“If Gloria was Derek’s partner,” Brianna began, “why wouldn’t Derek have told the authorities about her?”
“I don’t think you’re going to like my answer,” Katherine said. “Derek did some shady stuff. I suspect that if he’d turned the spotlight on Gloria, she would have done the same back. He might have had to spend a few more years in prison.”
“Okay, I don’t need to hear any more,” Brianna said quickly. One crime at a time was all she could deal with.
“I figure Derek hid the paintings where no one could find them, so that when he got out, he could reap the rewards for his prison time.”
“If Gloria was his partner, why didn’t she just sell them?”
“They must have had a falling-out. Something went wrong with the plan. She let him take the fall because he didn’t hand over the paintings. And he took the fall, because she had too much on him. I’d always wondered if she was involved, but I didn’t know until today—until I realized there were forgeries, and only a handful of people could have given Derek access to the paintings.”
Katherine parked along the bluff, and they made their way down to the beach. The waves seemed bigger today as they came around the point. There were tall clouds blowing in off the ocean, mixed with some lower-level fog. In an hour or so, the beach would be completely socked in. As they approached the caves, Brianna felt trepidation. The water wasn’t near the entrance, but she had no idea how fast the tide came in.
“I can do it alone,” Katherine said, sensing her hesitation. “I’ve been in there a dozen times. I know how to get to the back. You can wait here.”
She didn’t like the fact that Katherine was so eager to go in on her own. While she’d been nothing but helpful, she was still a Markham. Maybe she wanted to get the paintings for herself. She could lie and say the paintings weren’t there, then come back to get them on her own later. “I’ll go, too,” she said.
“Great. It is a little less scary when there’s two people.”
As they made their way into the rocks, Brianna was surprised by how large the caves were. She didn’t feel as claustrophobic as she’d expected. Jason had said that several survivors had lived within these caves for months. “This is where Ramón Delgado landed, right?”
“That’s right,” Katherine said, turning down a dark tunnel. She flashed the light on, the beam bouncing off the rocky walls. “Ramón wrote on the walls about losing his beloved Eve not only to the sea but also to his evil brother, Victor.”
Brianna grew more curious as they moved deeper into the cliff. The passageway narrowed and twisted and turned. She was glad to have Katherine leading the way, since she seemed to know exactly which shadowy passages to go through.
Eventually, the tunnel opened out onto a wider, more open space. Katherine pointed out the deep scratchings on a nearby wall. There were names, dates, and figures, as if the men were trying to tell their story with all they had left.
Katherine motioned her toward another passageway. As they walked, the space got smaller and narrower. Brianna began to feel a little panicky. “Are we almost there?”
“We’re there.” Katherine stepped back, motioning Brianna to go in front of her.
Brianna couldn’t see a thing. She turned back around and found the light shining in her eyes, blinding her.
She put up a hand. “Can you turn the light away?”
Katherine pointed the light toward the ceiling so they were facing each other again. Brianna didn’t like the look in Katherine’s eyes.
“This was almost too easy,” Katherine murmured.
Brianna suddenly realized she’d made a big mistake. “The paintings aren’t here, are they?”
“You’re way too trusting, Brianna. First Derek, then me.”
“Why did you bring me here?”
“Because you were getting too close to where the paintings really are. Derek figured it out and left you clues in his sketches. I guess it was some type of insurance. As soon as you told me he’d started drawing again, I knew I had to see those sketches.”
Brianna remembered the broken picture on her dresser. “Did you go into my house?”
“That was easy, too. The back door was open.”
“Why did you break my engagement photo?”
“Because it disgusted me,” she said, an angry light in her eyes.
“You have the paintings, don’t you, Katherine? It wasn’t Gloria who was Derek’s partner, it was you.” It was suddenly all so clear.
“Bingo. But Gloria and Derek did have an affair. Derek loved women and slept with almost everyone he met. But he and I had a special connection. We painted together. We used the mirrors on each other; we were naked, bare, with no secrets between us and no lies. He and I were supposed to end up together. And then you came along.” Her lips tightened. “He wasn’t supposed to get engaged. He wasn’t supposed to bring you to Angel’s Bay to get married. He was flaunting you right in my face. It wasn’t love; you were just his trophy. The beautiful girl in the mirror that he had to have.”
“So you set him up,” Brianna said, everything clicking into place.
“It didn’t start out that way, but when I realized he intended to marry you, he had to pay.”
“But you were out of town during the robbery.”
“I came back without anyone knowing. I got into the museum before Derek and took the paintings. When he arrived to swap the fakes, the originals were already gone. The security guard surprised him and had him cornered, so Derek knocked him out with his flashlight. That was a mistake.”
Brianna couldn’t believe how pragmatically Katherine spoke about the crime. “You say you loved Derek, but you betrayed him, and you let him sit in prison. You’re the reason he’s dead, Katherine. How does that make you feel?”
For just a moment, Brianna saw a flicker of guilt in the other woman’s eyes. Then she straightened and threw her head back.
“I didn’t know that would happen,” she said. “I was holding the paintings until he got out. I had decided to split it all with him like we planned, to make up for the time he’d spent in jail. And also because Derek had the right contacts. I would have had a lot of trouble selling them on my own. Then Derek had to go and die. I didn’t know what I was going to do. But you forced my hand—you and your questions.”
Brianna shook her head. “You did all this out of spite? You’re crazy.”
“Not crazy, just determined to get what’s rightfully mine. My aunt and uncle treat me like dirt. They pay me nothing. They never respected my talent. Not like Derek did. We were both misunderstood artists.”
“So what now?” Brianna asked, feeling moisture seeping in at her toes. Katherine was between her and the entrance, and she had the only flashlight.
“Now we part company. I need to get the paintings, and I can’t have you getting there before me.”
“But I don’t know where they are.”
“Yes, you do.”
Brianna thought back to the sketches she’d looked at. “Are they at the gallery?”
“Good guess. I put the paintings in a place Derek would have appreciated, where people were looking at them each and every day but didn’t know it. Gloria and Steve and Wyatt thought they were so much smarter than Derek and me, so much more talented, more capable. The three of them were fools. I’ll have the last laugh.” She switched off the light.
Brianna blinked in terror, surrounded by darkness.
“I know these caves like the back of my hand,” Katherine said, her voice echoing off the walls. “Derek and I used to make out down here. We even made love here once.”
Brianna followed Katherine’s voice, creeping forward, her hand sliding along the wall next to her. “Katherine, turn the light on. I won’t tell anyone. I don’t care anymore about the paintings. I just want to get back to my son.”
Katherine laughed. “Like you’d let me walk away now. Don’t worry about your little boy; the Kanes will raise him. They’ll spoil him just li
ke they did Derek. But if you get out before the caves flood, maybe you’ll be able to catch me in time. I always did like a challenge. So did Derek. He never would have fallen for this.”
“Jason will figure it out,” Brianna said, trying to keep Katherine talking. She stumbled and felt water seep through her shoes. Panic rose in her throat. Had she taken a wrong turn?
“Jason has had five years to figure it out. He thought the crime was about money, but it was always about revenge. Money was just icing on the cake. Jason will probably miss you, though. You’ve got him wrapped around your little finger, just like Derek, but then Jason and Derek always competed for the same thing. That’s why he wants you—because he always wanted what Derek had.”
“Katherine, come on,” Brianna pleaded. She hated to beg, but she had to fight—not just for herself but for Lucas.
“I hope you can swim, because I lied about the tide. And when the waves start crashing over the rocks, the water comes in through all the cracks. It doesn’t take long to fill up the caves. Colin almost died here when we were kids. He said an angel saved him. Maybe one will come and save you,” she mocked.
“Katherine, stop. Come back.” Her words were met with silence this time. Only the taunting sound of Katherine’s laugh echoed in the caves.
Brianna tried to keep moving, but she kept running into rocks. Battered and bruised, she had no idea if she was going in the right direction. Her feet were freezing, and there seemed to be more and more water swishing over her feet. Was the tide coming in?
She told herself to stay calm, to think. She couldn’t afford to panic. She could get out. Katherine didn’t have that much of a head start on her, and she’d probably turn her flashlight back on once she got farther away. She’d be able to catch some stray light from that.
But there was nothing but inky blackness, damp moisture coating her face, icy water licking up her legs. Something brushed against her face, and she screamed. A flurry of pebbles fell from above her.
Maybe screaming wasn’t such a good idea; she had no idea how stable the earth above her was. The shipwreck survivors had spent days in these caves, so there had to be someplace the ocean couldn’t reach. She just had to find it.
Why the hell had she followed Katherine? She should have known something was off, that Derek wouldn’t have kept paintings in a damp cave. But Katherine had been so excited and sure and had played it so casually, as if she didn’t care if Brianna came or not. And she’d been so hell-bent on finding those paintings, on proving Derek’s innocence, she’d lost track of the big picture. Those paintings wouldn’t change her life. In fact, she didn’t need her life to be changed. She had Lucas. She might even have Jason, if she gave him a chance.
She stumbled again and landed in water up to her knees. She heard the rumble of the ocean. She was getting closer to the sea—but was she was going to make it in time?
Jason left the gallery as dusk settled over the town. He’d just finished a long meeting with the Markhams and Wyatt, and he’d finally gotten some answers. He needed to fill Brianna in. He’d tried her cell phone, but it had gone straight to voice-mail. He was hoping she’d be home.
Her car was in the driveway, but when he rang the bell, she didn’t answer. A bad feeling shot down his spine when he realized the front door was slightly ajar. He pushed it open, calling her name. There was no reply: no Brianna, no Lucas, no puppy. He glanced at the coffee table and saw Derek’s sketches.
Had Derek left her a clue that she’d gone to investigate? The three drawings that had been pulled out of the pile were of the gallery, Wyatt’s studio, and the beach. He’d been to two of those locations, and Brianna hadn’t been there, which left only one: Shelter Cove.
He drove like a maniac to the beach. As he neared the spot where he usually parked, he saw another car peeling out, leaving a cloud of dust behind. Katherine was behind the wheel, and she was alone. Damn. He’d never thought Katherine would go straight to Brianna. What had she done?
He parked the car and jumped out, taking off on a dead run toward the beach and the caves. Fog and clouds made visibility difficult, and when he reached the entrance, the water was up to his ankles, and the current was surging.
He saw a flashlight by the entrance. The front was bashed in as if someone had tossed it against the rocks on their way out. Brianna had to be inside.
Shit! He pulled out his cell phone. There was no signal. He tried the flashlight, but it didn’t work. Fortunately, he had a light on his key chain. It wasn’t much of a beam, but he turned it on as he jogged into the cave.
“Brianna!” he shouted, his voice lost in the rushing sound of water.
A rush of terrified adrenaline ran through his body as the narrow beam from his penlight danced off the black walls like a laser beam. He hadn’t been in the caves in years. If he took the wrong turn, he could easily get lost.
The water rose higher with each passing second.
“Brianna!” he yelled again. “Where are you?” The icy water swirled around his legs. It was difficult to fight the strong current and the cold. A new wave rolled in, pushing him further into the cave. “Brianna!”
“Help!”
His heart stopped at the sound of her voice. “I’m coming, Brianna!”
“Jason!” she yelled.
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. I can’t see anything.”
Her voice was loud now. He stumbled and fell against the wall, then slid down as a cascade of dirt and rocks showered on him.
“Jason, where are you?”
“I’m here!” he yelled, trying to pull his foot loose, but the rocks had shifted, pinning his leg.
He heard more scrambling. He tried to point the light toward where he had heard her voice, hoping she’d see it.
She appeared like an angel in the night, her blond hair standing out in the darkness.
“Jason!” Tears streamed down her face as she threw her arms around his neck. “Thank God. I didn’t think I was going to make it.”
“We’re not that far from the entrance.” He kissed her quickly.
“Let’s go, then,” she said.
“I can’t. My leg is pinned under a rock. Take the light.” He held out the light to her. In the shadow, he could see the fear on her face. “You hold it while I figure out what to do.”
Brianna couldn’t see what was holding him down, because the water had risen to their thighs. She leaned over, digging with her hands, trying to move the large, heavy rocks that now seemed immovable. Jason kicked out, hoping to free himself, but all he could feel was the jagged edges of the rocks cutting through his jeans.
“You’ve got to get out of here now,” he said. “Call nine-one-one when you get to the beach.”
“I’m not leaving you, Jason.”
“You have to. You’ve got Lucas to worry about.”
She struggled harder to move the rocks.
“Brianna, go. We’re running out of time.”
“Then shut up and let me do this, dammit.”
She gritted her teeth and pulled with all her might. The rock budged ever so slightly. She squatted down in the water, grappling with the rocks. Another wave came rolling in, dousing them with a chilling spray, but Brianna didn’t give up. She could die trying to save him, and he couldn’t let that happen. Save her, he prayed to the angels.
A wave splashed over them, and for a second there was nothing but dark, swirling water. Then the water receded, and new bright streams of light flowed through the cracks in the walls, as if the sun had come out.
Brianna shoved at the boulder again, and it lifted just enough for him to slide his leg free.
“You did it,” he said in amazement.
She smiled back at him. “Let’s get out of here.”
He grabbed her hand as they splashed back toward the entrance. They were almost out when the current enveloped them, lifting them off their feet.
“Don’t let go of my hand!” he cried. “We’re going
to ride the wave just like I taught you.”
Then they were swept out to sea.
He knew the ocean well, knew how to swim parallel to the coast until they could fight the current. Brianna struggled to keep her head above water. She was terrified, but she was fighting for all she was worth.
Fifty yards down the beach, they finally made it onto the sand, collapsing from the effort. For a few moments, all he could do was breathe in and out, searching Brianna’s face for any sign of injury or pain. She was soaking wet. Her skin was white, her eyes a dark, dark blue.
Unable to speak, she pointed toward the caves, and he followed her gaze. The black storm clouds had parted directly over the rocks and beams of light streamed down from the heavens, illuminating the cave as if it were onstage, and the rest of the world was in the dark.
Maybe the angels had heard his prayer, or maybe Derek had been watching out for Brianna. Whatever the reason, he was immensely grateful that they’d made it out alive and together.
Brianna crawled across the sand and fell into his arms. She cupped his face and kissed his lips, her mouth cold but joyful. “We made it,” she said. “I wasn’t sure we would. You saved my life, Jason. I was lost in those caves. Then I heard your voice, and I knew where to go. I wouldn’t have made it out if you hadn’t come for me.”
“I made things worse. You could have drowned trying to rescue me. Next time, I tell you to go—go.”
She smiled. “Not a chance.”
“Why?” he asked, the question slipping past his lips. “Why would you risk your life for me? You should hate me, Brianna. I made mistakes in the investigation. Derek didn’t steal the paintings, and he’s dead now because I sent him to jail. I screwed up. I didn’t ask the right questions. I didn’t look beyond the obvious. I didn’t imagine there were so many twists and turns, that—”
Brianna put her fingers against his mouth, cutting him off. “Don’t, Jason. Don’t blame yourself for not seeing what Derek took such pains to hide. He went to jail because he tried to steal the paintings, even if he didn’t succeed, even if he was double-crossed. He was still involved and guilty, because he did knock out that security guard.”
In Shelter Cove Page 25
