'Til Death (A Rebel Ridge Novel) (5 page)

“Then you know where to find me,” Linc said softly, and opened
the door.

Marlow walked down the steps, then turned around to say
good-night, but Linc had already closed the door behind him.

He stood for a few moments, watching as the candle was snuffed.
It was as good a signal as any that his presence was not appreciated. He didn’t
know what to think about Lincoln Fox’s reason for returning, but he began to
wonder if finding Meg Lewis’s stalker would become the least of his troubles. He
got back in his cruiser and drove away.

* * *

Linc stood in the dark, waiting until the sheriff was
gone, then opened the door and stepped out. He was shaking with anger and had to
get past it. He couldn’t react like this to everyone he came in contact with or
he would fail in his quest before it began.

The blast of cold air on his face chased away the last of the
rage as he gazed out at the wreckage of the old house. He felt sorry that it had
come to such ruin, but sometimes it was better to start fresh than to try to
patch up something that was beyond redemption. He didn’t know whether he was
thinking about himself or the property, but either way he was here to stay.

There was a frost on the grass. In the moonlight, it looked
silver. The deer he’d seen earlier had not come back. It was quiet. Unlike
Dallas, the quiet in this place was almost holy. No streetlights, no sirens, no
traffic noise from a freeway like the one near his apartment. He looked up at
the sky, slightly stunned by the vast array of stars. One thing he’d forgotten
was that up this high on Rebel Ridge, it was that much closer to heaven. He took
a deep, shuddering breath, a little shocked by the fact that he felt like
crying.

* * *

Meg slept fitfully, half-afraid the man would come back.
By morning she was in a mood, and tended to the chickens and feeding Daisy
without the usual bounce in her step. Even Honey stayed back, sensing her
turmoil.

As luck would have it, before she had a chance to tell her
family what had happened, Quinn stopped by on his way to work.

She heard Honey barking in the front yard and, when she went to
look, saw her brother getting out of the car. She hurried to the door.

When Quinn saw the expression on her face, the smile he was
wearing disappeared.

“What’s wrong? Did your stalker come back again?”

She nodded.

“Damn it, Meg! When were you going to tell us?”

“Eventually.”

He followed her in, checking the sensor on the door as he
went.

Then she began to explain what had happened.

“He didn’t make it to the door, thanks to the security light in
the yard, which startled him. When he fell, the pistol he was carrying
discharged, which sent Honey into a fit. When I looked out and saw him getting
up, I set Honey on him, then followed with a couple of shots, which
unfortunately missed again.”

Quinn shoved a hand through his hair in frustration. “He was
armed. Why didn’t you call?”

“I did. I called the law. It’s their job to take care of this
stuff, not you.”

“But—”

“No buts, Quinn.”

His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t argue. “So you saw him. Did
you recognize him?”

“No. I saw an average-size man with shaggy brown hair, wearing
a black leather biker jacket. It had a Confederate flag patch on the sleeve, and
Sheriff Marlow found a toy in the grass. It was a little black car with a number
3 on the side...like something that would hang on a key ring.”

“That’s Dale Earnhardt’s crash car,” Quinn muttered, more to
himself than to her. “What else?”

“When Honey gave chase and disappeared into the trees, he shot
at her.”

She watched Quinn’s face pale. “Son of a bitch.”

“There’s more. Sheriff Marlow asked me if there was anyone who
might have a grudge against a member of the family, who would try to get back at
one of you by hurting me.”

Quinn’s eyes widened.

“I told him I’d ask,” she said.

“I’d have to think about it,” he said. “I’ll talk to the others
and get back to you.”

“Just call Sheriff Marlow and talk to him if you come up with a
name. It will save me the trouble.”

Quinn had been watching the muscle jerking at the side of her
right eye. “Come stay with Mariah and me.”

Her chin came up. “No.”

Growing up with Meg, Quinn had seen that look a thousand times
and knew the discussion was now over.

He hugged her. “I’m so sorry this is happening.”

She rested her cheek briefly against the soft fabric of his
goose-down jacket and then hugged him back.

“Thanks for that. You’re a good brother. I’m sorry, too, but
we’ll find out who it is and then it will be over.”

“So what are you going to do?” Quinn asked.

“Wait and see what happens next. And, Quinn, don’t tell Mom. I
do not want her and Jake moving back in. Please.”

He shrugged. “It’s your call. Is there anything you need?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh...I don’t know...if you happen to run
across a great big hero-type guy on the loose up in the park, I might be
interested in making his acquaintance.”

He laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

She pushed him toward the door. “Go to work. I’m fine. It’s all
good.”

She watched him walk out, shaking his head and muttering
beneath his breath about hardheaded women, but her mood had changed. Just
telling him what had happened had shared the burden. She would remember that for
future reference.

* * *

He woke up in Boone’s Gap in a hooker’s bed with vague
memories of getting drunk off his ass after last night’s debacle, then took one
look at the woman in the bed beside him and frowned. She didn’t look so hot in
the light of day. He reached for his boots.

The mattress shifted as he rolled out of bed, waking the
woman.

“Hey, sugar, don’t you want a little quickie before you leave?
I’ll do it for free?”

He frowned. “No. I got places to be.”

She rolled over on her back and parted her legs, then cupped
her breasts, rolling the nipples between her fingers in what was supposed to
pass for a come-on.

He grabbed his coat and walked out without comment. She was
cursing as he shut the door.

“Same to you, bitch,” he muttered, then got in his truck. Just
as he started to put the key in the ignition, he noticed the Dale Earnhardt
token was missing from the key ring.

“Well, hell.”

He thrust his hand back into his pocket, expecting it to be
there, but it wasn’t. He searched between the seats and the floorboard, but to
no avail, and had to face the fact that it was gone. It was just a little doodad
and didn’t amount to anything, but he liked it. Maybe he could find another one
next time he went to the races. His belly growled, reminding him of where he’d
been going, and he started the truck and drove to the other end of town to
Frankie’s Eats. One thing was for certain; he was going to have to rethink his
plan for Meg Lewis.

* * *

Linc was up at daybreak. He cleared the brush from in
front of the shelter door and began dragging debris from inside, anxious to see
what he had to work with. The first thing he would need was power. He couldn’t
do the work he needed on just his generator. The utility poles were still in
place where the old house once stood. All he had to do was have the power
company add a pole here by the shelter, string new lines and install a meter. He
went inside, pulled out his cell and found the number for the local power
company. Within the hour he had a work order in place for a pole to be set and
line to be run.

Over the next few days he burned rubbish and dug trenches to
lay pipe from the old existing water well, and then he replaced the pump. Every
time he drove down the mountain he thought about the Lewis woman and wondered if
she was okay. It was weird, this odd connection of having seen her assailant
without knowing who she was, but he wasn’t ready for the world to know he was
back.

The few times he stopped in Boone’s Gap to get gas or pick up a
few groceries, he made sure to wear a cap and sunglasses. It wasn’t all that
much of a disguise, but he was counting on the change in his size and appearance
as backup to make sure no one recognized him. For the time being his focus was
getting a winter shelter set up.

He had a new propane tank installed, and ran pipe inside the
shelter for future heating and cooking use. He rented a tractor and brush hog
down in Mount Sterling and cut down the weeds and brush in the clearing. When
the power company arrived they set a new power pole, strung the wire, set a new
meter and just like that he had power and water. Once he got the interior walls
and floor clean, he could start construction on the house.

He went to bed that night satisfied with his progress, and he
was sound asleep when he was suddenly awakened by the sound of an approaching
dirt bike. He immediately thought of the prowler and bailed out of bed, grabbing
his pants, coat and boots as he ran. Within moments he was out of the trailer
carrying his rifle. If the little bastard thought he was going to take a
shortcut through this place again, he had another think coming.

The night was dark. The new moon cast few shadows between trees
and ground as he darted across the clearing. Within moments he heard someone
coming toward him at a jog, making no attempt to hide his presence. If this was
the stalker, the last time he’d come through here he’d been armed. Linc didn’t
want to get into a gunfight with the man, but he wasn’t going to have him using
his land as a freeway, either. He waited until he could see him coming, wanting
to get a look at his face, and then, when he finally saw him, he was stunned to
realize that he knew him. Taking care to stay concealed behind a trio of pines,
he fired the rifle into the air, taking quiet pleasure in the shock on Prince
White’s face.

“This is private property!” Linc yelled. “The next time you set
foot on it without an invitation, the shot I fire won’t be a warning,”

He watched Prince grab his pocket as he scanned the trees and
knew that pistol he’d been carrying before was probably in the leather jacket.
Then he watched Prince rethink the notion and put both hands up in the air as he
called out, “Whoever you are, I didn’t mean nothin’. This place has been vacant
for so long I didn’t know that it sold. I’m right sorry. Okay? I mean you no
harm. I was just—”

“Just what? Going to mess with that Lewis woman again? If that
was what was on your mind, then I advise you to change it, understand?”

All of a sudden the man spun on his heel and started running
back through the trees the way he’d come. That was when Linc knew for sure he
was the same man. Just to mess with him, he fired the rifle again, then waited
until he heard Prince start up the bike and speed away.

“Sorry little bastard,” Linc muttered as he made his way back
to the trailer. He started to go back to bed, but the thought of a woman alone
in her house somewhere down the road, afraid to close her eyes for fear that her
stalker would return, was too strong to ignore. He picked up his cell phone and,
after digging up the card Marlow had given him, made a quick call.

“Sheriff’s department,” the dispatcher said.

“I need to speak to Marlow,” Linc said.

“He’s working a fender-bender down by the bar. Is this an
emergency?”

“No, just passing on some information he needed.”

“Oh. Well, if it’s confidential info, then call his cell phone.
I’ll give you the number.”

“I have it,” Linc said, then disconnected and called the other
number on the card.

Marlow sounded preoccupied when he finally answered.

“Sheriff, this Lincoln Fox. I know who your stalker is.”

Marlow froze. “And how do you know that?”

“I heard him ride up on his bike again tonight, and I went out
and confronted him. Told him he was trespassing on private property and not to
do it again. Even though I recognized him, I wasn’t sure he was the one who’d
been threatening the Lewis woman until I threw out a warning. I told him if his
intent on crossing my property was to go mess with her again, then I advised him
against it. The moment I said that he turned tail and ran. I fired a shot up in
the air just to punctuate the suggestion and waited until I heard him ride
away.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Marlow said. “Who was it?”

“Prince White.”

“Prince White. I’ll be a... Uh, wait, that’s your stepmother’s
younger brother, isn’t it?”

“Lucy is no longer my stepmother, and so what?”

“So are you sure it was him? You know if I arrest him you’ll
have to identify him, which is going to reveal your presence. You also know that
there will be some who’ll say you just named him because of your history with
the family.”

“What the hell are you talking about? I don’t have a past with
the Whites.”

“They
are
your stepmother’s
brothers, and she testified against you at the trial.”

Linc was getting angry. “Well hell, Sheriff, everyone who got
on the stand testified against me at the trial, despite my grandpa Fox’s claim
that I couldn’t have set the fire because I was at his house all afternoon, and
I didn’t accuse any of them of stalking Mrs. Lewis.”

“Well, a body could understand Wayne Fox’s need to alibi you,”
Marlow said. “You were his grandson.”

“And my father was his son,” Linc snapped. “Are you actually
implying that Grandpa lied to protect his own son’s killer?”

“Well, I—”

Linc was furious. “So you’re saying that no matter what I saw,
you’re going to ignore the fact and let that Lewis woman continue to live in
fear for her life?”

“Hell no, I wasn’t saying that, I was just—”

The line went dead in Marlow’s ear.

“Son of a bitch,” he muttered, and then glared at Bo and Pete,
the two drunks who’d caused the wreck he was working, and hauled both of them to
jail.