by B. J Daniels
Chapter Thirteen
Marshall sat out on his porch, drinking a cold beer, staring at the Wellington mansion with all its lights on, thinking about Alexa. Worrying about her.
He hated the way he’d left things. He told himself the worst he could do was go over there this late at night and tell her how he felt about her.
He reminded himself that she wasn’t even speaking to him. Not to mention she had enough problems at the moment. Given what they’d learned about the Wellingtons, he wasn’t sure that bad blood had been passed down. If so, then the latest Sierra Wellington could be more dangerous than even Alexa suspected.
Alexa needed him. Right. Even after being drugged and hit on the head and knocked out, it hadn’t scared Alexa off.
Yep, all the woman needed was for him to storm over there and tell her that he was in love with her. In love with a woman who lived in another state, who may or may not see dead people and who didn’t have a clue how he felt and probably didn’t feel the same way about him.
She’d made it pretty clear she didn’t want to see him again.
The light was still on in Alexa’s room.
He took another sip of his beer. Clearly she couldn’t sleep any better than he could on this hot August night.
He waited, half hoping she’d have a nightmare and come running across the pasture. He ached to kiss her, to hold her in his arms, to make love to her again.
Well, he wasn’t going over there, he told himself as he finished his beer and got to his feet. If she wanted to see him, she knew where he lived.
He stared at the lights on over at the mansion, then at his watch and swore. Like hell he wasn’t going over there. She might kick him out, but first she was going to hear what he had to say. He loved her, by damn, and it was time he told her.
Slapping his Stetson on his head, he headed across the pasture. He hadn’t gone far when he heard a terrifying scream, followed only a few minutes later by gunfire.
He’d reached the rocks and bushes that covered the secret entry to the basement when he saw Jayden come stumbling out the front door of the house, a gun in his hand. Ducking down, he opened the door and slipped inside. His only thought was finding Alexa.
THE STENCH WAS UNBEARABLE. Worse, Alexa woke to find not only that she was trapped in the tunnel cage, but also she wasn’t alone.
She could feel something unearthly huddled in the dark, back corner, an old woman, her breathing ragged, her mental anguish palpable.
Alexa’s captor had left a flashlight lying on the floor of the tunnel, its beam turned toward the opposite wall. There was just enough light to see where she was, but beyond that faint beam was nothing but pockets of darkness.
Don’t turn around. Don’t—
She screamed as she felt the woman grasp her ankle. Alexa tried frantically to pull away as the woman clawed at her, pulling herself to her feet and turning Alexa to face her.
Alexa squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to open them, not wanting to look into the tortured eyes of the first Sierra Wellington. A scream rose in her throat but died off as she heard the sound of footfalls coming down the tunnel. She didn’t dare open her eyes, afraid that it was a trick of either the spirits in this house—or her own imagination.
“Alexa?”
Marshall. Her eyes flew open. She blinked. She was alone in the cage and Marshall had found a piece of pipe and was breaking the lock. Moments later she was in his arms.
“What the hell is going on over here?” he demanded. “I heard gunshots.”
“Someone killed Carolina, then they grabbed me….” Gunshots? “We have to find my brother.” The words were barely out before they both turned at the sound of someone coming toward them from the house side of the tunnel.
MARSHALL WISHED HE HAD more of a weapon than the piece of pipe he’d used to open the cage door. He grabbed a flashlight from the floor, the batteries low, the beam faint. He turned it off as he pulled Alexa behind him.
“It’s just me,” came a voice, then a flashlight blinked on a half-dozen yards down the tunnel.
“Devlin,” Alexa said.
“Alexa?” Devlin asked as Marshall turned on the flashlight again and Devlin moved toward them. “Thank God it’s you and not Sierra. What are you doing down here?”
“You don’t know?” Alexa asked.
He shook his head, grimacing as he glanced toward the cage. “Someone put you in there? What is going on? All hell has broken loose upstairs. Did you know Carolina killed herself?”
“Or someone in this house killed her,” Alexa said. “Have you seen my brother?”
“No.” Devlin looked confused. “But Sierra is looking for you and she has a gun.”
“My brother.” She tried to push past Marshall to run toward the entrance to the house, but he held her back.
“Listen,” he said. They all fell silent, he and Devlin turning off their flashlights as they heard someone come down into the tunnel. A light shone at the other end, illuminating Sierra. She had a flashlight in one hand, a gun in the other.
“Landon?” she called. “Alexa? Anyone down here?”
Marshall held Alexa against him. He could feel her holding her breath, just as he was. Devlin must have been doing the same.
Sierra stood there for a long moment, then turned and retreated back up the stairs to the main floor. They waited until they heard the door close before any of them made a sound.
“We have to get out of here,” Devlin said.
“No, I have to find my brother,” Alexa argued.
“Sierra doesn’t know where he is,” Marshall assured her. “He must have gotten out of the house.”
“Marshall’s right,” Devlin agreed. “You can’t help him if you run into Sierra and she kills you. Come on. Once we get out of here, we can call for help.” He pointed his flashlight toward the exit by the pond. “Get Alexa out. I’ll be right behind you.”
ALEXA CAUGHT MOVEMENT behind them. Devlin had pulled a gun, striking Marshall in the head. Marshall let out a groan of pain and fell at her feet.
“What are you doing?” she cried and dropped beside the cowboy.
Devlin jerked her to her feet, jabbing her with the barrel of the gun. “Unless you want me to shoot him, shut up and come with me.”
She looked into his eyes in the light from Marshall’s dropped flashlight and knew Devlin was more than capable of murder. “You’re the one who locked me in that cage.”
“I’m going to do worse if you don’t come with me now.”
She touched Marshall’s cheek. He was still breathing. Then she rose and let Devlin drag her out of the tunnel.
She feared her brother might still be in the house, maybe even looking for her, or that Devlin had already taken care of him. And where were the others? But she didn’t argue as they climbed up out of the tunnel and into the faint moonlight.
Breathing in the fresh air, filling her lungs, she tried to dispel her fear as well as the smell and memory of the cage and the old woman in there.
She looked toward the house and saw that all the lights were on. Someone was beside the house and she could hear what sounded like heart-wrenching sobs. Archer. He was kneeling on the ground under the window where Carolina had fallen. He was holding her body, rocking and wailing.
The sound sent a sliver of ice down her spine.
Devlin was standing in the moonlight, a gun in his hand, a strange look on his face.
“You’re working with Sierra?” Alexa asked in confusion.
Devlin scoffed. “Sierra is a Wellington.” There was contempt in his tone. “Her father destroyed mine.”
“Yours?” His name hadn’t been on the list of those people who’d been bilked by J. A. Wellington. “I don’t understand. I thought your father owned a vineyard.”
“That’s my stepfather. He adopted me after he bought my father’s vineyard for pennies on the dollar—and got my mother in the deal as well. My father is a drunk who spends most of his time in p
rison, and all because J. A. Wellington swindled him just like he did Carolina’s father.”
“You and Carolina?” Alexa said.
Devlin smiled. “It was so easy to get close to Sierra. She didn’t have any idea who we were.”
“So this is all about the money,” Alexa said.
“That and justice. I was more into the money. Carolina…” He shrugged.
Alexa saw it now and let out a small gasp. “You killed her.”
“Sierra said you were psychic, that you knew things.” Devlin frowned and took a step back, the gun in his hand not quite as steady. “I told Carolina we had to get rid of you right away. But she talked me into waiting. She wanted to know her future.” He suddenly looked alarmed. “You saw that she was going to die, didn’t you? That’s why she was freaking.”
“You killed her because you wanted the money all to yourself?” Alexa asked.
“You know that’s not why. This is all your fault,” Devlin said, anger making his perfect features look inhuman. “You made her think the money was cursed and that if either of us took it…” He shook his head. “She wanted to burn the place down, the money with it.”
“But you had already found the money. No,” she said as she realized why Devlin had abducted her. “Carolina found the money. She moved it and then wouldn’t tell you where. You think I can tell you where she hid it.”
He looked surprised and nervous. “You’re good.”
“And Sierra?” Alexa asked. “She was looking for the money too.”
Devlin snorted. “I thought her old man had told her where it was, but I guess not.” He raised the gun until the barrel was pointed at her face. “But now you are going to tell me where it’s hidden.”
“Why don’t I tell you your future instead,” Alexa said, stalling. She had no idea where the money was hidden. It hadn’t taken any psychic talent to see through Devlin.
“I know my future,” he said with a quick shake of his head. “I’m going to be filthy rich. I’m never going to have to ask my stepfather for another dime.”
“You’re not going to kill me because then you will never know where the money is hidden.”
For a moment Devlin looked uncertain, but then he smiled. “You’re right. I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to go back in and kill your boyfriend and then your brother. Yes, I know where he is. I left him bound and gagged in another part of the basement.”
Alexa felt only a moment’s relief.
“So what’s it going to be?” he demanded.
“Take him to the money.” With a start, Alexa saw her mother materialize behind him.
“What?” Devlin demanded. “Are you trying to freak me out or something?”
She knew she had gone pale. She tried to still her trembling as she stared at the apparition of her mother behind him.
“Tell him where the money is,” her mother said, and yet the sound didn’t come from her lips but seemed to come from inside Alexa’s own head.
She closed her eyes, shaking her head, not wanting to hear her mother’s voice, not wanting to see her mother. Only crazy people saw the dead, talked to the dead.
“Crazy people and some clairvoyants,” her mother said. “Tell him you will take him to the money.”
Alexa hadn’t realized that she’d spoken.
“Who are you talking to?” Devlin demanded, looking worried. “My mother.”
“I thought your mother was—” He glanced over his shoulder. “If you think you can scare me—”
“She told me to take you to the money.”
He glanced around, nervous and unsure. “She knows where it is?”
“She said she will lead me to it.”
Alexa could tell he desperately wanted to believe what she was saying was true. But like a lot of people, he didn’t believe in ghosts. Or at least he didn’t want to.
“This had better not be a trick,” he warned.
“Lead him down to the pond,” her mother said.
They hadn’t gone but a few steps when Alexa saw Marshall moving through the darkness of the cottonwoods. He had the piece of pipe. Marshall had the piece of pipe he’d used to free her. She was never so happy to see anyone in her life.
Marshall came out of the trees quickly, moving with a swiftness and sureness of a man on a mission.
Devlin never knew what hit him.
Marshall dragged her into his arms. “Alexa, I love you. I don’t care that this is probably the worse possible time to tell you how I feel but—”
Suddenly they were surrounded by agents of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Epilogue
The rest of the night was a blur. It wasn’t until the next morning, sitting in Marshall’s warm kitchen having a cup of coffee that Alexa finally felt it was over.
Last night, after the federal agents had released them, Marshall had brought her back here. They’d made love in his bed upstairs. She’d told him she loved him.
“I still can’t believe Jayden is with the Department of the Treasury,” Marshall said as he took a chair across from her. Jayden had been wounded by Devlin, but was going to live. Devlin had been taken into custody.
“Last night when I saw Sierra with that gun… I guess we all thought the worst of her when she was only trying to find Landon and save him from Devlin.”
Marshall nodded. “So Jayden and Sierra weren’t having an affair?”
“Apparently not,” she said and took a sip of her coffee. Sunlight streamed in the windows, warming her more than the coffee. “Sierra was working with the feds by coming back to the house and pretending to open a bed-and-breakfast.”
“And Landon didn’t know?”
Alexa shook her head. “Sierra said she wasn’t allowed to tell him anything. Apparently when Devlin and Carolina befriended her, the feds had already been watching the whole bunch of them. It had been easy to let Devlin and Carolina think it was their idea to come to Montana to help renovate the house for a bed-and-breakfast.”
“So all the spouses were in the dark?”
“I guess so, though I suspect at least Archer must have known what was going on,” she said. “I think that’s what he and Carolina argued about that night before Devlin killed her and got out of the room through one of the secret passages only to come back for me.”
“How is Landon taking all this?”
“I don’t know. I only got to see him for a few minutes after the agents brought him up out of the basement, where Devlin had left him. I think he is probably in as much shock as the rest of us.”
Marshall reached across the table and took her hand. “A lot happened last night.”
She met his gaze, recalling with a start that he’d seen her mother standing behind her that day he rode by on his horse. “You saw her last night, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “Only this time, I knew that feeling of evil I’d felt wasn’t coming from her.”
“No,” Alexa agreed. She had faced her greatest fear in that house—seeing her mother again. She’d also quit denying that she hadn’t inherited her mother’s gift. “She helped save us last night.”
Marshall nodded. “By leading you and Devlin down to the pond, I was able to follow in the trees.”
Alexa looked into this man’s bottomless dark eyes and felt more peace than she had ever known. He knew all her secrets and yet he was still here. He’d saved her life last night and he’d told her that he loved her. But where did they go from here? Or did they?
At a knock at the door, she heard her brother call out her name.
Landon looked the worse for wear this morning. Like her, she doubted he’d had much sleep. He came in and took the coffee Marshall offered him then Marshall left the two of them to talk in the living room.
“Are you all right?” Alexa asked her brother. He seemed older somehow, not the young man she’d always felt she needed to protect.
“I’ve been better.”
“And Sierra?”
He shook hi
s head.
“I still can’t believe Devlin set the place on fire,” Alexa said. She could still smell the smoke in the air. She’d avoided looking at what remained of Wellington Manor and so had Marshall. Neither of them had been sorry to see the place burn.
“That’s Sierra’s story anyway,” Landon said.
“You can’t think she set the fire? I thought she really cared about the house and the things in it,” Alexa said, remembering the scene with the wine glass she’d broken.
“Who knows what Sierra cared about and how much was all an act?” Landon said. “I can forgive her for not telling me what was really going on. But there are other things…. I didn’t want to admit that I rushed into the marriage. Now I realize that Sierra needed a husband in order to come back to Wellington Manor.”
“But wasn’t that the feds pushing her to make those hasty decisions?”
Landon laughed softly. “Let’s be honest. Sierra married me for my inheritance just in case she couldn’t find her father’s money he stole. As for Jayden, sure she was meeting with him some of those nights, but a lot of them she was looking for that money, hoping she found it first. I think we both know what she would have done with it.”
“Have the agents found the money yet?”
“Carolina had called them and told them she’d buried it by the pond. Jayden didn’t get the word until Carolina had already been killed. When he moved in to arrest Devlin, that’s when he was shot and Sierra took his gun, fearing Devlin would be coming after her next.”
“When I saw her in the basement, she was looking for you and me.”
He smiled. “She was responsible for my accidents. I’m just lucky she didn’t kill me, that way she could have at least had my money, and possibly her father’s as well.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’ve already told Sierra that I’m filing for a divorce. You’ll be happy that I’m going back to college. The one thing I am certain of is that the woman I fell in love with doesn’t exist. I’m just sorry I put you in such a terrible position. I could have gotten you killed and all because I was so sure—”
