Garden of Secrets

by Barbara Freethy

  “Did something bad happen?”

  “We’re not sure yet.”

  As they walked down the street, Joe paused by Charlotte’s car. The doors were unlocked, and her cell phone was lying on the passenger seat. His stomach flipped over. “Why would she leave her phone?” he muttered. He picked it up and looked at the last call. It was from him. She hadn’t called or received a call from anyone since then, more than two hours ago now.

  He turned to Andrew, who had paled considerably.

  Andrew immediately shook his head as if trying to convince himself everything was all right. “She just forgot her phone. Charlotte does that sometimes. She’s always hard to get hold of.”

  “She picks up when I call,” he said.

  Andrew gave him an irritated look. “What now?”

  “We find them.”

  When they arrived at the station, Andrew took off to look for Charlotte. As much as Joe wanted to do that himself, he needed to get hold of Jason and get a search under way for Pamela and Mitch. He didn’t know if they were guilty of anything, but blood in the hotel room and Charlotte’s unreachability had him very concerned. He prayed that Charlotte was okay. She was a strong, brave woman, but something had happened suddenly. What?

  Charlotte felt a throbbing pain in the back of her head. She wanted to move, but it hurt so much she was afraid to try. Voices made their way through the thick fog in her brain. A man and a woman—Pamela and the man who’d pointed a gun at her and ordered her to move. He’d hit her and knocked her out, she realized.

  Where was she? There wasn’t any movement, so they weren’t in a car. She wanted to open her eyes, but instinct told her it would be better if she pretended to be unconscious.

  “We shouldn’t have brought her with us,” Pamela said.

  “We didn’t have a choice. She knows too much.”

  “What are you going to do?” There was fear in Pamela’s voice.

  “Make it look like an accident.”

  Charlotte’s heart began to pound. She told herself to breathe, to stay calm. She had to think—not act impulsively for once in her life.

  “You can’t kill her. This isn’t what I agreed to,” Pamela complained. “Stealing the jewelry is one thing. Murder is another.”

  “Shit happens,” he said coldly. “This is your fault. I told you to come back to L.A. But you had to hang around, catch up with the old boyfriend, make nice with your sister and pretend you care about her.”

  “I do care about her. I didn’t want Theresa to get hurt. I just wanted some of what she had. The rest was an accident.”

  “I’m sure the cops will believe you.”

  “Mitch, this is wrong. This is going too far.”

  Mitch? There had been a Mitch in their class. Mitch Harding. Was it the same guy? He had looked a little familiar—what on earth had happened to him? And to Pamela, too? She’d never imagined that Pamela was capable of robbing her own sister or being involved with a kidnapping, maybe murder.

  She didn’t want to think about that. Maybe Pamela could get through to Mitch.

  “There is no ‘too far,’ ” Mitch said with deadly intent. “And there’s no other way out.”

  “People saw Charlotte with me. The clerk in the inn, probably some other people. It’s going to point to me. And a lot of people in this town know we don’t get along.”

  “Better you than me.”

  “We have to find another way out,” Pamela said desperately. “We’ll go to Andrew—he’ll help us. As long as we don’t kill Charlotte, we can get out. We can give the jewelry back. My sister won’t press charges. And Andrew will get Charlotte to keep quiet.”

  “You’re dreaming, babe. Your sister isn’t going to forgive you for almost killing her. And Andrew doesn’t give a shit about you. He never did.”

  “I thought you did,” Pamela said. “I thought you loved me, Mitch. Now you want me to go down for murder?”

  “No one is going down. We’ll make it look like an accident. She got lost and fell off a cliff.”

  “That won’t work.”

  “We won’t stick around long enough to find out. This is just to buy us some time. When we’re in Mexico with our money, life will be sweet. Just think about that.”

  There was a pause, and then Pamela said, “Where are you going?”

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I need to get some stuff out of the car.”

  Charlotte heard a door open, and a cold damp wind hit her face. She could smell salt air—they were close to the beach. Then the door slammed shut.

  If she was going to do anything, she needed to do it while Mitch was gone. Fighting the pain in her head, she opened her eyes. She was lying on a hard wooden floor, her hands tied behind her back. They were in a cabin. One of the summer rentals, judging by the sparse decor and cheap furniture. As she tried to lift her aching head, Pamela came into view.

  “Help me,” she said, her voice thick.

  Pamela stared at her in shock. “There’s nothing I can do, Charlotte. I was hoping you wouldn’t wake up, wouldn’t know what was about to happen to you. Maybe I should knock you out again. At least then you won’t suffer.”

  Charlotte rolled onto her knees, sending waves of pain through her head, but she fought past them. “You can help me get away.”

  “He’ll find you,” Pamela said dully, as if she’d lost her will to fight.

  “Not if the police find him first. Untie my hands.”

  “It’s duct tape.”

  She looked wildly around the room. There were two doors, one off the living room, another off the small kitchen. An upstairs loft and a bathroom were the only other rooms. “Which way did he go?”

  “Out the front to the car.”

  She stumbled to her feet. “Come with me.”

  Pamela stared at her in shock. “Why?”

  “Because neither one of us wants to die.”

  “I’ll go to prison.”

  “But you won’t be dead. Please help me.” She moved toward the back door. She stared at the doorknob in dismay. Such a simple thing but such a huge barrier to her escape.

  Then Pamela pulled out a knife, grabbed her arms, and sliced through the duct tape. They exchanged a quick look as Charlotte opened the door.

  As they left the cabin, thunder shook the earth, lightning lit up the sky, and rain poured down on them. The storm had arrived. It was black as night, and the area surrounding the cabin was thickly wooded.

  “Where are we?” Charlotte asked as they ran for the trees.

  “Near Bonfire Beach.”

  Of course they were, she thought ironically. She’d run through these woods the night she’d seen Andrew and Pamela hook up. Ending up here seemed only fitting.

  Then a man’s voice rang through the air; Mitch was coming after them. Charlotte ran faster, praying for escape, or at least somewhere to hide.

  “I can’t find Charlotte,” Andrew said as he reentered Joe’s office. “I’ve been everywhere. No one at her house has seen her. She hasn’t been in touch with Kara or Lauren. She hasn’t been at the hospital. The only one who saw her today is the clerk at the inn.”

  “Then we have to assume that she’s with Pamela, and probably Mitch.” Joe’s stomach turned over. While Andrew had been searching for Charlotte, he’d dug up a lot of information on Mitch Harding, and it was seriously bad. “I’ve got everyone out looking for them, but you know them the best. Where would they take her?”

  “L.A.?”

  “Too far. Too risky. If they’ve got Charlotte, they’ll want to do something about her right away.”

  Andrew stared at him in shock. “How can you speak so calmly about it? I thought you cared about her. I thought she was important to you.”

  “She is very important to me, but I have to be calm. Thinking like a cop is the only way we’re going to get her back safely.” He forced his fear away; emotion would get in the way. “You need to think logically, too. You said you lived with Mitch and Pamel
a, so you know how they think.”

  Andrew ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I don’t know.”

  “Is there anyone else in Angel’s Bay who would help them hide out somewhere?”

  “Pamela doesn’t have any family aside from Theresa. No friends that I’m aware of, and Mitch’s parents left a decade ago.”

  “But they both grew up here. They know this town. They know where to hide. And so do you.”

  “There were a few places we always went in high school. Some of them are gone now or boarded up like the Ramsay House.” Andrew paused, then a light came into his eyes, “The summer cabins. There are three of them out by Bonfire Beach. They’re usually deserted in the winter.”

  “Charlotte mentioned that beach.”

  “The cabins are in the woods. I can show you where they are.”

  “I’m sure someone in the department can tell me.”

  “You just said they’re all out looking for Charlotte. I’m your best bet, Chief. And I want to find Charlotte as much as you do.”

  As much as Joe hated to admit it, Andrew was right. And there was no time to waste arguing.

  Charlotte was soaked and lost and terrified that every crash behind them was Mitch getting closer. Pamela was starting to tire, her breath coming hard. She stumbled and fell, and Charlotte stopped to help her up.

  “I can’t run anymore,” she gasped.

  “You have to. We’re not far enough away. We have to get back to town, or at least somewhere more public than this.”

  “I’ll be arrested.”

  “I don’t know what’s up ahead for you, but I know who’s behind us. And he’s not going to thank you for helping me escape.”

  “He’ll probably kill me, too. Maybe that’s the way it should be. I told Andrew yesterday that I was too far gone to be saved, but he wanted to try. After everything, he still had some hope that he could put me on the right path.”

  “Andrew knew you stole the jewelry?” she asked in shock. “I can’t believe he didn’t go to the police, that he would protect you.”

  “He didn’t know for sure.” Pamela paused. “I didn’t think there was a line I wouldn’t cross, but when Mitch told me he was going to kill you, I suddenly found one. I don’t like you, but I don’t want you dead.”

  “Likewise. We have to keep going,” she said, looking behind Pamela, wishing there was more light to see through the trees.

  “I’m just going to slow you down. Save yourself. And if you do, tell Andrew he can thank me sometime for getting his girl back to him.”

  “I’m not his girl, Pamela. Not anymore. Now get off your ass and start running, because I’m not going without you.” She grabbed Pamela’s hand and yanked her to her feet, dragging her along through the woods.

  After a while, Pamela began to lag again, and she finally collapsed on the ground.

  “My side is cramping. I can’t go any farther.”

  A thunderous blast echoed through the woods, and Charlotte jumped back as the trees next to her exploded from a lightning strike. A branch hit her hard on the shoulder, knocking her to the ground, and it took her a minute to wrestle free of the branches. She looked over at Pamela, who was almost buried beneath the large branches of the tree. She moved as close as she could get. “Are you all right?”

  “I can’t get my foot out,” Pamela said, struggling to free herself.

  Charlotte grabbed the branches, trying to move them.

  “It’s no use. Just stop.” Pamela said.

  “Dammit, Pamela—”

  “Take this.” Pamela handed her the bag with the jewelry. “If I don’t get out of here, give them to my sister and tell her I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not leaving you—”

  “You don’t have a choice. I’m stuck, and unless you have a chain saw, I’m not going anywhere. Cover me up with the branches. With any luck, if Mitch comes by, he won’t see me, and he’ll keep on running.”

  Charlotte quickly grabbed as much loose brush as she could find, covering Pamela as best she could. “I’ll come back for you later.” Then she raced through the woods.

  A wisp of white caught her eye, and anticipation raced through her as Mary Katherine’s ghostly figure took shape, beckoning her to follow. And she did. Because right now, she really needed a miracle—and who better than an angel to provide one?

  “They’re gone,” Andrew said with disappointment as they searched the cabin.

  “But they were here, and not long ago,” Joe replied, having more trouble keeping the fear away now. “The car out front is still warm. Stay here. Backup is on the way.” He headed out the kitchen door, pulling out his gun.

  “I’m going with you,” Andrew said, right on his heels.

  “No, you’re not. I can’t guarantee your safety.”

  “Fuck my safety. I’m going after Charlotte. And you can’t stop me.”

  “Then stay behind me.” There was a rough path through the trees; maybe it would lead them to Charlotte.

  They ran quickly and silently through the woods, listening acutely for any voices. But it was hard to hear anything over the roar of wind, the cracks of thunder and lightning.

  Joe didn’t know how long they’d been running, but they didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. And there was no sign of anyone.

  “We could be going the wrong way,” Andrew said breathlessly. “Maybe they went in the other direction.”

  “You said the beach was this way.”

  “I thought it was, but we should have hit it by now.”

  Joe slowed down for a moment, scanning the woods, and flash of white caught his attention. “Over there,” he said.

  “What?” Andrew asked.

  “I saw someone.” He sped up, seeing another glimpse of light in the shadows.

  “I don’t see anything,” Andrew said, running behind him.

  “It’s a woman, I think.”

  But as the figure appeared again, he thought it looked more like a girl. He blinked rapidly, wondering if she was some sort of a mirage. “Do you see her?” he asked.

  “I don’t see anything but trees.”

  “She’s right up ahead.”

  The girl was motioning for him to follow her, and as he ran, her words rang through his head. “Charlotte’s in trouble. She needs you.”

  He was either having a hallucination, or he’d just seen an angel. Either way, he was going to follow her. She was the only lead he had.

  She’d ended up near the garden, Charlotte saw with amazement, the flowers the only color on the black, stormy landscape. She was still yards away when she glanced back and saw Mitch come out of the trees after her. He raised his gun.

  Oh, God! She ran as hard and as fast as she could, zigzagging to the right and the left so he couldn’t take a clean shot at her, but any moment, she expected a bullet to take her down.

  When she reached the garden, she panicked. What to do now? Keep going? There was nothing but open land for the next half mile. Try to get down to the beach? There were plenty of boulders to hide behind, but could she make it down the steep, slippery hillside?

  Mary Katherine seemed to have disappeared, so she was going to have to save herself.

  A blast went off, and she instinctively ducked. As she did so, she tripped, her stumbling feet ripping up the beautiful flowers. She felt a momentary regret as she scrambled over the edge of the bluff.

  It was a terrible mistake. The hillside was steeper than she’d thought. The tide was coming in, so there was no beach. The waves were huge, hitting the coast with tremendous force, and the pounding was stripping away rocks and dirt from the surrounding cliffs. She’d gone only ten feet when a large chunk of ground a couple of yards ahead broke apart, the dirt and rocks sliding into the sea.

  She froze, uncertain of the ground under her feet. If she went farther down, there was a good chance she would die in the turbulent sea and screaming whitecaps. But if she went back up to the bluff, where Mitch was looking for her, she c
ould die as well. She was trapped

  It didn’t take him long to see her in her bright clothes. There was no escape. She was caught. Mitch lifted the gun, taking his time since she had nowhere to go.

  Desperate, Charlotte pulled the baggie out of her pocket and held it up, the gold and diamond sparkling in the lightning flashes. “If you kill me, you won’t get these back!” she shouted over the storm. “We can work something out. I won’t say anything. No one has to know.”

  “Where’s Pamela?” he asked, looking around.

  “Headed to the police department to turn you in,” she lied. “You won’t get away.”

  “Neither will you,” he said, aiming the gun at her.

  She instinctively dropped to the ground, making herself as small a target as possible. A blast filled the air. A gunshot? Lightning? She was too afraid to look. Holding her breath, she waited for the bullet to hit her.

  Another blast followed, but there was still no pain. He’d missed her again.

  Or was he even shooting?

  The ground around her was shaking as lightning streaked across the sky like fireworks. Lifting her head, she saw the bluff splitting apart, huge chunks of ground falling down the hill in a torrent of mud and flowers. The garden was falling into the sea.

  And along with it was Mitch.

  She saw the stupefied expression on his face as he landed on his back, as he struggled to find something to hold on to against the pull of nature. But the elements were too strong for him. With a scream of fury, the sea roared up and swallowed everything within reach.

  She was on an island now, and she clung to the sodden grass. There was at least five feet of nothingness between her and the remaining bluff. Down below, the waves were churning. She had to find a way out.

  “Charlotte!” Joe yelled.

  His voice shocked her to the core. How on earth had he found her? And Andrew was right behind him.

  “Hold on!” Joe yelled, looking around for something to bridge the gap.

  But she knew he would find nothing. There was no branch to hold out, no rope to toss.

  Joe soon came to the same conclusion. “Go back to the cabin,” he told Andrew. “Get rope, a pole, a board—something.”