“We’ve got exigent circumstances to enter,” Charlie whispered, even as the garage door was still moving. He used the radio handset mounted on his shoulder to call for backup. “I’ve got a house key. You and I can cut around back. But my brother’s paranoid. He could have installed cameras around the entire perimeter of the house for all I know. If he sees us coming, we’d be putting that boy and his mother in serious jeopardy.”
Laurie thought about those drops of blood that Leo had seen near Marcy’s car. They were already in jeopardy. “You said you got a report of shots fired in the area. What if you knock on your brother’s door, just to see if he heard anything and make sure he’s okay? You could keep him occupied while the two of us enter the house from the back and find Johnny and Marcy.”
He looked up at the sky, thinking through her plan. “Yeah, that might work. Once the FBI and backup arrive, I can probably convince him to come out for the arrest. And if he tries to drive away, he’d have to wait for that garage door to open. I could shoot out a tire and then run for cover.” He pulled a set of keys from his pocket, slid one from the ring, and handed it to her. “There’s a deck around back and a set of French doors that’ll lead you to the kitchen. I’ll try to get him outside to talk to me, but no guarantees.”
Under cover of the woods, Laurie and Leo positioned themselves out of view of the front porch, then watched as Charlie walked toward the house. They heard a knock, followed by silence, followed by another set of knocks. “You home, Dan?” he yelled. “Got a call of some hunters shooting out here. Figured I’d stop by and say hi.”
A moment later, they heard his voice again, at a lower volume. Laurie couldn’t make out the words, but took it as a sign that Daniel Turner had opened his front door. Leo led the way to a wooden deck at the back of the house, his gun held at the ready.
Curtains were drawn inside the French doors that Charlie had described, so they could not see the home’s interior. As Leo stepped on a mat in front of the doors, the mat suddenly gave way, and Laurie’s father lurched sideways, one foot sinking beneath the decking. He grunted in pain and then bit his lower lip, fighting back a scream. She looked down to see the bottom of his calf locked in the steel jaws of a bear trap.
He tried to lift his ankle, but the metal trap was larger than the width of the deck boards that had been removed. Whether the booby trap had been intended for unwanted visitors or for Johnny if he tried to escape, it was now keeping her father from entering the house.
She reached down to see if she could figure out how to open the jaws. “Nothing’s budging.”
“He must have monkeyed with the release,” Leo whispered. “It’s the only way this makes sense as a trap.”
She reached for the door, but he grabbed her hand. “Not alone.”
“Dad, we don’t have time. We need to find them.”
He extended his right hand, offering her his gun. It had been a while since she’d gone to the range with him, but she knew how to fire this weapon if it came down to it.
“Don’t worry about me, Laurie. Just go!”
Laurie slipped the key in the French door and turned it slowly, leaving the key in the lock as she stepped inside.
* * *
The French door opened into a breakfast nook off the adjacent kitchen. The nook provided a clear view of the home’s dining area. Past the dining room, she saw a man standing at the open front door. A handgun was visible at the back of his waistband.
“Really, Charlie. I’ve got to go. I’ve been under the weather. Don’t want to get you sick by having you in.”
Daniel Turner didn’t even wait for his brother to say good-bye before closing the front door and bolting it shut. Seeing a door ajar on the opposite side of the kitchen, Laurie dashed toward it and stepped inside to hide. From her vantage point of what turned out to be a large pantry, she now had a partial view of the living room, where Marcy and Johnny were huddled together on the sofa.
Turner entered the room, his gun now in his hand. “You didn’t make a peep, but I better not find out you hatched some kind of plan while I was gone, or it will be the last decision you’ll ever make.”
Tears rolled down Johnny’s face, and Marcy’s eyes darted wildly between her son and the heavyset man pointing a gun in their direction. Blood was smeared across the right side of Marcy’s neck, and the yellow sweater balled in her hands was streaked brick-red.
“Please don’t hurt my mama,” Johnny wailed. “I’ll be good. I’ll stay with you.”
“But she’s not your mother, Danny. I told you that. Don’t you understand that yet? I’m your real father. I’m the one who was supposed to raise you, and she stole you from me.”
“That’s not true,” Johnny yelled. “You’re a liar. And you talk to yourself because you’re crazy.”
“You shut your mouth, little boy!”
When Johnny began to sob uncontrollably, Marcy jumped to her feet and stood defiantly in front of him, guarding him from the shots that could be fired at any second. Laurie thought she heard the sound of a door opening to her left, but she could not see far enough into the kitchen to know whether someone else had entered the house.
“He didn’t mean that,” Marcy said. “He’s seven years old, and he’s scared. Please, I am begging you… with my life. Do whatever you want to me, but please don’t hurt him. I’m the one you’re mad at. I’m the one who took your baby away from you. I had no idea, I promise.”
“Because Michelle lied—to me, to you, to everyone. How many lives did she ruin? I didn’t want to do what I did to her, but it was the only way I could get my son back. I had to make sure that no one would come looking for me when Danny disappeared. So we could get a fresh start… together.”
“And you still can. I lied when I said my husband was on his way here. No one else knows about you. It was supposed to be a closed adoption, but Michelle told me your name in complete confidence. I never told another person. Do you understand? Please. Just send Johnny upstairs, and you can do what you need to do. You don’t need to hurt this sweet little boy.”
“Mama, no!”
Johnny tried to push his mother out of the way. They were each trying to save the other from harm. Laurie knew she couldn’t wait here much longer. The situation was escalating too quickly.
She was about to crack the pantry door open farther when Charlie Turner stepped from a narrow hallway into the living room, his weapon drawn.
“Dan. You don’t want to do this.”
Laurie dropped to a crouch, pushed open the pantry door slowly, and got into position behind the kitchen island, where she’d have a direct shot at Daniel Turner if it came to that.
* * *
Dan. You don’t want to do this.
Daniel Turner blinked his eyes three times, wondering if he was having another hallucination. When did Charlie come inside the house? Hadn’t he been out on the porch?
“Is that really you?” He could hear the confusion in his own voice.
“Dan, you don’t want to hurt anyone else. I know you.”
“You don’t know me. Not anymore. You don’t know the things I’ve done.”
“I helped you after that trouble with Roseanne, and I’ll help you again,” Charlie promised.
“This is a lot worse,” Daniel said. “The two of them here. And Michelle. You don’t even know about Michelle.”
His head darted toward the sound of a voice from the kitchen. “Drop it!” A woman sprang upright from behind the kitchen island, pointing a gun directly at him.
Daniel had done his homework on the Buckleys and their entire family. He recognized the woman as Laurie Moran, the future sister-in-law with the TV show. Charlie apparently had not come here alone.
“We know about Michelle, too,” the woman said. “It’s over.”
“We’ll get you a good lawyer,” Charlie said pleadingly. That was his brother, always trying to help him. “You’re not responsible in the eyes of the law, Dan. It’s the head injury. The
frontal lobe damage. You don’t have control over your own actions, don’t you see? The doctors will lay it all out. We’ll get you help.”
Charlie loved him, but Daniel knew that their relationship had changed ever since that incident with Roseanne. Charlie now treated him less like a brother and more like a child who needed to be watched over or pitied.
You don’t have control over your own actions. He simply wasn’t the same man he used to be. He had days when he couldn’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality. And now it was clear he couldn’t even control his impulses. He certainly couldn’t take care of a child, but was he even a full human being anymore? What had he become?
Even though he had two guns pointed at him, Daniel could not take his eyes from Marcy Buckley. It was as if she had found a way to grow three sizes larger, trying to place herself between him and little Danny. And everything she had said about being the only one to know his identity was obviously a lie, but what a strange kind of lie it was. She had been trying to convince him to kill her and spare this boy who wasn’t even hers.
He thought about the last time he ever saw Roseanne, when he found out where she was living after the divorce and broke into the house to beg her to come home. The determination in her eyes and the desperation in her voice as she pleaded with him not to hurt Bella—Marcy Buckley, right now, was just the same.
He also thought about Michelle Carpenter’s expression when she realized that he was set on finding the baby she had given up. She had begged him not to go looking for him. Like Roseanne four years ago. Like Marcy Buckley now.
These were mothers willing to die for the children they loved.
She might not be related to him by blood, but this woman loved his son as much as any child could hope to be loved.
“Get up, Danny!” he ordered.
“No, no, no, no.” Marcy threw herself frantically across the boy’s body on the sofa. “Please, no!”
“Move!” he yelled. “Go outside. Right now.”
Both Marcy and the boy froze in confusion. “I’m talking to Johnny,” he said calmly, forcing himself to use the name given to his son by the Buckleys. “Stand up and go outside and wait. I promise you that your mother will be fine.”
Marcy rose to her feet and pulled Johnny to his feet, giving him a tight hug. “Do what he says, Johnny. For me. You’re so brave. I love you so much.”
“Listen to your mom,” Daniel said. “And remember one thing, Johnny. No matter what you hear, or what you learn, I wasn’t always like this. Something happened that changed me, which means you’ll never be like me, okay?”
Daniel could tell that the words only confused the boy, but he hoped that one day, he would understand. At least he wouldn’t be scarred by the sight of what was about to happen here.
“You’re going outside first, Johnny,” Charlie said. “And your mom and Auntie Laurie are going to join you real soon. I promise.”
His eyes full of worry, Johnny finally let go of his mother and began to walk backward slowly. Daniel felt his heart break once again as he watched his son walk out the door to begin the rest of his life.
* * *
Leo had not heard anything since Charlie had followed Laurie inside. And then just as he heard the unmistakable sound of Laurie’s voice yelling “Drop it!” he finally managed to spring the trap open, freeing his leg.
He reached for the knob of Daniel Turner’s back door but then stopped himself, wincing from the pain shooting through his ankle. He tried to place weight on his injured leg, but couldn’t do it. He didn’t have a gun, and he could barely walk. He suspected a broken bone. As desperately as he wanted to run to Laurie, he was terrified that his sudden appearance would make matters worse. He’d never forgive himself if he got Laurie killed by acting too rashly.
He was about to open the door when he heard another voice. “Help! Somebody… help!! Is anyone here?”
It was Johnny, and he was outside. Limping, Leo made his way to the side of the house, following the sound of Johnny’s voice. Spotting Johnny in the driveway, running toward the street, he let out a loud whistle. Johnny jumped in response to the sound. When his head turned in Leo’s direction, Leo waved for him to move toward the wood line.
When their paths finally met, Leo felt his eyes moisten as the boy grabbed him in the tightest hug imaginable.
“My mom.” His words were frantic, his breath warm against Leo’s face. “She’s in there with the bad man. And Aunt Laurie, too. And another policeman.”
“Shhh. We’re not going to let anything happen to your mom, okay? And your daddy got here, too. Let’s go find him.” Laurie had shared their exact location with Andrew via her cell phone when they parked the car, and Andrew was convinced his years as a Boy Scout would help him navigate his way through the woods from there. “He’s going to be so happy to see you.”
Leo took Johnny’s hand to lead him away from the house. Just as he spotted Andrew heading toward them, they heard the sound of a single gunshot boom across the treetops.
* * *
The last nine days had felt like years, but the nightmare ended quickly. There would be no Day Ten of their terror.
Marcy ran out the front door within seconds of the gunshot. Charlie Turner yelled at Laurie to follow her. “Go!” he ordered.
Marcy’s voice sounded almost primal as she called out for her son.
“Johnny!! Where are you? Johnny! Mama’s here now. It’s safe to come out—I promise!”
“We’re here!” Johnny’s voice echoed across the treetops.
Laurie watched as Johnny and his father emerged from the woods moments later. Marcy fell to her knees on the dirt path, pulling her son tightly against her. Andrew stroked Johnny’s hair, reassuring him that they were all going to be okay. Laurie felt a knot in her throat as she watched tears of joy stream down their faces. She was about to head for the back of the house to check on her father when he, too, stepped into the clearing. He was limping, but his face was overcome with relief when he made eye contact with Laurie. She nodded in his direction, reassuring him that the family was finally out of danger.
The Turner family’s nightmare had a very different ending. Once he had ordered Johnny to leave the house, Daniel Turner had raised his gun toward Marcy and announced he was going to pull the trigger, giving the chief of police no choice. When the FBI arrived, they found Charlie cradling his younger brother’s body, praying that he would finally have peace.
Chapter 71
Five Weeks Later
Laurie heard a knock at the door. “Come on in!”
Even though today’s gathering was a small one, she’d had what felt like a constant parade of visitors. She smiled at the sight of her father behind her in the mirror.
“You look happy,” she said. The limp he’d had for weeks was unnoticeable today. His injuries from Daniel Turner’s bear trap had led to swelling and bruising, but no broken bones.
“Of course I do. Today’s the happiest day of all.”
“Yes, but I suspect it has something to do with that phone call you had to take.”
“Work talk can wait,” he said.
“Come on. Tell me.”
“Fine, you dragged it out of me. The plan worked. Gunther admitted everything.” As planned, Mason Rollins’s cooperation had been enough to persuade Toby Carver to do the same. He had made a surprise visit to Gunther’s prison that morning and gotten him to implicate himself in the murders of both Lou Finney and Clarissa DeSanto. “They captured the entire conversation on tape at the prison.”
“I’m so happy your name got cleared, Dad.”
“More important, Gunther will be in prison for the rest of his life. The DA is going to reduce the charges against Summer because of the help she provided in the investigation.”
The door opened again, and Grace and Charlotte tumbled in, champagne glasses in hand.
“Leo, what are you doing in here?” Charlotte asked.
“No boys allowed!” Grac
e teased.
“That only applies to the groom, not the father of the bride. My daughter and I were discussing my very important job of walking her down the aisle.”
“Speaking of which, it’s officially time, Laurie,” Charlotte said. “You ready?”
“I’ve never been more ready for anything.”
* * *
They had rescheduled the wedding only after Marcy and Andrew assured them that their entire family was ready. Johnny now had a basic understanding of the lives of his biological parents and how they had ended. Roseanne Robinson and Sandra Carpenter had even volunteered to meet with him when he was older so he could learn more about Michelle and Daniel before things had gone wrong for them.
Marcy and Andrew knew he’d have other questions and concerns as he grew and matured, but for the time being, he was their happy boy again.
Today, Johnny was also the ring bearer, leading his sisters, the flower girls, down the aisle to where Alex waited, with Andrew by his side. On the other side of the priest stood Timmy, ready to serve as Laurie’s untraditional best man.
Also bucking tradition, the string quartet played “At Last” by Etta James for their small procession. Ramon, Grace, Jerry, and Charlotte were the only guests besides family. Grace fanned her eyes with perfectly manicured hands, trying not to cry.
As Laurie took her place at the altar, she gazed up and smiled at Alex. He looked perfect. Everything was perfect.
“You okay?” he whispered. She had never seen him so content.
She nodded. Perfect, except she knew she would never make it through the vows without shedding some tears of her own.
As she turned to make sure her father had taken his seat, she had an image of Greg sitting next to him. He was smiling. He was happy for her.
“Let’s do this,” she said.
Piece of My Heart Page 25
