by Lisa Harris
Gray sighed. “A couple of politicians. Two that people wouldn’t suspect are working together because they come from different sides of the aisle.”
Case plunked a pen onto the notepad in front of him and shoved it across the table to Gray. “You know the drill. We need all of this in writing. Every detail you can think of.”
Gray’s eyes were full of moisture again. “You’re going to have to protect me. These people are ruthless.”
Case rose, and Damien followed suit. “We’ll get to work on that. You just write.”
Outside the room, Case settled a hand on Damien’s shoulder. “I’ll get the warrants. You call Parker. He needs to hear about this woman who lives on the islands. He might know her.”
Damien dialed Holden’s number, but it rang clean through to voicemail. He left him a message. Then for good measure, fired off a text too.
He had that tremor of exhilaration in his gut. This investigation was finally coming together.
“Oh, dear Jesus.” Camryn was still in the dining room. She covered her mouth. “Oh. Dear. Jesus!”
She couldn’t move. All she could do was stare at Holden lying there partially hidden from her view.
And then Kate stepped through the door, gun pointed at her. “Don’t worry. Everything is under control now.”
“You killed him!” Camryn trembled from head to toe.
“Yes. But that’s okay because it’s fixed my problem. Well, at least part of it.”
Momentarily speechless, Camryn could only stare at her.
“You see, when I killed Jay, I wasn’t sure how I was going to cover it up. But this”—she swept a hand to indicate Holden—“provides it. Jay and Holden killed each other. Why they did so will always remain a mystery. Of course, there will always be those who question it.” She rambled on, talking to herself, but Camryn was fixated on only a single thought.
Kate speaking to her this freely could only mean one thing.
She was next.
“Yes, they’ve nicely fixed my problem. I’ll only have to set up a few things.” Kate suddenly quit talking, her gaze narrowing on Camryn. “But you, on the other hand, are still a problem.” She waved the gun, pointing Camryn toward the back door. “Come on. We’re going for a little walk.”
Camryn fought through her shock. She’d better simply do as asked and pray for a way out to present itself. Since her own coat remained upstairs, she reached for the leather coat Holden had worn earlier, which hung on the rack. A sob caught in her throat as his cologne wafted to her.
“No,” Kate snapped. “You won’t be needing it anyhow.” Her lips thinned into a chilly smile. “Out.”
Camryn folded her arms against the biting wind as she stepped onto the back patio, as directed. “Why am I a problem?”
“Because I can’t know what that nosy cop may have told you about the meeting he recorded. And because a lot of money is on the line. Not that trail,” she barked when Camryn started to take the main path down the hill toward the clearing she was familiar with. “Keep walking. Through the woods there.” She directed her toward the far end of the property.
Realization slammed into Camryn. The person in the shadows of that video must have been Kate.
“Move!”
Camryn trembled as she stepped off the patio and crossed the lawn toward the towering evergreens that edged the property. She let her gaze wander to the wondrous beauty stretched before her. Sometime in the past hour, another layer of fine snow had started to fall. The islands in the distance were gray mounds through a misty haze, and today the water had taken on a gray reflection of the sky. Was this to be her last view of earth?
Fitting, she supposed, that it should be of something dull and drab and gray. Because she was about to step through eternity’s veil and into the most glorious sights and joys she’d ever experienced.
A wash of peace flooded her like she’d never experienced before, and she choked back a sob. Not a sob of terror for what was about to befall her, but a sob of sudden joy because she realized that she truly did believe. God had heard her prayer! She was awash, filled, flooded with belief!
In a few moments, she would step into heaven. And Holden, who had encouraged her so much in her faith, would be there to greet her. This time the sob that caught in her throat was one of sorrow mixed with joy. “Thank you, Jesus! I trust You. I believe.”
“Stop that mumbling,” Kate growled. “Go left. Through that brush there. Hurry up. I have to get back to the house and get Jay’s body moved into position.”
The sharp words jolted Camryn’s focus from thoughts of heaven. And made her realize how biting the wind was. Her joints already ached with chill.
They were fully in the trees now, and she’d lost the view of the water except for brief glimpses of gray through the trees and thick underbrush.
Kate pushed her toward a once-used path overgrown by a thicket of salal. Icy water soaked into her clothes as she pushed through, and sharp leaves scratched her arms. The land sloped downward steeply.
“Keep going.” Kate prodded her in the back with the barrel of the gun. “We’re almost there. Faster.”
Camryn folded her arms tight against herself. What had Holden’s survival rules been again? Layers was the first rule, and Kate had deprived her of that.
She needed to distract herself from this misery. “Where are you taking me?”
“Someplace your body will never be found.”
Camryn fought through the panic those words raised. Lord, I need your strength. I do believe. Help me not to be scared. More as an afterthought she tacked on, Please, save me.
The video recording she’d shown to Holden—had it been only a few minutes ago?—came to mind. And suddenly she wanted to fight back. She wanted to be there to attend Holden’s memorial and see how his life had affected others like it had hers. Then she wanted to live a life of thankfulness and purpose because of his sacrifice for her. But no matter her wants, the chances of ever getting to do any of those things were slim. Still, if she was going to die, at least she could plant some doubts in the woman’s mind about her continued safety. Maybe that would make her think twice before doing something like this again.
Camryn stepped over a thick tree root and pushed past her queasiness. “You were in the recording about the riots. The one with Soren Bane and Carter Cranston. Along with—”
“What do you know about that?” Kate grabbed her arm and yanked her around to face her.
For the first time, Camryn felt a measure of power over this woman. Not that it was going to get her anywhere. The Jumpdrive was still plugged into Holden’s computer in the house. The thought of Holden sprawled on the carpet threatened to take her to her knees. But she had to think. Because it was her only leverage.
But what should she say about it? She could lie and say the recording had been sent to the authorities. It would be satisfying, even if fruitless. She brushed a lock of damp hair from her face. Despite the fact that they were under the trees, everything dripped and a fine mist penetrated bone deep. If she could just get warm, maybe she’d be able to think more clearly. She willed her teeth not to chatter. She didn’t want to give Kate the satisfaction.
A niggling question lingered. “I don’t understand why you killed Jay.”
Kate leveled the gun at her head. “You tell me what you know about that recording, or I’ll end you here and now.”
Camryn swallowed and took a risk. “No. You won’t. Because for some reason I don’t understand, you don’t want my body to be found. Why is that, anyhow?”
“Because if you are found here, that will link Holden’s and Jay’s deaths back to the events happening in Everett. And that can’t happen. It could ruin everything.”
A memory slammed through her mind. Jay in the kitchen, standing behind her with that big knife. “You wanted Jay to kill me, didn’t you? You’re linked to the death of that poor undercover officer. But how?”
Kate gritted a sound low in her throat. �
�Keep moving.”
Camryn’s boldness climbed another notch. “Not until you answer my questions. I doubt you want to drag the dead weight of my body all the way to this hiding place you’ve spoken about.”
Kate swore. “If the deaths of the three officers are linked to the riots, it will build a fuel of resistance in all those business owners. For our plan to work, we need them to simply want to sell and move elsewhere. Buy low. Sell high. It’s truly simple if you have all the right players and pay a few people to lead the mob.”
Confirmation of what Holden had told her. These riots were all about money.
She glanced through the dripping trees, pondering what else she could do to delay the inevitable. “You never told me why you killed Jay.”
“I killed him because he turned traitor. I birthed that boy! His allegiance should have been to me! But I overheard him on the phone. He planned to tell Holden all about me.” Kate’s eyes glittered. “He could have solved all our problems. I laid the plan out perfectly.”
“What plan was that?”
“You ask a lot of questions. Shut up and move now, or I’ll shoot you right here and roll your body down the hill into the water.”
There was a glitter of truth in Kate’s eyes this time, and Camryn believed her.
“Fine. I’m moving.” With a shudder, she spun to face the trail once more. It was steep enough here that she couldn’t keep her arms folded and maintain her balance, but at least if she walked, she’d keep her blood flowing—and maybe get to live for a few more minutes. She picked her way down the hill as slowly as she could without raising Kate’s ire.
“He was supposed to kill you. Jay was. Then he was to make it look like someone had broken into the house and knocked him out, so when Holden got home, he would assume you’d been killed by the people he was trying to protect you from—which I suppose would have been true.”
Camryn propped her hand against a trunk and navigated the tangled roots of another large evergreen. “I’m glad your son had more compassion and integrity than you do.”
Kate huffed. “He was weak. Perhaps if I’d kept him all those years ago, I could have whipped some strength into him. Ahh! Here we are.”
Camryn lifted her gaze from where she’d been concentrating on putting her feet to see that the steep hill of trees had given way to a rocky shore. A small cinder block platform peeped out from a cascade of blackberry brambles. To her horror, the ocean lapped right at the shoreline side of the structure. Ice encased the sides, but from here it looked like someone had built a large cinder-block deck over the water. It was built to hug the angle of the hillside that Camryn knew would continue beneath the surface of the water. It was likely that the waters here got deep almost immediately. The walls nearest them were only a few cinder blocks high, but out in the water, they rose ten or twelve feet to maintain a level. What was this place?
Wind gusted, tightening the gooseflesh on her dampened arms.
Kate gestured with the barrel of the gun. “Move the blackberries back right here.”
Camryn pushed down nausea as she stepped forward, again only complying because it would delay the inevitable.
Most of the brambles sported tiny dangling icicles, but by this time her hands were so numb, cold was redundant. She tried to grasp the brush carefully, but with her numb fingers, her hands were clumsy. A thorn caught on her thumb and cinched a series of thorns into her palm. She cried out and yanked her hands back. Bloody scratches stretched the length of one palm.
She looked at Kate.
“I said move them!”
Camryn’s gaze fell on a broken off tree branch. She lifted it and used it to push the remaining canes away from the structure. This revealed an inset into one wall part way down, with three stone steps that led down to a narrow metal door.
Kate nodded her head toward it. “Go.”
Camryn eyed the water lapping only two feet away. Terror clawed at her throat. If the tide rose any higher, it would fill the well of the steps and likely flood the interior of whatever this strange building was.
The end of Kate’s pistol thumped into the back of Camryn’s head. “Move.”
Camryn descended one step. Two steps. Three steps. She placed her hand on the door’s old lever handle. Closed her eyes. Willed herself to strength. Whatever lay on the other side of this door, she knew the moment she stepped inside would be her last.
Chapter Twenty
Damien sat in the passenger seat as Case drove. His phone, which he’d shoved into his back pocket when he left his desk, was gouging into his hip. He tugged it free. The screen showed that he’d missed an email about an hour ago, but he didn’t have time to look at it right now, so he simply shut off the screen and shoved the phone into the front pocket of his vest.
Gray’s written statement had been enlightening.
Given the tenor of all that had happened in the world over the past few months, they hadn’t had any trouble getting a conservative-leaning judge to give them a warrant for the arrest of not only Laurence Miller, but also Kirk Vossler, Kate Dollinger, and the two politicians. Gray had left Jack Kingston out of his statement altogether, and when they’d prodded him about the man, he’d said he didn’t think Kingston was in on any of Miller’s shady dealings. They’d have to bring him in for questioning to be sure, but Damien felt certain he would be cleared.
Gray hadn’t known where Vossler was holed up, though he’d sworn up and down that it had to be nearby.
Ed still hadn’t said a word after lawyering up.
But Damien had an idea that if Gray was right and Vossler was nearby, Miller might lead them to him. So instead of having Miller followed by some uniform who could potentially only be clocking in and clocking out, they’d taken on the detail themselves. Case had borrowed his wife’s mid-sized gray sedan for the tail. And now they were trailing several blocks behind Miller’s cruiser.
“I think he’s slowing down.” Case said.
Damien lifted the binoculars and studied the unit ahead. “He just pulled into that parking lot. He’s getting out.”
Case leaned forward and pointed up at the spinning neon pine-tree sign. “Evergreen Motel. What do you want to bet our jailbird found himself a tree to land in?”
Damien nodded. “And is getting visited by a snake.”
“All right, then,” Case said. “Let’s do this.”
Damien was already donning his bulletproof vest.
The high-pitched whine of a boat motor cut through the air. Camryn froze. From down in this door well, she couldn’t see anything, but behind her on the top step, Kate swore.
“Get in there!” Kate jumped down the stairs and shoved her hard from behind, causing Camryn’s body to crash into the door.
Since her hand was already on the door handle, it gave way beneath her weight, and she tried to catch herself as the door burst open.
Kate shoved her again, harder, panic chopping her breaths.
Camryn stumbled through the doorway, into a thick cloak of darkness.
Outside, the motor of the boat cut and someone hollered, “Kate? Was that you?”
Kate’s vile words filled the black.
Camryn hunched her shoulders and tried to get her bearings. Willed her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Willed herself not to panic at the sound she heard—the sound of waves lapping and echoing in the hollow of a room.
“Kate Dollinger?” the voice from outside called again.
“Don’t worry, Camryn. I’ll be back for you in a moment.” Kate pushed her and Camryn lurched forward. But where she’d expected her foot to meet the ground, there was nothing. Nothing but the ice-cold waters of the Salish Sea sweeping over her head.
It didn’t take long for the motel’s front desk employee, a blond, ponytailed kid with the scraggliest beard Damien had ever seen, to recognize Vossler and hand over the spare keys to his room.
“Is there a second way out of the room?” Case asked.
Ponytail shook his head.
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“Windows? Even small ones?”
Another shake of his head. “The only windows in our units are on the parking lot side of the structure. The bathrooms are at the back and there are no windows or doors back there.”
“How about a door into another room?”
“Not in his room.”
“Thanks, kid.”
They hurried down the walkway and, when they reached Vossler’s door, Damien took one side and Case the other.
Damien waited, tense, gun drawn, and one shoulder planted into the wall, while Case spat on the key several times. It was a lubricating trick to make the key slide more silently into the doorknob.
Case lifted a brow at Damien.
Damien braced himself, gun at the ready, and gave him a nod. Adrenaline spiked through him, as it did every time he faced a situation like this. He could only offer up the briefest of prayers, as Case thrust the key home and turned the knob.
Damien burst into the room. “Police! Don’t move!”
Vossler and Miller stood on the other side of a bed. Vossler was handing Miller an envelope. They spun toward the door, shock stretching their faces.
“Hands in the air!”
Miller dropped the envelope, hand sweeping toward his gun.
“Don’t do it, Miller! Hands up!” Case barked from just behind and to Damien’s left.
“All right, all right, all right!” Miller thrust his hands into the air. “Don’t shoot.”
Vossler froze for one second. And then he cursed Miller. “You led them right to me!” He lunged at Miller and came up with his gun.
Miller still had his hands raised. “Vossler, don’t—”
Vossler shot him through the forehead.
Miller was still falling to the ground as Vossler swung the gun toward Damien.
Case and Damien both fired at the same time. Both bullets took the man through the chest. His shot went wild, and then the gun slipped from his hand and clattered into the corner of the room. His body hit the floor only seconds after Miller’s.
