Gone to Her Grave (Rogue River Novella Book 2) (11 page)

Carly waited on the front step while the sheriff’s deputies entered the house. The next few minutes dragged.

A deputy opened the front door and signaled to her to come. “You’re not going to believe what we found.”

The other officer slid through the doorway and hurried toward his car.

Were they even alive? Holding her breath, Carly followed him into the house. The front door opened into a living room. She scanned the familiar space. Everything looked the same as on her previous visits, from the scratched and dented furniture to the threadbare carpet.

The cop gestured toward an open door. “In the basement.”

Heart jittering, Carly descended the wooden steps. “Oh, no.”

Lined up on the concrete slab were four large metal dog kennels. Padlocks secured the doors. Tammy Fisher and the three little girls each huddled in the center of a cage. A bowl of water was attached to the inside of each kennel. A sack of generic dog kibble leaned in the corner of the room. Shock paralyzed Carly; then relief loosened her muscles as she assessed their condition. All three were sitting up, eyes open wide, bodies trembling. A few bruises colored Tammy’s face, and she cradled one arm close to her body. Carly didn’t see any visible injuries on the children. Tears streaked Tammy Fisher’s face, but the children were frighteningly dry-eyed.

God, or maybe the devil, only knew what Darren had done to them, but they were alive.

Carly slid the gun into the back of her waistband.

“We’ll have you all out of there in a few minutes. Just need bolt cutters.” The deputy’s voice was strained. He leaned close to Carly’s ear. “Ambulance is on the way.”

The second deputy jogged down the steps and cut the locks. They helped Tammy and the children crawl out of the narrow doors and wrapped blankets around their shoulders.

“He—he said his dogs were more grateful than us, and maybe if he treated us like dogs, we could learn to behave.”

“How long were you in there, Tammy?”

“Since you left yesterday. At least I think it was yesterday.”

Right after he’d kicked Gary out. Those kennels were designed to house large, powerful dogs, but a boy the size of Gary wouldn’t have fit. Carly supposed they should be grateful he hadn’t killed the teen.

They waited in the living room. Carly gave the girls and Tammy glasses of water as they waited for the ambulance.

Outside, rain poured in a steady sheet. The ambulance arrived, red lights swirling in the slanted rainfall. Tammy and the girls were loaded up and taken away. The deputies walked back and forth to the basement with crime scene equipment. Carly eyed the covered back porch. She needed a relatively quiet place to call her boss and give him an update. The dogs had finally stopped barking. They whined and paced at the ends of their chains.

As she stepped through the back door, a hand grabbed her arm and yanked her off the porch. Pain ripped through her shoulder.

“Come here, bitch. This is all your fault.” Darren pulled the gun out of her waistband and shoved it into his own pocket. Then he dragged her toward the woods.

Seth swept his flashlight in a steady arc. The rain fell in a blinding sheet, obscuring the dark forest. Water ran into his eyes, and he wiped a hand over his face to clear his vision. His clothes were plastered to his skin. He scrambled over a fallen tree and into a puddle. The mud pulled at his shoes, producing a sucking sound with every step. But the wet earth allowed him to track Darren through the woods. If the ground had been dry, the asshole would have disappeared. Darren was a hunter. He knew these woods, while Seth and the two deputies were, literally, traveling blind.

His light fell on a footprint.

“Found another one,” he called, but the deputies kept running, unable to hear him over the driving rain.
Wait. What the fuck?
“Stop!”

He squinted at the ground, then surveyed the surrounding forest. In the distance a siren approached, its sound growing louder as the vehicle drew closer.

Something was off. The rain was disorienting, muffling sound and obscuring Seth’s vision, but the siren seemed to be coming from an odd direction. Unless they’d turned around. “Shit.”

Darren was circling back.

Seth broke into a run, his feet sliding and splashing in the muck. He leaped over a log. His shoe slid on wet moss, and he went down face-first into the mud. His flashlight and gun slid down the trail. The flashlight went out. The gun disappeared.

Seth lunged to his feet, fear for Carly driving him forward. He scooped up the flashlight and slipped the switch back and forth. Nothing. Desperate, he scanned the ground. Where was his gun? He couldn’t see shit between the darkness and the downpour. No time to keep looking.

That bastard Darren was headed right toward Carly.

He ran for the house. The rain slowed, and he could hear the deputies far behind him. They’d noticed his about-face. Lungs burning, Seth slid to a stop at the edge of the clearing. Ahead, the front yard blazed with emergency vehicles and flashing strobe lights. His gaze skimmed over the crowd of responders. All male uniformed bodies. Where was Carly?

He scanned the tree line.

Where was Darren?

Terror drowned out the agony in Carly’s shoulder. Her heart battered her chest as Darren half-dragged her through the muddy weeds toward the forest. Rain drenched her in seconds, plastering her hair to her head.

She could not go with him. He would kill her.

She gathered her breath and tried to scream, but her vocal cords wouldn’t function in her dry throat. Darren paused to whirl and open-hand her across the face. Pain burst red-hot through her cheek.

But delivering the blow slowed his pace—and loosened his grip on her bicep. Before he had a chance to adjust his hold, Carly dropped her weight to the ground. Her butt hit the mud with a cold splash. He leaned down, his beefy face twisted in fury, his size dwarfing her.

She spun on her back and put her feet between them. He lunged forward, and she struck out, kicking his kneecap.

“You fucking bitch!” The downpour muffled his scream. He reached over her body again.

Carly rocked back, pulled her knee to her chest, and shot her heel up into his face. Her kick connected with his jaw, knocking him backward. The Beretta fell out of his pocket as he stumbled backward a step. He regained his balance in an instant and whipped his own handgun around. Carly rolled, snatching up the Beretta. She fumbled with the weapon one-handed. Her left arm refused to obey her commands. It hung from her body, useless and oddly disjointed. She gripped the gun and brought it around.

Too late.

Darren kicked it out of her hand. His body loomed over her body, his gun arcing toward her head. A cruel smile twisted his features as he pointed the weapon at her face.

A flying body hit him in the midsection. Darren went over on his back. Seth landed on top of him.

Carly skittered back. She searched the ground for a gun. Either gun. There! She spotted the Beretta in a clump of crabgrass. She rolled to her knees and lurched toward the weapon. Snatching it up, she turned and pointed it at the dark figures on the ground.

A flashlight beam fell across the struggling men.

But it was obvious Seth didn’t need the help. He straddled Darren’s chest and pummeled him in the face with an elbow. It wasn’t the first blow. Blood poured from Darren’s nose and a cut above his eyebrow. His left eye looked like raw meat.

“We got him covered, Seth!” Two deputies were pointing guns at Darren. One circled around to cover Darren from a different angle.

Seth stopped, one arm still raised to deliver another strike. Panting, he levered his body off the man. A deputy rolled Darren onto his face and cuffed his hands behind his back.

Carly lowered the gun in her hand. Her body began to shake. The numbness faded as the adrenaline began to wear off. Pain bloomed fresh in her shoulder and rolled through her bones like thunder. Dizziness followed. Seth took the gun and pulled her to his chest just as her knees went out from under her. He scooped her into his arms. Body heat seeped through the soaked cotton of his T-shirt. Carly rested her face against his chest and let the blackness take over.

“How is she?”

Icing his battered knuckles, Seth looked up as Zane dropped into the chair next to him in a quiet corner of the ER waiting room.

“She’s all right. Just a dislocated shoulder. They just sedated her to put it back in place. She should be out of here in a couple of hours.” Seth rubbed the back of his head.

Zane set a bag on Seth’s lap. “Dry clothes.”

“Much appreciated.” Seth’s T-shirt and shorts hadn’t fully dried in the hours he’d been waiting.

“How about everyone else?”

“Tammy Fisher has a broken elbow. The girls weren’t injured. Not physically, anyway.”

“Anything broken?” Zane nodded toward Seth’s hands.

“No.” But his knuckles were beat to shit.

“Darren looks worse,” Zane said.

“Good. Then it was worth every bruise.” Seth shifted his ice pack. “Any sign of drugs at Darren’s place?”

Zane shook his head. “Nothing. We searched the house and outbuildings and came up empty.”

“Damn it. Who is dealing that drug?”

A shadow fell across the doorway. Gary walked into the room and stopped in front of Zane. “You want to know who the dealer is?”

“You know?” Zane asked.

Gary’s face reddened. “It’s Peter. He’s a lying little douchebag.”

“Peter?” Seth straightened. “The kid in detention?”

“Yeah. I saw him selling strips of bacon behind the school last week.” Gary sat in a plastic chair opposite them.

Seth shook his head. “Why?”

Gary’s eyes flashed bright with anger. “Everyone knows his dad’s out of work. He probably started taking Peter’s paycheck. Darren did it to me all the time. How can Pete buy weed and beer with no cash? A selfish little prick like Peter will always figure out a scheme.”

“Darren wasn’t dealing?” Zane asked.

“No. Darren was pissed off that Ted wouldn’t let him in on it. Darren’s been trying to find Ted’s stash for the last month.” Gary rubbed his hands on his jeans. “What’s going to happen to us?”

“The doctor said your mom and the girls should be released tomorrow. He wants to keep an eye on them overnight. They were a little dehydrated and shocky. We’ll have to talk to her. I don’t know if she’s going to want to go home or not.”

“We don’t have anywhere else to go,” Gary said in a quiet voice. “Without Darren there, it’d be all right.”

Zane nodded. “It’s going to take a few days for your mom to get back up to speed. You think you can manage your sisters?”

“I can do that.” The teen sniffed and raised his chin.

“Then we’ll see what your mom says. I don’t see any reason you can’t go home once the crime scene techs are finished.”

“What about tonight?” Gary tilted his head. “You gonna call CPS?”

“Hell, it’s already past midnight. No point in doing that. You can hang with me if you want.” Zane stood. “I have to stay here until your mom can give me a statement. That’s going to be a while. Let’s go find something to eat.”

“I’m going to change.” Seth stood, bag in hand. “And see if Carly’s ready to go home.”

Zane and Gary left the room. Seth headed for the restroom. He rubbed at the ache in his chest. She wouldn’t be going home with him. He knew Patsy would look after her, but he wanted to be the one to sit up with her tonight.

Two hours later he parked in front of the Taylor house. In the passenger seat, Carly snored. Her head lolled against the window.

Patsy met him at the car door. She gave Carly a worried glance. “Oh, my.”

“It’s the anesthesia and the pain medication. She was awake when we left the hospital.” Seth wiped a spot of drool off Carly’s chin.

“I think it might be best if Brianna didn’t see her like that, don’t you?” Patsy frowned. “Maybe you should take her around to the cabin.”

“Um, okay.”

“Oh, and Seth?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I’d sure appreciate it if you’d stay and look after her tonight.”

“I can do that.” Warmth spread through Seth’s chest. “Do you think she’ll be pissed off in the morning?”