Jill Elizabeth Nelson (17 page)

Melody stood frozen, gnawing on her lower lip. Then she nodded slowly. “Anyone of us would be quite capable of such a thing.” She made the pronouncement as if she was proud of her family's capacity for evil. “But if one of us collected the ransom, what did they do with it? We've been living like paupers for years…until I came up with the scheme to redistribute some of the assets in the area. No, I'm afraid your bid for time is over.” The gun swung up.

“No!” Terry shouted and dived for Melody as Nicole drew her body as far as possible behind the meager shelter of the post.

The Smith & Wesson barked, and something tugged the loose sleeve of Nicole's robe. Melody, with Terry on top of her, hit the floor and wrestled for control of the weapon. The gun skittered loose across the boards. Melody thrashed, screaming curses. The woman was strong. Nicole knew that
firsthand from when Melody had popped that quilt over her head in Grandma Jan's attic and shoved her to the floor.

Terry clawed for the snap on his police special and got it free, but Melody grabbed the gun from his holster. Another shot rang out, and Terry rolled away from Melody. A red stain spread across his chest.

Melody struggled to her feet, panting, lips flattened against white teeth in a skull's grin. She lifted the larger weapon with two hands and aimed for Nicole. A shot sounded. Nicole waited for pain and darkness to claim her. But Melody cried out and crumpled to the floor.

Gasping air into constricted lungs, Nicole stared toward a shaft of light that had suddenly appeared in the doorway. Had the Lord come for her? No, that was Rich striding into the barn. Nicole's knees gave way, and she sank as low as her bonds would let her, sobbing.

R
ich held Nicole close and trembled almost as badly as she did. The danger was over.

The night was bright with more than the moon and stars. Flashing lights on emergency and law-enforcement vehicles crowded the abandoned farmstead. Personnel ebbed and flowed around them, particularly in and out of the barn and near the covered well. No one asked anything of either of them, and Rich was grateful. Since the crime scene was outside the city limits, the county sheriff had jurisdiction and ran the show.

“You seem to have this habit of saving my life,” Nicole spoke into his shoulder the same words she'd uttered over and over again in the past half hour. “Thank you for finding me.”

Rich caressed her hair. “Losing you was not an option.”

She let out a shaky giggle and lifted her head. “I can't believe I'm shivering like it's cold out here or something.”

“You're doing great. You did great in there, too.” He nodded his head toward the open barn door.

His heart expanded at the memory of her pitching in alongside him after he untied her from the post and tending to her fallen enemy. Without hesitation, she'd whipped off
the belt of her robe and bound it as a tourniquet around Melody's leg where she lay moaning on the floor. The woman would have bled out soon if Nicole hadn't helped her while Rich looked after Terry. Neither of the conspirators might live to see the inside of a courtroom, but that matter was now in the hands of the doctors and God.

Rich heard his name called and turned to see the sheriff approaching.

“I'm going to have one of my deputies get your statements then you should feel free to take the lady home.” The man looked at Nicole and touched the bill of his hat.

“Sounds good.” Rich nodded.

“I second that,” Nicole said.

Twenty minutes later, they were headed toward Ellington.

“Settle back and rest,” he told her. “You don't have to entertain me with chitchat.”

“Actually, I do.” She lit with sober excitement. “I figured out a piece of Goody Hanson's and Fern Elling's hysterical babblings. They were referring to the Biblical sixth commandment prohibiting adultery.” A heavy sigh left her lips. “Apparently I'm going to have to accept the idea that my grandfather had an affair with Hannah, but I think Fern and Hannah conspired to make it look like Fern had produced the coveted male Elling namesake.”

Rich pursed his lips then nodded. “Makes sense. But then who kidnapped and killed baby Samuel?”

“I will never believe Grandpa Frank would hurt a baby, especially his own. I think it was one of the Ellings. Maybe they found out about the switch.”

“Then what happened to the ransom money?”

“Aagh! This is so frustrating.” Nicole tugged at her hair. “In rounding up Simon, Melody and Terry, we've solved all
the current crimes, but still don't have answers for the cold case.”

“I think I know who might.”

Rich's gaze collided with Nicole's.

She smiled. “Hannah. Maybe she'll talk now that Simon isn't likely to return home anytime soon.”

They reached Ellington city limits, and Rich headed his unit toward the house on the hill.

“Shouldn't we wait until daytime?” Nicole asked. “It's not even 4:00 a.m.”

“I doubt Hannah's sleeping. She's probably waiting on pins and needles. I paid her a visit when I was looking for you, and she knows you went missing.” Rich glanced at his passenger. “She cares about you, I think.”

Maybe he was wrong about Hannah's wakefulness. The Elling home was dark. They got out of the vehicle, and Rich's skin pebbled in the eerie predawn quiet. Even nature seemed to be holding its breath. For what? Rich shook himself.
Cut it out. Your gut's just nervous after the close call tonight.

Quite a while of pounding on the front door yielded no answer.

Nicole pulled the edges of her robe tight and looked around. “I'm worried. Even if Hannah was asleep, all the racket you're making should have roused her.”

Rich tried the door handle. It was locked. “Let's try around back. Let me get my flashlight from the unit.”

He retrieved the light, and side by side, they trod around the massive structure. The lights along the side of the home were also dark, the same in back when they arrived at the garden.

“This is Hannah's favorite place,” Nicole said, then called the woman's name. No response.

Rich panned the flashlight's beam over hedgerows and shrubs and bedding plants.

“There!” Nicole grabbed his hand and turned the light back onto a sitting place at the heart of the garden. A thick figure slumped on the bench. “I hope she's only sleeping. That's the way she was when I found her in the garden the first time I came here.”

They hurried up the pathway.

“It's Hannah.” Rich touched the side of the woman's neck and located the barest trace of a pulse. “She's not good.”

“Ah, no!” Nicole cried and bent toward the ground near Hannah's feet. She came up with a prescription bottle. “And this is why.”

Rich snatched the radio off his belt. “I'll call for help.”

“Do you have ipecac in your unit's first-aid kit?”

“I think so.”

“Good. Until doctors can pump her stomach, Hannah has to be made to purge these pills. I'm going to try to rouse her enough to take the stuff.”

“I'll go get it.” Rich hustled to his car while talking on the radio. He marveled at Nicole's presence of mind in the midst of crisis. If he didn't love this courageous, caring woman already, he would now.

Fifteen minutes later, the ambulance arrived.

“You're really giving us a workout tonight,” one of the paramedics said to Rich.

“I'd rather we all got a good's night's sleep instead.”

Rich's heart was so heavy, his mind so overloaded and his body so weary, he wasn't sure how much longer he could function. Nicole must feel worse. Finally, the ambulance raced off with its new cargo, and he was free to take her home. He pulled up outside the Keller house, and she turned toward him.

“Come sit with me on the back deck and enjoy a cup of
coffee while we watch the sunrise.” Despite the weariness in her eyes, she sent him a cajoling smile. “I'll make the brew decaf because I want a nice, long nap before I head to the Twin Cities yet today.”

Rich chuckled. “You talked me into it. If you can keep your eyes open a little while longer, I can, too.”

A shadow stole over her face, and she looked away. Did she have something more to tell him? Rich held his peace until they at last settled side by side on the deck. Nicole sipped from her mug. He followed her gaze toward the paling sky, then to the garbage bin by the alley, and at last to the grave site.

“I thought I'd been tested to my limit in the loss department,” she said softly, “but in less than a week my whole life has been turned inside out by secrets and lies.”

Her free hand rested on the arm of her chair. Rich covered it with his, but she slipped it away from him and reached into her pocket. She drew out a white envelope.

“I found this under Hannah's bench.”

Rich frowned. “You should have given that to me immediately. It's evidence in an attempted suicide case.”

A sharp look chided him. “Arrest me later. It's addressed to me.” She showed him the handwriting on the outside of the envelope.

Rich sucked in a breath. “It matches the penmanship on the letter your grandmother tried to destroy. Let's see what's inside.”

 

Nicole opened the envelope, pulled out several sheets of stationery, and began to read aloud.

“‘I can no longer live with myself because my long silence has caused harm to Frank's granddaughter.'” Even after only one sentence, Nicole's heart began to flutter. What would this letter reveal about her grandfather? “‘A dearer
friend no woman ever had, and I have betrayed his memory from selfishness and fear. I write this note in desperate hope that you, dear Nicole, will survive the scheming of this terrible family, but if not, then another will find this, and all will at last know the truth. Such honesty is the least legacy I owe this world that I am leaving.'”

Nicole laid her cup down on the deck table and cleared her throat. “I hope we got to Hannah in time.”

“Me, too.” Rich nodded. “My prayers are with her and with the medical staff working to save her. But it may be a while before we know for sure.”

Nicole returned her attention to the letter. “‘Let me begin by assuring you that Frank had nothing to do with Samuel's conception or his de-eath.'” Her voice broke. She squeezed her eyes closed and turned her face Heavenward. “Oh, thank You, God…thank You, God…thank You, God.” The stationery rattled as her hands began to tremble.

Something tugged on the papers, and Nicole opened her eyes to see Rich holding on to a corner. “Do you want me to—”

“Yes.” She shoved the letter at him. “I want to know everything, but I don't think I could…read more out loud…” She wiped wetness from her cheeks with her fingers, spluttery laughs escaping her lips. “How could I ever have doubted my grandparents?”

Rich's gaze left hers and fell to the letter.

“‘The truth is far darker than the affair your grandmother suspected and hated me for. But neither Frank nor I dared dispel her suspicions. You will soon understand why. I did not know it the day we gaily celebrated Fern and Simon's wedding, but the moment they said “I do” my life was over.

“‘The courtship had been a fairytale whirlwind, for Fern
at least. In hindsight, I see that Simon scooped my sister up for her social standing and the wealth an orphaned heiress and her underage sister could add to the Elling coffers. Faithfully producing a male heir was assumed. My sister neglected to inform her groom that long-standing female problems had rendered that expectation unlikely at best. Any prospective husband would like to know such a thing before the wedding, but Fern has always been extraordinarily self-centered. Not that I wasn't those many years ago.

“‘When the truth came out, the information was beyond devastating to a family such as the Ellings. Divorce was considered, but the disgrace of a failed marriage before the whole community was not on the Elling family radar, especially in that day and time. The summer I graduated high school and shortly before I was to leave that house (eagerly, I might add) for a fine arts college on the East Coast, an alternative plan was hatched.
I
would produce the coveted namesake on Fern's behalf, and my consent was not required.'”

A squeak squeezed out from Nicole's tight throat. She clamped a hand over her mouth. Rich's gaze locked with hers and reflected the horror in Nicole's heart.

She lowered her palm. “How awful for Hannah!” Nicole drew her brows together. “But Samuel wasn't born until Hannah was at least twenty-two years old. Melody came first, which means—”

“Your deduction is correct.” Rich's lips thinned. “The next line says, ‘The first attempt resulted in a baby girl.'”

“I cannot believe what I'm hearing!” Nicole leaped to her feet and crossed the length of the porch. “That poor woman was subjected to this…this
arrangement
for years! How could her sister sit by and allow it?”

“Hannah makes excuses for her.” Rich smacked the paper
with the backs of his fingers. “She says that Fern gave in to threats from both Simon and his father, and begged Hannah to cooperate for everyone's sake.”

“I can well believe the threats. The Elling wives lived in fear for their lives. But to tolerate this situation for so long and not tell anybody?”

Rich ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “People hide all sorts of terrible things for years and years. I see it all the time.”

Nicole came back and perched on the edge of her seat.

Rich kept shaking his head. “I'm fighting the urge right now to charge over to the jail and feed a certain prisoner his own false teeth.”

“No jury in the country would convict you.” Nicole let out a sour snicker, and laid a hand on his knee. “Keep reading. We need to know all of it.”

“‘A few years later, little Sammy was born,'” Rich went on with the story, “‘but there were complications, and I couldn't bear any more children. No matter. The goal was achieved. The Ellings had their namesake, and I could be left in peace. They offered to send me to college, but how could I leave my children, even though I could not claim them? I had hoped to be a positive influence, but as Melody turned out, it's obvious that I failed. Perhaps it's a mercy little Sammy went before he was twisted into the Elling image.

“‘You have been patient through this missive to find out what really happened the night baby Samuel disappeared, and now I will tell you. Sammy was a colicky baby and cried a great deal. In the wee hours, I heard him screaming in his crib down the hall. I was so tired, I didn't rise right away to tend to him. His cries abruptly ceased and that alarmed me. I rushed into my son's room to find him
in Fern's arms. He was limp. I took him from my sister, but he was already gone.

“‘Unseeing, unheeding, Fern turned and left. She was walking in her sleep. As I mentioned to Chief Hendricks this very night, Fern neither knows nor remembers what she does when she walks in her sleep. I am convinced she acted out in her unconscious state the fury she felt toward her husband, toward me and toward the child that wasn't hers.'”

Nicole's grip tightened around the chair arms. If she didn't hang on, she might fly off again. “Hannah is amazing. She's making excuses for that self-centered sister again. What about the kidnapping and ransom scenario? Did the Ellings pull that stunt to avoid a murder trial in the family? Then what did they do with the bogus ransom?”