by Rita Herron
Chaz simply glared at him. “Fine. But you are going to jail, Coach. And tomorrow everyone in town is going to know what you did to their children.”
“I’m innocent,” Coach Wake protested.
Chaz simply turned and left the man to stew in the cell. It would be the first of many nights he’d sleep alone on a cold cot. Maybe one day he’d even feel remorse for what he’d done. Although he didn’t appear to feel anything now except the need to protect himself.
But for the first time in years, especially the last two weeks since Tawny-Lynn had returned to Camden Crossing, Chaz allowed himself to relax when he got home.
Even though they’d found out Ruth was dead, they had closure in the arrest of Coach Wake. They knew what had happened to Peyton.
And Tawny-Lynn was safe.
Maybe she’d even decide to stay at White Forks.
He paused as he set the take-out meal he’d picked up at the diner on his table, wondering where that thought had come from. He’d known all along that Tawny-Lynn was here to put White Forks on the market, and that there was no love lost between her and the town.
Hell, some of the townsfolk would probably be furious at Peyton for staying away and leaving them in the dark for so long.
He opened up the foam box and inhaled the savory scent of homemade meat loaf and mashed potatoes and gravy. His mouth watered. He tried to recall what he’d had for lunch, then remembered he hadn’t eaten.
No wonder he was ravenous.
He’d deal with the fallout from the arrest and Peyton’s arrival in town tomorrow. His deputy was staying at the jail, watching over their prisoner.
Tonight he was going to steal some much-needed sleep.
He wolfed down the food and chased it with a cold beer, then walked to his office nook and studied the photographs on the wall.
Wake would probably have a lawyer and bail in the next twenty-four hours. Unless Chaz could convince the judge to remand him until his trial.
He phoned his contact at the paper and TV station and requested another press conference. As soon as he had Peyton’s official statement in the morning, he’d announce the news of Wake’s arrest.
The parents of the dead teens would be riled at the coach, and it would no doubt be an emotional day, but at least now they would have justice.
When his parents finally buried Ruth in the graveyard at their church, her killer would be rotting in jail. And if Wake had pressured other girls to sleep with him, maybe once Peyton went public, the others would, too.
Then he’d make sure Coach Wake never hurt anyone else.
* * *
THE BUS WAS ON FIRE. Flames burst through the air, eating at the ceiling and seats. Smoke clogged Tawny-Lynn’s lungs as she opened her eyes.
Someone had dragged her from the bus. Her sister. Peyton was alive.
She struggled to sit up, but pain throbbed through every cell in her body. Her leg hurt the most. Then she looked down and saw that it was twisted at an odd angle.
Broken.
“Peyton!” She tried to scream over the noise of the exploding glass as the bus blew, but her voice came out a hoarse whisper.
Where was Peyton?
She blinked, but smoke clogged her vision. Then she saw him...a man...dragging Ruth away.
Panic bubbled inside her. She tried to see the man’s face, but he was too far away. Then he turned and looked at her, and she cried out....
His face was blank. An empty black hole....
Tawny-Lynn startled awake and sat up in bed, her pulse clamoring as she looked around the room. It was empty. No one inside.
Only the man from her nightmares. She felt his evil permeating her. Felt his eyes boring into her.
She clenched the sheets, desperately forcing the image back into her head.
A man dragging Ruth away. He wore a dark coat....something gold glinted in the darkness. A ring of some kind?
Or had she imagined it? Maybe it had been embers sparking from the flames.
Was the man Coach Wake? Had she blocked out his face because she’d been too shocked to see him hauling Ruth away?
* * *
CHAZ’S CELL PHONE trilled, jarring him from sleep at 6:00 a.m. He reached for it as he climbed from bed and walked to the kitchen to make coffee.
“Sheriff, you’d better get down here now.”
Chaz blinked. “What’s going on?”
“The parents of the three girls who died in the crash are here along with your father. I swear, we’ve got a lynch mob on our hands.”
Chaz cursed. He should have foreseen that his father would call the other parents.
“I’m on my way.” He ended the call, rushed to the bathroom and splashed water on his face, then hurriedly dressed. He picked up coffee on the way, knowing he needed a clear head, and to calm down, because he felt like throwing his father in jail for stirring up trouble.
By the time he arrived, Coach Wake’s wife and Alvin Lambert, Wake’s attorney, had joined the scene. His deputy stood by the door leading to the back of the jail with his hand at his gun. Lambert had strategically pushed Mrs. Wake to the opposite side and was guarding her as if he expected the parents to physically assault her.
“No one sees Wake until the sheriff says so,” his deputy said as Chaz entered.
Chaz’s father stood to the right of the other parents, calmer today, although his eyes were livid, revenge flaring in their depths.
Chaz shot him a scathing look. He’d deal with him later.
“Is it true?” Mrs. Pullman asked, her face tormented.
“Coach Wake forced girls to have sex then killed our children!” Mr. Marx shouted.
“Did he?” Mrs. Truman cried.
Chaz held up a hand to calm them. “Listen to me, and listen good. I did make an arrest, but I need time to gather evidence and interrogate Coach Wake.”
“If he killed our daughters, you can’t let him go free,” Mr. Truman said sharply.
“Please, Sheriff,” Mrs. Pullman whispered. “We’ve waited all this time for the truth.”
“Trust me, I know how you feel. We all want justice.” Chaz cleared his throat to stop another onslaught of questions. “But you have to leave now and let me do my job.”
“Sheriff,” Lambert cut in. “I need to speak to my client.”
“Why are you doing this to my husband?” Mrs. Wake cried. “He’s a good man. He would never hurt one of his students.”
The door opened and Peyton and Tawny-Lynn walked in. Shadows rimmed Tawny-Lynn’s big eyes, but Peyton looked much calmer than he expected. Still, when they spotted the group in the office, they both halted warily.
Shouts and chaos erupted.
“Oh, my God!”
“Peyton Boulder?”
“You’ve been hiding your sister!”
Chaz stepped in front of the two women, a protective stance. “If everyone will calm down, I’ll explain.”
“You knew she was alive?” Mr. Marx asked.
“Why did you leave our girls to die?” Mrs. Pullman demanded.
Chaz motioned for them to be quiet with his hand. “I’ve called a press conference in an hour to announce this arrest. Now everyone listen.”
A strained hush fell over the room. Chaz stepped aside and ushered Tawny-Lynn and Peyton inside, then separated them from the ill-tempered group by indicating they stand behind the desk.
His father was shooting daggers through both the Boulder girls, his mother wringing her hands together, the others in the room studying them in muted shock.
“Now,” Chaz began. “Peyton Boulder survived the crash seven years ago, but she ran and left town out of fear.”
“What were you afraid of?” His father asked. “That everyone would fin
d out you were a tramp?”
Chaz spun toward his father. “Dad, if you say one more word, I’m going to throw you in a cell. Now shut up and listen.”
Mrs. Wake leaned into her husband’s lawyer as if her legs were about to buckle. If she hadn’t known about her husband’s affairs, he felt sorry for her.
Then again, everyone was innocent until proven guilty. But he believed Peyton’s story.
He gestured toward Peyton. “I’m sorry that I ran,” Peyton said. “But I was scared.”
“Scared of what?” Mrs. Pullman asked gently.
Peyton sank into the chair behind the desk. Tawny-Lynn stood behind her with her hand on Peyton’s shoulder for support. Then she spilled her story, the same one she’d told Chaz.
Gasps of outrage and sorrow rumbled through the room. “Did he pressure our daughters into sex?” Mr. Marx asked.
Pain radiated in Peyton’s eyes. “I don’t know. Honestly. We...never talked about it. In fact, I didn’t tell anyone except Ruth. She knew I had a crush on him and, when he approached her, she wanted me to know. I realized then that he was a user and told her to go to her parents. The coach met up with her after the game, and she told him she was going to tell her parents. He exploded and threatened us.”
She rubbed her temple, her voice strained. “I saw his car come up behind the bus, then he hit us and the bus spun out of control. I guess I hit my head when we went over the embankment, because when I came to, blood was everywhere. My sister was on the floor, trapped, and I dragged her out. But I didn’t see Ruth anywhere. I was running back to try to save the other girls, but...the bus suddenly burst into flames.” Tears trickled down her face, her voice cracking on a sob. “I—I’m so sorry, I wanted to help them, but fire was shooting out on all sides. And I couldn’t get back in.”
A deafening silence fell across the room, everyone lost in bitter memories and grief and the horrific images Peyton had painted in their heads. Images that obviously tortured Peyton every day.
“What happened then?” Mrs. Pullman asked as she dried her own eyes.
“I saw Coach Wake at the top of the ravine where the bus went over. He was watching the bus burn.”
Gasps of outrage filled the room. “That son of a bitch,” Mr. Marx muttered.
“I can’t believe he just stood there,” Mrs. Pullman whispered.
Peyton nodded, the shock of the memory haunting her eyes. “Then I realized that if Coach could just stand there and watch, that he would make good on his threats. That he’d kill me to keep me from going to the sheriff, so I ran.”
Mrs. Wake had stood by and listened, but her cheeks blazed with anger. “My husband... He wouldn’t have left those girls like that. He was their mentor. He cared about them.”
Peyton’s gaze rose to meet the woman’s. “He did leave them, Mrs. Wake. I’m sorry, and I don’t mean to hurt you. I was a stupid teenager back then, but he slept with me, and then he tried to sleep with Ruth. And he caused the others to die that day.”
Mrs. Wake planted her hands on her hips. “No, you seduced him and now you’ve come back to ruin his reputation.”
“That’s not true,” Peyton said. “I came back to do the right thing because Ruth is dead.”
Mrs. Wake moved toward Peyton, but the lawyer caught her. “Come on, this is not helping. We’ll talk to your husband and get to the bottom of this.”
Chaz faced the group. “Folks, I know you’re angry and feel like exacting your own revenge, but you will go home and let me handle this situation the legal way.”
Mr. Marx started to protest, but Chaz ushered the parents out the door with a stiff reminder that he’d lock them up if they interfered with the case.
Mrs. Wake had dropped into a chair and was massaging her belly. As soon as the parents left, Lambert and the coach’s wife demanded to see Wake. Chaz’s parents hovered, as well.
His mother knelt by Peyton and squeezed her hands. “I know you loved Ruth.”
“I did,” Peyton said in a low voice. “I’m so sorry. I thought— I’d hoped that she’d escaped that day. I didn’t know he’d killed her.”
His father wasn’t as forgiving. “If you’d stuck around and come to us, maybe we would have found her in time and she’d still be alive.”
“That’s not fair.” Tawny-Lynn stepped in front of Peyton and jutted her chin up at his father. “First you blamed me, now Peyton. My sister tried to warn Ruth about the coach. He’s the one you should be mad at, not her.”
“Dad,” Chaz warned, breaking up the staring contest between Tawny-Lynn and his father. “Take Mother home. I have a press conference in a few minutes.”
“You’ll let everyone know you caught Ruth’s killer?” his father said.
Chaz nodded. “I can’t divulge details, but I will announce his arrest and the charges we’re filing. But you and Mom remain low key, and don’t stir up any more trouble. The last thing I want is for the town to crucify Wake, or for some kind of vigilante to make things worse.”
If that happened, he’d have to protect Wake.
And that was the last thing Chaz wanted to do.
He needed to keep him behind bars before his anger got the best of him and he beat the man to a bloody pulp himself.
* * *
A SHUDDER COURSED up Tawny-Lynn’s spine. She’d known for years that Chaz’s father hated her, but his animosity toward Peyton made her furious.
Couldn’t he see that Peyton had suffered? She’d left her home out of fear, run because a mentor and man she’d trusted had used her and threatened her. And she’d lost Ruth.
She saw the guilt in her sister’s eyes, but she didn’t know how to alleviate it. Maybe in time Peyton would be able to forgive herself.
She gave Mr. Camden a cool look, then took Peyton’s arm. “Come on, sis, let’s go home. A little more work, and we can hang that for-sale sign and both of us can leave this horrible town behind us.”
But the memories would haunt them forever.
So would Chaz’s handsome face. Why had she gone and fallen in love with him?
His troubled gaze met hers. “You should be safe now, but let me know if there’s any more trouble.” He angled his head toward Peyton. “Will you write out everything you’ve told us and sign it? Then I’ll let you know when the trial date is set so you can come back and testify.”
So that was it? Chaz was resorting back to business as if nothing personal had happened between them.
“Of course,” Peyton said.
Tawny-Lynn’s heart was breaking as they left the building. She finally had her sister back and the answers she’d yearned for.
But she would never have the man she loved.
Chapter Nineteen
Chaz finished the press conference with a knot in his gut. He wanted to see Tawny-Lynn again, but she probably hated him now. After all, he’d been rough on her when they’d found Ruth.
He would deal with his feelings for her later. Today he had a job to do, and that meant tying up this case so Coach Wake would never see the light of day again.
With the story airing at noon, word would spread quickly in the small town. He’d left his deputy with Wake’s lawyer and wife, and was grateful they’d left by the time he made it back to his office.
He had a message to call the M.E. and another from the lab. He phoned the M.E. first. “What did you find?”
“Unfortunately we didn’t find any DNA from Coach Wake,” the M.E. said. “There were some broken ribs, which probably happened in the accident. We think that she fell backward on a sharp object and hit her head. Could have been a rock. That’s what killed her.”
Chaz mentally pieced together the facts. Ruth must have crawled out of the bus, and Wake saw her. He chased her, maybe caught up with her and they argued. Then he pushed her
and she fell and hit her head.
“Is that all you found?”
“I’m afraid so. Any DNA that might have been under her nails was long ago washed away by the elements and decomp.”
“Thanks.” He hung up and phoned the crime lab, hoping they had more. “This is Sheriff Camden. Tell me you have good news.”
“Nothing condemning yet, but we’re trying to recover some DNA from one of the stones left at the gravesite.”
“You think it’s the one that killed her?”
“No, but the way it was stuck in the ground indicates it might have been used as a grave marker.”
Chaz contemplated what he’d said. Had Wake marked the grave so he could come back and visit Ruth? Or maybe he’d planned to move her at some point?
“How about the bracelet?”
“There’s a partial print we’re working on. I’ll let you know if we find a match.”
A knock sounded on his door, and the deputy poked his head in. “Sheriff, there’s a couple of people here to see you.”
Chaz frowned. So the circus was starting.
He thanked the crime tech, then strode into the front area and was surprised to see Cindy Miller Parker and Rudy Farnsworth standing together.
“We need to talk to you,” Cindy said.
Rudy bit down on her lip. “It’s important. It’s about the coach.”
Chaz’s stomach knotted. Surely to God they weren’t here to say Peyton was lying.
“All right. Can I get you ladies something to drink? Coffee? Water?”
They both shook their heads, half-clinging to each other as he led them into his office. “Okay, what can I do for you?”
Cindy cleared her throat. “We heard about Coach Wake’s arrest, and that Peyton Boulder said Coach seduced her.”
Chaz nodded, steepling his hands on his desk and waiting.
“What she said is true,” Rudy said, her voice quivering.
“How do you know?” Chaz asked.
They spoke at the same time, both looking straight at him with conviction. “Because he did the same thing to us.”
* * *
“I KNOW THAT was difficult for you,” Tawny-Lynn told her sister after they’d eaten lunch.
