by Jessica Beck
“Suzanne, lower your voice. We need to speak softly now that we’re back outside,” Jake said as he helped me stand up again. “Are you okay?”
“Considering what we’ve just been through, overall I feel like I’m doing pretty well,” I said. As I brushed at the mud on my jeans, I felt my engagement ring catch on the denim fabric. “Now that we’re alive, do you still want to marry me?”
“More than ever,” he said fiercely. “But first we need to catch Shelly before we can celebrate.”
That was all I needed to hear. I started hurrying into the darkness, ready to tackle the woman with my bare hands if I had to.
“Hang on a second,” Jake said as we managed to stumble a few steps from the lodge. There was enough light from the fire to show us the world outside in shades of red and yellow, casting an eerie glow over everything around us.
“What are we waiting for?” I asked him. “We have to help Grace.” The crackling sounds of the fire were getting closer, and it seemed that the old lodge was about to be completely consumed at any moment. It was ironic that I’d been praying for the rain to stop all day, and now, when we needed it the most, it had completely disappeared. The fire was burning unchecked now, consuming everything within its reach.
“I need a weapon in my hands before we do this,” Jake said as he looked around to see what he might be able to improvise. “She’s armed with my handgun, remember?” After a few moments, he bent down and picked something up off the ground. In the growing light from the fire, I could see that it was a plank of wood as big as a bath towel, charred completely on one end.
“What is that?”
Jake peered at it in the dim light. “It must be from the lodge. It says ‘STORM’ on it, and that’s exactly what it’s going to bring down on Shelly for trying to kill us.”
“To be fair, she only tried to kill you,” I said as I corrected him. Even as I spoke, I wondered about why I was arguing semantics at a moment like this.
“Maybe so, but how long do you think it would have taken her to set her sights on you?”
The idea of Shelly coming after me startled me. “Why would she want to hurt me? I was no threat to her.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself. You were scoring some points with your investigation, and it wasn’t going to be long before she was going to perceive you as a threat. Besides, what would have happened if I had died back there and you hadn’t found me in time?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. “Firstly, I would never have believed that you would have let yourself be trapped like that accidently. I would have known that someone had pinned you down there. And secondly, I wouldn’t have rested until I found what had really happened to you, and made the killer pay dearly for it.” The thought of how close I’d come to losing Jake was scary now that we were out of the water and the fire. Even though I knew that we weren’t out of the woods yet, I was starting to like our chances. After all, Shelly had to be feeling pretty good about her plan right about now. She had no idea that her efforts to kill Jake had failed, and in the interim, we’d figured out that she was Chester’s killer.
Jake just smiled. “You would have continued to be a real threat to her to the point where she would have had to get rid of you sooner rather than later.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said. “Now that you have your weapon, are you ready to go after her?”
“Let’s not burn another second,” Jake said as he started off into the darkness.
I wasn’t crazy about his choice of words, but I loved the sentiment.
At last, we were going to take action and do something about the seemingly calm older woman who had turned out to be a crazed killer.
Chapter 30
“I just hope that no one else is dead,” I said as we were walking when Jake shushed me.
He pointed to a nearby clearing, and I could see Shelly holding the rest of them at gunpoint, including Grace. It appeared that they had been talking for quite a while. Why was she waiting to get rid of them? Was she playing some kind of cruel cat-and-mouse game, or was she simply working up her nerve to shoot them all in cold blood? Either way, it appeared that our window was closing quickly.
If we were going to save the others, we had to stop her, and fast.
“That’s enough talk,” we heard Shelly say as we approached the group. Jake motioned for me to stop where I was, but I shook my head and continued for a few more steps alongside him. The clouds had finally broken, and half a moon allowed us to see well enough around us to act.
Jake scowled as he pointed one finger to the ground, but again, I refused to stand idly by while my best friend’s life was being threatened, and I certainly wasn’t going to wait on the sidelines while Jake fought my battle for me. If my fiancé was going to put his life at risk, then so was I. I understood that I lacked his specialized training, but then again, I wasn’t exactly helpless. After all, attacking an armed killer with a piece of wood was too risky to even think about, and if I could increase his odds of success even by a little bit by being a distraction, then I was going to do it.
“But I thought you had an alibi,” Grace said, demanding an answer. She might be about to die, but she wasn’t going to go without at least knowing the truth.
“I made it all up. So sue me,” Shelly snapped. “When I got to the library, I parked around the corner and used the back entrance so we could have a little privacy before everything got started downstairs. It was mostly pure luck that nobody saw me go in or out. Chester had told me that he wanted to talk to me before the celebration, and I actually thought he was going to propose! He tried to dump me instead, so I took his favorite knife that he was going to use to cut the cake and I used it on him instead. He wasn’t going to get away with throwing me away like that. I wasn’t going to let myself be humiliated by a clown!”
“Hang on a second,” Grace said to Shelly belligerently. “I want to know if you were the one who sent him that postcard.”
“Yes, it was me, not that it did any good. I don’t even think he could help himself. I suppose once a fool, always a fool.” Shelly took in a deep breath, and then she added, “There’s no use postponing it any longer.”
“Who are you going to shoot first, Shelly?” I heard Grace ask, obviously taunting her. “You don’t have the guts to do it face to face, do you? That’s why you keep talking. It’s a little different when it’s premeditated, isn’t it? Sure, you stabbed your boyfriend in the chest, but after all, he’d cheated on you. You don’t have any reason to kill any of us except to protect your precious freedom. I for one don’t think that you can do it.”
What was she doing, daring Shelly to shoot her? I wasn’t sure, but I thought that just maybe Grace was trying to provoke the killer enough so that she could make her own move. I was proud of her bravery, but I hoped that she didn’t get herself killed before Jake and I could intervene.
“Shut up, Grace, or you’ll be first,” Shelly said in a growling voice. The gun moved toward my best friend, and I felt my entire body go rigid. Was Shelly about to shoot Grace? At the last second, her aim moved away though, this time straight at Maggie Hoff. “Now that you mention it, there is somebody here who deserves this more than the others,” Shelly said fiercely, and then I saw her hand tense as she pulled the trigger.
For the next few seconds, everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Nathan shoved his wife to one side even as he took the bullet meant for her. I couldn’t see where it hit him, but he crumpled to the ground like a rag doll, so I knew that it was serious.
Jake leapt forward at that moment, and I’m proud to say that I was right beside him. It added another level of warmth to my heart seeing Grace attack the killer from the front even as we sprang at her. From behind, I hit Shelly’s legs as Jake swung the burned sign at her head, all of this happening while Grace was two steps away. When I hit Shelly, her arm flew up, and Jake knocked the gun away, though I suspected that he’d been aiming for her head. Sh
elly went down in a heap, and the gun went flying into the darkness.
Jake hurried to recover his weapon as Grace and I moved toward Nathan, still lying on the ground. Maggie had pulled his head into her lap, and she was sobbing uncontrollably. Kevin stood there in shock, and Vince almost instinctually moved behind him, as though putting space between himself and everyone else. Was he actually trying to use the man as a human shield even after the killer had been disarmed?
Jake finally came up with the gun, but when I turned back to where Shelly had just been, I saw that she was now gone.
I realized too late that I should have stayed with her, and my mistake had allowed her to escape.
Chapter 31
“How is he doing?” I asked as Grace and I knelt down beside Maggie and Nathan.
“Well, at least he’s still breathing,” she said as she pressed both hands against his chest.
“Hold on, Nathan,” I said as I patted his head, but he only managed a moan in response.
“We have to get him some help!” Maggie pleaded.
“I’ll go,” Jake said as I stood up. He tried to hand me his weapon, but I just stared at it. “Suzanne, be ready in case Shelly comes back.”
“What are you going to do?” I asked him, still refusing to take his firearm.
“What else can I do? I’m going to cross the stream and go for help,” he said firmly.
“Jake, don’t go. It’s not safe,” I pleaded with him.
My boyfriend—no, my fiancé—stroked my head lightly. “If I don’t at least try, a man might die. I have to do this.”
“Then I’m going with you,” I said. “Grace, you take the gun.”
She made no move to grab it, either. I knew that my offer didn’t make any sense, but I didn’t care. It had taken Jake and me so long to finally get together that I wasn’t going to let him leave me now.
“Would someone please go?” Maggie asked through her tears. “I can’t afford to lose him.”
It amazed me how much she really seemed to care about her husband now that he might be dying. Clearly Maggie had taken him for granted all those years, but now that she was about to lose him, she was hanging onto him with everything that she had.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back soon,” Jake said as he stood.
I was about to protest once more when I heard something overhead over the roaring noise of the stream. In a moment, a helicopter burst into view, its spotlight blinding us with its brilliance. As it set down, I saw a man that I’d only met a few times leap out and rush toward us, his gun drawn.
Apparently Jake’s boss was coming to the rescue, but his efforts were mostly too little and too late.
“How did he know that you were here?” I asked Jake as his former boss approached us.
“Ask him yourself. I told Kelly Blakemore all about my investigation yesterday, and just as a precaution, I gave Stephen Grant her contact information in case something happened to us up here. It was either that, or when Phillip and George got washed out on their way up here, one of them called to tell him that we were stranded up here with a killer.”
“And he came running,” I said.
“Why shouldn’t he? It was the least he could do after all that I’ve done for him over the years,” Jake replied matter-of-factly.
They loaded Nathan into the back of the chopper, but there was no room for the rest of us, including Jake’s boss, after Maggie insisted that she had to be by her husband’s side.
“Thanks for coming, Grafton,” Jake told his former boss after the chopper took off.
“We don’t leave our people behind,” the man said. “I got the call, and I came running.”
“The only problem with that is that I’m not your people anymore, remember?”
“We can talk about that later,” Grafton said. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.”
Jake just shrugged, but before he could reply, we heard the chopper noises overhead again. “Why are they coming back?”
“They aren’t. I brought another chopper with me,” Grafton said. “There was no shortage of volunteers to come up here after you. You have a great many friends in the department.”
“Well, I’ll give you that much. You didn’t hold anything back.”
“We got here as soon as we could manage it with the storm,” he said. As the other chopper landed where the last one had so recently taken off, Grafton said, “Hang on one second. I’ll be right back.”
Grafton rushed up to the helicopter, its blades still furiously turning, and I squeezed Jake’s hand. “It’s all pretty impressive, isn’t it?”
Jake just shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. None of it is going to change my mind.”
“You can always go back to your old job, you know,” I said.
Jake was about to answer me when Grafton rejoined us. “There’s no longer any need to worry about the woman.”
“Why is that?” I asked him.
“The pilot spotted her body coming across the stream. She got caught on a log and drowned. We’ll retrieve her body at daybreak,” he said as he glanced at the growing sunrise, “which should be any minute now. What do you say we get you out of here?” he asked.
“Where are we going?” I asked him.
“Just to the other side. There are some folks waiting for you over there.”
“Lead the way,” I said as Grace, Jake, and the rest of us followed him to the helicopter. We couldn’t all jam into it, but I wasn’t about to wait around for the second trip when my mother was just across the raging stream. I didn’t even need confirmation that she was there.
It was as certain as the rising sun to me.
When we landed, I quickly found myself in Momma’s embrace, but only for a moment. Before I knew what was happening, George added himself to the mix, and Chief Martin as well. He was truly relieved to see me, and I realized that it was about time I started calling him Phillip, if I could somehow bring myself to do it.
“Are you okay?” Momma said as she finally broke the group hug and stroked my hair. I lightly pushed some of it away after a moment.
“I’m fine,” I said when my mother grabbed my hand.
“Suzanne Hart, is there something that you’d like to tell me?”
“Oh, that. Yeah, that. I’m engaged,” I said with a grin.
“Congratulations,” she said, which spurred another round of hugs, including Grace this time. After I finished telling them the full, dramatic story of the proposal, they descended en masse on Jake and he disappeared in a sea of well wishers.
All in all, it was a happy reunion, but I had to wonder about Nathan as I found myself being smothered in warm blankets. Would he make it, and if he did survive the gunshot wound, would he stay with Maggie after all that had happened between them?
How would the chief, er… Phillip, take the news about who had killed his brother, and why?
And how would Jake respond to the heightened pleas of his boss to rejoin him at the state police?
There were a great many questions still to be answered, but as far as I was concerned, the only crucial one had already been addressed.
Jake had asked me earlier, and my answer had been a resounding yes.
I was getting married again, and this time, I was certain that it would be forever!
And nothing else really seemed to matter beyond that.
RECIPES
Suzanne and Momma’s Hot Chocolate
Some folks wonder why we go to so much trouble making our own hot chocolate mix when there are so many perfectly fine blends available at the nearest grocery store, but one sip of this and you’ll never go back! This is, without a doubt, the finest hot chocolate recipe in the world, at least according to me and my family! Don’t wait for a cold winter night to try this; it’s just as delicious in the summertime, too.
Ingredients
2 cups powdered nonfat milk
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup powdered nondairy creamer
/> ¼ cup Hershey’s cocoa powder
¼ cup Hershey’s special dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 dash of table salt
Warm milk, whole or 2%
Directions
Mix the powdered ingredients thoroughly and then store in a tight, covered container in the freezer until needed. For each cup of hot chocolate, add ¼ cup of the mix to ¾ cup warm milk, heated carefully over the stovetop or in the microwave until it reaches a gently warm temperature. Stir well, add a dollop of whipped or plain marshmallows if preferred, and enjoy!
Makes 3¾ cups of the mix, or 15 mugs
Momma’s Apple Crisp
Apple Crisp is one of Momma’s favorites, and one of ours, too! This can be made without using the crust in a casserole dish, but I like it best as a pie. Once upon a time I used Granny Smith apples exclusively, but lately I’ve been mixing a few Staymen, Winesap, or Pink Ladies into the mix. My ratio is two Granny Smiths for every other apple. These pies will wake a sleeping teenager when they’re baking—a rare feat indeed!
Ingredients
An 8- or 9-inch pie crust, premade or a homemade crust, if preferred
Filling
5 to 6 cups thinly sliced firm, tart apples (Granny Smiths work well as the base, with a few Staymen, Winesap, or Pink Ladies to balance the tartness)
½ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons white all-purpose unbleached flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
A dash of salt
Crisp Topping
1 cup white all-purpose unbleached flour
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup butter, cubed and at room temperature
