“And Helen is gone. I’m sorry to keep being so blunt about—”
“I know she is. But it hasn’t been that long.” She tossed the wad of gauze she’d been cleaning his wound with in the trash with more force than necessary. A strange sensation, like flapping bird wings, battered her chest. The more he pressed her and shot down her arguments, the more the pulsing grew. She began to feel panicky and light-headed. “Doesn’t propriety dictate something about not hooking up with your sister’s boyfriend only five months after she dies? If not, it should! I can’t do it!”
He turned up a palm. “The timing is awkward. But we aren’t on a schedule. We can take—”
“No.” She shook her head vehemently. She stood abruptly, and his foot, which had been on her lap, dropped to the floor with a jarring thump. “End of discussion.” She scooted past him to get to the bathroom door.
He grunted in pain, or perhaps frustration, as he struggled to his feet. “Lilly!”
She glanced back at him, the sense of fluttery panic and confusion tightening her throat. “I’m sorry,” she rasped. “I just can’t.”
Chapter 17
The not-so-distant sound of a siren whined briefly as Wayne stumbled through the house to collect a couple items before making tracks for the woods. His haul from the bank for starters.
He hadn’t gone to this much trouble to get the cash, just to ditch it at the first sign of trouble. The first night at Lilly’s house, he’d transferred the money to a small duffel bag that he could sling over his shoulder. He’d then stuffed the duffel in the washing machine as a temporary hiding place. Not the best choice but good enough at the time. At the top of the duffel he’d left room for a few more items, but the proximity of the siren left him no choice but to grab the bag and go.
As he passed through the kitchen from the utility room, headed for the back door, he snagged a banana, a butcher knife, a bag of raisin bread and a half-empty water bottle. He jammed the items in the duffel as he hurried down the back steps and sprinted, loping stiffly, toward the cover of the trees.
He knew he’d be leaving a trail of crushed grass and bent stems in his wake that a good tracker could follow, but he saw no recourse. He couldn’t fly over the grass, and if he stayed put at the house, he’d be a sitting duck for the cops.
His best chance was to find a stream to hide his tracks, or perhaps walk in a few circles and retrace his steps to create false leads. That would all be time-consuming. Maybe his best move was just to go as far and fast as he could before the cops caught his scent.
Surely there were other homes on the mountain. He could steal a car and get the hell out of town.
He found what must have been a deer or elk trail. Besides the scat littering the ground, the tall grasses and scrub branches had been trampled and bent to make a path through the underbrush. He knew better than to hope that the pre-flattened grass and broken limbs would mask his progress, but the animal trail made for easier travel. He plowed his way into the woods, needing to move as far and as fast as he could. He kept his eyes open for a hollowed log, a cave, anything that might provide a hiding place. He quickly passed from woods to the rocky slope of the mountain, and his spirits lifted. His trail would be easier to mask on the rocks. But which way did he go? Better to be moving away from town than stumble blindly back into a populated area, where he could be spotted.
Grampa Moore had taught him how to use the sun and his analog watch as a compass—
He jerked his arm up and stared at his bare wrist with a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. Where was his watch? He’d last had it when—
Wayne spewed a litany of creative curses. He’d taken it off to wash up before he bolted from the house. In his head, his father’s voice laughed at him. Now who’s a screwup?
Urgency pounded in his brain. He needed that watch! He had little in this world that truly mattered to him, but that watch had meaning for him. Importance. Maybe he was a fool to give a damn about a family heirloom. His family hadn’t valued him much, so why should he care about a stupid timepiece just because it had been his father’s, his grandfather’s before that?
He wanted to throw back his head and scream at the top of his lungs. The angry, frustrated, disgusted shout rose in his throat, choking him. But he stopped it. Gagged on it. Shoved it back down. Noise was his enemy just now. Venting his ire would draw the cops to him.
Instead, he focused the surging choler in his blood to fuel his battered body. He made his choice quickly. The path of least resistance. He headed down the hillside, picking his way as fast as he could, limping, staggering. He was down but not out.
And then he saw it. A cave. More a crack in a large rock really, but he could wedge himself in if he tried. He shove the duffel in first and after squeezing it through the initial narrow opening, the bag dropped. He blinked, worried for a moment that he’d lost the bank haul, then realized what had happened. If he could get through the slim crack, the space behind was wider.
Clenching his teeth against the pain, he wiggled his body through the fissure in the rock face. His skin scraped and his clothes snagged, but he made it through to the dank crevice about the size of a coffin. Shoving that disturbing image aside, he hunkered down. He wasn’t sure how long the cops would search the mountain before they gave up. But Wayne would wait.
* * *
Lilly accompanied Dave to the hospital, even though he assured her she didn’t need to. Where else was she supposed to go? Helen’s house was off-limits while the sheriff’s department combed through the debris of Wayne’s time there, collecting evidence to be used against him when he was caught and brought to justice.
After all the hours she’d worked in the Denver ER, she should have felt more at home in the emergency room waiting area. But being on this side of the double doors, being the one waiting for news about someone she cared about, left her edgy and fretful. And, yes, she cared about Dave. But she wasn’t prepared to give her feelings toward him any further name or definition at this point. She determinedly pushed the images of his expressive eyes and handsome, battered face from her thoughts while she paced the small waiting room.
A woman sitting in one of the hard chairs with her hand wrapped in a bloody bandage gave Lilly the stink eye as Lilly continued to restlessly pace.
“Do you mind?” the woman asked, nodding to the television opposite her. “You’re blocking my view.”
Lilly flashed a weak grin and dropped in the nearest chair. “Sorry.”
She gave the muted television a cursory glance. The screen flashed images of Helen’s house surrounded by patrol cars superimposed with a picture of Wayne in the corner of the screen. Her breath snagged as a fresh spike of adrenaline jarred her already ragged nerves.
“Can you turn the volume up?” she asked the woman.
“I don’t have the remote. Ask at the desk.”
After finding the control buttons on the TV taped over, Lilly hustled over to the reception desk to ask for a remote. But no one was behind the counter. Returning to the chairs, she tried to guess what was happening based on the changing images. No headlines scrolled at the bottom of the screen like her own local channel used. Frustration gnawed at her.
How had things gone down when the sheriff arrived at the house? Had Wayne still been unconscious in the backyard? Had he been in the house when the patrol cars arrived? Had he surrendered without a fight or was he taken down by force?
“Ms. Shaw?” a nurse called from the double swinging doors leading to the patient exam rooms. “You may come back now.”
Lilly tore herself away from the mesmerizing images and hustled to follow the nurse. The nurse took her to an exam room, where Lilly found not only Dave, his leg wound wrapped with proper sterile dressing, but also the sheriff’s deputy who had answered the call to the Lees’ house.
Lilly pulled up when she saw Deputy Strozier and cast a worri
ed look to Dave. “What’s happened?”
“Just wanting to follow up with you, ma’am.” Deputy Strozier motioned for Lilly to come in and have a seat. Once she was settled next to Dave, he closed the door and faced them with a stern expression.
“Well,” the officer said, removing his hat long enough to scratch his head and pull his face in a hesitant frown, “there’s good news and bad news.”
Lilly’s stomach bunched. “I’ve always hated that lead-in. Bad news is bad news no matter how you soften it with half-hearted positives.”
He flashed a half smile of chagrin. “You’re right. So here it is. We haven’t located Wayne Moore yet.”
Beside her, Dave sighed his frustration. “He couldn’t have gone far without a vehicle.”
“No. Not without a vehicle, but—”
Lilly groaned. “He stole a car somewhere?”
The deputy shook his head. “No evidence of that at this point. But it’s a possibility we’re pursuing.”
“Do you have any leads on where he is?” Dave asked.
The deputy shook his head. “Nothing concrete. We’ve put out an APB for him and have searchers covering the area around your house.” He divided a look between her and Dave, his expression growing more confident. “Look, it’s just a matter of time. He won’t get far before he’s spotted, whether he’s on foot or if he’s found some wheels.”
Dave put an arm around Lilly and drew her closer to his side. She didn’t miss the fact that his instinct was to comfort her, even now that they were safe. And despite her rejection of him. His presence, as it had during their hours held hostage, reassured her, centered her.
“The thing is, we don’t know what he’s up to at the moment and what his plan is,” Strozier continued.
Lilly angled her face toward Dave, and they exchanged a mutually concerned look. Wayne was still out there. Possibly still near the house.
Strozier’s countenance firmed. “I know that’s not the news you wanted to hear. But we will get him. He killed a security guard and robbed a bank, imprisoned the two of you...” He paused, squinting one eye as he pinned them with his gaze. “Trust me. Every law enforcement officer in the state is looking for him. He will be caught.”
“Do you think he’ll go back to Lilly’s house?” Dave asked, and Lilly’s breath whooshed from her lungs as if she’d been slammed by a wrestler. The notion had toyed at the back of her mind, but she’d been reluctant to give it voice, as if by speaking the horrid thought she might make it happen. Turning an expectant gaze toward Strozier, she bit her bottom lip.
The deputy twisted his mouth as he considered the question. “Doubtful. We searched the place top to bottom and didn’t find the cash from the bank. He has to know the place will be watched.” He shook his head. “No. I see no good reason why he would go back to your house, but we plan to post a man outside to watch your place, just in case.”
She exhaled the breath it seemed she’d been holding since the ordeal began.
Pulling his shoulders back, Strozier brightened. “Which brings me to the good news. By tonight you should be clear to return to the house. I understand the forensics team was almost finished last time I talk to them. I’m afraid the team leaves a mess. Fingerprint dust and—”
She raised a hand. “That is the least of my worries. I was planning to hire a cleanup crew to scour it top to bottom before putting it on the market, anyway. I’ll just pay the cleaners extra.”
“Thank you, Deputy Strozier.” Dave offered his hand to the man, and they shook before the deputy headed out of the exam room.
When they were alone again, Dave asked, “Are you going to head back to the house then?”
“I guess I am. After I replace my phone. I’m so ready for a hot shower and a good night’s sleep.”
Dave wrapped warm fingers around her elbow and turned her to face him. “You could have both at my place, if you wanted.”
She wiggled loose from his hold and eyed him skeptically. “Thank you for the offer, but I need to feed Maddie. With all the strangers and noise in the house, she’s bound to be a wreck and will need her person for comfort. Besides, I can’t avoid the house forever.”
His brow dipped in concern. “No, but you can avoid it until that bastard Wayne is caught. Bring Maddie to my place. Strozier might not think Wayne will be back, but I’m not willing to gamble on it. I’d feel better knowing you were safe from him.”
A shiver slithered up her spine when she thought of going back in the house, full of reminders of the past few days. From the forensic team’s mess to the discarded scraps of packing tape left from their escape attempts, the house would be full of bad memories.
Well, not all of the memories would be so awful. She’d make herself focus on thoughts of the intimate and sometimes silly conversations she had with Dave. His kindness to Maddie. The first tantalizing hints of attraction as she’d fished blindly in his pocket for his keys.
She exhaled and firmed her resolve. That attraction was exactly why she needed to get away from Dave. She was too likely to give in to the pull that kept drawing her toward him. She may have told him “no” earlier, but something deep inside her whispered “yes!” She needed time and distance to quiet that voice before she made a colossal mistake.
Lilly cleared her throat and took a step back. “Deputy Strozier said they’d post a man to watch the house for the next couple of days. I’ll be fine.”
A nurse arrived in the room with a clipboard in one hand and a pair of crutches in the other. “All set. The doctor has signed your discharge papers. I just need your John Hancock and you are free to leave.”
Lilly waited while the ER nurse went over Dave’s orders for keeping his wound clean. The nurse also handed over the crutches and gave him prescriptions for an antibiotic and a painkiller. Once all the papers were signed and orders given, Lilly followed Dave out of the hospital to the parking lot, where they each waited for an Uber—hers to take her to her car at the bank and his to his home.
Dave leaned heavily on his crutches, his own fatigue and pain etched in his face. “I’m not giving up on you, Lilly. And I still think going back to the house is a bad ide—”
“Stop right there.” She held up a hand to cut him off. “I need to be alone tonight. I need to decompress. To think.”
He lifted an eyebrow as if she’d just given him fresh hope. “You will think then? About us?”
“I doubt I’ll think of much else,” she admitted.
His lips tugged in a lopsided grin. “Good. Don’t close your mind to it. Listen to your heart, Lil.”
A small sedan pulled up, and the driver called, “You waiting for an Uber?”
“You take this one,” he said, opening the car door for her.
Leaning in, he asked the driver for a pen. When he backed out, he took Lilly’s hand and wrote a phone number on it. “Call if you change your mind or need anything.”
She gave him a long last look, her gaze clinging to his dark chocolate eyes. In his gaze, she read his regrets, his longing...his affection. More affection than she’d known in years. Maybe in her life. Had Alan ever really loved her, even when they’d first married? She couldn’t remember him ever looking at her with the pure emotion that Dave had in his eyes right now.
“Goodbye,” she whispered. Something molecular seemed to ache at the thought of leaving him. Something deep in her soul felt like it was being ripped away. On impulse, she dropped a quick kiss on his lips, then hurried into the car before she changed her mind.
* * *
Two hours later, after mustering her courage on the front porch, Lilly entered the empty house. After leaving Dave at the hospital, she’d had her Uber driver drop her at the bank to retrieve her car. From the bank, she’d stopped to buy herself a new cell phone, because being alone in the house with no way to place an emergency call out just wasn’t happenin
g. She’d given the cellular company her account information, which allowed her to keep her old phone number, and the tech had been able to retrieve her pictures and contacts from the cloud. Whew!
As she stepped into the living room, her first thought was that Strozier had been right. The place was a disaster. She groaned knowing she’d have to tend to most of the mess herself, before the cleaning crew came. She couldn’t live in the house, finish packing Helen’s things and sorting them for charity with this much disruption and the fine black fingerprint dust on everything.
“Maddie? Maddie girl, where are you?” Making her way past the dirt and confusion of the living room, she headed straight for the bathroom. Cleaning was a problem she could tackle tomorrow. Tonight, she only wanted a hot shower and a bed. And her cat.
“Maddie?” She started stripping as she walked down the hall. Her muscles protested with a dull ache. The abuse and tension of the last two and a half days had taken a toll. She paused in the door of the bedroom and peered cautiously inside, as if expecting Wayne to be lurking there. Hiding in the shadows like he had been the day she’d returned from the bank, and he’d grabbed her, pointed the gun at her head and—
She shook her head to clear it of the memory. The room was vacant.
Except for Maddie, who peered out from under the bed and sneezed.
“Oh, Maddie! Thank goodness you’re okay.” She grinned as she walked to the bed and knelt to pat her frightened cat. “I know it’s kinda dusty around here. We’ll get it sorted out tomorrow. Come on out, sweetie. It’s safe now.” Please, God, let it be safe now!
She sat on the bed and opened the new phone so it could charge while she was in the shower. When she crouched to plug the phone into the wall adapter, she stuck a hand under the bed to stroke Maddie’s fur. “You okay, girl?”
Edging cautiously out from her hiding spot, her cat gave a soft “mew” and settled into a rumbling purr. Maddie bumped her hand, asking for more pats. Obviously she wasn’t the only one glad to have the chaos of the last two days behind them. With a few last strokes of Maddie’s long, soft fur, Lilly kicked off her shoes and strolled into the bathroom to let the shower water start heating up. Bracing a hand on the back of the toilet, she lifted her foot to kick off her slacks. When she straightened from the task, she heard a strange clunk, like something metal hitting the floor.
Rancher's Hostage Rescue Page 18