They were nearing the side trail to the old cabin. Spurred by fear, Laura sprinted to join her mother.
“Go to the cabin,” she directed, panting, when she had her mother’s attention. Fay’s flushed face didn’t look good. She wouldn’t be able to keep this up very long. “You know where the trail is, but he won’t see it,” continued Laura. “I’ll join you as soon as I lose him.”
She didn’t think she could outrun Adam, even without Fay to slow her down. He had run three marathons so far this year. She might outsprint him, but he could outlast her. Still, she had to get Fay out of danger, and this was the only idea she had.
Fay glanced back at her daughter, looking as if she wanted to say something, but she was breathing too hard to spare the breath. They rounded a curve and suddenly the side trail was there. Laura pushed her mother onto it, with a harsh, whispered, “Run!” Then she put on a burst of speed, catching up branches as she passed to make them swing and attract Adam’s attention.
She looked back to make sure Fay was out of sight. To her horror, she saw her mother standing behind a tree by the curve of the trail, a sturdy branch held like a club in both hands.
“No!” she gasped, stumbling to a stop. Just then, Adam rounded the curve. He held the pistol in one relaxed hand and ran loosely, easily, as if he could do this all day.
Fay stepped out from behind the pine tree, startling him. She swung the branch and Adam reflexively raised the hand holding the pistol to deflect the blow just as his free hand reached out to grab the branch. A shot rang out and Fay spun away in a graceful pirouette, only to crumple to the ground.
“No!” screamed Laura, breaking into a run. “Mom!”
She had time to glimpse Adam’s stricken expression, and then a madman came barreling out of the trees, roaring at the top of his lungs. In the split second it took Laura to recognize Mack, Adam swung the branch he was now holding in a wide arc that ended in a sickening crack against the side of Mack’s head.
Momentum carried Laura past the terror. She was now so close that Adam couldn’t have missed, but he was watching Mack, who was trying to get up despite the blood pouring from his scalp. Laura ran past her mother’s crumpled body, not daring to look, and launched herself at Adam’s back.
He had enough warning to whirl around and raise his arms, but he couldn’t aim and Laura landed with her full weight against him. The pistol flew out of his hand as he lurched back, mouth parted in a grimace. Laura shrieked like a banshee, letting loose the fear and rage that had accumulated since the day her car blew up. She raised her hands to claw at his face, lusting for the feel of his flesh ripping under her nails.
He took one look at her expression and swung out wildly with his fist. Laura had enough presence of mind to turn her face and avoid a broken nose, but his fist landed on her right cheekbone, stunning her with pain. She reeled back and slipped on a rock made slick by a thin layer of ice.
Her legs swept out from under her and she twisted to land on her good side. As she did, her foot hooked between Adam’s legs, sending him stumbling back, his arms waving wildly in an effort to retain his balance.
The landing knocked the breath out of her, but she scrambled to her feet within seconds, ready to attack again. She wheeled toward him, hands out to ward off the blows.
He wasn’t there.
She turned quickly, certain he had circled behind her, but there was no one there. She glanced up and down the trail. No one. Finally, reluctantly, she stepped to the cliff’s edge and looked down.
The sun had cleared the ridge of mountains and light flooded the river valley in rich hues of gold and pink, revealing Adam sprawled on his back on a stone outcropping, twenty feet from the top of the cliff. His leg was obviously broken, and his head was tucked into his shoulder, as if he had fallen asleep.
CHAPTER TEN
“How is he?” asked Fay.
Laura looked up from bandaging Mack’s bloody head to find her mother staring down at them. Her face was gray and she cradled her injured arm in the sling Laura had fashioned from the first aid supplies. The bullet was still lodged in Fay’s upper arm, and Laura suspected the bone was broken, but aside from letting Laura bandage it, Fay was being stubborn about accepting help.
“For Christ’s sake, Mom—at least sit down!” Laura stood up, took her mother by the arm and gently pushed her down to sit against the tree, next to Mack.
“He is fine,” said Mack pointedly. His face was covered in drying blood, but underneath it, he was pale. Laura crouched next to him and finished tying the bandage as best she could. Then she examined the result. It looked as if someone wearing thick mittens had done the job. Not bad, considering how much she was shaking.
“We have to get you two to a hospital,” she said. As instructed by Fay, she studied Mack’s eyes for uneven pupil dilation. Both blue eyes stared back evenly, and she patted his stubbled cheek. Flakes of blood drifted off.
“First we have to see if your friend Adam is alive,” said Fay.
Laura sat back on her heels and sighed. Her own shoulder burned with pain. She was sure it had started bleeding again but she couldn’t spare the time to look. She had run back to the house for the first aid kit—nowhere near as elaborate as Mack’s, but sufficient—and run back. Now she felt lightheaded and weak. She couldn’t decide if she needed a stiff drink or a steak.
She wanted to call the police, but it would take half an hour for them to get here, longer if they couldn’t find the road right away. The same for the ambulance. It would be faster if she drove Mack and Fay to the hospital and called the police from town.
Stifling a groan, she pushed herself upright. “Let’s go. You both need more help than I can give you.”
“We have to see if he’s alive,” repeated Fay firmly.
Anger rushed through Laura, lending her unexpected strength.
“That son of a bitch tried to kill us,” she said bitterly. “I don’t care if he’s dead or alive.”
Fay only looked more tired. “I do.”
Mack struggled to his feet. “I’ll go down,” he said. “We can’t leave him there—the ravens will get to him.”
“None of us is in any shape to haul him up!” snapped Laura.
She took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to steady herself against the picture Mack had planted in her mind. Then she closed her eyes in defeat. They were right. They had to know if Adam was dead or alive. Her impulse was to leave him there to rot, but that would make her no better than the people Johnny Tucker hired.
If Adam was alive, someone would have to stay with him. If he was dead…
“Damn,” she muttered. “I’ll climb down.”
Mack opened his mouth to argue and she cut him off. “You were hit over the head, Mack. Do you honestly think I’d let you climb down a cliff?”
“What about you?” he retorted. “You’ve got a bum shoulder—you’re in no shape either.”
“Trust me,” she said grimly. “I can climb down and back.” She had very little patience for male ego right now.
“Let her,” said Fay. She looked up at the two of them from her spot at the base of the tree, and Laura realized she would have to hurry. Her mother looked worse now than a few minutes ago.
“She knows what she’s doing, Mack,” continued Fay. “She’s had a lot of experience.”
Laura noted the vote of confidence wryly. “Did you get rid of Dad’s climbing equipment?” she asked.
Fay shook her head. “No, it’s still in the garage.” She told Laura exactly where to find it.
“Stay away from the edge of the cliff, both of you,” warned Laura, and for the third time that morning, she ran to the house. She didn’t even bother holding her arm this time, riding out the pain that had become her constant companion. She wondered if her shoulder would impede her climb, then decided to worry about it later. First she had to find the equipment.
The sun felt wonderful on her face and she made a mental note to bring back blankets
for her mother and Mack. Warmth was necessary to ward off shock.
As she ran, she looked down at the river coursing turbulently a hundred feet below her. She had climbed up and down this particular cliff dozens of times with her father, practicing rappelling techniques. A sore shoulder shouldn’t hamper her, even if it had been years since she last put on a harness.
For the first time since Adam appeared so suddenly on her mother’s porch, tension ebbed from Laura’s muscles. She was alive. Her mother was alive, and so was Mack. They were all right.
Then, at her body’s urgent warning, she stepped off the trail and threw up. She retched dryly until her sides ached. By the time she finally stopped, she was trembling with reaction.
When she arrived at the house, she grabbed a couple of blankets and some water. She didn’t look around the house. She didn’t want to see evidence of Adam’s presence in her home.
In the garage she found the climbing equipment stored neatly in a labeled box and unceremoniously dumped it onto the cement floor. She picked through the contents, pulling out a sling and a couple of snap links which she stuffed into her jeans pockets.
She found a multi-colored nylon rope looped over a peg on the wall. Pulling it off, she stuck her head through the loop and settled the rope diagonally against shoulder and hip. As she gathered up the blankets and bottle, she realized she hadn’t even considered calling an ambulance for Adam. He was dead, she was sure of it.
But what if he wasn’t? She couldn’t stay with him until an ambulance came…She had to get Fay and Mack to the hospital as soon as possible. Her mother would resist leaving if she thought Adam needed help and Laura didn’t want to force a wounded, recalcitrant Fay to leave. Better to climb down, if only to humor Fay.
And if she found Adam still breathing? She would lie. She wasn’t going to risk losing Fay for Adam.
Then the memory of their one kiss imposed itself, and she almost snarled in frustration. She marched back to the house, where she dialed the emergency number and in short, succinct sentences told the startled operator exactly where to find Adam. She even gave detailed directions, with no hope that they would help the ambulance driver arrive faster. She hung up, cutting off the operator’s request for more information.
Mack stood up as soon as he saw her, and after taking a blanket from her, he tucked it around Fay. He used the other one to cradle her head against the tree. Then he held the water bottle to Fay’s mouth while she drank. Fay rewarded him with a weak smile, and Laura felt her heart contract. Ten minutes. That’s all she would take.
Without a word she removed the rope, the sling and the snap links, setting them carefully on the ground at her feet. Casting around, she finally decided on the stump of a black spruce tree that had been felled by lightning when she was a child. It was a bit far from the edge of the cliff, but she thought the rope would be long enough. When Mack saw the stump she had chosen, he checked to make sure he couldn’t topple it. It didn’t budge.
Laura found the two ends of the rope and from there the center. This she wrapped around the stump. Then she threaded one end of the rope through the sling, pulling the sling close to the stump. Holding the rope taut and even, she flung the ends over the edge of the cliff.
The colored rope pooled on the outcropping, contrasting sharply with the rusty rock. She dragged her gaze away from the sprawled body of her former boss and walked back to where she had left the sling. This she slipped through the snap link, centering it.
Aware of her mother’s worried gaze, Laura stepped into the two loops and pulled the snap link up, adjusting the sling around her thighs. When she was comfortable, she formed a loop around her right thigh with the right hand rope, which was already threaded through the sling. This rope would act as a brake as she rappelled down. The left rope would steady her as she made her way down the cliff.
Without giving herself time to think, she walked backward toward the cliff.
“Wait a minute,” objected Mack, putting a hand on her good arm to stop her. “Are you crazy? You’ll end up just like him!” He nodded at Adam. “At least tie the rope around yourself!”
Laura raised an eyebrow in amusement and even Fay smiled faintly. It did look dangerous to the uninitiated, but it was a fast, safe way to descend.
She freed one hand. “You’re a nice man, Emmett,” she said, patting his shoulder. “And I’m going to do my very best to make this whole mess up to you. But we’re wasting time.”
Mack looked frustrated, but he stepped back. She studied his face a moment longer. He looked drawn and tense. He probably had the grandfather of all headaches.
With both of them watching her, she didn’t dare show her trepidation, but she had to steel herself for that first step off the cliff. It sloped sharply down to the water, with lots of crevices and outcroppings, but there was a relatively smooth way down and it was only twenty feet. She wished it hadn’t been five years since she’d done any climbing.
With her left hand loose around the rope, she stepped off the cliff.
The moment she was in motion, her confidence returned. Her legs flexed slightly to absorb the shock. Her right hand controlled the speed of descent with minimal strength and she found she could ignore the pain in her left shoulder as she used the rope to steady herself. Within seconds she landed on the outcropping and freed herself from the sling.
Just like riding a bicycle.
The outcropping was fairly large, one of many studding the cliff as erosion did its uneven work. It was made out of clay and rock, and every year the river and the wind wore it down a bit more.
She looked up. There, framed by the trees, was Mack, staring down at her. He looked impressed. Standing behind him was Fay. She looked sick.
“Mother,” said Laura calmly. “If you don’t sit down right now, I will come back up and make you.”
Mack looked around, saw Fay and led her away.
Finally Laura turned to Adam. He lay only a few feet away, unnaturally still. The moment she looked at him, she knew he was dead. Just as an empty house held a peculiar silence, so did an empty body. Nevertheless, she knelt by his side and felt for a pulse in his carotid artery. Nothing. Then she noticed the side of his head, where it rested on the outcropping, was oddly flat. She stood up quickly.
“He’s dead,” she called up to Mack, who had reappeared. She looked at the body again. In spite of her anger at Adam, his death called up an echo of grief. She had liked him.
“Send down a blanket,” she told Mack.
He nodded and pulled up the rope. He tied one end around a blanket. “Stand back,” he said and tossed it down. It landed cleanly at her feet. Laura untied the woolen blanket and held it against her chest. She would have to tuck it under him, at the very least.
She had to straighten his legs and almost cried out when she felt the bones in his broken leg shift against each other. Swallowing her horror, she shrouded the body as best she could.
When she was finished, she stood up and walked the few feet to the edge of the outcropping. She stared down the river valley for a long minute, trying to control her breathing. The sun glinted off the water and turned the sides of the cliffs a rich terra cotta. Two pintail ducks winged their way up the river, their feathers shimmering like emeralds. The breeze brought the scent of wood smoke. The whole world seemed peaceful.
“Laura,” called Mack. “It’s time to go.”
She looked over her shoulder at him and nodded. “Right.” With a last glance at Adam’s body she reached for the rope.
“Do you want me to tie the rope around the stump?” asked Mack.
Laura examined the path she would take up the cliff. Crevices seamed the cliff like long skinny fingers splayed against a wall. Poplar bushes and the odd, crazy-angled evergreen dotted the numerous outcroppings. It would be easy enough to walk up the cliff, but she didn’t want to take a chance with her shoulder.
“Yes,” she called up. He nodded and disappeared, only to return moments later.
> “Okay,” he said. “You can come up.”
With a nod she retrieved the sling and slung it over her shoulders. She stuffed the clip into her pocket.
“Don’t pull,” she called up to him. “It’s easier if I do it myself.”
It wasn’t as easy as it looked. Or maybe it would have been if she hadn’t been exhausted. Her whole body hurt and her shoulder felt as if it were on fire.
It’s only twenty feet, she reminded herself as she climbed from one outcropping to another.
“Are you all right?”
She spared a look up and saw Mack staring down at her with a worried expression on his face.
“I’m fine,” she lied.
Only fifteen feet to go.
Laura reached for a stunted pine growing out of a small outcropping. The tree leaned into the cliff, forming a deep shadow. As she pulled herself up, she realized the shadow was actually caused by a deep space, a rift between the outcropping and the cliff wall.
The pine tree abruptly gave way under her weight. She grunted with surprise, throwing herself forward to keep from tumbling down the cliff. The tree brushed past her, showering her with clumps of soil and sharp needles. Her shoulder hit the cliff wall, tearing a gasp of pain from her, and she lost her balance, half-sliding into the rift. A sudden horror of getting stuck in the small dark space immediately had her scrabbling for a handhold, anything to help push her out of the rift. Her sleeve caught on something. With an adrenalin-fueled spurt of energy she jerked her upper body out of the rift, freeing her arm.
Something was still caught on her sleeve. She looked down and to her horror saw white bony fingers caught in the folds of her sleeve. With a yelp of fear she yanked her arm away and almost fell off the outcropping when the rest of the skeleton jerked forward in response to her tug.
A skull stared back at her from the other side of death.
“Jesus!” She flailed at the thing with both hands. Shreds of tattered plaid cloth flapped back at her, barely covering the bony chest. She glimpsed a big buckle on a leather belt threaded through the remnants of blue jeans draped around bony hips. Then her fingers caught on something and she looked down, terrified she would find them entangled in hair. But it was only a stone pendant on a leather thong, looped around her fingers. She pulled and it came away, crumbling the fragile neck bones. The skull rolled down the chest with a clatter and she screamed, shoving the entire bony horror away from her. It fell back into the rift, but not before she glimpsed the star-shaped crack on the back of the skull. She pulled herself away, her legs wobbly, her heart pounding with horror.
On Her Trail Page 11
