her for a moment, took in her bandaged arm and the cast on her leg. Finally, he leaned down, his gun still trained on her, and lifted the box with a single hand. She tried not to hesitate as she moved to the box, keeping a careful eye on Brian as she buried her hands deep into the tall box. She dug through the items inside, making sure her hands were hidden from his sight. She finally found the shoebox she’d been looking for, the one which held the letters between her mother and Royce. She felt underneath it and found exactly what she’d been praying was there.
She kept her unbound hand casually draped on the top of the larger box opening as she handed Brian the shoebox. “It’s in here.”
He made a grab for the box, the gun in his hand giving a slight bobble. He swore before dropping the box onto the desk chair. She waited, watching as he tossed the lid aside and began digging. She was still biding her time when a loud bark echoed through the clearing outside.
Brian paused and looked up, staring at the window behind her. “What was that?”
“Mac,” Maggie whispered, her heart thundering.
“What?” Brian swung a confused gaze back to her.
“Mac.” Her voice was stronger this time. “He wanders through the woods all the time.”
“He’d come all the way here from the farm?”
“This is home,” she said shakily.
Brian wiped his face with a trembling forearm. “Is he alone?”
“I—I don’t know.” She swallowed against her dry throat and waited.
“Hell,” he muttered.
He stood and hurried to the window beside her, more concerned with what was happening outside than with Maggie. It was a split second of distraction, but it was enough.
She grabbed Chris’s police baton from the box and swung in one fluid motion. She hit Brian as heavily as her arm allowed, cracking the hard cylinder over his head. She didn’t wait to see how long he would stay stunned.
Spinning, Maggie raced for the door as fast as her casted leg would allow her to go, sliding across the newly polished floor with fevered speed, still holding the black baton like a lifeline. She had to make her way into open territory. She thought Brian might have left his keys in the truck, and she could only hope there would be enough time for her to find out. She wrapped her hand around the doorknob, swung it open—and nearly toppled into Trent’s arms. Hale stood behind him, a look of deadly intent etched on his face.
“Maggie!” An agonized roar sounded behind her.
The two brothers didn’t exchange a word. Trent dropped, bringing Maggie down with him to the porch. Above them there was a loud rapport, sharp and heavy, then softer as the echo died in the clearing. Several seconds of shocked silence reigned before reality set in.
“Hale!” Maggie pushed away from Trent and scrambled to stand. “Hale, are you—?”
“I’m okay, sweetheart. We’re okay.” He pulled her into his chest with one strong arm, holding her so tightly her still tender ribs vibrated with dull pain. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, I’m all right.” She didn’t realize she was crying until she felt the damp material of his red shirt pressed against her cheek. “He shot Chris. He killed him.”
“I’m so sorry.” He gently pushed her back so he could study her face. “The bastard hit you.”
She saw Trent hurrying back outside from the cabin with Brian’s gun wrapped in his shirt tail. It was only when she saw the shotgun in Hale’s other hand that she realized precisely what he’d done.
“You shot him?”
He stared at her, holding her gaze with his steady one. “Yes, I did.”
She blinked against her tears, swallowed the knot in her throat, then leaned her head against his chest again. “He was crazed, looking for Chris’s book. He said there were other people, people he owed. He was afraid of them. And Brylon, the company that’s been after my land. There’s silver and zinc and lead. They’ve been using him.”
“I know, sweetheart, I know.”
“It’s going to be a mess.”
“Yes, it will.”
Sirens sounded in the distance, and Maggie had the odd thought that the authorities had spent entirely too much time at her place.
Trent’s voice came from beside them. “You were right; we beat the cops. I can’t believe I made that U-turn and followed you.”
“I can’t believe your car kept up.” Hale’s teasing was good natured, but she could still hear the tension playing underneath and feel the taut set of his muscles.
“I’m going to have to talk to them, aren’t I?” she asked.
His grip tightened around her again. “I’ll be with you. We’ll get through it, I promise.”
She nodded, knowing with him beside her she would find the strength to do what needed to be done. “The book—”
“Is in my car, along with the geological survey of your land. I’ll give it to the Chief of Police and nobody else. I recognized too many senators, judges, and lawyers’ initials and addresses to trust anyone else. His is one of the only ones not on there.”
She gave a watery hiccup at his arrogant statement. “That infamous Warrick pull again.”
“Whatever it takes to keep you safe, Maggie, that’s what I’ll do.”
The police cars and ambulance bounced into
the yard, obliterating any intimate conversation they might have had. People began to pour in around them, two of them carefully taking first the shotgun from Hale then the handgun from Trent. The rest moved into the cabin, weapons drawn, to surround Brian, followed closely by the ambulance crew.
“It’s over now,” Hale promised her. “We can move on.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
It had been an exhausting few months. There had been so many questions, the same ones asked over and over again by so many different people that they all began to blend together. Hale, true to his word, had refused to make a statement to anyone but the Chief of Police. Once Hale had handed over the book and survey, all hell had broken loose. That was the only way she could think to describe it.
Television stations had trumpeted the news of corruption, greased palms, thrown trials, and falsified evidence. No one was safe, from the highest rank to the lowest; the governor himself had called for a complete investigation and overhaul of the system. Chief Callaghan, newly appointed just the year before, had been spared, mainly because he had been fighting the very corruption Chris had been documenting.
Brylon Enterprises had tried to keep from crumbling, but with the release of the information came dozens of whistleblowers, people who had found courage now that the truth was coming out. The government was investigating, threatening long prison sentences and the draining of every asset the conglomerate held. Other companies were swooping in to take over the smaller businesses that Brylon had swallowed, picking the flesh off the corpse of the larger corporation.
Staying away from celebrity status had been difficult, but so far she and Hale had managed to keep a low profile. They would have to testify at Brian’s trial but until then they were able to have what was a happily normal life. She had her cast taken off; Hale was learning to garden. They had date nights, even couple dates with Ben and Jolene. Hale was teaching her to ride, and she was teaching him to can. He made sure she was there for her once a week breakfast with Mr. Mackey. It was everything she’d ever wanted, but everything she’d never been brave enough to hope for.