Vanessa called Pete and told him she was on her way to Portland. He said that the emergency services and the police had already reached the house. Jane was alive but had concussion. He and Max were ready to be taken to the hospital. ‘Did you talk to Wade?’ she asked.
‘Yes. I said Roxanne was armed and had taken Cara with her in Max’s car. I gave him the make of the car and told him to track your phone. When he heard you’d gone after Roxanne, he swore a couple of times.’
‘Wade knows me too well to not think I’d try to chase her down. Has Audrey called?’
‘No.’
‘If she does, please don’t tell her what’s happening. Let’s give her another hour or two of peace.’
‘I understand, but I won’t lie to her.’
‘Don’t lie. Just stall. I have to get off the phone now.’
‘Good luck, Vanessa.’
Normally Queenie would have lain on the seat but she seemed to sense Vanessa’s tension and stood, looking out the windshield. When they turned on to the highway, Vanessa sped up and the dog sat down, still peering ahead. After ten minutes of driving, Vanessa began looking in the rearview mirror, hoping she wouldn’t be pulled aside by the highway patrol for speeding. She wished she’d grabbed a jacket on the way out the door and turned the car heat on low. Almost instantly, the sky opened up and rain drenched the highway and the car. She flipped on the windshield wipers but vision was still difficult.
Her shoulders were stiff and her hands clenched on the steering wheel. She’d taken a deep breath, trying to relax, when she saw a car overturned on the other side of the road. Vanessa slowed and peered at the wreck. Clearly the car had spun out of control in the rain, shot across the wet pavement, and rolled over, coming to a halt beside a bank. A white car.
Her heart slammed against her ribs as she saw a car door open and Roxanne climb out, clutching Cara’s hand. The child was crying but Roxanne kept jerking at her until she’d gotten her out of the wrecked car. Vanessa slowed and the sisters’ gazes met for a full, challenging minute before Roxanne held up her right hand with the gun while she pulled Cara behind her and dashed for the woods bordering the road.
No other cars were around. Vanessa pulled off the side of the road, picked up the gun and Cara’s red ribbon from the seat beside her. She held the ribbon under Queenie’s nose. Collies weren’t tracking dogs, but Vanessa had to try. ‘Find Cara!’ The dog snuffled the ribbon. ‘Follow Cara!’ She got out of the car, opened the second door and grabbed Queenie’s leash before the dog leaped from the car.
The dog shot across the highway. If a car had been coming, they would have been hit, but luck was on their side. Roxanne and Cara had already vanished into the woods as Vanessa and Queenie began climbing the hillside. The ground was already soggy and rain dropped heavily from tree leaves. Vanessa wished she had a jacket. The temperature seemed to have dropped at least ten degrees since the rain began and her hands were chilled. She couldn’t see very far in front of her – she depended on Queenie to lead her through vines and over dead, molding leaves.
The deeper into the woods they went, the tighter Vanessa’s chest grew and even her throat seemed to be closing. It’s only panic, she told herself. You’re not having a heart attack, you’re not suffering anaphylactic shock. You can breathe fine if you don’t give in to fear. There’s not a monster ahead of you. It’s only Roxy.
But Roxy was a monster. Roxy was the mosgrum Vanessa had feared for so long. The realization made her vision darken. She wanted to sob, she wanted to scream her despair to the heavens, she wanted to magically turn her sister into a good-hearted gentle girl like Cara. But Roxy wasn’t good-hearted and gentle. She never had been.
A western meadowlark let out a shrill song above them. Vanessa almost screamed and Queenie barked as the bird soared away in the rain. Then Queenie jerked forward, dragging Vanessa behind her. Vanessa’s clothes were soaked, feeling like they weighed several pounds, and she thought of the elaborate brocade gowns she wore on Kingdom of Corinna. The difference was that she often had them on in the heat. Now the clothes were lighter but also colder, her jeans clinging to her legs, her sweater drenched, her shoes feeling leaden with water and mud.
Her own hair ribbon had fallen out and now her long hair hung in heavy tendrils around her face. She tried pushing the hair behind her ears, but it wouldn’t stay. Even her long eyelashes were wet, pulling down her eyelids. She kept wiping a hand across her face, trying to focus. Her thighs were beginning to burn and a sharp pain kept stabbing her side. She needed to work out more, she thought as she tried to keep her mouth shut although she wanted to pant.
Queenie stopped and looked from side to side. Oh no, Vanessa thought. Please don’t tell me she’s losing the scent. Then Vanessa heard a thin, heartrending wail come from ahead of them. Cara. If running through the woods was hard on Vanessa, it had to be grueling for a child being dragged. Roxy’s voice floated back to them. ‘Shut up! Get up you little—’
‘I can’t. I want my mommy!’
Queenie took off so fast that Vanessa almost fell. Drawing on every ounce of strength she had left, Vanessa ran, ignoring the cold, ignoring her shortness of breath, ignoring the pain in her legs. She wasn’t certain how much farther she could go at this speed when she heard another cry.
Queenie lunged even farther forward, jerking Vanessa behind her, then stopped, went rigid and began growling. Vanessa shambled to a halt and looked at her sister, sitting on the wet ground, her face wrenched in pain as she rubbed her ankle. She looked up at Vanessa with pure hatred in her blue eyes.
‘Cara, are you hurt?’ Vanessa asked gently.
‘Not really,’ she sniffled. ‘I’m s-s-scared.’
‘She’s “s-s-scared”,’ Roxane mimicked. ‘Shut that dog up!’
Vanessa stroked Queenie. ‘Hush, girl. It’s all right. You found her.’
The dog quietened but maintained her stance, her gaze fastened on Cara. ‘Is that better?’ Vanessa asked Roxanne.
‘Slightly.’ She tried to move her ankle and winced. ‘I’m surprised that the glamorous TV star gave chase through the woods.’
‘Give Cara to me, Roxanne.’
‘I don’t think so.’ She still held the gun in her right hand and pointed it at Cara. ‘Cara will stay with me.’
‘Why?’
‘She’s the only thing keeping me alive until I’m able to walk. Unless you suddenly develop enough courage to shoot me with that gun.’
‘Do you really think I’m going to let you go, Roxy?’
‘Do I really think you’re going to shoot me?’ Roxanne laughed.
Cara was trembling violently but Roxanne had a firm grip on her arm.
‘I won’t let you hurt that child, Roxy,’ Vanessa almost growled.
‘I’m not hurting her. She’s scared and uncomfortable, but she’s not hurt. Turn around and go back to your car and she’ll be just fine.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ Vanessa said tonelessly. ‘You’ll only keep her alive as long as you need her.’
Cara began to cry. ‘Now look what you’ve done. You, Nessa, not me. Go back to your car.’
‘Not without Cara.’
‘What is so damned special about Cara? She’s not your daughter.’
‘She doesn’t have to be my daughter for me to love her.’
Roxanne began laughing loudly. ‘Oh, what a lovely sentiment! Did they come up with that for you on your show? Because I know better. I know you’ve never loved anyone except yourself. It’s people like you who rule the world – narcissists – who look out only for themselves and always come out on top!’
‘That is the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard you say! Do you think I didn’t love you?’
‘No. You didn’t. I was just a nuisance. Mommy didn’t love me – she loved her alcohol and her pills. Dad certainly didn’t love me. And Grace? Grace hated me from the time I was in the crib because I reminded her of Mommy!’
Suddenly she jerked Cara a
nd glared at her. ‘And it will be the same for you. You don’t even have a father! He ran off as soon as your mother told him she was pregnant with you. And all these years have gone by and you still don’t have a father. No one wants you, Cara! No one ever will!’
Cara began sobbing.
‘Roxanne!’ Vanessa cried. ‘How can you say such things?’
‘Because they’re true!’ She looked back at Vanessa, her eyes blazing. In fact, her entire expression had changed. Her features seemed to have twisted and hardened until she didn’t look at all like the beautiful Roxanne Vanessa once knew.
She’s finally lost it, Vanessa thought. She’s actually gone completely insane.
Roxanne pointed the gun at Cara’s head. ‘I’m finally going to do something good in my life. I’ll put this little girl out of her misery.’
‘Roxy, no!’ She raised her own gun. ‘Don’t hurt that child!’
‘Why not? There’s nothing ahead for her except loneliness and heartbreak and rejection. She’ll end up old and bitter.’
For an instant, Vanessa thought she saw movement behind Roxanne. She must have imagined it, she thought, and kept talking. ‘You don’t know what’s in Cara’s future, Roxy. Give her a chance to grow up!’
‘Why? Grow up to be like me, sitting in the rain with my sister pointing a gun at me?’
Now Vanessa definitely saw a flash of Wade Baylor’s face. He was moving so slowly and stealthily that Roxanne was totally unaware of him. But Queenie wasn’t. She glanced up at him. Terrified that Roxy had noticed, Vanessa shouted, ‘Roxy, I swear to God if you don’t take that gun away from Cara’s head, I’ll shoot you!’
‘No, you won’t. You don’t have it in you, Vanessa. You’re the sister everyone looks up to, but you don’t have strength or courage or just plain guts.’ She cocked her gun and Cara moaned. ‘I’ll show you who does.’
A shot rang out in the woods. Birds shrilled, Vanessa cried out and closed her eyes, while Queenie barked furiously. Another shot followed. The woodland sounds died down but Vanessa couldn’t open her eyes until she heard Cara cry out and then felt the child fling her arms around her. Vanessa looked down at the rain-drenched little girl holding her tightly. ‘Oh, Aunt Vanessa, I knew you and Queenie would save me!’
Vanessa glanced at her sister lying on her right side, her knees drawn up, her head lying on the wet, moldy floor of the woods. Wade Baylor was stooping over her, taking her pulse. He looked up and shook his head.
Vanessa remembered letting out a long sigh before the world went dark and she sank to the ground, still holding a sobbing Cara.
EPILOGUE
One week later
A fire burned in the beautiful fireplace and Vanessa ran her foot up Christian’s bare leg under the comforter. ‘Even though the house is empty, it feels cozy up here in Grace’s bedroom,’ she murmured.
‘Who are we missing? Audrey, Cara, Sammy, your sister, and Grace. Well, we’re not entirely alone.’ He glanced over the side of the bed. ‘Queenie is keeping watch over us.’
‘Queenie is asleep.’
‘A sound sleep for a noble dog.’
‘I had no idea if she’d track Cara or not. For all I knew, she would have run wild in the woods. But she understood her mission and carried it out masterfully.’
Christian stroked her cheek. ‘Are you lonely here during the day?’ he asked.
‘I haven’t had time to be lonely. Audrey helped me organize Roxy’s funeral, small though it was, and considering that Roxy was going to kill Cara, I think she deserves the Medal of Honor. But that’s the kind of friend Audrey is. She and Cara moved back in with her mother yesterday but I have a feeling Audrey will be looking for a house with Derek before long. Derek found someone to look after Sammy now that school’s started again. Cara told me Sammy likes the new woman fairly well, even though she’s old. I believe she’s around fifty.’
‘Decrepit.’
‘Yes, isn’t it? At least he’s taking his mother’s death well. But she hadn’t really been a mother to him for years. Pete’s in his cottage. Everyone is back where they started. Even Roxanne. For eight years I thought she was dead. Now she is.’ Her voice had thickened.
Christian pulled her close to him. ‘I’m sorry, my darling.’
‘I’m sorry she was so terrible. I’m sorry that only death could stop her before she did even more damage. Poor Zane. Poor Brody.’
‘Brody’s doing fine. He’ll have to go to a clinic when he’s physically well enough, and they’ll get his medication straightened out.’
‘Is he going through crack withdrawal?’
‘A mild one but he didn’t have a lot over a long course of time. Still, the thought of it is horrifying. How could anyone be fiendish enough to do that to him?’
‘Max Newman on orders from my sister.’
‘Well, Max will be going to prison soon and he won’t be able to do any more harm for a while. As for Brody, he’s not feeling sorry for himself. You can’t really have a long, coherent conversation with him yet, but I’ve learned a few things. First of all, the Roxanne he was always trying to rescue was not Roxanne Everly. It was Alexander the Great’s wife. She and their son were murdered several years after Alexander’s death.’
Vanessa’s eyes widened as Brody continued. ‘Brody even wrote a story about saving her when he was about thirteen. It’s called The Rescue of Roxanne. He got it the night he came in our house before I got home. When I came in the house, I felt as if someone had been there, but nothing seemed to be missing. He’d only taken some of his books and that carving knife Roxanne used on him. I didn’t check the silverware that night.’
‘Why did he want the knife?’
‘For protection after he thought he was being threatened on the beach by Max. He couldn’t go in a store and buy one. So he took one from our house. Instead, Roxanne turned the tables on him.’
Vanessa shut her eyes, thinking of that night in the shipwreck.
‘He was the man in your lighthouse the first night you were home,’ Christian said. ‘He says he thought it was the turret of a castle and he was trying to hide.’
‘I knew it wasn’t kids playing a prank.’
‘Also, he knows Zane’s dead. His heart’s broken over it, but he’s still making plans. He says Zane would want Blackbird to “fly”.’ Christian smiled. ‘A guy named Dan Simmons worked with them and is brilliant. When he’s well, Brody’s going to keep the company going with him as a partner.’
‘Oh, great!’ She paused. ‘Jane won’t fare as well. Now that Wade has learned she obstructed justice by witnessing Roxanne murder our father and not saying a word, I can’t see him staying with her, no matter what the law does to her.’
Christian slowly ran his hand down Vanessa’s side. ‘And what do you plan to do with this grand house Grace left to you?’
‘I’ve given it a lot of thought. I can’t live here, Christian. It was never a happy home for me. Mom and Dad didn’t get along, I adored Grace and she left, then Roxanne … disappeared. Afterward it became like a tomb. Now I know that she killed our father here. And this was her home, too. I can’t be happy in a home I shared with her.’
‘I understand. You’d always be thinking about her.’
‘When I met Fay Jennings on the plane to Portland, she told me she and her husband wanted to retire to Everly Cliffs in a year. One day it simply hit me what a wonderful bed-and-breakfast this place would make. There are five bedrooms upstairs and a big one downstairs. This house has a beautiful view and the unique miniature lighthouse. I called Fay and told her what I was thinking and she agreed that it would be a great idea. I asked if she and Howard would like to move here and manage the place for me. She had to discuss it with him but the next day they came up here, toured the place, and Howard said he was thrilled with the prospect of managing Everly House. So I’ll still own it, but Fay and Howard will manage it. And they’ll keep Pete on to do the handiwork so he won’t lose his home.’
‘I think that’s one of the best ideas I’ve ever heard. Really, Vanessa. It’s great.’ He sighed. ‘Now there’s only me.’
‘You?’ Vanessa ran her finger along his jawline. ‘And what are you feeling?’
‘I’m feeling that I don’t even like Everly Cliffs anymore. Too much has happened here. Brody’s condition, all the rumors about him, Zane’s death. And Brody won’t be living here. When he’s well, he’ll go back to Portland and his business.’
‘So what would you like to do?’
‘Go somewhere new.’
‘Really? You’ve lived here most of your life.’
‘So have you but you want to go. I need to go. Got any ideas?’
‘Well, I’ve been giving that possibility some thought. I know I’ll still be on Kingdom for two more years, and I hope for even more years – I’ll never have such a great acting job again. I’ll be traveling a lot for seven months, but when I’m not, I’ve grown very fond of Los Angeles. And unless I’m mistaken, they have quite a few hospitals in the area.’
Christian laughed. ‘To say the least.’
‘Hospitals that need doctors. I’m sure you could scrape up some kind of employment.’
‘Really? What else, sweet pea?’
‘Sweet pea? I’m not certain I want to go on if you’re going to call me sweet pea.’
‘What? You don’t like it? It suits you perfectly.’
Vanessa tapped his arm. ‘It does not. I like darling, or my treasure, or precious.’
‘How about darling?’
‘Fine. If you’re certain you want to give up Everly Cliffs Hospital, you could move into my humble apartment in West Hollywood with me while you look for another position. When you find one, we could get a nice house near it, something convenient for you.’
‘And we’ll cohabitate in this nice place for a while, darling?’
‘Cohabitate doesn’t sound too romantic.’
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