by B. J Daniels
As Jennifer left, Shade moved to the door to lock it behind them. “Then I guess it’s the four of us.” He glanced at the large clock on the wall. It was almost 2:30 in the morning. “It’s only a matter of hours before it gets light. We’ll stay here and we should be fine. Brad, why don’t you help me with the coffee? I think we’d be wise to stay awake until help comes.”
Brad rose slowly from the hearth. “I should warn you that I’m armed. I have a gun.”
Shade groaned. “Great. Try not to shoot yourself with it. Or worse, one of us.”
“I’ll check the back door,” Lizzy said and headed for the large room at the back of the lodge.
* * *
AS SHE ENTERED the back room, she glanced toward the bathroom where Stephanie’s body still lay in the spot where they’d found her. She quickly averted her eyes. The smell of death followed her to the back door. She felt helpless. She was the sheriff. She had taken an oath to protect. She’d failed miserably after only days of being in the office. How could she not question if she was right for this job? She’d thought she could handle it, but if this was any indication...
She was almost to the door when she stopped as she realized something. She’d just assumed that all this began with Ariel’s death. But now she realized with a chill that this all began with Whitney Clark’s.
Whitney had befriended Lizzy before Ariel. She remembered Whitney saying that Lizzy had to watch out for Ariel. But that wasn’t the only one she’d warned her about. Stephanie.
* * *
“ARIEL RUNS EVERYTHING. She has two sidekicks, Stephanie and Jennifer. Stephanie is an Ariel wannabe. Jennifer’s all right, when you can get her away from Ariel. I actually like her when she isn’t pretending for Ariel’s sake that she can’t stand me.” Whitney had laughed. “Just watch Ariel. She’s vicious.”
* * *
LIZZY THOUGHT OF the diary pages naming Tyler and Stephanie in the hit-and-run. And Ariel, who’d known and used the information to squeeze money out of Tyler and keep Stephanie in line.
Her heart began to beat harder as she realized that Ashley had also known who’d killed Whitney and had kept it to herself.
For a moment she almost started back to the lounge to tell Shade what she’d figured out, but first she had to lock the back door. Then she would tell Shade. Ashley was in danger. And Christopher, too, if he’d read the diaries and kept silent. This had all been about Whitney Clark’s death.
As she reached to lock the back door, the lights went out.
There was that moment of surprise, then total disorienting blackness. She heard Shade call her name. Heard the panic in his voice moments before she heard running footfalls. She opened her mouth to call back as she reached for her weapon strapped on her ankle. Fingers closed over her arm before she could reach it. She struggled to fight them off when she felt the pinprick of a needle jammed into her.
She let out a small cry before a hand clamped over her mouth. The fight she put up was both futile and frail. The drug rushed through her veins so quickly that her knees buckled under her. She could hear Shade looking for the flashlight he’d had earlier as she was dragged out into the darkness and the cold night air.
Her eyelids felt too heavy. She fought to keep them open, fought to see her attacker, already knowing who it would be. Opening her mouth, she tried to call out to warn Shade, but her mind had disconnected from her body. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t speak.
As she was dragged through the cold, snowy blackness, all she felt was the biting grip of fingers digging into her flesh as she was taken away.
* * *
SHADE FINALLY FOUND the flashlight and snapped it on. The beam skittered across the floor in front of him as he raced toward the back room of the lodge. “Lizzy? Lizzy!” He screamed her name, his voice breaking. He shined the light around the large empty room and into the bathrooms, the beam freezing on the open back door and the snow falling outside.
His heart in his throat, he ran to the gaping doorway and was hit by the cold, the snow and the blackness. “Lizzy! Lizzy!” His voice was hoarse with fear. The flashlight beam flickered on the ground directly outside. He could see footprints and drag marks in the snow.
Running, he followed the drag marks into the trees only to have them disappear. Had the killer picked Lizzy up to carry her?
He shot the beam out into the dense, dark pines. Nothing. No movement. As he tried to catch his breath and still his thundering heart, he shivered, realizing he’d run out without a coat. He also hadn’t come out with something he absolutely had to have: his gun. He’d also forgotten about Brad. He sprinted through the snow back toward the lodge.
Shade told himself that Lizzy couldn’t have gotten away that quickly. The killer had no way to get her off the mountain. Lizzy was still here. Somewhere. He just had to find her before—he refused to let his mind go down that trail of thought. If the killer wanted her dead, Shade would have found her lying in the lodge’s back doorway after taking her last breath.
For some reason, the killer wanted her alive. Shade tried to assure himself that she would stay that way. Lizzy was strong, she was smart, she would be fine. But even as he told himself that, he was reminded of the others who had died. This killer was relentless, diabolical, determined and certainly not done.
He shined the flashlight ahead of him as he reached the back of the lodge. As he stepped in, he heard a sound and froze as he recognized it. The front door lock making a snicking sound and then the door opened and slammed shut. His heart began to pound even harder.
“Brad?” In his terror to find Lizzy after the lights went out, he’d completely forgotten about the newsman and Tyler. No answer. “Brad?” He swore under his breath as he followed the beam of his flashlight through the lodge. It didn’t take long to realize that Brad was gone. Now he was out there somewhere with a loaded weapon.
Shade swore but didn’t have time to worry about Brad right now. Strapping on his holster, he checked the pistol to make sure it was loaded, then grabbed another clip just in case. His fingers trembled as he slipped the gun into the holster, grabbed a coat and, taking the flashlight, headed for the back door to follow the drag tracks into the pines and beyond. He would find Lizzy. He would find her before it was too late.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
DEPUTY ACE TURNER took his time driving up the mountain. As much as he wanted to save Lizzy and be the hero, he wanted to give her time to really hang herself. According to the highway patrolman, she already had one wounded man. And a dead body, if you counted Ariel Matheson.
He smiled to himself, enjoying how screwed she must be feeling. Hell, by the time he reached the guest ranch, the tally could be even higher. This was going to look so bad on her record. He almost felt sorry for her. Maybe the county would impeach her. That’s if she didn’t cry uncle and give up. If it was him, he would step down. Well, it would never have been him since he certainly wouldn’t have gone up to that class reunion with a nutcase on the loose.
Dreaming about how he’d take over the department after he saved her, he noticed that the snow seemed to be letting up. It had rained in the valley, so the only snow was up here in the mountains. But even that was ending as he left town.
As he came over a rise, he saw a man walking up the road in the dark. He recognized him in his headlights. Ace had been pulled over by that same patrolman a few weeks ago for a broken headlight. The guy had been a dick. He shook his head and chuckled since the tables had turned. The highway patrolman had said that he’d walked almost all the way down the mountain until he got cell phone service. Now he was halfway back and still had miles to go before he reached the guest ranch.
Ace knew he’d get in trouble for not picking him up, but since he had no idea who the killer was, didn’t it make sense not to stop?
The patrolman, hearing the sound of a vehicle behind him, turned and waved a hand. Ace got a
kick out of the expression on the guy’s face as he sped on past.
“Sorry, sucker,” he said, grinning as he glanced in his rearview mirror. The highway patrolman didn’t look happy. Let him think that other law enforcement vehicles would be coming along to pick him up soon.
As his headlights cut through the pines lining both sides of the narrow road, Ace thought about what he’d find when he reached the guest ranch. Mayhem probably. But then again, this was what he lived for, the excitement, the adrenaline rush as he saved the day. He really did love this job at moments like this.
* * *
SHADE HAD LOST the drag trail only yards into the woods but picked it up again as the pines thinned. Now, the trail had petered out again. Fear paralyzed him for a moment. He stopped to catch his breath and listen, turning off the flashlight as he stood stone-still in the dark.
The snow had stopped. Only a few isolated flakes drifted down. A breeze moaned in the tops of the pines as they swayed against the black sky. Somewhere in the distance he heard an owl hoot, making him start.
He tried to still his nerves even as he felt the urgency of finding Lizzy. Whoever had taken her hadn’t killed her outright. That gave him hope that maybe the killer had another plan for her that didn’t include death. At least not right away. Because they knew he’d come looking for her?
Of course the killer would set a trap for him.
The darkness seemed to close in on him. He thought of Lizzy and his daughter he hadn’t gotten a chance to get to know yet. He wanted both so desperately. If he didn’t get off this mountain alive, Maisie would have no one.
Snapping the flashlight back on, he began to search the ground again for any sign of tracks. It took a few frustrating, heart-pounding minutes before he found them again. But when he did, he thought he knew where the killer was headed.
The tracks though were no longer drag marks. Had the killer picked Lizzy up? Was he or she now carrying her? Was that why there were deeper scuff marks in the snow?
He followed the tracks as they crossed the mountainside toward the last of the cabins farthest from the lodge.
* * *
COMING IN AND out of consciousness, Lizzy tried to open her eyes wider but her eyelids were too heavy. She could only make out a dark figure standing over her. Opening her mouth, she tried to speak, but still nothing came out. Her throat felt so dry that it closed. She fought to breathe. Had she been poisoned like Stephanie?
The figure leaned over her, blocking her view for a few moments. She held her breath, trying to hide the fact that the drug was wearing off. This was how her life was going to end? But as she braced for death, she felt her fingers being opened, something being shoved into her palm, and her fingers closed over it.
Her heart beat harder, more painfully in her chest as she realized what she now held. A diary page. Her attacker had pressed the page into her hand so that when she was found dead, everyone would know why. Each secret that Ariel had written down in her diary was now being revealed as the killer took yet another life. Another debt paid?
So why wasn’t she already dead?
The figure above her seemed to freeze at a sound that Lizzy hadn’t heard over the pounding of her pulse. She listened as she tried to fight off the drug. She couldn’t feel her body, couldn’t move a muscle. Panic made her heart beat faster. She had to let out the breath she’d been holding.
A hand was suddenly clamped down over her mouth. She felt her eyes widen in alarm only an instant before she heard the gunshot.
* * *
AS ACE ROUNDED a curve in the narrow road, his headlights picked up something ahead. “What the hell?” He threw on his brakes as he realized what he was seeing. A body lying beside the road.
He skidded to a stop. In the glare of his headlights, he could see that whoever it was, they weren’t moving. He looked around but past the body there was nothing but snow-covered pines on each side of the road. The darkness was so intense it would be impossible to know if there was someone lurking there, lying in wait for him to come along and get out of his cruiser so they could attack.
Ace felt a chill shudder through him. The person lay on his or her side, back to him. He stared at the figure, pretty sure it was a man. He honked his horn. The figure didn’t move. From this distance, he couldn’t tell if the person was still breathing or not. He guessed not. Whoever it was, he told himself he couldn’t help. Getting out and endangering his own life would be a waste.
Why did it have to be so damned dark up here in the mountains? He looked out at the black sky. Only a little snow drifted down. He could almost feel the cold, black October night just outside. Sitting in the warmth of his patrol SUV cruiser, he waited, feeling as if he was in one of those zombie movies. If he opened his door to get out to move the body, the zombies would come out of the trees and he’d be a goner. He knew it was crazy, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was out there, waiting for him to do just that.
He swore, cringing as he hit the gas, refusing to look back. But he hadn’t gone more than a few yards before he saw another body lying beside the road. He felt ice claw its way up his spine as the breeze lifted a lock of blond hair from beneath a knitted winter cap.
Call for backup. Don’t be a fool. Call. Now.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
SHADE GLANCED DOWN the mountain. He’d lost the tracks again. Now he wasn’t sure where to go. The killer had been carrying Lizzy. She wasn’t that heavy, but deadweight—Another thought he shoved away. Lizzy would have been incapacitated in some way for the killer to take her. What if the killer had gotten too tired to carry her any farther and had changed plans and headed for a cabin closer?
He could see tracks by the back of the cabin below him in the woods. He had to check it even though he knew he might be wasting valuable time. But if he went all the way to cabin nine and she wasn’t there—
Shade reached the back of the cabin when he heard the gunshot. It was quickly followed by a second shot. Brad? He slipped in through the back of the cabin using his master key. It was empty. At the front of the cabin, he moved to the window and looked out.
In the large yard light, he saw the pines sway in the breeze. Snow fell from the branches in large white clumps that formed pockmarks in the smooth surface of the covered ground. Past the pines, he saw something move into the shadows down by the barn. Tucking the flashlight into his belt, he pulled his weapon and eased the door open. The cold breeze stole his breath for a moment. He couldn’t see anyone.
The silence of the October night weighed on him. He had no idea who’d fired the shot—just that Brad had said he had a gun and Brad was also now missing.
Shade had to find Lizzy. He closed the door and went back through the cabin. He could feel time slipping away from him. He couldn’t bear the thought that he and Lizzy might not get their chance. He couldn’t let that happen. He’d find her. Or die trying.
* * *
THE KILLER WAS BACK.
Lizzy heard someone enter the cabin and lock the door. She could hear heavy breathing and the shuffle of footsteps across the floor as if every step was an effort. The killer stopped in the other room. She imagined the person looking out the window. Looking for Shade?
Was that what they were waiting for? She knew he could come for her and the thought pierced through her like a bullet. He would be walking right into a trap. She couldn’t bear the idea of him being harmed. She thought of the gunshot she’d heard. Maybe it was already too late.
Forcing away the image of Shade lying dead back at the lodge, she tried to concentrate. She could hear the killer moving around in the other room. Was the person having second thoughts? Murder had to get to even a psychopath at some point, didn’t it? But she knew all too well the criminal mind worked in its own warped way. Few killers thought that what they were doing was wrong and then stopped.
She suddenly realized that she
could feel the diary page in her hand. Her fingers began to open of their own volition, and she tried to move the rest of her body. If Shade was still alive and coming for her, she had to warn him somehow.
It took all her mental strength, but she was able to move her leg a fraction of an inch. Her right arm jerked just a little. Whatever they’d given her, it was wearing off. But was it wearing off quickly enough?
She heard whispering in the other room, although she couldn’t make out the words or tell if it was one person or two. Maybe the person was talking to themselves.
Lizzy felt her pulse leap.
Or maybe there was an accomplice. A second killer.
* * *
SHADE QUICKLY MOVED toward the other cabins down the row. He wanted to turn on his flashlight but knew it would only make him a sitting duck if he did. His heart raced as he tried to keep his wits about him. Panicking right now would do Lizzy no good. He had to believe that she was still alive, waiting for him. He had to use his head. She was in one of these cabins with the killer. All he had to do was figure out which one and then what?
He didn’t know. Create a diversion? Go busting in like a one-man SWAT team? As he moved cautiously along the edge of the pines toward cabin two, he realized that if Josh had gotten through, the cavalry should have been here by now. Either Josh hadn’t made it... Or he was the killer, just as Brad had suggested, and Josh had circled back.
Shade told himself not to think about that right now. First he had to find Lizzy. He was convinced that the killer had carried her to one of the cabins. But in the back of his mind, he also knew that the killer could have dumped her somewhere.
He had to believe that the killer had kept her alive for a reason. Because the killer had known Shade would come after her. It didn’t matter. He would do whatever he had to because in his heart Lizzy was already his. His hope. His dream. His future. His future and Maisie’s.
