Silent Scream (59 page)

Tom nodded shakily. “Yes.”

He looked down at his sister in disgust. “What set you off? After all these years, what made you want to draw Crawford out?”

She looked up, her eyes wild like an animal’s. “He came to visit me. On the tenth anniversary. He gave me money. He said he
wanted to make amends.
Amends
. There were no amends for what he did. If he’d been there, he could have saved her.”

He had to blink at her. “You’re really fucking nuts, aren’t you? You brought a dangerous criminal to the house and you blamed
Crawford? Almost makes me feel sorry for the prick. Except that he didn’t believe me when I tried to tell him about you.”

Her eyes widened. “You told him?”

“Oh yeah. But he didn’t listen. You were so distraught. How could I make up such lies? And you looked like Mom. He couldn’t
believe you’d be so… bad.”

“You told him?” she repeated, stunned.

“Are you deaf on top of crazy? Yes. I told him, but he called me a liar. He couldn’t look at me because I did what he should
have been there to do. I tried to save her while you cowered in the closet.” He aimed at her head. “If you’d just left well
enough alone, nothing needed to change. But you had to leave that damn ball. Buh-bye, Mary Fran.”

• • •

“David’s still not answering,” Olivia said, her cell phone clenched in her hand as she watched the lake cabins flash by. Not
much farther…

“They’re playing cowboy,” Noah muttered.

“She’s his mother. When Eve was in danger, you were quite the cowboy, too.”

“That was different. I had a gun. David and Tom don’t.”

A fact of which she was very aware. “David can handle himself,” she said and prayed it was true. She studied the screen of
her camera, trying to match the aerial image of the lake she’d taken from the bucket with the actual layout on the ground.
They were close. There was a cabin another few minutes away that could be the one.

She saw the cabin up ahead, her eyes widening as a shirtless figure crept around the side of the cabin to the front. “That’s
Tom.” He was getting in a sedan idling in the driveway. “What the hell is he doing?” she demanded and Noah’s jaw clenched.

“Don’t know.” Then a shot split the air and Noah punched the gas, their car going momentarily airborne.

With Tom behind the wheel, the old sedan screeched in reverse, then, driver’s door wide open, he gunned the engine, aiming
for the house. The car lurched forward and Tom leapt free, rolling on the lawn, coming to his feet as lithely as a dancer.
He took off running around the back as Noah brought their car to a blistering stop.

Olivia jumped out and followed Tom to the back, her gun drawn.

David stared in horror as Kirby pulled the trigger and Mary went down. And then, a second later, the house shook on its foundation.
Move.
Heart pounding, penknife
clutched in his fist and Tom’s shirt over his head, David crashed through the glass door shoulder-first. Landing in a shower
of glass, he threw Tom’s shirt to the side as his mother stared up at him, stunned.

“Are you okay?” he whispered fiercely, his heart settling a fraction when she nodded. She closed her eyes, tears seeping from
her eyelids as he sliced through her bonds, picked her up and shoved her through the shattered back door.

To where Tom waited to carry her away.
Good boy
. Tom had followed his instruction to the last detail.
Get out
. David sprung toward the hole in the glass, when a body hurled over the back of the sofa and a hand grabbed his collar, yanking
him back, the two of them falling in the broken glass.

“Sonofabitch.”
The epithet was thundered in a rage, followed by the cold bite of steel against the back of his head. “Get up, Hunter. Hands
where I can see them. You want me, now you’ve got me. Toss your gun.”

David rose, conscious of each passing second. His mother and Tom had slipped away, unseen.
Don’t stop running until you’re safe.
“I don’t have a gun.”

Kirby’s arm came around his neck, his forearm threatening to crush his throat, bending him backward as he awkwardly patted
David down. “You really don’t. What the hell kind of hero are you anyway, charging me without a gun?”

David reached for Kirby’s arm, but Kirby jabbed the gun barrel against his head, hard. “I said keep your hands where I can
see them.”

David couldn’t breathe. “The cops are coming,” he rasped and Kirby laughed.

“Nice try. They’re not coming because they’re all waiting
for me downtown. They think I’m stupid. They think I can’t smell a setup.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” David grated out. He leaned back an inch, freeing his windpipe enough to draw a decent
breath. Kirby was taller than he’d seemed standing behind the counter. Stronger too.
I underestimated him. Never looked at him. He made me uncomfortable, so I never really looked at him
.

“Their little ruse, their text from Austin. ‘Help. I’m scared. Meet me,’” Kirby mocked.

The trick Olivia had up her sleeve. It obviously had not worked as planned. “How do you know it’s a ruse? Last I heard, they
hadn’t caught the kid. He’s wily.”

“Because they got my place surrounded. Fucking cops everywhere.”

“There are always cops in your place. You sell coffee and doughnuts.”

“Funny guy. You won’t be laughing in a min—
Fuck.
” Kirby viciously kicked at the overturned chair. “What the fucking hell is this?”

David didn’t move. Didn’t say a word. Kirby hadn’t known his mother was there. For some reason that God only knew, Mary had
lied, told Kirby she’d killed his mother already. By now Tom should have his mother halfway to the car. He’d made the boy
promise to keep moving.
Even if I don’t follow
. He needed to buy his family more time.

“Goddammit,” Kirby hissed. “She lied, the bitch. She didn’t kill the old lady. Where is she?” He shoved the gun harder into
David’s skull. “Where the hell is she?”

David tried to stay calm. Tried to buy another few minutes to give Tom time to get his mother to safety. “I don’t know what
you mean.”

“Goddammit, there’s rope on the floor. Walk, Hunter.” He shoved David forward, over the threshold of the shattered glass door,
onto the patio. “Old lady Hunter!” he bellowed. “Come back or your son dies. I will shoot him. I have nothing to lose. You
do.”

No, Ma. Don’t do it
. David prayed Tom had her out of earshot. Fat chance, not with his mother’s hearing. She’d come. Tom would follow and then
all three of them would die.
Dammit, Olivia, where the hell are you?
He held his breath, listening for any sign that his mother was coming back, but there was nothing.
Thank you.

“Fine,” Kirby muttered. “They can’t have gotten far. You’re done, Hunter.”

He’s going to shoot me
. Then he’d go after them, the people he loved.
Not while I still breathe. I’ll take him with me.
David’s stomach roiled. He wasn’t nearly as zen with the prospect as he’d always expected he’d be.
I walk into fire, ready to die every day.
But this was different. There was no rush. No adrenaline. Just fear and dread, heavy in his gut. It wouldn’t, however, change
the outcome.

Now. Take him down now.
He shifted to the balls of his feet, then shoved backward as hard as he could, twisting to the side, grabbing Kirby’s wrist
as they fell. David’s head hit the patio hard, and the world spun, but he had Kirby’s wrist in a lock and the gun pointed
away from them.

With a howl of rage, Kirby grabbed his collar with his free hand and slammed David’s head onto the concrete again. Pain crashed
through his skull, but he held Kirby’s wrist. They rolled, fighting for the gun. David pinned him to the concrete, but Kirby’s
finger was curled around the trigger and it was all David could do to keep the barrel pointed away.

Sucking in a breath, David’s head cleared and so did his
view of Kirby’s face. Fury exploded and he ploughed his fist into Kirby’s face with all the force he could summon, but Kirby
countered, twisting his collar until his knuckles dug into David’s throat.

Can’t breathe
. He twisted, but Kirby tightened his hold.
Can’t breathe
. White lights twinkled before his eyes as, one-handed, he yanked at the knuckles cutting off his air, but Kirby held. Both
hands. He needed both hands.
He’ll shoot. I’ll die. No. Not today. Relax the throat.
It worked, allowing him a shallow breath through his nose.

And he smelled her.
Honeysuckle. She’s here
. In his mind he could see her, ready, aiming, unable to get a clear shot as they fought.
Let go of the gun. Move.
Abruptly he released Kirby’s wrist, throwing himself to the side. Kirby rolled with him, his fist still twisted in his collar
and from the corner of his eye he could see the gun arc around…
pointing at me.
He stared at the barrel, every muscle clenched.

The shot made David flinch and made Kirby jerk as his body dropped away, dead before David drew a full breath. Stunned, David
hung there, staring at the neat new hole in Kirby’s temple. Then, with a hoarse cough, he pulled Kirby’s lifeless hand from
his collar and rolled to his back, his chest heaving as he struggled to fill his lungs. When he forced his eyes open, Olivia
still held her gun in both hands, still pointed at Kirby’s head, her face an expressionless mask. Slowly she lowered the gun,
reholstering it.

Pushing himself to his knees, David pressed his fingers to Kirby’s neck, then looked up at Olivia with grim satisfaction.
“That’s all, folks,” he murmured.

She choked out a sound that was neither laugh nor sob, then fell to her knees next to David, her fingertips lightly grazing
his face. “Oh God, look at you.” Sitting on his
heels, he winced when she touched the back of his head, then frowned at the blood on her fingers. “You’re bleeding,” she said.

David blinked hard. Now that it was over the adrenaline was fading, pain seeping in to take its place. “Hit my head,” he said
fractiously, then ran his fingers over his jaw, his frown deepening. “And busted a few stitches. Hurts like a bitch.”

“I guess so.” She brushed her lips over his temple. “I couldn’t get the shot without risking you. How did you know what to
do?”

He breathed her scent and it calmed him. “I smelled honeysuckle. I knew you were there. I knew you’d do the right thing.”

She rested her brow against his. “I was afraid he’d take you, too,” she whispered.

His arms closed around her, absorbing her shudder. “He didn’t. You didn’t let him.”

“Liv?” Noah stood in the ruined glass doorway, reholstering his gun. Olivia pulled away, glancing at Kirby’s body before lifting
her eyes to Noah’s.

“Kirby’s dead.”

“I know. I saw it all.” He nodded once, hard. “Very nice shot. You okay, David?”

Olivia stood up. “He needs an ambulance,” she answered for him.

“No, I don’t,” David said, rising as well, riding out the wave of dizziness and nausea. “Where’s my mother and Tom?”

“I called the EMTs,” Noah said, as if David hadn’t spoken. “They’re five minutes out. Your mother is in our car with Tom.
She’s fine.”

David let out a relieved breath. “Kirby called to her. I
thought for sure she’d come back and that Kirby would shoot her, too.”

“We were here already,” Noah said. “We heard Kirby yell. Phoebe almost did run back here. I convinced her to trust us. To
let Olivia and me do our jobs.”

David closed his eyes. Between the relief and the pain in his head, he was feeling sick. “Thank you.”

“What about Mary?” Olivia asked. “Where is she?”

“In the kitchen,” Noah said. “She’s dead.”

David grimaced, remembering how her head had exploded. “Kirby shot her.”

Olivia sighed. “Now we’ll never get answers.”

“We have a few,” David said, and told them what he’d overheard.

“Mary issued the ex-con attacker an engraved invitation,” Noah said. “I guess I can’t blame Kirby for being a little annoyed
at that. But the rest…”

“He was a sociopath,” Olivia said flatly. “He killed without blinking an eye.”

So had she
. But that was entirely different. He thought of her cold focus in spite of everything she’d been through and was proud of
her. He brushed at the glass sticking to his shirt, his ears pricking at the sound of a siren. The police. Finally.

“What took the cops so long?” he demanded.

“They didn’t have the aerial view that we did,” Olivia said. “Lots of cabins have green awnings. They’ve been searching from
the ground while we waited for the state’s helicopter. I called in the address right before Tom crashed his car into the cabin.”

“Why
did
Tom crash the car into the house?” Noah asked.

“It was the only diversion I could think of big enough to
keep Kirby busy while I got my mom out. He’d just shot his sister and he didn’t believe Mary when she said she’d already killed
my mom. I knew he’d go looking for Mom next. I had to do something.”

Olivia blinked. “Mary told him she’d killed your mom already? She lied?”

“Yeah. Kirby came in, pointing his gun and asked where her hostage was. He’d guessed she was my mother. Asked if she’d stashed
her in the closet. But Mary lied.”

“Because she didn’t want to hurt me.”

David spun around. His mother stood on the patio, Tom at her side. She was pale but otherwise unharmed. “Mom.” Heart in his
throat, he met her halfway, intending to keep his hug light but tightening his arms when she started to cry. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m fine. I just… I could hear him. He shot his own sister. I thought he was going to kill you.”

“I thought he was, too,” David murmured. “But I’m fine. You’re fine. We’re fine.”

“We are.” She pulled back to search his face, wincing at the cuts and bruises, her eyes haunted. “I waited in the car as long
as I could. Oh, honey, your face.”

“Just a few cuts and bruises. I’ll heal. Are you sure that you’re all right?”