She motioned to the cabin.
“Now, go inside. Slowly,” she ordered, voice clear through the downpour. “Or a snappy line will be the last thing you hear.”
Bad luck really did seem to be the theme of the day. Julian weighed his options again. Fight and flight both resulted in the high possibility of being shot...which he was hoping to avoid.
He couldn’t help Madi if he was hurt. Or worse.
Julian raised his hands slowly and nodded. The woman moved aside, careful to keep the gun’s aim true. Ray continued to cough and sputter. A few profanities found their way out into the rain before Julian could clear the cabin’s front door.
He clocked all of the exits he could see and guessed at the ones he couldn’t. He noted the lamp, a horse statue on the entryway table and the cabinet drawer where he would guess the cutlery was stashed. The couch was between it and him. He could use it for cover if needed.
“Don’t get any ideas,” the woman called from behind.
Too bad that was exactly what he was doing.
“Who are you?” he asked, eyes falling back to the small horse statue. It looked like it was made of metal and had a substantial amount of heft to it. It was no cell phone or pair of handcuffs, but he’d be able to use it if needed. “Where’s Madi?”
The woman’s laugh was biting. Julian stopped next to the entryway table and turned. Standing in the doorway with the light against her face and the rain at her back, she was a confusing sight.
Mostly because she was Loraine. Even beneath her blond wig, Julian recognized the face from the picture he’d been shown at the sheriff’s department.
“I don’t know, but I suspect I will soon enough,” she said, smiling through dark red lips.
Ray walked up behind her, slightly hunched over. He held his chest, scowling.
“Careful,” he warned.
Loraine snorted.
“He saw the photo album. He knows who I am. I don’t think he’s going to be quiet about either. Are you, Mr. Mercer?”
Julian kept his mouth shut.
He wasn’t confident he could dodge any bullet at this range. Maybe he could take one in the shoulder before he got the gun away from her.
Loraine cocked her head to the side.
“What? Not going to talk now?” She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. The real question I want to ask is what’s going to make all the difference.”
She took a small step forward. It brought her within striking distance. Julian’s muscles started to coil, readying. Loraine, however, knew just what to ask to make them freeze.
“How much do you really love Madi?”
Chapter Nineteen
Madi heard the rain start but she never saw a drop of it. Instead she’d been held in what she could only assume was an abandoned building in the woods. She’d been tossed into the van outside the Juniper trail and blindfolded. Just as her brothers had been all those years ago. This time she was conscious for the abduction and told not to make a sound. She hadn’t. Instead she’d done her best to pay attention.
The ride hadn’t lasted more than ten minutes, which meant they were still in Overlook.
Good news, all things considered.
It meant Julian and her brothers stood a chance at finding her.
A vise squeezed in her chest at the image of Julian on the ground. He had been so still.
“Stop moving,” Miller snapped, tearing her thoughts away from the man she’d been forced to leave behind. “You’re driving me crazy.”
Madi rolled her eyes. If she could have reached her hair, she would have already braided it several times over. The only thing keeping her from devolving into a puddle of fear and memories of being eight and terrified was her daughter. Madi couldn’t protect her or herself if her head wasn’t clear. She had to keep as much control as she could. Even if, in the back of her mind, she was doing nothing but reassuring herself that she wasn’t that scared child anymore. She was a mom. She was strong.
She had to be strong.
A task made more difficult by the man next to her. For the last half hour the detective had been in fine form. She’d never heard a grown man growl as much as he did. It was like being held captive with a grumpy bulldog.
Which wasn’t a shock, given his temperament and general dislike of her, but what was a shock was Miller being a victim alongside her. She hadn’t seen that coming. After he’d knocked Julian out, it had taken her longer than it should have to notice the men coming out of the tree house, guns drawn. She’d been so angry at the detective for attacking the father of her child.
“They said they’d kill us all if I didn’t take care of him,” Miller had said right after Julian hit the ground. “I’m a fast shot but I can’t get them both before they shoot back.”
Miller had been ordered to drop his gun and handcuff Julian before they’d been taken. They moved so fast that Madi hadn’t had time to process until they were driving away. After the ride, she and Miller had been dumped in a windowless room, covered in dust, mold and dirt. The only piece of furniture was a weathered wooden bench set up in the middle. One that had become the bane of her existence.
They’d already tried to lift the bulky thing but it was too long and way too heavy. It didn’t help matters that their wrists were zip-tied around the middle plank of the seat, palms up. It was an awkward position that neither could get any good leverage with, no matter how much begrudging teamwork they’d tried.
“I’m uncomfortable,” Madi countered. “You try being tied to a bench with no backrest and a belly that makes sitting normally uncomfortable and try not to fidget.”
Miller let out a loud, gruff sigh.
“There you go with that pregnant stuff again,” he said. “We get it. You have a baby in you which makes your problems ten times worse than everyone else’s.”
Madi sucked in the bad words that immediately sprang to the tip of her tongue. When he wasn’t mean, he was sarcastic. Neither was a good look on the man. A point Madi would have loved to make. Yet the truth was that fighting with Miller wasn’t going to get her out of the situation. It could only stand to make it worse.
“They don’t care that I’m pregnant,” she said instead. A shiver ran down her back. Her anger at the detective deflated. “Why did they even take us? Both of us, I mean. It doesn’t make sense.” It was a concern they’d already passed around after realizing that breaking out of their restraints wasn’t going to happen. Still, Madi thought it warranted saying again. “You’re the law. Taking you only makes everything harder on them, just like when Detective Holloway was missing. Who would voluntarily take that kind of heat?”
Miller sucked on his teeth for a moment. His eyes stayed on the door.
“If these are the men who attacked you and Julian at Hidden Hills—”
“Which they are,” she interjected. For the second time since they’d been in the room. “It’s hard to forget the faces of the men who threaten to torture you and shoot at you.”
“Then I’m assuming their jobs have changed.”
“Their jobs?” Madi repeated.
Miller, ever a man to play it close to the vest, seemed to flounder between divulging the information he had and keeping quiet. Madi was ready to give him an aggressive piece of her mind if he didn’t spill. Thankfully, he must have decided it was time for everyone to be on the same page.
“Julian said there was a scorpion tattoo on the man who stabbed him,” he started with notable reluctance. “There’s a gang in Kilwin that has cropped up in recent years that have done a good deal of outsourcing certain jobs so they don’t get them linked back to the gang. The group of men they outsource to are rumored to have scorpion tattoos hidden on their bodies. The mayor has been in talks with the chief about making a task force that will be dedicated to tracking them down and putting them behind bars for good, but after the latest budget cut
s, it’s been tabled until further notice.” He took a moment to swear. “I think the men who came at you at Hidden Hills are a part of that group. I think they were hired to get the truth out of you about Loraine’s murder.”
“But Loraine isn’t dead.”
“Exactly. Which may be why their tactics have changed.”
“They think I know where the real Loraine is,” she realized.
Miller nodded.
“That would be my guess.”
Madi took a second to chew on that. Her stomach was starting to knot up again. So far she had surprised herself with how calm she was being. The situation was way worse than when she was in the woods, hiding from danger. Now she was in the belly of the beast, waiting for the unknown. A violent unknown, if the other day was any indication.
For the umpteenth time since they’d been tied to the bench, Madi tried to touch her stomach. It was a feeble attempt to protect her child. The plastic of the zip ties bit into her wrists, making her raw skin burn even more. A feeling of defeat spread through her like wildfire. Its flames were fueled by the weight of the lie she’d been holding up. The same one that had tied Julian into the dangerous web she’d found herself in. Even though he had been the one to tell it first, Madi couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened had she not gone along with it. If she had told the truth at the department in the first place, would he be okay now? And furthermore, would her child be in this much danger?
Madi did her best approximation of squaring her shoulders. She decided it was time to control what she could.
“I lied about my alibi,” she finally said. “Julian showed up when I was being taken into custody for the first time, not before. I was alone in my suite when I found that woman in my bed. Julian only said what he did to protect me when everything started pointing my way.” It was her turn to sigh. “But Miller, I didn’t kill that woman and I don’t know anything about what’s happening. That’s the honest-to-God truth.”
It felt like a weight had been lifted from Madi’s chest. It was one less thing to worry about. One less puzzle piece to hold.
Madi waited for the hammer to drop from the detective. For him to gloat about having grounds for arrest. That justice would finally find its way to the Nash family and he’d be the one to do it.
“I believe you.”
Madi felt her eyes widen. They shared a look before his eyes dropped to her stomach. Then he was focused back on the door across from them.
“Really?”
“You’re legitimately scared for your baby. There’s no way in Hades you’d willingly put yourself in the middle of all of this.” He shrugged. “Everyone lies at one point or another but there are some things you just can’t hide. You wanting to keep that little one safe is ingrained like a reflex. But don’t get me wrong, I still think you’re more than capable of killing. I just figure you’d at least wait until the kid was born before you did it.”
Madi snorted.
“Thanks. I think.”
“Don’t thank me.” He tugged on his own restraints. His skin was past raw. Blood was drying around the plastic. He’d put up much more of a fight than she had. “If they are trying to get information out of us, not having that information isn’t going to make our lives easier. It just means they’re going to try even harder to break us.”
Those knots in Madi’s stomach multiplied. He was right. She’d told the man with the knife at Hidden Hills that she didn’t know anything. That hadn’t deterred him. Neither had her pregnancy.
“Julian and my brothers will find us,” she rallied.
It was more for her than it was for him.
“I have no doubt that they’ll try,” he said. “So the new name of the game until someone comes to get us is stalling. If we can’t get out then we’ll have to buy time for someone to get in. Got it?”
Madi nodded.
“Stalling it is.”
They lapsed into silence. It was surreal in a way. There she was, hitched to a bench, next to the only man her father had ever suspected in the triplets’ abduction. The same man who had made clear, publicly, that he hated the Nash family and the love that the community had for them. Madi had seen that hate reflected in her father’s eyes when talking about Miller. It made a lasting impression on Madi.
She hated the man next to her because of it.
Yet maybe hate was too strong a word. He’d been cleared of having any involvement in the abduction and had made a nice career in law enforcement in Kilwin. Most of all, he’d come up with a plan that had spared Julian’s life.
Maybe Christian Miller wasn’t as bad as her father had believed.
Or maybe Madi’s pregnancy hormones were playing tricks on her and Miller was in on the whole thing.
Madi took a deep breath.
Speculating had gotten them nowhere.
The silence stretched for several more minutes before a new sound sliced it clean through.
“Footsteps,” Madi whispered. “Someone’s coming.”
“Remember, stall.”
A dead bolt could be heard retracting as the door was unlocked. Madi didn’t know which hired baddie she hoped to see once the door was pushed open. The man who had seemed delighted to torture her or the man who hadn’t been stingy with ammo when it came to shooting at her.
However, neither man came inside.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Madi breathed out.
Miller wasn’t far behind in his reaction. He swore like the devil.
Nathan Wilson didn’t seem at all offended. He smiled delightedly.
“Oh, believe me, the feeling is mutual,” he greeted. “I’d much rather pack my bags and get out of this hick town, but you know, I’d like my wife to be with me for that. And now look at where we are.”
He made a grand gesture at the room around them. He looked as out of place as Madi felt, wearing a linen suit and brown dress shoes. He just didn’t fit in Overlook, a fact that was even more apparent as he gave them a slow once-over. Nathan looked like he was on the way to see the horse races or attend a fund-raiser at the yacht club. Not popping in on two restrained people in some dilapidated and dusty room.
He dropped his hands to his sides and stopped a few feet from them. His gaze went to their wrists before meeting Miller’s eyes.
“I’m really sorry you got caught up in this, Detective. Truly. I tried to help you, but this one here, well, she had her own help. Help I didn’t bargain for.”
“Help me?” Miller asked, back as straight as he could manage given the ties at his wrists. “How were you helping me?”
Nathan fingered a button on his blazer. It was a casual gesture that made the confusing situation even more bizarre.
“I was making sure she didn’t get away with it. The murder.” He shared a quick look with Madi. She made sure not to avert her gaze. She might not have understood everything going on but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of enjoying her fear. “I’ve done my research on the Nash family,” he continued. “I know all about the unsolved case of the Nash children taken at a park. Held for days, only managing to escape by helping one another. A touching yet scary case for a small town, I’m sure. Especially since there have been no leads or suspects. At least, not since you were accused of being connected to the whole thing. Sure, you were absolved of it but that doesn’t change what happened. A good cop and citizen had his name dragged through the mud because the accuser came from a family that everyone loved. That’s what you said in countless interviews and public statements. Behind closed doors, too, as far as I can tell.” Nathan shook his head. “I wasn’t going to let Loraine’s killer go just because her last name is Nash. Even if it meant conducting my own investigation.”
“I don’t think you can call what you’ve been doing an investigation,” Miller said. “We don’t kidnap and threaten people. We don’t
attack them. What you’re doing isn’t taking justice into your own hands. You’re abusing it because you’re frustrated.”
Nathan laughed.
“Frustrated? You think I’m frustrated?” He shook his head. “All I am is a husband trying to find his wife since it’s clear no one else is doing anything about it. As far as I can tell it’s the law enforcement who are the last to know anything around here. Why would I sit around twiddling my thumbs when I could simply reach into my substantially deep pockets and get you the real culprit? The real murderer.”
Madi felt her cheeks heat up in anger.
“But I didn’t kill anyone,” she replied, trying to keep her voice even. A muscle in Nathan’s jaw twitched. Madi wasn’t the only one trying to keep control of their anger. “You do know that, right? That it wasn’t Loraine’s body that was found?”
“She’s still missing,” he shot back. “And there’s nothing you can say that can convince me you’re not involved.”
“So you’ve been following me?” Madi had to ask, stalling but still trying to find answers. For instance, how in the world his men had managed to ambush them at the tree house. All without being seen. “If you have, then you have to realize I’ve done nothing that warrants your belief that I’m involved with what’s happening.”
Nathan actually scoffed.
“I would have been had you not run away to the only place in this godforsaken town that could keep you hidden and safe,” he said, annoyance obvious. “Which is why I ordered my men to keep an eye on the one man other than myself who would do anything and everything to see you taken from that safe place.” Nathan shared a look with Miller. He actually smiled before turning back to Madi. “When it was clear he was going down Winding Road with purpose, I told them it was time to try to take you two in. My men, they’ve done their homework about the ranch. The layout. They knew when Detective Miller turned off the main road and turned again. There were only a handful of places he could go, all away from any of the houses. The perfect spot to ambush you all. So they waited long enough so as to not raise suspicion before they had to and then simply drove up and parked their vehicle next to yours like guests ready to do some hiking. I’m not surprised Mr. Mercer didn’t hear them following. Then again, I hire the best of the best.” He grinned and motioned between Madi and Miller. “I’m told they were ready to take you then, but when your little fight broke out? Well, they used it to help even the odds in their favor. You were all so busy being angry you never even suspected two men were moving around you and into position inside the tree house.” He laughed. It was unkind.
Credible Alibi Page 15
