by Nora LeDuc
The slap across her face stunned more than hurt.
“Listen when I speak to you. I’m your father. That’s why Dahlia came to Ledgeview. That’s why she loved me. And, I taught her things no one else did or could.”
Father? Dean was their father? She searched his face, searching for a resemblance, some sign. Where was it?
He laughed. “Kiss your daddy.”
He leaned toward her, his lips open.
His hot breath hit her face. She sucked in her cheeks and spit.
Her salvia hit him between the eyes. A big glob dangled from his nose.
“You little—” He swiped at his face, swearing. “I’ve been too good to you.”
He grabbed her bound ankles and dragged her across the pebbles strewn over the boulder. The rocky surface scraped across her clothes. Her jacket and shirt rode upward. The gravel bit into her skin, burned her flesh.
Where was he taking her? Then she knew. The trestle loomed ahead. He was going to throw her off like he did Dahlia. The image of her sister falling filled her vision. She closed her eyes and opened them to a new scene.
He lifted himself off Dahlia, not bothering to zip his pants. He yanked her up. She felt the bridge sway. Terror clawed at her insides. She tightened her muscles and fought with all her strength against the restraints. Nothing loosened.
“Dahlia, how about a better view of the water?”
Dahlia’s screams echoed inside Rose’s head.
She forced her body to go limp to weigh herself down as he dragged her toward the trestle. The tape cut off her circulation. She couldn’t feel her hands. She couldn’t kick her bound legs.
The bridge drew closer, closer.
“Dean Drown. Stop!”
A shot whizzed through the air over their heads.
Dean halted and turned around.
“Let go of the girl, put your hands up and step away.”
Rose tilted her head back to catch sight of her rescuer.
Frank stepped out from the trees about twenty feet away.
Frank! Tears of hope filled her eyes.
He held a gun with two hands and stalked toward them. “Do it, Drown.”
“Whatever you say.” Dean bent down, lowering her feet with one hand. His other swept the underside of his jeans cuff.
“Gun,” Rose yelled.
The shot vibrated through the woods. Frank tumbled to the ground.
“Frank!” she screamed.
“Stupid old man was always in the way. You and I need to have our fun, but not here. We’ll have our moment on the bridge. I’ve dreamed about it.”
Rose glanced at the still body. “Frank?” Tears streamed down her cheeks. Please, God, help us.
Dean raised his pant leg and stuffed the gun into the top of his boot. He tucked the knife into his belt and dragged her forward.
The railroad trestle grew larger and larger. She was going to die. Panic paralyzed her. She couldn’t breathe.
Dean paused and flung her across his shoulders. He strode onto the abandoned railroad bridge. The ties shook with each step. She glimpsed the frosty white caps below.
He lowered her to the tracks and reached into his belt. He removed the knife.
“No. Stop! Help!” She writhed on the ground. The tracks jabbed into her. Below, the wail of the river cried for her.
“No one’s here to save you.”
This was it. Her life was over. She closed her eyes and whispered a prayer.
He knelt in front of her. His knife went to her waistband, and he began to cut away her jeans.
Spiders crawled on the track toward her. Not my eyes!
“Dean! Rose!”
He jerked upward. “Luke?”
She turned her head and blinking focused on Luke crouched beside Frank.
“Good thing you came.” Dean straightened. “The old geezer was trying to throw Rose off the trestle. He charged me with his gun. I had to shoot him.”
“Help! Smart on! Sm—”
The sole of Dean’s boot came down across her mouth and nose.
“She’s hysterical. I could use you out here, Luke.”
Rose squirmed beneath the boot’s sole. The crunch of stone alerted her that Lennox had started toward them. Please help us.
“Hurry,” Dean shouted. “The trestle’s not safe. She might fall.”
The spider scurried past her face. Rose fisted her hands tied at the wrists. Now. With all the effort she had left, she drew her fists upward and struck Dean in the crotch.
He swore a stream and jumped to the side.
“Run!” Rose screamed. “Run!”
The point of Dean’s boot smacked against her skull. The world blackened.
Shots fired in the air.
“Come off the bridge with your hands up,” Luke yelled from the woods.
She rolled to her side and blinked against the throbbing, gray pain.
Dean squatted down behind her. “I’ll kill her. Don’t be stupid.”
A shot whizzed over Dean’s head. “You’ll hit the girl. Give it up.”
“I didn’t come alone. My men will be here any second. Raise your hands, Dean.”
“Forget the old ploy,” Dean shouted. “You can’t have both of us. You might take me in, but our precious, little Rose will be going for a swim.” He nudged her toward the trestle’s side.
Below the river wailed and swept past. Rose’s heart slammed against her ribs. She’d easily fit through the missing rusty railing. She squeezed her eyes shut and mumbled another prayer.
“You’re dead if you hurt her.”
Dean’s mouth tightened. “You want her instead of me? I’m surprised, Luke, but I could see it in your face. She got to you. So we’ll play it that way. We’ll compromise. I’ll leave and you get Rose.” He grabbed hold of her arm and paused. “Throw your gun in the river.”
Luke stood his ground.
“Having second thoughts? Made the wrong choice? It’s now or never. One good push and she’s gone.”
Rose couldn’t stop her body from shaking.
A shot fired. Dean’s eyes widened, and for a fraction of a second, stared down into hers. His grip tightened and then relaxed. He pitched forward over her. She screamed.
He plummeted into the fast moving current and disappeared before resurfacing a few feet away. The water carried him forward and then yanked him beneath the darkness.
“Rose! Rose!”
Luke was racing toward her.
The bridge shook underneath her with his weight. He hunkered down beside her.
“Lu–ke.” Her teeth chattered and chills raced over her body as she looked into his whiskered face and wide blue eyes.
“I got you.” He scooped her up.
The wind stung her face. She pressed herself into his wide chest. The breeze picked up, and the bridge swayed. Tears bit into her eyes, blurring the landscape. She curled her numb fingers against her palms as he trudged forward on the rickety structure.
The granite boulder grew closer and closer until he stepped off the trestle. He lowered her feet first to the ground. Bound, she leaned against him, feeling his strength, listening to his pounding heartbeat. She was alive. They made it.
Perspiration dotted his white face. “Are you okay?”
She could only nod and sank to the ground.
He removed a small knife from his pocket and worked in silence, slicing the tape from her wrists and ankles. Then he fitted his jacket around her shoulders. “I need to check on Frank”
She shook her hands, hoping to end the lack of sensation while Luke trudged to the prone man and bent over him.
“He’s alive.”
Thank God. She felt her chest rise up and down with each breath. Luke’s voice floated across to her. He was on his phone. She rose and wobbled to the edge and stared into the raging current. No signs of Dean. She turned and headed across to Luke and Frank. She sank down next to the older man.
“The ambulance will arrive soon. They’ll ta
ke you both to the hospital. I’ll ride with you.”
She struggled with the words. “Dean said…he was my father.”
Sobs poured out of her. She couldn’t stop them. Luke slipped his arms around her waist and held on, whispering words of comfort.
Finally, she controlled her crying. She closed her eyes and murmured, “Gram, I kept my promise.”
Chapter 31
Two days later, Luke walked into Drown Realty.
Buddy sat behind Dean’s desk. He glanced up from a pile of papers. “If you came to offer condolences, you should speak to my mom. She’s holed up at home.”
“I read your interview in the paper. You said you were moving?”
Buddy leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head. “Shauna wants to live in Connecticut close to her parents. Once we’re in a new place, we’ll be able to put the nightmare of Ledgeview behind us. My mom is coming too. She’s relocating her shop. We’ll be selling all the buildings. Are you in the market for real estate?”
Luke observed the clean desk. “Getting rid of everything? You’re not waiting for the results of the search for Dean?”
“Email me, but not at the office.”
He kept his eyes on his friend. “The office is where Dean trained you?”
“Don’t even bring training up. I never wanted to follow him into buying and selling properties.”
“I didn’t mean real estate, Buddy. You anonymously texted me the day Dean took Rose to The Ledges. You warned me that Dean kidnapped her. Did he mention his plan or were you familiar enough with his patterns and actions to guess he was going for her?”
Buddy dropped his arms. “You must be out of suspects to name me. When’s the last time you slept? Did the Ledgeview budget committee find you in a dark alley and chew off your ear about the cost of the investigation?”
“If you hadn’t acted frenzied when you went into Egore’s Electronics and used their phone, I would never have tracked the call to you.”
“My phone was lost, and I didn’t bother to replace it because it was always someone calling for me to do something for them. Besides you’re wrong. When I went in Egore’s I called Shauna to smooth things over. I missed meeting her for lunch, and she was going to chop off my head.”
“I’m not wired, Bud. This is you and me talking. People might not understand why you didn’t turn Dean in. I understand. He was your father, blood or not, and that’s not a bond you can break, even if you wanted. We’re programmed from birth to love, honor and most importantly, to obey our parents.”
“I didn’t commit a crime.”
“I dug into Dean’s past. No father listed on the birth certificate. He was in and out of foster homes while his mother suffered from a mental illness. I don’t have all the details, but I’d guess he endured a lot of abuse at her hands and wasn’t fond of women.”
“Do you get paid to make up stuff for the DA or did you steal lines from a bad detective movie?”
“Here’s a fact, Bud. I contacted the local college. You’re not enrolled. Shauna believed you were taking business courses and that you had a future career, but you had nothing.”
“I changed my mind before classes started. I knew she wouldn’t take it well, and didn’t let on to her. Can you see me spending my day worrying about quotas? Come on.”
“Yet, you always had money.”
“Hello, I worked for my mom and Dean.”
“Errand boys don’t earn much of a paycheck. Dean paid your bills. I went through your finances and kept asking myself. Why did Dean take care of a grown son’s bills when his son was nearly forty-years-old and capable of finding employment?”
“Okay, I lied to Dean too. He didn’t mind helping me out while I was in college, and I let him continue believing I was attending. Arrest me.”
“No, Bud, you were his paid co-conspirator and not in academics.”
“Lack of sleep makes you conspiracy crazy. You should go to a sleep clinic or get therapy. I recommend both.”
“Here’s how I see it, Bud. You or Dean met Dahlia Blue when she arrived in Ledgeview. My guess, she ran into Dean first because she needed a place to stay. She shared her reason for visiting, trying to locate her father. Dean decided she was too easy, too good to pass up. She was without friends who’d miss her and she was estranged from her only family member, Rose. She was hoping to discover her dad, a role he’d already adopted with you. I don’t know what story he fed her, but I’ll guess. He was married when he fell in love with a teenager, who was Dahlia’s mother, or he hid their affair because of the differences in their ages. Only you know.”
“I know you’ve lost it.” Buddy stood, hands fisted.
Luke edged in front of him. “He introduced the two of you. You were the big brother she’d never met. It was the perfect lure. She thought she’d found a family. In fact, you’re the one who led her to The Ledges the day she died. You probably offered to show her the secret meeting place of her mother and father. Did Dean agree to give you a bonus for bringing her?”
“Luke, you’re insane.”
“You might work a deal with the DA on sentencing in exchange for information. But why, Bud? Why did you go along with his plans? Was it only for the money? Didn’t you have a conscience?”
Buddy’s lips folded inward. He appeared to be holding himself from blurting either another denial or a confession. Finally he yelled, “You’re the hot shot who knows it all. Why would I?”
“I can speculate. Tia’s first husband was violent. She chose Dean another abuser, following her pattern. You were programmed for cruelty.”
Buddy shrugged. “Why didn’t Miss Blue just phone Dean instead of sticking around?”
“Dahlia had put together her mother was a teenage parent, and lived in Ledgeview before she and Rose were born. Dahlia figured her father was from our city when she found the reunion article. She was desperate for family, a connection. Her grandmother passed away in the fall. Her sister never wanted to see her again, and her future husband turned out to be a pornographer she couldn’t stand any longer. She thought you and Dean were the answers to her dream. If she’d only known, meeting you was the worst thing that ever happened to her.”
“Speculation doesn’t hold up in a court.”
“Dahlia told you about her fear of heights. She was sharing with her brother, letting you into small family secrets. You talked to her a lot and not just at the Audi. At first the evidence pointed to A.J., but now, I realize the scare tactics used on Rose fit your profile, your style.”
“My profile shows off my best features.” He smirked.
“To you, the fake hand with blue nail polish was humorous while the ploys were bizarre.”
“Luke, give it up. If you had evidence, you wouldn’t waste time taunting me with your fantasies.”
“I’ve found proof of lies, Bud. My men interviewed the employees of the law firm next to the garage. They rent the first five spaces in the parking garage. None of them drove a truck to work or parked one inside the garage the day Shauna was attacked. Her story about the attacker hiding between the pickups wasn’t true.”
“She was confused and stressed. Give her a break.”
“The other problem was her story about the attack. A witness stepped forward who saw Shauna leave the bank and jump into your car the night of the dinner party at your parents. I wasn’t able to interview him until today. Funny thing, he didn’t see anyone attempt to assault her.”
“Obviously the man confused his dates or needs glasses.”
“He insisted he had the right day. He told me he always picked up his daughter from dance class on Tuesday at the same time and that’s the only day he uses the garage. His vision is perfect. He’s also a bank customer and recognized Shauna.”
“A good lawyer will rip his tale to pieces.”
“He won’t. Shauna was never attacked. She lied for you, to mislead us. That’s why she didn’t want to speak or visit with anyone, not even her own fam
ily. Her conscience bothered her. Did you threaten not to marry her if she didn’t help you? Did you cause her bruises?”
“Lennox, you’re way off. I love Shauna. I’d never call off the wedding.”
“You panicked when Frank followed you. You were desperate to shake suspicion. I’ll also remind you filing a false police report is a crime Shauna won’t be able to hide from.”
Buddy’s face tightened. “You’d better leave, or I’ll file a report of police harassment.”
“I can talk to Shauna next.”
A vein above his eyebrow bulged as his face reddened. “You always were the hard ass, Luke. I’m not going to be a virtual notch on your daddy complex belt.”
“I wanted to believe in you, and you did show one glimmer of hope.”
Buddy’s features slid into curiosity. “I helped an old lady cross the street?”
“You got Frank to follow you out of the city when you realized he was tailing you. You were worried the text wasn’t enough. When you arrived at The Ledges, you hid your car but let Frank follow you on the trail. You stayed ahead of him, and then double backed to home when he found Dean and Rose. It would have been all over for her if Frank hadn’t interrupted Dean first. You saved Rose.” Luke debated bringing up his next topic.
“I want you out of here, now.” Buddy retreated behind the desk.
“I’ve one more question. You lived in the White Mountains before moving to Ledgeview. Did Dean drive your mother or you up the Mount Washington Motor Road?”
“Did the police find a woman murdered at the Mountain’s Weather Station, too? You want to connect Dean and me to every murder and every day of bad weather?”
“Do you remember?”
Buddy angled his head at the exit.
Luke held out the warrant. “Buddy Drown, I’m serving you with a search warrant for the Drown Reality, your apartment, electronic devices and car. One has already been served to Tia for the house, contents and vehicles.”
Buddy ripped the paper from his hand. “I loved you like a brother,” he shouted.
“My brother wouldn’t help kill people.” As soon as Luke walked out, his men ran inside. He was out of the investigation by the Chief’s order, who told him he was too close to the case, and they needed to “protect against bias.” Conroy would handle Bud now.
