All the Lost Little Horses (A Desperation Creek Novel Book 2)

by Janice Kay Johnson

  “Let the sheriff know,” Jed said tersely.

  Fischer stole a look at him. “Yes, sir.”

  Jed wondered if any of them realized that he had no intention of arresting Theodore Darcy Willis. He was going to execute him.

  *****

  Once again cuffed to the refrigerator, Linette quelled the instinct that wanted her to crouch to make a smaller target. Instead, she stayed on her feet, the better to be able to stretch to reach the second drawer.

  Theo backed away, but hate glittered in his eyes. “Every goddamn thing I’ve had to do is on you. If you hadn’t called the cops… If you hadn’t left…”

  Oh, it was hard to keep pretending she’d take anything he threw at her. But reason never had worked with him. So she acted as if her life depended on it – as it did – and gazed at him fearfully. “I haven’t seen you in four years. I don’t understand.”

  “Doesn’t matter if you—” His head turned sharply.

  Linette, too, heard muffled yelling. Theo hurried into the living room.

  She waited until he swore, the sound distant enough she knew he was at one of the front windows. Then she stretched, prayed and pulled out the drawer. Which, thank God, glided smoothly.

  This drawer was filled with kitchen implements. Everything but knives. The usual variety of spoons for stirring, pancake turners, whisks, a can opener and a corkscrew. Shish kebab skewers. Linette gazed at the jumble, heartbeat racing like she’d never felt before. When she heard Theo stomping in this direction, Linette’s hand shot out and snatched up a skewer before she nudged the drawer shut and slipped the sharp, thin stainless steel implement behind her back. She was pretty sure she got it into her jeans – at least, nothing metallic landed at her feet. When Theo appeared, she was dizzy with the stress. Oh God – if only she had the butcher knife instead.

  His eyes narrowed as he crossed the kitchen. “You’re up to something.”

  She sat down, her legs shaky enough turn her descent into a collapse. At least she didn’t skewer herself. “What am I supposed to be up to? Digging for food in the refrigerator?”

  “Good idea.” He reached over her head for the handle.

  She scooted as far sideways as she could. “There’s not much in there but mustard and ketchup. They cleaned it out.”

  He stared disbelieving at the brightly lit bare shelves, closed the door and lashed out with his booted foot. Pain burst on her thigh. She gasped and tried to scrunch into a smaller ball yet, even as she assessed distances and whether she’d be able to get the skewer from her waistband and thrust it into his belly or chest fast enough – and with enough force to do serious damage.

  He kicked her a second time and walked away.

  *****

  Rifle resting on a bipod, Jed lay on his belly, crushing some forest understory plants like the common creeping Oregon grape to release pungent odors. Taller native plants like serviceberry and snowberry helped screen him from sight. He’d changed into camouflage, including a billed cap. Trying to force himself to relax – which wasn’t going well, but it would come - breathing slowly, he gazed through the scope, shifting his field of view gradually from one window of the cabin to another. The windows were smallish, as was typical of a log cabin, but at less than a hundred yards, he could hit a target the size of a dime.

  The only other person he’d so far seen was Erin, still crouched at one rounded end of the propane tank. Her gaze had shifted to him when he first appeared and chose a spot offering the optimum line of sight as well as decent cover, but she hadn’t looked at him in a while.

  Knowing Linette was inside, potentially suffering, possibly already dead, clawed at him. The option of going in tempted him. If they could get their hands on that hideout key, Jed might have gone for it.

  As it was, while they were breaking down a door, Theo would have plenty of time to kill Linette and himself.

  He had to believe she was still alive.

  Murmurs came from the radio. The deputies circling the cabin reported seeing blinds twitching, which meant Theo was constantly on the move, watching. Twice, Jed saw a subtle shift of blinds, too, but couldn’t make out who was behind them – or whether Theo might be using Linette as body armor.

  He had yet to appear in either of the uncovered windows here on the back and north side of the cabin. One, according to the homeowner, was above the washer and dryer in the utility room. Theo wouldn’t be able to get close enough to the window to use it for reconnaissance. He’d have no reason to go in there, after the last time he’d tried opening the back door. That left the upstairs window in a home office as Jed’s best bet.

  Increasingly, he worried that Theo had to know that if he managed to walk out of the cabin alive, he faced life in prison if not the death penalty. Letting Linette go wouldn’t save him. He was just crazy enough to be getting ready to end this the way he may well have intended from the beginning: kill her, kill himself. If he’d rather commit suicide by cop, Jed would be happy to oblige.

  He gave up on the possibility of relaxing. Breathing, that he could do. Having already adjusted for a slight breeze and zeroed his rifle for what would be a cold barrel shot, he visualized the bullet’s path. The only acceptable outcome was a head shot that would drop this monster dead before he knew it had happened – and before he could lift his own weapon.

  One moment of carelessness. That’s all Jed asked for.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “I wonder if I could toss you out an upper window. Bet that’d cause enough excitement, nobody would see me taking off. Hey, you can be naked. Yeah, that would give ’em all excited.”

  Color feverish, Theo paced the kitchen. Back and forth. Back and forth. He’d developed a nervous tic below his left eye. His free hand balled into a fist, loosened, did it again.

  Occasionally he made the rounds to look outside, but less often. He hadn’t gone upstairs in a while. He was never gone long enough for her to open the drawer again and see if there were better options than the thin skewer.

  If Linette had been scared before, that was nothing. Seeing him falling apart and knowing what the outcome would be…that was terrifying.

  I willingly had sex with this man, once upon a time. There was a horrifying thought. How could she not have seen what he was really like?

  She knew, knew, that Jed was out there waiting, his eye to his rifle scope, his finger resting on the trigger. What would it do to him to kill again? What had it already done to him, preparing to shoot Theo? Had he slid back into the remote man he’d been, as had happened after he used his sniper skills to save Cassie Ward and the sheriff? When he was done, would he lay down his rifle and see himself again as a killer, unworthy of any woman’s love?

  Linette hated Theo most of all for what he was doing to Jed. She desperately wanted to live, she did, but not if Jed paid the price. Only…if she died because he failed, that would destroy him, too.

  Her mind jumped back to the shish kebab skewer. Could she get a solid enough grip to allow her to drive the thin piece of steel through a cotton shirt, skin and the hard, muscled wall of Theo’s torso? The handle wasn’t made for anything like that.

  Could she stab even Theo?

  And what’s the alternative here?

  She breathed deeply. For Jed. For him, she had to at least try. Soon. It could become too late any minute.

  She moved to get one foot under her, as if she was going to stand up. Her legs tingled and she was dismayed to discover that one foot felt numb. She wriggled the toes madly, trying to bring life back into them. He watched with dark, burning eyes, then returned to his pacing.

  Once his back was briefly turned, she wiped her hand in case it was sweaty, pulled out the skewer and held it against her thigh. “Theo?” She tried to sound timid. “Do you think they’ll come in after you? Like, break windows or…” Her shudder wasn’t entirely pretend.

  She could do this. She could.

  “They’ll probably try.” He walked toward her, as she’d hop
ed. My only chance. “But you’ll already be dead, won’t you?”

  “Why?” Under the circumstances, it wasn’t all that hard to produce a whimper. “I still don’t understand.”

  He leaned over her, hate twisting his face into something ugly. “Because of you, everything went wrong. That’s why.” His hand started to rise, the one holding the gun.

  Now.

  Linette sprang to her feet, using her momentum to drive the skewer into his belly and upward. It went deep before hitting something hard. The gun fired painfully close to her ear, so close to her head she quit hearing, but the bullet hadn’t hit her. Crimson blossomed on his belly. Feeling sick, she had to let go of the skewer. As Theo staggered back toward the utility room, he tried to raise the gun again, but this shot hit the floor. He never took his eyes from hers, bewilderment transforming his hard, angry face. When the gun fell from his hand, she whimpered in earnest and watched him collapse against the washing machine. Under his weight, it slid into the dryer with a clang.

  And then the window shattered and Theo just…dropped. She saw his death before he hit the floor.

  *****

  Jed ran toward the cabin. He had to get to Linette.

  He bellowed her name even as he threw himself uselessly against the steel door. The knob did not miraculously turn under his hand.

  He backed away. He could break out one of the front windows.

  Erin was beside him saying something. As frantic as he felt, he made himself listen.

  “If you hoist me up, I think I can get in the window you just shot out.”

  All he could do was nod and circle the corner of the house. He used the barrel of his handgun to knock shards of glass from the frame, holstered it again and bent with his hands clasped. It was just like tossing a woman into the saddle.

  Straightening was easy, Erin a featherweight. She pushed herself halfway through before stopping. “He’s, um, right here. Dead.”

  “Keep going.” His heart was about to fucking beat it’s way out of his chest.

  That’s when he heard Linette.

  “Jed? Erin, is that you?”

  “Yes—”

  He drowned her out. “Linette? Are you hurt?”

  “Not that bad.” She sounded uncertain. “I…I can’t let you in.”

  Because she couldn’t even crawl as far as the door to unlock it? He didn’t let himself ask.

  “We’ll be right there.”

  Erin squirmed forward until her feet left his hands and she descended inside to a metallic sound. She was on top of the washer or dryer, he realized, probably denting it. He hurried back around the corner. A second later, the deadbolt scraped and the door swung open.

  Jed took in the sight of the very dead man, pausing briefly on what almost looked like a thick wire that stuck out of his belly at an angle. Then he vaulted the blood and the body, landing in a doorway leading to the kitchen.

  When he saw Linette sitting in front of the refrigerator with her legs splayed and one hand cuffed to the refrigerator, he stopped. Rage flooded him again. He had to breathe through it before he could kneel beside her, cup her lividly bruised and swollen face in his hands, and say, not quite lightly, “You might scare the horses this time.”

  Her eyes burned, but her lips wobbled into a smile. “Jed.”

  *****

  Niall had been the one to pick Linette up once the ER doctor decided to release her. Linette understood why Jed couldn’t; he had crime scenes to oversee. From what Niall told her, the county was rife with them. Theo wasn’t the only one to die today.

  Niall came straight from the Fort Halleck police station, where he’d taken over from Sheriff Holcomb so that Grant could go out to assist Jed. The city council, Niall told her, had made him a very temporary acting police chief, since he was the one and only officer who came with guarantees. He’d be interviewing the few remaining members of the department tomorrow, with authority to arrest or fire as necessary.

  “Sheriff’s department will patrol within the city limits as well as out in the county until we get things together,” he had added.

  He also told her that the stolen horses were safe. Jed had seen them in a pasture near the house where Theo had apparently been living. Linette tried to wipe away her tears before Niall could see them.

  He had no idea whether Chris Jarman was still on the job, or fired. Or whether they’d be able to prove he had assisted Theo. There were plenty of loose ends, too, like identifying who had killed Oren Calderon, but that, she suspected was normal.

  Right now, Linette didn’t much care about any of that. Against all expectations, she had survived. The way Jed had touched her, back in the cabin, gave her hope.

  Declining anything to eat or drink, she plodded up the stairs, one step at a time, Niall hovering just behind her in case she collapsed. She tried not to let him see what a close call it was. In the bathroom, she stripped to survey her multiple, spectacular bruises, shuddered and ran a hot bath.

  Once the water cooled, she pulled on flannel pajama pants and a baggy T-shirt, then snuggled into bed even though she doubted she would actually be able to nap. Remnants of fear kept zapping her with adrenaline. Having done something so gruesome to another human being would haunt her, too, as would the expression on Theo’s face as he stumbled back.

  A weight on the mattress woke her up. It was Jed, looking down at her with emotions so naked, she was afraid she was actually dreaming. But the setting sun had changed the quality of the light coming in the window. She must have slept after all.

  In that golden light, she saw the man he might be in twenty years: lines carved too deeply in his cheeks and forehead, hair so pale it could be silver, darkness dimming the clarity of his blue eyes, as if she was seeing a total eclipse of the moon.

  “Jed?” Scared anew, Linette struggled to free her arm from the bedding. He helped, and engulfed her hand in a warm clasp. She searched his haggard face. “Are you…all right?”

  “No,” he said roughly. “I’m having trouble believing you’re here.” He swallowed. “Alive.”

  “But I am.”

  “Yeah. Can I hold you?”

  “Yes. Oh, yes!”

  She started to sit up, but he kicked off his boots, pulled back the covers and got under them with her. He wrapped his arms around her, pressed his cheek against the top of her head, and shook.

  All she could do was hold him, too. She tangled her bare legs with his, and gathered up a handful of his shirt, wishing he wasn’t wearing it.

  “I’m fine. You were there when I needed you. It’s all over, Jed.” She kept talking, unsure if she was getting through to him, but feeling his muscles loosen slowly, one by one.

  That was when she whispered, “I killed him, didn’t I?”

  Jed was quiet for a long moment. Finally, his hand stroked up and down her back, soothing. “I think we both killed him. What in hell was that you stuck him with?”

  She told him.

  “A shish kebab skewer,” he repeated slowly. “Jesus, Linette. What if it had bent?”

  “It…didn’t.” Would she ever forget the sensation of shoving a weapon deep into a man’s body?

  “No.” His arms tightened again. “The medical examiner thinks he’ll find that it pierced his heart. He would have died. I just finished him off a little faster.”

  “Oh.” Part of her wanted to see his face, part of her didn’t.

  Maybe he felt the same, because he didn’t say anything else for a long while. And then he did.

  “I’ve never told you I love you.” He still sounded hoarse. “Today, I thought I’d never have the chance.”

  She froze. Had he really said the words she’d never believed he would? Needing to see him, she pushed herself up. His face was still naked in a way that thrilled her, even as it also horrified her. Could he survive without his defenses? How could she tell him she didn’t need that from him, only his love?

  Raggedly, she said, “I love you, too. You know that, do
n’t you?”

  “Yeah.” He closed his eyes. “I’ve been hanging on by my fingernails. I kept thinking— I don’t know.”

  “I’m here. I’m safe.” She drew a deep breath. “I was afraid for you. I didn’t want you to have to kill anyone for me.”

  He shook his head, incredulity chasing away some of the desperation. “I’d do damn near anything for you. To save your life—” he seemed to choke on it “—I’d condemn myself to hell.”

  “No!” She tried to shake him, without effect. “That’s what I was afraid you’d do.”

  “You thought I’d pull away.”

  Linette wasn’t a crier, but tears were very closer. “Yes.”

  “It’s too late for that.” The deep velvet of his voice was back, as was the whisper of a southern accent. “I need you. I want you to marry me, so I can know you’ll always be here. That I can come home to you.”

  “Yes.” Hot tears overflowed and ran down her cheeks. “Of course I will. Just don’t—” She hadn’t meant to say that.

  “Leave you?” The darkness had retreated. His eyes, vivid blue, held hers. “Never. I swear.”

  “Okay.” When she smiled, she tasted the salty wetness of her tears. They stung the small contusions on her face, too. One plopped onto his stubbled cheek. And for the first time since she was a small child, she knew complete happiness.

  About The Author

  Janice Kay Johnson is the author of more than ninety books for children and adults. Her first four published romance novels were coauthored with her mother Norma Tadlock Johnson, also a writer who has since published mysteries and children's books on her own. These were "sweet" romance novels, the author hastens to add; she isn't sure they'd have felt comfortable coauthoring passionate love scenes!