“He threatened to go to the police, right?”
Rain’s lower lip quivered as she bobbed her head. “Yeah. I think Corey was going to let it go up until that point. He didn’t think we were brave enough to tell on him — and he was probably right — but he got really mad when Lucas mentioned the cops.
“He lost it, hit him on the head really hard, and Lucas seemed confused when he was on the ground,” she continued. “I just sat there like an idiot. I didn’t know what to do. Even when Corey pulled out the knife, I didn’t think it was real. I assumed it was a nightmare that I would wake up from. I should’ve known better than that, though. I always thought I would wake up from the nightmare of my parents dying, too, and that never happened.
“It was like being trapped in someone else’s life.” Her voice cracked as tears spilled down her cheeks. “He moved really fast ... and Lucas just sat there on the ground. He didn’t get up or try to save himself. His eyes were cloudy, like he wasn’t really seeing things. And then ... then it was over. Lucas was dead on the ground and it was over and there was nothing I could do. It happened too fast.”
Harper didn’t bother pointing out that Lucas still could’ve survived at that point. There was no reason. Rain was already tortured enough, and it wasn’t as if the knowledge could fix anything. “So ... you just went back to the party?”
Rain nodded, her shoulders shaking as the reality of what happened finally hit her full force. “Corey threatened me. He said if I told anyone what happened, he would make it so they believed I was the guilty one. He said he could do it because his father was a prosecutor and they’d done it before, framed someone else for the things Corey did. I believed him.”
“You were afraid,” Harper said simply. “Your life changed that night and it wasn’t for the better. It’s okay now, though. You’ve told the truth. We can go after Corey, lock him up and make sure he never sees the light of day.”
“Don’t you understand?” Rain’s anger returned with a vengeance. “His father is powerful. He can ruin my life. I’ll end up in prison because of this. I shouldn’t have told you.”
“You won’t end up in prison.” Harper was firm, her eyes flashing. “We won’t allow it. You have Jared and Mel on your side here. We happen to know people, too. You’re going to be absolutely fine.”
Rain didn’t look convinced. “How can you guarantee that?”
Harper simply shrugged. “Because I have faith in Jared. He recognized what happened to you and wasn’t upset when I told him what you said. He wants to help you above all else, and together we’ll make sure it happens. I promise you that.”
“But ... how?”
“You’re going to have to trust us. I know that’s not easy for you but ... you’re going to have to try. If you work together with us, we can — well, not fix things because nothing will ever bring Lucas back — but we can make things better. There’s still a chance for you to turn this around.”
“You sound sure of yourself.”
“I am. It’s going to be okay. The first step is accepting help, though. I want to help you. You need to let me.”
“I don’t know.” Rain chewed on her lip as she stared at the water. “What would I have to do?”
“For starters, you need to come back to my house with me. We’ll call Jared, tell him you’re safe, and then wait it out while they track down Corey. Once he’s in custody, all of this will be over. You’ll still have to tell your story again, but I promise you’ll feel better after.”
“I don’t want anyone to know what happened to me.” Rain was miserable as she stared at the ground. “I’m embarrassed.”
“You didn’t do anything. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Now, come on.” Harper extended a hand so Rain could help her to a standing position. “We’ll head back to the house, get some breakfast and hot chocolate in you, and call Jared and your brother. They’re both worried.”
“Okay.” Rain appeared too weary to argue. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice.”
“Not if you want to do the right thing, and I happen to believe that’s what you want to do.”
“Maybe you have more faith in me than you should.”
“I don’t believe that. Come on.” Harper started toward the water. “It’s cold, but it’s much quicker this way and getting back to the house won’t be difficult because we’ll be going with the current. You need to take your shoes off, though.”
“Fine.” Rain made a grumbling sound as she plopped down to do as Harper asked. “Once we get to your house, I need to call Andy, too. He’s supposed to meet me out here in a little bit, but my phone died and I want to tell him not to make the trip.”
“Andy?” Harper furrowed her brow. “Why were you meeting him?”
“I thought he could help me get out of town. He’s the only other person I know.”
“Okay. You can call him. Jared and Ezra come first, though. Your brother is very upset. You shouldn’t have run away from him that way.”
“I was afraid Corey would hurt him. He’s threatened Ezra more than once. He might be older, and a little weird as a brother, but he’s all I’ve got now. I don’t want to lose him.”
That was something Harper could easily understand. “We’ll protect Ezra. I promise. This is all going to work out. You’ll see.”
18
Eighteen
Andy wasn’t at school. Jared didn’t know whether to be surprised or see it as a confirmation of sorts.
“They’re together,” Mel mused as they stood in the parking lot to come up with a plan.
“That makes the most sense,” Jared agreed. “Where would they go?”
“That depends on whether or not they have Rain.”
“And what are the odds they don’t?”
Mel shrugged, noncommittal. “I honestly don’t know. She could’ve taken off on her own. She might be upset about the scene that went down yesterday with Harper. If she actually believes you have feelings for her ... .”
“She doesn’t.” Jared was firm. “I was never anything but pleasant with her. Period. I didn’t lead her on.”
“Hey, I wasn’t accusing you of anything.” Mel lifted his hands in capitulation. “I know you, partner. Even if you weren’t completely devoted to Harper, to the point where you’re whipped like cream on a sundae, you wouldn’t go after a kid. That’s not who you are.”
“No.” Jared found he was appeased by Mel’s vehement protest. “If they have her, she’s in real trouble.”
“She could already be dead,” Mel noted. “It’s entirely possible.”
“It is but ... I don’t want to think like that. She’s out there somewhere, either hiding from them or being held captive. We simply have to figure out where.”
“We can put out an APB on Andy’s car. We know that Corey isn’t driving.”
“That’s a start. It doesn’t feel like enough, though. I ... .” Jared trailed off when his phone dinged in his pocket. “That’s either Harper with an idea of a place for us to look or Zander tattling on her for leaving the house.”
“Which one do you think is more likely?”
Jared found out when he saw Zander’s name scrolling across his screen. “Son of a ... .” He viciously swore under his breath, enough to make Mel smile, and answered with a bit of attitude. “Where did she go?”
“And hello to you, too,” Zander drawled in such a tone that Jared could practically picture him rolling his eyes over the phone. “She went into the woods, to that spot where we hid that one time when we all thought we were going to be killed.”
In truth, that had happened more than once, but Jared knew precisely which spot he was referring to. “Why?”
“I don’t know. She just took off and headed in that direction. I followed.”
“And?”
“And she found Rain.”
Jared’s heart skipped a beat as excitement replaced annoyance. “Are you being serious? She found Rain? How?”
&nbs
p; “I already told you that I don’t know how she managed it. I just know she did. I watched them for a little bit. Harper talked Rain down. They’re on their way back to your house. I thought you should know.”
“You’re not with them?” Jared was legitimately confused. “Why aren’t you part of this?”
“Because she’ll be mad at you if she knows you put a babysitter on her tail and I thought I might save you some grief. I’m watching her, but they’re already back in your yard. Their feet are cold from the water and I heard talk of hot chocolate, which I will make my way over to enjoy once I can reasonably do it without making her suspicious. She’s back, though, and you have nothing to worry about.”
Jared was exorbitantly relieved. “That’s good. I ... you did good.”
“I know. I’m a professional Harper wrangler. I should have a badge or something. At the very least, I should have a plaque.”
“I’ll get you a plaque if you stop talking about it.”
“Fair enough.” Zander paused for a moment and then sighed. “You’re going to head back to the house, aren’t you? She’s going to know we were spying anyway once you show up. You should wait for her to call you.”
To Jared, that sounded like a reasonable request. “As long as she calls in the next thirty minutes, I can agree to that. If she waits, though, then I’m going to have to screw both of us.”
“So much for a peaceful day of moisturizing,” Zander lamented. “I heard part of their conversation, by the way. Rain confirmed everything you and Harper have been thinking. I kind of feel bad for the kid despite everything she said.”
“I feel bad for her, too.” Jared was insistent. “She’s just messed up. We’ll get her some help and she’ll be easier to deal with. You’ll see.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll have to take your word for it. I ... huh.”
When Zander didn’t expand on his “huh,” Jared found he was impatient. “What’s happening? Did Rain take off again? Tell me.”
“No, she didn’t take off. Harper and Rain are inside. It’s just ... Andy Cornell is here. He parked on the street in front of the house and he’s kind of creeping through the yard. I don’t understand why he’s here.”
Jared’s blood ran cold. “He’s partnering with Corey Gamble, the murderer. We also found out that Corey is the one who has been breaking into the businesses in Whisper Cove. We’re pretty sure he’s been doing it with Andy’s help. That means neither of them are good guys.”
“No, that means that Harper and Rain are in trouble,” Zander countered. “They don’t even know it’s coming either. I have to get to them.”
“Be careful,” Jared barked as he motioned for Mel to get behind the wheel. “We’re on our way. We’ll be there in five minutes.”
“I have to hang up now. I can’t risk him hearing me when I get closer to the house.”
“Take care of them,” Jared ordered. “I’m putting you in charge. Just ... don’t let them get hurt.”
“Hey, it’s me. I’ve got everything under control. Trust me.”
Jared wished he could have absolute faith in Zander, but he’d spent too much time with the man. He understood things were about to get freaky. “We have to go,” Jared ordered his partner, sliding his phone into his pocket. “Andy is at our house and Harper is there with Rain.”
“What about Corey?”
“I don’t know, but I’m guessing he’s not far behind.”
HARPER HAD RAIN SITTING IN front of the fireplace, a blanket wrapped around her and a mug of hot chocolate in her hand, within two minutes of entering the house.
“You already had this ready?” Rain asked as she dubiously eyed the hot chocolate. “How is that possible?”
“I boiled water before I left so it was still hot. You need to drink that and warm up.”
“And then we’ll call Jared?”
Harper nodded. “Yeah. And after that we’ll call Ezra. He’s going to be anxious to see you.” She waited a beat but Rain didn’t respond. “It’s going to be okay.”
Rain merely sipped her hot chocolate and didn’t say anything. She appeared to be lost in her own little world.
Harper was about to press her on the issue when she heard a noise at the back door. When she lifted her head, she found Zander racing into the room. He looked flushed, a green mud mask that had blotchy streaks running through it was on his face, and his hair was unkempt and standing on end.
“Oh, what did you do?” She made a face. “You didn’t buy another mud mask from overseas, did you? The last one burned your skin.”
“This isn’t about the mask,” Zander countered, his expression grave. “This is a serious matter ... and that happened once so there’s no need to keep bringing it up. Andy Cornell is outside.”
Harper’s forehead wrinkled. “That’s weird. I thought he was supposed to meet you out by the river, Rain.”
“He was.” Rain looked equally confused. “I’m not sure why he’s here. I mean ... how did he find us?”
“I don’t know. We can invite him in, though.” Harper started for the door, but Zander grabbed her arm and whipped her around to face him. “Hey! Don’t manhandle me.”
“You need to be quiet.” Zander wasn’t used to being the responsible one. He had no idea how this was supposed to go. “Jared and Mel are on their way.”
“I ... but how?” Realization dawned on Harper. “He sent you to spy on me, didn’t he? That lowdown ... .”
“Shut up!” Zander was at the end of his rope. “It doesn’t matter who spied on who. Andy is partners with Corey. They’ve been working together. They’re the ones responsible for the break-ins and at least one of them is standing outside your front door trying to listen. We’ve got to hunker down and protect ourselves until Jared and Mel get here. It will only be a few minutes.”
Rain dropped her mug of hot chocolate and hopped to shaky feet. “He’s going to kill me. I can’t even ... it’s finally going to happen.”
“It’s not going to happen,” Harper countered, grabbing Rain by the arm and dragging her toward the bedroom. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. I promise.”
“You can’t stop him.” Rain turned shrill. “He killed Lucas right in front of me. I told you the truth. He knows. He promised he would kill me if I told. He’s going to do it.”
Harper knew it was unkind but she honestly wanted to gag the girl. “He’s not going to hurt you. Zander and I have been in worse situations than this.”
“Sadly, that’s the truth,” Zander lamented.
“We’re going to be fine. The cavalry is on the way. All we have to do is hold out for a few minutes.”
“And how do you suggest we do that?” Rain challenged. “He’ll kill us. He will.”
“He won’t. I won’t let him. You’ve got to trust me, though. Do you think you can do that?”
Rain was reticent, but she nodded. She really didn’t have another choice.
JARED AND MEL WENT IN HOT, SIRENS blaring. They had a choice to make. They could try to sneak up on Andy, maybe find Corey in the process, and risk the men getting a foothold in the house or they could try to scare them away. Since keeping the three individuals inside safe seemed like the smarter option, they opted for the latter ... and weren’t disappointed.
They found Andy fleeing from the house as they roared to a stop in the driveway. Jared was out of the vehicle and giving chase within seconds, Mel not far behind. Because he was flustered, Andy headed for the woods.
Jared was determined he wouldn’t lose him there.
“THEY’RE IN THE WOODS,” Zander noted from his spot next to the window inside the bedroom. Harper was sitting on the end of the bed watching him, and Rain was tucked in the tight corner next to the bed, her back to the wall and her head buried in her arms as they rested on top of her knees. “That was a quick takedown.”
Harper was amused at his commentary. “What did you expect? He’s not exactly a master criminal. There’s a reason he keeps getting ca
ught.”
“Caught and not charged.”
“I don’t understand any of this,” Rain whined. She refused to look up. “I don’t understand how they even know each other. Did Corey tell him to be nice to me? Was it all a trick? I just ... don’t understand.”
Harper took pity on the girl and shifted so she could study her shaking profile. “Your world has been turned upside down a lot over the last year. I’m sorry for it. I don’t know about Andy and Corey. Jared and Mel obviously do, though, and they’ll fill us in once they catch Andy.”
“What about Corey, though?” Rain finally lifted her eyes. “I’m never going to be safe as long as he’s out there. You know that as well as I do. He’s going to kill me ... and he’s going to like it.”
“He’s not going to kill you.” Harper was firm. “I’ve already told you that I won’t let that happen. I know it’s hard for you to have faith because you don’t know us, but we really are going to keep you safe.”
“You’re already safe,” Zander offered, sauntering toward the door. “In fact ... .” He didn’t get a chance to finish what he was going to say. A fist careened through the opening and slammed him in the face, causing him to fly backward and bounce off the bed.
Harper was on her feet in an instant, terror running through her when she realized there was someone inside her house. It wasn’t Andy because he was running in the woods, Jared in hot pursuit. That meant the dark-haired young man with the broad shoulders, malevolent eyes, and curling lips had to be Corey.
“I told you he would come!” Rain wailed, making herself smaller in the corner as Harper fought with her panic and tried to maintain control of the situation. “He’s going to kill us.”
“I’m definitely going to kill you,” Corey seethed, taking a step into the room. His chest was heaving with exertion. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through? I warned you what would happen if you opened your mouth. You wouldn’t listen, though. You never listen. You just ... .” He made an ugly face as he twisted his hands together and moved in the direction of the corner.
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