The Hidden (24 page)

Authors: Heather Graham

BOOK: The Hidden

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There was something there, a message, telling him that he had to take the shot.

“One more step and I shoot one of you!” Gwen promised.

“Nathan Kendall won’t let you get away with it,” Scarlet said. “The others won’t, either. They’re all here, you know. My God!” she added suddenly.

“What?” Terry demanded.

“It’s Jillian! It has to be Jillian Kendall. Don’t you see her? She’s right there, next to Daniel and Cassandra.”

“She’s right,” Diego said. “They’re all here, and they’ll never let you leave.”

That was when Gwen made her mistake. She turned to look. And Diego was just close enough. He didn’t dare fire, for fear of hitting Scarlet. Instead he threw himself across the two feet between them and brought Gwen down to the ground—and Scarlet, too.

“The gun!” Terry shouted to Gwen.

But before Gwen could reach it, Nathan stepped forward and kicked it out of her reach. Diego got to his feet, dragging her up with him. Terry took one look at them and turned to run. He didn’t get far. He seemed to trip on nothing at all and fell flat to the ground.

Standing right in front of him was Jillian Kendall, smiling with pride.

“Get up, Terry,” Diego commanded quietly as he secured Gwen with plastic cuffs. Then he looked at Scarlet, who was standing and dusting herself off.

“You risked your life,” he said accusingly.

She shook her head. “He was out of bullets,” she said. She picked up the Colt and fired. It let out a silent click.

He smiled at her. “Good show,” he said softly.

She smiled and turned to Terry, who was just standing there, a blank look in his eyes.

“Guess what, Terry? I do know where the gold is,” she said.

“You do?” Diego asked her.

She shrugged. “I didn’t until tonight. But that mannequin... It’s the heaviest thing I’ve ever tried to move. Nathan Kendall gave the gold to his wife for safekeeping. Her father apparently decided to keep it safe, too. There’s going to be some kind of panel in that statue. We’ll find the gold behind it.”

“I knew she’d find it,” Terry said to Gwen.

She told him exactly what he could do with himself.

Diego ignored her, drawing Scarlet into his arms. “I nearly died a thousand deaths, watching her holding that gun on you,” he said.

She smiled. “That’s because you love me. And I love you,” she said softly.

“Hey!” a voice suddenly thundered.

The cemetery suddenly seemed to be ablaze with light. Brett rode straight toward them, followed by a half dozen cops.

Diego turned to Scarlet. “They can take it from here.”

Suddenly he realized just how badly he was shaking. He’d almost lost her.

She laid a hand on his face and met his eyes. “I think we can take it from here, too.”

He smiled. And he suddenly knew, there in a mountainside cemetery, in the dark and surrounded by the dead, that they had wonderful lives ahead of them—together.

Epilogue

I
t was the next day before the events were finally and entirely untangled.

John Williams, the man known as Terry Ballantree, was not only a descendant of Rollo Conway—through the bastard child back East—but also of Nathan Kendall, since his great-grandmother had headed west and met up with one of Zachary Kendall’s multitude of grandchildren.

Gwen Barton had met Terry at the Twisted Antler when she and some friends had spent spring break in Estes Park, and they’d recognized each other as kindred spirits. Together they’d devised a way to get away with murder—and hunt for the gold. She hadn’t known about the gold until Terry told her about it and explained how he knew, through family lore, that it existed. After that, they just needed to find it.

Her poor husband had been, in her mind, a necessary and completely disposable pawn.

Of course, things had started to go to hell when their attempt to frame Ben failed, so eventually they’d realized that they had to kidnap Scarlet—who, they were both convinced, knew where the gold was—and escape before they were caught. Terry had managed to slip past Matt and Meg to get to Angus, but that was his last piece of good luck. He and Gwen hadn’t counted on Scarlet’s love of history and knowledge of antique weaponry, much less the spectral posse that had come to her assistance.

Adam and Scarlet had spent a lot of time talking about the fact that the Krewe always needed more historians and archaeologists, and they didn’t have to be trained agents if they chose office work.

An understanding of life after death was always a plus.

Scarlet had to admit she liked Adam very much, along with every other Krewe member she’d met so far.

In Diego’s mind, what was there not to like?

Not to mention love.

It was twilight—that perfect moment when the sun was falling and the sky was alive with crystalline color—and the Krewe were together on the porch of the main house. They had the ranch to themselves. Ben and Trisha were on an extended trip to the Caribbean, Clark and Gigi Levin—who’d been easily located having lunch after going missing—were headed “anywhere but here,” and Linda Reagan was down at the station, tearfully begging not to be arrested for being an accessory to murder.

Terry and Gwen were under arrest, of course.

Angus was recovering from his head wound and accompanying concussion, thanks to Brett’s quick decision to drive him straight to the hospital after finding him out in the woods. Gwen had hit him with a baseball bat and nearly killed him in her attempt to draw Brett away from the museum.

And Lieutenant Ernest Gray was alive as well, fighting for his life, but hanging on. Diego and Scarlet planned on heading to the hospital to see him in a little while.

But at the moment they had gathered solemnly with their friends, because those who had helped them were gathered before them. Nathan was at last reunited with the ghost of his wife, while Cassandra Wells held tightly to Daniel Kendall’s arm.

The four of them were standing together in front of the porch as the sun fell.

Daniel looked at them, lifted Cassandra’s hand and smiled. “To eternity,” he said, then paused and grinned. “And beyond.”

Nathan seldom had much to say, and this was no exception, but he offered Scarlet a special smile and mouthed the words,
Thank you.

Jillian Vickers Kendall lifted a hand in farewell.

It felt as if the sun gave off one last brilliant splash of gold, all but opening the heavens, and then the ghosts were gone and dusk began to descend like a soft blanket around them.

Diego turned to Scarlet. “Where do we go from here?” he asked her with a smile.

She, too, smiled. “Anywhere you want.” And then she laughed softly. “Wherever you go, I go, too. In this life,” she added, “and the next.”

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from
THE SILENCED
by Heather Graham.

“Each new book involving the Krewe of
Hunters takes the reader on a dark adventure… This case was gruesome and
suspenseful…will keep everyone guessing until the very
end!”
—
RT
Book Reviews
, Top Pick, on
The Silenced

Looking for more bone-chilling mysteries starring the FBI’s
paranormal investigations unit, the Krewe of Hunters?

Don’t miss the latest heart-pounding installments in this
bone-chilling series from
New York Times
bestselling
author and queen of romantic suspense Heather Graham:

The Silenced
The Forgotten
The Hidden

Packed with deadly intrigue and spine-tingling suspense, catch
up on the complete Krewe of Hunters series today!

Phantom Evil
Heart of Evil
Sacred Evil
The Evil Inside
The Unseen
The Unholy
The Unspoken
The Uninvited
The Night Is Watching
The Night Is Alive
The Night Is Forever
The Cursed
The Hexed
The Betrayed

Complete your collection!

“Graham does a great job of blending just a
bit of paranormal with real, human evil.”
—
Miami Herald
on
Unhallowed Ground

If you love the Krewe of Hunters, then you won’t want to miss a
moment of page-turning romantic suspense in
New York
Times
bestselling author Heather Graham’s Cafferty & Quinn
novels: