Lonesome Lake

by Lesley Appleton-Jones

  Abbey collapsed against her uncle. Her hands were taped behind her back.

  Holly screamed in frustration, “Boonie! Stop running or I swear I’ll shoot you in the back.”

  He stopped running, turned, aimed wildly and fired, not caring who he hit before he disappeared into the forest.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Wrapping his arms around Abbey, Raines dropped to the ground, breaking the fall with his shoulder.

  Boonie missed. The shot went high.

  Holly knelt in front of Abbey and Raines, using her body to shield them in case Boonie took another pot shot. Although her hands were shaking, she aimed the Glock using both hands, calculated where he should be and fired.

  When Boonie Taylor didn’t return fire, Holly told Raines in a hushed voice, “Get her to the ambulance and tell them we’re going to need the dogs. I’m going after him.”

  “You’re not going alone.” His voice registered his frustration. She needed backup, but he had to protect Abbey.

  “We don’t have time for a debate. He’s going to get away. Just get Abbey to safety.” With that, she headed for the forest. Raines scooped Abbey up into his arms and made a run for the street, reminding himself to zigzag, so they didn’t present an easy target.

  Safely reaching his Suburban, he found that the firefighters and paramedics had lifted Fennis Cooper out of the cruiser. They’d carried him on a backboard to the waiting ambulance. Angel walked with them, questioning Fennis. In the distance, Raines heard more sirens heading in their direction.

  Angel spotted him and yelled, “What happened?”

  “It’s Boonie Taylor.”

  “Holy shit,” Angel sputtered.

  “Holly’s gone after him. He’s in the woods behind the house. We’re going to need backup and dogs. Then cover the street. They were heading that way.” He pointed down the road.

  Angel nodded and hurried over to his cruiser.

  Raines lowered Abbey to her feet and got his first good look at her. Her blood-smeared face was so badly bruised and swollen on the right side, that she was barely recognizable in profile. Rage blazed through him.

  One of the firefighters ran over and handed him a knife so he could cut the tape that bound Abbey’s hands behind her back. That’s when he noticed how her little finger was sticking out at an odd angle.

  He had to fight to control his fury as he told her, “Your finger is broken, sweetheart.”

  “I know. I snagged it on the truck mat.”

  Raines imagined pummeling Boonie Taylor into the ground and beating the shit out of him. With great care, he sliced through the duct tape and freed Abbey’s hands.

  She moaned in pain as the circulation returned. To protect her broken finger, she cradled her injured hand up against her chest.

  Someone handed him a blanket, which he gently wrapped around his niece before lifting her again and carrying her over to the waiting ambulance.

  “Jesse?” she murmured. Her lip was split and caked with blood.

  “He’s going to be okay. He was conscious when we found him. He’s at the hospital now.”

  “I smelled gasoline on Scotty Pepper. I was so scared he’d done something to Jesse.”

  “He’s going to be fine.”

  A tear ran down her cheek.

  “But it’s not Scotty Pepper, sweetheart.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “And all this time I thought it was him.”

  “I know.” He kissed her forehead and climbed up into the ambulance. He placed her on the seat next to Fennis.

  A paramedic examined her. “It’s all superficial. She’s going to be okay.”

  Raines covered his face with his hand and blew out a sigh of relief.

  Abbey reached up for his hand and squeezed it. “I’m okay, Uncle Cal. Now go catch that bastard.”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  “I’ll be fine at the hospital. I’ll call Po.”

  Fennis told him, “She’ll be with me, and the hospital will be swarming with our guys by the time we get there.”

  He looked at his niece and was struck by the force of his love for her. “You’re sure?”

  “Go, Uncle Cal. Get the bastard who did this to our family.”

  With great sadness he realized she believed Boonie had killed her mother. How could he tell her she was wrong? He couldn’t.

  She looked up at him with Sherry’s eyes, and doubt began to creep back in. Could she be right? Had Boonie killed Sherry?

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  The dim moonlight failed to penetrate the depths of the woods, but it was too dangerous to use the flashlight Raines had grabbed when he’d taken his backup gun out of the SUV. He waited for his eyes to adjust. It was quiet, but the silence seemed to seethe with animosity. He waited for something that would let him know exactly where Boonie and Holly were.

  Then Holly shouted somewhere to his left, “Boonie Taylor, you’re such a Goddamn coward.”

  Her voice was almost as startling as the gunshot that followed her outburst. Raines ducked behind a tree as someone returned fire. The flash of light from the second shot was closer to him. He assumed that was Holly’s position because she would not have shot first. Or had she? She sounded unhinged. He whispered in the direction of the second gunshot.

  “Over here,” she called back softly.

  Raines walked about ten more feet and found her standing with her back pressed against a tree. It wasn’t a huge tree. The trunk was only wide enough to provide her with protection.

  She nodded to him before yelling over her shoulder. “Why the hell did you do it, Boonie?”

  Raines didn’t expect him to respond, but he did.

  “They stole the house from my mom. All three of them set her up. She got thirty-five thousand dollars in insurance money,” he screamed. “Did you hear that! They took her house for thirty-five thousand. They robbed her. And the stress is killing her.”

  Holly yelled back, “Cancer is killing her, Boonie. And they didn’t rob her, she committed insurance fraud.”

  Another shot rang out. Holly stepped away from the tree to return fire.

  Raines yanked her back. She slammed into him, making him grunt. “Jesus, Holly. You’ll get yourself killed.”

  She stayed behind the tree but hissed. “He’s messing with me.”

  Raines had never heard her so furious before. Another bullet followed, and Raines pushed her against the tree, covering her body with his. The tree wasn’t wide enough for them to stand side by side. He could feel her tension, feel the heat. Any other time and this position would have been interesting, but all he cared about was keeping her alive.

  Raines stepped to the left of the tree to return fire, Holly to the right. His ears rang from the gunfire.

  “Did we get him?” she shouted, obviously experiencing the same hearing difficulty.

  They couldn’t assume Boonie was having the same problem, so he shook his head and pressed his lips to her ear. “Provoking him seems to be working. We could set him up. We need to get an angle on him. Give me a minute to reposition, and then let him have it.”

  Raines moved to his left, heading back in the direction he’d come from. Boonie had been shooting to the right of Holly.

  She gave him the time he needed before she yelled out, “What about the kids? They’ve done nothing to you. You attacked children. Children, Boonie! You’re such a loser. Did that make you feel like a big man? Why don’t you come out and face me or are you too scared?”

  Another gunshot blasted in her direction, followed by Raines returning fire.

  Raines couldn’t tell if he’d hit him. He waited, heard rustling. Then nothing. Then more rustling, this time further away. “He’s running, heading back to the house,” he shouted and started running, too, shoving branches out of the way with his forearms.

  Nearing the edge of the forest, Raines heard a loud whoosh and saw flames shoot up from the house. Not leaving
the shelter of the trees, he scanned the property for Boonie. The glow from the fire illuminated the grounds, but he couldn’t see him. Holly came up beside him, and they crept forward, leaving the protection of the trees, guns out in front of them. The fire was starting to engulf the chalet.

  Raines didn’t hear the shot over the roar of the fire, but he saw the muzzle flash and felt a bullet tug at the sleeve of his jacket.

  He shoved Holly to the ground just as another bullet whizzed by.

  She rolled away from him onto her stomach, slid her arms out in front of her, rested her cheek on her arm for better accuracy and less stress on her neck and fired.

  Chapter Seventy

  Raines followed Holly’s line of sight, heard the double tap and watched as Boonie, backlit by the blazing fire, dropped the gun he was aiming in their direction to clutch at his chest. As he sank to his knees, they scrambled to their feet and rushed forward with their weapons trained on him. Raines secured his gun. The urge to shoot him with it was tempting.

  Boonie glared up at them, his eyes black pools of hate. Pain twisted his features into an ugly sneer.

  “Why the hell did you do it?” Holly yelled at him.

  “I’m hurt. You shot me. Get me a Goddamn ambulance.”

  “Not till I get some answers.” She seemed close to losing it.

  Boonie coughed and blood started coming out of his mouth. “You’ve always got to be so tough, don’t you?” he rasped. “You don’t care about anything but your job and Cal Raines. You never had time for me, but you can’t ignore me now. I’ve had you running around in circles, jumping through hoops like you’re some circus poodle. You weren’t even close to catching me.”

  She spat, “You’re the one on the ground with one of my big ass bullets in you.”

  He squinted in pain. “Raines can have you. I’m done with you.”

  “You’re crazy. There’s nothing going on between us.”

  His lips twitched into a bloody sneer. “You’re a liar. No better than those other women. Now get me some help.”

  “Not until you tell me everything you did,” Holly snarled.

  Boonie coughed and groaned but remained silent. His eyes broadcast his triumph. He wasn’t about to give anything up.

  “It’s over, Boonie. You’re not going to make it. Just tell me what else you’ve done.”

  “It’s over when I say it’s over. And I’m taking it all to my grave,” he gloated.

  Raines could tell he would do it just to spite Holly, just to keep control. And if he did, it would never be over for either Holly or his nieces. Raines had to know if Boonie was involved in Sherry’s murder. But what threat can you use against a dying man?

  Raines squatted down, grabbed Boonie by his jacket and got right into his face. He locked eyes with him. Boonie’s breath smelled metallic from the blood. His face, pale and drawn, was still full of the desire to kill. “If you don’t talk, I’ll head straight to the hospital and arrest your mother for fraud and conspiracy to commit murder.”

  This so enraged Boonie, he tried to take a swing at Raines. He blocked it easily with his elbow. Boonie’s arm fell uselessly to the ground. “She had nothing to do with this. Leave her out of it!” he wheezed, lacking the breath to give his words any force.

  Blood and spittle hit Raines’ cheek. He didn’t flinch. He had him.

  Boonie whimpered in pain and fury. “It’s all lies. She did nothing wrong. They stole her home from her. You should arrest that Allen woman. Not my mother. And Scotty Pepper. He helped them do it. He’s got some payback owed to him. He was lucky he wasn’t home tonight.” His chest heaved from the effort of his outrage and blood seeped faster from his chest wound. “They stole my mother’s home, so I stole theirs.”

  Raines glanced at Maybeth Allen’s home. The fire blazed. There wouldn’t be anything left.

  “But you didn’t burn down Nancy Taggart’s place,” Raines said.

  Boonie frowned. “She lived in a condo with other people.”

  “What about the kids?”

  “The kids were spying on me, following me everywhere I went.”

  Raines fought the urge not to twist the jacket fabric tighter and strangle him.

  Sirens blared as more fire trucks rushed to the scene, but it would be too late to save the house. The fire roared as it consumed all that stood in its path.

  “What about Sherry Raines?” Holly shouted above the noise.

  “What about her?” He appeared confused.

  “Did you kill her?”

  “What the hell does she have to do with this? She had nothing to do with what happened to my mother.” He said it with such incredulity that it smacked of innocence. He coughed and spat up more blood. It was getting difficult to hear him. Spent now, the fight drained out of him, and he closed his eyes. “I had nothing to do with her.” His chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath.

  “Why were you at my place the night you chased Abbey?” Raines asked.

  “I was waiting to catch Holly there. I know what you’ve been doing behind my back.”

  Holly shook her head. “You were so wrong about everything.” She turned to Raines. She looked exhausted and pale even in the glow of the fire. Her eyes conveyed her distress that there would be no end to his nieces’ nightmare. No freeing Nate from prison. Boonie Taylor had told the truth. He had not murdered Sherry Raines.

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Framed by the cold forest behind her and the heat of the fire in front of her, Holly felt trapped between two cruel worlds that vied to crush her. Firefighters swarmed around as they began the futile job of trying to save the Allen house, but it was too late. They’d had to wait until the scene was secure. All they could hope for at this point was to contain it.

  Boonie was dead by the time the paramedics got to him.

  “I’m sorry, Cal.” She couldn’t meet his eyes, so she stared down at Boonie’s body.

  Raines stepped in front of her to block her view and placed both his hands on her shoulders. “Look at me, Jakes.”

  His hands felt good, solid and real, but she couldn’t do as he asked. He’d see right through her. She closed her eyes.

  “This wasn’t your fault.” He’d had to raise his voice to be heard over the crackle and roar of the fire.

  She twisted away from him. “Don’t, Raines. I should have known.”

  “Damn it, Holly. You’re smart enough to know that was the whole point. He wasn’t interested in a fair fight. He stacked the deck in his favor and forced you to participate in a game you didn’t even know you were playing. Remember, he killed Nancy Taggart before he started dating you. He pursued you because he wanted to add to the risk and heighten his thrill. Or he wanted in on the investigation. Or maybe both. The last thing he was about to do was to give anything away, but you figured it out, and you stopped him. You need to acknowledge that. Boonie doesn’t get to win this. He doesn’t get to beat you. It’s over because you ended it.”

  It started to rain. Fat drops splashed down onto Boonie’s face. As she watched, they slowly began to wash away the bloody spittle on his chin.

  “I’ve failed. I’ve let everyone down again.” She wanted to find a cabin in the middle of the woods somewhere and stay there forever.

  “Again? What do you mean?”

  She said nothing.

  “You’re not talking about your skiing accident, are you?” He sounded perplexed.

  “Just forget it.”

  “That was an accident. You didn’t let anyone down.”

  Her family and community had invested so much in her, but their hopes for Olympic glory ended in a split second. At first, people had been sympathetic, but not too long after the accident, she’d started hearing the whispers of blame. It was her fault. It was her wild, crazy skiing style that caused her accident and her inevitable downfall. The time and money people had contributed to help her had amounted to nothing. And now she’d failed them again. She’d failed to protect her communi
ty like she failed to save Charlie.

  The rain fell faster now, hissing and spitting on the fire as it began to soak them.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Raines suggested.

  As they turned to leave, Holly spotted Chief Finch and Lieutenant Gustafson hurrying toward them.

  She felt the knot she already had in the pit of her stomach tighten to gut-wrenching. At that moment, she couldn’t face the Chief. She wanted to turn and run, but she stood her ground and readied herself for the onslaught of his disappointment.

  There was plenty of light from the fire to see that the Chief had the same crestfallen expression her coach had on his face when he’d told her she’d ruined her dream of Olympic gold. Fred Finch had been grooming her to become Caxton’s first female police chief when he retired. It was obvious from the look on his face that her promising career opportunity had died along with Boonie. This situation would tarnish her reputation forever. She’d become a pariah.

  The Chief opened his mouth to say something but shut it and stood there mute. Lieutenant Gustafson, on the other hand, had plenty to say. “What the hell happened here?”

  She gave it to him straight. “He was the killer, and I shot him.”

  Gustafson stabbed a fat finger in the direction of Boonie’s body. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s your damn boyfriend lying dead on the ground, isn’t it?” He didn’t wait for confirmation. “You’ve really done it this time, Jakes.”

  The comment finally roused a response from the Chief. “That’s enough, Gus.”

  Undeterred, and seeming to sense that it wasn’t going to be just her who would suffer a hit on this one, but the Chief as well, Gustafson ignored his boss. “You’re coming with me to the station, Jakes, to answer my questions on what the hell happened here tonight.” Gustafson smiled. He was enjoying himself.

  Before Holly could respond, Raines snarled, “Show some concern and support for your fellow officer, you self-righteous asshole. Holly isn’t going to answer any questions until she meets with her legal representative. Right now, she’s coming with me to the hospital. We’ll let you know when she’s available for a statement.”