Love Inspired Suspense December 2013 Bundle: Christmas Cover-UpForce of NatureYuletide JeopardyWilderness Peril

by Lynette Eason

Alex looked at the ring again, then back to her. “Then what’s it doing here?”

  “I don’t know. When Landon and I quit dating, I gave him the ring back. He had changed so much I didn’t want anything to remind me of him. He told me someday I would want to come back to him, and until then he was going to wear the ring on his pinkie finger. Every time I saw him in the hall at school he would have it on and would hold up his hand for me to see.”

  Alex frowned. “Do you think he might have been wearing it when he died?”

  “After his body washed ashore, I asked his father if he was wearing the ring. I wanted to keep it to remember him by, but his father said it wasn’t on his body. Do you think the killer could have taken the ring off his finger and kept it all these years?”

  Alex shrugged. “It’s possible. Some killers like to keep some item from their victims. But why would he want you to know he had this ring?” He glanced at the box she still held. “What is that in the bottom of the box?”

  She pulled the paper out and unfolded it. “It’s a note.”

  Alex eased closer. “What does it say?”

  “‘Good afternoon, Miss Kincaid. Congratulations on solving the puzzle and finding the first clue in your quest to discover how Landon really died. I thought you might like to have the ring I’ve kept all these years. As you know, it meant a lot to Landon. Now you must decide if you want to find out how I got it. If you want to know, then you must solve the next clue in hopes it will bring you the answers you desire. Does your search end here, or are you tempted to continue? The next move is yours, but be prepared for whatever may come.’”

  Alex pulled the note from her hand and scanned it before he looked at her. “Is there nothing else inside?”

  She glanced back in the box and pulled out another folded sheet of paper. “Here’s something.” She opened it and rolled her eyes in disgust. “It’s a Sudoku puzzle.”

  “What? Let me see that.” He glanced over the printed grid. “I see he’s left the instructions for you at the bottom. Once you’ve solved the puzzle, you’ll find the coordinates to the next clue in the sixth line across.” He scanned the page for a moment before he looked back at Grace. “He’s giving you clues instead of telling you what you want to know. I don’t like this. He’s taunting you, Grace. You need to stop this right now.”

  She shook her head. “But we have to keep looking into this, Alex. This guy knows something, or he wouldn’t have this ring. He has to be the killer.”

  Alex shook his head. “Not we, Grace. This is getting out of hand. First he gives you an anonymous call, then he sends you a puzzle to find his hidden message, and when you do, there’s another clue that threatens you. This guy is setting you up for something bad, and I don’t like it. This is a matter for the police.”

  She glared at him. “No, I’m not giving up. I’ve been trained to follow a story wherever it goes. I’ll keep working on this whether you help me or not.”

  “Grace, you’re not listening to me. This is for your own good. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  She snatched the note out of his hand and whirled. “I’m not going to get hurt. And I’m not giving up.” She glanced over her shoulder as she stormed back through the forest.

  He watched her go and shook his head in dismay. Yesterday Grace had accused him of being stubborn, but when she set her mind to something, she wouldn’t give up. He kicked at a clump of dirt on the ground and took a deep breath.

  She was determined to follow through on this, and he knew he’d do what he’d done ever since they were children. He’d be right there with her looking out for her. How could she still have a hold on him after all these years and after all they’d gone through? But she did, and he couldn’t deny it. Maybe if he helped her with this case he could finally close the chapter on Grace Kincaid and put her out of his life permanently.

  He jogged back through the forest to tell her he’d help her. When he emerged from the forest, he caught sight of her already in the parking lot. She stood next to her car, her cell phone to her ear. His skin prickled. Something wasn’t right. As he got closer, he realized what it was. All four tires of her car had been slashed.

  “Yes, the pavilion in Overton Park. I’m standing beside the car.” She disconnected the call and turned as he came to a stop next to her. “I called the garage that I use. They’ll take care of this and check to make sure no other damage was done before they deliver the car to my home later today.”

  “Good.” He glanced around at the deserted parking lot. “I didn’t see anybody when I came out of the forest. Did you?”

  She nodded. “Just as I stepped out of the tree line, a car pulled out of the parking lot. At that distance I couldn’t tell who was driving.”

  A gust of wind blew across the parking lot, and Alex shivered. “It’s getting colder. I’ll call Brad to come pick us up. Why don’t we get in the car and wait for him there?”

  She nodded. “That sounds good to me.”

  He walked over and opened the driver’s door for her to step inside. Before she could move, the sharp crack of a gun split the quiet air, and a bullet slammed into the open car door. Alex lunged for Grace and knocked her to the ground as the second shot screamed over their heads.

  “Get to the other side of the car,” he yelled as he pulled his phone from the clip on his belt with one hand and his gun with the other. The shots appeared to have come from the forest. He fired in that direction, but he had no idea where the shooter was.

  Grace scooted on her stomach to the far side of the car as shots continued to hit the side of her car. Alex crawled behind, his phone pressed to his ear as he fired off two more shots. “Officer under fire,” he shouted into the phone. “Picnic pavilion at Overton Park. Need backup now!”

  “Officers on their way.” The 911 operator’s voice crackled over the phone.

  He grit his teeth and hoped they weren’t too late as another bullet shattered the car’s headlight. Fragments from the shattered headlight rained down on them as they scrambled to the far side of the car.

  Alex sat up with his back pressed against the fender of the car and tried to peer around the front, but another bullet plowed into the front bumper. The gunfire seemed to be coming from a different direction. Maybe the shooter was working his way around so he had a clear shot at them now huddled beside the car.

  Grace started to push up from the ground, but Alex shoved her back down and fell on top of her to shield her body as another bullet ripped past their heads. He was about to urge Grace to crawl to the back of the car when three police cruisers roared into the parking lot.

  Before he could sit up, the officers, one of them holding a dog, jumped out of the cars, fanned out across the parking lot and headed toward the trees at the edge of the forest. Alex sat up and pulled Grace into a sitting position.

  The lieutenant in charge of the officers squatted down beside them. “What happened here?”

  Alex stood up and pulled Grace to her feet. “Thanks for getting here so quickly,” he said as he began to relate the events in the park to the officer.

  After about fifteen minutes one of the officers emerged from the forest and jogged to where they waited. “We searched the woods, sir. The dog hit on several places where the shooter had stood when he fired, but he was gone. He must have had his escape route planned well.”

  Alex nodded. “I could tell he was moving, trying to get a better shot.”

  “We’re glad neither of you were hurt,” the lieutenant said. His gaze traveled over the bullet-marked car and shook his head. “Too bad about the car. We’re going to take another look in the woods before we go, but we’ll be glad to give you a ride when we leave.”

  Alex shook his head. “No need for that. I’ll call my partner.” He pulled out his cell phone and punched in Brad’s number.

  Brad answered right away. “Hello.”

  “Brad, it’s Alex. Grace and I are at the Overton Park Pavilion, and we need a ride. Can you come pic
k us up?”

  “Sure, I’ll be there right away.”

  “Thanks.”

  He disconnected the call and shoved the phone back in his pocket. “Brad should be here shortly. He can take you back to the television station. Would you like for me to give you a ride home this evening?”

  “I’d appreciate it. I’ll be ready as soon as the six o’clock news is over.” A cold wind blew across the parking lot, and she drew her coat closer around her. She bit down on her lip and pointed to her car. “This doesn’t change anything, Alex. I’m still going to pursue this story.”

  He gritted his teeth. “What’s the matter with you? Are you crazy? Somebody just tried to kill us, and you want to keep going with this investigation? This is something for the police to address, not you.”

  “I don’t understand why he waited until we got back to the car to shoot at us. He could have done that while we were in the forest.”

  Alex nodded. “I was wondering the same thing.”

  “What if he didn’t intend to kill us? What if he only wanted to scare us?” She pulled the note from her pocket. “I think he wants us to find the next clue.”

  “We could offer what-ifs all day long and not be any closer to the truth than we are now,” Alex said. “The facts are that someone lured you to a deserted place then shot at you. Whether or not he meant to kill you doesn’t matter. Any one of those bullets could have found their mark. This is where your involvement with this investigation has to end.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” Tears sparkled in her eyes, and she pulled Landon’s friendship ring from her pocket and slipped it on her finger. “I’m convinced that whoever shot at us took this ring off Landon’s finger after he killed him. I promised his father I would find out the truth, and I’m not giving up until I know what it is.”

  “Grace, please…”

  “No! I won’t give up even if I have to do this on my own.”

  He exhaled and shook his head. It would do no good to argue with her, and he’d come to the decision about what he should do while he was still in the forest. “I know I’m wasting my breath trying to get you to see reason, Grace. If you’re determined, I’m not going to let you do this alone.” He sighed and reached for the paper she still held. “I work these puzzles all the time. I’ll get started on it tonight.”

  “Thank you, Alex.” She hesitated a moment, and he knew she was about to ask him to do something else.

  He groaned inwardly. “I know that look, Grace. What else do you want me to do?”

  “When you take me home, I’d like for you to come inside and be with me when I tell my parents what happened today.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know, Grace. Your father never did like me. To him I’ll always be the gardener’s son. I doubt if my presence will make any difference.”

  “You’re wrong. My father is very different from when you knew him, and I want you to see for yourself. Please do this.”

  He wanted to tell her no, but her eyes begged him to do this. After a moment, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll come in for a few minutes.”

  She smiled. “Thank you, Alex.”

  She crossed her arms and leaned back against the car. Alex turned and stared into the woods where the officers continued to search. He glanced down at the broken headlights and the bullet holes in the car. They had barely missed being killed today.

  Cold fear washed over him, and he rubbed the hair on the back of his neck. Grace had opened a Pandora’s box with her announcement on air that she was going to look into Landon Mitchell’s death. There was nothing he could do to stop what might come, but one thing he could do was be there to make sure nothing happened to Grace.

  FOUR

  Grace gazed out the window of Alex’s car as he drove toward her home on the outskirts of Memphis. Usually she enjoyed the ride home from work, but not today. She had tried all afternoon to push her brush with death from her mind, but she couldn’t. She didn’t know if she would ever forget how those bullets had sounded as they hit her car. Thankfully, neither she nor Alex had been hurt, but the experience wasn’t one she would soon forget.

  Now she had to get through another troubling time. She had to tell her parents. If she didn’t, they might read about it in the paper or hear it on the news. With her father’s condition, she didn’t want him upset, but she didn’t see any way around it.

  She straightened in her seat as they approached the edge of her family’s property. Alex pulled into the driveway of the house, stopped at the gate and swiveled in his seat to face her. “Is the security code the same or has it been changed?”

  She smiled. “It’s still the same.”

  Alex punched in the code and drove through the gates onto the grounds of the home where she and Alex had played as children while his father was working there. He drove forward and stopped in front of the sprawling house. “Here we are. Are you sure you want me to come in?”

  “I am.” She glanced down at her watch and opened the car door. “My parents may not be home yet. Dad had an appointment scheduled with a physical therapist for late this afternoon. I’m sure the cook has something for us to munch on while we’re waiting for them. Come on inside.”

  Fifteen minutes later Grace and Alex sat on the sofa in the den and watched the blue gas flames flickering around the logs in the fireplace across the room. Grace set her coffee cup on the table at the end of the couch and turned to face Alex who sat at the other end. “I’m glad we have this time together before my parents get home. Everything has happened so fast for the past two days that we haven’t had time to talk.”

  He set his cup down and exhaled. “Talk about what, Grace? I think we’ve probably said it all at one time or another.”

  “There are several things I’d like to say. First of all, I want to tell you about my father.”

  “What about him?”

  She took a deep breath. “I want you to know what he’s gone through in the past year. After the drive-by shooting he was in bed for a long time before he reached the point where he could be in a wheelchair. During that time the pastor of the church nearby visited him a lot and shared with him the things in life that are really important and how God can get you through the bad times. After a lot of Bible study and prayer, Dad turned his life over to God. Now he’s trying to reach out to those he may have hurt in the past and apologize.”

  “B-but this is so unlike him. You’re telling me that your father has become a believer?”

  “I am. My mother and I are, too. My father’s shooting has changed everyone in the Kincaid household. For the first time since I can remember, we’re a real family. We also attend church every Sunday.”

  “Wow. I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”

  She smiled. “It’s true. Because I’ve put my trust in God, I’ve been able to get through a lot this past year, but there’s one thing I know I have to do. I want to be friends with you again. I want you to forgive me for all the mistakes I made. I’m praying you can do that, and I think this is the time to try. I don’t want us to go on saying and doing things that hurt each other. I think it’s time we called a truce, especially since you’ve saved my life twice since yesterday morning.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know if we can ever be friends again, Grace. I’m glad I was there to save your life, but I was only doing my job.”

  She blinked to keep the tears from filling her eyes. “I’d like to think it was a bit more personal than that. But even if it’s not, we can’t keep going through life pretending the other one doesn’t exist.”

  He took a deep breath. “Now that you’re back in Memphis, it’s hard to pretend you don’t exist. I see you on television nearly every day or I see your picture in the paper. I saw you on the society page not too long ago at a dinner at your country club, and also at a swanky party for the Cotton Carnival. You looked like you were surrounded by your friends.”

  She looked at him for a moment before she spoke. “I have lots of friend
s that I enjoy being with. I’d like for us to be friends again.”

  He pulled his gaze away from her and looked into the fireplace flames again. As she took in his profile, the muscle in his jaw twitched. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. There’s too much history between us, Grace.”

  She swallowed the lump in her throat and leaned forward. “We can try.” She closed her eyes for a moment and bit down on her lip. When she opened her eyes, he was staring at her again. “I don’t expect us to ever go back to where we were that summer before our senior year in college. I want to go back to the children we were when I followed you everywhere.”

  He let his gaze drift around the room. His eyes locked on the Christmas tree with the presents piled underneath and shook his head. “I’ve never seen that many presents under one tree in my life. It’s just one more reminder of the differences in our lives. We may have been childhood friends, but you were the daughter of the rich banker and I was the son of his gardener. It wasn’t okay with your father for you to be my friend then, and it certainly wasn’t when I got that scholarship to attend the same private school as you.”

  “You know I didn’t care what my father thought. I was thrilled when you got that athletic scholarship and we got to see each other at school.”

  A snort of disgust rumbled in Alex’s throat. “Yeah, we went to the same school, but I was never one of the guys.” He grimaced. “Landon Mitchell and his friends never let me forget it.”

  Grace sank back against her chair. “I tried to tell you none of that mattered. Not to me, at least.”

  He shrugged. “Well, being accepted by the group matters to a high school kid, and it did to me. When I look back on it now, I see it from an adult’s perspective, but it hurt back then.”

  “Did I ever make you feel like you weren’t accepted?”

  “No, but everything changed when you left for University of Pennsylvania and I stayed here at the University of Memphis. It was like I was free of all those childhood feelings and I was moving on with my life.”

  Grace sighed. “And then we ran into each other on Beale Street the summer before our senior years in college.”