Wagging Tail Cozy Mysteries Box Set 1

by Cindy Bell

  Chapter 14

  Nikki directed Tim back into town, though she did her best to be evasive as to where they were actually going. She made sure that he took a road that went past the police station. As they neared it, her heartbeat quickened. She knew she only had one chance at this, and if she didn’t take it, she might never have another one. As he drove past the police station, she grabbed the steering wheel and tugged it hard in the direction of a group of signs.

  “What are you doing?” Tim shouted as he struggled to regain control of the car. It careened into the signs, despite his best efforts. As it crashed through them, Nikki braced herself against the dashboard. Her entire body bounced and lurched in reaction to the collision. She drew a deep breath as pain shot through her legs and wrists. The crash didn’t cause as much damage as she hoped it would. As Tim started to back the car up, she reached for the door handle. The lock clicked shut before she could open it.

  “Don’t you even try it.” Tim snarled at her as he stepped on the gas. The car flew across the road in reverse. He slammed on the brakes, which caused Nikki to crash into the dashboard again. As her vision blurred with panic and pain, she heard the sound of sirens. At least her plan had partially worked. The crash had drawn the attention of a police officer. The patrol car bolted after them. As its engine roared she found some comfort in the thought that she was about to be rescued. But as Tim navigated the streets and sharp turns, she realized that she may have underestimated him. He wove through thick traffic and then cut down a side street, losing the police car for several seconds. When the flashing lights and sirens returned, he again executed several sharp turns, and cut off a line of traffic at a green light. She squeezed her eyes shut as she anticipated the sound of shattered glass and twisting metal. Instead, he sailed right through the intersection and made another hard turn followed by a quick succession of turns that led him deeper into a heavily populated neighborhood. Only when she began to relax did she realize that she could no longer hear the sirens. Her heart sank.

  “What did that do?” Tim cut a glance in her direction. “Huh? What did it do?”

  Too frightened to speak, she stared through the windshield. He had lost the police officer. No one knew where she was, or who she was with, or even that she was missing, aside from Mrs. Whitter. Her best guess was that Mrs. Whitter hadn’t found the phone. She was sure that if she had, Quinn would have the entire police force out looking for her. Since that didn’t appear to be the case, she was quite certain that he didn’t even know she was gone. She stared through the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of flashing lights. She strained to hear any hint of a siren. With every second that passed, her panic increased. At this point, she felt as if the only way out was to jump out of the car. The lock was still in place. But Tim was distracted with driving and might not notice if she unlocked it and opened the door. She shifted her body in the seat to block her actions, and managed to get the lock up. A quick assessment of their speed warned her that she might not survive hitting the road. There were also other cars around them that she might get struck by in the process. But anything had to be better than being alone with Tim as he stewed in his betrayal and anger. She gritted her teeth, then did her best to distract him. As long as he wasn’t looking at the door, she thought she could get it open before he discovered that it was unlocked.

  “Tim, please, just let me go! Where are you taking me?” Nikki grabbed desperately at the handle of the passenger side door.

  “Enough!” He pushed the lock button, then glared at her. “If you do that again I’ll make things a lot worse for you.” As a car blared its horn at him, he focused his attention on the road again. “John is right. I need to listen to him, and take care of things, instead of letting things get any more out of hand.”

  Nikki’s heart dropped at the thought of him listening to John. There would be no way to convince him that she knew where the emeralds were now. He would never believe her again. She cringed as she wondered how she had ever thought he was a good person. Was her radar so off that she didn’t know when someone was a violent criminal? She stared hard out the window in an attempt to calm herself. It didn’t take long before she recognized the direction he headed in. Right back to the dirt road.

  “Tim, this is a mistake.” Nikki forced the words out, despite the fear that threatened to paralyze her.

  “The only mistake I made was ever trusting you. I never should have believed you. You made a fool of me. I really thought we could end this without it getting even worse, but I was wrong.” He turned onto the dirt road.

  Nikki closed her eyes and held back tears. Maybe if she had followed through with her promise, and given him the emeralds, maybe he would have let her go. But she couldn’t risk taking him back to Mrs. Whitter’s house. Maybe it had been the wrong choice, but it was too late to change it now. She’d broken any chance of trust between them, and motivated him to follow through with his orders. As the knowledge of what was about to unfold set in, she felt defeated. The car came to a stop. He turned off the engine. Silence blanketed the car as neither of them moved a muscle. She wondered what ran through his mind. Did he regret the choices he’d made that led him to this moment? She certainly did.

  Without looking at Nikki, Tim pushed the door open and stepped out of the car. It struck her as she watched him walk around the front of the car to the passenger side, that she might never know who killed Bryan. It could have been John, it could have been Royce, it could have even been Heather. It could be the person who pointed a gun at her through the passenger side window. Tim used his free hand to open the door.

  “Get out.” He held the door open.

  Nikki clenched her teeth and willed herself not to scream. No one would be able to hear her, and she didn’t want to give Tim the pleasure of hearing it. Did he take pleasure in this? She dared a look into his eyes, and found something molten and dark there. She couldn’t place exactly what it was. But none of it looked like mercy.

  “You’re better than this, Tim. I know you are. You loved your brother. Don’t you want to find out what really happened to him? I can help you with that.” Her voice trembled, but with each word she spoke it got stronger. “I can get the detective working the case to—”

  “No.” Tim released the safety on the gun as he pointed it at her. “It doesn’t matter. He’s gone. That’s all that matters. Nothing can bring him back, and nothing can change the fact that it was my fault. This is who I am, Nikki. It’s who I’ve always been. Fighting it was the only stupid choice I ever made. Now, get out.” He reached into the car and grabbed her roughly by the arm.

  As he jerked her out of the seat, hot fear seized every nerve in her body. Alarms rang deep in her senses. Her knees threatened to buckle, but she managed to remain on her feet.

  He gave her a light shove so that he could step behind her.

  “Walk.” He gestured to the woods in front of them.

  “Please, Tim, don’t do this.” She didn’t move her feet an inch.

  “Walk, or I will drag you.” He pointed the gun at her. “It’s your choice.”

  Nikki forced her feet to move. The last thing she wanted was to encourage him to pull the trigger.

  “I was supposed to walk my dogs today. They’re probably all upset about not getting out.” She shivered as she heard him step on a twig behind her. He followed so close that she could smell his cologne. “Their owners are going to be looking for me.”

  “Lots of people can walk dogs, don’t worry.” Tim gave her a light push. “Keep going.”

  “I guess I never thought it would end like this. There’s someone I care so much about, I guess, if I’m honest, I’m in love with him.” Nikki glanced over her shoulder. “I haven’t even had the courage to tell him.”

  “I’m sorry about that.” Tim moved her along with another light push. “But you’re probably saving yourself some pain. True love doesn’t even exist.”

  “I don’t believe that.” Her heart pounded harder with e
very step she took. “I’ve loved him since I was just a teenager.”

  “Sure.” He grabbed her shoulder to stop her. “That’s far enough.”

  “Tim please, don’t do this.” She released a slow breath as she prepared herself for what would happen next.

  “Quiet!”

  Nikki could feel his presence behind her. She knew that he still hesitated to pull the trigger. As much as he wanted to be the bad guy, he just didn’t have it in him. The sound of a motorcycle made her jump. She sensed Tim take a few steps away from her, as someone plodded through the woods in their direction. She didn’t dare to turn around. She knew who it was.

  “What’s going on here?” John demanded as he crossed the distance between them. “Tim, I told you to take care of this, and you still haven’t?”

  “She said she knew where the emeralds were.” Tim frowned as he looked over at John. “I thought she was telling the truth, but it turns out it was just another one of her lies.”

  “And you fell for it? You told me she didn’t know where they were.” He ran his hand back through his hair. “Every time I start to think you’ve grown a brain, you show me you haven’t.”

  “Keep quiet! You thought she had the emeralds, first! You’re the one who brought her into this in the first place!” Tim turned to face him.

  Nikki heard Tim’s shoe twist in the dirt. She felt his attention shift from her and became aware that the gun was no longer pointed in her direction. This was her chance, her last chance, and it might be the last decision she ever made.

  “You’re so stupid.” John scowled.

  “You tell me right now!” Tim aimed the gun straight at John’s face. “You tell me what you did to my brother!”

  “Tim, I told you, I had nothing to do with that.” John smiled and held up his hands. “Relax man.”

  “Liar! You’re lying to me!” Tim growled and lunged forward another step.

  Nikki took this as her cue. She felt her legs propel her forward without even instructing them to. Her entire body came alive with a pressing need to escape. She knew that at any second she could pay the price for her decision to run with a bullet in her back. She just hoped that the two men behind her were too involved in their own argument to notice her escape. Each time her foot landed on the ground, she felt a stronger sense of freedom. She was going to make it, she could sense it. Her blood pumped with such intensity that she could hear it.

  “You did it! You promised me you wouldn’t. I told you how much he meant to me. He was my brother, John! My brother!” Tim still had the gun trained on John.

  “Of course, I killed him, you idiot! Of course, I did! He stole from me! He had to be taught a lesson, and so do you!”

  Nikki glanced back in time to see John attempt to wrestle the gun from Tim. “You’re letting her get away! She’s going to ruin everything!”

  Nikki gulped as she heard the focus turn on her. She knew that if she didn’t get to the next patch of trees, she wouldn’t stand a chance of getting away unscathed. With all of the strength she had within her she lengthened her strides and hoped it would be enough to get her past their line of fire. Just as she reached the tree line, she heard a bullet tear through the air. It was followed by the sharp pain of a solid force colliding with her side.

  Chapter 15

  As Nikki’s head spun and she collapsed to the ground she was surprised at the strange sensation of being hit with a bullet. She thought that it would have hurt more. Her shoulder struck the dirt hard. In that instant she realized that she was pinned down. Had one of them been able to catch up with her that fast? Had she been running far slower than she first thought? She struggled in his grasp. As she tried to wedge her knee into any tender area she could find, he grabbed her arms and twisted her under him.

  “Stop, stay down, Nikki!” He growled and gasped as her fingernails found the soft skin of the underside of his forearm.

  “Quinn?” She gulped out his name as she struggled to breathe through her panic.

  Noise burst all around. She heard gunfire from multiple directions, followed by shouts. Leaves and twigs crunched and snapped as men charged out from the trees, and she became aware that she and John, and Tim, had not been alone in the woods. As Quinn continued to hold her down, she felt his grip become softer. He hadn’t tackled her to stop her, but to protect her, from the bullet that had been fired in her direction.

  “It’s okay, Nikki, I’ve got you.” Quinn continued to hover over her, until he heard someone shout.

  “All clear!”

  Hesitantly, Quinn stood up, though he continued to keep his body between her and the two men that had been cuffed on the ground.

  “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Quinn gazed down at her, and offered his hand to help her up.

  “I think I’m okay.” Nikki eased herself to her knees, then took his hand. Her body ached, and she knew there were a few solid bruises scattered across her arms and legs from the car accident, and the rough way that Tim grabbed her. “Are you?” She got to her feet with a soft tug from him. She reached up and swept her fingertip through a trail of blood that ran from his temple.

  “Yes, I’m fine.” Quinn caught her hand with his free one. “It was just a branch I scratched myself on.” His eyes were heavy with worry as they sought hers. “Are you sure you’re okay? I’m sorry, I should have intervened sooner.”

  “Sooner?” She blinked as her heart skipped a beat. “How long were you there?”

  “We followed John’s car. But we had to wait for the right moment to announce our presence. Tim had his gun on you for so long, we didn’t have a clear shot to take him out.” He gazed at her, his eyes a bit wild as he looked her over from head to toe. “When I saw you run, I didn’t know what would happen. I saw John aim at you, and I just did the first thing I could think to do.”

  “It was the right thing to do.” Nikki squeezed his hands, then caught sight of a bullet hole in the tree right beside her. Her stomach churned at the thought of how close it came to striking her. “You saved my life, Quinn. Again.” She smiled at the thought.

  “You saved it.” He brushed her hair back from her shoulders as he surveyed the state of her neck and shoulders. “Are you sure you weren’t hurt? That crash by the police station sounded so loud.”

  “I’m fine.” Nikki nodded, though her neck did feel a little sore. “You know about the crash?”

  “Yes, I was at the station, I heard it. The car matched the description of the car in the surveillance video. That’s when I called you, to update you that it wasn’t Heather, and when you didn’t answer, I started to worry. The police officer that chased after the car reported back that there was a male driver and female passenger, and all of a sudden I just knew.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t be sure, I followed my hunch.”

  “But I don’t understand.” Nikki frowned as she watched John and Tim escorted to two separate police cars. “You were here the whole time? You followed us? But I thought he lost the police car?” She felt a rush of fear as she recalled the reckless way that Tim drove through Dahlia.

  “I instructed the officer to make it seem like he’d lost you. I didn’t want to risk a high-speed chase that could end up in a collision. Once I believed you were inside of that car, all I wanted to do was get you back safe. If you hadn’t crashed the car and gotten our attention, I’m not sure I ever would have found you.” He cleared his throat, then lowered his eyes. “Maybe I made the wrong choices. Maybe I should have found a way to stop him sooner.”

  “You did the right thing.” Nikki met his eyes. “Tim was so upset after the crash. I think if he felt any more pressure he would have shot me right there in the car.” As she recalled their conversation, her own words echoed through her mind. Suddenly, her face flushed. Had Quinn heard what she said when she was pleading for her life? Did he hear her confession about being in love? Would he know that it was about him? As grateful as she was to be alive, in that moment she wished she could melt into the dirt benea
th her feet.

  “I don’t want to even think about that.” Quinn winced as he glanced away from her for a moment. “How did you end up in that car with him, Nikki?” When he looked back at her she saw a hint of frustration in his expression. “Why would you take a chance like that?”

  “You mean Mrs. Whitter didn’t call you?” Nikki’s eyes widened as she suddenly realized that she had no idea if Mrs. Whitter was safe. “Did you go to her house?”

  “Mrs. Whitter’s house?” Quinn raised an eyebrow. “Why would we go there? I had no idea you were in any trouble until I suspected you were in that car. Now that we have John’s confession we’ll be able to arrest him for Bryan’s murder, and I will make sure that Tim goes away for a long time for what he did to you.” He reached up as if he might touch her cheek, but let his hand fall away instead.

  “Oh no!” Nikki gasped, too distracted by Mrs. Whitter’s safety to notice his hesitation. “We have to get to Mrs. Whitter right now! John said he was going back there to search the house. She’s in danger!”

  “What do you mean, why is she in danger?” Quinn followed after her as she ran towards the nearest patrol car. “Nikki?”

  “There’s no time, Quinn, I have to get there!” Nikki started to climb into the driver’s seat of the police car. She didn’t even think about what she was doing until Quinn caught her by the arm.

  “Come with me, my car is right over here.” Quinn steered her in the direction of it. Once they were settled in the car, he looked over at her. “Now, can you please tell me what happened?”

  “Just drive, Quinn, please! She and Princess are all alone there, I hope he didn’t hurt them.” She wrung her hands as he started the car. “Hurry, please!”

  “I’m hurrying.” He flicked on the siren, threw his car into drive and the engine roared as he headed down the dirt road. “But you have to tell me the truth, Nikki, how did you end up in the car with Tim?” He glanced over at her, his eyes hot with a mixture of emotions.