by B. J Daniels
The screwdriver clutched in her hand, she quickly stepped back, waiting for the person to come through the door.
But to her surprise, the sound stopped. She listened, holding her breath, except the door didn’t open.
* * *
TUCKER SLOWED AS he neared what was left of the resort. The place had been a dream. When hot water was discovered up here on the side of the mountain, an energetic entrepreneur bought the land and built one large building that housed the main pool and several smaller ones. He’d planned to turn it into a destination resort.
Instead, that dream went up in flames. After lightning struck the main building and burned it to the ground, all that was left was the concrete pool, which was now filled with green slime and weeds, and the few outbuildings.
Broke and disheartened, the entrepreneur hadn’t been able to rebuild and had died a few years later. The place had been tied up in an estate for years, the property near worthless in its present state.
He slowed as he neared a clump of thick pines. Down the mountain ahead, he could make out the old concrete pump house. Someone had carried off all the pipe works, but the building was still standing off to one side against the mountain. Farther down, where the water pooled, were several more small buildings that had once been the dressing rooms. If Kate was being held here...
As the sun crested the horizon, Madeline stepped out from behind the thick pines, blocking his way. The initial shock of seeing her in the flesh brought him to a halt just yards away. The sound of the creek roared in his ears as Madeline smiled and took a few steps toward him.
The years hadn’t been kind to her. While still striking, she looked more like fifty than a woman in her early forties. But there was a fearless confidence about her, something he realized had attracted him from the beginning.
He thought about rushing her in the hopes of taking away the gun she was holding, but he first had to know what she’d done with Kate—and if she was alone. In his pocket, he pushed the button that would call Flint as the last number dialed but worried that his brother couldn’t hear their conversation over the roar of the creek.
“I talked to K.O. recently,” he said, glancing around.
Surprise registered in her expression before she laughed. “Like I care. My family turned on me. They can all go to hell for all I care. You see anyone else here but you and me?”
“I love your choice of a meeting place. This old hot spring brings back all kinds of memories. Or was it even you I was with?” he asked.
She smiled a smile he remembered too well. A mocking, crooked smile. “You don’t know, do you?”
“I was hoping it was your bones in that creek. At least I would have known that you didn’t pull this shit on anyone else after me.”
“Such bitterness. It was just a game,” Madeline said. “No one was supposed to get hurt.”
“But Misty got hurt.”
She shrugged. “Unavoidable as it turned out.”
“Let me guess. She almost drowned that night. I could tell she was scared standing on that bridge. I’m betting she wanted to quit.”
Madeline pointed the gun at him as if dotting an i. “Give the man a prize. Misty thought she could just walk away. I had already realized she was going to be a problem I would have to deal with sooner or later. She’d fallen in love with Clay Rothschild. Unfortunately, he’d killed himself, but she hadn’t known that—yet. So I decided to end it at the creek and blackmail you the rest of your life.”
“So you just killed your own sister—one identical to you—in cold blood.”
“She tried to grab the gun. I was stronger than she expected.” Madeline raised her brows as he took a step toward her. “A lesson you might want to remember.” She motioned for him to stop.
He had no choice. “Come on, I don’t believe it was a game or you could have stopped. I think it was about the money, the presents, the control over men.”
She laughed, also a familiar sound that clawed at his heart.
He wanted to ask about Kate, but he knew that was a mistake. He’d glimpsed Madeline’s ego. If she thought the only reason he was here was for Kate...
“Maybe you knew me better than I thought. You were always my favorite.”
It was his turn to laugh. “Still trying to con me, huh?” He wondered if the pistol was getting heavy in her hand. He could only hope. But he reminded himself that she’d already killed at least two people with a gun. He doubted she would miss at this range.
“It was just a game at first, but you’re right. I liked the trinkets men gave me. I would still have that silver bracelet with the bells that you gave me, but I didn’t realize Misty had taken it that night I was to meet you on the bridge. I was otherwise involved so I sent her.”
He shook his head. “And she did what you said.”
“I might have let her think it would be the last time. Maybe I was hoping she drowned. I don’t know. Things had gotten complicated.”
“Really?”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet? Rip had become our...manager. We began to make a lot of money. Things were picking up, but then Misty fell in love with Clay Rothschild and wanted out. I kept telling her to do me one more favor and then she could run off with Clay.”
“You know he killed himself over your...game,” Tucker said, thinking of Kate.
“Like I said, things got complicated.”
“How could I have ever been fooled by someone like you?” Tucker asked, not expecting an answer.
“I wasn’t born that way,” Madeline snapped. “Given my parents, I’m surprised I didn’t turn into a serial killer.”
“Who says you aren’t? Misty. Your father. Rip.” He said a silent prayer that he wouldn’t have to add Kate’s name to that list.
* * *
KATE LISTENED, BUT no one came to the door again. She was so close to freeing herself. She knew she was taking a terrible chance, but she had to try. If someone were waiting out there for her, she’d be playing right into their hands.
She began to work frantically with the screwdriver, stopping only once to listen and hearing nothing but the creek. The hole around the door was wide now that the doorjamb was being held only on the one side.
Sticking the screwdriver into the waist of her pants, she gave the door a shove. It moved, making a cracking sound as the wood gave. She shoved again, harder. If the door completely gave way and someone was out there, they might be able to hear it over the roar of the creek.
But it was a chance she was going to have to take. She got a run at it, putting her body into it. The door keeled out but didn’t fall. She realized she could slip through it if she kept it pried open by putting her back against the rough concrete.
Her clothing was already ruined, as if that was a worry. She was scraped up and bleeding and ached all over. But she was going to get out of here. Where she was going to go and what she was going to do, she had no idea. She didn’t even know how far she was from Gilt Edge.
But at least she wouldn’t be caught here when the men came back.
She shoved the door and, using her back against the rough concrete edge, pried it open enough to slip through. The ragged concrete edge scraped her back, drawing blood. She could feel it dampening her blouse, but at the last moment, she managed to free herself.
The door swung back in, almost taking her arm with it. But she was out. She stood for a moment in the dim morning light trying to catch her breath from the exertion and trying to figure out what to do next.
That’s when she saw the two figures on the trail up the mountainside next to the roaring creek. A woman holding a gun on a cowboy. Not just any cowboy. Her cowboy, Kate thought. Tucker.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“YOU REALIZE THAT this has to end,” Tucker said. “There are too many bodies, too many mistakes that you’ve made.”
He feared that would be the case.
“You haven’t asked about Kate,” she said, and there was that smile again, one he’d come to hate.
“The reporter?” He shook his head. “You think that’s why I’m here?”
“Isn’t it? I saw the two of you in the park.”
He smiled. “I’m still the red-blooded American male you seduced all those years ago.”
Her gaze ran the length of him. “Too bad we can’t go back, isn’t it?”
Tucker sensed the change in her. His heart began to pound. She was going to kill him. “So where is Kate?”
“I suspect she’s around here somewhere. That was Rip’s doing, not mine.” She was lying. She knew exactly where Kate was. Or did she?
“Who brought Kate up here if not you? Rip’s dead so I know he didn’t do it.”
Madeline smiled. “Some of your old friends. They’d do anything Rip asked them to do.”
Not Jayce. “Cal and Lonny.” He felt a surge of hope that Kate was still alive. He still believed Cal wouldn’t hurt anyone, not even for Rip. Lonny, though, was another story.
“So they brought Kate up here to lock her in one of the old changing rooms or the pump house. What is the point? You could have lied and said you had Kate.”
She shook her head. “She has to be taken care of just like you. You shouldn’t have come back. And Little Miss Reporter should have kept her nose out of my business.”
Tucker’s fear now was that he wasn’t going to find Kate because Madeline had brought him up here only to kill him. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she wanted to finish this and disappear again. But only after he and Kate were dead.
In the distance, he thought he heard sirens over the roar of the creek. What he needed was time, he realized as behind Madeline he spotted Kate coming up the mountainside. Wherever she’d been kept, she’d somehow managed to get away. His heart soared. She had something in her hand that caught the light as she sneaked up the trail behind Madeline.
“I have to ask,” he said, stalling. “Is Jayce involved?”
She cocked her head at him. “Your best friend?” Her laugh cut him like glass. “That would be tragic, wouldn’t it? I guess you’ll never know,” she said and pulled the trigger.
* * *
KATE HAD FOUND a piece of old pipe about a foot long in the growing light of day. She’d hurried as fast as she could up the trail without making too much noise and warning Madeline. It had come to her that even though she couldn’t see the woman’s face, she had to be the blonde holding the gun.
She was within yards of Madeline’s back when she heard the gun report. A scream escaped her throat as she saw Tucker fall. She ran the last few yards, coming up behind the woman and bringing the pipe down hard.
But Madeline must have heard her. Or sensed her. She spun around, the blow catching her in the shoulder and arm rather than the head. The gun in Madeline’s hand went flying down the mountainside but the woman managed to grab Kate’s arm as she howled in pain.
Kate had that split second when she came eye to eye with a woman she had detested for nineteen years. This was the woman who had stolen Tucker’s heart. This was the woman who’d broken it.
She swung the pipe again, but Madeline grabbed it, using her uninjured arm. She was strong and threw Kate off balance. But Kate wasn’t about to let go of the pipe and give Madeline not only the advantage but another weapon to use against her.
Off balance already, she pulled hard and Madeline fell with her. The two rolled down the mountainside to the edge of the roaring creek. Madeline had landed on top of Kate and now tried to use the pipe to choke her with it. The crazy woman pushed the pipe against Kate’s throat. She was screaming something Kate couldn’t make out, but she was also winning.
Kate couldn’t hold her off much longer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tucker. He was limping and bleeding badly but he was almost to them. Madeline saw him, too, and tried to free the pipe from Kate’s grasp.
Seeing that the woman planned to use the pipe on Tucker, Kate fought harder to retain it. But Madeline was strong and determined. She jerked it hard, only succeeding in throwing them both off to the side. Kate felt the water rush up over her, and an instant later, she and Madeline were swept away down the mountainside.
* * *
THE SUN HAD come up, a blazing globe over the mountaintop. The pines glistened in the sunlight and reflected off the moving water.
Wounded but still standing, Tucker stumbled to the edge of the creek as Kate and Madeline were both swept off the mountain into the roaring water. The bullet had torn through his side. His clothing was soaked with blood, but the only pain he felt was seeing Kate’s head disappear under the water.
It was as if he was reliving what had happened that night on the bridge. His heart dropped. Nineteen years of seeing it in his nightmares was nothing compared to this. This was Kate. He remembered her telling him that she was terrified of water.
He made the decision in an instant. Trying to get down the hillside to the pool, where with luck she would surface again, would take too long. He could hear the sound of the sirens, closer now. Any minute his brother and the deputies would be here.
But they would be too late.
He had only one choice. He rushed out into the rushing creek and was quickly swept off his feet and pulled under.
* * *
KATE TUMBLED OVER and over in the water. Something struck her in the back. She fought to swim, but the current was too strong to do anything but ride it out. Pulled under again, she knew if she couldn’t breathe soon, she was going to drown. It was just like in Hawaii. Terror filled her. She was going to die.
She fought to the surface only to realize she was still being swept down the mountainside. She saw that the creek dropped straight down into what appeared to be a deep pool at the bottom. She gasped in a breath just before she dropped over the rise. Panic filled her as she fell in a shower of water before plunging deep into the warm pool.
The water was dark down here. Over her head the falling creek water beat the surface into white bubbles. Kate thought of Tucker. She began to swim toward the surface when something grabbed her. Someone, she realized as Madeline’s hand clamped on her ankle and dragged her down.
* * *
TUCKER THOUGHT HE must have blacked out. He opened his eyes to darkness. Bubbles floated around him. Bubbles and blood. For a moment, he floated with the bubbles before he came out of his fugue state to realize it was his blood in the water. And that Kate was in trouble.
He fought his way to the surface to gasp for air.
Where was Kate?
Heart in his throat, he spun around. All around him was water but no sign of Kate. Or Madeline. He was even more aware of his wound and how much he was bleeding. He had to find Kate and fast. He could feel his body weakening.
He’d come to this pool with his friends since he was a boy. He knew it well. After the rush of the creek and the pounding of the waterfall, the pool seemed relatively quiet. Years ago someone had piled up rocks to make this pool. As the creek dropped into it, the pool became deeper and deeper. He could feel the cold water below him on his feet and the spray from where the waterfall hit the pool.
But no Kate. His pulse pounded with fear. What if she was caught under the waterfall? She must not have surfaced or he would be able to see her. It was daylight now; only the mist from the waterfall made visibility difficut.
He dived down. The water was clear but churning white near the waterfall. He caught a flash of fabric, blue like the blouse Kate had been wearing. He caught her arm and pulled, but she seemed to be stuck. That’s when he saw Madeline—and she saw him.
Somehow she had managed to hang on to the piece of pipe she and Kate had
been fighting over before they’d gone into the creek. With the pipe clutched in her fist, she let go of Kate and swam for him.
* * *
KATE ROSE TO the surface, gasping for air. She took in huge gulps as she trod water for a moment. Tucker. She’d seen him in the water, wounded and bleeding. She could tell that he was weak from loss of blood. She looked around for him only to see Madeline struggling in the water below her with Tucker.
Taking another big gulp of air, Kate dived down to grab a handful of blond hair. She pulled hard, dragging Madeline away from Tucker for a moment before the woman smacked her wrist with the pipe, breaking her hold.
Madeline surfaced but dived again. Kate had no choice. She went after her. Nowhere did she see Tucker. But she had a bad feeling that Madeline knew where he was and was going in for the kill.
Panic filled her as she saw him floating just below the surface, the water around him tinted with his blood—and Madeline, still holding the pipe, heading right for him.
* * *
FLINT AND THE deputy scrambled down the mountainside. From their vantage point, they could see three people struggling in the water.
“Stay here!” Flint ordered and, quickly stripping off his weapons, dived into the water. He swam hard across the pool to the last place he’d seen the three and dived.
The water was dark. He rose, unable to see anyone. Still no one on the surface, he dived again. Where were they?
Seeing a flurry of bubbles off to his right, he swam toward it. Tucker. He was floating just below the surface, the water around him discolored from his blood. He grabbed around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement.
Madeline. She came at him. He put up an arm to defend himself and was struck with something cold and hard. He lunged for her, but she slipped away. He couldn’t worry about her right now. His arm ached from where she’d hit him, but he swam to his brother again, grabbed him around his waist and kicked hard toward the shore.
* * *
KATE SAW MADELINE divert her attention from Tucker to strike out at someone else in the water. She drew back, realizing it was the sheriff. As Madeline rose to the surface, Kate did, too. They came up within feet of each other.