Second Chance (41 page)

“How do you plan to explain my disappearance?”

“Why should I have to explain anything? I was keeping Hannah, like the good friend that I am. You never came to pick her up. Someone must have nabbed you on the way to my house.” An exaggerated sigh. “Such a tragedy. And since I’ll be taking in little orphans Hailey and Hannah, I’ll be the hero.”

“I have a will, Jenna. You won’t get my children.”

“What are you talking about? I’m supposed to get them.”

“I know we talked about it, but it made sense that Miranda get them. She’s their aunt and she has Maggie.”

Jenna’s eyes bulged with fury; her face went purple with rage. “You bitch!”

Before Keeley could move, the top of the coffin slammed down on her again and she was once more in darkness. She screamed but refrained from pounding at the top like she wanted. If Jenna knew she could move, she’d lock her in.

Under the roar of panic and the triple pounding of her heart, she heard Jenna’s muffled words: “Scream as much as you want, Keeley. There’s no one left to hear you.”

The instant the plane landed, Cole was at the door, pounding to get out. He glared at the attendant. “Get out of the way and let me open the damn door.”

“Sir, regulations say—”

“Fuck regulations. I want the door open. Now!”

Though this was a private charter, the crew members weren’t LCR people. The flight attendant looked at Cole as if he were a dangerous lunatic. If that door didn’t open soon, he’d live up to her suspicions.

She scooted out of the way. Cole twisted the lever, shoved open the door, and pushed the metal steps down. He clanked down the stairs, his heart almost bursting. Panic as he’d never known was threatening to take over. He’d heard every word Jenna had said. She had closed the coffin; there was no telling how much oxygen Keeley had left.

In desperation, he’d called the sheriff and had gotten the answer he expected. “I ain’t going on no wild-goose chase for you, Mathison. You think that woman’s in trouble, then you go after her.”

The sheriff had hung up on Cole’s threats to have his ass fired. After Keeley was safe, he was going after the sheriff. The man would either resign on his own or Cole would beat the shit out of him until he did. Either way, he would no longer be in the position to take bribes from Elizabeth Fairchild or pick what crimes he chose to respond to.

Cole was halfway across the tarmac, running full steam toward the small building of the Fairview airport, when a black SUV zoomed toward him.
Honor
. Cole changed directions and ran toward the speeding vehicle. It skidded to a stop beside him; Cole jumped in the passenger seat. The SUV took off again.

Honor shot him a grim look and Cole acknowledged it with a grimmer nod. They both knew they were up against the tightest of deadlines. If Keeley ran out of air before they got there … No, Cole refused to even finish that thought.

And now that Honor was here, she would see to Keeley’s safety. If he didn’t survive, Honor would save Keeley. Fate had brought him here to keep this family safe, and he’d failed repeatedly. Not anymore. Keeley had suffered enough because of his failures. And she’d damned well suffered too much from Jenna Banks.

Jenna stared at the mirror in the funeral home’s small restroom. Grieving family members frequented this bathroom, often breaking down and sobbing their hearts out right here. She’d always thought that so odd. Grief should be contained, held within so no one could see it, question it, judge it.

Today she almost understood their lack of control, the inability to keep it locked up. Killing Keeley would be like killing part of herself.

Her lip trembled uncontrollably as she stared at the vacant-eyed, pale-faced stranger. Could she do this? Keeley had been a part of her life since she was six years old. They’d shared everything. She loved her as if she were her own sister. But time after time, Keeley had betrayed her. Tried to break free of their bond. When Keeley was happy and content, she didn’t need Jenna. At least not the way she should.

Just how many times was she supposed to forgive Keeley?

Every time something good happened in Keeley’s life, Jenna felt shut out, pushed away. Sure, Keeley had shared those happy moments with her, but it hadn’t been enough. Jenna wanted that happiness for herself … that feeling of euphoria that Keeley had. When she couldn’t feel the same thing, she realized Keeley was only sharing a small amount. Jenna wanted to feel it all, the same way Keeley did.

But she now knew that wasn’t possible as long as Keeley existed. With Keeley finally gone, she would take over her friend’s life, feel what she felt, experience what she experienced. Only Jenna would live it better, enjoy it more.

She took a trembling breath. Hailey and Hannah were young enough that they would soon forget their mother and, in a few months, would be calling Jenna their mommy.

She would sell her business … maybe leave town. No, she couldn’t do that. If she left, then strangers wouldn’t know what she had done … what she had sacrificed by raising her best friend’s children. No one would know how heroic she was if she went somewhere else. She would stay here and be the martyr who took in two orphaned children.

Keeley had said Miranda would get Hailey and Hannah…. She couldn’t let that happen. Miranda might have to die, too. Jenna was the only one capable of taking care of Keeley’s children. That’s what a good sister and a best friend would do.

She straightened and watched the pale-faced stranger change before her eyes. Once more she was strong and certain. Sure of her goal, confident in her plan to get there. As much as she hated it, it was time to say goodbye to her dear friend Keeley. And though she would miss her, everything would be so much better when she was dead.

   Keeley eased open the coffin lid. She hadn’t heard any sounds from Jenna in at least five minutes. She needed to get out of here before Jenna came back. She would go to the police. If Hiram didn’t want to help her, she’d call Honor.

Rising slowly from the casket, Keeley looked around
the large room filled with nothing but closed coffins. She refused to wonder if there were bodies in them.

Pulling her legs from beneath the wooden cover, Keeley swung them around and lifted one leg out, then the other. A door slammed shut. Her head jerked up; Jenna was headed toward her.

Determined to be at least standing for the confrontation, Keeley jumped from the coffin. Her legs collapsed like limp noodles; she fell to the floor.

Jenna huffed an exasperated sigh. “Dammit, Keeley. Do you know how long it took me to get your oversized ass into that coffin?”

Sitting on her bottom, staring up at her former friend, she said, “Gee, Jenna. I’m so sorry I’m making killing me so difficult.”

“Sarcasm never was your forte.”

Since Jenna knew she could move, she saw no need to pretend. Besides, she needed to figure out how strong she was or wasn’t. Willing herself strength, she managed to get to her knees.

Her hands on her hips and an expression of frustration on her face, Jenna said, “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to climb back into the coffin for me, would you?”

“You first,” Keeley said.

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

Jenna turned and reached for something on a table behind her. Keeley sprang up and forward. Since her legs would still barely hold her, she only managed to fall on top of Jenna.

With an earsplitting shriek, Jenna somehow managed to throw Keeley off and scramble to her feet. Keeley sat up to see that Jenna was not only furious, she now held a gun in her hand.

“You’re actually going to shoot me?”

“That’s up to you.” Jenna raised her other hand, which held the butcher knife. “I also have this knife, if
you prefer.” Waving both the gun and the knife at the coffin behind Keeley, she said, “Get back in or it’s going to get really messy.”

Several feet behind Jenna a shadow moved. Keeley couldn’t see who it was, but it was definitely a person. Cole?

Determined to keep Jenna’s attention until Cole could do what he needed to do, Keeley asked, “Why did you marry Frank?”

“What?” Surprise replaced the crazed glint for a moment.

Keeley shrugged. “I’ve always wondered. I figure if you’re going to kill me, you wouldn’t mind me knowing why you would marry a man twice your age.”

“You never saw my father, did you?”

“No. You said he left your mother when you were only a baby.”

Her eyes took on a faraway glaze. “We were living in Elkhart, Indiana. Daddy just never came home from work one day.”

“What does that have to do with Frank? Did he resemble your daddy?”

“Kind of. He
was
my daddy.”

Shocked at Jenna’s statement, Keeley gave her full attention to the woman in front of her. “What?”

Jenna giggled. “Gotcha.”

Keeley almost started crying. That was a game they used to play when they were kids. Two lies, one truth. Each had one guess, and if a lie was guessed as a truth, it was a “gotcha” moment. How could her best friend have turned into this fiend in front of her?

The shadow came closer, approaching Jenna slowly from the back. Keeley focused on keeping Jenna’s attention. She still couldn’t yet see who it was … but it had to be Cole.

“So Frank didn’t resemble your daddy?”

“I have no idea. I don’t remember what my daddy looked like. Mama tore up all the pictures she had of him.” She shrugged. “Frank didn’t have any family. He wasn’t much to look at and was kind of a limp-noodled perv in bed, but we made a deal. I’d marry him, do whatever he wanted me to do, and then when he died, he’d leave everything to me.”

“Did you kill him, too?”

Instead of being insulted, Jenna cackled with laughter. “You’ll never know how many times I thought about it … most especially when I was having to fulfill my end of the bargain. But no, Frank died from a stroke … and I got to be the tragic young widow for a few months.”

Amusement abruptly gone, she glared at Keeley. “Then, you know what happened to make people forget about me again?”

Already knowing, Keeley asked anyway. “What?”

“You had the twins. I had to take a backseat again.”

“Jenna, dammit. Almost everyone in Fairview hates me. My husband cheated on me, my mother died, how could you be jealous of me?”

“Don’t trivialize my feelings by saying I was jealous. When something good happened to you, I was happy for you, I really was. But it was all about you. The spotlight was always on your accomplishments and achievements. No matter what I did, I couldn’t compete with them. That’s why I had to balance it out.”

Finally the shadow moved so she could see … it wasn’t Cole; it was Honor with a gun pointed at Jenna.

Desperate tears filled Keeley’s eyes. No matter what Jenna had done, she didn’t want her friend to die. “Jenna, please. I’m begging you from the bottom of my heart. Whatever I’ve done, however I’ve hurt you, I’m so very sorry. But please don’t do this.”

Jenna shook her head. “It’s not enough, Keeley. No
matter what, you always come out on top. Maybe it’s not your fault … it doesn’t really matter anymore.” She raised the gun. “It’s got to stop.”

Cole stooped behind a coffin where neither Jenna nor Keeley could see him. Keeley had spotted Honor and was doing a good job of keeping Jenna focused, but if Honor got an opportunity, she would take the shot.

Though his goal was to rescue Keeley, Cole would do everything in his power to keep Jenna alive, too. If it came down to choosing, there was no choice but to save Keeley; Cole hoped not to have to make that choice.

Keeley had lost too much already. Jenna had done some vicious, hideous things and deserved to pay for each one, but Cole would rather her pay for it by going to jail than to hell.

As he crept closer, Cole kept an eye on the gun in Jenna’s hand. She was shaking, clearly nervous.

He dared a glance at Honor, who looked prepped to shoot. Unable to get her attention, Cole prepared himself to lunge.

“Drop the gun, Jenna,” Honor yelled.

Whirling around, Jenna fired wildly toward Honor. Honor ducked behind a coffin.

Jenna turned around and snarled at Keeley, “See, that’s the way it’s always been. Everybody wants to protect Keeley. Everybody wants to help Keeley. When is it my turn? When do I get to feel special?”

“Jenna.” Keeley was sobbing her words. “You’ve always been special to me. I love you and I’m so sorry for making you feel like you were unimportant.” Her voice so thick Cole could barely understand her, she said again, “I love you.”

Cursing, Jenna shot toward Honor again. Taking advantage of the distraction, Cole jumped from his cover and leaped toward Jenna.

As he took her to the ground, he wrenched her wrist,
forcing her to drop the gun. Since she was so much smaller than him, Cole did his best not to land directly on her. They both landed facedown on the floor. Jenna let out a long, loud wail and then was ominously silent.

Cole got to his knees quickly; Jenna lay unmoving.

Aware that Keeley was crawling toward him, tears streaming down her face, Cole protected Jenna’s neck as he rolled her over. The handle of a butcher’s knife jutted from her side.

Keeley’s soft cry of horror was like a dagger to his soul.

His hand unbelievably shaky, Cole checked Jenna’s pulse. It was there—but too damned weak.

A distant surreal setting floated around him. He heard Honor on her cellphone, calling 911. Heard Keeley crying over her friend. His heart pounded with denial as a cold, painful ache permeated his body.

Getting to his feet, he watched Keeley bend over and whisper something to Jenna, then she looked up at Cole. Tears flowed down her face and agony sliced his gut as she whispered, “She’s dying.”

No. He couldn’t do it … couldn’t deal with it. He hadn’t meant to kill her but had done it all the same. His entire system on meltdown, Cole slowly backed away.

Honor appeared beside him. “Cole, you okay?”

Shaking his head, he said, “I can’t do this.” And with every particle of his soul disintegrating, Cole turned and walked out the door.