Small-Town Face-Off

by Tyler Anne Snell

  “We think he might have a police radio, which is why they’ve always been right there with us every step of the investigation,” Billy added. “Even though it was checked in when he was fired, we can’t find it.” Just saying the words made Billy angrier than he already was.

  “Is that the only evidence we have on him? Coming back to town, staying in the same hotel and hating you?” one of the reserve deputies asked. The question might have seemed like the man was unimpressed but Billy knew he was just a straight shooter. He wanted all the information they had before trying to bring down a former cop.

  Which brought Billy to a crossroads.

  He could tell his deputies to trust him right then and there without any more information and they would. Maybe.

  Or Billy could follow Mara’s earlier example in the park.

  He could finally tell the truth.

  “Mara Copeland and I became involved during the case against her father.” He didn’t wait for any reactions. “After he was convicted, we were going to go public with the relationship but Mara was approached by Marsden, who had found out about us. He threatened Mara with the idea that I would lose my career because of her. So she left.” The words tasted bitter in his mouth but Billy continued. “Only a handful of people knew about Mara and I, and none of them have since told. When I talked to Beck, he already knew about the relationship, making me believe Marsden had found out by overhearing Bryan Copeland talking to me about it the day we arrested him.” Billy readjusted his stance. When he spoke again he could hear the hardness in his voice. The bottom line. “While it might not be professional, I love Mara Copeland a whole hell of a lot. That goes double for our daughter.”

  A few surprised looks swept over the deputies’ faces but no one stopped him. “That might not be reason enough to warrant us going after a former cop considering, you’re right, we don’t have anything concrete to tie him to Beck, but Marsden is the best lead we have. We track Marsden, there’s a good chance we find Beck. We find Beck, we find Mara. And if any of you have any reservations about this, well...” Billy paused a second to work up a smirk. “Too bad for you. Because I’m the sheriff and this is an order.”

  He’d been waiting for some opposition, so Billy was surprised when none came. The men and women sitting in front of him all seemed to agree with gusto.

  In fact, some even cheered.

  “Alright, let’s get to work!”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Why were you at the sheriff’s department the other day?” Mara finally thought to ask Leigh.

  She let her gaze linger on the picture of Alexa she’d had in her pocket before putting it back. According to Leigh’s watch they’d been in the basement for more than three hours. In that time Mara had told the woman everything that had happened, including her part in taking her father down. Something that might not have softened the woman toward her but did seem to surprise her.

  The fact of the matter was that Leigh’s husband was still dead because of the Copelands. Something she was reminded of every time she looked at Eric, who had finally fallen asleep in the corner. While Mara had been there for a few hours, Leigh and Eric had been there since that morning. The stress of it had been exhausting for the boy.

  Mara couldn’t blame him. If the need to escape hadn’t been so great, she might have tried to get a few minutes of shut-eye herself.

  Leigh stopped looking in the box in front of her and turned, already scowling. She motioned to Eric.

  “While I was at the grocery store, some man showed up at the house asking all sorts of weird questions,” she said. “When Eric asked what his name was, the man refused to tell him. After he left, Eric called me. I was already near the department so I thought I’d drop in.”

  Mara was about to dismiss Leigh’s story when a cold thought slid into her head.

  “What did the man look like?”

  Leigh pursed her lips, still not happy being stuck in the basement with Mara, but she answered.

  “Eric said he was really tall, had brown hair cut really close, almost like what the army fellows wear, looked around his Uncle Daniel’s age—midforties—and, not so much like his uncle, he was skinny. Why?”

  Mara let out a sigh of relief. Definitely not Beck. She was about to say as much when another terrible thought pushed in. The knot that had sunk to the bottom of her stomach began to spawn other knots.

  “What questions did he ask?”

  The man might not have been Beck but that didn’t mean she didn’t recognize the description.

  Leigh must have read the fear in her expression. She dropped the contempt she’d been treating Mara with and answered.

  “He asked if we’d had any construction done two or three years ago and, if so, where.” The knots in Mara’s stomach turned cold. Her heart rate started to pick up. “But, of course, all Eric could think about was his dad being killed two years ago, so he said he didn’t know. Then he asked if Eric was home alone and, thank God, he lied. That’s when he asked what the man’s name was and he left.”

  Mara nearly missed the end of Leigh’s sentence. Her thoughts were racing alongside her heart now.

  “Leigh, did you have any construction done in the last three years? Anyone coming in and out of the property with trucks or trailers?”

  Leigh’s eyebrow rose but she nodded.

  “Right after my husband passed. We had a bad storm blow through. It flung a tree over and messed up the roof.” She pointed up, meaning the barn’s roof. “Had a company come in to replace it. They were really nice, too. Cut me a deal on account of being a recent widow. Even planted a new tree near the barn and left a note saying I could watch it and Eric grow up together. I thought it was really sweet. Okay, Mara, what is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  Mara felt like it, too.

  “My father hid a stash of drugs and money right before he went to court, as a fail-safe. We thought that there was a possibility that he used construction as a way to help him hide it, but we’ve only looked one place. The high school.” Mara was struck with such a strong realization that a laugh escaped between her lips. “I never would have ever thought to look here. The guilt of what happened to you—to your family—would have made me, and maybe Billy, too, never even think to come here. And my father knew that. It’s the perfect place.”

  Mara shook her head again, but she felt like she was right.

  “Leigh, I think my dad’s stash is here.”

  “But you said Beck was still looking for it,” Leigh pointed out.

  “That’s just it. I don’t think Beck even knows. I think he picked this place because it’s remote and he knows only you and Eric live here. You probably would have never noticed them had you not wanted that picture.”

  Leigh’s face contorted into an emotion that Mara was sure was laced with more than a few colorful words, when a scraping sound cut through the air. Someone was moving the canister off the trap door. It made Mara remember the original thought she’d had.

  “I think that man who talked to Eric was Gene Marsden,” Mara hurried while she and Leigh retreated to Eric. Mara paused and then switched directions. She grabbed an old lamp she’d pulled from a box earlier and pointed to the vintage baseball bat Leigh had found. “And if he’s found out the stash is here, I think he’ll kill us.”

  * * *

  WHEN IT RAINED, it poured.

  That was Billy’s first thought when his office received a call from an unknown number. He didn’t know what to expect, but he thought it wouldn’t be good. So when the caller turned out to be Bryan Copeland, Billy was more than a little thrown.

  “I told Beck where the stash was,” he started.

  “You what?” Billy rocked out of his chair, already spitting mad.

  Bryan didn’t seem bothered by his anger. In fa
ct, he seemed to be harboring his own.

  “The deal was Mara’s life for the location.” Bryan went on. “Apparently, I still love my daughter. Now, you got a pen?”

  Billy wrote down the address Bryan rattled off and couldn’t help but be surprised by it but didn’t have the time to say so. He also didn’t have the time to ask what number the man was calling from or how Beck had gotten hold of him. Those were issues he’d tackle later.

  “Now hurry, Sheriff, and go save the girl. I don’t believe for a second this Beck will let her go alive,” Bryan said, already cutting the conversation short. Billy almost didn’t hear it when he tacked on a last question. “And, Billy, is Alexa safe?”

  While he had no reason in the world to answer the man, Billy did.

  “Yeah, she’s safe.”

  “Good.”

  Bryan ended the call. Seconds later, Billy was out the door.

  * * *

  NO SOONER HAD Beck walked off the last step than Mara smashed the lamp against his head. He made a wild noise as the glass shattered against him, but the wrath of the women he’d imprisoned wasn’t finished. Mara slid to the side as Leigh swung her bat for all she was worth into his crotch.

  Beck never had a chance.

  He hit the ground hard and didn’t move. The shotgun he’d been holding thunked next to him. It was closer to Leigh, so she scurried to grab it while Mara readied for the next bad guy, hoping she could still do damage even though her grip was off thanks to the handcuffs.

  But no one came.

  The two of them froze and listened.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Mara whispered.

  “Maybe Marsden isn’t here?”

  “Let’s not just stand here and wait to find out.”

  Leigh nodded, but hesitated.

  “Have you ever shot a gun?” she asked, motioning to the shotgun in her hands.

  “Not one of those.”

  Leigh gritted her teeth.

  “I’ll hold on to it, then,” she said. “Follow me up. Eric, get behind Mara.”

  Eric crawled out from his hiding spot in the corner and listened to his mom. He stood behind Mara and kept his eyes off Beck.

  “Wait, he’s got a phone on him!”

  Mara saw the light from his pocket as his cell phone vibrated. Leigh trained the shotgun on him as Mara fished the phone out. The caller ID was M.

  “Marsden,” Leigh guessed.

  “Which means he’s probably not up there?”

  The thought got them moving. Mara held the phone, careful not to answer it, and followed Leigh up the stairs while Eric held on to the back of her shirt. If Marsden wasn’t in the barn, then there was a good chance they’d be able to get to the house. She could even use Beck’s cell phone to call for help once Marsden stopped calling. If he didn’t know they had escaped, Mara definitely wasn’t going to let him know by answering the phone.

  Leigh moved slowly when she ascended, shotgun swiveling side to side, until she was out of view. Mara held her breath, waiting for the go-ahead. Her heart was hammering in her ears.

  “We’re alone,” Leigh whispered down to them after what felt like hours.

  Mara, relieved for the dose of good news, led Eric up the stairs. The air smelled musty and damp. The sun that had barely lit the space earlier in the day was gone. Like the basement, there were sets of hanging bulbs. They hung from the rafters, looking tired and weak. The light they emitted wasn’t anything to write home about, but Mara welcomed it all the same. At least she could see. A silver lining to the nightmare the day had turned into.

  “The house is a mile that way,” Leigh whispered, pointing to the wall on their right. “Call your sheriff and tell him we’re headed there. I have a lot more guns in that house than I bet Marsden brought to town.” Despite their strained, nearly nonexistent relationship, Mara found herself grateful that out of all the women she could have been held captive with, Beck had been stupid enough to pick Leigh Cullen.

  Mara fumbled with the phone and dialed 911 with her cuffed hand, ready to tell the dispatcher as quickly as possible everything that was happening and get Billy sent their way. Because they were out of Carpenter’s town limits, the call should go straight to the Riker County Sheriff’s Department instead of the local police. Which meant Billy would get to them faster.

  Get to her faster.

  That thought alone put some pep in her step. The idea of seeing Billy after everything that had happened was more than a desire to Mara. Now it was a need. As real and essential as breathing. She needed Billy Reed.

  Sitting in the basement for hours had given her more than enough time to think about the sheriff. While she’d known that he would keep Alexa in his life now that he knew about her, Mara didn’t know where that left the two of them.

  Would they coparent from two different homes? Two different towns?

  The mere idea of being away from Billy tore through Mara with surprising ferocity. For two years it had been only her and Alexa. But now that Mara remembered what having Billy around again was like, could she go back to living a life without him by her side?

  Going through boxes of Leigh’s family’s antiques, Mara had realized that, no, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to go back to a house that didn’t have the sheriff between its walls. She didn’t want to take Alexa away from her father anymore, not even for the briefest of moments. For the first time in years, Mara had come to a realization so poignant that she’d nearly cried right there in the basement.

  Two years ago, she should have fought for Billy—for them—instead of running.

  She wasn’t going to make the same mistake again.

  However, Mara never found out how fast her 911 call would have reached the sheriff. Before she could hit the send button, the door in the corner of the barn was flung open.

  Mara recognized the former cop, Gene Marsden, as easily as she’d heard his words at the ceremony years ago. He hadn’t changed in the time since, matching Eric’s description to a T, but the gun he was carrying definitely wasn’t police issue. He pointed it at Leigh so quickly that it didn’t seem humanly possible.

  “I’ll kill you first,” he warned. His voice was steady, calm. It made his threat all the more believable. So much so that Leigh didn’t shoot. Which probably was for the best, since there were several feet between them. If she’d missed...

  “Kick the gun over here,” he ordered before looking at Mara. “And toss the phone this way, too. You call anyone and I’ll shoot the boy in the head.”

  Eric pulled on her shirt a little and she immediately did as she was told. The same went for Leigh. Even if it meant giving up the only upper hand they had. There were just some chances you didn’t take. Especially when you believed the threat if you failed.

  One look at Marsden’s grin and Mara believed his every word.

  “Now, back into the basement,” he said, using his gun to make a shooing motion at them. Mara shared a look with Leigh. He didn’t miss it. “I’ll kill the boy, remember?”

  “We’re going,” Mara said quickly. She put the trembling boy in front of her and followed him back into what was becoming Mara’s least favorite place in the entire world.

  Beck was still lying on the floor and, for a moment, she wondered if he was dead. It wasn’t until they had all stepped over him and were in the middle of the room that he let out a low groan.

  “You let two women and some little kid get the better of you,” Marsden said, showing nothing but disgust for his partner. “How can you live with yourself?” If Beck tried to answer, Mara couldn’t tell. The lamp had cut his face up something awful. Blood ran down it like a fountain. It was almost too much to look at, but Marsden seemed to have no trouble sneering at him. “You know, some men would take their lives rather than lose their dignity,” Marsden drawle
d. “But I already know you’d never have the jewels to do that.” Marsden took a step back and pointed his gun down. “So I’ll do it for you.”

  And then he shot Beck in the head.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Eric was crying.

  Mara wanted to join him.

  Killing someone in cold blood was enough to terrify any witness. Killing your partner in cold blood was downright bone-chilling.

  “Don’t worry, I was going to do that anyways,” Marsden said. “Beck liked to talk a lot, but words aren’t street smarts. I don’t know how he planned to make this business idea of his work.” He looked at Mara expectantly.

  “You—you mean bringing Moxy back to Riker County,” she guessed when he didn’t look away.

  Marsden laughed.

  “I don’t think as small as Beck here does.” He paused, then corrected himself. “Or did.” Mara kept her eyes on Marsden and not the growing puddle of blood around the man he was so casually dismissing. She wondered if he could hear her heart trying to ram itself clear out of her body.

  Marsden took a moment to give each of them an appraising look. It made Leigh move so that Eric was hidden behind her completely. If he was offended, he didn’t comment on it.

  “Now, here’s the deal,” he said when no one made a peep. What were they supposed to say? Mara had no idea what he knew or what he planned to do with them. “Unlike Beck here, I’m not going to bore you with nonstop chatter and I expect the same from you.” He pointed to Mara then thrust his thumb back to the stairs. Panic jolted through her, rooting her to the spot. “You’re coming with me.”

  “Why?” she couldn’t help but ask. As much as she disliked the basement, going anywhere alone with Marsden was worse.

  “We’ve got treasure to dig up, that’s why.” He pointed his gun at Leigh’s head. Eric’s crying intensified. “They’re only alive because of you right now. If you fight me, I’ll kill them.”