by Laura Scott
He turned into the dealership parking lot. By now it was closed for the night. Empty. No one to run to.
“Why did you move the body? Where did you kill him?”
Gerald’s face fell, and he motioned her to slide out on his side. “I called him to talk about it. He was at the training room.”
That was the quick call from him to Jared that night. It didn’t need to be a long call. Jared would know exactly what Gerald wanted to talk about.
“He met me here. It escalated. He was telling Karen about the affair and the money that I’d spent as well as giving back the tickets. Nothing I said changed his mind. I couldn’t—I just—I hit him with a paperweight that had been lying on my desk.”
Oh, Jared.
“I didn’t mean to kill him. But he stopped moving and I panicked.” He jammed the gun into her back and marched her in the side entrance to his office.
He’d moved Jared to keep from incriminating himself, and no one even looked at him because he was the only dad Jared knew. He barely remembered his real dad. The gun poked her side and she winced, already sore from the car wreck.
“What are you going to do with me?” she asked again. The fact he wasn’t answering that question terrified her.
Gerald wiped his nose on his sleeve. “I have no choice now. Since I couldn’t get the card, I’ve got to get out of town. Leave the country. I’m not going to prison, and I can’t face Karen. So you, Georgia, are the leverage I need to ensure I get out safely.”
She’d gone from armchair detective to hostage in a matter of days.
“I’m going to give you the combination to this safe, and you’re going to open it for me to get some cash and I’m getting out of town.”
Would he kill her? Was there a point?
Didn’t matter. He wasn’t thinking rationally or logically. He’d never make it out alive. But maybe that’s what he wanted—to die instead of facing his fears. Of prison. Of Karen despising him.
Fears had to be faced.
But she wasn’t facing hers. With shaky fingers, she knelt in his office and looked up at Gerald.
“Five.”
She pressed the five button.
“Six. One. Six. Eight.”
The door clicked.
“Open it and put the cash in this bag.” He placed a backpack on the chair next to the safe. Inside the safe was a wad of cash. Several thousand dollars.
“Now what?” She was afraid of the answer.
Gerald’s glance darted from one window to the other and then around the room to the cash. His breath came in gasps and pants as moisture leaked down his face like rivulets of rain on a window pane. Oh, yeah. The signs were obvious. She’d lived with them most of her life.
Panic.
One did not make rational or good choices in this state. But one thing she knew thanks to Celeste...coping skills.
“Gerald, you’re having a panic attack. I understand. You need to breathe.” Not that she wanted to help him, but helping him helped herself. “Deep breath in. And out.”
He wasn’t listening. A million horrific scenes and thoughts were playing out in his head. Growing worse and more dramatic. Been there, done that.
Somehow, she wasn’t panicking. Fear coursed through her. An unpredictable man with a gun was panicking. But there was a calm washing over her she couldn’t explain, other than the peace of God. He was with her. Through this.
“Listen to me,” she said softly. “You have to calm down. Breathe.”
Finally he made solid eye contact and listened and breathed. She walked him through inhales and exhales. “You’ve been through a lot and you’ve made a mess, but don’t make it worse. You need to let me go and turn yourself in.”
“I can’t. I—I won’t! Get up!”
So much for trying to make him see reason, but he had more of his faculties and he wasn’t as shaky; hopefully that sliver of control would keep her alive.
She rose slowly.
“Give me the bag.”
Georgia carefully handed him the backpack, and he slung it around his shoulder; the gun continued to stare her down. Gerald had killed Jared and attempted to murder her and Colt. Who was to say he wouldn’t kill her now?
Georgia had been so afraid of triggers she’d opted out of growing close to anyone and refused to allow herself the freedom to love Colt. She’d flat-out rejected him. Now she was literally staring down a trigger that could cut her off from everything.
Susan’s Would You Rather question looped through her brain, and right here as she fought for her life, all she could think about was Colt and yes, yes, it would be worth it to love him. And if the worst did happen, at least she would carry cherished memories of their love.
And he was willing to risk loving her, and who knew what tomorrow might bring to her? He’d be left to grieve her, but she was worth it to him. Love...love was worth it. Love was living. Taking risks and trusting God with each moment. Believing in Him to guide them and get them through for better or worse. She’d been so stupid. Letting fear control and dictate her life.
Now she might never even get the chance to reveal to Colt how she felt. That she was willing if he would give her a third chance. If she hadn’t hurt him past the point of forgiveness. Could she remind him forgiveness was a thing again and change his mind?
Could she live through this?
“Out the door. Now.”
“Where are we going?” she asked as she obeyed his commands and waited for an opportunity to make a break for it.
“I don’t know. I have to get out of town, and you’re my insurance that I get out unharmed.” He nudged her with the gun and forced her outside and toward the truck.
How far would he take this? Take her?
And when he realized it was a fruitless effort, would he dispose of her?
* * *
Colt had never experienced the kind of anxiety and panic Georgia talked of until now. Now he was displaying every symptom, and he could not make his mind shut down as thoughts of a dead Georgia played out on a constant loop in his mind.
Use her tactics. What evidence do you have to support the thought she might die? She is with a killer who has tried to murder her already. What’s the worst that could happen? She could die! Can you live with that?
Emphatically no!
He raced the SUV toward the only place Gerald might go. Once he’d seen the SD card, a deputy had hauled in Alice. While that was going down, he’d noticed the two vehicles from Wilcox’s dealership parked next to one another in the images, and the dots then connected.
When Alice was brought in, she’d admitted to an affair with Gerald and to Jared discovering it. She also came clean about the print. That night at Rascal’s she caught him coming out of the restroom and grabbed him to plead for him to stay quiet. It was over. It would never happen again. She immediately quit when Gerald told her Jared knew. They’d never ever seen one another romantically again. She’d gotten things right with the Lord and sought forgiveness.
She had no clue Wade had been doing drugs or that there was a photo, only that Jared had seen her and Gerald at the motel. She never once thought Gerald had killed Jared—but the circumstantial evidence pointed to him—but that had been a tragedy and an opportunity for her to get things right in her marriage and with God.
The Florida police spoke with Wade, who admitted to buying weed, but he had no idea Jared had taken photos and was mortified. He’d been a dumb kid rebelling because his parents were fighting a lot at that time, but after Jared’s death things turned around in their family, and when he went to college, he stopped all the partying.
Neither Terry nor Coach admitted to cutting Colt’s brake lines and releasing steering fluid. Georgia didn’t end up at the station. Amber had said Gerald had given her a ride on his way to the church—in his big-engine Denali truck. A
phone call to the church had let him know that Gerald had never arrived, and Georgia wasn’t answering her phone. The only place he knew to look was the dealership.
He hadn’t thought, just ran out of the station to find her.
Weaving through vehicles on the road, he spotted Gerald’s truck up ahead in the parking lot. He whipped into the lot and bounded out of the car in time to see Gerald grab Georgia around the throat and put the gun to her head.
“Whoa,” Colt said, keeping his distance and slowly raising his hands to show he was unarmed. “Let’s keep calm, Gerald. You don’t want to hurt Georgia. You’ve known her most of her life. She’s Amber’s closest friend. Let’s just talk—you and me.” His pulse pounded in his throat, and he could barely swallow.
“What’s there to say? You know what I did.”
“I don’t. I don’t know. All I’ve been told is you and Alice had an affair and Jared found out. He confronted you.”
Gerald broke into sobs, but he didn’t lower his weapon. His emotional state made him careless, and all Colt could think about was him pulling that trigger and ending everything good that had ever been a part of Colt’s life. The only woman he’d loved who had made him feel special.
And yes, brought him considerable pain, but it didn’t matter. Not in this moment; he’d risk her rejection a hundred times over.
“We can work it out.”
“How?” Gerald bellowed. “I killed Jared and Karen will never forgive me. Never love me. Amber will hate me. I can’t go to prison. My only chance is getting out of here, and she’s going with me to make sure I get out unharmed.”
Colt took one step closer. “Gerald,” he said softly, “I want to help you. Yes, you’ve made a big mess. Yes, you’ve hurt your family—but it’s possible in time they’ll forgive you. You have to be a man now and accept the consequences for your actions. You. Alice. Everyone who’s kept secrets. The love of my life once told me—” he looked at Georgia—right into her wide-with-fright eyes “—told me forgiveness is a thing, and she’s right.”
Gerald squeezed tighter around Georgia’s neck. “Not this. This can never be forgiven.”
“Everything can be forgiven—in time. But I’m gonna be real honest here with ya, Gerald. If you don’t let her go, I’m gonna have to take drastic measures.” He wasn’t even close to playing the hostage-negotiator angle well, but Gerald wasn’t a bad man. He’d done a lot of bad things to cover up other bad things. “Do you understand? What if someone had a gun to Karen or Amber? Would you let him take them?”
Gerald’s hand shook, and he looked at Georgia. She trembled and her tears had streaked her face, but she was breathing deep and keeping control.
“No—no, I wouldn’t.”
“Right. Drop the gun. Be reasonable. It’s over, Gerald. There’s nowhere to go. They’ll find you at the state line, at the airport. All you’re going to do is hurt more people. Drop the gun.”
Gerald slowly removed his grip from Georgia and dropped the weapon. She raced toward Colt and into his arms, but he didn’t have time to hold her or kiss her or anything. He cuffed Gerald, retrieved the weapon and called in backup and his team.
Then he grabbed Georgia into his arms, and she hung on like he might let her go. That was one thing he didn’t want to do. Not ever.
She looked up into his eyes as the sirens sounded in the distance. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake. Twice. But I won’t make it again.”
Did she mean what he thought she did? “What about your trigger?”
“Susan also hit me upside the head with a metaphorical volleyball today.”
He grinned. “Hurts, don’t it?”
“Not as much as saying goodbye to you did today. But then... I hear you have a love of your life. Who is this woman? You never mentioned her.”
The woman had the nerve to tease him at a moment like this. “Real funny.”
“I’ve learned to cope. I will cope.”
“I’ll quit.”
“No, you will not. You were born for this job. I’m proud of you.” Those words. They meant more than anything to him.
“I love you, Georgia.” He descended upon her lips, kissing her in a way that clearly identified how much he loved her, needed her and wanted to be with her. Whatever the cost.
FOURTEEN
Georgia sat in a lawn chair on her property while the dogs ran and played. Colt sat next to her with a glass of sweet tea as they looked on the house they were building. It had been six months since Gerald had been arrested for Jared’s murder and the attempted murder of her and Colt. He would be going to prison. As of yet, Karen hadn’t forgiven him—maybe never would. Amber had only seen him twice.
The town had been turned upside down with the news of illegal recruiting. Courage High lost their coach and their secretary, who had let the proof of residence slide as a favor to Terry—and a small loan she didn’t have the credit to receive. Coach would be going to prison. Terry lost his job and was going to have to face charges for fraud, but his wife had stuck by him. However, their house went on the market two weeks after everything went public.
Georgia offered to leave Magnolia and go with Colt to Atlanta, but he’d decided to move back here and keep his job with the cold case unit. He was only moving to prove his worth; he said his job didn’t prove anything about who he was as a person and finally knowing that made it easy to keep his position at the MBI, which he loved. The commute was only forty minutes.
Loving him was worth the risk. In two more months, they were having a June wedding right here on the property. Their house would be done. And they’d get their life together.
“What are you over there thinking about?” Colt asked and took her hands, hauling her to her feet. “Work?” Charlie had made good, and in January Georgia had taken over as editor in chief. Removed the horrible navy curtains and established an online paper and was in the works with a developer from Honeyhaven—a town not too far away—for a Magnolia Gazette app.
God hadn’t delivered her from her anxiety. She might always battle it. Might always take some meds to help. But she was okay with that. Her faith in God was strong, and He’d proven that while He may not remove her from the battle, He was walking her through it each and every moment—and some days carrying her. His grace was sufficient for her. Didn’t mean she stopped praying for complete healing, but she was confident that whatever happened, she could get through it if she leaned into Him.
“No, I’m not thinking about work. I’m thinking how glad I am we’re together.” She glanced at her carat solitaire in a thick gold band and grinned. She could have missed out on so many good things—like love and a life with Colt—if she’d been too afraid to even take a chance.
But she prayed daily, and she’d acquired some good coping skills and healthy replacement thoughts.
He brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. “I am, too. We’ll get through the bouts of anxiety together. You and me, Georgia Jane—we’re a team. In this together.”
Her insides puddled. “You know it also helps when you kiss me. Chases away all my worrisome thoughts.”
She grinned teasingly as he met her lips, kissing her expertly, with finesse, and languidly, as if the world would wait on them, then softly pecked her brow, her nose, then met her lips, whispering against them, “Well, I guess we’ll have to never stop kissing. Can you live with that?”
What’s the worst that could happen? She could lose her breath and go out in total utter bliss? “Oh, yeah. I can live with that.”
* * * * *
Dear Reader
Maybe like Georgia, you too are riddled with anxiety, wondering if God is ever going to “fix” it. Like Georgia, it may be something you battle on a daily or hourly basis, but I hope you see how much God is for you, and how much grace He will give you to get through the tough moments. And if you don’t suffer from anxiety or p
anic disorder, I hope you’ve learned like Colt how to extend grace and be understanding of someone who does. My sister, Celeste, is a counselor, and she helped me by offering me the coping questions that she gives to her clients. I used them for Georgia in the story. Maybe they’ll help you, too.
I love to connect with readers. Please visit my website and sign up for my newsletter at www.jessicarpatch.com, and follow me on BookBub! https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jessica-r-patch.
Jessica
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ISBN-13: 9781488072307
Cold Case Takedown
