But he hadn’t counted on Talbot coming to him and asking for a place to stay or for him to see the photos he’d taken of Anissa. When he caught him sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night, he’d had no choice. He couldn’t risk Talbot blabbing to the police.
Harvey lit that pitiful excuse for a cabin on fire, hoping they’d search the debris for a body and wouldn’t find Talbot for several more days.
He never dreamed they’d search the lake again.
But none of that mattered now.
He’d have his revenge on Anissa and on this entire wretched town.
He looked at the canoe bobbing in the camp lake. He hoped the girl would stay asleep. He’d gone to a lot of trouble not to kill her all those years ago. Anissa had been the target. The kid had been an accident. She’d started crying and he’d scooped her up to avoid the attention of the other people at the park.
Then he realized he didn’t have Anissa after all. It only took a second to kill the girl. But the kid . . .
He’d never planned to kill a kid.
He’d done a lot of bad things, but killing kids had never been something he’d set out to do. Even today, he’d given her a drug with amnesiac properties. She wouldn’t remember anything. Including his face.
He waited.
Anissa would be there soon.
27
Anissa pulled over in a gas station parking lot.
She sent up a prayer as she texted one word.
Where?
Don’t you recognize it?
He was playing games with her. Great. She thought about calling him by name but reconsidered. At this point, it was possible that he had no idea they were on to him. She had no certainty about what would happen over the next few hours, but she did know Gabe would never stop hunting for Harvey Dixon.
She studied the photo. Oh no. She did know that water. She knew that place.
He’d taken Liz to Camp Blackstone.
The campers were gone. Staff gone. No one was supposed to be there until they’d sorted out the water situation. The place was the stuff of the environmental guys’ nightmares. Too close to Lake Porter for comfort. Too contaminated to let anyone stay.
But that meant Harvey Dixon had been in the area. Knew the area well enough to know the camp—normally bustling with kids—was closed.
On my way.
She pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway.
Come alone or she dies. At this distance I’ll put a bullet in her heart.
Anissa stared at her phone.
How would he know if she called for help? Was he watching her? Had he bugged her car again? Her phone?
He could be bluffing.
She couldn’t risk it.
Lord, be with Liz. If she wakes, help her be calm. Be with Brooke when she realizes Liz is gone. Be with Gabe.
She didn’t dare pray the words out loud, although she longed to. Instead, she repeated them, again and again. Not because she didn’t think God had heard her, but because she needed to keep talking to him to remind herself that she wasn’t alone. Not now. Not ever.
Flashes of Carly’s decaying body forced themselves past the barriers she usually kept in place.
Would that be her in a few days? Rotting flesh? Family mourning? Gabe—
She shook her head. No. She wouldn’t go there. She didn’t have the luxury of worrying about herself right now. She had to save Liz. After that, God could take her. She certainly deserved to die to save Liz. She was willing to do it.
But for the first time in thirteen years, she knew, all the way to her core, that God didn’t work that way. Yes, there were consequences for sin. But God wasn’t ready to smite her. If she died today, it wouldn’t be punishment for mistakes. It would be because Harvey Dixon was evil.
And she knew something Harvey Dixon didn’t know.
Help was coming.
The next half hour was a blur for Gabe.
Paisley banging on the door of the theater, demanding to see her sister. Thanking him for protecting Brooke. Not that he’d done anything. Promising him whatever he needed, including, heaven help him, the news chopper currently hovering over the theater.
Sabrina calling him, demanding in her most professorial tone that he send all footage directly to her and making it quite clear she would be offended if he even tried to involve the forensics team in this matter. Their forensics group was great, but no one could argue with Sabrina’s superiority in skill and resources.
Adam going to Sabrina’s lab to work with her from there.
Ryan taking one for the team and volunteering to tell Mr. and Mrs. Davidson and Velma that Liz/Jillian had been kidnapped—again.
The captain, the sheriff, the city police, including his buddy Claire Tollison, all converging on the theater. Every law enforcement officer in the state looking for Anissa’s car.
Then Sabrina called.
“I found her car.”
“What? How? Where?”
“She’s at Camp Blackstone. She’s been there for five minutes. Tops. Her phone is on the property as well. Adam is on the phone with Dispatch. He’s sending everyone, but no sirens and no one is to approach without permission in case there’s a hostage situation.”
Gabe didn’t ask again how she knew. He’d find out later. “Headed that way.” He ran for the lobby of the theater where officers were questioning everyone inside to determine if they’d seen Harvey Dixon. It took him a minute to spot her, but he found Paisley in one corner with Brooke. “Paisley, you know how you said you’d like to help?”
“Yes! Please let me.”
Gabe couldn’t believe he was doing this. “I need a ride.”
Anissa pulled the car over to the side of the road.
She wanted to save Liz, but the longer she stalled, the better chance she had of Gabe finding her.
She was ready to die, but that didn’t mean she wanted to.
There was no way to know where Harvey was, or what his plan was. Did he intend to shoot her? Strangle her? Drown her?
Either way, she didn’t plan to make it easy for him.
She slid from the driver’s-side door and crouched beside the car. The car would protect her, but only if Harvey wasn’t already on this side with a rifle pointed at her head.
I’m here.
Good. Come to the lake.
Anissa’s legs had never felt so heavy. Not after the toughest workout, the longest run, the heaviest lift. She forced herself to walk forward. One step at a time. She kept to the tree line, taking a few steps between trees, then pausing.
Her phone buzzed.
Hurry it up. That canoe she’s in has a leak. And she’s tied down.
Bile rose in her throat even as her pace quickened.
Gabe had to admit the chopper pilot was good, setting that thing down in the side parking lot, landing in between power lines and streetlights like it was an everyday occurrence. Gabe settled himself in the back, right beside Paisley’s photographer. Paisley scrambled into the seat by the pilot, having handed over Brooke to Officer Claire Tollison’s safekeeping.
“You don’t need to come, Paisley,” Gabe yelled over the roar of the rotor. “It could be dangerous. This is just the fastest way for me to get there.”
“I’m not staying behind.” She settled the headphones over her ears and spoke through the microphone. “I know you think I’m only about the story, but I’m not. I don’t have that many friends, but I like Anissa. And Brooke loves Liz. I want to help. This is how I can.”
She turned to the photographer. “No filming, Vic. When it’s over, we’ll have the live exclusive on the ground, but we will not risk this child’s life for ratings. Got it?”
Vic nodded and set the camera he had with him at his feet. The cameras on the chopper itself were still ready to go at a second’s notice, but at least Gabe didn’t have to worry about having his every move recorded.
She punched the chopper pilot on the shoulder. A woman in her sixties. �
�Agreed, Sam?”
“I love rescue missions.” Sam’s gravelly voice carried a hint of defiance. “If you don’t care about getting fired, then neither do I.”
“Great. Let’s go.” Paisley settled into her seat.
“Sam, do you know where the camp is?” Gabe asked the pilot.
“I do. And I know the perfect place to land. I can also hover this baby a few feet off the ground if you need me to, but the camp doesn’t have a lot of places for me to do that. The lake’s probably the only place open enough.”
“Okay. For now, stay to the perimeter. We have no idea what we’re flying into.”
“You got it.”
28
He might be lying. Anissa knew that.
But as she perched behind a tree at the edge of the lake, the canoe did appear to be riding lower in the water than it did in the picture.
Where was he? What was his plan? She couldn’t bother with the ultimate question of why. Either she’d live long enough to find out or it wouldn’t matter anyway.
Anissa studied the area. The canoe Liz was in was smack in the middle of the large camp lake. The canoes and kayaks stacked near the dock were tempting, but they would be impossible to get into the water without making a huge commotion. If by some miracle she managed to get in the water without dying, sitting in a kayak or canoe would make her a huge target.
There was another option.
One he might not have considered.
Mostly because it was a bit crazy. It would leave her unarmed and mostly defenseless. But it was the only viable option she could see at the moment.
“Tick tock, Anissa!” The words came from the camp’s loudspeakers, making it impossible for her to know where Harvey was hiding. “You have two minutes or I’ll do what I should have done thirteen years ago. One bullet. Right through her heart.”
Gabe didn’t like helicopters.
But he couldn’t complain about the way they were zipping over the traffic as they flew toward the lake.
A new voice came through the headphones. “Why don’t we have video, Paisley?”
Paisley’s voice came through the headphones. “Fred, we’re just providing a lift to a sheriff’s investigator.”
“Again”—Fred’s voice lowered, his tone overtly threatening—“why don’t we have video?”
“It could get a girl killed, Fred.” Paisley left it at that.
“Or it could get you fired,” Fred said. “I want that video. We have anchors ready to go live and we have nothing to go on.”
“I’ll get it for you as soon as it’s safe.” Paisley wasn’t backing down.
“Don’t think for a second that you’re irreplaceable. I can get another pretty face in a heartbeat.”
Gabe had a feeling Fred wasn’t kidding. “You don’t work for the sheriff’s office, Wilson. You work for me. You work for the people of Carrington who want to know why the theater is on lockdown and cops are converging on Camp Blackstone.”
Bad news traveled fast.
Paisley shook her head at both Sam and Vic. “The good people of Carrington will boycott our station when they find out we aided a murderer because we wanted a story. You’ll get your story, Fred. But you will have to wait. We’re approaching the camp. Signing off.”
Another new voice came through the headphones. Is this the Sky9 helicopter? Paisley frowned and Gabe could see the confusion on her face. “Yes?”
“This is Dr. Sabrina Fleming. I understand you have Gabe Chavez on board and it is imperative that I speak with him.”
“Sabrina?” Gabe had no idea how she’d gotten through on the chopper’s radio frequency, but he’d add that to the growing list of questions he had for later.
“Gabe. Thank goodness.” Sabrina’s brisk tone had a panicked edge. “Listen to me. Anissa’s car hasn’t moved. I was able to get a hit on her cell phone. She’s not responding to any texts or calls, but she hasn’t turned it off. She’s on the edge of the lake.”
“Okay.” Good to know.
“But listen, we’ve also been digging deeper into Harvey Dixon. When Anissa’s dad arrested him, it was for armed robbery.”
“Right.” He knew that.
“But we know how he did it. He blew a hole in a concrete pipe under the building and through the floor of the basement. That’s how he got in.”
“So we’re dealing with an explosives expert?”
“Yes. And a marksman. Well, he was forty years ago, anyway. He was a sniper in the army before he was dishonorably discharged. I texted Anissa, but I don’t know if she saw it or not.”
Why did he get the feeling there was more? “What else, Sabrina?”
“I hacked her phone.”
“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. What did you find?”
“There’s a photo. Adam’s sending it to your phone now.”
Gabe pulled his phone from his pocket. The photo came through and rage followed.
“There were a few texts. He told her to come alone or he’d put a bullet in her heart like he should have done thirteen years ago. By her, I assume he means Liz.”
That would have been enough to make Anissa come.
“But there’s more. After I hacked her phone, I hacked his. He’s been bragging to someone that he could destroy the ecosystem of Lake Porter for a generation.”
“What?”
“This guy wants Anissa dead, but he’s not out of control. He’s not reckless. He’s been careful to plan every attack. I’m not sure what it is, but I guarantee you he has an exit strategy that he believes will work. He isn’t interested in dying today.”
“Fine, but how does he think he’s going to get out of there after he kills her? We’ll go in guns blazing. He has to know that.”
Paisley raised her hand like she was in school. He’d forgotten she, Sam, and Vic were hearing every word. “Paisley has something she wants to say.”
Now it was Sabrina’s turn to say, “Okay?”
“His text said he would ruin Lake Porter for a generation? And he’s at the camp?”
“Yes,” Sabrina confirmed.
“And he’s an explosives expert?”
“Well, he was at one time.” Sabrina was never one to avoid specifics.
“That’s the connection.”
“You’re going to need to be more clear, Ms. Wilson.” Sabrina was in full professor mode.
“Sorry.” Paisley sucked in a breath. “I’m working on a report about the camp. I was so burned up about that whole situation, all those kids getting sick, that older lady nearly dying, that guy with cancer still in the hospital.”
“Paisley?” Vic was giving her the look that everyone in the universe knows means “you aren’t really going to say this, are you?”
Paisley twisted in her seat and made eye contact with Gabe. “Look. It hasn’t been reported yet. I found out through a source, so I’ve been digging into it. Everyone was getting sick, yes. But the real reason they shut the place down is that one of the environmental engineers discovered a pipe that goes from the lake at the camp and empties into Lake Porter. It’s sealed shut, but there were concerns about leakage. They’re monitoring the spot on the lake where the pipe exits and formulating a plan to get the lake at the camp cleaned up so there’s no risk.”
Sabrina groaned. “If he blew the seal to the pipe . . .”
“All that filth would go straight into Lake Porter.”
Anissa eyed the canoe. It was definitely sitting lower in the water than before.
It was now or never.
She stripped out of her shoes, left her phone, weapon, badge, sunglasses, watch. Everything electronic and heavy. She rolled her pants above her knees. Twisted her hair into a tight bun and secured it with the hair band she kept in her pocket. She brought two things with her. The compass from her key chain and her knife.
If Dixon had access to the loudspeaker system, then he was probably watching the lake from the main house. The woods around the lake provided a nat
ural barrier, and if he was where she hoped he was, she should be able to get to the canoes without being seen.
Lord, help me.
She kept herself low, ignoring the pain as rocks and sticks jabbed her bare feet. She weaved back and forth until she reached the stacks of canoes and kayaks near the dock.
Whew. No shots fired.
Thank you, Lord.
She darted behind the canoes and kayaks and shimmied between them, easing into the water without exposing herself to Harvey Dixon.
She squared her shoulders and lined her body up as best she could with the canoe.
When she came up for air, he’d probably shoot her in the head.
Which was why she had no plans to surface until she was behind the canoe.
Another quick look at the compass.
Another quick prayer.
Father, I’m yours. Liz is yours. Your will be done.
Anissa inhaled and exhaled, pushing out as much air as possible from her body before taking one final breath and going under.
“We’re approaching the camp.” Sam’s voice came through the headphones. She pointed to her left.
Gabe strained to see anything.
“How do you want to play this?” Sam asked. “He’s going to hear us before he sees us. I can make this baby do a lot of things, but I can’t make her be quiet.”
The wrong decision could result in a lot of death and destruction. Dios, por favor, ayúdanos.
“Gabe?” This time Paisley asked the question.
Unfortunately, God didn’t seem inclined to give him an answer in the sky, but there was one idea he couldn’t get rid of. “Let’s see if we can get a look at the lake.”
A garbled voice, male, came through the headphones. Paisley shook her head at Sam. “I’m not talking to Fred again.”
“That’s not Fred. I don’t recognize the voice,” Sam said. The voice came through again, this time clear. “Hello? Can you hear me?”
One Final Breath Page 27
