by Karis Walsh
Kira grinned and went outside the building again. She’d wander around the fair until it got dark and the crowds thinned out. Then she’d come back to her chosen spot and slip between the rows when no one was looking. And once the fair was closed and empty, she’d go to Abby.
*
Kira shifted and brought her legs underneath her until she was in a kneeling position. Her plan had sounded so romantic in her mind, but the reality was less comfortable than she had expected. She’d been sitting on the cold concrete floor for two hours now, having made the mistake of hiding away as soon as she had the chance instead of waiting until it was almost time for the fair to shut down. She’d spent her time wondering how many rats would be attracted to the building full of produce and grains where she was hiding.
The occasional sound of a person passing by kept her on edge, and once the lights had been turned out, she waited where she was instead of jumping up and running to Abby. The place was creepy as hell when emptied of fairgoers, and she wished she had taken her chances with an empty horse stall closer to Abby. She hadn’t anticipated the return of her memory of being kidnapped, and her nerves were frayed and raw by the time she felt it was safe to leave.
Finally, she crawled out from behind the grange exhibits and stood in the quiet darkness. The abandoned carts and information tables cast mysterious and bulky shadows on the walls. She had spent an hour searching for a place to hide, and now the building seemed full of secret spots. She stretched her cramped legs and shivered in the cold. A nice brisk jog over to the police barns would do her good. Or a mad dash. She was on her way out the door when the sound of a display falling over made her spin around. Her heart was thumping against her ribs, and the unexpected beam of a flashlight made her squint and cover her eyes.
A guard. They must have night watchmen patrolling the fair. Hopefully, whoever it was would kindly escort her to Abby. She was about to identify herself and explain her embarrassing predicament when a voice stopped her.
“Waiting to meet your girlfriend? How romantic.”
Dale.
Kira felt her blood turn to ice, sluggish in her veins. Run? Cower? She couldn’t decide how to respond, but she snapped back to full awareness when she heard a faint click coming from the direction of Dale and her flashlight. The same click she’d heard right before Tad’s brains were spattered all over her. She couldn’t identify the gun from the sound, of course, but all the pieces fell into place in her mind and she knew.
“You. You killed Milford?”
Dale laughed and moved closer. “I was only trying to save you, baby. That idiot stepbrother of mine was going to hurt you. You have no idea how much.”
Kira had a very good idea of how much Tad had wanted to hurt her. She had felt it running through his fingers and into her soul. She inched back toward the door behind her. Toward Abby and safety.
“Then why didn’t you untie me? You left me there all night next to him.”
“You were safe. I couldn’t let you see my face, or I’d have had to kill you, too. I don’t want to do that, Kira.”
The disembodied flashlight moved with Kira. She didn’t want to risk a look backward to see how far she had to go. Could she make it in time? Get to the doorway and out into the dark, empty fair before the bullet reached her?
“Why?” Kira asked. She wasn’t sure specifically what she was asking, but she needed answers.
“I love you, Kira. I always have. You’ve been so good over the past year. No dates, nothing to make me upset. But this week you’ve disappointed me. She’s no good for you, Kira, and I’ll prove it to you.”
“You’re the one who poisoned her horse and who shot at her.” Kira stopped her painstakingly slow backward progress and stared into the flashlight’s beam. Abby’s injuries were because of her. She had been attributing the events of the past week to money or Abby’s disreputable connections, but Kira had brought danger into Abby’s life, not the other way around.
“You belong to me, not her. I was going to take care of her once and for all tonight, but luckily I saw you by the barns. You might have gotten in the way, but instead you’ll get to watch while I prove how much I love you.”
Kira was going to be sick. She had to get to Abby and warn her. She turned and bolted for the door, but Dale tackled her from behind before she made it far. The cold pressure of the gun at her temple put an end to her escape attempt.
Chapter Twenty-five
Abby paced back and forth along the dark aisle. The three police horses had watched her with pricked ears at first, but soon they’d lost interest and returned to munching their hay. Abby stopped every few feet and listened for the sound of approaching footsteps, for a change in the air that meant company. Anything. She had given Dale the chance she wanted, and Abby was here alone to confront her, but so far she was disappointed. She wanted a fight, was itching for one. The thought of that woman ever touching Kira in the past or the future made her want to retch. She’d hurt Abby already, but the pain was minor compared to the worry about what Dale might do if she got back into Kira’s life.
She whipped around and had her gun aimed at the door at the first sound of shoes on pavement, but Bandit’s shrill whinny made her shake her head and lower her weapon.
“What the hell are you doing here, Rachel?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” Rachel appeared in the doorway, lit by the soft glow of the nightlight plugged in by the tack room. Her features were shadowed and hard to read, but Abby could guess what Rachel’s expression would be. One of concern. And stubbornness.
“You know why I’m here,” Abby said. “Guard duty. Where’s the rest of your posse?”
“I’m right here,” Cal said from behind Rachel. “Don and Billie are on recon.”
Abby rolled her eyes at Cal’s television-inspired police lingo. “Why don’t you all go home and have a beer. I got this.”
“Why don’t you tell me exactly what’s going on,” Rachel offered instead. She sat on a bale of hay and leaned against Bandit’s stall. Cal sat close beside her and crossed her arms over her chest. Abby sighed. They weren’t going anywhere.
She propped her shoulder against the wall near the hay and told them about her suspicions. Why Kira had been kept safe from Tad and the flying arrows. Why Abby herself had been singled out with increasingly lethal intent. Why she needed to confront Dale and put an end to her tyranny over Kira.
Rachel nodded when she was finished. “Your suspicions make sense,” she said. “The only flaw is your foolish attempt to fight her on your own. You have a better chance of defeating her if we’re working together. Five of us will be more able to keep Kira out of danger than you alone.”
Abby couldn’t argue with Rachel’s last statement. She wanted to, but Kira’s life was more important than her need to fight every battle on her own. This time, she’d have to accept help.
“Okay,” she said. “You’re here, so you might as well stay. Can you watch the horses while I walk around the barns and check for any sign of her?”
“Will do, boss. Keep one of these walkie-talkies with you and promise you’ll call me at the first sign of trouble.”
“Will do, boss,” Abby mimicked, but she took the walkie-talkie from Rachel and snapped it at her hip. She went out into the cool night and stopped for a moment, staring up at the stars. She wasn’t sure what to feel now that she had backup, friends on her side. Relief? Yes, a little. And some discomfort as well, with the unaccustomed sense of connection. But they were all working for Kira. She was the one who mattered.
Abby walked down the aisles and checked each stall with her flashlight, but she felt the emptiness of the space around her without needing to look. She trusted her instincts, and they told her to widen her range, to look beyond the barn. She had expected Dale to come to her, knowing she’d be alone with the horses, but she found herself wandering through the nearby structures as well. Cows and pigs turned their heads to watch her as she walked. She was about to hea
d back when she saw the beam of a flashlight cut across a window in the agricultural building. Don and Billie. She went over to meet them.
A sharp blow to her injured wrist made her drop the flashlight she’d had cradled against her side. She doubled over in pain and loosened her grip on her gun just enough for Dale to kick it out of her hand. It clattered over the concrete and came to rest under a display of vegetables. Her right hand was wrenched behind her back and Dale forced her to walk deeper into the building.
“We were just going to come looking for you,” Dale said. She propped her flashlight on its end so it lit the room enough for Abby to see Kira where she stood in an awkward position next to a Mariners pennant. Her hands were behind her back and her eyes were wide and frightened. Abby tried desperately to reach the walkie-talkie with her left hand, but Dale grabbed it first and tossed it aside.
“Who were you planning to call?” she demanded. “Who else is here?”
“I don’t know,” Abby lied. “We use the radios to communicate with other officers on the grounds. I was hoping one might still be here.”
Dale laughed. “No such luck, I’m afraid. Well, there was a night watchman on duty, but he’s, shall we say, indisposed.”
“Kira, are you all right?” Abby called. Kira nodded, but Dale jostled Abby’s arm in punishment. Abby gritted her teeth and fought to stay conscious. She couldn’t let Dale’s brutal treatment of her injury make her faint, or she and Kira would never have a chance of getting away.
“I didn’t want to do it this way,” Dale said. Her voice had shifted from demanding and abrasive to whiny. “I tried to make Tad stop hurting her, and to make you stay away from her, but no one would listen to me.” Her voice turned raspy with anger and she shook Abby’s wrist. “No one listened!”
Abby saw bright spots in front of her eyes. She wasn’t going to be able to fight the pain, to save Kira. A dim part of her mind saw Kira moving against the rough boards of the grange exhibits. What was she doing? Abby struggled to make sense of something she knew she should comprehend, but her head was swimming. Kira’s hands were tied. Was she trying to get free? Yes, she was loose. What was she reaching for?
Abby inhaled when the meaning behind Kira’s actions seeped through the confusion of pain and fear and she looked at the door behind Dale. “Don, thank God! We’re over here,” she called to the empty doorway. Dale turned to look, distracted only momentarily, but long enough for Kira to cross the distance between them and swing the baseball bat she held in her hands.
*
Abby’s vision swam back into focus and she saw Kira’s face close to hers. She shifted and winced as an aftershock of pain rippled through her arm. She was lying on the concrete, her head cradled in Kira’s lap. The memories seeped back into her consciousness.
“Where’s Dale?” she asked, struggling to sit up.
“Rachel’s here,” Kira assured her. “She’s got Dale in handcuffs.”
Abby finally noticed the motion around them. Her team, Cal. Some other officers she didn’t recognize. “You rescued me,” she said, reaching up with her good hand to stroke Kira’s cheek. “You hit her with something, didn’t you?”
“A baseball bat,” Kira said with a smug-looking smile. “It felt good, too.”
Abby laughed weakly. “Remind me to stay on your good side. What were you doing here tonight?”
“Long story,” Kira said. “I’ll tell you after we get you to the hospital to have your wrist checked.”
Abby sighed. She needed some painkillers and a good night’s sleep. But even more, she needed Kira by her side.
“You won’t leave me, will you?” she asked.
Kira lowered her head and kissed her softly on the mouth. “Never,” she promised.
Chapter Twenty-six
“Move it a little to the left. No, not so much. Back to the right an inch.”
Abby groaned and stood up from her crouched position next to the floral-patterned love seat. “Broken wrist here, remember?”
“You’ve been riding for two weeks with that wrist. You just don’t want to move furniture anymore, but I guess it’ll be okay where it is,” Kira said. She sat in a burgundy wing chair with her bare feet propped on a matching ottoman and made a grand gesture encompassing the entire room. “What do you think?”
Abby turned in a slow circle. She barely recognized her house since Kira had appointed herself chief decorator and had hauled Abby on a series of shopping sprees. The result was fantastic and well worth the hours spent trying one chair or couch after the other like a pair of jumping beans in a furniture store. Kira had suggested tones of reds, tans, and golds for this particular space, and Abby had agreed hesitatingly. She would never have chosen the bold colors and patterns for herself, but now that she saw them in the living room she knew Kira had been right—as usual. The furnishings suited the grand old Victorian, and the house was slowly beginning to feel like a home.
“It’s gorgeous,” Abby said. She sat on the ottoman and lifted Kira’s feet onto her lap. The real reason Abby felt like she had a home was Kira herself. She didn’t need more than a card table and an air mattress as long as Kira and Julie were with her. Before they’d come to live with her, she’d used the house as a way station. Eat, sleep, reread old case files. If she wanted to relax, she had to go outside, on the back porch. Now, room after room was being made ready for her new family. In here there was a desk for Julie’s homework and Kira’s wetland books. Comfortable chairs for reading or playing games. Abby had never before seen such potential in a room, as if hints of all the family evenings to come were echoing off the walls.
She massaged Kira’s insteps with her thumbs. “What room next?” she asked. They’d finished Julie’s bedroom first, followed swiftly by their own. “The kitchen?”
“Or the guest bedroom,” Kira said. She leaned back and closed her eyes. “Oooh, I needed this. Your hands feel so good.”
“Your poor feet must be exhausted after watching me move furniture for hours.”
Kira laughed and playfully kicked at her. “You’re forgetting I moved the ottoman without any help.”
“I would have offered to carry one end for you, but I had a two-ton couch strapped to my back at the time.” Abby grabbed Kira’s feet again and lowered them to the floor. “Come upstairs with me. I have a surprise for you.”
“Yum. Is this surprise in the bedroom, I hope?”
Abby stopped outside her office door. She wrapped her arms around Kira’s waist and nuzzled her neck. Even the mention of their bed or bedroom made her drip with desire. “That’ll come later, darling,” she said. She gave Kira a kiss and stood back, motioning at the closed door. “Look inside.”
Kira hesitated before reaching for the doorknob. She hadn’t been back in Abby’s lair since they’d researched Rick’s and Tad’s schemes to trick people out of their land and develop it. This was Abby’s domain, where she handled her family issues in her own way. Kira had been determined to give Abby her space and not nag at her to give up her fruitless and exhausting search for absolute justice.
Abby nudged her arm, and Kira opened the door. She stepped inside the room and stared at the transformation Abby had made. Framed botanical prints lined the walls where the timeline illustrating Albert Hargrove’s corruption had once hung. A massive oak rolltop desk and matching bookshelves took the place of the old, utilitarian desk and locked metal file cabinets. Kira’s field guides and massive binders were neatly stacked on the shelves, and a brand-new plant press sat on a worktable.
Kira walked over to the desk and ran her hand over the smooth wood. A bouquet of sunflowers sat on top, catching the light from the window. The effort Abby must have put into this project overwhelmed her and made her eyes sting with sudden tears. Not only had Abby moved everything in here in secret, but she’d also painted the walls a pale green and had installed a cushy carpet. “I love it, Abby. It’s perfect—every part of it.”
More significantly than the changes in de
cor, Abby had removed the case files and charts that had haunted her for too many years. Kira understood what a difficult step it must have been for Abby to pack up those memories. Abby had let Kira into her home and her heart, but installing Kira in this room meant Abby was inviting her to settle in her soul. She went to Abby and kissed her.
“What does this mean?” she asked, her hands cupping Abby’s cheeks. “Are you through trying to singlehandedly fight for justice? Or did you just move everything to a different room?”
Abby covered Kira’s hands with her own. “I needed to stop, Kira. I let my grandfather’s sins take over my world, but I won’t let him do the same to you or Julie. I’ll find another way to help people, something less destructive to our lives. An action I can take instead of living my life as a reaction to his.”
Kira flung herself into Abby’s arms. She’d been proud of Abby before and had admired her bravery and sense of justice, but never had those feelings been as intense as they were now. She didn’t know how to express how much she cherished not only the study, but Abby’s words about her new plan for life. Kira wanted to help her with the process of letting go. She pulled back a little and tugged on the front of Abby’s green shirt.
“I have an idea,” she said. She popped the buttons open one at a time. “We should christen this room together.”
Abby looked at the walls, then back at Kira. “Christen? Or exorcise?”
