Maybe her outcry had been exactly what the sheriff had wanted—otherwise he would have gagged her in addition to tying her up.
“If Heath dies because of you,” Austin said, “or if you hurt Willow, there isn’t any place on this earth where you can hide. Let her go.”
“I’ll trade her for you.”
“No! Austin, no!” she screamed. “You must know it’s a trap. He’s only going to kill us all.” Willow had no idea how Austin could get them out of this. The sheriff had the upper hand and he knew it.
She had to help. Somehow, she had to do something. Then Austin stepped into view, his hands lifted. The sheriff pointed his weapon at Austin as he entered the cave.
“What . . . what are you doing? Are you crazy?” She stared at Austin. His walking in there to give himself up was not the heroic act she had expected.
He grinned. Really? Something was funny? “I came for you. I’d think you’d show a little more gratitude.”
“He’s going to kill us,” she said.
“Shut up, both of you.”
“You can let her go now,” Austin said. “That was our deal. A trade. Remember?”
“I can’t let her go,” the sheriff said.
Austin didn’t seem to register the sheriff’s words. They hadn’t surprised him. He took in the guy still unconscious on the cave floor. “What? Are we going to wait for him to wake up before you kill us?”
“What do you mean?” Willow looked at the guy, who groaned. If what Austin said was true, they had a few precious moments and that was it.
“You’re smart,” the sheriff said. “I’ll give you that.”
“He wants it to look like this poor soul kidnapped and tried to kill us. You probably had intended that for Charlie, but she got away.”
Could it be true? That would mean Charlie was still alive.
“Even if she survived the river, if she’s out there somewhere, it’ll be her word against mine.”
“See, it was this guy all along, he wants the world to think.” Austin directed his words to Willow but kept his eyes on the sheriff. What was Austin planning? “This guy killed Marilee and tried to find and kill Charlie, but we got in the way. Once we’re all dead, there’s nobody to say it happened differently. But what I don’t get is why.”
“I think I do. I think someone was paying him to keep an eye on Charlie. If someone was close to learning the truth and finding her, then he was supposed to kill her,” Willow said. “He said he’d tried to warn us away, so he was the one who left the notes. In that way, he had hoped to save Charlie, but we didn’t heed the warnings. All this because someone he loves is in trouble. He needs money to save them.”
“I don’t owe you an explanation, but I didn’t kill Marilee. I’m sorry it had to come to this. I never intended for it to go this far, but now that it has, I have to protect my family.”
Now that was something Willow could relate to. “So you are a family man. Kids? Grandkids? What do you think they’ll think about their grandfather once they find out?”
His eyes glistened. “They won’t find out. I have to do this for them.”
“Surely no amount of money is worth murder. And Heath, he was your friend. You said he was like a son to you.”
“Desperation can make you do things you can’t imagine. Money means survival. Multiple organ transplants for a sick child when insurance has maxed out. People die waiting for their turn on the list. I would do anything for my grandson. I didn’t set out to kill anyone. I didn’t kill Charlie’s mother. I tried to warn you away from finding Charlie. Why didn’t you listen?”
“How’d you even find her?”
He scoffed. “Find her? I never lost her. I’ve been watching her for years. This is all on you. Now I’m in too deep, and have no choice but to follow through. Tanner will be taken care of now. He’ll have his whole life ahead of him.”
The weight of his words pressed against her heart. She sank to the ground. “Someone paid you. Someone is paying you to do this. Who is it? I want to know before I die.”
Hurt flickered in Austin’s eyes. She read the message there. Have a little faith.
Seriously. He would get them out of this?
“So what’s the plan?” Austin asked. “It’ll have to look like there was a struggle between me and that guy to explain the knot on his head and his concussion. Maybe I hit him and then he shoots me and I bleed out?”
Why was Austin giving the sheriff ideas about how to kill him? Willow stayed where she was on the ground. She had no idea what he was doing. He’d lost it. Really lost it. Maybe it had everything to do with the fact that he’d failed that last assignment with the FBI and it was messing with his mind now.
She couldn’t stand to watch. Couldn’t stand to see him losing his mind right before her eyes.
“He’s a good man, Willow. He’d be good for you.”
Austin had come with baggage. At the time, JT had seen past all that. What would he say if he could see them now?
“You think you’re some kind of hotshot, don’t you? That you’re going to somehow save the day.”
“I do.”
Suddenly Austin flicked out a knife and threw it at the sheriff, who fired his weapon. The knife stuck in his chest, in his heart, and he fell backward, dropping the gun.
Austin fell to the ground and Willow crawled to him. Grimacing, he sucked in a breath.
She cupped his face and peered into his eyes, hoping and praying he was still with her. “Austin, please, are you okay?”
“Yes,” he croaked out. “I wore a vest. Figured I would end up standing between you and danger.”
He crawled over to the sheriff. The man’s expression was dazed and pale, his eyes glazing over. Deputy Taggart rushed into the cave holding Heath’s rifle. “Glad I gave you my vest,” he said.
“My kids . . . my grandson,” Sheriff Haines pleaded. “Please help him get the money. I did it for him.”
“If you didn’t kill Marilee, then who did?” Austin asked.
He shrugged. “Charlie . . . didn’t have to die. If you had never found her, she could have lived.”
His eyes unfocused. He was gone. Willow shut her eyes. They still hadn’t found the connection. She’d completely missed Sheriff Haines as a possible suspect.
While Deputy Taggart used his radio to call for help, Austin cut the ties on her hands and feet and helped her stand up. He wrapped his arms around her. How many times would she end up in his arms under these kinds of circumstances? She longed for the day, for the moment, when she could be in his arms because . . . because they were meant to be. She pressed her face into his chest but only felt the hard vest that had protected him. She stepped back and looked into his eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“It hurts a bit.” He took off his shirt and removed the vest.
The man at the back of the cave stirred. His voice was gruff. “Oh man, you killed the sheriff? I would have liked to have made him suffer before he died.”
Willow eyed the guy. Had he been pretending to be unconscious? “Are you okay? And who are you, anyway?”
“Clyde. Clyde Everett. I loved Marilee. I wanted to marry her, only she had a thing for some other guy who wasn’t even from here. But all these years and she couldn’t get over him.” Clyde wobbled as he stood and reached for the wall, his voice cracking with anger. “He’d come back to town. She was going to go see him. Meet him at a motel. But someone killed her instead. And this guy, a sheriff for crying out loud, he grabbed me at my house and shocked me with that Taser, tied me up to bring me to the cave. Knocked me out again. My head is killing me now.”
“Who?” Austin asked. “Who was she going to see?”
“I don’t know his name. But if he loved her like she thought he did, he wouldn’t have left her. But if you can believe this jerk sheriff, it wasn’t him who killed her. I think he was lying.”
“I need to get back to my brother to make sure he’s okay.” Austin turned his attent
ion to Willow. “I went looking for Charlie.”
She nodded. “But you found me.”
He weaved his hands through her hair, raw emotion pouring from his eyes. Her heart stumbled around inside—she was dizzy with what she felt for him.
“Willow, we need—”
“To find Heath.” She stepped back, fearing what he might say. “Let’s go get your brother.”
“You go on,” Deputy Taggart said. “I’ve called for emergency services and law enforcement. I’ll stay here with the sheriff’s body.”
“Come on, then.” Austin took her hand. “Let’s get back to Heath. We have to stay alert. Don’t forget that Charlie’s still in danger. The sheriff wasn’t the one running this show. He didn’t do this alone.”
She hated saying the words, but Austin needed to know. “Heath was alive when I left him to get gunshot wound powder,” she said. “He didn’t tell you how bad he was. I never made it back with the powder.”
Was he already dead? Would Austin blame her?
Chapter sixty-one
SATURDAY, 9:56 A.M.
BRIDGER-TETON NATIONAL FOREST
The distant whir of a helicopter gave Austin hope as they exited the cave. He needed to get to Heath as fast as possible. He turned to Willow and Clyde. “Are you okay to keep up?”
Clyde grabbed his head. “No, man. I can’t make it. My head is killing me. I’ll wait with the deputy.”
Austin could relate to that pain.
Willow nodded. “I’m right behind you.” The determination in her eyes convinced him. Admiration pinged in his heart, but he had no time to ponder matters of the heart when his brother’s life was on the line.
If it wasn’t already too late.
Austin grabbed her hand and pushed forward through the thick vegetation, leading them back to Heath. This would take far too long, if what Willow said was true—that Heath had been in worse condition than he’d let on. He’d risked his life for Charlie, but that was no surprise. Heath had always been a protector. He’d always put others first. Why had Austin let anything come between them? Why had he stayed away so long?
His anguish-filled heart cried out to God as he pushed himself to make it back to Heath. God, please . . . help him! I can’t lose him too. Do you hear me? I can’t lose him too!
He’d thought he’d made the right decision by leaving his brother and Willow, but getting Heath to safety would have been the better choice. Charlie had escaped on her own.
Though he couldn’t have known that, guilt threatened to take him down and under.
“Do you hear the helicopter? We’re getting closer.” Hope surged in Willow’s voice. “Do you think help came for Heath?”
“I hope so.”
“I was never able to connect or make a call. I don’t know how they would have known.”
“Taggart. Deputy Taggart said Charlie had called him. She’s with Heath.” The deputy had come across Austin in the woods, having followed the same tracks. Charlie had called him, he said, but Heath had already lost a lot of blood. The deputy explained that he’d become suspicious of the sheriff when he hadn’t followed through with the investigation of the break-in at the cabin. Then the note that Austin had bagged had disappeared from the evidence room. Taggart had loaned his vest to Austin when the decision was made for him to go into the cave with Haines to save Willow.
Austin pushed faster, pulling harder on her hand. Minutes later, he could hear the helicopter growing distant. No. Austin released Willow’s hand and ran. Her footfalls were right behind him.
“Hey!” He waved his hands up in the air like an idiot. No one could see them through the canopy.
Willow tugged on his sleeve. “Look.”
Park rangers and deputies, along with search and rescue volunteers combed the area.
“Someone’s coming.”
Sheriff Everett jogged toward them. “Charlie called me on her SAT phone. I think she contacted everyone in two counties. Wyoming Highway Patrol brought in the helicopter to lift your brother out and get him to the hospital as fast as possible. We got him.” The guy’s expression remained grim, discouraging Austin from asking questions. He didn’t want to hear anything else. He only wanted to hold on to hope.
“Sheriff Haines is in the cave,” Austin said. “He’s dead. Deputy Taggart is with him. Just head toward the canyon southeast or contact Taggart, who’s waiting for help.”
“Charlie told me what happened. She thinks he killed her mother,” Sheriff Everett said.
“No. Someone else is involved,” Willow said. “But Sheriff Haines wanted it to look like it was Clyde Everett. Is Clyde related to you?”
The sheriff pursed his lips. “Why that—”
“Heath.” Austin said his brother’s name, demanding information with one word. He’d changed his mind. He did want to know more, and he didn’t have time to talk about Sheriff Haines, someone whose troubles in this life were over.
“He’s going to make it, don’t you worry,” Sheriff Everett said. “He’s strong. But he’s in a bad way.”
“Where’s Charlie?” Willow asked.
“A deputy took her to the hospital to see Heath and to get her statement. I’ll let the others know where we can find Taggart and Haines.”
“And Clyde. He’s there in the cave. The sheriff hit him on the head. He’s conscious and seems okay,” Willow said.
Willow studied Austin, her eyes filled with grief. “Austin, there’s something I need to tell you. Heath told me that Haines said your father wasn’t drunk. That the accident wasn’t his fault, after all.” Her voice trembled. “And something else . . . Heath hoped you could forgive him for being disappointed. He . . . he wanted you to know how proud he is of you.”
Those could be the last words of a dying man. Austin stumbled. Willow reached for him and moved in close. He hugged her to him, his heart in turmoil.
Austin hung his head. He never should have left Heath or Willow.
Chapter sixty-two
SATURDAY, 11:01 A.M.
GRAYBACK, WYOMING
Austin and Willow got out of the deputy’s vehicle. Austin thanked the Bridger County deputy who had brought them to the small county hospital in Grayback.
Willow squeezed his hand. “Let’s go see your brother.”
As much as he wanted to check on Heath, he hesitated. “Wait. You realize that Charlie is probably in the waiting room. We’ve never met her. This is it, Willow. This will likely be the end of our search. Are you ready to tell her?”
Her eyes welled with tears, but she blinked them away. “I don’t know yet. Let’s check on Heath. Let me think and pray. I’ll call Katelyn first, just to be sure she wants me to tell her.”
“Fair enough. We won’t say anything until we know what Katelyn wants.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her soft skin.
His action put color back into her cheeks. His heart so open and raw at the moment, he didn’t have the composure to hold back. Bad timing all around, but he’d made more mistakes than anyone had a right to make—losing Willow again wouldn’t be one of them. Not if he could help it. But first, he had to make sure Heath was going to be all right.
“Let’s go,” he said, leading her to the hospital entrance.
The hospital doors whooshed open. At the information desk, a silver-haired, weathered woman with kind eyes smiled up at them. “May I help you?”
“I’m Austin McKade—here to check on my brother Heath. They should have brought him in already.”
Her eyes brightened as if she knew Heath personally. “He’s in surgery now, but you go on down and wait for him. I’ll be praying for him. That brother of yours is a good man.”
I know. Heath had been Austin’s hero. As they walked the long corridor, he thought about Heath.
Funny, they had reconciled without so much as a conversation about what had kept them apart. But there was no need. The understanding had passed between them—they were brothers. That’s all that mattered. All was f
orgiven.
For Austin’s part, he should never have let anything come between them, especially his inability to accept Heath’s disappointment in him. He hadn’t wanted to come back just to face his brother’s disappointment, or the reminders of their cruel childhood. He hadn’t wanted to return just to be reminded of the role he’d played in Dad’s fatal accident. But if Haines could be believed, it sounded like Austin wasn’t to blame. Dad hadn’t been drunk, like they had been informed.
And maybe he could never make Dad proud before he’d died, but he could make his older brother, Heath, proud instead. Heath had always been there for him.
God, please let him live.
In the small space with carpet and chairs deemed the waiting area, Austin slowed his pace. Willow sidled next to him. “I could use some coffee. How about you?”
He reached into his pocket for his wallet.
“I got it,” a soft voice said.
Willow and Austin turned to see Charlie standing next to a coffee machine. Austin would recognize her anywhere, even though her hair was now blonde and spiked. She looked like a younger version of her mother. “I’ve seen you two coming and going at the ranch while I worked with the horses. I know you’re Mack’s brother.”
“Mack?”
“That’s what I call Heath. He’s like a big brother to me.” She angled her head, looking like a bashful schoolgirl for a moment. “I’m sorry. Where are my manners?” She thrust out her hand. “I’m Charlotte Clemmons.”
Austin and Willow introduced themselves.
“You can call me Charlie. It’s what my mom used to call me.” Charlie’s hands trembled as she inserted coins into the machine.
Used to. As in not anymore. After everything she’d been through, she had the resilience to offer to buy them coffee.
“What’ll it be?” she asked.
“Two coffees, please.” The look in Willow’s eyes reflected some of what Austin was feeling. Out of all the imaginings of this moment—facing Charlie—he never envisioned her buying them coffee.
Austin had agreed with Willow that they wouldn’t tell Charlie the truth. Not yet. But to continue talking to her like this without revealing who they were and what they wanted wouldn’t buy them any points later. How should they handle it? He frowned and looked down the hallway toward the doors, eager for news on Heath.
Never Let Go Page 27
