Perilous Homecoming

by Sarah Varland

  Kelsey let go of his hand and reached for the gate. It squeaked as she opened it, protesting years of disrepair and neglect. It was a shame that no one was looking after this place. Sawyer should come out here in the daytime with some WD-40. He would, as soon as this was all over and life returned to seminormal.

  She walked through the gate first, through the tall grass, although it was slightly shorter in here. The first gravestones weren’t far away. Picking their way through the aisles—that lecture about respect his parents had given him years ago had really stuck—they moved around quietly, each of them reading the stones in silence.

  Rebecca Hall Wallace. Harrison Wallace. Not names he’d heard of.

  Rich Smith. Samantha Smith. Also not the ones they were looking for.

  Finally there was a name he recognized from the books. Andrew Burns. Sarah Burns. Buried side by side. “The two of them must have been married.”

  “Where are the other Burnses? The ones who were pirates? They’re the ones we need to find.”

  Ezekiel Burns.

  “He never married.”

  “Well that’s a dead end.” Kelsey winced. “No pun intended.”

  They wandered the aisles a little longer. Sawyer was beginning to worry that the other Burns, Hannah, had died somewhere else and not been buried here. If that was the case, he didn’t know where they’d resume their search, how they’d go about finding a link between the shipwrecks and anyone in town.

  “There,” Kelsey whispered. She stopped. Turned to Sawyer, her eyes wide with disbelief.

  Jacob Davies. Hannah Burns Davies.

  “Lieutenant Davies.”

  “That’s... Yes,” Kelsey said. “Now that I have the name, it was his voice I heard in the attic. So then...he’s the one—” he watched her swallow hard “—who is trying to kill me.”

  SIXTEEN

  “We need to tell someone,” Sawyer stated the obvious and Kelsey nodded.

  “Let’s go.”

  They crept back across the cemetery without incident and were almost through the gate when the first gunshot hit the ground inches from her feet, kicking up dirt and bits of grass.

  “Get down.” Sawyer’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was firm.

  “No, run!”

  She felt him hesitating beside her, but Kelsey took off anyway, dodging bullets as she ran. Finally Sawyer caught up.

  They had to stop to open the gate, and that’s when fire flew through Kelsey’s arm. She yelled.

  “You’re hit!” Sawyer grabbed her other arm, pulled her off into the woods. “Get down,” he said in a softer voice this time, presumably so their shooter wouldn’t hear.

  Kelsey got on her knees, but when she tried to put weight on her hand to crawl, the fire exploded in her arm again and she couldn’t move. She bit back tears, hopelessness falling like a dark cloud she couldn’t shrug off. “I can’t move, Sawyer. My arm hurts too bad.” She hated feeling helpless like this. While she had her gun in her holster and could shoot with her off hand, it would be foolish and irresponsible to shoot at an unseen target.

  “You have to. There’s a dry creek bed this way. It’s not far, but hopefully Davies doesn’t know it’s here. Not everybody who grew up here does.”

  Kelsey hadn’t known about it, so she could only hope that he was right and Davies didn’t, either. She did her best to follow him, putting most of her weight on her legs and left arm. When she had to use her right, she gritted her teeth and tried to be thankful it was her arm that had gotten hit and not anything more vital. Kelsey still couldn’t believe she’d spent a short career as a police officer without incident, but couldn’t manage to work as an antiques insurance agent without getting injured and attacked multiple times.

  The shooting had stopped. Did that mean Davies was creeping closer, lining up another shot? Kelsey hoped not, and felt like the darkness in this part of the woods was on their side. He wouldn’t be able to see as well here, away from the light of the moon.

  “There’s a spot just up ahead...” Sawyer trailed off. “It’s not far. Hang in there, Kels.”

  She followed him ten more yards until he stopped at a fallen tree that overhung the creek bed. Brambles and branches had grown up around it to provide a little bit of shelter. It was perfect for hiding.

  “You crawl in first. I’ll stay on the outside, just in case he does come back.”

  “It’s not even your case. I dragged you into this. You shouldn’t be in the line of fire.” Her words came out choppily as she tried to speak past the pain.

  “Just let me take care of you, okay? I know you can handle yourself, but maybe I want to help.”

  She didn’t have anything to say to that. Her parents had raised her to be self-sufficient, maybe to a fault. But ever since she’d run into Sawyer at the museum party he’d been going out of his way to show her that she didn’t have to do everything all on her own. But like he’d just said, he’d never acted like she was incapable in any way. He just wanted to help.

  Kelsey squeezed her eyes at the tears that were building. She didn’t know for sure if they were because of the bullet hole in her arm, the fact that spiders were probably crawling all over her—the one creature she couldn’t stand—or the realization that Sawyer was so much more than the cocky, overconfident kid he’d been in high school. He’d grown into a man who was sure enough of himself to let her handle her own rescues, but who was there to help her if she needed it.

  He was turning very much into the sort of man she could see herself falling in love with. But there was still the matter of her job, and his. He couldn’t study ocean life traveling from place to place around Georgia.

  But then again, traveling around was starting to lose its appeal for Kelsey, too. She remembered her thoughts up in the attic, when she’d thought she was about to die. In those moments, she’d regretted giving up police work, which had always made her feel invigorated and alive, confident in the knowledge that she was making a difference.

  But could she really give up the dream she’d planned on, worked so hard for?

  “I’m going to text the chief,” Sawyer said in a low voice. Kelsey looked at her arm while he did so. There was blood, but not as much as she’d expected. As much as it hurt, it looked like the bullet had just grazed the outside of her arm, which was painful, but not as bad as a through-and-through shot would have been.

  “Oh, no.”

  Kelsey sat up a little, senses on alert, at Sawyer’s tone. “What’s wrong?”

  “The chief says he’s already heard about the shots being fired. He says Davies is in the area and is supposed to see about it.”

  “No. Text him back.”

  “I am.”

  Kelsey made herself take deep breaths, knowing how easy it would be to work herself up into a state where she wouldn’t do much good. She needed to stay calm; it was just easier said than done. Much easier.

  “I can’t imagine what he’s told them,” she muttered. They had contacted the police as soon as they could, but Davies obviously had an advantage since he’d planned this attack. What they needed to do was get control back. But how?

  Sawyer’s voice broke into her thoughts. “I’m going to tell the chief our location, so he can tell Davies.”

  “Have you lost your mind?”

  “And then we’re going to loop around the cemetery, behind it, but close enough to know when Davies heads this way that there’s no chance he’ll be able to surprise us. We should be able to hear him the whole time, breaking through the trees.”

  “Not to be a party pooper, Sawyer, but doesn’t that mean he’ll hear us, too?”

  “We’re going to keep walking up this creek bed.”

  “This is the only dry spot.” Kelsey continued arguing. Did she not want a plan to get out of this alive?<
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  “So we’ll wade through the creek. It’s not very deep, and it’s the only sure way to not make noise.”

  “And what if he decides to go through the creek, too? We’ll walk right into him.”

  “No, he won’t do that when there’s a game trail directly here from the cemetery. That’s what we took. Why did you think it was so easy to run here when the woods in Georgia are thick with thorns and everything else?”

  “I didn’t think about it. But it does make sense.” She gave him a small smile. “You’re better at this than I thought.”

  “That was almost a compliment, thanks. Now, let’s go.”

  Sawyer reached down and helped her up. Wincing a little as it jarred her hurt shoulder, Kelsey stood up.

  “You need a doctor.”

  “I don’t think I’m going to argue with you about that.”

  “There’s a first time for everything.” He smiled to lighten her mood a little. Her energy and determination were starting to fade, ever so slightly, probably from the shock of everything. At least it was reassuring that she really was human and not the unstoppable, unflappable dynamo she seemed to be. This was the first sign of weakness she’d shown, and they couldn’t afford for her to settle into that discouragement, not now when their safety depended on moving fast and believing this would work.

  The dry creek bed soon turned to damp mud, which let them walk a little faster since there were no leaves to crunch loudly. Soon the creek was back to its normal depth, six inches or so, and they slogged through it, not adding any more noise to the slight rushing the creek already made.

  “How far are we?”

  “Not far.”

  They walked for another few minutes, then Sawyer reached out and grabbed Kelsey’s uninjured arm. “Stop,” he mouthed and held up a hand. He pointed through the trees, to where he could see someone walking. It could be Davies—the height and build were right—but he was dressed in a gillie suit, a camouflage outfit that made it impossible to see someone unless they were moving. Sawyer was grateful that his message had gotten passed from the chief to Davies, and even more thankful that his plan seemed to be working and Davies had done what Sawyer had anticipated.

  They really should be able to do this.

  Five more minutes of creek walking and they were behind the cemetery. This was the most dangerous part. Their would-be killer could easily have backtracked.

  There was no way to tell.

  “This is the risky part,” he whispered.

  “Yep.”

  As noiselessly as possible, they climbed out of the creek and crept toward the cemetery. Being surrounded by physical reminders of death when someone wanted you dead was a sobering thing.

  No sign of danger.

  They made it through the field and Sawyer exhaled as they stepped into the cover of the woods. They moved along the path, each step taking them closer to help.

  The gunshots started again. Davies must have heard them somehow.

  This time neither of them shouted. They just both took off at a sprint, Kelsey a little slower than she had been earlier, due to her arm. Still, somehow they made it to the place where they’d parked without any further injuries. In one motion, Sawyer unlocked the doors and reached for Kelsey. “Get in!” He helped her into the driver’s seat and she scooted over to the passenger side to make room for him.

  Sawyer got inside without incident, slammed the door and hit the gas, relieved when the engine immediately roared to life. First, he’d get Kelsey to the hospital to get that graze taken care of. Next, he’d be stopping by the Treasure Point Police Department. Surely if he talked to them in person, someone would believe what they’d discovered tonight.

  * * *

  Sawyer hadn’t expected to be face-to-face with Lieutenant Davies at the police station less than an hour after the man had tried to kill both him and Kelsey. At least Kelsey wasn’t here yet, although she’d made no secret of the fact that she planned to come right over after she was finished at the hospital. Sawyer had decided it was safe enough there with so many doctors, but just in case, he’d asked a friend of his who worked at the hospital to keep an extra close eye on her until she left, without explaining why.

  When Kelsey did get here, it wasn’t going to be pretty—Sawyer was fairly certain she wouldn’t be able to hold in the anger she felt toward the man for wreaking so much havoc on her life.

  In fact, Sawyer wasn’t sure how he was going to hold it in, either.

  He took a deep breath, put on his best business face and told himself to play it cool.

  “Lieutenant Davies.”

  “Sawyer.” The other man nodded and continued walking down the hall.

  Doubt shook Sawyer. They were right, weren’t they? The evidence they had pointing to Davies was all circumstantial, yes. But he trusted Kelsey when she said she’d recognized his voice. The chief would believe her, too...wouldn’t he?

  Clay Hitchcock walked into the station just then. “Sawyer. I heard about the shots fired. Everyone okay?”

  “Kelsey’s getting checked out at the hospital. A bullet grazed her.”

  “I’m glad it wasn’t worse.”

  “Listen, I’ve got to talk to you. Is there anywhere...” Sawyer looked around the open area where they were standing. “Anywhere else we can talk?”

  “Sure.” Clay led him to one of the rooms off the hallway, let him inside.

  “What is it?”

  “We think Davies was the guy shooting at us,” Sawyer said in a low voice.

  “Not possible.” Clay shook his head. “I know we’ve been on edge here, and I still think there’s a leak, but I don’t think it’s one of our officers, especially not one with that much seniority.”

  “Kelsey says...”

  “Kelsey has a grudge against Davies. Did she tell you about why she left here?”

  “I thought you were one of the ones who believed in her.”

  Clay exhaled. “I do. But even the best cop can get on the wrong track because of whatever biases he or she brings to the case.”

  Sawyer didn’t know what to say to that, how to proceed. What would Kelsey want him to do? Should he share the information they’d found out, or keep it to himself for now? She’d probably tell him to quit talking, to get out of there.

  That was what he’d decided to do, but Hitchcock kept talking.

  “You are right that he is connected. He came to us before you got here, and confessed that he’s been covering for someone, though he insists he didn’t leak any information. He wouldn’t tell us who he was covering for, said he didn’t want to get in any deeper than he already was. He was supposed to meet the guy at an old dock on the Hamilton property at dawn.”

  “And you’re going to go?”

  Hitchcock was nodding. “I came in early to get a plan together. We’re all meeting now, so I’ve got to go.”

  “All right.”

  He opened the door and started to walk away.

  “Sawyer! Clay!” Kelsey burst through the front doors, arm bandaged, but besides that not showing any signs of having been hurt. “Wait!”

  She hurried to them.

  “I already told him, Kelsey,” Sawyer said in a low voice once she was close enough that no one would overhear their conversation.

  “You did? So did you arrest him?” She looked at Clay.

  Clay’s expression was like the clouds before the storm, a warning of what was coming. Sawyer braced himself.

  Kelsey was not going to like this.

  “We have no reason to believe there’s a need for that.”

  * * *

  “What?” Kelsey couldn’t keep the disbelief out of her tone.

  “We’ve never had any cause to think one of our own was behind the murders themselves
, even if we have suspected a leak or something to that effect.” Clay said the words calmly, but the calm didn’t rub off on Kelsey. She felt anything but.

  “What if we’ve been wrong?” Kelsey looked straight at Clay, feeling confident in herself and her instincts in a way she hadn’t in years. Without thinking, she was the old Kelsey again, but more self-assured. Ready to be who she was.

  Which was apparently law enforcement, through and through.

  “We appreciate your help, Kelsey. And when you were an officer, no one respected the job you did more than me, okay? But we can’t afford to be wrong here. Sawyer already told me what you’re thinking. You’re implying...”

  “I’m not implying. I’m saying. Lieutenant Davies is behind everything.”

  “There’s no reason to think that besides circumstantial evidence, Kelsey. And it’s inadmissible in court for a reason—because it’s not reliable.”

  “But I am. I heard his voice when he attacked me in the attic. It was definitely Davies.”

  “You are reliable, but you’re also a human. Look, it’s nothing personal. We’re family, okay? I trusted you through that whole Hamilton robbery debacle years ago. But this is different.”

  “It’s not.”

  “It is. And besides, Lieutenant Davies has confessed to covering up for a guy. That’s huge, Kelsey, and not something he would do if it wasn’t true. So you’re partly right, I guess. You probably pegged the leak in the department, even though he’s still claiming at this point that he didn’t share any information. As surprising as that is, it wasn’t a malicious thing. Just a lapse in judgment.”

  “There is no guy he’s helping, or that he’s covering up for. It’s him, it’s always been him and this is some kind of setup.”

  Clay was already shaking his head, the look of trust that was always on his face now replaced by something Kelsey was far more used to seeing...hesitation. “You have no proof.”