Touch of Rain

by Teyla Branton

  I smirked with more than a little difficulty. “See? I’m a good influence on you.”

  “You still owe me one.”

  And I was sure he’d make me pay. Probably on his next missing-person case.

  Gabe’s eyes were open now. He stared, uncomprehending, until Jake began explaining what had happened. As Gabe struggled to sit up, Shannon’s partner came into the hallway, dressed in another navy pantsuit, her gun drawn. I wondered if Paige Duncan ever wore anything but navy, but at least the pants afforded more movement than the skirt she’d had on the first time we met.

  “Is it clear?” she asked. Her ironed hair was a bit mussed, as though she’d run through the woods.

  Shannon sighed. “Let her come in.”

  “I tried to make her wait in the chopper, but not even her husband could get her to do that. Short of shooting her—”

  He waved aside her explanation. “It’s okay. Go get them.”

  Seconds later, Tawnia was there, crying and holding me. One minute she was asking if I was okay, and the next she was scolding me for not keeping my promise to get out at the first sign of danger. “I’m never letting you do anything this stupid ever again!”

  “That goes for me too,” Jake agreed.

  I smiled, or tried to. My muscles weren’t obeying, and at the moment I was content to sit slumped there in the hall against the wall. Shannon was watching both me and Tawnia, and I knew he was comparing us. Everyone did.

  “Did you see Ethan?” I asked Tawnia. I was wondering if he had gone for help or had only saved himself.

  “I saw him outside. They’re bandaging his arm.”

  Near Jake, I saw Gabe trying to get to his feet. “Rest a minute,” Jake told him. “We’ll send the officers out to get Harmony and Marcie.” Gabe didn’t respond, his attention focused on the floor near his leg.

  Paige Duncan poked her head back in the door. “Uh, there’s a lot of folks waking up over here. I could use some help from someone in charge.”

  “I’m in charge,” Korin said arrogantly. “They won’t listen to anyone else.”

  Paige laughed. “I don’t think so. They’re asking for Founder Gabe, and unless I miss my mark, he isn’t you.”

  “I’ll get free,” Korin sneered at her. “You won’t be able to make the charges stick. Not one of them will testify against me. You’ll see.”

  “I will,” I said, the words more a croak than human speech.

  Korin let off a stream of curses, but everyone ignored him. Except Gabe, who started moving in his direction, his face set in rigid lines. Something glittered in his hands.

  “The gun!” I shouted.

  I was too late. The shiny little pistol was already firing.

  Korin’s body tensed momentarily, a look of surprise on his face. Then he slumped against the wall where he stood, red welling from his chest. A second later, his body collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor, leaving the wall behind him spattered with gore.

  Tawnia screamed, her hands going instinctively to protect her unborn baby. Bret stepped in front of her.

  The pistol fell from Gabe’s fingers. “My people are finally safe,” he said, “and he’ll never be able to hurt Harmony.”

  “Don’t we know anything about securing a crime scene?” Shannon shouted at his partner and the other officer.” Look, you two get out there and calm those people while I get this bozo locked up somewhere. Before we have a riot on our hands.”

  Shannon took Gabe to his office, where he handcuffed him to his chair. “Stay here,” he ordered, “or I’ll shoot you myself.”

  “You can go outside,” Jake said. “I’ll look after him. I don’t think he’ll give us any trouble.”

  “No, I’ll watch him,” Bret volunteered. “You go with the detective. Those people might listen to you better than any of us. They know you at least a little.”

  One look at Gabe’s pale, defeated face, shaking hands, and absent expression was all Shannon needed to make him agree to Bret’s suggestion, but not before he went over the office for weapons and cuffed Gabe’s other wrist to the opposite armrest for good measure.

  “I’ll send in one of my officers as soon as I’m outside,” Shannon told Bret. “If you’ll give me a hand, Jake, we’ll find something to cover our dead guy in the hallway before we go outside.”

  As Jake and Shannon left, Tawnia put her arm around my shoulders. “Are you hungry?

  “I don’t believe this,” Bret said, a note of humor in his voice. “After all that’s happened, you’re talking food?”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Tawnia said. “He has no idea.”

  My stomach was growling, and I was weak from lack of eating anything but herbs and a raw potato all day, which I’d lost in the pit after finding Inclar’s body, but the truth was I didn’t know if I’d be able to get my mouth to work right or my throat to swallow.

  I leaned on my sister. “I could use some water.”

  “Just a drink? Nonsense. What you need is something solid. You know you’ll feel better.”

  I didn’t protest, knowing that finding food would give her something to do.

  “Wow, look at this fridge,” Tawnia said, once we’d gone to the kitchen and she’d settled me at the table. “It’s huge. Maybe we should get one like it installed in our house.”

  I actually smiled.

  Now that the danger was over, I began thinking about what Jake and I had said when we were yelling to distract Korin. How much of what he’d said was real and how much did I simply want to believe? I hadn’t come to any decision when Spring entered the kitchen with Victoria and Essence. Spring was still carrying her son, who was rubbing his eyes, his face red from crying.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, glad Shannon had let them come inside.

  Spring sat across the table from me, rocking back and forth to calm her son. “Thanks to you and Jake.”

  “You’d have done the same for us.”

  Essence sat next to Spring, but Victoria remained standing awkwardly next to the table. For a few seconds, all we heard was Tawnia moving things around inside the fridge and making the occasional exclamation of discovery.

  “I want to tell you I’m sorry,” Victoria said finally. “I told Korin what you said about leaving, about my parents sending you.” Tears leaked down her round cheek. “I didn’t want to, but I thought maybe he was setting me up. You know, testing me to see if I was loyal. I was afraid, especially for the baby.” Her hand went to her stomach. “I didn’t think I’d be able to . . .” Her words drained away.

  “Survive in that cellar, you mean.” I reached for her hand. “I don’t blame you one little bit. You don’t have to worry anymore. Korin isn’t going to hurt you or anyone ever again.”

  “Thanks to Founder Gabe,” Essence put in, and we nodded in troubled silence. We were all glad Korin was gone, but murder was still murder.

  “Do you think my parents would still want me to come home, even with the baby?” Victoria asked in a soft voice.

  “Of course.” I wanted to ask if the baby was Korin’s, but I already knew the answer. Victoria’s fear spoke for her.

  “Then I want to go home.”

  “I do too,” Essence said. For the first time since I’d met her, she was alert. “Fox and I both want to leave.” One of her hands disappeared beneath the table, and she brought out my earrings. “I’m sorry for taking these. It’s been so long since I had anything different.”

  “You can have them,” I said. “Really, I don’t mind. They make my ears hurt.” Ethan would just have to repay whoever he borrowed them from.

  Tawnia emerged from the fridge, her hands full. Victoria rushed to help her. “We’re having something to eat,” Tawnia announced. “Anyone want a bite?”

  Essence and Victoria shook their heads, looking pale at the very thought. But Spring grinned. “Are you kidding? I’m starving. I’ll eat anything at this point.”

  A loud shout from outside drew our attention. “Wh
at’s going on out there, anyway?” I asked.

  “Some of the men are demanding to talk to Gabe,” Victoria said. “The policemen don’t seem to be able to control everyone. That’s why we came inside. If Harmony was here, she’d put an end to it, but we can’t find her. I sent someone to get Scarlet, so maybe she’ll calm everyone down.”

  “Harmony’s in the barn,” I said. “Did they send someone there?”

  Spring shook her head. “Not that we heard. But there are too many people out there asking questions to hear much of anything.”

  “What about Ethan?” Tawnia turned from where she was slicing thick slabs of homemade wheat bread. “Strange that he didn’t come in to see how you were.”

  Cold fingers shuddered down my spine at her words. Ethan had run when we’d most needed him. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised he hadn’t come inside after the crisis was over.

  “He must have gone to the barn to find his sister after they bandaged his arm,” Spring said. “Flesh wound, I think they said. Bleeding a lot, but not too serious.”

  “You didn’t see him out there just now?” I asked.

  Spring shook her head. “No.”

  “And he didn’t ask any of the officers to go with him?”

  “I don’t think so. Is that a problem?”

  “Maybe not.” But suspicion curled through my gut. I lurched to my feet and hurried to the kitchen door as fast as my sore body would allow.

  “Where are you going?” Tawnia dropped her knife.

  “Down the hall to Korin’s office.”

  “It’s natural that Ethan would want to see his sister,” Tawnia said, hurrying after me.

  “I think he should have taken someone to help her, that’s all. It seems strange to go alone.” He might be too crazy with worry to wait, I supposed, but something still felt wrong.

  The man who had guarded Ethan was gone, but the medicine bottles were where I had last seen them on Korin’s desk. This was the piece of the puzzle that didn’t fit—two simultaneous prescriptions for anti-depression medicine. And the way Ethan had carted them around, always intercepting my hand before I could touch them.

  I gritted my teeth as my fingers closed around the bottles, steeling myself against the truth. As expected, the imprints came easily.

  I reached out to give the tablets to Marcie, standing over her until she put them in her mouth. “Just take these, and the pain will be over soon,” I said kindly.

  I recognized Ethan’s voice, so that had to be his hand proffering the medicine.

  Marcie reluctantly downed the pills, falling quickly asleep.

  “It’s your mother’s fault for leaving the money to us equally,” I said, my/Ethan’s voice becoming dark and hard. “It belonged to my father, not yours, and you will never have it. After a few more weeks of preparation, an unfortunate overdose will correct everything. It won’t matter that I spent my own share or that my tenure has been ripped from me. No one will be able to prove I did anything wrong. You, my dear half sister, will cease to be a problem.”

  Ethan had planned to murder her. No wonder the imprints were so strong.

  I dropped the bottles, which clunked onto the wood floor. Blood whooshed through my veins.

  “What is it, Autumn?” Tawnia stood beside me. Spring was behind her, Little Jim on her hip.

  “Ethan didn’t come to save Marcie,” I said. “He came to kill her—and maybe Harmony, too, if she’s in the way. Hurry! We have to help them.”

  Chapter 25

  I pushed past them and started down the hall. “We have to tell Jake and the others.”

  “What’s going on?” Bret said, as we passed Gabe’s office.

  I repeated what I’d told Tawnia and Spring, hardly slowing my pace

  “If that’s true, you have to free me!” Gabe cried, his gaze no longer absent. “I have to get to Harmony before he does.”

  I didn’t answer. There was no time, and I didn’t have much voice left anyway. I fled toward the door, averting my eyes from the blanket-covered mound and the bloody gore staining the wall. At least Korin’s body was covered, unlike his poor, betrayed brother in the dark, musty cellar.

  Outside, chaos reigned. Instead of men arguing for the freedom of their leader as I’d expected, everyone milled about in confusion, staring with horror as fire devoured the singles’ house, the men’s side almost completely engulfed in flames. A dozen or so of the men were running with buckets of water toward the burning house. Jake, Shannon, and the other two officers were nowhere in sight. Screams sounded from inside the burning house. I couldn’t tell if they came from the men’s or the women’s side.

  “Make a line to the well!” Scarlet bellowed, striding across the square. “We have to get this fire out before it takes everything!” She pushed people into place as her bulk hurtled toward the well at the far side of the square. Menashe, Blade, and several others ran after her with buckets.

  More screams. Two women emerged, coughing, from the women’s side of the house.

  Where was Jake? I hoped he was helping put out the fire and not inside playing hero.

  I turned to Spring and Tawnia, who’d followed me out of the house. “You two find Jake and Shannon and get them to the barn. Have Bret and Essence help you look.”

  “What are you going to do?” Tawnia’s fingers dug into my shoulders.

  “I’m going to help Marcie.”

  “No!” Looking at her was like gazing into a mirror; my terror was written plainly on her face.

  “If I don’t go, two women are going to die. I have to warn them. What else can we do?”

  Several long seconds passed, and then her jaw set. “Go.” I knew how much it cost her to say that.

  “Okay. But you be careful too.” I reached out and laid a hand on her stomach, taut with the baby inside. Our eyes met, and we both nodded, the connection between us so strong that our wills were indistinguishable.

  “You’ll never get there in time,” Spring said. “He was gone before I came inside.”

  “I’ve got to try. Just make sure you find Shannon and Jake.”

  I ran back into the house, through the meeting room, and out the front door to the trees. The motorcycle Jake had stashed was there, not hard to find at all if you knew what to look for. The wires he’d used to bypass the key system were exposed and ready to rejoin. It started on the first try.

  Now if I could remember how to drive the contraption.

  Riding a motorcycle is a lot like driving a car, except for the balancing thing. Worse, shifting the gears using the spiked pedals on a bike can be very painful in bare feet. Too late now. I gritted my teeth and shifted to second, third, fourth, my foot protesting numbly at the abuse. I almost wiped out twice before I got to the moonlit dirt road that led past the houses, through the trees, and to the main barn. The route was much faster than walking, but unless Ethan had returned to his van first, he had a good head start.

  The unmuffled roar of the bike would warn Ethan of my approach. I wanted to believe my presence would make a difference to what he was planning, but the truth was that Ethan had played me from the start. I thought now of all the instances where he had urged me on in this search, backing off only as I fell into step with his will. His fake concern was all too apparent now, and I felt like an idiot for falling into his trap.

  I wished I’d listened to Marcie more carefully when she had protested the mention of Ethan’s name in the cellar, instead of chalking it up to her insanity. One thing was certain: I didn’t save Marcie once to let her fall into his hands now.

  Would I be in time? Or was he at this moment strangling the poor woman? Or would he use the big gun he’d shown us at Tawnia’s?

  I was going so fast that when I came upon a dip in the dark road, I nearly wrecked the bike. My ribs screamed with pain at the jolt, but I held my seat. Barely.

  The barn was in sight. I should have cut the power and run the rest of the way, but I suspected Ethan had already heard me if he was there,
and I wasn’t in shape for running. So I drove all the way up to the door of the barn and cut the engine. The sudden silence was deafening.

  I took a painful breath that brought tears to my eyes as I limped the few steps to the open door, pushing myself to go faster. The lights inside the barn were on as they hadn’t been earlier. Ethan was here. I had to do something quick and loud.

  I jogged across the short space to the ladder leading to the hayloft and started climbing. “Harmony?” I called hoarsely, hoping to interrupt whatever might be going on above me. “The police are here, and we’re going to get Marcie to the hospital. You won’t believe everything that’s hap—”

  A figure loomed at the top of the ladder. Ethan. Too late, I realized I should have kept my mouth shut and tried to sneak up behind him.

  Innocence was my best defense. “Oh, there you are. Everyone’s looking all over for you. They’ll be here in a minute to help us with Marcie.”

  “You touched the bottles, didn’t you?” he asked without expression.

  I stopped climbing. “What are you talking about?” My voice held a hateful little quiver at the end, one I didn’t think he’d attribute to my being choked.

  “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from teaching math, it’s logic. I think you touched the bottles and you learned something you shouldn’t have. Everyone was busy with the fire, so you came yourself. Now get up here.”

  I took a step down the ladder.

  “Up!” His hand pointed down at me, and I saw the glint of a gun barrel.

  “You weren’t being held in the van all this time, were you?” I said, stalling for time. “You didn’t even try to contact the police.”

  “Bingo! I was waiting for an opportunity to catch Korin alone—which I did shortly before you showed up.”

  “Why?”

  “To offer him money to make sure Marcie never left here, of course. The idiot would have followed through if you hadn’t ruined things.”