Broken Pieces

by Carla Cassidy

  “And there were others besides me,” she whispered as an arctic wind blew through her.

  He seemed to calm then as he nodded. “Pieces. Pieces of good. They took away the pain and the rage for a little while, but it always came back.” He pointed to the smokehouse. “They’re in there. All my pieces, but you were my first.” He smiled, an almost dreamy expression on his face. “She looks just like you did that night, Mariah.”

  He rushed her then and before she could pull the trigger, his hand was on the gun. She struggled to hang on to it, but he was bigger, stronger. As he gained possession, he stood over her.

  Sobs ripped through her. It was over. In an instant, thoughts flew through her head. Kelsey would never get her cell phone. Mariah would never see her daughter graduate, go to culinary school and get her own television show.

  And now it seemed so foolish that she’d intended to run from Jack and the love that he held out to her like a shining trophy. It hadn’t been fear of a monster that had been going to chase her out of town. It had been her own fear of not living up to his fantasy, her fear that he would discover that she was just a woman who couldn’t cook and had bad dreams.

  She raised her head to look at Finn. In the moonlight and with the shimmer of her tears, he didn’t look quite real, but the gun he pointed at her was very real. Nobody would hear the shot that ended it all. Nobody would hear her screams.

  One last plea. If Kelsey was still alive, then she had to do something, try one final time to save her daughter’s life. “For God’s sake, Finn. She’s your daughter.”

  The gun boomed.

  Chapter 34

  “I’ve got to get going,” Clay said, and rose slowly from the table. “I want to take a drive by the Sayers place before I call it a night.”

  “Why? You expect trouble there?” Jack asked.

  Clay shrugged. “Not really, but I can’t stop thinking about how she called me out there because she thought she saw somebody lurking around her property. The whole town knows she came to me about what happened to her. I’m just trying to be safe rather than sorry. I had one of my deputies drive by earlier this evening and everything looked fine, but I just want to take a final run by before heading home.”

  “Mind if I ride along?”

  Clay stifled a yawn with the back of his hand. “I suppose not. You can talk to me on the way and keep me awake. I’ll bring you back here for your car.”

  “Thanks.” Minutes later Jack was in the passenger seat of Clay’s patrol car and heading toward Mariah’s. “You don’t think he’d go after her again, do you?”

  Apparently Clay knew exactly whom Jack was asking about, “Who knows? I can’t begin to get into the head of somebody like this guy.”

  “I’m in love with her.” Jack winced. He hadn’t intended to speak the words out loud. They just spurted out of him like he was some kind of damned fool.

  Clay shot him a glance and grinned. “Yeah, I know. She was a nice girl as a teenager and she’s still a nice lady. And you’re a stand-up kind of guy.”

  “She plans on leaving town as soon as Janice is well enough to travel.”

  “You gonna let her go?”

  Jack smiled ruefully. “She strikes me as the kind of woman who makes her own decisions.” He gazed out the window, where the moonlight bathed the landscape in pale light. “Plains Point is a nice place to live in, but I imagine there are sick dogs and cats in Chicago.”

  “Every single woman in town will mourn your leaving,” Clay said with a touch of humor. “Although it would be nice if you could talk her into staying here.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve always been a one-woman kind of man and I’ve found the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I don’t care if it’s here or in the city.” He straightened in his seat as they came to the turn that led to Mariah’s house.

  He wasn’t sure when he’d made the decision that he’d go to Chicago if that was what it took to have Mariah in his life. But the decision was made. He was not going to lose her again.

  Clay’s car crept up the driveway, and in the splash of his headlights on the front of the house, Jack saw that the front door was ajar. Why would it be standing open at this time of night?

  “Shit,” Clay muttered as he jammed on the brakes, threw the gear into park and opened his car door. Jack was already out of the car and racing toward the house.

  He burst into the entry, heart pounding in frantic rhythm. “Mariah!” There were no lights on in the lower level, but a light spilled down the stairway and he raced up the stairs.

  Mariah’s room was empty, as was Kelsey’s, but Kelsey’s bedcovers were half on the floor and the lamp next to her bed was on its side. “Mariah! Kelsey?” he cried. He looked in the bathroom and the other bedroom, then raced back down the stairs and crashed into Clay on his way up.

  “They aren’t up there,” he said.

  “I’ll check the kitchen,” Clay said, leading with his gun. Jack followed right behind him, terror crawling up the back of his throat, making him feel half-sick.

  It was the middle of the night. Why weren’t Mariah and Kelsey in bed where they belonged? And where was Tiny? Why wasn’t he barking?

  Clay flipped on the kitchen light and both men expelled sighs of relief. At least there weren’t any bodies on the floor. “It looked like there might have been a struggle in Kelsey’s room,” Jack said, surprised by the tremble in his voice. “Jesus, Clay, where can they be?” With hollow eyes he stared at the lawman.

  “Let’s take a look outside,” Clay replied.

  They had just stepped out on the front porch when they heard it. The unmistakable sound of a gun report.

  “That sounded like it came from Finn’s place,” Clay exclaimed.

  Jack took off running. He didn’t wait to see whether Clay was following. His heart thundered in his chest. He had no idea if the gunshot was related to Mariah and Kelsey’s disappearance, but terror chased him across the ground.

  The only sound he heard was his own breathing. Who had shot a gun? Where were Mariah and Kelsey? As he got closer to Finn’s place, he heard a dog bark. Tiny. Rather than fill him with relief, the sound of Tiny’s barking amplified the terror that roared through him. If Tiny was someplace out here in the night, then that meant Kelsey and Mariah had to be out here, too.

  He broke out of the woods and into the clearing in front of Finn’s house and saw nothing. Then Tiny barked and he whirled toward the pasture and saw the smokehouse.

  Relief crashed through him as he saw Mariah standing at the door. He called her name and she turned to look at him and in the moonlight he saw her eyes widened with horror. He also realized somebody was lying prone on the ground near her.

  “Jack! I can’t get it open. We have to get it open.” She began to babble as he ran toward her. “It can’t be too late. It can’t. She has to be all right.”

  He realized she had a key ring and she was attempting to unfasten the padlock on the door, but her hands were shaking so badly she couldn’t get the key into the slot.

  The scent of death hung in the air along with the acrid smell of gunfire. As he took the key ring from her trembling hands, he shot a glance to the figure on the ground. Finn. He was obviously dead. Half his head appeared to be missing.

  “Jack, for God’s sake, hurry. Kelsey’s inside and I don’t know if she’s dead or alive.” Mariah’s voice held all the despair of a mother on the edge. Her fingernails bit into his arm as she urged him to unlock the door.

  Clay came huffing up, gun still drawn. At that moment Jack managed to get the key into the padlock and remove it. He said a silent prayer for Kelsey, for Mariah, then opened the smokehouse door.

  The stench that wafted out the door forced Jack back a step, but not Mariah. She ran into the dark building and cried Kelsey’s name.

  Clay pulled a high-powered flashlight from his belt and shone it through the door. A graveyard. That’s what was inside. There was no floor, only earth that had been overturn
ed. The first body the flashlight beam caught was Missy Temple’s.

  Mariah screamed at the sight and that scream cut Jack to his core. She sagged against him even as she whispered Kelsey’s name.

  The beam of light moved to a pile of purses and items in the corner, and in the other corner it shone on Kelsey’s unmoving form. Jack’s heart plummeted to his feet.

  Mariah shot straight up and ran for her daughter. “Kelsey!” As she fell to her knees next to Kelsey, a deep moan came from the very depths of her, a moan filled with such despair it brought a raw anguish to Jack.

  “She’s alive!” Mariah grabbed her daughter into her arms. “She’s breathing.”

  The next few minutes were a blur to Jack. In those heart-stopping seconds immediately following the sound of the gunshot, both men had taken off running, leaving the patrol car back at Mariah’s.

  Clay threw him the keys to the car and Jack ran as he’d never run before, cursing himself and Clay for not having the forethought to drive to Finn’s, and praying that the extra time didn’t make the difference between life and death.

  He had no idea what condition Kelsey was in, had no idea what Finn might have done to her. All he knew was that seconds counted and so he ran like his life was at stake, and it was, for he knew if Kelsey died, all would be lost.

  By the time he got the car back to the smokehouse, Kelsey’s condition hadn’t changed. She remained unconscious, but breathing.

  They loaded her into the backseat with Mariah, and Jack held Tiny on his lap; then Clay drove like a madman to the hospital, where she was immediately taken into the emergency room. A nurse stopped Mariah from following and Jack led her to the chairs, where she collapsed.

  Somebody from the hospital took Tiny from Jack, promising to see that he got food and water. Clay was on his phone, calling in men and directing them to get lights and get over to Finn’s smokehouse. It was going to be a long night for everyone.

  Somebody gave Mariah a hospital gown and she pulled it on over her silky nightgown. She had never been so cold in her life. Her body trembled with it, and her heart shivered inside her as she prayed for her daughter.

  Thankfully Jack asked no questions. He simply sat beside her, his hand tightly enfolded around hers. She felt his strength through his warm skin, knew he prayed with her.

  She didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to use the energy it would take. She needed all her energy, all her thoughts, on Kelsey. Be okay. Please, be okay, she cried inside.

  Time passed, but it had no meaning. She had no idea if they sat there for two hours or two minutes. Clay disappeared and still she and Jack sat waiting.

  What had Finn done to her? Thankfully Kelsey hadn’t been beaten like Janice. Her face had been unmarked, her body without bruises. So why wouldn’t she wake up?

  “Mariah?” She looked up at Clay. “Can I ask you a few questions?”

  Jack’s hand tightened around hers as she nodded. “Okay.”

  “You want to tell me what happened tonight?”

  She told him everything, about Finn sneaking into the house, about her being knocked unconscious and waking up to find Kelsey gone. She told him how Tiny had led her to Finn’s and about the final confrontation.

  “He grabbed the gun from me. I thought he was going to kill me.” She leaned into Jack as he placed an arm around her shoulder. “I didn’t care about me, but if there was a chance he hadn’t hurt Kelsey yet, I wanted him to leave her alone. I yelled at him that Kelsey was his daughter.”

  Mariah squeezed her eyes closed, her head filled with the look on Finn’s face. For just a moment she’d seen the raging beast, the agonizing pain that lived inside him shining from his eyes.

  Then he’d smiled at her and in that single, heart-breaking moment he’d been the boy of her childhood, her best friend and her confidant. He’d still been smiling when he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

  She opened her eyes and gazed at Clay. “He shot himself. He could have killed both Kelsey and me out there. He could have buried our bodies in the smokehouse and nobody would have known, but there was still something good at the core of him. He knew he’d become a monster.”

  At that moment the doctor came out and all other thoughts fled her mind. “She’s fine,” he said before she could ask. “We ran some blood tests and found that she’s been given a shot of a tranquilizer. She’s still asleep, but her vitals are good and we expect her to start coming around in the next couple of hours.”

  “Thank God,” Jack murmured.

  The relief that flooded through Mariah was indescribable. “Can I see her?”

  “I’ve transferred her to room 106. Give it a few minutes and you can go on in.” With a reassuring smile the doctor turned on his heels and went back through the swinging doors and into the inner sanctum of the emergency room.

  “Between Janice and Kelsey I think you’re going to be seeing a lot of this place in the next few days,” Jack said.

  She nodded and leaned against the wall. “It’s over, isn’t it?”

  Jack nodded. “It’s over.”

  All the feelings that she’d been holding in since awakening to the sound of the stair creak cascaded through her and she began to weep.

  The tears came from a place so deep inside her they nearly crumpled her to the floor and would have if Jack hadn’t grabbed her and wrapped her up in his arms.

  He didn’t try to stop her from crying. He simply held her while the emotion crashed through her. Fear slowly fell away. She grieved for a friend lost but found relief in the monster found and destroyed.

  Finally there was nothing left except Jack’s embrace. The scent of his skin was sweetly familiar as she burrowed her face in the hollow of his neck. She raised her face to look at him and he smiled. “Come on, let’s go wait for Kelsey to wake up.”

  She nodded and together they walked down the hall to the hospital room where Kelsey was already in the bed. Mariah sat in a chair and took her daughter’s hand in hers. Jack sat in a chair nearby.

  “You don’t have to stay,” she said to him.

  “I’ll stay.”

  “It really isn’t necessary.” There was no point in both of them spending the rest of the night in the hospital.

  He smiled. “I’ll stay.”

  He did.

  Eventually he fell asleep in the chair. Mariah didn’t sleep. She sat next to Kelsey and breathed her scent and thought of all the wonderful things her daughter would accomplish in her lifetime. She stared at her daughter’s beautiful face for much of the night.

  She prayed that Kelsey hadn’t seen the carnage in the smokehouse, that Finn had knocked her out with the drug before he’d carried her there. She hoped her daughter remembered nothing of the night of terror.

  She must have finally fallen asleep, for when she opened her eyes, dawn’s light was creeping into the window. Kelsey looked peaceful in sleep, a faint snore rumbling from her with each breath.

  “Good morning,” Jack said softly as Mariah stretched with her arms overhead. He walked to where she sat and handed her a foam cup of coffee.

  “Oh, thank you. What would I do without you?”

  “Actually, we need to talk about that.” He pulled his chair up next to hers. “I know this might not be the time or the place, but I’m afraid if I don’t say a few things now, I might never get the chance again.” He drew a deep breath. “I love you, Mariah Sayers. I love you like I’ve never loved a woman in my life. If I have to pack my bags and follow you to Chicago, then that’s what I’ll do. I lost you when we were kids and I don’t want to lose you again.”

  “I’m not a fantasy, Jack. I can’t cook. I have nightmares. I’m a real grouch before my first cup of coffee in the morning,” she said.

  “Jeez, Mom, you never tell a guy all the bad things about you,” Kelsey said groggily as she opened her eyes.

  “Honey!” Mariah jumped up and grabbed Kelsey’s hand in hers. “How do you feel?”

  “Good. Hungry.
” Kelsey looked over Mariah’s shoulder at Jack. “She doesn’t get cranky that often and she makes a great boxed macaroni and cheese.”

  “You don’t have to sell me, Kelsey. I was sold on your mom a long time ago and nothing that’s happened has changed my mind. I’d like to ask her to marry me if it’s all right with you.”

  “I think it would be awesome,” Kelsey replied. “What do you think, Mom?”

  Mariah gazed at the two people she loved more than anyone else on the face of the earth. Did life get any better than this? What a miracle it was that love could heal old wounds, fill up a soul so completely. “I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

  Jack drew her into his arms. “Really?” His gaze held hers intently. She saw her future there, in the glorious green depths.

  “Really,” she replied half breathlessly.

  “Go ahead and kiss,” Kelsey said. “You both know you want to. This is so cool. Mom gets a husband and maybe now I can finally get a cell phone.”

  Jack laughed and lowered his mouth to Mariah’s. He tasted of passion and love, of laughter and, more than anything, her future.

  Epilogue

  “Mom, hurry up. People are going to start arriving and you aren’t even dressed yet,” Kelsey exclaimed. Tiny barked as if to punctuate Kelsey’s sentence.

  Mariah turned from the window and smiled at her daughter. “I’ll be right down. I just have to slip on my dress.”

  “Okay, but hurry.” As Kelsey ran down the stairs, Mariah turned back to look out the window and saw Jack sweeping off the sidewalk with a broom.

  She smiled as a gust of September air lifted his hair off his forehead and blew the pile of leaves he’d just swept back to the sidewalk. How she loved him.

  She tapped on the glass and he looked up at her, his features forming the smile that warmed her from her head to her toes. She waved, blew him a kiss and watched as he went back to work.