“Listen, Rick. I understand how it feels to lose someone you love.”
He gave her a sardonic smirk, clearly not buying the I-feel-your-pain routine. “I’m sure you do.”
“I honestly do. My mother was killed by a drunk driver, and I hated him and all drunks for years.”
“Hurry up with those ropes,” he growled.
Keri forged ahead, desperately hoping at least something she said would touch a nerve. This is what bitterness did to people—took caring, loving men and turned them into liars, addicts and murderers. Suddenly Keri saw her own heart. What had her bitterness turned her into? Was she really any better than Rick? Tears burned as she silently repented.
“You see, Rick. In my heart I’ve murdered that man over and over for what he did to my mother.” Her voice caught, and Rick’s expression changed—for a flash of a second, but Keri could see that her words had had an effect. Even if it was that quick, it was a start. A seed. She pressed forward. “As far as God is concerned, the unforgiveness in my heart is no better than what you’ve done. We’re all sinners. The man who killed my mother, the man who violated your home and your wife.” She paused. “You and I. None of us is good. Only Jesus can change a heart.”
“Shut up,” he said. “I know you’re done with that rope by now.” He strode across to her and yanked her painfully away from her dad.
He flung her to the ground a few feet away and grabbed the other rope. “Now it’s your turn. Don’t try anything cute, or I’ll put a bullet in your dad’s head.”
Keri winced as he grabbed her arms none too gently, and jerked them behind her back. Struggling to continue her speech, she gathered her courage and spoke up. “I know you must still love God somewhere in your heart, Rick. Otherwise you wouldn’t have stayed at the mission this long. A man with your credentials could have gotten a job anywhere.”
A low laugh rumbled from his chest. “Let me tell you why I stayed at the mission. Because my sweet wife turned into an addict—prescription medication—trying to cope with her rape. When the doctors stopped prescribing them, she almost went crazy from withdrawal. I found plenty of people willing to sell me drugs on the street. Then it occurred to me that I was in a position to make a lot of money. I had the perfect cover. And I could keep buying the drugs for Joy without going bankrupt.”
“Amelia saw you selling drugs?” Keri sucked in a sharp breath as the ropes bit mercilessly into the soft flesh of her ankles.
“First she heard about me on the street. And then she started nosing around. She caught me making a deal one night. I supplied her with free drugs to shut her up. Pretty soon the affair started and she told me she was pregnant. I knew a baby would be just what it took to perk Joy right up. Maybe even give her a reason to go into rehab. So I convinced Amelia to have the baby and give it up. I planned to tell Joy I had adopted the baby. In her state, she wouldn’t have questioned anything.”
“But Amelia wasn’t being cooperative,” Keri prodded as he moved to tie her wrists.
“She got greedy. Started demanding money instead of just the drugs. Money for silence, she called it.”
“But why did she pretend to be pregnant?”
“Just one more thing to hold over my head, I suppose. She knew I was getting tired of her demands—and other things.”
Keri winced as the ropes pinched her wrists. He stood over her. “Any more questions?”
“What about the boys, Rick? Surely you aren’t going to kill innocent children.”
Regret crossed his features. “I wish I didn’t have to. Truthfully, I was going to be a good friend and offer to take them when Justin went to prison. But I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do about that now.”
“There is something you can do about it, Rick. There’s always a choice.”
“Unfortunately, there isn’t in this case. My so-called accomplice couldn’t stand the pressure and blabbed to the police about me paying him off to lie about Justin leaving the mission that night. That’s the last time I trust a drunk.”
To hear him speak so callously about framing Justin caused a shudder of revulsion between Keri’s shoulder blades, but she knew if she gave in to the outrage, she had no chance of escape. “Remember your former walk with God. Turn back to Him. If God can change my heart, He can change yours.”
“Save it, Keri. It’s gone too far. There’s no hope anymore.”
“There’s always hope.”
“Not for me, sweetheart,” he said, gathering up the remaining rope. “The cops are after me. And I don’t plan to be taken alive.”
Nausea swirled in Keri’s stomach. Rick was a man with nothing to lose.
A flicker of lights coming through the front window squelched anything she might have replied. Rick jerked his head up.
Keri breathed a sigh of a prayer. “Like I said, Rick. There’s always hope.”
“Don’t count on it.” He sneered down at her and grabbed a rag and a bottle from his bag. Quickly, he soaked the cloth with what smelled like gasoline and flicked his lighter, igniting a blaze. He tossed the flaming rag onto the ground a couple of feet from Keri’s head, snatched up his bag, and ran toward the back door.
Chapter Eighteen
Justin saw the blaze through the window and his heart tore in his chest. The boys! Keri and Mac! He raced up the steps ahead of the chief. Good thing the old man got out of his way because he’d have run over him if he’d had to.
He slammed through the door, shoved through the rising smoke, and located Keri and Mac on the floor. The chief bolted through the door right behind him, tore off his coat and beat at the flames.
Covering his mouth, Justin headed toward Keri. “Are you okay?” He quickly worked the knots around her wrists.
“I’m okay. Untie Dad,” she said as he moved toward her ankles. “I can get that.”
Mac’s ropes came apart easily. “It’s good you came when you did,” Mac said, then a fit of coughing seized him. He lumbered to his feet and grabbed a throw rug from the floor. Following the chief’s example, he beat at the flames that were slowly losing their malevolent war.
A scream split the cabin, coming from the boys’ room. “Josh!” Justin sprinted down the hall and flung himself into the room. Josh sat straight up on the bed, pointing at the window. “He was there! Just like in my dreams. Only this time it was real.”
Justin followed his pointing finger. Wind blew in from the open window. His gut clenched.
“Fire’s out!” he heard Mac call from the living room.
Keri appeared. “Is Josh okay?”
“He said he saw someone at the window—like his dream. This time he’s right. It’s open.”
“Rick!”
“Rick?”
Without an explanation, Keri tore out of the room.
“Mac, can you stay with the boys?” Justin asked as he sped through the room.
“I have them. Go!”
Justin ran after Keri. He banged through the door in time to see Keri and Rick struggling on the ground.
He headed in their direction. Gunfire blasted the air.
A strangled scream tore at Justin’s throat. “Keri!” He reached them just as Keri sat up, gasping for breath.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said.
Justin bent and grabbed the gun from the snow-covered ground and handed it to Keri.
Keri drew in a shaky breath and looked up at him. “He pulled out his gun as I tackled him. “Rick?” She felt for a pulse, then expelled a relieved sigh. “He’s alive.”
Reaching for her, Justin gripped her hand and lifted her. He gave her a quick hug. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She nodded. “Let’s see about him.”
Justin knelt beside Rick, fury searing his mind. A sense of betrayal cut like a knife, slicing at his heart. How could this man, his friend, have become an animal without Justin noticing?
Rick moaned and stirred. “Justin.”
Straddling the wou
nded man, Justin grabbed Rick’s shirt with enough force to lift his shoulders from the icy ground. “You almost killed my children!”
“Justin, don’t lower yourself to his level. Hurting him further won’t help anything.” Only Keri’s voice and her gentle hand on his shoulder prevented Justin from pounding Rick back to unconsciousness.
“Where are you hit?” he growled.
“My leg,” came Rick’s agonized response.
“Be glad it wasn’t through your heart,” Keri said. “If you have one.”
“I used to have one, but it was ripped out by someone I once tried to help.” Rick grimaced, but turned his gaze on Justin. “I hope the same thing doesn’t happen to you.”
“It won’t,” Keri spoke up before Justin had a chance to respond.
“I better put something around that wound before you bleed to death.” Justin grabbed a handkerchief from his back pocket and tied it tightly around Rick’s thigh. “All right. Let’s go. I’m not carrying you, so you’ll have to lean on me and do the best you can.”
Chief Manning met them at the back door. “Take him around to the squad car.”
“He’s been shot,” Keri said.
“I can see that.” No trace of sympathy leaked from the chief’s tone. “I’ll radio ahead to the hospital on the way. I imagine you’ll need to come in and give us a statement, Keri. But that can wait until tomorrow.”
“Thanks.” She put her hand on Rick’s arm. “What were you doing by the boys’ window? You could have been long gone if Josh hadn’t screamed.”
A sneer marred Rick’s features. “I didn’t figure I got the job done in there with Justin showing up when he did. There wasn’t time for a real fire.” He gave a short laugh. “I was going to light a couple more rags and throw them through the window.”
“What stopped you?” Justin asked, knowing full well that God had been the hand to hold back the fire from where his sons were sleeping.
“Call it a momentary touch of conscience.” Rick grimaced and faltered a step. “Josh must have seen my flashlight.”
“At least you had enough decency left inside of you to stop,” Keri said.
“Which proves my point. Doing the decent thing causes nothing but trouble.”
Justin helped Rick to the squad car. Once the man was lying on the seat, agony written on every feature, Justin leaned in. “I don’t understand any of this, Rick.”
“You never have understood, Justin. For you, it really is about wanting to fulfill some higher calling. For me, it never was. It was just a job.”
“I don’t believe that. At one time you had a passion for the lost. Just as strongly as I have.”
“No one has a passion as strong as you. Except maybe your Girl Friday over there.” He snorted. “You’re a perfect pair. The mission board will think they’re getting a great deal when they offer you my job.”
Obviously, there would be no last-hour repentance, no remorse. Justin shook his head. “You’re right. We are perfect together. And I hope the board does offer me your job.”
He started to close the door on the man who had been responsible for the upheaval in his life for the past four months, the man who had almost killed his beautiful children and the woman he loved.
“Justin?”
Justin moved close again. “Yeah?”
“See that Joy gets some help, will you? I don’t know what she’ll do without me. She doesn’t have anyone to take care of her. None of this is her fault.”
Against all reason, Justin was moved with compassion. He nodded. “I’ll do what I can.”
When he stood, Keri was waiting. He gathered her close. “Thank God, He kept you safe,” he said breathing in the familiar peachy scent combined with wood smoke. Keri clung to him.
The chief cleared his throat. “Make sure you come give that statement.”
Keri pulled back from Justin’s arms. “What now?” she asked the chief. “Is Justin cleared?”
“Charges have been dropped.”
Keri looked at Justin, frowning. “You talked to Bob?”
“Let’s just say Josh didn’t exactly see what he thought he saw.”
She grinned. “That clears that right up.”
The chief cleared his throat again. “Keri.”
“Yeah, Chief?”
“I don’t plan to report anything about you giving this young man an extra few hours with his children. He’s innocent, and, considering the circumstances, I don’t think there’s going to be anything to keep you from getting my job.”
Keri gave a short laugh, then she shook her head. “I appreciate it, Chief. But I’m going to have to hand in my resignation.”
“I thought you might. But are you absolutely sure?” the chief asked. “You’d be doing Briarwood a big favor it you stuck around.”
“Absolutely.” She turned and smiled at Justin. “I think I’m about to get a better offer. I’ll turn in my gear tomorrow when I give my statement.”
“All right, then.” Chief Manning nodded toward them. “I guess I better get this fella to a doctor.”
The squad car slid as it pulled out of the driveway amid a burst of exhaust fumes. It moved slowly down the icy gravel road.
Justin turned to Keri. “I don’t get it. You wanted that job more than anything.”
“You’re wrong.” She smiled and stepped closer to him. “What I want more than anything is right in front of me.” The look in her eyes sent waves of emotion over him.
“Are you sure?” he whispered.
“More sure than of anything in my entire life. That is, unless I’m reading you all wrong and you’re not interested in keeping me around.”
“Hmm. Try to escape.” Justin grinned.
Wrapping her arms about his neck, Keri snuggled close. “You were right about me using the law to bring significance into my life. I was trying to avenge my mother’s death by waging war on all drunk drivers, but I’m ready to stop doing that.” She pulled back and captured his gaze once more. “I—I’d really like to work at the mission—with you.”
Justin’s heart stirred, but his voice refused to work. He looked down into her liquid eyes and lost all rational thought. He did the only thing that came to mind, and covered her lips with his. Their kiss warmed him, erasing the ugliness of the last few months. Years.
Keri pulled back, and Justin finally found his voice.
“Marry me?” he asked.
“You can count on it.” Her lips curved in a flirtatious grin. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
He chuckled deeply and bent to kiss her once more. They heard the door bang and both glanced toward the cabin.
“Hey, Dad. Why are you kissing Miss Keri?” Billy shouted from the porch.
“Because I’m going to marry her,” Justin called back. “What do you think of that?”
Billy let up a whoop. “I told you, Josh!”
Josh remained silent and padded down the steps in only his socks.
“Josh,” Justin lightly admonished, sweeping the boy into his arms. “You’ll get sick.”
“I want to ask Miss Keri something.”
“What is it, sweetheart?” Removing her jacket, she laid it over his shivering body.
“If you marry Dad, are you going to be our mom?”
“I’d like to be, if you’ll have me.”
“The real kind of mom?”
“What do you mean?”
“The kind that makes spaghetti and cookies. And stays home at night and plays games and buys us clothes?”
Keri reached forward and smoothed his curls. “I love you, baby. There’s nothing I’d rather do than be your mom and Billy’s. And just so you know, I can make a really great pot of spaghetti. And you should taste my chocolate-chip-pumpkin cookies—oh, I know they sound awful, but wait until you bite into one.” Her lip trembled slightly as she smiled at Josh. “As for buying your clothes, we’ll make that a family affair and let your dad give us his input. How’s that so
und?”
“Perfect.” Josh grinned.
Justin held his son close and smiled at Keri.
“Perfect,” he agreed.
“Perfect,” she whispered. She looped her arm through his and together they walked back to the cabin.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5127-8
REASONABLE DOUBT
Copyright © 2005 by Tracey V. Bateman
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Reasonable Doubt Page 19
