by Cara Summers
“All right.”
Piper didn’t even allow herself a breath of relief before she turned and headed toward the cliff face.
* * *
TOO MUCH PAIN, DUNCAN THOUGHT. It swam in his head and streaked through his muscles with an intensity that nearly blocked out the fear. He couldn’t move. He could barely think. Piper. Each second that ticked by, Deanna Lewis was getting her farther and farther away from the castle. Eyes closed, Duncan put all his effort into getting control over his body.
He opened his eyes first, blinking against the blinding sun. But he knew that he was recovering when the fear began to push out the pain. The second time he opened his eyes, he was able to raise his hand to shade them. And he knew a brief flash of relief when he saw Daryl, Vi and Sheriff Skinner rush out through the sliding terrace doors from the library.
He’d managed to sit up by the time they reached him.
“Deanna Lewis,” he managed.
Daryl squatted down beside him. “Don’t try to talk. Piper let us know they’re headed to the caves.”
“Caves,” Duncan repeated.
“Piper told Deanna that you and she had left the earring hidden there. She even suggested that the necklace might be there also.”
Brilliant, Duncan thought. But when Deanna found out it was a lie, the strategy could prove lethal for Piper.
“You think she’s the person you saw running away wearing the hoodie,” Sheriff Skinner said.
Duncan managed to nod and didn’t like the way his head swam.
“When Piper asked her, she didn’t deny being the person who paid all those patient visits to the library,” Daryl said.
“She’s not patient anymore,” Duncan said. “Arbogast?”
“I got a man babysitting him and the two young photographers at the stones. They’re not going anywhere, and my deputy is on his way out here. He called me a few minutes ago to tell me that Lightman isn’t in his room. Seems the snoring that’s been going on for the last couple of hours has come from a mini tape recorder Lightman set up.”
“I’ll follow along the cliff path,” Daryl said, rising.
Duncan grabbed Cam’s boss by the ankle. “She won’t hesitate to kill Piper. If the profile I’ve been building is right, there’s a good chance she blames Piper because she didn’t find the jewels first. The kinds of risks she’s running—like revealing herself today—mean she’s very dangerous. She may not even be worried about being caught.”
He could talk again, breathe. He made his way unsteadily to his feet.
“What’s the plan?” Daryl asked.
“We’re going to the cave through an alternate route. You got a flashlight?”
Daryl patted his pocket. “Always. Along with my gun.”
Duncan fished in his pocket for his own. “This way.” He could only pray that he and Daryl would make it in time.
14
DON’T PANIC. PIPER REPEATED the phrase in her head, keeping the pace fast as the path wound upward to the cliffs. The sun was behind them, casting long shadows in front of them, so she knew just where Deanna was without looking back. She’d given some thought to running. But as fast as she was, a bullet was faster. And if she did outrun it, crazy Deanna might decide to go back and shoot Duncan while he lay helpless on the ground.
Talk. That was her safest alternative, Piper decided. It might save both of them from panicking. At the very least, it would keep Deanna from wondering why she and Duncan had decided to leave a priceless earring in the caves.
“Why were you visiting the library?” Piper asked.
“Because there had to be something there. Some clue to the whereabouts of the Stuart Sapphires. Anyone could have figured that out once the Times ran that picture of Mary Stuart wearing them side-by-side with Eleanor Campbell MacPherson’s wedding portrait. And there hasn’t been a trace of them since Eleanor died. They have to be here. We just needed more time. Your sister found the first one and cut off our access to the library.”
“You’re sure that Eleanor’s dowry and the jewels Mary Stuart wore at her coronation are the same?”
“I’m sure. We’ve seen the original of the picture the Times ran, and we’ve seen the portrait of Eleanor. And the Stuart Sapphires were never Eleanor’s dowry. They were a gift to our family. And she stole them. Just as you’re trying to steal them now.”
They weren’t Eleanor’s dowry? Could that be true? Or was crazy Deanna just spinning a fantasy? Piper had to hope that Daryl was getting everything down. They’d reached the part of the path that cut deeper into the woods. The light around them dimmed and the scent of pine filled the air. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a flash of movement about fifteen feet to her left. Not Duncan. He couldn’t possibly have gotten here this quickly. Daryl?
Whoever it was, she had to keep Deanna’s attention totally focused on her. So she stumbled and fell.
The sound of the gun discharging was so loud it made her ears ring, and she felt the heat of the passing bullet on the skin of her arm.
“Get up,” Deanna said. “And don’t try that again.”
“I won’t.” But Piper took as much time as she dared shoving herself to her feet while she scanned the areas in her peripheral vision. To her left, and much closer to the edge of the woods and the cliff face, she saw exactly what she was hoping for—another shadow moving from tree to tree. She purposely led the way on a slant to the right, saying, “The cliff face isn’t far, and the caves should be right where we come out through the trees.”
Then she prayed that Daryl would have time to get there first.
* * *
DUNCAN FELT HIS HEART STOP WHEN the sound of a bullet exploded in his earpiece. If he hadn’t just dropped into the small cave behind Tinker’s Falls, he might have raced into the woods. As it was, the instant Daryl dropped beside him, he moved to grab the edge of the opening, intending to climb out again.
Daryl grabbed his arm. “She’s okay.”
Through the ringing in his ears, Duncan made out the voices again.
“If you try to trick me again…if you try anything, I won’t miss the next time. I wanted you to come up here so that I could eliminate you. And I will if you don’t take me to the sapphires.”
“I’m not going to trick you, Deanna. We’re only about a hundred feet away from the cliff face, and I’m going to show you where the sapphires are.”
Duncan let out a breath. She was not only okay, she was letting them know exactly where they were and she was refocusing Deanna’s attention on what she was after.
“You okay?” Daryl asked.
“Yes.” If Piper could keep her head, so would he. She’d lead Deanna to the third cave, the one where she’d found the earring. In his mind, he pictured their climb down the cliff face and the route they would have to follow to get to the third cave. He and Daryl had a shorter distance to cover, but the narrow tunnel would slow them down.
Quickly, he gave Daryl an overview of the terrain. “Watch your head,” he warned as he dropped to his knees and led the way into the first tunnel.
* * *
“YOU CLIMB DOWN FIRST,” Deanna said. “When you get to the cave, step to the side of the ledge, but keep in sight. I won’t hesitate to shoot.”
She might not have to waste a bullet, Piper thought as she looked down and gauged the distance to the ledge.
“Now,” Deanna urged.
Piper took as much time as she dared sitting down on the edge of the cliff and dropping her legs over. There’d been no sign of the figure she’d seen in the woods. Daryl, she was hoping. Maybe he’d had time to climb down to the cave.
Best-case scenario, he was waiting inside right now, and all she had to do was get to the ledge. In her mind, she tried to remember the instructions Duncan had called up to her. Was it only yesterday? Turning onto her stomach, she searched for and found her first toe-hold.
Think. If Daryl wasn’t there, she was good at finding solutions. She’d figure a way
out of this. She searched for and found another place to set her foot. First she had to get down to the cave. Pushing fear and everything else aside, she focused her full attention on the climb. One minute, two minutes went by. Every muscle was straining, and she could feel sweat dripping down her back, but she reached the point where the stones had cascaded down on her.
There wasn’t far to go. If she could just reach the ledge, she knew the caves and tunnels. She might be able to get away. Deanna had followed Duncan and her to the third cave, but Piper knew the way out. Deanna didn’t. Clinging to the rocks, she twisted her head and made herself look down. Too far. She couldn’t drop yet. She had to get closer.
Glancing up, she saw Deanna start down. The woman was both agile and fast, and Piper didn’t dare rush. When she was finally within jumping distance of the ledge, she glanced up again and saw that Deanna was only a few feet above her, braced against the cliff face with her gun out.
“Drop to the ledge, but stay where I can see you,” Deanna said.
Holding her breath, Piper let go of her death grip on the rock she was holding and dropped. She had time to glance into the cave, and her heart leaped. She’d been right. Someone was indeed standing in the darkness just inside.
When Deanna landed lightly on the balls of her feet, her gun hand steady, the shadowy stranger moved quickly, striking Deanna on the head. She fell like a rock, her camera smashing on the rocks, her gun sliding over the ledge and clattering down the cliff face. Then Piper found herself looking into Patrick Lightman’s blue eyes.
Her mind began to race nearly as fast as her heart. Details registered in flashes. The gun in his hand, blood oozing from Deanna’s head and staining the stones. She had questions—so many that her head ached with them. And Lightman could answer some of them. “Patrick, what are you doing here?”
“I followed you and Ms. Lewis, of course.”
“Why?” The biggest question at the back of her mind was if Patrick Lightman was the shadow she’d seen in the woods, where were Daryl and Duncan? Had Duncan been injured more seriously than she’d thought? Wasn’t the wire she was wearing working?
“I told you in the diner yesterday that you were in danger,” Patrick said in a calm voice. “She didn’t wish you well. She’d been studying your movements in D.C. for a while.”
“She was the person you filmed wearing the hooded sweatshirt. The one who set up that scene in my apartment?”
“Yes. I actually admired her style until she did that amateurish job, but then I knew I had to put a stop to it.”
“Why didn’t you tell us all that yesterday? Why did you throw suspicion on Sid Macks?”
“Because I hadn’t decided what to do about Ms. Lewis yet.” Then he smiled at her, and the glee in his eyes had the panic inside of her threatening to break free again. “After all, she does fit my profile.”
Keep calm. Keep him talking. And think. “I don’t understand. Why would you have to do anything about her?”
His smile faded abruptly and some of the calmness faded from his voice. “Because she had decided to stalk you, and you belong to me. The ones who came before you—they were nothing. All they did was to bring me to you. You’ve been mine ever since you set me free. No one else can have you.”
Piper recognized what she was seeing in his eyes. Not merely madness, but obsession. And she remembered what Duncan had said. True obsession destroyed rationality.
But Duncan would be thinking in a rational way. He couldn’t think any other way. The certainty of that helped her focus. She’d made sure to say quite clearly where she and Deanna were going. And Duncan would never have followed her along the cliff path. He would be with Daryl even now entering the caves from the other entrance at Tinker’s Falls. And he’d be expecting her to lead Deanna into that third cave where they’d found the earring.
Now she wouldn’t be leading Deanna anywhere. So she had to keep Patrick Lightman talking.
“Do you know why Deanna was following me in D.C.?”
“Not at first.” He glanced down at the very still body of Deanna Lewis. “I checked into her background and learned that she was a photographer. So I thought she wanted to hurt me by stirring up all those nasty stories in the press again. But after she staged that scene in your apartment, I knew she wanted to hurt you. And I was right.”
“You followed her up here.”
“I followed you both up here. I protect what’s mine. I overheard her talking on her cell phone this morning and telling someone that she intended to make her move today to eliminate you. She suspected that you’d found the second earring and that you were searching the library for the location of the necklace. It made her furious. She knew that you were being protected by the FBI and the CIA and she was still going to find a way to hurt you. So I did what I had to do.”
“Do you know who she was talking to?” Piper asked. “Did she say why she wanted to eliminate me?”
Lightman shrugged. “The sapphires. She believes they belong to her. Just as I believe you belong to me.” He raised the gun and pointed it at her. “I’m a little more wary of the FBI and the CIA than she was. I’m sure they’ll be along shortly, so we’ll climb down together. Ready?”
* * *
READY WAS THE LAST THING HE was, Duncan thought as he and Daryl finally reached the cave where he and Piper had found the earring. He’d kept the fear and anger on a very tight leash as he’d listened to that maniac talk about his obsession with her. Instead, he’d focused his energy on crawling as fast as he could through the narrow tunnel near the falls. But the thought of her having to climb down to the beach with Lightman had his fear threatening to take control.
All he could think was that he hadn’t said nearly enough to her last night and he’d kept his distance all day. He hadn’t told her what she’d come to mean to him. He hadn’t told her he loved her. So they had to get to her in time. And they still had two tunnels and a cave to go.
Crossing the cave where they’d found the earring, he’d stepped into the next tunnel with Daryl close behind when he heard Piper’s voice again. “They’re going to know I’m missing by now. Sheriff Skinner will be looking all along the lake for Deanna and me.”
“We’ll have to take our chances,” Lightman said.
“My sisters and I played a lot in these caves when we were little,” Piper said. “I know another way out.”
Duncan met Daryl’s eyes as silence stretched for three beats.
“Tell me about this other way out,” Lightman finally said.
“This is the first of three caves connected by tunnels that finally reach to ground level. We’ll come out in the woods near a waterfall.”
Two more beats of silence.
“I’ll hold the flashlight,” Lightman said. “Lead the way.”
“She’s bringing him to us,” Duncan whispered to Daryl. “We have to beat them to the center cave.”
Piper spoke over him. “The tunnel to the first cave is short. And there’s this big boulder in the middle cave that we’ll have to get around. It’ll take some time. And the second tunnel is longer.”
Duncan immediately held a hand up to Daryl. She was talking as much to him as to Lightman, reminding him of the layout. Signaling him? She was right about the fact that the first tunnel was the shortest. He spoke softly again to Daryl. “I think she has a plan. We’ll get as close as we can to the end of this tunnel and still keep out of sight.” Then he pulled out his gun. Daryl did the same.
* * *
PIPER FORCED HERSELF TO breathe in and out slowly, evenly, as she led the way to the center cave. She could only hope that Duncan had read between the lines of what she’d been saying to Lightman. More, she hoped her plan would work. To give it just a little more credibility, she slid on some of the loose stones underfoot and slapped her hand against the side wall of the tunnel. “Watch your step,” she said to Lightman.
“Watch yours,” he said back to her.
The fact that he was holding th
e flashlight and her body blocked much of the light slowed their progress. If he’d given it to her, she might have used it as a weapon. But Lightman was no dummy. So she was going to have to use what came to hand. When they stepped into the center cave, he swept the light around, throwing long shadows on the walls before he let it come to rest on the opening of the next tunnel.
There was enough spillage for her to get a good look at the large boulder that had once blocked off most of the tunnel. There were plenty of pebbles and rocks at its base. Without giving herself the chance to think any further, she strode toward it. The instant her foot struck some of the stones, she let it slide out from beneath her, then fell, making sure to hit her head as hard as she dared against the boulder on the way down. She heard the sound of the impact, saw stars, and fell so that she landed on her side. Before he could get the light fully aimed at her, she wrapped her fingers tightly around a rock the size of a baseball.
“Get up. You tried that same trick to distract Ms. Lewis. It won’t work with me.”
“Hit…my…head.” The beam of light blinded her, but it pinpointed his position. It also allowed her to see the gleaming chrome of the gun. She sat up, careful to keep the rock out of his sight.
“Get up,” he repeated.
He wasn’t going to come any closer. By the time she threw the rock, he’d have a bullet in her. Then she heard exactly what she’d been hoping for, a slide of rocks in the tunnel behind her.
Lightman shifted his gun and the light toward the tunnel’s opening. Piper used all her strength to hurl the rock at him. She heard the sound of it hitting flesh and bone before two shots rang out nearly simultaneously. She saw Lightman pitch to the ground and heard the crash of his flashlight. Then for a moment everything went black.
