by Jane Godman
Then, twelve months after Carla’s death, Laurie had turned up and turned his whole world upside down. She had been so focused on Cameron that night at Dino’s, she had spared only a passing glance for Grant. Looking back, she remembered he had looked at her intently. But so had Vincente. So had everyone. As far as the close-knit community of Stillwater was concerned, she was the biggest news they’d had in a very long time. For Grant, she was so much more than news. Although she didn’t know it, Laurie was having the same sort of effect on him she had on Cameron. But with far more sinister consequences. Sitting in Dino’s that night, she had not only re-created the scene four years earlier when Grant had first seen Carla with Cameron, but Laurie had also given him a glimmer of hope. If she was right, in his damaged mind, he was seeing her as a chance to undo the events of that night on the lake. Rushing out of Dino’s, he had done what any chivalrous knight would do. Grant had sent her a token of his esteem. A heart-shaped arrangement of red roses.
If I’m right. Those words were the key to everything. She was second-guessing a killer, trying to apply logic to an unstable mind. If she was right, Grant would want to place her on the lake tonight. Somehow, she would have to be in trouble so he could rescue her. This time, it would all end differently. Laurie—or Carla, as she was sure he really thought of her—would not be capable and confident and annoyed at his interference. She would melt into her rescuer’s arms and show her eternal gratitude. Laurie resisted the impulse to shudder at the thought. It was an outcome that would keep her alive, and right now, she was prepared to call it a happy ending. But there were so many unknowns between now and then, the biggest one of all being the mind of the murderer driving this car. What if she had this all wrong? What if his real plan was to put a bullet in her head before turning the gun on himself?
Even if she was right, at any point along the way, she could slip up just as Carla had done and enrage him. Panic was threatening to engulf her, and she battled it back down just as the car drew to a halt. She heard the door slam and forced herself into a state of calm as she waited for Grant to come for her.
It was dark now, and Grant was holding a flashlight as he opened the trunk. He reached out a hand to assist her in a curiously courteous gesture. Laurie forced herself to place her hand in his, uncurling her cramped limbs and clambering out.
“I’m sorry I had to leave you in the dark.” She was surprised to hear the note of genuine regret in his voice.
Soft sounds of water lapping on rocks confirmed one thing at least. She was right. He had brought her to the lake.
Chapter 17
Because he lived on its shore and it bordered his home, Cameron had become used to thinking of it as his lake. Now he realized it was a dangerous habit. He had been lulled into a feeling of false security. Stillwater Lake was a huge body of water, mostly encircled by pine forest with a dramatic backdrop of mountains. The twin discs of the moon, one in the sky and the other shimmering on the lake’s surface, provided the only light. They made his lake seem, for the first time, a menacing place. It mocked him with its cold, raw beauty.
His advantage was he knew this area just about as well as anyone could. There weren’t many places on this lake from which it was safe to put a boat out. There was this area closest to his house—Cameron’s own private property—but he was guessing Grant would be clever enough to keep away from here. Then there was the leisure marina across on the far side, the place that had become popular with water-skiers and speedboat enthusiasts. Now and then there was a party or barbecue down on the marina that went on well into the night. Grant would know that as well as Cameron did. He was unlikely to take the risk of running into a group of drunken windsurfers. Finally, there was the spot known as Catfish Point. It had been named by the fishing enthusiasts after the most popular activity over on that, the quietest part of the lake. Cameron had decided Catfish Point was the place from which they needed to start out.
Vincente and Bryce had gone to make all the necessary preparations, leaving him alone with his thoughts. While they were gone, Cameron had swallowed more painkillers, changed into dark clothing—the activity getting easier as he learned new ways of coping with his injuries—and come out here onto the deck to look at the familiar scene. He couldn’t lose two women he loved in this place he loved. That wasn’t a plea. He wasn’t going to beg or try to bargain with fate. He was making a promise to himself and to Laurie. They hadn’t talked about the future, but he wanted to make damn sure there was one to talk about.
The sounds of his brothers returning roused him from his thoughts, and he went back inside.
“Anything going on out there?”
“Quiet as a grave.” Vincente winced. He seemed to have developed a knack for saying the wrong thing today.
Cameron didn’t have the time or the energy to be concerned by careless remarks. He picked up Laurie’s gun and tucked it into the waistband of his jeans. Having it with him mattered more than taking the other, more powerful guns that Bryce and Vincente had stowed in the car. It was his link to Laurie.
“Let’s go.”
It was only a ten-minute drive to Catfish Point, but Bryce stopped the car short of the lakeshore, pulling the vehicle off the road and into a clump of trees where it couldn’t be seen by anyone approaching. They left the car and, gathering the equipment they had brought with them, made their way to the lake. Moonlight shimmered on the dark water, and the star-splattered sky seemed much lighter here than back at the house.
In daylight, there was a good view of the whole lake from here, and Cameron had brought Toby’s binoculars with him. He raised them now, scanning the expanse of dark water. There was nothing disturbing the calm of the surface, and he muttered a quiet curse of frustration. He wasn’t sure he had enough patience to wait it out, but what was the alternative? Where else could Grant have gone? Vincente had suggested they should head out to the Hope Valley mine, but Cameron’s gut told him this was where Grant would come.
Just as he was about to lower the binoculars, a movement on the extreme left of his vision caught his attention, and he swung around to look in that direction. There! A sailboat was just setting out from the edge of the lake. Even in the darkness, he could tell from its silhouette it was almost identical to Carla’s beloved Firefly. It was too far away for him to make out who was in it, but he thought there might be two figures.
Handing the binoculars to Bryce, he turned to Vincente. “Where did you leave the boat?”
Vincente pointed to the right. “Not far. Explain to me again why we have to use a rowboat.”
“We can’t risk him hearing our approach.” He was counting on the cover of darkness and Grant’s focus on Laurie meaning he wouldn’t see them until they were close enough to get Laurie away from him. If he did see them coming? They would deal with that problem when they had to.
They made their way along the lake edge to the rowboat that Cameron normally kept at the lake house. Vincente had rowed it across here earlier while Bryce drove around to meet him and bring him back to the house. The Delaney brothers had figured out how to work as a team just as Cameron needed them to do. The thought did him a whole powerful lot of good.
Vincente gestured for his brothers to get into the boat. Pushing it into the water, he waded partway in, ignoring the lake water filling his boots, before jumping nimbly into the little craft with them. Bryce took up the oars and, skirting the edge of the lake instead of heading out to the middle, took them toward the sailboat.
Cameron kept the binoculars to his eyes. Shifting away from the other boat briefly, he scoured the darkened forest close to where he had seen the sailboat start out. A flash of something that shouldn’t be there caught his attention. He concentrated on it, trying to bring it into focus.
When he was sure he knew what it was, he nodded with grim satisfaction. “It’s them. Grant’s patrol car is in those trees.”
* *
*
“Are you cold?”
Although there was a light breeze out here on the lake, the chill in the air wasn’t the reason Laurie had shivered. She was about to deny it, then she remembered her vulnerable act and she nodded. “A little.”
“You were cold that night, too, do you remember?” Grant’s voice had a faraway quality to it that scared her almost as much as the thought of what would happen when he stopped this boat. The fact he had been calling her Carla since he had helped her out of the trunk was doing nothing to alleviate her concerns. Add in the fact he had brought with him a long steel spike—the sort of thing camping enthusiasts might use to secure a tent awning, the sort of thing that would be just perfect for driving holes through the hull of a boat—and it would be fair to say Laurie’s anxiety levels were sky-high.
Which night? Was he talking about the night Carla took her boat out on this lake, or a different night? Her mind raced with possible options. “Of course I remember.”
It was too dark to see his face, but he turned toward her. “You do?”
“I remember everything.” Oh, she was treading such a fine line here. One wrong answer and she would lose the tenuous advantage she thought she might have built up. Push him too far and she would have more in common with Carla than just her looks. She would be going over the edge of this lightweight sailboat and feeling those deep, dark waters closing over her head.
“But when I saw you again in Dino’s all those years later you didn’t know me. Even when I reminded you, you said you had no recollection of me or that night.”
Think fast, Laurie. Play your part. Vulnerable. In need of a hero.
“I was shocked, scared. Seeing you again after all that time... I didn’t know what to do. I wanted that commission from Cameron to build his house so badly. It was the boost I needed to launch my career.” She drew in a deep, shuddering breath that owed nothing to her acting skills. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”
“Why did you stay with him for three damn years if it was all about your career?” Clearly he wasn’t so far gone down the route of believing she was Carla that she could dupe him completely.
“After that night, when I told you I didn’t know who you were, I thought I’d blown any chance we might have had. And Cameron was good to me.” Should she push this theme? Was it worth the risk? They were nearing the middle of the lake and he had taken hold of the spike, testing its point against the wooden planks at the bottom of the boat. She decided she had nothing to lose. “But he wasn’t you, Grant.”
Although she sensed his tension, he remained silent for long nerve-racking minutes. There was a hint of tears in his voice when he finally did speak. “That night at summer camp, I gave you my coat to keep you warm. I kept that coat as a reminder of you, Carla.”
His words explained why she was wearing a man’s jacket now. Laurie drew it tighter around her. “You came to my rescue.”
She sensed the movement of his head as he nodded. “We talked for hours. I remember every word you said. What food you liked, the music you listened to, your favorite flowers.”
Those words nearly undid her. “Dark red roses.”
“Did you know they were from me, Carla?”
“Of course I did.” Her eyes caught the merest hint of movement on the water behind him, and her breath caught in her throat. She had to keep him talking, keep his attention on her. “After camp was over and we went home, I thought about you all the time.”
Grant was crying openly now. Although he still held the spike, his hand was limp and he seemed to have forgotten about it. “So did I. Your face was before me every minute of every day. I went to sleep with your image in my mind, dreamed of you each night and woke up thinking about you each morning. I worked so hard to make a success of my life so I could find you and build a home for us. I wanted to rescue you from the hell you were going through. But when I came looking, it was like you had disappeared off the face of the earth.”
Two damaged kids had found comfort in each other’s company one night, setting off a chain of events that had led to murder and destruction on an unimaginable scale. Laurie felt the tears on her own cheeks. She wasn’t crying for the man before her now, the man who still held that spike dangerously poised over the boards of the boat. No, she was crying for the sad, hurt boy he had been back then.
The dark shape on the water behind Grant glided closer. She could see two figures in the boat that approached, but there was no way of making out who they were. The fact that anyone was there at all had to mean Cameron had survived the blow to his head, and in spite of everything, her heart achieved a joyful leap at the thought.
“I was in witness protection. I saw my stepfather kill my mom.”
At the same moment he leaned toward her, groping for her hand in the darkness, everything sped up to double time. As Grant’s lips touched her cheek and Laurie betrayed herself by recoiling from him, Cameron hauled himself out of the lake and onto the sailboat, causing the little craft to rock precariously.
Grant’s grip on her hand tightened, and Laurie struggled against him as he tried to haul her upright. The swaying of the boat worked in her favor, and Grant failed to move her from her seated position. Moonlight gleamed on Cameron’s wet clothing as he steadied himself by rolling with the boat’s movement. Laurie’s initial joy at seeing him gave way to fear. He had sustained so many injuries over the past few days, how could he possibly survive another confrontation with Grant?
“Tell him, Carla.” Grant’s voice was hoarse. “Tell him it was always me you loved.”
Laurie pulled her hand free of his. Rising to her feet, when she spoke, the words were clear and confident. Although she said them for herself, she was also saying them for the other women. “I’m not Carla.”
The double-time sensation went into reverse. Everything slowed. Grant’s bellow of rage seemed to go on forever. As he fumbled for his gun, strong hands grabbed Laurie around the waist and pulled her backward into a waiting rowboat. The moonlight showed her everything. As she fell, she saw Cameron pull a gun from his waistband. A perfect circle appeared in the center of Grant’s forehead. She didn’t see him fall, but, even as Vincente and Bryce moved to cover her body with theirs, she heard the sound of Grant Becker’s body hitting the water.
* * *
Chief Wilkinson accepted Laurie’s offer of toast and coffee with real gratitude. “They pulled his body out of the lake this morning, not an easy thing, as you’ll remember from...” His voice tailed away in embarrassment. “...The last time. That was quite a shot.”
“It was a miraculous shot, considering it was dark and the way that boat was bobbing around,” Cameron said. He and Laurie were dealing with this in their own way, but he was already growing tired of other people making judgments about how much they could cope with. Tact wasn’t Chief Wilkinson’s style, and Cameron took pity on the other man. “I have Carla to thank for the fact I can stay steady on a boat in extreme conditions. I spent enough time as her first mate. I’m glad the practice finally came in useful for something.” He hoped the message was clear. I can speak and hear her name without coming undone.
Some of the tension left the chief’s frame, but he still looked shell-shocked over the revelations of the past forty-eight hours. He nodded in Laurie’s direction. “They found your clothes in his trunk. Using your description of the place you were locked up, I followed a hunch and went out to the disused jail near Elmville. Remember that place, Cam?” Cameron nodded. “Enough to give a man the creeps.” The chief held up a plastic evidence bag containing the gold-colored bow from Laurie’s bra. “Recognize this?”
“It was the only thing I could think of.” Her mischievous grin peeped out briefly, and Cameron was fiercely glad to see it. “If he was still alive, I’d be sending Grant Becker the bill for my most expensive piece of lingerie.”
Chief Wilkinson loo
ked slightly baffled, but Cameron covered her hand with his. “I’ll buy you a replacement.”
The warmth in her eyes made his heart flip upside down. He wished all these formalities were over so they could be alone. Properly alone. Ever since that dramatic scene out at the lake, they had spent their time going over the story first with police officers, then all over again with FBI agents, including Mike Samuels. Cameron, in spite of his protests, had been kept in the hospital for twenty-four hours under observation. Although Laurie had remained at his bedside, the constant stream of visitors had ensured they had barely exchanged more than two sentences in private.
They both knew there would be more talking to come. There would be formal statements and they would both need counseling. Despite his exhaustion and his physical injuries, Cameron could already feel the emotional impact of what had happened out on the lake. Alongside the image of that bullet hitting Grant, and his body toppling into the water, others were forcing their way into his mind.
He had memory of him and Grant skimming stones across the lake on a bright, sunny afternoon. Then there was the sound of Grant’s laughter on the day they had made a makeshift sled out of an old dog bed and gone scooting down the hillside, sending drifts of snow flying up in their wake. He had never envisaged himself taking a life. Killing one of his oldest friends? Even though it had been necessary, he was going to need some help to deal with the trauma he knew would come his way in the coming weeks and months.
But he also knew he would get over it...because he had Laurie at his side. Last night, on his discharge, they had tumbled into bed, sleeping in each other’s arms for twelve hours straight, waking only when Chief Wilkinson pounded on the door to bring them more news about the case.
“The press are sniffing around like bloodhounds on a scent. I feel sorry for Glen Harvey. Poor guy is having to deal with the fallout of all of this and take on the sheriff’s duties. Turns out Grant hadn’t been at the top of his game for some time.”
