by Dana Mentink
When the meal came to an end, he didn’t want their time together to cease. They washed up the dishes, side by side, and tidied until there was nothing left to do.
“Thank you for the pancakes,” she said. “Muffin approves.”
He dared to reach out and stroke her hair, soft as downy feathers. “I forgot.”
Her breath had gone shallow. “Forgot what?”
“How soft your hair is.”
She leaned in and then stopped. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”
He closed the gap between them and kissed her. He felt her warm to the kiss, her lips the same perfect fit he remembered.
She broke off and looked at him searchingly. “You seem different, Beckett.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know exactly. It’s like you believe all of a sudden.”
“Believe what? That I’ll be cleared of this mess? We’re a long way from that.”
“No, it’s like you found a part of yourself that you lost a long time ago, back in high school.”
He didn’t want to move. Instead he wanted to stay there, drinking in her eyes and the small hope that burned deep down in them. “I...I’m trying.”
She cupped his cheek. “Keep trying,” she whispered. “No matter what happens. Remember that you are who God says you are.” And then she kissed him again, a quick kiss, but so much the more meaningful because she’d initiated it. She turned to go and stopped quickly, bent slightly.
He was next to her in a flash. “What? What is it? What’s wrong?”
When she straightened, tears glazed her cheeks. “I...I felt the baby move.” Her tears continued to stream unchecked as he embraced her, and he added a few of his own. Heart thumping in a joyful cascade, he saw her safely to the cabin.
You are who God says you are.
It was time to make things right.
He picked up the phone and made a call to arrange a long-overdue meeting.
SIXTEEN
She awoke a few hours later. A residual glow from the pancake dinner still kindled in her veins. And to think that the first time she’d felt their baby move, Beckett had been there with her. What did it all mean? Was God telling her to open her heart again? Could she even if she decided to? Like Beckett, she had her own invisible wound, a scar left when her foster family had made it clear they were not the forever family she’d craved.
They’d stopped wanting her, and she’d told herself that Beckett had too. But the man she’d shared pancakes with, who’d nearly sacrificed his life for hers at the borax works, was not that same man. Had he changed, or had she? Though she prayed for clarity, none came.
She went to the window, expecting to see Beckett snoozing under the quilt. Instead she found Officer Norris sitting with his gaze fixed out into the night. She opened the door.
“Hello, Officer. I didn’t expect to see you here. Where’s Beckett?”
“He called and asked for someone to hang out here until he got back.”
“Got back from where?”
“I don’t know, ma’am, but he called to tell me he’s on his way. He’ll be here in about a half hour.”
“All right. Thank you.” Puzzled, she closed the door. What errand would have been so important to take him away from the hotel, especially while they were eagerly awaiting word from Rita?
She kept watch for his arrival. Just before nine, he pulled up and parked, shook Norris’s hand, and the officer drove away. She pulled on a sweater and her roomiest sweatpants and opened the door. Admiral cracked a sleepy eye, slogged off the bed and followed.
He greeted her, startled. “I thought you’d be asleep.”
“Me too. Where did you go?”
“I...”
Admiral let out a bark and trotted off as fast as his stubby legs would carry him.
“No, Admiral, stop,” Laney cried. The dog disappeared between the lodge and the west wing of rooms. Beckett and Laney followed, but Admiral was spry for an elderly canine, and he made off into the woods behind the property.
Laney clapped a hand to her forehead. “Oh, he’s simply fixated on this tree full of squirrels that live on the far side of the woods.”
“That same tree he was fascinated with back in the winter?”
She quirked a smile, pleased that he remembered such a small detail. “Yes. He’ll keep going until he’s half dead of exhaustion, unless I stop him.”
“I’ll take the truck and drive around to the road. You shouldn’t be out here at night.”
“I’d better go with you. No offense, but he’s not going to come when you call.”
Beckett laughed. “Now, that I believe. We’ll go together, but you’re not getting out of the truck. I’ll call Levi too and have him help out if we need to widen the search party.”
The night was shifting from slate gray to black, the stars beginning to poke through the velvety sky. She wanted to ask him about his mysterious errand, but she had to keep her eyes peeled for any sign of her AWOL companion.
They reached the small bridge that separated the hotel property from the vast wild expanse behind theirs. At the far side of the stone structure was the sprawling ancient oak, home to Admiral’s rodent nemeses. She rolled down the window and yelled.
Hearing no reply, she hollered again. Admiral zinged out from the shrubbery, whining pitifully. Her skin prickled. “Admiral, come here, baby.”
But the dog turned back into the shrubs.
“Naughty thing,” she breathed.
Levi rode up on his mare, a flashlight in his hand. Willow followed him on a smaller horse. “We were watching a movie,” she said. “Figured a double set of eyes would be better. Levi can’t always find the milk in the fridge, so I figured...”
Levi smirked at her. “Thanks, sis.”
“You’re welcome. Found him yet? I heard whining when we got close, or maybe that was Levi.”
Laney would have laughed at the sibling gibes, but worry was worming its way through her nerves. She leaned out the window. “Come here right now, Admiral,” she hollered in her best “I mean business” voice.
The dog did not come.
“What is he so interested in out there?” she whispered. Would the squirrels be active at night? Dread began to tingle deep in her belly.
“Stay here,” Beckett said to Laney. “Levi, will you stay too?”
Levi nodded. Laney noted the rifle secured to his saddle and swallowed hard.
“I’m going with you, Beckett,” Willow said, “so let’s not waste any more time.” She pulled a revolver from her saddlebag and tucked it into her pocket.
Willow had been the victim of violence, so she never traveled too far without protection. But guns? Surely this was just a naughty misbehaving dog, wasn’t it? The thought rang false.
Willow followed Beckett on horseback until the branches made the way impassable. She dismounted and looped the reins over a tree branch.
Laney felt the night suddenly grow cold as the two vanished into the darkness.
* * *
Beckett homed in on the sound of Admiral’s whining. It grew louder as they approached a small clearing.
“Beck,” Willow said. She flashed her light on the ground, illuminating a smashed swatch of grass. “It looks like something was dragged here.” Her voice was a whisper, but it sounded in his gut like a warning Klaxon. A moment like this had changed his life.
He swallowed down the memory of finding Pauline not very far from their current location, her lifeless hands flung up as if to ward off her death.
Admiral’s whine was shrill and sharp, close.
“Come here, boy.”
This time, the dog did as requested, hobbling out of the shadows over to Beckett, pawing at his knee. When he bent to hoist him up, Admiral turned and darted to a low-lying set of pine branches.
“Beck...” Willow screamed.
From under the branches protruded a set of legs, a woman’s jean-covered legs, twisted at an unnatural angle. A tiny glimpse of braid shone in the flashlight gleam, Rita’s braid. They ran, Beckett yanking up the branches. Willow bent to press her fingers to the exposed wrist.
Minutes turned into lifetimes as he waited.
“She’s dead,” Willow said. At the same time, their gazes traveled to an object close to Rita’s outstretched hand.
A cap, a Furnace Falls Fire Department baseball cap, stained and battered.
His cap.
A second scream severed the night like a blade. He jerked around to see Laney standing with her hand to her mouth, Levi right behind her. She looked from the dead woman to Beckett. Slowly her gaze came to rest on the baseball cap.
“Please tell me this isn’t happening again.” Her eyes were huge, pleading, desperate.
He could only stare at her, wishing with all his power that he had any other answer to give her.
* * *
She was sitting in the truck with Admiral on her lap when Jude and Officer Norris arrived. Though she wore her trusty sweater, she was shivering. Jude lifted a hand to her, his face grim as granite. More officers arrived, a team from the coroner’s office. The nightmare continued. After Jude talked to Willow and Levi, Levi rode his mare away, leading Willow’s. Willow climbed into the driver’s side of the truck and reached over to squeeze Laney’s shoulder.
“You know he didn’t do this. They won’t be able to find any proof.”
Except Beckett’s hat at the murder scene?
Jude approached after a while and she listened to him through the open window.
“Laney, was Beckett on the property all night?”
“I...” She shook her head. “He went out for a while. I don’t know where. But he did not kill Rita. Why would he? She was going to give us information to clear him from Pauline’s death, once and for all.” She broke off and tried to catch her breath.
He laid his hand on hers where she gripped the door frame. “We’ll get it straightened out. I’m going to take Beckett to the station to get a statement and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
“I’m coming.”
“Laney...” Beckett was still six feet away, no doubt at Jude’s request. “Go home. I don’t want you involved in this.”
Go back home and walk away from whatever had been building between them?
Press in and embroil herself and her baby in another horror?
Did she have the strength to face it? To draw close and have him push her away again? Did she even love him still or was it the stubborn ties of the past? She drew in a breath and made her decision, pushing the door open so suddenly Jude had to sidestep.
“Laney...” Jude started, but she ignored him.
Beckett’s face was grooved with the deepest despair and disbelief. Pain radiated off him in palpable waves. She marched to him and tipped her chin up, locking eyes with his.
“I am still your wife, technically. I will not walk away from you.” She caught the sparkle of moisture in his eyes and she knew hers were damp too.
He opened his mouth to speak, his hands reaching for her, but Jude had caught up and gently moved her back. “If you want to come to the station, I won’t stop you, but it will be a long night.”
She got back into the truck.
Willow was already in the driver’s seat. “I’ll take you. We can drop Admiral off on the way.”
Willow didn’t try to make conversation as they drove to the station. What was there to say? They’d heard more commotion before they’d left the woods, and she knew they’d found Rita’s car in a tangle of shrubbery. The police would do a thorough examination, check it for fingerprints and fibers and such. She tried to think calmly, as they settled into the uncomfortable chairs in the police station lobby. Beckett’s hat at the scene wasn’t enough to lead to his arrest, was it?
She was filled with frenetic energy and wanted to pace, but the space was small and Willow was already prowling around the dingy spot, making calls to Levi, Aunt Kitty, Herm.
Laney should be thinking about those details also, but it was as if her brain was stuck in a hopeless groove. Lord, how could it be? Again. It was happening all over; nothing had changed.
But her whole world had changed. There was a baby inside her, a tiny God-given life. And she’d thought something had begun to shift in Beckett too.
“Poor Rita,” she whispered. A young woman killed, discarded like a piece of trash, her death used to frame an innocent man. Had Kenny done it to punish Beckett? Kenny was a brutal man, but he didn’t seem the type to work out a plan to frame Beckett. His modus operandi had been more direct so far.
The longer the door to the interrogation room stayed closed, the worse she felt. Fatigue and despair began to overwhelm her like sand piling up in the dunes.
When the door opened, she bolted to her feet. Jude ushered Beckett down the hall and buzzed him into the waiting room. He had the dazed look of a sleepwalker.
“You’re free to go, Beckett,” Jude said.
“You’re...you’re releasing him?” she squeaked.
Jude nodded, the barest hint of relief on his face. “He has an alibi.”
Laney noticed in astonishment that another man was behind Jude. Neatly trimmed hair, nicely dressed in khakis and a polo shirt, holding a red-tipped white cane. She knew at once who it had to be: Dan Wheatly, the man Beckett had blinded in the high school wrestling match.
The impact of it left her speechless.
“Hello,” he said. “I’m Dan. Beckett was visiting me last night. You must be Laney.” He grinned, holding out his hand. “I’m legally blind, but I can see shadows, enough to fool people.”
Stunned, she reached out to greet him. “Beckett was visiting you?”
He nodded. “As a matter of fact, Rita called Beckett’s cell phone while he was with me. Interrupted our conversation, if only for a brief moment before the call was dropped. The call record of the phone found on her body proves it. It wasn’t possible for Beckett to have made it back to Furnace Falls to kill her in that amount of time.”
Willow grinned. “So you’re Beckett’s alibi?”
Dan gave a thumbs-up. “More than that, I’m his new lawyer. It’s time for my client to be going home now. Thank you for your time, Sheriff Duke.”
Laney followed Beckett to the parking lot. Her senses were clouded, but Beckett gripped her arm and kept her moving.
Behind them, Willow was in deep conversation with Dan. A driver sat behind the wheel of Dan’s car. “Would you like a ride home?” Dan asked Willow. “I think maybe Laney and Beckett need to talk and we can catch up on our old high school memories.”
She agreed, hugging Laney and Beckett before climbing into the car.
Dan patted Laney on the shoulder. “Things are likely to get worse before they get better. You’ve got a killer working very hard to destroy your family. And word’s already gotten out via the police scanner, so...”
“So the townsfolk who hated me before are boiling the tar and bagging the feathers,” Beckett said.
“Something like that,” he said. “Don’t let your guard down.”
Beckett drove out of the police station parking lot. Was it her imagination, or did the few cars on the road at that hour seem to slow and peer closely at them?
She pulled her sweater around her more tightly and kept her gaze out the window, willing the drive to go quickly.
SEVENTEEN
Beckett didn’t trust himself to talk, so he kept his jaws clamped together.
Laney was silent for a full three blocks. When she finally did speak, her question wasn’t what he’d thought it might be.
“You went to see Dan. Why?”
“No point in talking
about that now.” The despair came through, though he tried to squash it.
“I want to know.”
“Laney...” He broke off, without the energy to resist. “I had to tell him I was sorry.”
“Now? After all this time?”
“You said... I mean, you told me that I’d let myself be defined by what people said about me when...when I blinded him in high school. I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t that monster back then, I didn’t ever mean to hurt him and I have hated myself for it every day of my life.”
“What did he say?”
The wonder of it still pulsed through him, floating for a moment, just above the despair. “He said he’d known that all along. He has a great life and he doesn’t harbor any resentment.” He gulped. “He said he’d been praying for me all these years.” Praying...for him. Beckett could hardly still believe it.
“Oh, Beckett.” She caught his hand in hers.
He squeezed her fingers and swallowed hard. “Hardly seems to matter now, though.”
“It matters,” she whispered. “It matters.”
They lapsed into silence again until they hit the twists and turns just before Furnace Falls.
“Rita called you when you were with Dan?” she finally asked.
He’d been so lost in his mental morass, her words startled him. “Yes. It was only a couple of seconds, no more. She said something that sounded like It’s still there and then the call cut off.”
Laney cocked her head. “What could that mean?”
He hesitated. Was it fair to even mention it? Could he possibly stomach creating false hope? He couldn’t believe she was even sitting next to him. Her expression in the woods, the agony written there, killed him afresh.
Please tell me this isn’t happening again.
But there had been the other moment seared into his soul when she’d walked straight to him. I am still your wife, technically. I will not walk away from you. He realized then how badly he’d erred in asking for the divorce. It was the ultimate betrayal, an abandonment of the vows he’d made before her and God, born of his underestimation of her. But if he’d learned anything in the past week, it was that Laney Duke was much stronger than he could ever imagine.
