Credible Alibi

by Tyler Anne Snell

  “Are you kidding me?” he said, dangerously near a shout. “You just happened to forget key information about the murder weapon?” He shook his head. “Do you Nashes think you’re above the law? That it can’t touch you because you’ve been through some bad stuff in your lives?”

  Madi’s nerves hardened. Then they were glowing hot.

  “This has nothing to do with what happened when we were kids,” she yelled, not bothering in the least to keep calm. “I’m sorry that after finding a body and immediately being fingered as the murderer, a detail slipped my mind.” She pointed to her stomach. “You try creating a kid, running a business, having to take crap from a lawman who clearly wants you to fry and then trying to keep everything in line. Two weeks ago I spent an hour trying to find my damn keys that were in my hand!”

  “Don’t compare this to losing your keys!”

  “And don’t forget I didn’t have to tell you I’d remembered this at all,” she shot back. “But here we are, shouting so close to the front of a crime scene you still haven’t seen because you’re too busy yelling at me!”

  That shut him up. Miller’s nostrils flared. He looked between Madi and Julian with what she guessed was barely contained rage. Julian was no longer carrying himself with a cool relaxation, either. He was mad, too. The three of them certainly were quite the trio. They didn’t speak until the tree house was in front of them.

  “Don’t you two move,” Miller finally bit out.

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Madi wanted to say more but Julian took her hand. It defused her next outburst before it could come out. They watched in silence as Miller disappeared inside the tree house.

  “You didn’t do it, Madi,” Julian said. “I’m not going to let anyone say otherwise.”

  There was a severity to his words. A strength that was as intimidating as it was comforting.

  Madi tried to hang on to that feeling as Miller finally came back out.

  For the first time since she’d known the man, Madi couldn’t read his expression. He descended the stairs without saying a word. Julian dropped her hand.

  “Madi wouldn’t have needed to break that combo lock that was on the trunk,” he pointed out. “Whoever did that is the person you’re looking for. She also didn’t go inside today. Only I did.”

  Miller didn’t respond.

  At least not in words.

  When he was right in front of them his eyes went over their shoulders and widened. Julian was quick to turn, body tensing and ready to deal with whatever came their way, but Madi was slower.

  She watched in shock as Detective Miller pulled his gun out and smacked it against Julian’s head. It was the perfect blow. Just as the man in the woods had done to her when she was eight.

  Julian hit the ground hard.

  He didn’t move.

  A scream of anger escaped Madi before she realized that the gun was now pointed at her.

  “You’re going to listen to me right now or all three of you die.”

  * * *

  EVERYTHING WAS WET.

  His hair. His skin. His clothes. The ground.

  It was raining.

  Julian’s face was pressing into dirt that had become mud. It oozed across his cheek and stung his eye. Not that the mild annoyance was more concerning than the throb of pain at the back of his head. He’d been knocked out.

  “Madi!” Julian tried to bring his hands up to help him push off the ground but came up short. They were bound.

  They were handcuffed.

  Julian let out a guttural sound. It was primal. It was protective.

  “Madi,” he yelled again.

  He rolled onto his back and sat up. It wasn’t a downpour but the drops were thick and heavy. They pelted the ground with force. Julian could no more see tracks across the ground as he could see the two people who might have made them.

  Miller.

  Julian rocked back enough to get momentum, then jumped up to his feet. It was a trick he’d made a point to learn since his buddies from his unit had said Lumberjack was too big to be that fluid. Now the trick got him to his feet and moving. He ran full tilt up the tree house stairs, heart in his throat, before kicking the door down. It didn’t take much but Julian felt like he could tear down steel if it meant getting to Madi.

  The dried blood was still splattered across the room but the combo lock was gone. So were Madi and Miller.

  He was both relieved and pissed as hell.

  If Miller had taken Madi then it meant she could be still alive.

  Julian turned on his heel, words vile and anger filled spilling out of his mouth like the rain off his shirt. He ran back to the trail and out through the woods.

  His SUV was gone. So was Miller’s truck.

  Julian kept on running.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The rain didn’t let up. It made Julian’s several-mile trek even more of a pain. At one point he had to stop, lie on his back, move his wrists under the back of his legs, around his feet, and stand so that his cuffed hands were in front of him. It was still constricting but made for much easier movement. He needed to be ready for anything.

  Even though he hadn’t been earlier.

  Focus, he thought bitterly. You have to find them.

  The pain in Julian’s head and the burn in his legs and lungs were at an all-time high by the time the Wild Iris Retreat’s cabins came into view. At least, he assumed that was what the cluster of small buildings were. He hadn’t been given a proper tour yet and the rain was making it difficult to see or read any signage. He’d barely seen the lights on in one of the cabins until he was almost up to the front porch.

  He ran up the stairs three at a time. A plaque next to the door declared the building was Cabin 3. It wasn’t until Ray flung open the door after he pounded against it that Julian realized the guest had been thrown right back into the thick of things. Madi might have worried what that would mean for the future of Hidden Hills but Julian was worried only for her and their child. If that meant throwing Ray into the middle of a gunfight as his backup, Julian would do it in a heartbeat.

  “My God, what’s going on?” Ray asked, eyes zipping to the cuffs and then back up.

  “Madi was taken by Detective Miller,” Julian said, jumping in. “He knocked me out and restrained me. I woke up and they were gone. So were my phone, gun and vehicle.”

  Ray’s eyes widened in acute surprise. He motioned Julian inside, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “The detective heading up the case about Loraine? Why would he do that?”

  Julian growled.

  “A question I plan to ask him myself the next time I see him. Until then I need to call the department.”

  Ray grimaced. He hesitated and then held up his phone and shook it.

  “I don’t know how long you were out, but you must have missed the big show.” He pointed to the window. “The storm got really rough there for a second. I’m guessing it damaged the cell tower that serves this area. No calls are coming in or going out. I’m surprised we even have power after all of that.”

  Julian cocked his head to the side. That was a small hitch in his plan. He wiped at the water falling from his hair into his eyes. The handcuffs clinked together at the movement.

  “I need you to drive me to the department. I need to talk to the sheriff immediately. He has to know that Miller has gone rogue.”

  Ray grimaced again.

  “My car is still at Hidden Hills.”

  Julian gave the man a flat stare.

  “What?”

  Ray shrugged, apologetic.

  “Since the investigation at the inn, I was shuttled here. I haven’t really missed having a car since I just stay on the ranch. I was told I could wait to get it on my way out of town if I wanted.”

  Well, that was more th
an a hitch in his plan than Julian wanted.

  Ray held up his hand.

  “But what I can do is get us into the retreat’s main office. I don’t think Nina or the other manager is there right now. It should have a landline, though!”

  A loud clap of thunder backed up his offer. It sent a powerful feeling of foreboding into his bones. He hoped wherever Madi was, she was inside. She had joked about them having bad luck and now Julian was tempted to agree. Clear skies sure would have helped tip the scale somewhat back into their favor. Or at least make finding her easier.

  Case in point, Julian was having a hard time just keeping the rain out of his eyes while inside. Running through the rain might have been thematic but it wasn’t at all practical.

  Ray seemed to agree. He eyed the growing puddle beneath Julian and pointed to the opposite side of the cabin.

  “Let me grab us some towels first. They won’t fix the downpour out there but maybe they’ll help some.”

  Julian would have turned him down but his run was catching up to him. He was hurting, but even harder to ignore was how thirsty he was.

  “I need some water.”

  The cabin only had three rooms. The living space, the bedroom and the attached bathroom. All small but functional. A tiny kitchenette was tucked in the corner of the living area with a little refrigerator and a sink. Julian was at the sink, head bent under the faucet, in seconds. Once the water hit his lips, he could have sung.

  He had never tasted anything sweeter.

  Julian drank like a man who had just crawled out of the desert and angled his head to get a better fix on the water. It put the miniature dining table directly in his sight line. A quaint round table with two wooden chairs tucked beneath with a vase and flowers on its top.

  And next to it, a leather-bound book.

  Julian cut the water off and stood.

  Not a book. A photo album. One he’d seen before.

  He went to the table and assured himself he was mistaken. Surely it wasn’t the one he was thinking of and instead was a guest book, or maybe Ray had bought it as a souvenir.

  Julian’s adrenaline surged. He flipped the book open.

  Three children standing arm in arm smiled up at him. The little girl in the middle had one braid thrown over each shoulder. There was no scar on her cheek yet.

  “I’m sorry I don’t have anything more helpful than towels,” Ray said from the other room. “But I feel like we can better help her if we’re not drenched to the bone.”

  Julian closed the album and moved back to the sink. He gave Ray a curt nod as the other man appeared with two towels. One look at Julian and his eyebrows drew in together.

  “Are you okay? The detective didn’t shoot or cut you, did he?”

  Julian shook his head, careful to keep his expression as neutral as possible. Even if he was two seconds away from grabbing the man and trying to shake information out of him.

  Why did Ray have the photo album they’d gotten from the loft? The one that had been in Julian’s SUV when they’d gone into the woods?

  “Just a solid hit to the head. Nothing I can’t power through.”

  Ray’s eyebrow arched. A ripple of hesitation moved across his expression. Julian’s almost-spent leg muscles tensed further. The cabin’s charming facade crumbled. Now it was a possible staging area for a fight. One in which Julian already had a disadvantage with his hands restrained. Fighting in nothing but a towel hadn’t been ideal; fighting with both hands bound was a stone’s throw away from very, very bad luck.

  “Well, we better get going, then,” Ray said after a moment. “Let me just grab my key to the lobby.”

  Julian was curious about the game Ray was obviously playing. What was his plan? Play nice until they got to the phone? Or was the man waiting for an opening to take on Julian?

  “I’m ready when you are,” Julian said, changing his stance to provide more stability. Ray bent over a pair of jeans that was tossed over the couch’s arm.

  “You said no one knows?” Ray asked, rooting around the pockets for his keys. Julian noted that they were dark on the bottom of the legs. Wet. “I mean, about you and Madi going out to the trail in the first place?”

  Julian clenched his jaw. If he hadn’t seen the photo album his internal alarm bells would have been ringing at that. He hadn’t said anything about a trail.

  And Ray was taking awfully long looking for his keys.

  “As far as I know.”

  Julian tightened his grip on the towel, wishing he had full use of his hands. It would have to do.

  Up until now Julian had never really tried to get a read on Ray. There hadn’t been a need. He was pleasant enough, quiet. Average, according to Madi’s observation. Julian had agreed. But now he realized that Ray could have crafted this persona by design, and Julian wasn’t wearing rose-colored glasses anymore. Now Julian saw a man who could get lost in a crowd with ease. A man who showed interest and skill in the outdoors.

  A man who was still wearing his riding gloves and favoring his left hand.

  Julian went through everything he knew about the case so far. His thoughts flew past Ray and to the death of the coroner. Detective Holloway’s description of the man and woman who had taken him was generic. He’d claimed the man had black hair. Ray didn’t, but Julian wasn’t ruling him out on hair color alone. Not when Holloway had said he’d shot the man in the hand.

  “It might be easier to find the keys if you took off the gloves.”

  It was clear Ray was now stalling. Still, he kept fishing for them, finally making it to the back pockets. Julian glanced around the other surfaces in the room. He wasn’t surprised when he spotted the keys next to the door. Ray was definitely stalling. Julian leaned into it.

  “You know, I wanted to apologize for everything you’ve been through while here in town,” he started. “A murder wasn’t exactly what Madi had in mind for her guests’ experience.”

  “It wasn’t her fault,” Ray brushed off. He moved to the last pocket.

  “I’m surprised I didn’t run into you before today, though. I had to spend a long time at the department giving Madi’s alibi. If you don’t mind me asking, what was yours?”

  Ray stopped. He slid his hand out of the pocket and stood to his full height. Another surge of adrenaline shot through Julian’s system. His heart was hammering away, as if competing with the storm outside. For a moment the two of them just stared.

  Then the sound of a cell phone ringing filled the room.

  Julian wondered what else the man had lied about just as Ray’s pleasant persona faded into a smirk.

  “We both know that neither one of us had an alibi.”

  Ray reached around for something in the back of his waistband. Julian wasn’t going to wait to see what that was. He ran the distance between them and lowered his shoulder before impact.

  He’d been here before. The last two fights he’d encountered were a surprise. This one had the bonus disadvantage of his hands being bound. Julian didn’t need to survive this fight. He needed to stop it before it started.

  Something clattered to the ground as Julian slammed Ray against the front door. It was a harder hit than Julian had bargained for. Even though the door hadn’t been properly shut when they’d first come in, it crashed open with such force that something cracked. The momentum carried them across the small porch and right to the top of the stairs.

  Ray groaned as his back took the brunt of their fall. Julian rolled off the man but didn’t stand. Julian moved into a crouch and grabbed the collar of Ray’s shirt. He fisted the cloth and pulled the man up enough that if he had to, he could slam his head back onto the porch.

  “Where is she?” Julian yelled. “Where’s Madi?”

  Ray coughed, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to catch his breath. Julian wasn’t about to show the man sympathy. He sho
ok him.

  “Where is Madi?”

  “I—I—” Ray tried. He opened his eyes. They were angry. “I’m big—big picture. I’ve never been good at the details.”

  Julian felt the tension beneath his knuckles just before Ray struck. He might have been a smaller man than Julian but the movement was surprisingly effective. His head hit Julian’s nose so hard that he knew it was busted before he ever saw the blood or felt the pain.

  “Son of a—”

  Julian recoiled but refused to let the head butt send him to the ground. He rocked on his heels, tensed his leg muscles and managed to spring up instead. It gave Ray the opening to roll over and get to his feet.

  “You messed this up,” he growled. “You—”

  Julian intertwined his fingers and struck out, envisioning his joined hands as a sledgehammer. Ray yelled out. He danced backward and right off of the porch. Once again he hit the ground, this time on his side. He devolved into another fit of coughing. Julian jumped the stairs and landed next to him, adrenaline coursing through him with purpose. His head, nose and shoulder throbbed in pain. The rain drenched their clothes.

  Though it was Julian’s heart that was the loudest.

  “Where is she?” he yelled. “I won’t ask again.”

  Ray struggled to get up. Julian wasn’t going to let him. Not without answers.

  “Let him go!”

  Julian never even heard her walk up. He turned around. A woman with dark blond hair had a gun pointed at him. Just far enough away that he’d be a goner if he lunged for it.

  Had she been in the cabin the entire time?

  “Move away from him,” she added. “Or you’re dead.”

  “How many of you are there?” Julian asked in anger. He did as she said but stepped behind Ray so his back wasn’t to the man. “Every time I turn around there’s someone else with a gun and a snappy line.”

  The woman smirked.

  “I’m sorry we’re inconvenient, but at least now you know how it feels.”