Danger on the Mountain

by Lynette Eason

  A frown drew his brows together over his nose. “I don’t know. Maybe she found it in Kent’s things and decided to give it to you. Because it’s highly likely that your husband got to the mail first and took it.”

  “I thought about that,” she said, “but when he didn’t confront me with it, I figured it had gotten lost after all.” She paused. “And if Shannon found it, why hasn’t she given it to me yet?”

  “Good question.” He shrugged. “Maybe she forgot.”

  “Maybe.” She glanced at the clock again and a pang of fear shot through her. “Reese, I’m getting scared that Shannon and Belle aren’t back yet.”

  He nodded. “Let me put a BOLO out on her car and see if I get some answers.” He walked to the window and looked out. “At least it’s not snowing anymore.”

  “But the roads are wet, and it’s a little below freezing. That’s not good.”

  His phone rang and he snatched it, listened for a moment then paled. “I’ve got to go. There’s been an accident just outside of town. I’m a first responder. They may need my skills before an ambulance can get out there.”

  Her knees went week. “It’s not Shannon’s car is it?”

  “No, a black Ford Taurus. Jason’s going to be here and will keep a watch on you. I’ll be looking for Shannon on my way out to the accident. If I see her, or if I get a report of anyone else seeing her, I’ll call or text you.”

  Maggie nodded. “All right. They’re probably fine. Maybe she got to talking to someone in the grocery store.”

  “Maybe.”

  Maggie walked with him to the front door and saw him jog to the cruiser still sitting in the driveway. He spoke to Jason who nodded then, with a wave in her direction, Reese climbed into his own cruiser and left.

  She ached at his absence. Having him around made her feel safe. Confident that things would work out. When he left, he took that feeling with him.

  “Which is why I don’t need to rely on my feelings, right, God? That’s why I need to trust in You. In Your constant and abiding promise to be with me no matter what. Lord, please watch over Belle and Shannon. Bring them safely home,” she whispered. Saying the words helped, even though the worry lingered.

  For the next thirty minutes, she paced the floor. No word from Shannon, nothing from Reese.

  The phone rang and Maggie jerked. She didn’t recognize the number, but snatched her handset from the coffee table. “Hello?”

  “Oh, Maggie, I’m so glad I got you.”

  “Shannon! Where are you? Is Belle all right?”

  “Yes, we’re fine.”

  Maggie’s pulse slowed. She walked to the window to look out, half expecting to see Shannon driving up the drive. “Where have you been? I expected you an hour and a half ago.” She sighed. “And now it’s snowing again.”

  “I know. But don’t worry, we’re fine. We’re just stuck.”

  “Stuck? Stuck where?”

  “Near a little country store. I left my cell phone at the house so I had to walk a little ways to find this pay phone.”

  “Is Belle warm enough?”

  “Of course she is,” Shannon snapped. “I know how to take care of her.”

  Maggie blinked at the woman’s sharp tone. Then Shannon said, “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to be crabby. It’s been a rough couple of hours with the snow, the cold and the car that quit on me.”

  “Of course,” Maggie soothed. “Don’t worry. I’ll come get you. Give me directions.”

  Maggie listened as Shannon described how to find her. For someone who didn’t know the town very well, Shannon gave her pretty good directions. Maggie had never been where Shannon directed her, but thought she could find it easily enough.

  “I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

  Before she left, she sent a text to Reese to let him know Shannon and Belle had been found and were safe. She waved to Jason. “I need to go somewhere. You want to follow me or drive?”

  His eyes went wide. “Hop in.”

  SIXTEEN

  Reese placed a call to his buddy in Spartanburg and got him working on a hunch. The faster he got some answers to the questions running through his head, the better off they’d all be.

  He arrived at the scene of the accident and winced when he saw the family of four sitting off to the side of the road. Mom, Dad and two kids. A boy about six and a little girl who looked to be around nine. They looked cold and miserable, but otherwise not seriously injured.

  EMTs hadn’t arrived yet. Eli had a first aid kit out and was patching up a nasty-looking cut over the little girl’s eye. Reese grabbed a handful of blankets he always kept in the truck for emergencies.

  Cal drove up and Dr. Dylan Seabrook got out of the cruiser.

  “Paul, Stacy, are you guys all right? What happened?” Dylan hurried toward the shaken family.

  Cal looked at Eli. “I figured it wouldn’t hurt to pick him up on my way out here.”

  Eli nodded. “Good idea.”

  Reese helped Dylan wrap the blankets around the shivering family and escort them to sit in the warm cruiser. Then he looked at the black Ford Taurus kissing the large oak tree on the side of the road. He leaned into the cruiser and looked at the man Dylan had called Paul. “What happened?”

  A shock of red hair fell over the man’s forehead. His blue eyes narrowed, his brow furrowed as he spoke. “I was just telling Eli that this car came out of nowhere and ran us off the road.”

  Reese pulled his green notebook from his front pocket, ignoring the blast of wind trying to sneak down the back of his heavy coat. “Someone in a hurry?”

  “Must have been.”

  “No,” his wife said from the backseat. “It was deliberate. Someone ran us off the road on purpose.”

  Reese lifted a brow. A three-way stop lay just ahead in the direction the family had been traveling. Another side road connected to the main road about fifty yards from the intersection. “Looks like the car that hit you was coming out of that side road, you rounded the corner and got slammed.”

  “That’s exactly what happened,” Paul said. “But I don’t think it was deliberate.”

  Stacy’s expression said she disagreed.

  Reese noticed that Cal had the little boy in his arms, wrapped in a blanket and was walking him over to join his parents and sister in the car. The child appeared unhurt, just scared. But he seemed willing to be entertained by Cal’s badge.

  Reese walked to the damaged Taurus. The front hood had crumpled up and now rested against the spiderwebbed windshield.

  He checked the side that had been hit. Ran his fingers along the dented metal. He returned to the cruiser. Paul held his son in his lap now. One of the father’s arms dangled, useless, to rest on the seat. Pain drew the man’s brows down and a muscle ticked in his jaw. His good hand held his son against his chest. Reese asked, “Do you know what kind of car hit you?”

  Paul shook his head. “No, sorry. I just had a flash of something coming toward me, then we hit the tree.”

  The little girl looked at him, opened her mouth to say something then closed it. Reese moved to her side of the car to look past Stacy and focus his attention on the child. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” Her blue eyes looked extra large under the white bandage now covering the gash in her forehead. She moved closer to her mother, but didn’t take her gaze from him. Reese tried again. “Can you tell me what you saw?”

  Stacy wrapped an arm around her daughter’s shoulder. “Lisa, if you saw the car, will you tell the deputy what it looked like?”

  “It was white,” she said then pulled the blanket up over her lips and nose. Her eyes stayed on him.

  Reese smiled at the girl. “Thanks, Lisa, that helps. Was it a truck like mine or a car like yours?”

  “It was just a car.”

  “It was a Mercedes,” the little boy stated.

  Reese lifted a brow. “It was?” He looked at the boy’s father. “Would he know that?”

  Paul nodded. “Yeah. H
e knows all the car symbols. I travel a lot and we make a game out of it when he comes with me. The person who spots the most Beemers wins a milk shake. Then we do Toyotas or Mercedes or Fords. Then we both get milk shakes.” He shrugged, winced and went pale.

  Dylan, who had walked up to peer into the cruiser, grunted. “Keep that shoulder still, Paul. I’m pretty sure it’s dislocated.” He looked at the shaken family. “Good thing you all had your seat belts on.”

  Sirens sounded to his left and Reese looked up to see two ambulances barreling toward them. They’d come from Bryson City.

  Then his mind went back to what Paul’s son said. Cold dread settled in his gut. Shannon drove a white Mercedes. Of course there was more than one white Mercedes in the state, but...

  “Eli, how many people around here drive that kind of car?”

  Eli met his gaze. “I can only think of one.”

  Reese blew out a breath and nodded. “I was afraid of that.” He rubbed his gloved hand against his thigh. “I already have an unofficial BOLO out on her because she’s got Belle, and Maggie was getting worried.” Small towns did that kind of thing. Just one more thing Reese liked about Rose Mountain.

  “Yeah, I heard that,” Eli said. He pulled out his radio. “Well, now it’s official. If it wasn’t her, at least we can rule her out.”

  Reese’s phone buzzed.

  His buddy from Spartanburg. “Trevor, what do you have?”

  “Nothing yet on that pill you sent, but it’s coming.”

  “Then what?”

  “You know how you’re always saying go with your gut?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I did and it paid off.”

  Excitement began to hum in Reese’s veins. “Tell me.”

  “Everything you’ve told me about what’s going on with your lady friend had me suspicious. Especially after you sent that pill in the aspirin bottle and Maggie said it must belong to her sister-in-law.”

  Reese frowned. “All right. And?”

  “And so I started looking into the night Maggie’s husband was killed. You may already know some of this, but here’s what I got. First of all, the witness wasn’t reliable. A homeless guy who saw two people arguing. After checking out Kent Bennett’s background, it came to light that he was deeply in debt.”

  “To whom?”

  “To some pretty nasty characters.”

  “Right. So it’s safe to assume that he was probably killed by one of them?”

  “That would be the first assumption. I decided to keep looking. And when I got to his family, things turned real interesting.”

  “How?” He wished the man would just hurry up and spit it out.

  “Turns out the nasty characters didn’t do the killing.” Reese didn’t even want to know how Trevor could be certain of that. He knew his buddy had contacts better left under their rocks. Reese had been in that territory a few times in his career and he never cared to go back. Trevor said, “They were furious the man was dead.”

  “Because they’d never get their money, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So if they didn’t kill him, who did?”

  “Someone driving a green car. The paint chips the ME found embedded in Mr. Bennett’s clothing told us that much.”

  “But you have something up your sleeve. What is it you’re not telling me?”

  “Because of my highly suspicious nature, I decided to check into whether anyone in the family had a green car. No one did.”

  “What about—”

  “A rental. Yeah, I thought about that. And I hit pay dirt.”

  “Who?”

  “A woman by the name of Shannon Bennett rented a green BMW from the airport the night her brother was killed.”

  Chills that had nothing to do with the cold weather raced up his spine. “Anything else?”

  “Nope. I’ll let you know when the report comes back on the pill.”

  “Thanks.”

  No sooner had he hung up than the phone buzzed again.

  A text from Maggie.

  SHANNON CALLED. HER CAR BROKE DOWN. ON THE WAY TO MEET HER AT SIMON’S STOP AND GO. JASON IS WITH ME.

  He looked up. “Hey, Eli. Just got a text from Maggie. She said she was on the way to meet Shannon. Her car broke down.”

  “Where?”

  “Simon’s Stop and Go.”

  Reese frowned. Why did that sound familiar.

  Eli’s head snapped up and Reese saw a flash of worry darken his eyes. “What is it?”

  Reese said, “That’s the place where Maggie and Belle were supposed to be delivered after the bank robbery.”

  * * *

  Maggie squinted through the still-falling snow. At least it wasn’t too heavy. Hopefully, she would have Belle and Shannon back home safe and sound before too long, and then it could snow all it wanted.

  Jason slowed the cruiser, his head nodding to the right. “Should be right around here. I come out this way every once in a while, but not often.”

  “There aren’t any lights on. Is it closed?”

  “Probably. Around here businesses close up if it’s snowing and dropping to the freezing mark. No one wants to try to get home on icy roads.”

  “Right.”

  She bit her lip and glanced up at the sun. In an hour it would be gone. And the temperatures would drop fast. But she was here now and in an hour would be home.

  Nothing to worry about.

  Except the place looked deserted. “Where are they?” Maggie wondered as she climbed from the vehicle.

  Jason got out and glanced around the area. “Kind of creepy, isn’t it?”

  Maggie shot him a perturbed look. “Well, I didn’t think so until you pointed it out.” He gave her a sheepish smile and hitched his pants up as he walked toward the front door. Maggie followed him, uneasiness making her skin ripple. “Shannon? We’re here.” Where was she? Why hadn’t she met them at the door? Had someone else come along and rescued her and Belle?

  Confusion and a renewed anxiety to see Belle overshadowed her skittish nerves and Maggie rushed through the door after Deputy White.

  She could see him standing in the middle of the store looking around. “Ms. Bennett?”

  A loud pop sounded.

  Maggie flinched and spun toward the sound. A second passed before she realized Jason had been shot. Surprise settled on his face and he lifted a hand to cover the rapidly spreading red stain on his chest.

  SEVENTEEN

  The minute Eli finished his statement, Reese was headed for his cruiser. Eli was right behind him in his own car. Over the radio, Eli told him, “I’m getting Cal and Mitchell for backup. I don’t like this any more than you do.”

  Reese cranked the car and let Eli pull out first. Eli knew the fastest route to the place. With one hand on the wheel, he dialed Maggie’s number. A number he’d programmed into his phone. Speed dial number one.

  He held the phone to his ear and listened to it ring. “Come on, Maggie, pick up.”

  Her phone went to voice mail.

  Reese hung up, and his worry meter shot off the chart. She’d just texted him thirty minutes ago. Why wasn’t she answering?

  Eli made a left, then a right, then they were on the main road going toward the edge of town. Reese wanted to floor it, but there were too many side roads, the sun was sinking behind the mountain to his right and he didn’t want to take a chance on hitting someone who may decide not to come to a complete stop at the numerous stop signs lining the road.

  So he gritted his teeth and kept it ten miles over the speed limit.

  * * *

  “Jason!” Maggie screamed as she raced to the fallen deputy’s side. She dropped to her knees beside the man and felt for a pulse. She looked up and saw Shannon standing in the doorway that looked like it might lead back into a pantry. “Get down!” Maggie yelled. “Someone’s shooting!” Then Maggie noticed the gun in the woman’s hand and froze. “You?” she whispered.

  “Me.” She lifted the w
eapon and Maggie screamed and ducked, rolling toward the counter, searching for any kind of cover she could find. The bullet shattered the glass display behind her.

  “Stop! What are you doing? Why?” Maggie felt the terror choke her, closing her throat, numbing her reflexes, freezing her brain. “Shannon, stop! Talk to me!”

  “He promised me the baby.” The flat monotone spiked Maggie’s fear. Horror flooded her as she tried to piece together what Shannon was saying.

  “What baby? Who promised you a baby?”

  “Kent. He promised to give me the baby when she was born.”

  Realization dawned. “What? Give you my baby? Are you crazy?”

  “Actually, yes. At least that’s what the doctors tell me.” Shannon moved and Maggie could see her in the round mirror above the door. Shannon held the weapon like she knew how to use it. But then she’d already taken Jason down with no trouble. The deputy lay still, pale as death. Maggie wanted to go to him. Help him, but knew if she moved Shannon would shoot her.

  She licked her lips. “Where’s Belle?”

  “Belle’s fine. Don’t worry about Belle. Belle’s mine now. I’m going to take care of her like I should have all along.”

  “Why did he promise you Belle, Shannon? You should know I’d never give up my baby.”

  “You were negligent! I proved that in the store.”

  Maggie knew immediately what the woman referred to. She’d been desperate to get out of the house. So, when Belle was about three weeks old, Maggie had strolled her up to the shopping center. In one of the stores, Maggie had turned to look at something and when she turned back, Belle was gone. “You took her.”

  “I wanted to teach you a lesson. Show you that you couldn’t take care of her.”

  “You scared me to death.”

  “We were one aisle over. You should have realized that you were in no shape to take care of her.”

  “She’s mine!”

  “No, she’s mine.” It wasn’t the words that sent sheer fear shuddering through her, it was the without-a-doubt certainty with which Shannon said the words that scared her senseless.