“SHE’S not picking up her phone,” Jack said, frustrated. “Why wouldn’t she pick up her phone?”
Brian extended his hands, palms up. “Maybe she can’t hear it.”
“That cottage is minuscule,” Jack said, pacing. “There’s nowhere inside that she couldn’t hear her phone.”
“Maybe she’s outside.”
Jack balked. “Why would she be outside? I told her to stay inside.”
“Yes, but she’s a woman,” Brian said. “They do what they want when they want. It’s part of their genetic makeup. They can’t help themselves.”
“Did you get Max?”
“I left a message on his cell phone,” Brian said, his face reflecting the helplessness he was feeling. “Maybe they’re together.”
“Maybe they’re not,” Jack snapped, turning on his heel and stalking toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To find her,” Jack said. “She’s in trouble. I can just … feel it.”
IVY rummaged around the refrigerator for a few minutes, ultimately settling on fresh vegetables and rice. She wasn’t going to go out of her way and cook a feast for Max. That would just be rewarding him for bad behavior.
Her mind was busy with cooking for the next few minutes, but after a few minutes she realized Max was still outside. He was probably trying to entice the raccoon closer so he could catch it. That would be just like him.
She moved to the door and opened it, stepping out onto the front porch and searching the area by the trashcans for her brother.
“Max? Are you coming in or not? I’m not just cooking for me. You demanded dinner. You’re going to eat it.”
He didn’t answer, but Ivy heard shuffling on the far side of the house.
“You’re such a pain,” she grumbled, padding down the steps in her bare feet and peering around the edge of the house. “Max, what are you doing?”
The figure standing there wasn’t Max, and it took Ivy a moment to realize what she was seeing. Her big, strong brother was lying prone on the ground. He wasn’t moving, and from her vantage point, Ivy couldn’t ascertain if he was breathing.
The figure standing over him was holding a large hunting knife, the serrated edges gleaming under the moonlight. There was no blood on it, which was a mild relief, but Ivy realized she was in a load of trouble when she recognized the figure.
“Heath.”
“Hello, Ivy,” Heath said, smiling evilly. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to our little … tête-à-tête.”
“Nice phrase,” Ivy said, fighting to keep her face neutral and her breathing regular as she tried to figure a way out of the situation. “Did you kill my brother?”
“Not yet,” Heath said. “I was disappointed when he showed up. I thought he was going to ruin our evening. Then he saw some raccoon and started following it. It gave me the opportunity to come up behind him without him noticing. He’s just knocked out.”
“That’s good,” Ivy said. “It wouldn’t be a very nice start to our … date … if you killed my brother.”
“Oh, I’m going to kill him,” Heath said. “I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I was hoping you would stay inside for a little bit longer. I was just getting around to my art project.”
Ivy shuddered, knowing full well what he meant by that. “Leave Max alone,” Ivy said. “You’re here for me. He has nothing to do with this.”
“He’s still an obstacle,” Heath said. “He’s standing between you and me … and our happily ever after.”
“He’s not an obstacle,” Ivy said. “You said you came up behind him. He didn’t see you. He doesn’t even know who you are. Please … leave Max alone. You’re here for me.”
“I am here for you,” Heath said, tilting his head to the side as he regarded Ivy. “Did you like my flowers?”
“They were nice.”
“They have certain … properties.”
“I know,” Ivy said. “I run a nursery. I know how to recognize flowers.”
“I guess I didn’t take that into consideration,” Heath said. “You didn’t even pick them up.”
“That’s because I knew they were dangerous.”
“Did you like the card?”
“It was very … expressive,” Ivy said. “Have you been here watching me all this time?”
“Chad left me when you called his manhood into question at the nursery,” Heath said. “That was funny, by the way. He deserves to be taken down a peg or two. He’s got some ego issues.”
Ivy didn’t think Chad was the only one with ego issues. “I don’t understand any of this. Why did you kill Mona?”
“I knew Mona from school,” Heath explained. “She suckered me into giving her passing grades on papers when she didn’t turn them in. She pretended to like me. She said we were going to go on a date.
“Then, when we got caught, she turned on me,” he continued. “She told the board that I pressured her and was demanding sex. She got off with probation and I got expelled.”
“That must have been hard for you.” Ivy had no idea what to do but keeping Heath talking – instead of carving – seemed like a viable option.
“It wasn’t fair,” Heath said. “I was one year away from graduating. Now I never can.”
“You could go to another school.”
“I don’t want to go to another school,” Heath said. “It’s not my fault Mona was a slut.”
“Why did Mona go to the compound? Do you know?”
“At first I thought she was a believer,” Heath said. “I watched her for a few weeks after I was expelled. Every weekend she drove up to that compound. I watched her there – from the exact spot you were hiding the other day – and then I realized she wasn’t a believer at all.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was trying to bolster her position at the college,” Heath said. “She thought, if she could bring Chad’s compound down, she would be able to impress Professor Fowler. She thought she might even win some awards.
“After watching the compound, I realized I had a place there,” he continued. “I approached Chad, but he wanted all the women for himself. I didn’t care about the women. The only woman I cared about was Mona.”
“Because she had to pay?”
“Of course she had to pay,” Heath said. “She ruined my life – and she didn’t follow through with her promise. She didn’t go out with me. So I told Chad I was gay and he let me in. He thought it was a great idea as long as I didn’t move in on his women. That was pretty easy.
“You should’ve seen Mona’s face when she came up for the next weekend and saw me there,” he said. “She was freaking out. She had no idea what to do.”
“Why didn’t she tell Chad what you were doing?”
“The same reason I didn’t tell Chad what she was doing,” Heath said. “We were both working him.”
“Why did you kill Mona?”
“Because she had it coming.”
“But … you worked together for weeks,” Ivy said. “What happened to make you … do what you did?”
“Chad found out what Mona was up to,” Heath replied. “I tried to tell him that she was dangerous, but he wouldn’t listen. Instead of dealing with her the way he should’ve, he banished her.
“He didn’t think a college class project would be enough to bring him down,” he continued. “Of course, he didn’t think anyone but his chosen few knew about the pot field he was growing on the adjacent piece of land.”
“I knew he was hiding something up there,” Ivy grumbled.
“He’s nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is,” Heath agreed. “So I let him banish her. Then, when she was getting ready to leave, I took things into my own hands. She didn’t even see it coming.
“When I approached her, she thought I was there to gloat,” he said. “That changed pretty quickly when she saw the knife.”
“And no one saw you?”
“Nope.”
“Why did you carve the symbols into her body?”
“At first I planned on framing Chad,” Heath said. “I thought the symbols would lead the cops right to him, which they did. The problem I had was that I never took into consideration that the cops would probably search the woods surrounding the compound. I didn’t realize that until Mona was already dead.
“There was no way I could take over the entire operation if there was no operation to take over,” he said. “That’s when I knew I had to come up with a different solution.”
“Why did you dump her in my yard?”
“Oh, you can thank Chad for that,” Heath said. “He was always talking about you. Ivy Morgan, the one who got away. I thought he was just babbling like an idiot until he mentioned you were a witch.”
Realization dawned on Ivy. “You thought the police would assume that since I’m a witch, I murdered her as some sort of ritual.”
“Isn’t that what witches do?”
“No.”
“That was another miscalculation on my part,” Heath said. “I guess I’m off my game. I have been ever since Mona ruined my life. You’re the last piece of the puzzle, though. Once I kill you, then everything will be fixed. Covenant will be mine.”
“How do you figure that?”
“The cops will know that Chad killed both of you,” Heath said. “This will be the final nail in his coffin. If it’s any consolation, I am sorry it came to this. I just … I need Chad to go away. I need all of this to go away.”
“I see,” Ivy said, racking her brain. She knew she was out of time. “You do realize the cops have Chad down at the station right now, right?”
Heath balked. “What? No, they don’t.”
“They do,” Ivy said. “I was down there earlier. If you’d been listening closer when Max and I were outside talking you would’ve realized that.”
“I think you’re lying,” Heath said. “This is the only way you can figure to get yourself out of this situation.”
“Not the only way,” Ivy said, making her decision quickly. She turned on her heel and bolted – not toward the house, but toward the woods she knew better than anyone else. She knew she had to draw Heath away from Max, and this was the best way she could figure to do it. The only way they were both going to survive was for Ivy to lead Heath into a world he didn’t recognize.
He was on her turf now.
“Ivy!”
Twenty-Six
“What is that smell?” Brian asked, wrinkling his nose as he looked into Ivy’s kitchen.
The door to the cottage was open when they arrived, and Jack took the steps two at a time as he raced into the house. He found the cat sitting in the middle of the room, a disturbed look on his face, and the cottage was filled with a thin film of smoke.
A skillet sat on the stove, the flame on, but whatever was inside was burnt beyond recognition. Jack turned the stove off and dumped the skillet into the sink before turning swiftly. “Where is she?”
“I don’t think the cat can answer you,” Brian said.
“Something happened to her,” Jack said. “Heath was here.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do know that,” Jack seethed, moving back toward the door. “Where would he have taken her?”
“We don’t know she’s been taken anywhere,” Brian said, following Jack out onto the porch. “I … now where are you going?”
Jack moved around the front of the house, staring into the trees and cocking his head to the side to see if he could hear anything. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something lying on the ground next to the house. He started toward the figure, his heart dropping. Was Ivy already gone?
“Call for an ambulance!”
“What is it,” Brian asked, appearing behind him. “I … crap. Max.”
Jack knelt down next to the fallen figure, pressing his fingers to the side of Max’s neck and hoping beyond hope the amiable man was alive. The second Jack touched him Max stirred, his fingers shooting out and grabbing him tightly around the wrist.
“Max? It’s Jack. You’re okay. What happened?”
“I’m not sure,” Max said, rubbing the back of his head. “I … Ivy. Where is Ivy?”
“We don’t know,” Jack said, his eyes serious. “What do you remember?”
“We were outside talking,” Max said. “The raccoon was in the garbage again. I … she went in to make dinner. I saw the raccoon and I decided to follow it and … that’s it. The lights went out.”
“Did you see who it was?”
“No,” Max said, struggling to a sitting position and cringing as he reached around to the back of his head. “Where’s Ivy?”
“We’ll find her,” Jack said. “I … what time did you get here?”
“A little after seven. What time is it?”
“About twenty after,” Jack said. “That means she hasn’t been gone long.”
“No more than ten minutes,” Max said. “We talked for a few minutes. I told her to make me dinner and made fun of her because of … well … you.”
“We’ll have that discussion later,” Jack said. “Did you hear a car?”
“There was no car,” Max said.
“Where is your truck?”
“I parked at the nursery and walked over. I needed a potted plant. I have a date tomorrow, and women like plants.”
Jack forced a grim smile for Max’s benefit. “If he didn’t have a car, that means they’re in the woods. Maybe Ivy ran. Maybe she got away. Where would she go?”
“She’d only go one place,” Max said. “It’s where she feels safest.”
“The fairy ring,” Jack said, straightening. “Stay here. Brian is calling for help.”
“Where are you going?”
“After her.”
IVY WAS in shape. She knew how to pace herself. She also knew every indentation and rock outcropping in the area. There was no way Heath could take her by surprise. Not here.
That didn’t make her safe, though. The woods were deep, but they didn’t last forever. Ivy had no idea how long Heath would keep up his pursuit. And, if he gave up, would he return to her house and finish Max off? She couldn’t let that happen.
Ivy slowed her pace. “Heath?”
“I’m coming for you, Ivy.” His voice was behind her and to the right. He was close, but not close enough to touch her. Not yet. “You can’t outrun me.”
“I run all the time,” Ivy said. “I run through these woods. I have the upper hand out here.”
“You’re still just a woman.”
“And you have a problem with women, don’t you?” An idea popped into Ivy’s head. “You think women are beneath you. The problem is they keep outsmarting you. That’s what really has you upset.”
“No one has outsmarted me,” Heath snapped.
He was closer, so Ivy changed her trajectory. She was taking him in the direction of the fairy ring, but she wanted to make sure she approached in the right spot.
“Mona outsmarted you,” Ivy said, moving between two trees and ducking down so she could grab a fallen branch. “Mona had enough information to bring down you and Chad in one fell swoop.”
“And where is Mona now?”
“Mona is gone, but she still brought you down,” Ivy said. “Chad is in custody. I wasn’t lying about that. Everyone is going to know you’re guilty now. You’re never going to inherit Chad’s kingdom.”
“Stop lying!”
Ivy slipped behind a large tree, pressing her back against the rough bark as she waited. One more push should propel him to the spot she wanted.
“I’m not lying,” she said. “Do you want to know what my favorite thing about this whole situation is? You’re going to be very popular in prison. You’ve got a pretty mouth, and lifers love a pretty mouth.”
“I’m going to kill you!”
Ivy’s heart was racing, and she squeezed her eyes shut when she heard Heath approaching. She was only going to get one shot
at this.
“I’m going to give you something to do with your mouth in a second, Ivy,” Heath said, panting. He was close now. Ivy could see him, but he didn’t see her. “I’m going to rip you apart. You’re going to be crying for your precious cop when I’m done with you. Then, right when you’re begging me to kill you, I’m going to hurt you some more … just because I can.”
“I doubt it,” Ivy said, stepping up and taking aim. She swung the heavy tree branch with as much force as she could muster, making contact with the side of Heath’s head. The sound was sickening, but Ivy didn’t relent. As Heath listed to the side, confused, she slammed the branch into his head a second time.
“Oomph.” Heath dropped to one knee, fighting to stay upright even though his body was telling him it might not be an option. “You, bitch,” he hissed.
Ivy lashed out with her foot, catching him under his chin and knocking him to his side. He landed hard, his face bouncing off the green underbrush.
Ivy had seen enough horror movies to know that even though Heath looked like he was down, that didn’t mean he was done. She took a step back, keeping her eyes on him as she brandished the branch again. Part of her wanted him to die here. The other part of her knew that would do nothing but taint her favorite place.
The sound of footsteps in the thick trees drew Ivy’s attention, and when Jack burst into the clearing with his gun drawn, she almost wept in relief. “Jack.”
“Thank God,” Jack said. “I … are you okay?”
Ivy nodded, biting her lower lip in an effort to stave off the tears.
“Are you going to cry?”
“No.” Her voice came out in a squeak.
“Come here, honey,” Jack said, gesturing toward her.
Ivy did as instructed, giving Heath a wide berth as she shuffled her way to Jack. The second she was within touching distance he swept her against his broad chest with one arm while he kept his gun trained on Heath with the other. “You can cry now, honey. I won’t tell anyone.”
The feeling of Jack’s strong heart beating against her check was all Ivy could take. She burst into tears, letting Jack stroke the back of her head as he whispered quiet words to soothe her. It was over. She was safe. The only thing left at risk was her heart, and right now she couldn’t muster the energy to care.
Wicked Days Page 19
