'Til Death (A Rebel Ridge Novel) (26 page)

Something cold fell onto her cheek, then her lips, and then her
eyelids. She moaned. It was beginning to snow. She lifted her hand to swipe a
lock of hair from her eyes and looked up.

The next step she took was off the side of the mountain. All of
a sudden there was nothing but air beneath her feet.

She screamed, and then...impact!

All thought was gone.

* * *

Prince heard the scream from somewhere above him. When
it ended abruptly, he cursed. He didn’t know what the hell just happened to her,
but he knew when to cut his losses and run. Either she’d fallen off the mountain
or she’d walked up on some cougar that had taken her out.

This wasn’t the way he’d planned for it to end, but he still
had Lucy’s gun and he was still breathing, which was more than he could say for
the bitch.

He started back down the trail at a steady clip, with the beam
from the penlight he always carried safely lighting his way.

* * *

It was nearing dusk as Marlow drove up to Meg’s house to
drop Linc off.

After threatening Fagan’s life, Linc hadn’t spoken another word
to anyone. He knew Fagan White’s confession had cleared his name and that two
lawmen had witnessed it. But until everything went through the courts and he saw
the paperwork clearing the slate, he wasn’t counting on anything.

His pickup was parked behind Meg’s car, and he half expected
her to come out, or for Honey to show up from around the house, barking as she
ran.

But neither one of them showed up.

The dog must be in the house with Meg, he thought, and started
to get out when Marlow stopped him.

“Look. We’ll be in touch. I’ll make this right, Lincoln. I
promise.”

“Make sure you read him his rights and whatever else it takes
these days to arrest a perp. Don’t fuck this up and give some lawyer a way to
get him off,” Linc said, then got out, but as he did, the hair suddenly rose on
the back of his neck. He heard the frantic barking of a dog in the distance—just
like he’d heard the night his father was killed. The ground rolled beneath his
feet. He grabbed onto the patrol car to keep from falling.

Marlow jumped and reached for the door latch. “What the hell,
man? Are you all right?”

Linc lifted his head, breathing in deep drafts of cold air to
clear his mind. He wasn’t back at his old house, he was at Meg’s, and the dog
barking was Honey.

“That’s Meg’s dog!” he said. “Something’s wrong!”

Marlow pointed at his deputy. “Stay there and guard the
prisoner. I’ll be right back.”

Linc was already running toward the house. The front door was
locked. When he circled to the back he found the house unlocked and a small
bucket of eggs on the floor just inside the door.

“Meg! Meg, honey, are you in here?”

She didn’t answer, which meant she must still be outside.
Honey’s frantic barking was coming from the barn. He headed there on the run,
with Marlow behind him, scared of what he would find and scared that, once
again, he’d come too late.

As he raced into the breezeway he saw a bucket and a pitchfork
on the ground, and Honey’s barking sounded even more frantic than before, yet
neither she or Meg was anywhere in sight.

“Meg! Meg! Where are you?” he yelled, then stopped in midstep
when he saw what looked like the imprint of someone’s body in the dust—and blood
drops on the bucket and the handle of the pitchfork. All of a sudden he heard a
thud against the door behind him, and then a wild, frantic yelp.

“What the hell?” he muttered, then grabbed the granary door and
yanked it open.

Honey leaped out into his chest, teeth bared, ears back, and
ready to fight.

Linc jumped aside, calling her name as he reached for her, but
by then she had her nose to the ground, circling, circling, and then all of a
sudden she lifted her head and bayed.

Marlow ran up behind him just as the pup howled. “She’s picked
up a scent,” he said.

“It has to be Meg,” Linc said.

Before he could grab her, Honey took off, following the trail
with her crooked little lope, baying as she ran.

“I’m gone,” he said.

“Well, hell,” Marlow said. “I need Eddy to take White on to
jail and lock him up. I’ll call for backup at the house and be right behind you.
Here...take my pistol and my flashlight. I’ve got spares in the cruiser. I don’t
know what’s going on, but don’t go unarmed.”

Linc grabbed the gun and light, put them in his pockets and was
gone, leaping a water trough and then running past the corral and up the
mountain, desperate not to lose sight or sound of the dog on Meg’s trail.

He knew within minutes of entering the woods that someone else
was following Meg. The trail was fairly clear, the earth undisturbed except for
the recent prints. He recognized the tread of Meg’s work shoes, but there was
another set of prints that periodically overlapped hers—a small man’s boot
prints. Between that and the blood trail he’d found in the barn, he was scared
to death. He took the cell phone out of his coat as he ran, pulled up the number
Quinn had given him earlier and hit Call. Whatever was going on, her family
needed to know.

The phone began to ring just as the first flakes of snow landed
on his face. Damn. That was only going to make things worse. His mind was in a
panic when Quinn’s voice yanked him back to the present.

“Quinn Walker.”

“Quinn, it’s me, Linc.”

Quinn heard the thud of footsteps and the breathy sound of
Linc’s voice, and knew he was running.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not sure. I was with the sheriff. Meg came home alone. We came
back, house unlocked, Honey shut up in the barn, and it looked like there’d been
a fight. Blood.” Then he stopped a second and bent over to catch his breath. “I
let Honey out, and she took off like a bat out of hell up the mountain.
Something bad’s happened. Gonna need all the help we can get. I’m following
Honey, but it’s dark. Starting to snow. If Meg is hurt and holed up and hiding,
I gotta find her before she freezes.”

Quinn felt helpless. “What the hell? I thought all this was
over when Prince White drowned.”

“Have they found his body yet?” Linc asked.

Breath caught in the back of Quinn’s throat. “Oh, hell. No.
Keep going. I’m bringing Mariah and her dog. He’s good at tracking. We’ll find
you, and we’ll find Meg. You have to trust she’ll find a way to take care of
herself.”

Linc dropped the phone back in his pocket and took off again.
The brief respite had revived him enough that he took off sprinting, running now
with a sense of desperation, praying that whatever was happening was not somehow
connected to why he’d come home.

The farther he ran, the steeper the climb became. He didn’t
know how far behind him Marlow was and couldn’t stop to wait. All he could do
was follow the sound of Honey’s yipping and pray to God he found Meg in
time.

Eighteen

P
rince felt the snowflakes. He wanted to be
off the mountain before it got bad and was moving much faster down than he had
going up. He was thinking he should start over somewhere warm. All he had to do
was knock off a liquor store or some Quik Stop along the way. They were always
easy pickings. He could grow his beard and hair longer and rob his way south,
then cross the border into Mexico. It sounded like a plan that would work, and
he needed for something to go his way, by God. So far, the past month had sucked
eggs.

He’d been hearing a dog barking for some time now, the way they
did when they were on a hot trail. He smiled, remembering how he and Wendell
used to run dogs, hanging out over a campfire and drinking their daddy’s
homemade wine while the dogs treed their prey. Those were good times. He missed
them, and he missed Wendell. His daddy, not so much.

Prince was lost in thought as he came over a little crest on
the trail when suddenly he heard something running in the dark. He stopped,
cocking his head to one side as he listened, but all he could hear was a
panting, whining sound that made the hair crawl on the back of his neck.

“What the fuck?” he muttered as he swept the area in front of
him with the tiny beam. He caught a glimpse of glowing eyes, and then something
large and furry, growling as it ran. He thought,
Wolf?
and was fumbling for his gun when it leaped at him, growling
and snarling, its breath hot and foul. He screamed and stumbled backward with
the animal’s saliva dripping onto his chin as he fell. The gun went flying as he
began trying to fight off the creature. It lunged at his face, and he began
flailing his arms, trying desperately to keep it from tearing out his
throat.

Pain shot throughout his body as teeth ripped through his
cheek. “Help me!” he screamed. “Oh, God...help me, help me!”

He was punching and rolling, and the animal kept riding him,
leaping on his back, biting at the base of his neck, then through his coat to
the flesh beneath.

He kicked and momentarily dislodged it, but in the dark he
still wasn’t sure what it was he was fighting. All of a sudden there was a
ripping sound, followed by a pain so sharp that it rolled through his thigh all
the way up his groin. The beast had clamped down on the inside of his leg,
pierced his jeans and locked its jaws into his flesh.

Trapped on his back by both pain and the weight of the animal,
all he could do was scream and keep screaming. No matter how hard he kicked, or
how frantically he was alternately beating at it and pulling away, he couldn’t
knock it free.

* * *

Linc was still guided by the sound of Honey’s yipping,
and then all of a sudden she fell silent. Before he could panic he heard a man
scream, and then the sounds of a fight, man against beast. Whatever was going
on, Honey was in a fight to the death. With a last burst of energy he bolted
toward the sound, moving too fast for the flashlight lighting his steps to be
any use in guiding him past whatever lay ahead.

He burst upon the dog and the man rolling down on the ground.
He swept the beam of his flashlight across the melee, saw Honey with her teeth
locked in Prince White’s crotch, and Prince beating at Honey’s back and head.
Between the snarls and the screams, he couldn’t tell who was winning, but he
knew who was going to end it.

He grabbed Honey by the collar and began pulling her off and
calling her to heel. When she finally let go, she was trembling and covered in
blood. He couldn’t distinguish which one of the two was bleeding worse, but he
could tell that she would have fought until one of them was dead.

“Good girl,” he kept saying.

Prince White had passed out, giving Linc time to assess Honey’s
injuries. He kept praising and stroking her, then knelt beside the man’s body.
He swung the light toward the dog. When he saw her crippled paw, and that she’d
run on it until it was raw and bloody and then kept going, rage washed through
him.

Prince came to, moaning. “It killed me. I think it killed me.
I’m bleeding all over. My face...my leg... I’m gonna die.”

“She didn’t kill you, but I’m going to,” Linc said, and then
put a hand on the dog’s head. “Stay, Honey. Stay.”

She dropped, trembling in every muscle, as she began licking at
her crippled paw, cleaning the raw flesh bleeding through her fur.

Linc swung the flashlight around the area, retrieved Prince’s
gun and dropped it in his pocket, then yanked him up and slammed him against the
nearest tree.

Prince’s head popped hard against the trunk.

He groaned.

“Where’s Meg?” Linc asked.

“I don’t know,” Prince moaned.

“Wrong answer,” Linc said, and slammed him against the tree
again, and then again.

“My God! You’re killing me! I don’t know where she is.”

Linc put both hands around Prince’s neck. “Move and I’ll break
your neck where you stand.”

Prince was shaking so hard he didn’t think he
could
stand.

“I’m hurt too bad. My legs won’t hold me,” he whined.

“Then you’ll hang yourself if you drop, because I’m not gonna
let go. I’ll ask you one more time, and I’d better get an answer I like.”

Prince was crying and begging for mercy when Sheriff Marlow
finally caught up. He was out of breath and staggering from exhaustion, but he
had a big searchlight in one hand and a rifle in the other. He couldn’t believe
what he was seeing.

“Don’t kill him, Fox! Don’t do it! We’ve got Fagan. Now we’ve
got Prince. Let the law do this right. Please! Let the law do this right!”

Linc wouldn’t let go. “For the last time, where is Meg
Lewis?”

But Prince’s focus was elsewhere. “You got Fagan? What did he
do?”

Linc’s fingers tightened around Prince’s neck.

“He confessed to everything, you bloodsucking bastard. You’re
going down for my father’s murder. Now what did you do with Meg?”

“I couldn’t ever catch her,” Prince whined. “Her legs were too
long and she ran too fast.”

Linc flashed on the day he’d fallen in love with Meg Walker,
watching as she crossed the finish line at the track meet with her head back and
her arms up in the air. It was the first thing Prince had said that he
believed.

“When did you see her last? How far up were you?” Linc
said.

Prince was bawling, and fumbling at his face and the wound on
his inner thigh. “Sheriff...you gotta help me. I’m bleeding to death here. The
dog tore me up something awful.”

“Help is on the way. Now answer his question,” Marlow said.

Prince moaned. “I don’t know how far up, damn it. It got dark.
I guess it was about fifteen minutes ago, maybe more, maybe less, when I gave up
and turned back.” Then he looked up into Lincoln’s eyes with an expression of
cold satisfaction on his face and grinned, revealing a mouthful of bloody teeth.
“And I stopped, because I heard her scream. One long scream that ended
sudden...like something had cut off her breath. You ask me, she’s dead.”

Linc hit him on the jaw.

Prince dropped.

“He’s all yours,” Linc said. “How far behind is your help?”

Marlow turned the light onto his watch. “Fifteen
minutes...maybe less. Why?”

Before Linc could answer, his cell phone rang.

“What?”

“It’s me. Mariah and I are on the trail below and coming fast.
We can see your light. Did you find Meg?”

“No. Just Prince White.”

“Oh shit, oh shit,” Quinn mumbled, unaware he’d even spoken
aloud.

All of a sudden a woman was on the phone.

“Lincoln. I’m Mariah. I take it Meg’s still missing.”

“Yes. Prince said he heard her scream. When the screaming
stopped, he turned back. Don’t know if he’s telling the truth or not, but I
don’t know where to look next, and Meg’s dog is bleeding too bad to go any
farther.”

“Ten minutes. Give me ten minutes and we’re there. I have
Moses. He’ll find Meg. I promise. He’ll find Meg.”

The line went dead in Linc’s ear. He pocketed the phone, then
dug White’s pistol out of his pocket and handed it to Marlow, along with the gun
Marlow had given him.

“I won’t be needing these anymore,” he said.

Marlow pocketed them, then rolled White onto his belly and
handcuffed his hands behind his back.

“This is one hell of a thing,” Marlow muttered as he rolled
White back onto his side so he could breathe, and then kicked the bottom of the
man’s shoe in frustration. “Sorry bastard. I had Eddy radio my reserve deputies
and some medics when he was taking Fagan down to jail. They should be here
soon.”

“She’s not dead,” Linc said.

Marlow felt sick. He’d doubted everything this man had told him
from the start. He felt shame.

There was a burning inside Linc’s chest that was coming up his
throat. He wanted to scream. He wanted to rage. But he held it back, because it
would be giving in to the fear that Prince was right.

“She can’t be dead.”

Marlow sat down on the ground because his legs were shaking too
hard to hold him up any longer. He was way too out of shape for what he’d just
done.

Linc walked over to where Honey was lying, then sat down on the
ground and pulled the lanky dog into his lap. She probably weighed a little less
than thirty pounds, only half the size she should be, and yet she’d taken down a
full-grown man. She whimpered but licked his fingers, as if giving him
permission to touch her. He began running his hands all over her body, feeling
for broken bones or open wounds.

She whined as Linc touched her ribs, and with Marlow’s
floodlight aimed their way, he saw blood coming out of one ear. Her crippled paw
was a raw, bloody mess. But it was the look in her eyes that broke his
heart.

“Brave girl,” he said softly. “Brave, tough little girl. You’ve
done enough for one night. You caught the bad guy. You took him down like the
giant you are, and now help is on the way and we’re gonna find Meg. That’s a
promise. We are gonna find our Meg.”

Within minutes Linc could hear Quinn and Mariah coming. Their
dog yipped once, alerting on their presence. Linc’s stomach knotted. The snow
was coming down a little heavier now. Time was crucial. Everything hinged on
Moses being able to find Meg before it was too late.

“Here! We’re here!” Marlow yelled, and then stood up, waving
the floodlight down the path.

Seconds later Mariah’s dog loped into view, followed by Mariah
and Quinn. Linc stood up with Honey still in his arms. She lay limply against
his chest.

And that was Mariah’s first view of the man who loved Quinn’s
sister—a bloody giant with tears on his cheeks, holding an even bloodier pup.
Moses smelled the other dog and went straight toward her. Mariah followed.

“Is she hurt bad?” Mariah asked.

“I can’t tell. White was beating her when I arrived, but she
had her teeth in him and wouldn’t let go. Her crippled paw is a mess. I have no
idea how serious her other injuries are, but she took White down on her
own.”

Quinn was stone-faced and edgy as he approached. He was in full
search mode, with a backpack and a huge length of climbing rope thrown over his
shoulder.

“Damn, but I hate the dark.”

Mariah gave his arm a quick squeeze. It was a leftover fear
from when they’d been trapped in a mine cave-in. He was living with it but far
from over it.

Quinn saw Prince White lying handcuffed against a tree, and
then eyed Marlow and Linc.

“We let down our guard when we thought he was dead...just like
he expected. And when she was the most vulnerable, he struck. Linc, you called
it when you asked if the body had been found. We should have been more cautious,
just in case.”

“What’s done is done. We can’t take it back,” Linc said, then
turned back to Mariah. “So how does this work? How will your dog know to hunt
for Meg?”

“I have a shirt that belongs to her,” Mariah said. “Are you
ready?”

“Waiting here was the longest ten minutes of my life. I’ll be
right behind you.” He handed Honey to Marlow. “Don’t let anything happen to
her.”

Quinn paused. “Sheriff, Jake Doolen and his boys are about five
minutes behind me. He said there’s a squad of searchers coming up on ATVs. He
can hear them coming.”

“Those will be my men,” Marlow said as he patted Honey’s head,
then turned to Linc. “I’ll make sure we get her to a vet ASAP.”

“Thanks,” Linc said.

Mariah held the shirt under Moses’s nose. “Hunt, Moses,
hunt.”

The dog leaped forward, straining against the leash, and Mariah
started forward at a jog, with Quinn and Lincoln right behind her.

“Will the snow affect Moses’s ability to track?” Linc
asked.

“Yes, if too much falls.”

“Well, hell,” Linc muttered. “Can we go faster?”

“I can turn Moses loose,” Mariah said. “But the danger is in
losing track of him in the dark.”

“I followed Honey halfway up the mountain in the dark. If your
dog barks like she did, we can follow.”

Mariah knew time was not on their side and didn’t hesitate.
“Moses. Stop!”

The big hound stopped immediately. Mariah reached down and
unclipped the lease from his collar.

“Moses. Hunt.”

The dog took off in a lope. Linc jumped out ahead of the
others. With his long legs and steady stride, aiming the flashlight down at the
ground in front of him, he slowly but surely began to outdistance the
others.

Up the mountain they went, running headlong into the dark while
the snowflakes got heavier and the path was slowly obliterated.

Five minutes passed, then ten. Moses continued to track,
barking intermittently as he ran. Nearly fifteen minutes into the run Linc’s
side was burning, his legs were shaking and he was as close to physical
exhaustion as he’d ever been. It was frightening. He kept praying they would
find Meg somewhere along the trail, but it didn’t happen.