“How did he know Livy—”
Pete rubbed his thumb and finger together. “Money buys information. All these years, Ethan had someone in the archive department keeping tabs on different cases. Of course, your father’s was the only one he was concerned about.” He stared at her, his eyes softening. “I’ve actually been protecting you, Taylor. Now we can be together.”
She fought to keep from screaming. Where was Livy? “Did Scott help you?”
“You’re better than that, Taylor.” He puffed out his chest, tapping it with his free hand. “Or maybe I’m the one who’s better—if you actually believed that drunken kid could take those photos without getting caught. And the poem . . . that was a stroke of sheer genius. Scott bragged about his big brother, showed me a story he’d published. And you really should have better security on your email. You made it so easy.”
“No, you’re just smarter than I am.”
His eyes hardened and he grabbed her hair, yanking her face close to his mouth. He laid the gun against her neck.
Her mother screamed.
“Don’t try to snow me now.” His whisper rasped against her ear. “Ethan believed he was smarter than me too. See where it got him.”
She shuddered as he stroked her cheek with the gun.
“Do you remember laughing at me, Taylor? I asked you to go to the school dance—you thought it was so funny, you and your friends.”
“Pete, I never . . .” A memory flashed through her mind. She stood in the school cafeteria with Robyn and Livy . . . Pete, red-faced and stammering, asking her to go to the sophomore dance. She had laughed in his face. The memory made her sick. “I was a snotty fifteen-year-old. I’m so sorry . . . don’t do this—”
“Don’t do this.” He altered his voice to sound feminine, frightened. “You sound just like Beth Coleman. By the way, I loved the look on your face when you read my note at the crime scene.”
Taylor studied his features, and an image floated to her mind. Longer hair, camouflage jacket, and pants . . . the guy with search and rescue. “You were there,” she whispered.
The sweet wail of sirens reached her ears, and Pete jerked his head up.
Livy understood!
“Come on! You’re coming with me.” Pete grabbed her by the arm, yanking her up. “You too, Ms. Martin.”
He pulled her toward the tunnel door, past Jonathan’s body, where a pool of blood seeped onto the concrete floor. Was he moving?
Pete motioned with the gun for her mother to open the door.
“No! I’m not going in the tunnels.” Taylor jerked away from his grasp and shoved him.
Suddenly, Jonathan rose to his knees, bellowing and tackling Pete’s legs. He kicked free and turned, firing his gun.
The bullet missed, and Jonathan lunged for Pete, knocking him to the floor.
“Come on!” Taylor pulled her mom toward the stairs.
“No! We’ll never make it up the stairs. He’ll catch us.” Her mom grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the tunnel. “This way.”
The tunnel door.
No.
She couldn’t.
The darkness would swallow her.
Her mother pushed her through the entrance. “Taylor, trust me. I know the way.” She shoved the door shut, cutting off all light. Stagnant air touched Taylor’s cheek as darkness shrouded her. Her feet refused to move. Her chest tightened with the rapid-fire beat of her heart. She thought it would explode.
Breathe.
She couldn’t. The tunnel smelled like a freshly turned grave.
“Taylor.”
She almost jumped out of her skin.
“I’m going to bar the door, and then I’m going to take your hand, and we’re going to walk out of here through the caves.”
The sound of wood sliding on wood grated against her ears.
“I . . . I can’t.” Just like Taylor couldn’t move the night Sheriff Atkins almost died. Maybe if she touched the wall. She reached out, touching the slimy dirt, and jerked her hand back.
The door rattled.
Taylor sucked in her breath.
“Pete’s trying to get it open,” Mom whispered.
A bullet thudded into the wood.
Another.
Then quiet . . . until a dull thump shook the door. Pete must have found one of Jonathan’s two by fours.
She’d heard the sirens. Where were Livy and Nick? Nick. Had he come for her?
“Take my hand.” Her mother’s fingers locked around Taylor’s. “We have to get past where the tunnels cross before he gets the door down. Even if he knows the tunnels, he won’t know which way we went. Trust me, Taylor.”
If it wasn’t so dark . . . if only she could see a spark of light.
“I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness . . .”
God?
Yeah, using her mom’s voice.
Her mom squeezed her hand. “I know you thought God didn’t care, but Taylor, he protected you from Ethan all these years. He hasn’t brought you this far to let you die. Come on. We have to get farther into the tunnels.”
She tried, but she couldn’t move. It was like chains held her to the floor.
Suddenly her mom grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “You listen to me, Taylor Martin. I want you to take my hand and come with me. Or we will both die right here.”
A thud punctuated her mom’s words, and Taylor jerked.
“Come on!” Mom tugged her hand.
Taylor licked her parched lips. Then clasping her mother’s hand, she took a step in the pitch-black darkness.
38
That’s gunfire!” Nick leaped from the trailer. Livy and Ben followed.
Another shot echoed.
“It’s coming from Oak Grove.”
Nick ignored the SUV and ran the short distance to the house. Ben and Livy caught up with him as he took the porch steps two at a time.
“Wait,” Ben yelled. “You can’t go in there.”
“The woman I love is here somewhere. You’re not keeping me out.”
The sheriff eyed him. “Stay out of the way, then.”
Nick followed as they went in, sweeping the house. Clean. Livy eased down the basement steps with Ben and Nick on her heels.
“I see a body,” Livy said. She knelt beside it. “Ethan. He’s dead.”
“Jonathan’s over here. Looks like he’s been shot too.” Ben felt for a pulse and spoke into his shoulder mic. “Need an ambulance at Oak Grove.” He looked at Livy. “He’s hanging on. Barely.”
“They’re in the tunnels.” Nick pointed to the battered door. “Where do they end?”
“Ben, you know these tunnels,” Livy said. “What do we need to do?”
“Only two of the tunnels are still functional. They both end at the caves by the bluffs.” Ben held out his hand to Livy. “Nick and I will cover the caves. You take this end. And be careful.”
“Taylor!” Pete’s voice echoed down the tunnels. “You can’t escape me.”
He’d gotten through the door. Taylor looked over her shoulder. A thin light glowed behind them. He had a flashlight.
“We should almost be to the cross tunnel.”
“How do you know?”
“I know the tunnels like the back of my hand. I always counted how many steps I took—I had a flashlight then, but I was scared it’d go out and I wouldn’t be able to get back.”
Taylor stumbled and fell forward, losing her mother’s hand. Her knee hit the hard dirt. The darkness pressed in like a pillow, smothering her. She clawed the dirt.
“Taylor, where are you?”
The whispered words calmed her racing mind. “On the floor,” she whispered back.
A hand touched her shoulder, rubbing it. “You’re okay. Get up. We’re almost there.”
Taylor’s hand raked over something cold and hard and round. “Wait! I found something.”
She ignored the faint light as it drew nearer and dug dirt away f
rom the cylinder until she wrapped her fingers around a pipe. She pulled, and it popped out of the ground.
“Come on, Taylor,” her mom whispered. “He’s getting closer.”
She scrambled up, holding the pipe, and grabbed her mom’s hand. Her mom pulled her inside another tunnel. “We’re safe. We can get to the lake from here.”
She hoped her mom knew what she was talking about. Taylor glanced from where they’d come. The faint light grew brighter.
Mom gasped.
Taylor bumped into her mom. “What is it?”
“I hear you . . .” Pete’s taunting voice echoed in the darkness.
“The tunnel. It’s blocked. We can’t go any farther.”
Her hope plummeted.
“You can’t run, Taylor. I’ll find you.”
Not without a fight. She pulled her mom close. “When I divert his attention, go!”
“I can’t leave you.”
“You have to. I can reason with him, but not if I’m afraid he’s going to kill you.”
Without waiting for an answer, she gripped the pipe and crept back to the cross path. He was almost there . . .
“Taylor! Are you in here?” Livy’s voice echoed through the tunnel.
Pete’s light swung around.
Now! Taylor rushed toward the light, swinging the pipe.
She connected.
Pete yelled. The light flew to the floor.
“We’re here!” Taylor screamed. “Go, Mom!”
She swung the pipe again.
He grabbed it, pulling her off balance. “I have you now.”
Once again she felt the cold steel barrel of his gun against her neck.
39
Nick brushed cobwebs from his face, and using the flashlight he’d found in Ben’s pickup, he shined light around the tunnel wall. The sheriff had told him to wait for his deputies, but as soon as Ben disappeared into the tunnels, Nick had followed. Ahead the passage narrowed and became lower. He stooped and crept through the shaft, his ears straining to hear Taylor’s voice . . . anything.
A path intersected the one he was on, and Nick hesitated. Keep going or take this path? Ben had said there were half a dozen tunnels crisscrossing to the caves, most of them blocked.
Footsteps. Someone was coming his way. He flicked his light off. The sound grew closer. The figure was so slight, he almost missed it. Certainly wasn’t Connelly. “Taylor?” he whispered, his voice carrying in the damp air.
The woman yelped, and Nick shined the light on her. “Allison?”
“Nick!” She fell into his arms, sobbing. “You have to save her.”
“Where is she?”
“At the end of this tunnel. At least five minutes away. Is anyone with you?”
“Ben is in one of the other tunnels.” He held her at arm’s length. “Go on to the cave entrance. Ben’s deputies should be here any minute.”
“No! I’m going with you.”
“I need you to tell the deputies which way to come. Now go!”
Nick gently shoved her in the direction of the cave. “I’ll find her, Allison. Don’t worry.”
If only he had some way to communicate with Ben. He shined his light on his cell. No service. Nick kept his flashlight on and aimed at the tunnel floor and crept forward until he estimated three minutes had passed, then he flicked it off. He didn’t want to give his position away. His progress slowed in the dark as he felt his way along the slick wall.
Voices reached him. A man’s voice . . . a woman’s . . . didn’t sound like Taylor. He stumbled and almost fell, stirring up musty spores on the tunnel floor.
“Let her go, Pete.”
Livy. Relief swept over him. At least he didn’t have to be the Lone Ranger.
“You come one step closer, and I’ll blow her head off.”
Not good. Pete sounded panicky. It wouldn’t take much for him to follow through on his threat. Nick assessed the situation. Taylor was in another tunnel, one that intersected Nick’s. Be nearby, Ben. Nick eased toward the voices. Finally, a faint light glowed to his left.
“You do, and you won’t leave here alive, Pete.”
“Don’t make me do it, then. I don’t have anything to lose.”
Nick dropped to his knees and crawled until the tunnels crossed. He stuck his head around the corner, and his heart leaped in his throat.
Livy’s flashlight illuminated Pete and Taylor’s silhouette.
Pete held a gun to Taylor’s head.
40
Taylor’s ankle throbbed where she’d twisted it when she attacked Pete. She shifted her weight, and Pete tightened his choke hold on her. At least with Livy’s light, she wasn’t trapped in darkness.
“Pete, I have a bottle of water here,” Livy yelled.
“Keep your water.” He stepped back, pulling Taylor with him. His feet stirred the ground, and the sour odor filled her nostrils. Along with another faint scent . . . fresh, like sunshine. Like Nick.
She didn’t breathe. Nick was here. He’d come for her.
“Maybe Taylor would like a drink.” Livy’s voice had an edge to it.
“Forget the water!” Pete waved the gun, then pressed the barrel against her cheek again. “And get me that helicopter!”
Do it again, Livy. Make him mad. Taylor prepared herself, mentally picturing Pete’s most vulnerable spot. If he moved that gun just once more . . .
“Just calm down, Pete.”
He slid the gun up the side of her head, then jerked it in the air and fired. “Don’t tell me what to do. You got five—”
Taylor rammed her right elbow in his Adam’s apple. Pete shrieked and bent over, holding his throat. She jabbed him again, this time aiming for his nose. Something crashed into them from behind, and the gun dropped to the floor.
“Run, Taylor!”
Nick.
Pete scrambled for the gun. Taylor lunged for him as Nick landed on Pete’s back.
Livy kicked the gun out of his reach. “You’re under arrest, Pete Connelly. On your face, hands behind your back. Now!”
Taylor fell into Nick’s arms, and he crushed her against his chest. She felt the pounding beat of his heart as she clung to him.
He kissed the top of her head. “Do you think you’re done scaring the life out of me?”
Daylight never looked so good. Taylor braced her back against a post as she and her mother waited on the porch at Oak Grove. Paramedics had wrapped her foot and dressed the scratches she’d gotten in the scuffle. Nick had walked out under the tall trees to call the hospital and check on Scott. Pete sat handcuffed in the backseat of a patrol car, his expression alternating between hatred and resignation.
Her mom slipped her arm around Taylor’s waist and heaved a sigh. “It’s over.”
“Yes. It’s over.” Taylor leaned into the embrace. Beyond the patrol car, an ambulance carrying Ethan’s body drove slowly away. “No more nightmares.”
But now they had to deal with the aftermath. Her dad, dead all these years. But for Taylor, and her mother as well, the loss was fresh and painful. She felt her mom shudder.
“Your father . . .” Her voice broke, and she cried silently. Taylor cried with her.
“I always believed he’d walk through the door one day, that he would come back,” her mom said through her tears. “But that’s never going to happen now.”
“I know.” Taylor wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “But at least we can grieve for him.”
“I feel so bad for the anger I’ve harbored. I should have known he would never leave us, but I just never believed he was dead. I thought if he was, I would know it in my heart.”
“I know. I did too.” Taylor closed her eyes. She’d wasted so many years believing her father had rejected her. At least that weight was gone. “It’s in the past. We have to put it behind us and move forward.”
Mom smiled through her tears. “Yes. I think we can now.”
Taylor wrapped her arms around her mother. Memories of her d
ad flooded her mind. Memories she could embrace now. She pulled away and wiped her cheek with a tissue from her mom. “Do you think Jonathan will make it?”
Her mom dabbed her eyes as well. “I asked Ben how bad his injuries were while they were wrapping your foot. It doesn’t look good. I’m afraid he won’t have the will to live. So many mistakes . . . but we’d both be dead if he hadn’t . . .”
“I know.” Taylor stared at the ground. She’d loved her uncle all her life, and she couldn’t imagine their lives without him in it. But after what she’d learned . . . she simply had to focus on the fact that he’d tried to save them. “I hope he makes it.”
Her mom squeezed Taylor’s hand again. “I’m so proud of you. You’re good at this police stuff.” She took a deep breath. “You were born to do it. Doesn’t mean I won’t worry, but I had no right to ask you to stop.”
“And I was wrong as well,” Nick said.
Taylor looked up. She hadn’t heard him approach. His tender smile hooked into her heart, anchoring it. Otherwise, she was sure it would leap out of her chest.
Mom’s cell phone rang, and she glanced at it and sighed. “It’s your brother. I’d hoped to tell him before he heard about this from someone else.”
Her mom walked away from them, her cell phone pressed to her ear. Taylor looked up. Nick’s eyes held hers. She wanted so badly to believe what she saw in them was love. But could he really accept her the way she was?
He took her hand. “Want to take a walk with me?”
She nodded, and they strolled toward the grove of oaks. “How is Scott?” Taylor asked.
“Better. The doctor said he’s going to be fine, no lasting effect of the insulin that Ethan gave him. But it’s not Scott I want to talk about. I want to apologize.”
She gave him a curious glance.
He rubbed his hand over his jaw. “In the tunnels . . . I thought . . .” He looked toward the old house. “When Pete held that gun to your head . . . I—”
“I understand, Nick.” Taylor wrapped her arms across her stomach and stared at the ground. “After losing your wife like you did, I don’t blame you for not wanting to go through that again.”
Shadows of the Past (Logan Point Book #1): A Novel Page 32
