“I can’t believe it’s really you,” she whimpers, tears tracking hotly down her cheeks. “I-I never expected anyone to come find me.”
“Of course I came to find you,” I shoot back passionately. “Lauren, I would not have stopped until I found you. I’m here now. You’re safe.”
“He… he brought me here. I was so scared. He grabbed me at the beach and I—I couldn’t fight back. I tried, Bones, but he got me. God, I’m so stupid,” she sighs tearfully.
“No, no. Don’t blame yourself,” I tell her, cupping her face in both hands. “This is not your fault. A demented excuse for a man did this to you. Come on.”
I help her stand up, though she’s wobbly on her feet from stress and starvation. She’s not in fantastic condition at the moment, but at least she’s no longer alone. “Do you want to get running or should we stick around so I can put a bullet in Kevin’s skull?” I ask her.
She bites her lip, thinking it over. Then she says firmly, “No. I don’t want to run. I’m done running, Bones. I can’t do that anymore. I’m not running from anything from here on out. I’m running to something. You.”
I pull her into my arms, stroking her head and kissing the top of her precious, soft head. “Okay, my love. We’re going to do this your way,” I tell her gently.
I can feel all eyes turning and fixating on the two of us as we walk into the local police station a few towns away. This place is considerably less abandoned-looking than Lauren’s hometown, but still rural and off the beaten track. Lauren clearly sees some familiar faces, because she leans into me and squeezes my hand even tighter. A man comes sauntering up to us in uniform, his eyes squinting as though he’s trying to place Lauren’s face.
“Hello there,” he says, blocking our path with his hands on his hips. “What’s brought you in today? Can I help you somehow?”
He’s asking, but it sounds more like a threat. Lauren is positively quaking next to me, and just as I’m about to speak up on her behalf, the police officer gets a tap on his shoulder from behind. He steps aside to allow a rather short, middle-aged woman with a no-nonsense salt-and-pepper bob and bright, intelligent brown eyes to step forward. I can feel Lauren instantly relax a little as the woman extends a hand—not to shake, but to rest it maternally on her shoulder.
“Raylene?” the woman asks in a low voice.
“It’s Lauren now,” she whispers back. “Can we… can we talk?”
The woman nods, pointing to her badge proudly. “Yes, dear. We can talk. Do you remember me? I was just a deputy when you came in all those years ago. I’m the Sheriff now.”
Lauren’s face brightens up and I immediately feel more trusting in this particular cop. I can tell they know each other from way back when, and it dawns on me that this sheriff must have been the one to take Lauren’s testimony regarding her father’s crimes back when she was still a child. Back when she was called Raylene.
“Is there somewhere quiet we could go? Somewhere private?” I suggest, glancing around at the room full of deputies and cops who are trying to surreptitiously watch us and eavesdrop.
The sheriff nods and gestures for us to follow her. “Sure thing. This way.”
Lauren looks up at me and gives a barely-noticeable nod, and we follow the sheriff to a private interview room toward the back of the station. As soon as the door is closed, Lauren bursts into tears. The sheriff hurries to her side, pulling up a chair to sit next to her instead of across the table. That’s a good sign, it seems to me. The sheriff sees her as a person, not just a potential stack of boring paperwork. Lauren unloads the full story onto the sheriff, including even the tiniest details. The sheriff and I listen intently as she shares her horrific experiences, and I can see the look on the sheriff’s face changing from sympathy to horror to pity. She really seems to care about what Lauren has to say, and she doesn’t have a problem with me sitting here holding her hand the whole time. After the story is finished, the sheriff leans back in her chair, shaking her head as she stares down at the woodgrain of the interview table.
“My god, Ray—Lauren. I am so sorry, dear. No one should have to go through what you’ve been through. You are an amazingly strong, resilient young woman. I applaud you for surviving something that would destroy many people completely,” she says, with genuine awe in her voice. “And if it helps at all, I may have some good news to share with you.”
“Really?” Lauren sniffles.
“Yes, ma’am,” says the sheriff. “Kevin Cranston actually has several warrants out for his arrest. There are charges of harassment, stalking, obstructing justice, hiding evidence, slander, libel—the list goes on and on. He’s a career criminal and a bad man. You were right to turn him in, Lauren. Just like you were right to turn in Murray Smyth.”
“Thank you. That’s really nice to hear,” Lauren says softly.
“That’s not all,” adds the sheriff, a twinkle in her eye. “I’m going to case that shed as soon as we’re done here. Full forensics team. The whole nine yards. If there’s evidence to be collected, you can bet your bottom dollar we will find it. Oh, and I don’t know if you’ve heard about this yet, but… the results of your father’s appeal have come through.”
My heart pounds and Lauren squeezes my hand as we wait for the answer.
The sheriff gives us a winning smile. “His appeal was denied. And more than that, they have uncovered new evidence that the judge is allowing to be included. Evidence that we are confident about. It should be enough to put him away for the other three murders.”
“That’s what they said the first time around,” Lauren sighs.
The sheriff pats her on the hand. “I know, dear. But there’s new evidence this time that was excluded before. Damning evidence, if I’m being honest. As soon as I caught wind about his new appeal, I reopened the case and discovered new factors we could not have caught the first go around. Forensic technique and technology has improved a lot since you were a little girl, Lauren. It’s better now. We’re more precise.”
“So… you really think it might work?” Lauren says breathlessly.
The sheriff smiles and nods. “Yes, ma’am. We got him. I swear.”
After we end the interview, shake hands, and share contact information with the sheriff, she cuts us loose. I walk out into the sunshine with Lauren at my side, hand-in-hand and feeling a million pounds lighter. I look over at her face, shining with happy tears, and can’t help but smile.
“So,” I begin. “Where do you want to go with your newfound freedom?”
Grinning up at the sun, she says, “I just want to fly away with you.”
“Would a ride back to Wyoming on the back of my motorcycle fit the bill?” I ask.
Lauren turns to beam at me, looking more beautiful than ever before with the sun reflecting off her golden hair. “Yes,” she agrees warmly. “Even better.”
Bones
Only once in my life have I been this happy to see the California state line shrinking behind me, and with the wind in my face and the feeling of Lauren’s arms around my waist, I have to say, this blows the first time out of the water. We have everything packed, and there’s nothing but miles of road and a bright future ahead of us.
Lauren squeezes me as she notices me turn my head to glance in the rear-view mirror, and I chuckle, putting my hand over hers. We’re going to have to stop somewhere nice for dinner tonight.
“How long is the ride back to Wyoming?” she shouts over my shoulder.
“Fifteen, sixteen hours,” I shout back. “Not counting any time we spend at the hotel rooms I’m getting us.”
She presses her face close enough to mine to feel her smile, and she hugs me tight as I ride. This is why I’m a biker. This is what it’s all about. The landscape is whipping by all around me faster than I can keep up with, but at the same time, it stands before me like a vast and unending plain, full of richer beauty than I ever thought possible in the real world. I grew up in a rough town, and I never knew anything else until I
was forced to run from it.
But now, we don’t have to run from anything. I’m going to take Lauren to new heights in bed at every hotel we stop at, and with the nest-egg I have saved up, I’m going to shell out for the best rooms I can get, while I’m at it.
And once we’re back in Wyoming, that’s not all I plan on shelling out for, if all goes according to plan. But I can’t get ahead of myself.
As the asphalt flies by under my wheels, I notice something in the rear-view mirror. There’s a pickup truck behind us, and it looks like it’s moving fast. I glance ahead. There’s nobody for miles, and it doesn’t look like there’s anyone behind the truck, either. Thinking little of it, I drive ahead steady. The guy has plenty of room to get around me.
But then I get a bad feeling in my gut.
It’s something in the air. The sound of his engine is different than what I’m used to. Spend enough time riding, and you get to know what a truck doing 90-100 miles per hour on the interstate coming up on your left sounds like. This doesn’t sound like that. This sounds a little more like it’s pushing 140.
“Hold on!” I shout as I tighten my grip on Lauren’s hands around my waist and veer to the left as the truck driver hurdles right into where I had been a moment ago.
The fucker is trying to drive us off the road!
I stick my middle finger out as he slams on the brakes so as not to pass me, and when he does, my jaw goes slack when I look into the driver’s eyes.
“Kevin?!” Lauren shouts at the punk at the steering wheel.
He’s grinning like a crocodile, and he’s laughing as he leans on the horn and falls behind us. His face looked sweaty and flushed, and his eyes looked wild. We already know that he has gone off the deep end, but now, he’s absolutely crazed...and he’s caught up with us.
“How the fuck did he catch us?” I bark as I roar forward, but Kevin is hot on my tail. I reach for my gun, but with Lauren on board, I can’t pull the same cowboy shit I used to be able to pull on my own. I’m not going to risk her like that.
In the mirror, I see Kevin take his seatbelt off, and he sticks his head out the window. “Slow down, let’s talk it out!” he howls, and as he slinks back into the driver’s seat, I can see the cackling grin on his face. The fucker must be strung out on coke, or something.
The truck barrels forward close enough that I can almost feel it behind me, and as it starts to back off slowly, I know what’s coming. I take my gun out, and I swerve to the opposite side of the road as Kevin guns the ignition and blazes forward. He misses narrowly, and I feel his rear-view mirror come so close to hitting my bicep that I feel the air cutting.
But as the truck hurdles past, I take aim and fire. The bullet hits the door and ricochets off into the plains, but it definitely got Kevin’s attention. The fact that it doesn’t make him hit the brakes is...troubling. There’s a good chance Kevin sees this as the end of the road for him, and if that’s true, then he’s the most dangerous kind of man there is.
He doesn’t have anything to lose.
I take aim again, trying to get a steady shot on one of his tires, but I don’t have time to line up the shot—he suddenly swerves in front of me and hits the brakes, screeching abruptly and forcing me to turn the handle hard and go right. I feel the bike start to threaten to spin out on me, and it feels like it takes every muscle in my body to keep me from laying her down and killing us both. Adrenaline pumps through my body like I’ve never felt it before. I’m not just fighting for me this time, I’m fighting for Lauren and her right to live free from fuckers like this jackass.
And living free is what the Heartbreakers are all about.
Once my bike is back up, I twist around, extending my gun-toting hand past Lauren to keep her out of the shot and firing. The glass of Kevin’s left headlight explodes as it shatters.
“Slow down, I want to talk to him!” Lauren shouts behind me, into my ear.
“What?!” I bark. “He’s insane, Lauren! He’ll kill us both!”
“You’ve got a gun!” she reminds me. “If he did, he’d have used it by now!”
“Fuck,” I mumble, “you’re right. Why?!”
“He’s after me,” she shouts as Kevin starts to gain on us again. “I might be able to talk him down!”
I glance at Kevin in the mirror, looking at the crazed look on that sweaty face, and I don’t think I can see the humanity in him Lauren can. But for her, I’ll go out on a limb. I veer left and slow down, holding my barrel up into the air to show that I’m not going to point it at Kevin unless he makes me—and that’s a low bar for me.
“Kevin!” Lauren shouts as he glares over at us, looking poised to swerve the truck into us at any second. And truth be told, he probably could—we’re almost in a standoff. “Cops are looking for you! It’s over!”
“Then two more will be a drop in the bucket!” he barks. “You’re gonna fry for what you did to Murray, bitch!”
“You don’t even know us!” she hollers, voice cracking as she digs her nails into me. “Why the fuck do you care about Murray?!”
Kevin’s head snaps over to us so fast I swear I hear it crack, and his face goes red with anger. “What?!” he shrieks, and I see his right hand lunge for the handbrake.
Several things happen at once on that long, lonely, dusty road.
The second his hand goes down, I have to assume he’s reaching for a gun we haven’t seen yet. The fact that it turns out to be the handbrake doesn’t make a difference as I lower my gun, pointing it as close as I can to his front left tire. Kevin pulls the handbrake at the same time that he yanks the steering wheel left, and suddenly, there’s a metal wall of truck closing in around my bike. I pulled the trigger a split second ago, and as I watch Kevin’s face come into view, I see his eyes panicked at the sight of his now blown-out tire.
I swing the bike sideways, screeching across the length of the truck...just before its groaning mass of metal tips over from the momentum, missing us so closely that I can catch a half-second of Kevin’s scream. His truck starts tumbling over and over off the side of the road, glass shattering and metal bending as it crunches into the desert before getting wedged against a rock and coming to a stop. Miraculously, it lands upright, and a cloud of dust half-obscures it.
“Oh my god,” Lauren breathes, eyes wide at the scene.
I’m not letting him go, though. This is beyond personal.
I steer the bike off the road and guide it cautiously down to where Kevin’s truck has come to a halt. By the looks of things, it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. My gun is still out, and I still have four good rounds I am not afraid to use.
“Careful,” I whisper to Lauren, but she moves around me and rushes forward. “Damnit!”
I run after her, but then I see what she sees: an arm is hanging limply out the window. She rushes to the door and pulls it open, and immediately, Kevin starts to stir, proving that he isn’t dead like I thought. Lauren doesn’t fail to notice. As he starts to squirm, she reaches into the truck with fire in her eyes and grabs him by the collar, yanking him upright and-
Crack!
“Shit,” Lauren curses as Kevin flops to the ground under the impact of the punch Lauren just hit him in the jaw with. The sound of it takes me right back to the night I punched Brandon and first saw Lauren, and I have to admit, it brings a smile to my face despite all this.
Lauren takes a step back as Kevin leans against his car door while slumped on the ground, breathing heavily and staring up at us as I join her, gun pointed at him.
“Do it,” he snaps.
“Shut up,” I grunt.
“Why did you do this, Kevin?” Lauren asks, fists still clenched. “My life was already hell. Is this how you get off? Me hurting? Is that just how all you fuckers get off?”
“Maybe that runs in the family,” Kevin says with chilling coldness, and Lauren’s face pales, bringing a smile to his lips. “He really never told you about me, did he?”
“What?” she breathe
s, and my eyes widen.
“You think Sandra was the first woman Murray had a child with?” he says, a shaky laugh creeping into his voice. “No. She was just the worst one. Murray had another one, Raylene. He had me.”
“Holy shit,” I murmur as Lauren takes a few quivering steps back, shaking her head.
“What’s the matter, sis?” he chuckles up at her, smiling with unnerving calmness. “Disappointed he never invited me over? I was too. I was disappointed when he wouldn’t speak to me, too. I was disappointed when he disowned me, and even though I was willing to forgive all that, every fucking bit of it, I was disappointed when he wouldn’t let me speak to him in prison. Me, the one son of a bitch who fought for him when nobody else would,” he snarls, pointing to himself with red-rimmed eyes and a quivering lip. He glares daggers at Lauren, teeth clenched and a trickle of blood running from his nose. “You had a father. You had that life. He loved you, Raylene. And you stabbed him in the back.”
“You’re insane, Kevin,” Lauren says, shaking her head slowly. “Even...even if that’s true. You have no idea what Murray was like. You didn’t see what I saw.”
“No!” Kevin barks, and I can see him for the wounded, pathetic child that he is, half-cringing in the dirt. “You didn’t have the full picture. You were just a stupid kid! If he had been free, he…”
Kevin’s hands ball into fists, and he tears his eyes away from Lauren to look up at me. “Do it, you fucking coward. What are you waiting for?”
“Don’t, Bones,” Lauren whispers, looking at me with pain in her eyes.
“I was going to kill her,” Kevin says, pointing to Lauren and leaning forward. “I still will. I want to. Do it! Get it over with!”
But even if Lauren hadn’t been urging me not to, I can’t bring myself to pull the trigger on the broken soul on the ground before me. We stare each other in the eye long and hard before my ear pricks up. The sounds of sirens in the distance just reached me.
Bones Page 17
