Countdown

by Carey Baldwin

She powered off the phone and buried her face in her hands.

  Why hadn’t she taken care of Tommy Preston six months ago when she’d had the chance?

  She’d been right there in his yard. She’d slipped past Vader and into his kitchen without being detected. Tommy’s back had been turned, and she’d had her chance to protect Lilly from his menace once and for all.

  But she’d been too weak.

  She hadn’t been able to bring herself to shoot a human being in cold blood.

  Not even as Anna.

  When she’d looked through the gun sights at the back of Tommy’s skull, doubt had made her lower her weapon. She hadn’t been able to convince herself that killing him was the right thing to do.

  She’d told herself then she knew nothing about the woman she’d seen lying in that hospital bed.

  What if Pamela Jean had been wrong?

  What if she’d been lying?

  Now Rose’s nails dug into her palms, pricking through the skin.

  If only she could go back to that day, six months ago.

  She’d pull the trigger in a heartbeat.

  Of course Pamela Jean knew who’d beaten her.

  And any doubt in Rose’s mind that Tommy Preston was a cold-blooded killer had been erased on her wedding day.

  He’d tried to drown Rose.

  He’d seen her lurking on his computer that morning, and later he must have spotted the gun she’d secured in the bodice of her wedding gown for her own protection—she was that terrified of the man she was about to marry. After the ceremony, he’d carried her into deep water, locked his arms around her, and held her under. He was stronger than she was by far, but she’d been able to hold her breath longer. He’d weakened from the lack of oxygen sooner than she had, and they’d struggled. She’d shot him then, because he’d left her no choice.

  On her wedding day, it had come down to his life or hers.

  But six months before, when it had really counted, when it had been for Lilly, she hadn’t pulled the trigger.

  She stared at her bleeding palms, but didn’t register the pain.

  Now Tommy had Lilly in his clutches because Rose had been stupid and weak. No matter his promises, Rose knew he had no intention of letting either of them live.

  There was no turning back now.

  This desperate scheme of hers to keep him away from her sister by marrying him and gathering enough evidence to put him behind bars had backfired horribly.

  Rose had never trusted the police before, and she didn’t trust them now.

  It went against every instinct she had to send off a copy of the SADIE file to the FBI. But just as she’d had no choice but to pull the trigger of her gun underwater, not knowing—only hoping—that it would fire—she’d had no choice but to turn over the evidence she had to the cops. She didn’t trust Caitlin Cassidy to do the right thing—she could only hope that she would.

  She saw no other way out for Lilly and her.

  Tommy would not be blackmailed, nor would he be satisfied with the return of the file. Once she gave it to him, he’d kill them both. But what was she to do now?

  Her worst nightmare had come true.

  He’d called her bet and taken Lilly. Rose had nothing left but to play the hand she’d been dealt. A hand far worse than the cards she’d been holding six months ago.

  Stupid, stupid Rose.

  This time she must save Lilly—somehow—no matter what it took.

  She opened the door of a screened-in front porch.

  Last chance before the road ends.

  “Do you want to rest or keep going?” Tommy slowed his stride to allow Lilly to catch up with him on the trail—or semblance thereof. It was poorly marked and if not for the occasional cairn they’d be lost by now. In truth, he wasn’t sure they weren’t. He surveyed Lilly. Sweat dotted her upper lip, her skin was pink, her eyes confused.

  The way he’d read the map, they should’ve taken the low trail, but Lilly had insisted on the high. And she was the one who was familiar with the area.

  He checked his pocket watch.

  Thirty minutes left in the countdown and already Lilly was acting strangely.

  Had he miscalculated how soon the drugs would begin to impact Lilly’s brain? If so, and they didn’t meet up with Rose soon, Lilly might not make it to Gauguin’s Gold II alive.

  Then he’d have to come up with a new way to persuade Rose to hand over the thumb drive—he doubted she’d willingly trade it for her sister’s corpse.

  “Rest please.” Lilly wiped her brow with her T-shirt and he wanted to pull it over her head and suffocate her with it.

  But he needed that thumb drive and they had to keep moving.

  Even assuming he had not miscalculated, and there was still time before Lilly succumbed to the dose of heroin she’d ingested, at this rate, Rose might make it to Gauguin’s Gold II before them.

  And Rose already had the benefit of home turf since, according to Lilly, the girls had picnicked there several times with their father—whereas Tommy was completely unfamiliar with the terrain.

  He wanted to get the lay of the land before Rose arrived.

  But Lilly looked like hell—they’d better rest a minute.

  He found a boulder flat enough for sitting and used a frond to brush the dirt off of it. “Take your time,” he said, motioning Lilly to sit.

  He’d keep her comfortable for now.

  But once they reached their destination he was done playing the gentleman. No need to put on an act for Rose.

  Rose.

  Rose didn’t dare open the package until she was well past the little diner, for fear someone might see what it held. Now she halted, undid the brown paper that wrapped the elongated box, opened the lid—and screamed.

  Tears streamed down her face in a blinding rage. Damn Tommy to hell.

  He’d told her Lilly only had an hour to live.

  He’d said Rose was the only one who could save her life, and here, clutched in her hand was the reason why—a naloxone injector to reverse an overdose of heroin.

  If Rose didn’t get to Lilly in time, Lilly would die. Rose supposed Tommy thought his ruthlessness made him invincible.

  But he was wrong.

  And she had been wrong, too. Dropping to her knees, she summoned every ounce of strength she had left—not only in her body—but in her spirit. Too many times she’d made the mistake of pretending to be someone other than herself.

  Anna: a woman who cared for no one.

  Rose had been taught to believe that emotion made her weak and vulnerable.

  But it wasn’t true.

  Why had it taken her so long to realize she didn’t need Anna?

  Rose was the invincible one—precisely because she did care.

  Tommy might have all the nerve in the world, but he wasn’t willing to sacrifice his life for someone else’s. She didn’t want to die, but if it came down to her life or Lilly’s she’d take a bullet, or worse, without hesitation. It was Rose’s beating, human heart—something Tommy Preston didn’t possess—that would deliver her victory.

  Get up.

  She wiped her eyes, and stood, clutching the map to Gauguin’s Gold II to her chest. If she followed it closely, at the end of the road was a treasure worth more than a mountain of gold coins.

  Lilly.

  Her little sister.

  She’d promised Papa on his deathbed that she would look out for Lilly—her twin who’d always been a step behind when it came to just about everything. Rose had preceded Lilly from the womb by five minutes. She’d uttered her first words five weeks before Lilly and had taken her first steps five days ahead of her. She and Lilly might be twins, but in every sense of the word, Rose was the older sibling.

  She was supposed to keep Lilly safe.

  And she’d failed miserably, because even though she’d known what Tommy had done to Pamela Jean, she’d let him live. When Rose had tried to see Pamela Jean again, to find out more about Sadie, Nurse Prosper had g
iven her terrible news—Pamela Jean had succumbed to her injuries. Internal bleeding had sent her into systemic organ failure.

  Pamela Jean was dead.

  And there wasn’t a word about her in the papers.

  Tommy was that powerful—he could kill a woman and make it seem like she’d never even existed.

  But Rose had known exactly how dangerous he was.

  Stupidly, she’d hoped she could save Lilly without resorting to taking a human life—by finding Sadie, as Pamela Jean had urged her to do.

  But Sadie turned out not to be a person.

  After Rose had seen the file name on Tommy’s laptop, she’d spent nearly a month working hundreds of variations on names and numbers, trying to figure out the password that opened SADIE. And when she finally succeeded, on the morning of her wedding, it was only to find that the file had been encrypted.

  She couldn’t read it at all.

  So she’d copied SADIE, not knowing what secrets it contained. She’d tucked the drive in an envelope and had it delivered to the desk clerk at a local no-tell motel along with a one-hundred-dollar bill and instructions to hold the envelope for Anna Parker.

  She might not know what was on the drive, but she knew it held power over Tommy. Yesterday, she’d made more copies of SADIE at an internet café before sending it to Caitlin Cassidy.

  One of those copies was in Rose’s pocket now.

  She had to give it to Tommy so he would let her administer the antidote to Lilly.

  But first she had to correctly follow this damned crazy map.

  Many times, she and Lilly had travelled to Tahiti Iti with Papa. He’d made a set of two maps, leading to two separate spots. One version led his marks toward Mana Falls and past a magnificent wall of hives. But Papa’s preferred picnic ground was at the site he called Gauguin’s Gold II, outside of Taravao that led the opposite way past a swinging bridge. If you had a jeep, you could off-road it almost all the way to the bridge.

  She and Lilly had loved to rock that bridge until they made themselves scream.

  But it had been too long ago for her to recall the journey completely by heart. Luckily, she remembered pieces along the route, and despite the map’s poor condition, she could follow it well enough.

  Still, she was on foot, and Tommy must have known the way would be difficult. There was a real chance she might not make it in time.

  Tommy hadn’t been satisfied with poisoning her sister with heroin.

  He wanted Lilly’s life or death to rest on Rose’s shoulders.

  He had to turn the screw.

  Chapter 31

  Sunday

  Heritage Townhomes

  Papeete

  Tahiti Nui

  Caitlin believed there was time to talk with Lilly and still get back to the hotel and dress for the ceremony. So they were off to have a tough conversation with her now. Lilly hadn’t listened to her own sister, making Caitlin doubt she’d listen to them, but she felt obligated to try. Hopefully, if she heard from an objective source that Tommy might be dangerous, she’d at least keep her guard up around him. As they pulled into the Heritage Townhomes, the dash of their rented 4x4 vibrated.

  “That’s yours,” she told Spense.

  “Grab it for me, okay? What’s mine is yours, or it will be soon.”

  “Damn straight.” She checked the caller ID. “Jacques, it’s Caitlin.”

  Inspector Brousseau? Spense mouthed.

  Do we know another Jacques? she mouthed back.

  “I’m putting you on speaker, Inspector,” she said. “I’ve got Spense in the car.”

  “Bien. How quickly can you get to Heritage Townhomes?”

  “We’re here now. Just pulled in to the complex. We’re headed over to Lilly Parker’s place.” Obviously. “Do you have any news we can bring her?”

  Every time they saw Lilly, she assumed they were bringing her information about Rose. Maybe this time they wouldn’t have to disappoint her. Brousseau and his men were searching the area near the falls again today. Caitlin found herself hoping against the odds. “Did you find Rose?”

  “Non.”

  There was a long pause.

  Spense pulled into a parking space near Lilly’s home. The wind was threatening to blow over the potted hibiscus on her porch. “Inspector, we’re here. What is it you want us to tell her?”

  “I need you to check on her welfare. I’ve spoken with your associate, Dutch Langhorne.”

  “He told you we have evidence of Preston’s illegal business dealings in the States, then,” Spense said.

  “Whatever he’s done in the United Sates is of no concern to me—except that it calls into question his claim against Rose Parker Preston. I have to presume that a man hiding a dangerous secret may himself be dangerous.”

  “We’re in agreement on that point, which is why we’re here. To suggest to Lilly she exercise caution—”

  “I would check on her myself, but I’m with my men on Tahiti Iti near Mana Falls.” The inspector spoke over her.

  They knew that already. And Caitlin didn’t mind doing a welfare check, but he hadn’t told them why he was concerned now, when he hadn’t been before. He’d all but dismissed them from the case. In fact he’d all but dismissed the case from the case. “We’re happy to do it. Was there any special reason, other than what you learned in your talk with Agent Langhorne?”

  “Probably nothing. But I’ll feel better when you find both her and Mr. Preston.”

  Her heart took a short rest. “Say again?”

  “We think Lilly is with Mr. Preston. I’ve received word that the two of them went on an excursion last night, and that Mr. Preston never came home.”

  “Who put out the SOS?”

  “Heather Preston.”

  Caitlin’s heart was beating again, and quite a bit faster than usual. “Does she think her son might hurt Lilly?”

  “Mais non. She’s afraid Lilly might hurt her son. She thinks if one sister is crazy the other might be, too. And when he didn’t come home last night, she panicked.”

  “I’ve got to go, Inspector. We’ll call you back.”

  Caitlin jumped from the 4x4. Her knees took a hit, absorbing the impact when her feet landed on the pavement.

  “Stay back,” Spense said, reaching for his Glock.

  She gave him a quick nod. He was the FBI agent. She was the psychiatrist. In the field, she did as she was told—came in handy for staying alive. It occurred to Caitlin just how great a threat Spense posed to Tommy Preston. If the FBI so much as looked like they were surveilling him, it could land him in terrible trouble with his “associates.” In fact, Preston had far more motive to have tampered with that rope’s anchor than Rose did.

  Spense edged quietly onto the porch, keeping his body flattened against the frame of the house—gun out front. Brousseau had asked for a simple welfare check, but if Spense’s gut told him to clear the house rather than saunter up and announce himself with a knock, she wasn’t going to debate the matter with him. It was Spense’s instincts that had kept him alive, and alive was how she liked him.

  Though it was daylight, the windows were screened, and she couldn’t see into the house. She watched with her hands clenched as Spense breached the door in a split second. “FBI freeze!”

  The door slammed behind him.

  Her heartbeats counted down the seconds until Spense reappeared on the porch. “We’re clear.”

  He was back inside before she finished exhaling. Her legs trembled as she climbed the porch and joined him inside. She reached out her hand—she needed to touch him.

  “Don’t worry, baby. I always land on my feet.”

  “Except for a couple of days ago on the side of a cliff. As your future wife, you can’t stop me from worrying.”

  “Suit yourself.” Then without missing a beat, he added, “This place is a mess, but not tossed, no sign of a struggle. If Tommy does have Lilly, my guess is she went willingly.”

  “Have her?” This was t
he first anyone had suggested Tommy might be holding Lilly hostage, but it fit. If Tommy knew Rose had that micro memory card, he might try to exchange Lilly for it. “You think he’s using Lilly for bait.”

  Spense nodded. “From all accounts, she’s not as bright as her sister. I’m gonna take a look around.”

  When Caitlin didn’t object he arched an eyebrow. “You’re not going to complain about a lack of a warrant?”

  “I don’t even know if they have warrants in French Polynesia.” True enough, but she did know French regulations were just as strict if not stricter than back home. But she and Spense were unofficial here, and that meant they had the leeway of private citizens.

  She hoped.

  The flat-out truth was that though she cared about following the rules, she cared more about keeping Lilly and Rose safe from harm.

  “I knew you’d come around eventually,” Spense said. “Good to know we’re seeing eye to eye.”

  “Don’t get used to it. What are we looking for exactly?” she asked as they swept the small apartment, removing cushions and peeking under stacks of clothing. Going through cabinets and dresser drawers.

  “A piece of the puzzle, unknown shape and size. Keep your eyes peeled for anything.”

  She began sorting through her umpteenth pile of papers with that in mind. When you’re looking for anything, you have to scrutinize everything. Then the sudden absence of furious activity from Spense drew her attention. “What?”

  “Passport. Name of Anna Parker.”

  The words made her do a double take. “I thought Rose was Anna.”

  He frowned. “This photograph is definitely of Rose. Dimple in the right cheek. Same passport photo Fontaine showed us.”

  “What’s Lilly doing with Rose’s fake Anna passport?”

  “Don’t know. Maybe Rose left it with Lilly for safekeeping after she went to the bank.”

  “But if Rose was planning to leave the country as Anna, she would need to have that fake passport with her.”

  Spense let out a low whistle. “Look here.”

  Caitlin peered over his shoulder at a second passport. Also in the name of Anna Parker. Only this Anna had a dimple in her left cheek. This Anna was in fact, Lilly.