“It doesn’t matter that you know where I am. That was part of my plan,” Melody said. “You need to know where I am so Hudson can deliver the money.”
“What money?” Kendra asked even though Melody couldn’t hear her.
“I’ve already called Hudson. He’ll tell you what has to be done if you want Raelyn alive.”
The line went dead.
Now all Kendra could do was imagine what Raelyn must be experiencing. She’d been through enough with her father. She didn’t need to be tortured by a madwoman.
“She needs Raelyn alive,” Roman said. “If she’s dead, she won’t get any money and she knows that.”
“Drive faster.”
* * *
After meeting Cal at the rendezvous point, Kendra rode with Roman toward Snowshoe, a town near the Franklins’ cabin. They and Cal’s team formed a caravan of speeding vehicles, Cal’s leading the way with lights flashing. Roman had a radio in his lap, waiting for word that Hudson had made contact with Melody.
The radio finally crackled to life and Cal’s voice came over the airwaves. “Cal here, over.”
“Roger, over.”
“Hudson said she wants a million dollars in exchange for Raelyn. He told her he doesn’t have that kind of money because she drained their accounts, but she said he better find a way and to try the agency Kendra hired.”
“Tell her DAI will cover the ransom. Let’s stall her for as long as possible to give us time to free Raelyn. Make her think we’re going along with her demands. We don’t want her scared. We need her confident she’s going to escape. If she’s confident, she won’t harm Raelyn.”
“Roger that.”
Kendra reached for the radio from Roman, who handed it to her.
She pressed the Talk lever. “Cal, when will she let Raelyn go?”
She released the lever and the radio crackled as Cal was about to speak. “She didn’t say. She wants the money ready first then she’ll tell us where the exchange will take place.”
Roman took the radio from her and pressed the lever. “It doesn’t matter anyway.”
No, because he would get Raelyn back before Melody got away.
The radio crackled again. “She’ll do anything to maintain her lifestyle as she’s morbidly demonstrated, but she’s messing up now.”
“Taking on law enforcement with a hostage? Yeah.”
“See you in five.”
They were almost at the cabin, which no doubt Melody expected.
Roman used his cell phone to make another call. “I need a bag of money. You know the drill.”
Who had he called? Someone he had already lined up before heading out to the cabin?
Reaching the driveway, Roman parked in front of Cal and two sheriff’s department vans. Officers got out of the last van and dispersed into the trees. They’d surround the cabin. The other van had all the comms.
Cal got out of his car and Hudson from the other side. Roman and Kendra met them on the dirt and gravel driveway. Hudson’s face sagged with gravity.
“Hold your fire until I give the order,” Cal said into the radio he still held. Then to the two of them said, “I had Hudson tell her he was getting the money from DAI.”
“My drop guy should be here any moment.”
“Did you really get all that money?”
“Most of it isn’t real,” Roman said. “We have bags like that on hand for situations like this.”
Cal breathed a laugh. “The more I hear about that company of yours, the more I like them.”
The conversation led to mundane things like the weather and good food, anything to ease some of the tension. All the while, Hudson remained silent, glancing up the road that curved through the trees. The cabin wasn’t visible from here.
A few minutes later, a car drove to a stop in front of them. Roman walked to the driver’s side. A man got out. Almost as tall as Roman, he had a dark, mercenary look to him. Opening the back door, he leaned in and retrieved a black duffel bag and handed it to Roman.
“You stationed somewhere near here?” Kendra barely heard Roman asked the man.
“DC. Kadin asked me to be ready to deliver this to you. I used it in another case.” The man, who didn’t appear to have much humor in him, pitched his head westward. “I found a place about twenty miles from Chesterville. Been vacationing until I got your call.”
“Sorry to interrupt.” Roman grinned.
“It’s the way these things go, isn’t it? You never know when work is going to take you for another ride.”
Roman nodded, still with a grin. “Isn’t that the truth.”
“As long as I’m here, I might as well help. You have a hostage situation going on?”
“We’ve got it covered.” Roman glanced over at Cal.
Kendra followed his gaze. Cal continued to watch, strength and confidence radiating.
“All right. I’m going to go do some fishing.”
“Thanks for coming out here.”
“No problem.” He got into the car and made a U-turn on the highway, giving a salute with two fingers as he passed.
Kendra had the feeling that all three of these men had no girlfriends. She knew Roman didn’t. But all three, and probably many more detectives who worked for the renowned Dark Alley Investigations agency, devoted their lives to justice and vengeance for victims and their families.
Did Melody know DAI could pull off anything and that’s why she’d planned to force them to come up with money? Maybe she wasn’t as incompetent as everyone here seemed to think.
One look at Hudson only convinced her more. He was afraid of his own wife.
Roman returned to the group with the bag in hand.
“Go ahead and call her now,” Cal said to Hudson.
Hudson took his phone out and dialed Melody’s cell number. “I have it.”
“She wants me to bring it to the cabin.”
“Tell her Raelyn goes out of the cabin first,” Roman said.
Hudson relayed the order, then looked up at Roman. “She said no. She wants to be on her way out of here before she lets Raelyn go.”
Roman glanced at Kendra. She could see he knew she didn’t like that plan. It would be risky rushing the cabin with a desperate woman armed and determined to flee. Letting her take Raelyn with the money wasn’t a good plan, either.
Roman shook his head. “Cal, you and I are going to get a look inside that cabin. I want to make sure Raelyn is all right.”
“Roger that.”
“If there’s a way in, we’ll do it. Hudson, you’re going to be the deterrent. You distract Melody while we go in from the back. Try to get Raelyn as close to the back door as you can.”
Hudson nodded.
“Can we trust him?” Kendra asked. “Melody is his wife and he’s taken bribes from criminals. What if he’s been playing us this whole time?”
“I’m not,” Hudson said. “So I took a few bribes. No one really got hurt. I’d never kill anyone. I did it for her.” He looked to the winding road. “I’m not going down for her. She made the decision to kill people, not me. I’m no killer.”
Roman turned to Kendra. “This is our best option.”
Either they trusted Hudson or they rushed in without offering any money. Raelyn’s life would be in much more danger. But if Melody had her hands on the bagful of money, she’d feel as though she were on her way to a rich life somewhere, a life much different than the one she had with Hudson, but one with the money she craved above all else.
Kendra met Roman’s eyes and grew warm with the realization that he awaited her go-ahead.
After a few seconds, she nodded twice.
“That’s my girl.” He hooked an arm around her shoulders and leaned in to kiss her forehead. Moving back, he said, “You two wait here for now.”
&n
bsp; Cal handed her a radio.
* * *
Roman led Cal into the trees toward the cabin, slowing as lighted windows came into view. Hudson and Melody’s cabin. He ran with Cal toward the side of the cabin, out of sight of the front windows. Approaching from the side, he moved along the log siding of the cabin to the first window. It was a bedroom. No one inside. He moved farther along. The next window was the living area. He bobbed his head quickly and spotted Raelyn tied to a chair. Melody paced from the kitchen to the living area holding a pistol in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.
“Raelyn is all right,” he whispered into the radio, letting Kendra know.
“What’s Melody doing?” Cal asked.
“Drinking wine.”
Cal’s head jerked back in disbelief and a few of the other officers chuckled over the airwaves.
“Heading back to the trees,” Roman said. “Send Hudson up.”
Moments later, Kendra and Hudson appeared on the road. Kendra walked to Roman and Cal, and Roman signaled Hudson to go to the cabin. He’d been wired so they could all hear him.
“I’m going in,” Hudson said. “Can you hear me?”
“You’re good,” Roman said. “We’ll be close by.”
A few moments later, Hudson appeared on the dirt driveway, walking toward the cabin with the bag of money. He looked around as though trying to find them, and then focused on the cabin. When he reached the door, it opened. Melody stepped outside.
“What are you doing, Melody?” Hudson asked.
“Give me the money, Hudson.”
He handed her the bag. She took it and dropped it onto the small front porch. Unzipping the top, she reached inside and brought out a bundle and inspected it.
Roman held his breath. Anyone who knew counterfeit money would be able to recognize the bills beneath the top few were fake.
Melody dropped the bundle back into the bag without looking closer.
“Come inside,” she said to Hudson, standing with the bag in hand. He followed her into the cabin.
“Melody, it’s not too late to stop this,” Hudson said.
“Shut up, Hudson. If it weren’t for you, none of this would have happened.”
“You killed your son’s first wife.”
“She would have ruined you. You should be thanking me.”
“You tried to kill his second wife.”
Melody said nothing for a few seconds. “You can go with me. We can start a new life somewhere else.”
“I was wrong for taking bribes, Melody. I should have stopped after helping the mayor’s son.”
“Since when are you so conscientious? You liked our life as much as I did. You aren’t fooling me.” The sound of Melody walking across the room came through the radio in Roman’s ear. “Where are they?”
“Who?”
“The detectives. I know they’re out there.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Raelyn said.
“Be quiet or I’ll shut you up myself.”
“You have the money. Let the girl go, Melody.”
“Not yet. We’re going to go for a ride. If I’m not allowed to get away from here, then I’ll kill her.”
“We can’t let her get in the car with Raelyn,” Roman said.
“I don’t have a clear shot,” the sniper on the team said.
‘I’m going in,” Roman replied.
“I’ll go with you. We’ll go in the back.”
“Let’s move.” Roman left the shelter of the trees, staying out of the line of sight from the front windows of the cabin. Cal followed, jogging to the back of the cabin.
Roman drew his gun and tested the back doorknob. He could see inside through the top half of the door, which was a French-trimmed window.
“Get up,” Melody ordered.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Roman heard Raelyn answer.
“Get up or I’ll shoot you right now.”
Using a rock, Roman smashed one of the small square pieces of glass and reached in to unlock the door.
“Move, move, move!” He heard a team leader say.
As soon as Roman entered, he saw that Raelyn must have gotten free of her ties. She lunged at Melody, grabbing her gun hand. Raelyn forced the gun above their heads. Melody’s eyes all but glowed red with determined rage. Sheer will empowered her. She shoved Raelyn, who lost her grip on the weapon as she stumbled back.
“I said get-in-the-car!”
Roman charged for Melody, who turned to see him just as he reached her. He knocked her gun hand and swiped his foot behind her ankles, sending the gun flying and her dropping to the cabin floor.
He checked on Raelyn, seeing her regain her balance and stand at the other side of the room and Cal going to her to make sure she was all right.
Melody rolled to her hands and knees and climbed to her feet before stumbling toward the door. Roman headed for her as Hudson moved in her way.
“Melody, stop. It’s over,” Hudson said, taking hold of her shoulders.
With an inhuman growl, she shoved him out of her way, grabbed the bag of money and resumed her rush for the door. “I am not going to jail.”
Roman chased after her. Through the front door, he saw Melody making a run for the car parked in front of the porch. He didn’t want to shoot her. As he approached the vehicle, he saw her toss the bag onto the passenger seat and then get in. She leaned over and retrieved something. When she rose up, he saw it was another gun.
He ducked as she shot through the passenger window, shattering the glass.
Roman shot out the front tire and then the rear. Melody tried to drive off anyway. He shot out the other rear tire and she lost control. The car rammed into a tree.
Melody tried to restart the car. Roman reached the rear.
“Get out with your hands up,” he yelled.
Melody twisted in the seat and fired her gun with poor aim. She fired twice more, and then opened the door. With better aim that had him crouching behind the car, she fired again and again until she ran out of bullets.
Then she made a run for it, abandoning the bag of money in her mad dash for freedom.
Kendra emerged from the cover of trees and intercepted the woman, her slender body swooping low and long legs swinging out to catch Melody’s ankle. A shoe went flying as Melody went airborne, arms out and landing facedown on the grassy earth.
Roman pointed his pistol at Melody, who rolled onto her back and stared up at him with crazed eyes.
“Nice job,” he said to Kendra.
“You better not have hurt my niece,” she said to Melody.
Cal appeared from the cabin with Raelyn and Kendra ran to her. Cal walked to Melody with handcuffs as the two women embraced, laughing and crying at the same time. Both of them talking, breathy and fast and unintelligible.
Cal helped Melody to her feet and cuffed her as he read her rights to her.
Hudson stood on the front porch, a couple of officers joining him to make sure he didn’t decide to make his own run for freedom. Roman didn’t think he would. He’d accepted his fate.
Roman walked with Cal, who guided Melody toward the driveway, where officers had driven a van. They stopped before the gathering crowd of officers, Hudson and the two officers from the porch also meeting there.
Hudson approached his wife, face drawn and grave. “Melody...why?” He didn’t seem able to understand.
“Why do you think?” Melody spat.
Hudson looked at her as though seeing a stranger. “You were going to ransom a woman for money and leave? You were going to leave me?”
“As if you would have ever done something to protect us. I had to be the one.”
“No, Melody, you didn’t.”
“If it weren’t for me, you’d already be in jail!”
“Doesn’t that matter to you?”
“I never asked you to do any of this.”
Melody gaped at him, and then grew incensed. Cal handed her over to a waiting officer, who opened the van and put her in the back.
Chapter 21
Roman walked along the street toward Kendra’s shop. He hadn’t slept much the last two nights. After he, Kendra and Cal had talked awhile the night before last, Kendra had decided to go home and take Raelyn with her. He hadn’t heard from her since, and he hadn’t tried to call. She no longer had to worry about a killer on the loose so there was no longer any need for her to stay with him. There was no longer any need for him to stay in Chesterville, but here he was, still in Chesterville.
The way Kendra had looked at him as they were about to disperse and go their own ways stayed on his mind. That’s what had kept him from sleeping. Had that look been an indication that she would withdraw and turn him away, or had she been disappointed that she wouldn’t be seeing him every day anymore? He’d have to go home now.
Funny how Wyoming didn’t feel like home anymore. Chesterville was his home. Always had been. After college, he hadn’t returned except to see his parents. Reflecting back, he didn’t feel like the same man who’d arrived. He’d come here solely to check into Kaelyn’s death. He’d come to do a job. He’d come to dispel the need for an investigation and had been ambitious to solve his other active case. No matter, when he’d arrived, he’d been all about work, but from the first moment he’d met Kendra in person he’d been drawn to her.
He hadn’t coerced her to go to that pub and play pool with him for the sake of his work. He’d coerced her because he had been drawn to her—on a personal level. From then on, she’d challenged the core beliefs that he lived by.
He hadn’t avoided his parents because he compared himself to them or felt they didn’t approve of his choices. He’d avoided them because, until now, he hadn’t thought he had made the right choices for himself. He always felt he’d followed in their footsteps—or tried to. The truth was, he hadn’t done either of those things. He’d always been interested in crime, mysteries. As he grew older, that transitioned to a desire to seek justice for victims of crimes. Maybe his father had introduced him to that line of work. It didn’t matter what led him there; what mattered is he got where he was because his heart had led him the entire way. Not his parents. Not anyone. Only himself.
Hometown Detective (Cold Case Detectives Book 6) Page 21
