by Laura Greene
Two cars screech to a halt outside.
Garrett rushes over to the window and looks down. Four men exit two cars. Each of them is carrying a handgun. They are dark gray, covered by the bleak clouds above.
“This is bad,” says Garrett. “Keep trying the safe; I'll call for backup!”
Jessy is now in panic mode as she twitches the wheel combination around while Garrett calls the police. She's halfway through the combination and then loses her place as the sound of the four men outside walking up the wooden stairs can be heard. She spins the wheel and resets the lock, then starts again.
“No pressure, honey,” says Mia, watching as Garrett, gun in hand, moves out of the small room and to the front door.
Opening the door, Garrett yells, “Police! Don't move!”
But they do not obey. Instead, a hail of bullets is fired up the stairs at Garrett. He dives back inside and then, taking a moment, leans out and manages to catch one of the attackers in the shoulder with a well-placed shot, incapacitating him.
The attackers return fire, and Garrett is forced to pull back inside the lighthouse.
“Get up to the next level!” Garrett shouts through the door to the caretaker's office.
“I've nearly got this!” Jessy cries out, turning the combination wheel again, her hand trembling with nerves at each spin.
More gunfire sounds. Splinters of wood rain down across the main downstairs room, some of them cascading into the small office with force. One catches Mia in the arm, leaving a slight cut.
“Son of a...” Mia shouts.
“Language!” yells Jessy.
“Sometimes swearing is appropriate, honey. This is one of those times.”
Jessy grins at her friend as, finally, the safe clicks open. With no time to look at the contents, she grabs what looks like a stack of files and jams them into her bag before grabbing Mia by the hand and rushing out of the office.
Garrett is kneeling by the door. “Get upstairs!” he yells.
“Wait...” Mia says. She sees something. Blood is oozing from a wound in Garrett's side.
Garrett holds his cousin's hand for a moment. “Go. I'll be fine. Your mother would never forgive me if anything happened to you, Mia. And I wouldn't be too happy myself either. Jessy! Get her out of here!”
Jessy grabs Mia and pulls her friend reluctantly up the stairs. As they go, Garrett squeezes the trigger of his gun once more, firing at the doorway to the outside, and then moves sluggishly up the stairs behind them.
Once on the second level, Garrett slams the door shut and Jessy and Mia barricade it with a desk and a few boxes.
“We don't have much time,” Garrett says, wincing in pain.
Bullets ricochet against the door, piercing the barricade. Jessy and Mia hit the deck while Garrett stands next to the ladder leading to the light at the top of the lighthouse. “Go!”
Jessy and Mia rush to the ladder and start their ascent. Halfway up, Jessy looks down at Garrett. He's moving away from the ladder.
“Richard!”
“Nice of you to find my first name all of a sudden,” he jokes, grimacing in pain and clutching his bloodied side.
“Come on!”
“I can't, Jessy. I won't make it up the ladder. I don't have long; going up that thing is only going to make me bleed out quicker.”
“You have to!”
Jessy hears the sound of the men at the door, kicking down the barricade. Garrett opens fire as they enter the room. With tears in her eyes, Mia pulls Jessy up to where the light sits. The very same place where Harlan left his cryptic inscription.
“We have to help him!” Jessy shouts.
“I know, but how?” Mia cries.
“Do you have your lighter?” asks Jessy.
“I don't smoke...”
“I know you do. Give me the lighter, please!”
Mia hands Jessy the lighter. Jessy then reaches back into her bag and looks through the files she pulled from the safe.
Garrett fires back at the men entering the room downstairs, and then they all hear the fateful click.
“He's out of ammo!” the men shout, bursting into the room and rushing Garrett at once.
The men grab Garrett and put a gun to his cheek.
“Come down with what you found or he gets one in the head!” a man shouts. Jessy instantly recognizes the voice. It is the very same voice that screamed at her and pursued her back at the park where the statue is.
“Don't!” Garrett shouts. “They'll kill you anyway!”
“Do it, or this punk cop gets it!” the man screams again. “Either way, you will give the files to me!”
Jessy pulls out the lighter and leans over the hatch with the papers in her other hand.
“You so much as touch him again,” yells Jessy, “and I'll burn these files right here.”
“You wouldn't dare,” the man says, staring up the hatch.
“Try me.” Jessy lights one of the pages and lets it burn, then throws the burning embers down the hatch. “The rest goes unless you back off.”
The man begins to laugh. “Lady, I want to destroy them. Besides, you need to know why all this is happenin'. So you got nothin'!”
Jessy isn't sure whether the man is telling the truth or not. She weighs up in her mind what to do. In those moments, she makes a rash move. She lights the papers.
“I don't need answers!” Jessy throws the burning files down the hatch. As the files plummet the man tries to catch them, letting go of Garrett.
With one last ounce of strength, Garrett punches the man square in the face and then throws another through the open doorway down the stairs.
Jessy then hears a comforting sound. It is the sound of sirens charging towards where they are.
“Oh, boys!” shouts Jessy. “The cavalry have arrived!”
“Let's get out of here!” one of the men yells. They scramble down the stairs, picking up their wounded, and then rush into their cars outside, driving off to some obscure location before the police arrive.
Jessy and Mia descend the ladders to find Garrett bloodied and lying on the floor. Jessy puts her hand over the wound to stem the bleeding.
“You've got to end this habit of letting men get shot around you, Jessy,” he says, his voice growing weak.
“The only habit I'm ending is letting people I care about die.”
But Garrett loses consciousness as his colleagues from the station enter the building below.
*
Jessy and Mia are still at the hospital. They have been there all night. The doctors do not feel confident about Garrett's condition. He could die, and Jessy feels responsible. Mia is utterly devastated, and now Jessy will have to explain everything that's happened to Danny when he gets home.
Much lies in ruins. Jessy knows what her curiosity has cost her. As Mia sleeps, her head resting on Jessy's shoulder as they sit outside Garrett's hospital room, Jessy wonders if she will ever forgive herself if the worst happens.
Whatever Harlan wanted her to know burned to a cinder in the lighthouse. That is, except for the one sheet of paper she quickly put into her bag while up on the roof taking gunfire. She has not had a chance to read it yet, but she did keep it for a reason. On the head of the paper, it contained the words: “Harlan Mayweather: Admitted, December 6th, 2018.”
Harlan is alive, Jessy thinks to herself. And he's in a psychiatric hospital...
The question for Jessy is, will she follow the paper trail, no matter the cost?
Want more? Click here to start reading Harlan’s Secret (Book 5) on Amazon now!
Also by Laura Greene
Wild Cove Mystery Series
Murder At Wild Cove Book 1
Susan Dern is Missing Book 2
The Demise of Tom Hendry Book 3
The Past Life of Jane Scott Book 4
The Hooded Figure Book 5
Behind The Crime Series
The Secret Room Book 1
The Houston Party Book 2
Harlan’s Secret Book 5
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About the Author
Laura Greene is an international bestselling Crime and Murder Mystery author. She loves the outdoors. Hiking, exploring new adventures in nature and spending time with her family make for some of her favorite moments in life. When she’s not writing a new Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, she loves to connect with her readers whom she considers her friends. Join Laura Greene on Facebook.
