Share No Secrets

by Carlene Thompson

  Drew gently gathered her long hair, draped it over her shoulder, and began stroking her neck. “I know you were scared, baby. Anyone would have been. But you’re safe now.”

  “Yes. I’m s-safe. But I’m not your baby.”

  “Sorry. The drama of the moment made me revert to high school. That’s what I called you then, remember?”

  “It was a lifetime ago.”

  “Oh, not that long.” He stopped stroking her neck and began a less intimate patting on her back. “And you’re not all that different than you were then.”

  “I am, too. I’ve changed a lot more than you know.”

  “Probably not as much as I have. I’m not quite the cad I used to be.”

  “You were worse than a cad. You broke my heart.” Adrienne could have bitten her tongue for that last candid statement. She snuffled and, with an effort, pulled away from him. She was enjoying his warmth, his scent, his deep and lulling voice far too much. She quelled a deep, absurd desire to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him. Instead, she demanded loudly, “Did you see anyone outside? Do you know who tried to shoot me?”

  Drew blinked at the sudden change in her mood and volume. “No, I didn’t see anyone. Whoever was shooting must have been standing just inside the tree line, out of eyesight.”

  “And what are you doing here?” she snapped.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I asked first.”

  “I was following you.” She pulled farther away from him, furious and afraid. “Following me? Why?”

  “Because if you’re foolish enough to come up here by yourself at night, you need to be followed by someone to look out for you!”

  “You couldn’t possibly have known where I was going when I left the house.” She paused, her fear growing. “It’s your car I’ve seen cruising past my house at night, isn’t it? And this isn’t the first time you’ve followed me, either.”

  “Is it a criminal offense to try to protect you?”

  “That’s what Lucas is for!”

  Drew’s voice hardened. “Oh yes, the sheriff who put surveillance on your house for one night after the break-in, then pulled it. Is that the loving and protective Lucas to whom you’re referring?”

  Adrienne tried to hide her surprise and said staunchly, “The surveillance was on our house for more than one night.”

  “No, it was not. I ought to know. I’ve lost enough sleep to kill me this week trying to provide the surveillance our esteemed sheriff apparently didn’t think you deserved. And by the way, where is Sheriff Flynn tonight? Shouldn’t your great love be with you here on this dark, tree-covered hilltop as you look for a feeble old lady? After all, it’s not as if this town hasn’t had three murders already. Was he going to just sit by and let you be the fourth?”

  “He’s on his way,” she nearly hissed through clenched teeth. “I called his private number and asked him to meet me here. Lottie had called me from the cabin, but I thought if anyone else approached her first, she might take off. It was my idea to come alone—”

  “And he agreed to that idiotic plan?”

  “It was not idiotic,” she said icily. “And you didn’t let me finish. He agreed to let me come first and to arrive shortly afterward.”

  “Well, it is shortly afterward. So, where the hell is he?”

  Yes, where the hell was he? Adrienne wondered. He should have been here by now, especially in light of the fact that her own arrival had been delayed by getting the car stuck and having to walk part of the way. “He’ll be here,” she said stubbornly. “Soon.”

  “So what are we supposed to do? Stay in this cabin like sitting ducks until he decides to amble by?”

  “We’re not sitting ducks. The lights are off. The door is closed.”

  “The door with no lock. And we’re in a cabin that’s about as stalwart as a house made of sticks. A high-powered rifle could probably pierce right through the walls. Yeah, we’re safe, Adrienne. I feel completely secure.”

  Rage born of fear rushed over her and she reached out, hitting him hard on the chest with the palms of both hands. Then she hit him again. “Well, if I’m such a dummy, why don’t you come up with something useful besides criticism? You figure a way out of this mess!”

  Drew grabbed her wrists and held them firm. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m being a jerk. Just don’t hit me anymore.”

  She fought off a fresh wave of tears and swallowed. “I didn’t mean to hurt your chest.”

  “You didn’t. Only my feelings.”

  “Oh, Drew, please don’t start joking.”

  “You know I always do it when I don’t know what else to say. Or do. But I’ll stop for now. And don’t you dare cry again.”

  “I wasn’t going to.”

  “That’s debatable. Anyway, here’s the plan. We’re going to forget about the sheriff for now. I’m going to call 911 on my cell phone and get the police up here as fast as possible. Then, while we’ve got a crowd of officials around us, we’re getting off this godforsaken hillside and going back home. Hopefully, our sniper won’t decide to pursue us.”

  “Pursue us?” Adrienne repeated. “You mean pursue me. I’m the one he shot at.” Suddenly, she felt as if her heart had stopped. “Skye. She’s at home alone. If whoever tried to shoot me does follow me home, or has already gone there …”

  She couldn’t finish. She’d told Skye not to open the door or to go out. She had never thought to tell her to stay away from windows.

  “We don’t know how long it will take the cops to get here,” Drew said in a calm but urgent voice. “We could be stuck up here for at least an hour. You need to get Skye out of that house. Call Vicky and have her pick up Skye.”

  “No, not Vicky.” Drew said nothing, but she could feel his curiosity. She couldn’t tell him about the ugly doubts that had begun to form in her mind about her sister’s or brother-in-law’s possible involvement in the murders of Julianna and Margaret “Skye has a friend named Sherry Granger. Sherry’s mother is great. I’ll see if she’ll pick up Skye. You call the police, I’ll call Mrs. Granger, and if she agrees to babysit, I’ll call Skye and tell her I want her to go to the Granger house for the night. I think she’ll be safe there.”

  “Sounds good,” Drew said. Then he added thoughtfully, “I just wonder what’s made you doubt your sister so much you don’t trust her to look after your daughter.”

  2

  “Are you sure Brandon is all right?”

  “Yes, Skye, your dog is in tip-top form.” Adrienne had told Skye only that there had been some trouble at Lottie’s, she could possibly be held up for hours, and she wanted Skye to go to the Granger house for the night “Throw some stuff together and be waiting for them.”

  Earlier, Mrs. Granger, who had insisted Adrienne call her Louise, had mercifully asked few questions about what quandary Adrienne had gotten herself into now and assured her that she and her husband would immediately pick up Skye. “I don’t know about you, but I always feel safer with a man along,” Louise said confidentially. “Especially one like my Russ. He’s six two and two hundred and twenty pounds. No one messes with him!” Louise giggled. “Don’t worry about picking up Skye when you get home. You’ll probably be tired after what you’ve been through?”

  A slight prod for information, which Adrienne answered with a simple and disappointing yes. “Well, the girls can sleep in late tomorrow,” Louise said. “You just call when you’re ready for me to bring Skye home. We think the world of her. I’ll be glad to help you out any way I can. Well, Russ says I’m chattering on worse than my mother. Don’t worry about Skye, Adrienne. And you be careful, too. Real careful. I don’t know what in the world has happened to this town lately. It must be that old Indian curse everyone talks about—Chief Cornstalk’s curse—kicking in. I think half the population’s gone crazy. Well, ‘bye, dear. God bless and keep you.”

  “You, too,” Adrienne had ended awkwardly. She was used to simple good-byes. She looked at Drew
. Her eyes had adjusted to the near darkness, and she could see moonlight touching his. “Well, that gets Skye taken care of. I won’t have to worry about her.”

  “I’m surprised you went off and left her alone.”

  No reproach edged Drew’s voice, but Adrienne bristled anyway. “I have a first-rate security system. The place was shut tight as a drum. I told her not to go out, and not to answer the door. I thought I’d only be gone about half an hour. And she’s not a baby!”

  “Whoa, girl.” Drew laughed gently. “I’ve been put in my place. It was a stupid remark.”

  “No it wasn’t,” Adrienne said, suddenly feeling deflated. “It was stupid of me to leave her alone. Fourteen-year-olds can be heedless, no matter how many warnings you’ve given them.”

  “People of any age can be heedless. And you do have a pretty snazzy alarm system. Lightning Rod told me all about it right after he installed it. He always had a crush on you, do you know that? And besides the alarm system, you’ve got all those dusk-to-dawn lights in your yard. The place is even better lit than Heaven’s Door.”

  “I don’t have flashing neon,” Adrienne said, giggling in spite of herself.

  “I’m sure Lightning Rod could arrange for you to get some. The guy’s got connections, Adrienne.” Drew pointed skyward. “Big connections, when you figure how many times he’s been nearly hit by lightning and escaped harm.”

  They sat close together, cross-legged on the floor, chatting about nothing important while they waited. They waited for the police to arrive. They waited for Lucas, although neither of them mentioned him again. They waited for another possible attack. They waited for the end of this eerie, frightening seclusion. Finally, Brandon whined, pawed Adrienne, then laid his head on Drew’s lap.

  “He likes you,” Adrienne said.

  “I like him. Dogs in general, but especially big dogs. Rachel tells me he’s nearly the center of Skye’s life.”

  “He is. Her father rescued him from the pound and gave him to Skye for her tenth birthday. She was thrilled.” Adrienne paused, then said quietly, “Trey died that night.”

  “I know. The motorcycle wreck.”

  “He’d never even been on a motorcycle before. But he’d had too much to drink, decided he was indestructible, and went roaring off on a friend’s Harley. He lost control and swerved in front of a semitrailer, for God’s sake. Not even a little pickup. Trey Reynolds always had to do things big. He wouldn’t wear a helmet. Every time I think about it, I get so mad I think if he were still alive, I’d kill him. And then I feel so guilty I can’t even look at Skye.”

  “It’s natural to feel anger when someone you love dies,” Drew said. “Especially when they kill themselves doing something asinine. And what he did was asinine, Adrienne. You can’t get mad at yourself for realizing how irresponsible he was being when he climbed onto that motorcycle.”

  “He did a lot of reckless things after we came home from Las Vegas. I think he was trying to make up for his failure out there by showing how adept he was at everything else he tried. And brave. But he wasn’t brave. He was just foolhardy.” Adrienne sighed. “You don’t have to comfort me anymore. I think I’m through whining.”

  “You’re not whining.”

  “Yes I am, and I told you to stop comforting me.” Her back was beginning to ache from tension, and she stretched out on the floor. “Don’t worry. I’m not fainting. I’m just trying to stretch the kinks out of my back.”

  “I could walk on it for you.”

  “No, thanks. Then Brandon would think he should join you, and I don’t think my poor lumbar region could handle the weight of both of you.” Adrienne closed her eyes for a moment, and in the complete silence of the cabin, picked up on a distant sound. “A siren!” She jerked up. “I hear a siren. The police are finally coming!”

  The siren wails grew louder for nearly a minute, then stopped. “Your car has them blocked,” Drew said. “It blocked me, too. They can’t get their cruisers up here, but they’ll come the rest of the way on foot.”

  “That road,” Adrienne said vaguely. “It has to be fixed. Lottie can’t go on living in this kind of isolation.” She stopped, her throat tightening. “If she’s still alive. She could be lying out in the woods dead.”

  “Lottie knows these woods like the back of her hand. And all that walking she’s done over the years has kept her fairly spry.” Drew reached over in the semidarkness and patted her hand. “I’m not giving up on her yet, and neither should you. It would be bad luck.”

  Adrienne forced a smile. “I guess Lottie is worth suspending my disbelief in luck for the time being. I promise to keep the faith.”

  In minutes, the beams from flashlights—the big flashlights Adrienne had wished for earlier in the evening—cut through the darkness in front of Lottie’s cabin. They heard voices as policemen talked to each other, then someone yelled, “Anyone in there? If so, come out with your hands up and no funny business!”

  Drew groaned. “Only our valiant Deputy Sonny Keller would actually come out with such a corny line.” Drew stood up and went to the door, opening it a fraction. “This is Drew Delaney. Adrienne Reynolds and I are the only ones here. We’re unarmed, Keller.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Am I sure?” Drew muttered at Adrienne, rolling his eyes. “Yes, Keller,” he yelled back. “May we come out without being greeted by a hail of bullets?”

  “Okay. But walk out slow. With your hands up.”

  “Did you get that?” Drew asked her. “He’s a tough one. You mess this up, woman, and he’ll drop us dead in our tracks.”

  Adrienne burst into giggles resulting from nerves and bemused disbelief. She’d prayed for rescue from the little cabin where she’d almost been killed, but she hadn’t expected the rescuer to consider her the danger. Ludicrous as she felt, though, she stepped slowly onto the porch with her hands raised above her head. Deputy Keller marched closer and gave her a hard look. “What’s so funny? Is this some kind of prank? Because if it is …”

  He let the horror of possible consequences hang in the air as Drew followed Adrienne and mercifully took over for her. “She’s only smiling because she’s happy you saved her, Deputy. This certainly wasn’t a prank. Someone shot at her with what sounded to me like a high-powered rifle. It’s a miracle she wasn’t killed.”

  “And didn’t nobody shoot at you?” Sonny Keller asked.

  “I arrived a couple of minutes after Adrienne. A couple of crucial minutes. I found her on the floor of the cabin, but she hadn’t been hit. She was pretty scared, though. We both were. I’m telling you, Deputy Keller, we’re sure happy you’re here to take over. I feel safer already, don’t you, Adrienne?”

  She nodded. Keller looked at Drew suspiciously, not quite sure whether or not he was being made fun of, then decided no one in their right minds could be ridiculing him for his heroic rescue, and relaxed his posture slightly.

  “You folks come on down off that porch. Could still be someone in these woods. Will that dog bite? Better get him on a leash.”

  “He is on a leash,” Adrienne said. “But he doesn’t bite anyway.”

  “Hmmm. He looks like a biter to me,” Keller pronounced. Then he turned to the other policemen. “Men, fan out!” he thundered to the small cluster of patrolmen standing right beside him. “You know the drill. Use utmost caution because our perp is armed and dangerous. I repeat, dangerous! Is that clear?”

  A general disgruntled murmur and a few smirks appeared behind Keller’s back before his troops marched off into the woods with Keller’s dire warnings still echoing in their heads. Adrienne knew the guy drove Lucas wild. Now she saw why.

  “Where is Sheriff Flynn?” she asked.

  “Off duty,” Keller replied.

  “I know that, but he was supposed to meet me up here,” Adrienne said.

  Keller looked cagey. “A little rendezvous?”

  Adrienne started to snap back a sarcastic remark, then thought better of it. “Lo
ttie Brent called me. She was here at the cabin. I called Lucas and told him I’d meet with her first so she wouldn’t be afraid and run away again, then he could come just a little while later and we’d take her to the hospital. I didn’t think I could manage her alone. I also knew I should notify someone in authority that I’d located her. But he never showed up.”

  The leer faded from Keller’s paunchy face. “You sure he was comin’ up here to meet you?” She nodded. “You sure he’s had plenty of time to get up here?”

  “More than enough.” Adrienne knew better than to suggest that she take control of the situation. “Deputy Keller, would you please call him on his cell phone and find out where he is? Maybe he’s had car trouble.”

  Sonny Keller frowned, his expression showing the first signs of intelligence it had since he arrived. “Or maybe he met up with that sniper before you did.”

  FOURTEEN

  1

  “Just get in the car, Adrienne,” Drew said impatiently. “It’s getting chilly up here and you’re exhausted.”

  “I don’t think I should leave until they’ve located Lucas.”

  “There are a dozen cops looking for him.”

  “Not a dozen.”

  “A lot. And cops looking for Lottie. Cops with guns, which we don’t have, while there happens to be someone with a semiautomatic rifle roaming around. I, for one, think we should get the hell out of Dodge before we get ourselves killed. You have a daughter to think of, Adrienne.”

  “Oh, that’s good, use the ultimate guilt card,” she nearly snarled at him, furious because he was right. She was accomplishing nothing by standing around outside of Lottie’s cabin making a possible target of herself. “I can’t just leave my car up here.”

  “Why not? What’s going to happen to it? And may I point out that it’s stuck? It will have to be pulled out of those ruts. My car, on the other hand, had an excellent driver behind the wheel and is still functional. In peak condition. So get in and stop bitching.”

  “You are so gallant. How could I possibly resist such an offer?”