Dangerous Waters

by Toni Anderson

  “Did you kill your own baby? Smother him in his sleep because he wouldn’t stop screaming?” Holly pushed.

  Her mouth dropped open in horror. “No! It was SIDS. I left him for less than an hour, and when I went back he was…cold.” Wide, horrified eyes stared at her as if she’d finally realized what she’d admitted. What both she and Grant had done.

  Grant staggered to his feet, still holding the pistol. His lip was bloody. Holly cursed when she realized Mike was lying unconscious. Christ, she hoped he wasn’t dead.

  “Is he all right?” Anita asked in a high, concerned voice.

  “He hit his head on a branch.”

  Anita took a step toward her son.

  A figure came out of nowhere and tackled Grant to the ground. Finn. Anita pointed the pistol toward the fighting men and pulled the trigger.

  Holly’s heart screeched. She used every ounce of strength she possessed to climb to her feet and snatch the gun out of Anita’s hand, knocking the stupid woman over. The men were still fighting. Holly swayed but used her momentum to wedge her knee between the woman’s shoulders, pull out her cuffs, and snap them tight around Anita’s skinny wrists. The woman lay crying in the dirt next to her stolen son.

  Finn punched Grant in the mouth, and the man went flying. Grant lay on the ground, breathing heavily, his eyes wild and desperate. “Stupid asshole, interfering in something that has nothing to do with you!”

  “That just so happens to be the woman I love you’re trying to dispose of, you bastard.” Her heart soared even as Finn picked up her pistol from where it lay in the leaves. “So it has everything to do with me. But you’re right. I must be pretty damn stupid compared to you. I mean you got away with murder for decades. Fooled everyone. Probably laughed your ass off at Thom. You must have had heart failure when Holly turned up.”

  Grant spat out an expletive. “You’ve got some nerve. The Carvers are nothing. A bunch of drunken, inbred wastrels.”

  “Yeah well, at least my brother had the balls to admit his crimes and serve his time, not to mention we don’t have any baby snatchers in the family.”

  “Your brother is an illiterate moron and you’re no better.”

  “Doesn’t make him any less worthy than you, Toben.” Sweat dripped off Finn’s temple. He was white with rage.

  Holly hobbled toward him, touched his shoulder. “He’s trying to rile you. He wants you to shoot him so he doesn’t have to face what he’s done. Give me the gun. It’s my job to arrest him.”

  “But it’s my job to protect the woman I love, or don’t you get that yet?” Finn said.

  Holly let out a little laugh. “I’m not sure we can argue the relationship dynamics right at this exact moment, but we will discuss this.” She pulled out her phone. Showed it to Grant, who went pale. “I called nine-one-one earlier. They got everything. The whole confession. They know you killed Bianca Edgefield, Len Milbank, and Gina Swartz. You kidnapped two minors. Assaulted and kidnapped an RCMP officer. Grant Toben, I’m arresting you—”

  “No!” Grant screamed, but Finn got hold of his arms and flipped him on his front.

  Holly dug out a pair of flexi cuffs she kept in her pocket and cinched them tight around Grant’s wrists. She turned to face Finn, surprised when he stumbled away and sat in the muck and the leaves. And then she saw the blood soaking through the side of his T-shirt. “No.”

  She forced him to lie back, pulling at the waistband of his jeans to get a clear look at the wound.

  “We don’t have time for this now, baby.” His big hand cupped her cheek. He looked impossibly handsome in the heavy gloom of the forest. “But pencil me in for later.”

  “Funny man.” She shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d been shot?” She tore off her shirt, and his eyes widened, and he was obviously about to add another inappropriate comment. “Don’t start with me.” She pressed hard against the oozing wound at his side, and his eyes rolled back in pain. She looked around. She needed both hands to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, and her phone was in her pocket. Sirens were close. “We need an air ambulance. Man down! I repeat, man down!” She yelled into the ether and hoped someone somewhere was listening. She could hear bushes thrashing. Grant stood up and tried to take off. He wasn’t going to get far.

  “Your fellow officers are about to get an eyeful.” Finn’s mouth curved into one of his handsome smiles, but his skin was pasty, and his eyes were starting to glaze.

  “They’ll survive.” She could be stark naked for all she cared.

  “Holly.” His eyelids started to drift.

  “Don’t you dare die on me, Finn Carver.”

  “I’ll do my best. This isn’t the first time I’ve been shot, you know.” He gritted his teeth, grabbed her hand. “This one was worth it. To save you, anything would be worth it.”

  Cops finally burst on the scene. They confiscated weapons, restrained the prisoners, checked poor Mike, but she didn’t care about anything except Finn. Someone wrapped a shirt around her shoulders and medics arrived, firefighters. Pretty much every person in Bamfield converged on this isolated expanse of forest that was supposed to be her burial place.

  She watched them work. Finally, what seemed like hours later, the throb of rotors beat the air as a Coast Guard chopper flew over and landed somewhere nearby. They got Finn onto a stretcher and she held his hand.

  “I’m coming too.”

  “Only to the chopper. Not enough room on board and no time to argue,” one of the medics told her.

  Finn reached out and squeezed her hand as they ran for the ambulance. “I’m not gonna die, Holly. I’ve got a lot of years that I want to spend wrestling with you in the sheets.” He grinned as she shook her head, then they piled inside the makeshift ambulance and started reversing along the rough track.

  “Holy fuck that hurts!” he yelled when they hit a rut.

  The medic laughed. “Well, at least your lungs are fine.”

  Finn ignored the guy. Stared into her eyes. “I’m not going to go anywhere important without you for many years. Got it? We’re a pair—you and me—from now on you don’t get rid of me that easily.” She figured out she was crying only when tears dropped onto their joined hands.

  “But you’ve got to finish what you started here, Holly. You’ve got to talk to Thom.”

  She closed her eyes. He was right. She had to finish this. Write the reports, close the links, finish this thing.

  “You’ll wait for me?”

  He squeezed her fingers so hard they hurt, but she didn’t complain. She kissed him, then stood back as they loaded Mike Toben—who was probably really Tommy Edgefield—and Finn, the goddamned love of her life, onto a cherry red chopper.

  Someone dragged her back away from the helicopter, and when she turned around she realized it was Professor Edgefield, his eyes full of concern, especially when he looked down and realized she was covered in blood.

  The helicopter took off and blasted them with downdraft. Suddenly Holly didn’t want to be here. “Oh, god. I’ve got to go after him.” She whirled around and yelled at Furlong, who was striding toward them. “We need another chopper here ASAP.”

  Instead of arguing, he nodded and spoke into his radio. Suddenly aware she was cold, she wrapped the shirt she was wearing tight around her body. She started to shiver hard.

  “I’m so sorry, Professor Edgefield.” Christ, that sounded odd now, but she could hardly call him “dad.” “I found out who murdered Bianca. It was Grant Toben. I’m sorry to tell you the boy Bianca gave birth to might not have been your son—Tommy was probably Grant’s child, and he stole him when Anita’s own baby died.”

  His mouth had dropped open in shock. “Tommy’s alive?”

  She nodded quickly and felt a fresh onslaught of tears hit as an ecstatic smile lit up his face.

  “And Leah?” he asked hopefully.

  Holly opened her mouth several times, but nothing came out for a full ten seconds. “I might be Leah. We need DNA co
nfirmation.” She held out her hand to him. “I’m sorry I messed it all up.” She bit her lip as he just stared at her.

  He pulled her in for a full body hug. She expected to feel weird, or uncomfortable, but the tight squeeze of his embrace actually felt right. She heard more rotors in the distance. “I need to go after Finn.” She gripped his hands, stared into comforting pewter eyes. “I promise we’ll have time to get to know each other, but right now I need…”

  He nodded. “I love Finn like a son. I’ll follow as soon as I can.” He grimaced. “First I need to tell Brent what’s happened. That’ll be fun.”

  Holly nodded, and a numb feeling of cold stole over her. The chopper arrived, and she ran toward it, bending low. To her surprise Furlong got in beside her. Once they were settled in with headsets, he told her, “This way I can interview you without any delay.” He gave her an almost regretful smile. “You ended up solving the whole damn thing on your own.”

  “I did everything wrong—”

  “But you found the murderer, Holly. And that’s what the job is all about. Getting the bad guys off the street.”

  She could barely speak, but she started talking him through the events of today, even as her mind focused on the man in the other helicopter. If he died, she didn’t think anything would ever matter again.

  CHAPTER 21

  Mike opened his eyes to find Thomas Edgefield standing beside his bed. His head throbbed and pain sliced through his eyeballs.

  “What happened?” But then the memories flooded him in a wave of horror and he wished he could slip back into a coma.

  “Your parents…” Edgefield tripped over the word. “Grant and Anita were taken into custody.” His features pinched tight as he took the chair beside the bed. “This must be a hell of a shock for you—”

  “I’m not your son,” Mike bit out angrily.

  Thom rocked back slightly in his chair. “I watched you grow in your mother’s tummy and helped deliver you into this world. You think I care whose sperm created you?”

  “Bianca betrayed you. Don’t you even care?”

  The pallor in Thom’s skin deepened. “I care, but it was a long time ago.”

  “They raised me.” Mike’s chest tightened, and he felt like someone had driven a sword through his heart but it just kept beating.

  “I loved you, Mike, as a baby. I still do even though you probably don’t want to hear it.”

  Mike flinched. He didn’t deserve love. He thought about Gina and what his father had done to keep his cruel secrets. He’d killed two women in cold blood. Two women who’d done nothing but fall for Toben men. His chest quivered as he thought about Gina’s pretty eyes and soft smile. If he hadn’t gotten involved with her, she wouldn’t be dead. The knowledge seared his brain like a branding iron.

  A wealth of sadness was visible in Thom’s eyes. “I thought Grant was my friend. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”

  Except he could.

  Mike knew that if anyone understood misery and suffering it was this man. And it was his father’s fault. His father was a killer, and his mother—the woman who’d raised him—had known about it. All those years he’d admired their happy marriage, it had hidden a rotten core of brutality and murder.

  Where did that leave him?

  “You have a sister…”

  Holy mother, he’d forgotten about Holly. He tried to sit up. “Is she all right?”

  “She’s fine and said she’ll come talk to you later.” Thom grimaced. “Finn got the worst of it. He was shot, but he’s going to pull through.”

  Shit. Like a dark shadow, Brent Carver passed his doorway. The usual fear had disappeared. Nothing Brent did to him could make him feel worse than he already did.

  “Finn’s a good guy. I’m glad he’s going to be OK.” He frowned. “I stole his gun.”

  Thom cleared his throat. “I think the cops do have a few questions.”

  Mike looked toward the door and noticed two Mounties, jaws clenched, waiting patiently by the door.

  “You better let them in.” Mike braced himself.

  Thom stood and handed him a glass of water. “Just give it another minute, until your lawyer gets back from the restroom.”

  “Lawyer?”

  “Laura Prescott has agreed to represent you.” He gave him a look. “You’re not alone, Mike.”

  Mike didn’t know how to respond. He felt alone. In fact, he’d never felt more alone in his whole goddamn life, but that was what he deserved. It was what he wanted.

  Thom reached out and squeezed his hand. “Give it time, son. Give it time.”

  There was enough pain packed inside his head for Finn to wish he wasn’t drifting into consciousness. Then he opened his eyes and saw Holly sitting beside his bed, staring at him intently, holding his hand so hard his fingers hurt. And the pain was fine. Better than fine. Because it meant he wasn’t dead and she did, in fact, love him.

  “Hey,” he said.

  She blinked rapidly. “Hey, yourself.”

  “Are you OK?”

  She shook her head. “Yes.” She pressed the call button for the nurse.

  He laughed, but fuck, that hurt. “How am I?”

  “Thankfully, the bullet missed all vital organs.”

  “Well, it wasn’t that low.”

  “Hey,” she raised her voice. “I’m being serious here. You could have died. What the hell did you think you were doing, throwing yourself at a man with a gun?”

  He stared at her until she stopped being angry. “There is never a time when that’s not what I’d do. If you can’t deal with that part of me, you better get out now.” Although there was no way he was letting her go.

  She held her face in her hands, looking beyond exhausted. His getting shot hadn’t helped. “How are we going to make this work? Your job is in Bamfield. I don’t even know if I’m still going to have a job when this whole thing is over. Maybe I should just quit.”

  “Don’t you dare quit. I’m so proud of you. You are such a good cop.” And like that she was back with him in the present. Dealing with him rather than her fears and worries. Who didn’t have fears or worries? He stroked her fingers with his thumb. “I can work anywhere. And something tells me Thom doesn’t need me to protect him anymore.”

  “Dryzek and company have been arrested,” she confirmed. “He told officers that Milbank was responsible for beating up Thom that time before you got out of the army. Both he and Ferdinand deny smuggling, but the cops from narcotics are all over them. They are going down.” She offered him a small smile. “Mike Toben has a nasty concussion, but he’s going to be fine—well, as fine as he can be, considering what he just learned about his parents. I still need to talk to him.” She bit her lip, clearly reluctant after everything that had happened.

  He spotted Thom in the corridor with Laura. But what made him stare was Brent, in deep conversation with a tall, broad-shouldered man in a police uniform. Talk about worlds colliding.

  He turned back to the complex and special woman at his side. “I don’t care much about money, which might make me a bad bet for the long term. Trust and loyalty are all that have really ever mattered to me, and now love. I love you. I trust you and I will be loyal to you until the day I die. We can figure out all the other stuff as we go along, except for me jumping in front of bullets for you. That’s a given.”

  She tried to smile, but she was an absolute mess, hair straggly, faded yellow-tinged bruises around her eyes. Wearing a blood-splattered shirt—his blood, thank god.

  “I should just ask you to marry me right now. The guilt from getting me shot should carry you down the aisle before you get cold feet and change your mind.”

  She opened her mouth, indignant. “I did not get you shot. And if that is your idea of a healthy relationship—based on guilt—you’ve got a lot to learn.”

  He swallowed the huge lump that formed in his throat. “I know. I’ve never done this before.”

  Her eyes swa
m in tears again, but thankfully they were saved by the heavy tread of the big guy in the fancy uniform heading their way. Holly turned and looked up and threw herself into the man’s arms.

  “You must be Finn Carver.” The man held out his hand to shake.

  “You must be my future father-in-law.”

  The man laughed, and Holly rested her hand on the man’s uniformed arm. “You need to teach him the art of romance, Daddy.”

  “Oh, I don’t know, from what I hear you guys have got that covered.”

  Holly colored up fire engine red, and even he felt heat in his cheeks.

  “I wanted to thank you, son.” Brown eyes shone with sincerity. “For saving the life not just of one of my officers, but for saving the life of my child.”

  Finn was pretty sure he was crying now too and figured he could probably get away with it because of the gunshot wound. “You’re welcome, sir.”

  And then his brother came forward. Followed by Thom and Laura. Brent said nothing, but leaned down, ruffled his hair, then went to stand by the window.

  “Dad.” Holly touched her father’s arm. “I want you to meet my other father. Thomas Edgefield.”

  The two men shook hands, both visibly upset.

  “I’m sorry for what happened to you and your family, Professor,” the deputy commissioner said.

  “Thank you. And thank you for raising her so beautifully.” Edgefield’s eyes shone like silver. “She turned out absolutely perfect.”

  “Hardly.” Holly rolled her eyes.

  “Perfect for me,” Finn said.

  Brent grunted. Holly shook her head and Laura smiled. Everything was going to work out, Finn realized suddenly. After years of being alone, he now had a family. A big, funny-looking family and Holly was the center of it.

  The beginning.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I set this story in the gorgeous community of Bamfield, BC, but feel the need to reassure anyone who might visit the area that the locals are, in fact, very friendly, the scenery is stunning, and the wildlife bountiful. Also note I tweaked some of the local topography to fit the story so I apologize if you fail to find my mythical shipwreck, or if you inadvertently ground your boat trying to navigate a too-shallow river.