Escape from the Badlands
Dana Mentink
A BROTHER’S PROMISE After his brother is convicted of murder, Shane Mason will do anything to clear his name. But when his investigations lead him to enter South Dakota’s Desert Quest extreme race, Shane is fl oored by the surprise waiting for him. Kelly Cloudman—the woman he can’t let himself love—is the race’s medic…and the killer’s next target.A painful memory from his past divided Shane from Kelly, but he’s not going to let her out of his sight again. Even if it means revealing his secrets, Shane won’t stop until he’s found the truth—and kept the murderer from striking again.
A brother’s promise
After his brother is convicted of murder, Shane Mason will do anything to clear his name. But when his investigations lead him to enter South Dakota’s Desert Quest extreme race, Shane is floored by the surprise waiting for him. Kelly Cloudman—the woman he can’t let himself love—is the race’s medic...and the killer’s next target. A painful memory from his past divided Shane from Kelly, but he’s not going to let her out of his sight again. Even if it means revealing his secrets, Shane won’t stop until he’s found the truth—and kept the murderer from striking again.
Kelly looked again at the GPS fixed to the dashboard, which suddenly blinked to a blank screen.
“Don’t quit on me now,” she muttered, pushing down the panic at the thought of being lost in this maze of twists and turns. The sides were high, giving her the pinched, closed-in feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Stop being silly. You’re driving through a storm, that’s all.
Her stomach clenched into a tight ball as the storm let loose.
Frantically she yanked the wheel back and forth, to no avail. The water began to fill the canyon as if someone had turned on a giant faucet, causing the car to hydroplane. Willing herself not to scream, she wrenched ineffectively at the wheel. It began to turn in lazy circles until it smacked into a rocky projection and lodged there. Flash flood, of course.
She peered out the window, terrified to see the water rising steadily. It was cresting the bottom of the door and moving fast.
With fingers gone cold she unlocked the driver’s door and pushed.
Nothing.
DANA MENTINK
lives in California with her family. Dana and her husband met doing a dinner theater production of The Velveteen Rabbit. In college, she competed in national speech and debate tournaments. Besides writing novels, Dana taste-tests for the National Food Lab and freelances for a local newspaper. In addition to her work with Love Inspired Books, she wrote cozy mysteries for Barbour Books. Dana loves feedback from her readers. Contact her at her website, www.danamentink.com.
Escape from the Badlands
Dana Mentink
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Love Inspired!
2012 is a very special year for us. It marks the fifteenth anniversary of Love Inspired Books. Hard to believe that fifteen years ago, we first began publishing our warm and wonderful inspirational romances.
Back in 1997, we offered readers three books a month. Since then we’ve expanded quite a bit! In addition to the heartwarming contemporary romances of Love Inspired, we have the exciting romantic suspenses of Love Inspired Suspense, and the adventurous historical romances of Love Inspired Historical. Whatever your reading preference, we’ve got fourteen books a month for you to choose from now!
Throughout the year we’ll be celebrating in several different ways. Look for books by bestselling authors who’ve been writing for us since the beginning, stories by brand-new authors you won’t want to miss, special miniseries in all three lines, reissues of top authors, and much, much more.
This is our way of thanking you for reading Love Inspired books. We know our uplifting stories of hope, faith and love touch your hearts as much as they touch ours.
Join us in celebrating fifteen amazing years of inspirational romance!
Blessings,
Melissa Endlich and Tina James
Senior Editors of Love Inspired Books
To Laurie, who is a wonderful editor and a truly splendid sister.
* * *
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
—Hebrews 12:1–2
Contents
Chapter One (#u96f833ac-2f12-57af-bbe5-c0d537a94aa5)
Chapter Two (#u7b1db5c3-db72-5586-bc5c-ff3a960e9b5d)
Chapter Three (#u1b46ac3c-fabc-5c4b-887d-6db0e28f9d2b)
Chapter Four (#u4b7cb088-5159-507e-9b44-89ad4b6accc0)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Dear Reader (#litres_trial_promo)
Questions for Discussion (#litres_trial_promo)
ONE
The site might as well have been on Mars, rather than tucked in the South Dakota Badlands. Shane was still sweating from the fifteen-mile bike ride, which was nearly vertical in some places along the lonely trail and eventually led to an abandoned mine. They’d finally reached the spot known by the other endurance racers as Sheer Drop. It was a cliff of gray rock, striated with layers of black and white, studded with one lone tree standing sentinel against the sky. The view was spectacular. Even in his preoccupied state, Shane recognized the magnificence of the canyon below, twisting and brushy, and the hills with their covering of wind-tossed grass. The air was scented with the tang of newly fallen rain on long-parched ground.
Shane knew the Desert Quest race producers were keeping tabs on the participants. Back at the campground, which served as base of operations, they tracked everyone carefully via the GPS units all the racers carried, particularly Shane, as he was a late addition. He knew that race producer, Martin Chenko, and the man Shane was really interested in talking to, Devin Ackerman, were watching them.
Go ahead and watch, Ackerman. Enjoy things while you can.
A cold drizzle of rain snaked down his back as he laced on his climbing shoes and secured the bike before beginning preparations for the descent, slipping on a harness and checking the static rope already affixed to the top of the cliff.
The bank of clouds blotted out the afternoon sky, and the wind blew in sporadic gusts. If the October drizzle morphed into a serious storm, the corrugated rocks would turn slick and rappelling down would be dangerous. Storms in the South Dakota Badlands were more than noisy. They were deadly. The man next to Shane regarded him without a hint of a smile, prematurely silver hair glinting in the sparse sunlight.
“Think you can make it? You’ve got to prove competency before they’ll let us race as a team,” Andy Gleeson said. “If you can’t, say so now and I’ll find another teammate. I’m in this thing to win the fifty thousand. My partner bugged out two weeks ago. That’s the only reason I’m giving you a look.”
“I got that. I can do it, if they don’t call it on account of the weather. It’s just a trial run.”
“Seems to me you got a good incentive to win,” Gleeson said, giving him an appraising look. “Ranching can’t pay too good.”
Shane started. “How did you know I’m a rancher?”
Gleeson looked at the sky. “Ah, you just hear things.”
What things? Did Gleeson know about Shane’s brother, even though he’d used a fake last name? If he did, then Ackerman might know the truth as well, the real reason Shane had entered the race. He itched to grill Gleeson, but further questions would only make things worse.
Shane jerked the strap on his helmet tight. “I know I’m your second choice.” He also knew he could handle the physical requirements of the race. Climbing, swimming, canoeing and the like were no problem, after having spent plenty of time training for triathlons and Iron Man races.
The question was, could he accomplish his real goal? He knew deep down in his bones that race publicity man Devin Ackerman killed his sister-in-law, and all he had to do was find Ellen Brown, the woman who’d lied to give Ackerman an alibi. Many of the racers were repeaters so the chances were good some of Ellen’s old teammates were competing again. All he needed was a way to contact her, convince her to come clean, at least enough to cast doubt on the police’s ironclad case against his brother. Or maybe Ackerman would incriminate himself. Shane had done additional research, combing through blogs from previous Desert Quest races for any mention of Ackerman, and knew that the man liked to party. And when he did, he liked to talk.
All I need to do is stay around long enough to find the tiniest particle of truth, just enough to help Todd.
Gleeson checked the anchors. “Secure,” he said.
Shane checked them again anyway, earning a nod of approval from his partner. A noise from down below drew his attention. A road followed the base of the cliff through pockets of smaller rock formations. A dark vehicle drove slowly along, heading in the direction of the campground. Shane watched the slow progress, wondering who would be driving up just then. Most of the racers were in camp, waiting out the storm, and the vehicle didn’t have the Desert Quest markings on the side to identify it as a race official’s.
He felt a spatter of rain on his face as the storm picked up, the wind tearing at his T-shirt. The car continued on, toward a small canyon, pinched in on both sides by rippled rock.
Gleeson rubbed his chin. “What do you think? Storm going to get worse?”
Shane didn’t have to answer. A crackle of lightning sizzled overhead, followed a few moments later by the rumble of thunder that shook the sky and the ground under their feet. This high up, it seemed as though they were right in the center of the storm as the rain unleashed all its fury, howling around them.
They moved away from the tree toward a narrow outcropping of rock that would serve as scant shelter while Gleeson checked his satellite phone. “Message from HQ says we’re officially postponing. We’ll have to wait for a break and then take the bikes back.” He looked up at the sky, face puckered in anger. “Why couldn’t it have waited an hour? I wanted to get us qualified tonight.”
Shane wasn’t listening. From his position he could barely make out the car below as it entered the canyon. A memory of the past intruded, a time when his father had entered just such a canyon in just such a storm. One second it was clear, and the next they were nearly swallowed up by the crush of rising water.
Shane should have learned from that experience how deadly and unforgiving water could be.
If only he’d learned.
Somehow—with God’s help, his brother had said—they’d escaped the flash flood then. He wondered if God was keeping tabs on that little car now.
Kelly Cloudman gripped the wheel as the wind shook the car. She glanced in the rearview at Charlie. Fortunately, the three-year-old was asleep, oblivious to her tension as they crept along. The walls of the canyon blotted out the meager light, leaving her straining to see. She sighed, wondering again why she was driving through the middle of nowhere, South Dakota, with Charlie.
Because he’s yours now and he needs you.
She shot him another quick glance, noting the slight curl in his hair and the round cheeks that matched those of her twin sister, Rose. They were fraternal twins, but Kelly and her sister had always been more alike than different—until her sister succumbed to alcoholism.
Where are you, Rose? What have you done?
She didn’t know, in spite of her efforts and the halfhearted attempts by the police to locate Rose. Even their uncle Bill, who had returned to his job as Tribal Ranger after nearly losing his life and Heather’s, the woman he would later marry, to a madman, had had no luck discovering the whereabouts of her vanished sister.
Sometimes she thought the whole thing was a dream. But the little child left in her car a year and a half ago was certainly not. Charlie was a flesh-and-blood child who desperately needed her. A vicious splatter of rain on the windshield made her jump.
“We’ll be okay, Charlie,” she whispered. “This job pays enough for us to find a place to stay until your mommy comes home.” If she ever does. She swallowed the doubt.
Having a family hadn’t been part of her vision. Not through college or the nursing school from which she’d just graduated a few months before. She’d been interested only in her academic pursuits—until a certain blue-eyed rancher had reminded her how incredibly joyful life could be.
Joyful…and devastating.
He’s gone now, Kelly. He’s got no place in your heart or your life anymore.
She’d gained a child and lost her soul mate, and now she was driving through a nasty storm to some desolate part of South Dakota she’d never laid eyes on before, even though she’d grown up in the state.
The rain fell harder now, slamming into the front windshield. She should have arrived for her job as race medic the day before, but Charlie had been sick and she was reluctant to make the drive when he was running a fever. Was this the way parenting was? The constant worry and rerouting of plans? She flashed on her own mother, who had struggled with drug addiction for years before she beat it. Sadly, her death had all the symptoms of an overdose, so Kelly and her sister had believed her to be a junkie right up to the very end. Guilt rose thick and cold inside her. She hadn’t even been able to find Rose to tell her the truth—that their mother had been murdered. And she’d been so caught up in her own pursuits, she hadn’t had much time for their mother until it was too late.
She pushed the hair out of her face. Motherhood was a complicated thing, an intricate connection between woman and child that persisted even when trauma and addiction got in the way. So far, hard as it had been to juggle her career and her role as a mom, she would not trade a minute of it. As if he heard her thoughts, Charlie started, suddenly awake.
“Mama Kelly,” he said, brown eyes wide.
“It’s okay, honey. I’m here.” She had been floored when he decided to call her Mama, and somewhat awed by the responsibility of holding the title.
“Rain?”
“Yes, Charlie. It’s raining. We’ll be at the campground soon, okay?”
He pulled his flannel blanket with the trains printed on it to the side of his face and reached out to pet the elderly cat snuggled at his feet.
She looked again at the GPS fixed to the dashboard, which suddenly blinked to a blank screen.
“Don’t quit on me now,” she muttered, pushing down panic at the thought of being lost in this maze of twists and turns. At this point she just wanted to get out of the canyon. The sides were high, giving her the pinched, closed-in feeling that something bad was going to happen between those gray walls.
Stop being silly. You’re driving through a storm, that’s all.
Her stomach clenched into a tight ball as the storm let loose, pounding the roof of the car with fury.
Charlie whimpered, and the cat meowed her alarm.
“It’s okay. We’ll be fine in a minute. You just keep Paddy Paws company.” The old cat settled down again, curled in a gray ball against Charlie’s warm side, just like the day she found them both in the backseat of her car.
They were far from fine as the wheel failed to respond. Frantically she yanked it back and forth, to no avail, as the car drifted. The water began to fill the canyon, as if someone had turned on a giant faucet, causing the car to hydroplane. Willing herself not to scream, she wrenched ineffectively at the wheel. It began to turn in lazy circles until the car smacked into a rocky projection and lodged there. Flash flood, of course. She should have known it, shouldn’t have made the stupid mistake of entering the canyon in these conditions.
She peered out the window, terrified to see the water rising steadily. It was cresting the bottom of the door and moving fast. If she didn’t get Charlie out of that car, they would drown. The roar of the wind and rain was so loud she could not hear Charlie’s crying now. She reached over the backseat and unbuckled him, pulling him to the front. He wrapped his arms and legs around her, burying his face in her neck, clutching his train blanket. Paddy leaped into the front seat, too.
With fingers gone cold, she unlocked the driver’s door and pushed.
Nothing.
She kicked and slammed at it with all her might but the door would not open, pushed tight by the force of the water outside, which now reached the bottom of the car window. Fighting down panic, she looked around for something to break the window. The jack was in the trunk.
Again she kicked at the door with every ounce of strength, but it would not open. Lightning scorched the sky, illuminating the terrifying flood outside the window. Thunder roared around them and they both cried out.
Heart in her throat, she watched the water rise, murmuring words of comfort that she did not believe to the terrified boy in her lap.
Shane continued to stare down into the howling storm that buffeted the little car below. He recognized the moment when the water overwhelmed the vehicle and it began to hydroplane. The car was now wedged against the rocks, and Shane had not seen anyone escape. Even if the driver had managed to shove open the door, he would have to be a strong swimmer to escape the flood that thundered past the car.
He didn’t allow himself to think about it. Instead he trotted to the edge to hook up to the rappelling rope.
Gleeson yelled from behind. “What are you doing?”
“There’s a car down there in trouble.”
“You can’t do that. They’ve closed the ropes course. Too dangerous.”
Shane shot him a grin. “Do you know a faster way down?”
He watched Gleeson’s openmouthed stare with a flicker of satisfaction as he slid over the side. The wind buffeted him back and forth as he rappelled down, his knees and elbows banging into the wet rocks on either side. He tried to keep the car in view during his descent, but the driving rain made it nearly impossible. At one point he began to twist helplessly, rocked by the violence of the storm, thunder splitting the air around him, until he regained some sense of balance and continued down dizzily to the bottom.
Unhooking quickly, he fought the disequilibrium and ran across the slippery ground in the direction of the car, thinking all the while that the driver could have used a dose of common sense. As little as two feet of water was enough to carry away a full-size car, and driving into a boxed-in canyon in the middle of a storm was a recipe for disaster.
Tripping on a root exposed by the torrential rain, he fell, skidding in the sandy earth for a yard or two before he regained his footing and pushed himself to go faster. The driver wouldn’t have much time before the car was completely inundated. He reached the spot closest to the half-filled canyon where he could secure a rope to a sturdy pinnacle of rock. The wind tore at him as he lowered himself down. Water swirled up to the driver’s window. Rain stung his eyes, and he could make out only the pale gleam of a face.
Pulling a flashlight from his belt, he yelled over the wind. “Get back!” It took two blows for the window to break. Hundreds of rounded bits of safety glass were snatched immediately away by the pull of the water now rushing in through the gap. Using his boot, he cleared as much of the remaining glass as he could and reached in to grab the person in the car. The tension in that slender arm was palpable as fingers locked around his. It took all Shane’s strength to fight against the water, which poured into the car in a mighty tide.
Shoulders burning, he held tight to a handful of slippery fabric as he heaved with all his might until the figure pulled free and into his arms, clutching a wet bundle. He noted that it was a woman, long dark hair plastered over her face.
“We’ll make for that ledge!” he yelled in her ear.
If she replied, he didn’t hear as he fought against the water, which sucked at his waist and threatened to tear her out of his arms. Hand over hand, he pushed through the foam until they reached the relative safety of a small ledge, just above the water level.
He held on until the woman found a foothold and turned her face to his.
Something struck him as familiar about the dark eyes peeking from under the curtain of wet hair. Her hands were full of a bundle of some kind, and she jerked her head to clear the hair away.
His heart thumped to a stop.
Kelly.
He thought he’d gone mad.
“What?” he managed, so startled he almost lost his footing on the ledge.
Her eyes rounded as recognition dawned on her face. Her lips parted but she didn’t speak.
“What are you doing here?” he finally managed.
Instead of answering, she pushed the bundle into his hands. The bundle turned out to be a little boy, face stark with terror.
And Kelly grabbed the trailing rope and plunged back toward the water.
TWO
Kelly didn’t allow herself to acknowledge the shock of seeing Shane. She had another mission right now. The rope was wet and slick in her hands as she skidded down the rocks toward the rapidly filling car. She could faintly hear Charlie’s high-pitched wail.
Don’t worry, Charlie. I’ll get her. I’ve got to get her.
The cat, that old bag of bones with the missing front tooth, was the only thing Charlie had left of his mother, and Kelly was not about to let the animal drown. Feet skidding, knees banging into the sharp rocks, she slid down the rope, grateful that she remembered a few things from her spelunking adventures with Shane in their happier days.
Shane was here. Right here, in this bit of South Dakota nowhere. Why?
She pushed away the thought. There was no time to indulge her feelings of betrayal now.
Find Paddy Paws.
Her feet hit the submerged trunk of the car. Water swirled around her ankles, so cold it took her breath away. She sloshed toward the broken driver’s window, heart thudding, praying that the water hadn’t overwhelmed the old cat and swept her away.
Gripping the edge of the window, she slid off the car and into the water, which now poured around her torso. Pulling herself even with the window, she was elated to see Paddy Paws, wet and shivering, clinging to the headrest.
“Thank You, God,” she whispered. “I’m here, Paddy. I’m coming to get you.”
She reached out to the cat, and the terrified animal whisked up her arm, clinging to her back, claws sinking into her skin. Though the pain brought tears to her eyes, she persevered, finding the rope in the water and hauling herself onto the trunk in preparation to climb back up, when the car suddenly lurched. Jerked backward, Kelly toppled into the flood, fighting panic as the water closed over her head. Her eyes burned, and she tumbled so violently she could not decide which way led to the surface. Waves tugged and pulled at her, letting go long enough for her to suck in a breath, coughing and sputtering. In spite of her frantic splashing, she felt the press of water sucking her back under.
She tried to fight her way back to the rock wall, but the ferocious violence of the water sent her spiraling. Her lungs burned and pain shot through her as she banged into rocks that tumbled loose in the water.
Something grabbed her by the jacket and she fought to free herself.
She couldn’t get loose. Eyes stinging and lungs burning, she broke the surface and found herself firmly in the grip of Shane Mason. His eyes glittered in a pale face, a sheaf of wet bangs plastered over his forehead, stubble of beard catching the droplets that ran down his face. He held a rope with one hand and quickly tied it around her waist.
“I’ve got to get the cat…” she gasped.
He didn’t let her finish, but yelled for someone to hoist her up. Then he disappeared into the thundering water.
Kelly was frozen to the spot, unsure if Shane had lost his footing or dived into the water intentionally. The tug of the rope at her waist left her no time to ponder as she was slowly hauled up to the top. All the while her eyes pored over the flooded canyon for any sign of Shane or Paddy. Her heart squeezed. Had she just made him risk his life?
She gritted her teeth to stop them from chattering and peered into the water until she crested the top of the canyon. A big, crew-cut man with silver hair helped her over the edge. He looked familiar, though she couldn’t place him.
Water beaded in the deep grooves on his forehead. “You all right?”
Her head spun, still dizzy from being tumbled like laundry in the wash. “Where’s Charlie?”
“The boy’s okay.” He pointed to Charlie, who was now wrapped in a slicker and sitting in the front seat of a van, being tended to by a lady with a thick braid.
She felt a surge of relief as she followed the man back to the edge. They both peered down into the violent water.
“Do you see him?” she whispered, a ripple of dread surging through her.
“Not yet, but he’s a strong swimmer. Must have slipped off the rocks when he was helping you.”
She heard the condemnation in the man’s voice. “What can we do?”
“Nothing,” he said, his face grim. “It’s up to him now.”
The minutes ticked by in painful slow motion.
Slowly, the rain died away, leaving the canyon quiet except for the rush of water and the crackle of the radio as the man relayed the situation to someone on the other end. Kelly felt as if she was trapped in some sort of bad movie, only the script wasn’t quite right. It was not her love who fought for his life below. Shane was a man she used to love, until he turned out to be someone else. Now he was just a stranger.
A stranger who had put his life at risk for hers.
Anger pricked her insides. Why had he bothered?
The answer came quickly. Because he hadn’t known it was her and Charlie. As far as he knew, it was some hapless traveler, and he’d lent a hand because it was in his character to do so. She wondered if she would have the chance to thank him before they parted ways again. Permanently.
She peered harder into the gloom, hoping he would reappear at any moment. She looked for Paddy Paws as well, and thought about the little boy waiting in the van for his cat’s safe return. How would she tell him that Paddy was gone? Just like Rose? And how would she feel if Shane didn’t come back?
The man gave her a nervous look. “Maybe you should go wait in the van. You’re shivering.”
She hardly heard him. A movement caught her eye at the base of the cliff some twenty feet away. “I just saw…”
He saw it, too, and they both ran, slipping and stumbling until they reached the overhanging rock. The man let down a rope, securing the other end and using his body as an anchor to take some of the weight.
Soon the rope grew taut as the bedraggled figure on the other end began to climb slowly to the top. Kelly found the tension in her gut ratcheting up the closer he came until Shane appeared, face contorted with effort.
As the man heaved backward on the rope, Shane crawled over and made it to his feet. His face was torn and bleeding, but the eyes—those eyes which she knew to be a startling blue—were lively as ever. Her legs trembled.
There was nothing in his hands. Even Shane, the unstoppable outdoorsman, hadn’t been able to save Paddy.
She swallowed hard, her nurse’s training overriding the strange feeling of misery and relief that coursed through her. She ran to him, stopping so quickly her feet skidded on the slick ground. “Are you hurt?”
He shook the water from his hair. “Only scratched.” She saw several sets of parallel gouges on his exposed forearms and one nasty set on his cheek.
Her eyes widened. “Did you…?”
He reached inside his shirt and pulled out a very wet and terrified cat. “So tell me why I nearly killed myself to save this ungrateful cat?”
Shane watched Kelly’s face shift from unsettled to joyful in a quick second.
Her expression made his chest tighten.
“Paddy,” she cried, scooping the soggy cat from his arms.
He watched her stroke the exhausted animal, grateful for the darkness that covered his rush of emotion. He’d grown used to surprises, even craved them, but this one left him reeling. Kelly Cloudman. Here. Her smile fired every nerve inside him.
He saw from the uncertainty on her face that she was as disarmed as he was.
“Thank you,” she said finally. “For helping me and Paddy.”
He shrugged. “I was in the neighborhood.”
Gleeson broke in. “Matthews, you were supposed to be standing down until the storm passed. Didn’t you hear me say Ackerman ordered us off?”
Shane slicked his wet hair out of his face and kept his eyes on Gleeson, praying Kelly would not ask about his fictional last name. “I don’t take orders from Ackerman or anyone else.”
Gleeson’s chin went up. “Yeah? Well, you may have just cost yourself a spot in the race.”
Shane shrugged. “So be it.”
“So be it?” Gleeson seemed to puff up in anger. “Listen, kid. I gave you a shot and took you on as a partner, but you still have to meet the qualifications and you definitely have to follow orders. I’m in this thing to win, and I don’t need you going cowboy and messing things up for me.”
A woman Shane recognized as a fellow racer got out of the van and joined them in time to hear Gleeson’s outburst. “He had a good reason.”
Gleeson wasn’t mollified. “He risked his life without a word. Didn’t even radio for help. That’s the kind of thing that will make Ackerman kick you out of the race, and I don’t have time to keep finding new partners.”
The woman held up a placating hand. “I’ll talk to Devin. Explain things. He’s quick-tempered but he’s got a soft spot for women and cats.” She cast a curious glance at Kelly. “Devin is my fiancé so I should know. I’m Betsy Falco. I’m competing in Desert Quest.”
Kelly offered her free hand to Betsy and Gleeson. “I’m Kelly Cloudman, and this is Paddy Paws.”
Betsy smiled. “Pleasure. I’m racing with my cousin, Gwen. She’s back at camp because we already did the ropes prelim. I’m glad I decided to drive along and watch these guys, or I would have missed all the excitement. Are you a racer, Kelly? Can’t think of any other reason you’d be out here, especially with your son.”
Shane flushed. The effort of his clumsy water rescue had driven thoughts of the little boy out of his head. Now he glanced toward the van at the tiny bundled figure wrapped in the too-big slicker.
Kelly kept her eyes away from him as she answered. “He’s my nephew. We were on our way to the campground. I’m the race medic.”
Shane almost yelped. “What?”
Kelly finally looked at him, her face a mix of sadness and anger. “I needed a job,” she said simply. “Charlie and I wanted to be closer to my uncle Bill anyway, and his wife, Heather, and my aunt Jean said she would help take care of him during the race events. She’s joining me tomorrow. If I had known…”
If she had known he was a race participant, she never would have come. The words cut right through him. It couldn’t be. He was here to catch a killer, and he didn’t care what he had to risk to accomplish his task. But Kelly? He looked back to the van.
The boy’s soft round cheeks and chubby hand pressed to the window brought back memories of his little brother, and the pain almost swept him away until Gleeson smacked him on the shoulder. “You okay? You look washed up.”
He tried for a smile. “Rough swim.”
Kelly nodded at them and returned to the van, her slender figure hunched against the violent wind. He heard a low squeal of joy as she handed the cat back to Charlie.
“You should get her back,” Betsy said.
He started until he realized that she hadn’t meant the words the way he heard them. “I’ll stay with the bikes. You two drive the van to the campground and come back for me and the gear.”
Gleeson looked at the sky. “Going to storm some more. Not much shelter here.”
Not much shelter anywhere from the angry storm inside him. “Go on. Take care of her. I’ll be here.”
He watched them load up into the van, Gleeson at the wheel and Betsy next to him. Kelly sat in the back now, with Charlie, her long brown hair spiraling into endless curls from the soaking. The cuts the cat had given him burned now, though he felt nothing but cold, the deep-down cold that rooted inside him the moment he’d betrayed Kelly Cloudman.
Kelly found herself sitting in the backseat of the van, her arm around Charlie and Paddy Paws on her lap. Gleeson drove slowly, and Betsy turned often from her spot in the passenger seat to fill Kelly in on race preparations. The gist of it she already knew; it was broken into three tortuous legs: mountain biking, a canoe and run, and the spelunking/ropes course. Each racer was timed, and the team with the fastest cumulative time at the end of the three events would be the winner.
“The weather’s been terrible so far. Of course, we’re not scheduled to start for another day but there are a lot of racers who came early to pass their competency tests and get some extra practice in. The campground is nice and quiet, and the trailers are okay.”
Kelly’s mind wandered as Betsy chattered on. The past few hours felt like a dream, or maybe, more appropriately, a nightmare. Of all the people in the world to rescue her and Charlie at that moment, it had to be Shane. She wanted to forget him, to erase their time together. Absently, she rubbed her palms on her lap.
She blinked away the memories. The important thing was the little boy sitting next to her, humming to himself. Charlie was unharmed, and his precious feline companion had survived, too. She breathed a thank-you prayer.
Looking out into the black sky, too cloud-washed to reveal any stars, the detail returned that had been lurking just out of reach in her mind. Matthews. Gleeson had referred to Shane as Matthews, instead of Mason. He could have misspoken, but Shane’s quick reaction, the barest flick of a glance in her direction, told Kelly it was not a mistake.
For some reason she could not fathom, Shane was using a fictitious last name. She wondered if it had something to do with the terrible news she’d heard the year before, the murder of Olivia Mason, Shane’s sister-in-law.
I should have called. Should have written.
There were plenty of good reasons not to at the time. She was desperately trying to finish her nursing degree and dealing with an emotionally traumatized toddler, not to mention wrestling with her own anguish at Shane’s abrupt departure from her life.
She still didn’t understand what had happened to them. Maybe she never would, but she should have expressed her condolences when Olivia died. Shane loved Olivia like a sister and adored his brother, Todd. She should not have let her own anger and hurt keep her from doing the decent thing.
Forgive me, Lord.
Her clothes were clammy, clinging to her like a second soggy skin as the van pressed through the darkness for miles. Ahead she could just make out some lights as they drove into a flat basin, ringed by distant cliffs. It was hard to discern much, but as they passed through the split-rail fence she noticed a half-dozen small cottages, some dark and others with windows illuminated.
“Those are the cabins,” Betsy said. “Mr. Chenko stays in one; he’s the race producer. Devin’s in another, and there are a few more race officials in the others. The rest of us lowly racers are in the trailers.” She smiled. “Pretty luxurious for an endurance race, I think. Electricity, beds and all the good stuff.”
“Have you done this kind of race before?”
“Nothing this big. I got interested after Devin and I met.” She squinted to read the numbers on the electrical boxes outside the trailers. “Here you are, number seven. I’ll go get the key in the office. Be right back.”
Kelly shivered as they got out. She kept a firm arm around Paddy and held Charlie’s hand tight.
“Mama Kelly?”
She smiled at him. “We’re here, Charlie. This is where we’re going to be staying.”
He gave it a look and then pressed his tired face against her leg, heedless of the damp denim. She found Gleeson looking at them. With a start she placed his face. “I patched up your knee at the clinic.”
“Yes, you did. Good as new.” He eyed Charlie. “Nice little kid. Glad he’s okay.”
“Me, too.”
“I have a son, but he’s grown now.”
“Does he live close by?”
“I wouldn’t know. He doesn’t speak to me, thanks to my ex.” His eyes narrowed. “You know, for a minute, I got the sense that you and Matthews knew each other.”
“Really?” Kelly’s heart pounded. Should she reveal the truth? But there was some reason why Shane hadn’t given this man his real name. She fussed with Charlie’s hair, buying time, wondering what to say.
She was spared having to answer when Betsy arrived with another woman, much shorter than Betsy, with a mane of wild curly black hair. The woman cradled a bundle in her arms.
Betsy opened the door to the trailer as she talked. “This is my cousin, Gwen. She’s petite, like you, so she has some dry clothes for you to wear and a T-shirt for Charlie to sleep in.”
Kelly realized that all her possessions—everything from her phone to their pajamas—were underwater. She groaned.
“It’s okay,” Betsy said, reading her look. “We’ll get the car towed out after the water drains away. You’d be surprised how fast that flood will be gone.”
The interior of the trailer was worn, but clean. There was a full-size bed at one end and a set of little bunk beds at the other. A tiny kitchen tiled in yellowed linoleum and a minuscule bathroom rounded out the space. Kelly placed Paddy Paws on the floor, and she immediately scurried off to hide in the gap under the lowest bunk.
Betsy plopped a paper bag on the table. The trailer light picked up the glint in her copper hair.
“Some food in case you need a snack tonight. There’s a small dining hall here that does breakfast.” She grinned. “See? I told you this place was luxurious. I’ve got to go fill Devin in. I only radioed enough detail to let him know you all were okay. See you in the morning.”
Gwen offered a shy smile and handed over the clothes. “Not much, but at least they’re dry.”
Kelly let out a heartfelt sigh. “Thank you. You have all been wonderful to us. We’re so grateful.” She picked Charlie up. “Let’s say thank-you to Miss…?”
“Falco.” Betsy had introduced Gwen as her cousin.
Charlie turned a sleepy face to Gwen and mumbled a thank-you.
Gwen took a step backward, her eyes glued on the boy, a stricken look on her face.
“Is everything okay?” Kelly asked, puzzled.
Her eyes remained riveted on Charlie. “He’s so sweet. I’d love to have a son like that.”
“He’s my nephew, actually.”
Gwen repeated the words as if they were some kind of chant. “Your nephew.”
The silence became uncomfortable.
“Thank you again. I think I’d better get him into dry clothes.”
Gwen seemed to snap out of her strange confusion. “Yes, right. I’ll see you later then.”
Kelly watched through the window as Gwen walked away from the trailer. Just before she left the circle of light from the porch lamp, she turned again, staring through the kitchen window, a disturbed look on her face.
Kelly felt a whisper of fear tickle her gut as she reached out and flicked the curtains closed.
THREE
Shane stood in the near darkness, watching the moonlight retreat and advance as clouds danced across the sky. He was cold and confused. Kelly could not be here. It was too much of a bizarre coincidence, and he did not believe in coincidences. She’d finished her nurses’ training; he was not surprised about that. Kelly would do what she set out to, even if circumstances conspired against her. He’d always admired that about her.
The vibration of his satellite phone startled him. Heart hammering, he took it from its waterproof case and answered.
“Hey,” his brother said, the jail phone connection crackling with static.
“Hey yourself. You sound funny.” Shane tried to keep the worry out of his voice as he pictured his brother the last time he’d seen him—through the Plexiglas in the jail’s visitors’ room. The shock of seeing Todd in an orange jumpsuit still pained him.
“Got a fat lip.”
“How?”
Todd sighed. “Couple guys found out I used to be a cop back in the day.”
Shane’s blood ran cold. Once a cop, always a cop in the eyes of the inmates. Todd might as well have a target painted on his forehead in that South Dakota jail. He pressed the phone to his mouth. “Tell the warden. They’ve got to give you some protection.”
“Trial’s coming up, then it will all be over.”
Shane cupped the phone against the wind, wishing he could reach through the connection. “You’re not going to be convicted for something you didn’t do.”
His brother hesitated. “Maybe I did it.”
“Don’t say that. You didn’t kill Olivia. You loved your wife.”
Todd sighed again, his voice flat and listless. “Things were tough between Olivia and me before then. We had a fight. I…I was drinking. I passed out, but maybe before that…”
Shane forced out a calm breath. “You and I both know that it was someone else, one of the race producers you hosted last year, the night before she was murdered. The young one, Devin Ackerman, was fawning over Olivia, you told me.”
“Yeah, and that set me off. Olivia said I was being a jealous fool.” He laughed. “She always told it like it was.”
The tiny spark in Todd’s voice as he spoke gave Shane a moment of optimism. “I talked to a cop who used to work with you. He never bought Ackerman’s alibi—that girl Ellen Brown, who said Ackerman was with her the night of the murder. He told me he thinks she might have been lying. I’ve been looking for her. I’m going to talk to her, convince her to tell the truth. It might not get you out, but it will be enough to cast some reasonable doubt.”
“Have you found her yet?”
Shane wished desperately he had another answer. He’d spent a month trying to track her down, with no success. “Not yet, but they let me in the race. I’m here right now. Plenty of the participants are repeaters from last year. One of them is likely to know where she went, have an email address, something. If nothing else, maybe I can get into the past race files and find her.”
“Maybe she’s telling the truth.”
“Then why would she disappear? And how did Ackerman’s business card wind up on Olivia’s desk?”
“It’s a long shot.”
“It’s the only shot I can think of. All I’ve got to do is poke a hole in his alibi. The police will have to take a closer look at Ackerman. I’m sure…”
Todd cut him off. “Police did their thing. They couldn’t disprove Ackerman’s alibi. No evidence pointing to anyone but me. Ranch hand heard us arguing. Gunshot residue on my fingers. Case closed.”
He wanted to shout at his brother, shake some spirit back into him. “You’ve got to believe in your own innocence. I do. I’ve never stopped.”
Shane pictured him now, green eyes so like Shane’s other brother, Lonnie, the little boy who had died before he even got to taste what life had to offer.
“I did, too, at first, but I’m not so sure anymore. I blacked out, I was drunk and I have a temper. If I killed my wife, I deserve to be here,” Todd said softly.
“Stop talking like that. You don’t deserve to be in prison for a murder you didn’t commit,” Shane hissed. “Someone killed your wife, and we both know who that was. All we’ve got to do is come up with evidence that casts a reasonable doubt that you did it, give your lawyer something to work with.”
Todd spoke slowly and deliberately. “Listen to me, Shane. I want you to leave that race and not come back. You’ve had enough pain already. Walk away from this mess. Find Kelly and start over with her.”
Shane felt his face flush. He spent every waking moment missing Kelly, the feel of her silken hair on his face, the smile that lit up the inside of his heart like a beacon. “I’m not walking away.” He swallowed hard. “You’re the only brother I’ve got now.”
“There’s nothing left for me.”
“Yes, there is. You always say God will…”
“That’s what I used to think, that He answered prayers, interceded for people who loved Him,” Todd said.
That’s what Todd had tried to teach Shane when Lonnie died, and then when things fell apart with Kelly. “Don’t give up your faith, Todd,” he said, fighting to keep his voice level. He felt like a hypocrite telling his brother to hold onto God when Shane could not do the same, but he did not want to see that part of his brother die. Todd’s faith might be the only thing that kept him alive until Shane could figure out how to free him.
Todd spoke with a tone completely devoid of hope. “It doesn’t make sense to me anymore. I can’t make myself believe it now.”
Fear coiled through Shane’s gut. What could he say to save his brother? “I will keep fighting until we find out who killed Olivia. We’ll hire another lawyer if we need to.”
“No. Let it go and walk away, just as I said.” Todd sighed. “Goodbye, Shane,” he said as he hung up.
Swallowing a surge of desperation, he walked to the edge of the canyon. The rain tapered off and the water had begun to recede, as if a drain had suddenly been uncapped. Water sucked away into the parched land around it and beyond, lowering visibly as he watched.
Soon Kelly’s car was clear—still jammed against the rocks, but accessible. He retied a rope and eased himself down again. This time the driver’s-side door opened easily. Avoiding the bits of glass, he reached for the keys left in the ignition.
He imagined how panicked she must have been, knowing that she could drown at any moment, along with Charlie.
It was too painful to contemplate, and far too uncomfortable picturing what the little boy must have felt watching the water rise.
Had Lonnie felt that way? Had he known that the water would soon overwhelm him? Was his last feeling before he drowned an all-encompassing terror?
Black despair filled him. His brother’s words floated into his mind.
Let go, Shane. Lonnie’s with God. Let that be enough.
But Todd was letting his faith slip away under the weight of his unjust incarceration. How could he save the brother who had saved him so many times? Cold water seeped into his already sodden pants.
He noticed a sheaf of papers stuck under the visor, miraculously dry. Thinking they might be important to Kelly, he took them, noticing a card clipped to the top.
Devin Ackerman, Desert Quest Publicity Coordinator.
There was a phone number below, and a scrawled message: Kelly, looking forward to having you aboard. D
The papers crumpled as his grip tightened. Ackerman had hired Kelly? Why? She was a newly minted nurse. Surely there were many people far more qualified for the job than she. But Kelly, with her dark eyes and gentle smile, would have appealed to him for other reasons.
His stomach tightened and his breathing grew shallow.
Even though Ackerman was engaged, he knew the man was unable to resist a beautiful girl. What’s more, he’d heard that the race coordinator was not above pursuing women, married or otherwise. If Ellen Brown hadn’t given him an alibi for the night of Olivia’s murder… He ground his teeth, stowed the papers inside his jacket and unhooked the car seat from the back. Then he took the keys from the ignition and made his way to the trunk. He unlocked it and retrieved a small duffel bag, swallowing against the lump in his throat.
It was the same bag she’d lugged along on their river rafting adventure. He jerked it free and grabbed a smaller blue backpack with a train emblazoned on the front. He closed the trunk again and made his way clumsily back to the top in time to see Gleeson pull up in the van.
“See you got your bags packed,” Gleeson joked.
Shane didn’t respond as he got in. They drove for several miles in silence.
“I guess we’ve got our new medic now,” Gleeson said, giving him a quick glance.
“So it seems.” Shane fumed. “How did Ackerman find Kelly?”
Gleeson tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Through me, actually. He met her when he took me to the clinic after I sprained my knee. She was real competent and looking for a job because her gig there was almost up.” He grinned. “She’s not bad to look at, either, so I think that already put her ahead of the previous medic.”
Biting back a fiery remark, Shane forced himself to stare out the window. “What happened to the other medic?”
“Quit suddenly. Didn’t give a reason that I’m aware of. Why you so interested?” Gleeson asked. “You know her?”
Shane wondered what Kelly had told him. Was Gleeson testing him?
He went for flippant. “I’ve met a lot of pretty girls. Who remembers?”
Gleeson chuckled.
Who remembers? Shane did—every moment of their time together was indelibly engraved on his mind. The smallest things remained there: the way her smile was higher on one side than the other, the curl of her hair right after she washed it, her laughter that always made him forget everything else. Her failed attempts at learning to cook, and all the truly awful food he’d eaten with a smile firmly plastered on his face.
“Anyway,” Gleeson continued, “she’s saddled with a kid. Don’t know why anyone would sign on to hook up with that.”
A kid. The comment circled in his mind, stabbing and biting like an angry beast. Is that what Kelly thought? That he’d left because he didn’t want to be saddled with a kid? How could he ever tell her the truth?
He leaned his head back and let the miles go by, uncertain why the situation had taken such a strange turn. There was only one thing he knew for sure—Kelly had to leave. Immediately. The thought carried him back to the campground where he parted with Gleeson, shouldering the bags to take to Kelly’s trailer, the one with the Team Medic placard displayed in the kitchen window.
The curtains were drawn and his hands felt clammy, heart hammering erratically.
Convince her to leave. That’s all you have to do.
In an effort not to wake Charlie if the child was sleeping, Shane knocked softly.
Kelly answered, dressed in a pair of sweatpants that were too big and an oversized T-shirt. Her hair was still wet, but pulled up into a high ponytail. Even in clothes that didn’t fit, after a harrowing near-death experience, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and for a moment he couldn’t speak.
Kelly eyed the bags in his hands. “You didn’t have to bring those.”
Shane shrugged. “Concierge service included with your luxury accommodations. Car will need to be towed, but I figured you might be able to use some of these things after they dry out.” He hesitated. “Can I come in?”
She gave him a long look before she opened the door. “Just for a minute. Charlie is sleeping. I…we’ve been looking for his mother but no luck so he’s got to settle for me. Guess I didn’t do so well tonight.”
He saw a little bundle in the full-size bed. “Is he okay?”
“Yes.” She took a breath. “Thank you again. I’m not sure what would have happened if you hadn’t come along.”
He could see in her face the effort it took to say those words to him, the man she despised. “Forget it.” He shot another glance at the boy, only the top of his head visible from under the blankets. He looked so small in the bed. “Any word on your sister?”
Kelly’s face shimmered with pain. “My uncle has a lead, but so far nothing concrete.”
“I hope she turns up safe.”
“Me, too.” She hugged herself. “I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s late. I’ve got to start work tomorrow so I think I’d better get some sleep.”
“I need to talk to you about that.”
Kelly cocked her head at him. “I think I know what you’re going to say. I’m sorry that it’s going to be a little awkward, Shane, but I had no idea you’d be here. We’ll stay away from each other. One week and the whole thing will be over. You can stand it for that long, can’t you?”
He winced. “That’s not what I meant.”
She frowned, the dim kitchen light reflecting in the dark pools of her eyes. “What, then? Does this have something to do with the fictitious name you’re using?”
“Yes. Did you tell Gleeson we…know each other?”
“No. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t. That was almost two years ago. Old history. What’s going on?”
Their time together, though only a year, would never be old history in his mind. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“Because it might put you in danger.”
Anger flickered to life in her face. “You know, I’ve become pretty good at taking care of myself and Charlie.”
He felt his cheeks flush, and he looked at his wet boots.
She waited a moment. “Fine, don’t tell me, I’m not sure I want to know anyway. Say what you need to say. I’ve got to get some sleep.”
He took a deep breath. “Kelly, you need to leave Desert Quest.”
Kelly felt as if she must be dreaming. All the long evenings she’d sat in the secondhand rocking chair, comforting a wailing Charlie. Half the time during those endless nights, she found herself wishing Shane would walk back into her life, and the rest wishing she’d never met him in the first place. Now that he stood there, blond hair dark with moisture, full lips drawn tightly together and the fire in his blue eyes as strong as ever, her feelings flared into the same confused mess she’d experienced those earlier days. She was not sure whether to be furious or concerned.
“You can’t just walk in here and tell me to leave my job. Working for Desert Quest is an incredible opportunity, and it’s going to help me and Charlie buy a place closer to the city where I can find a job to support us both until my sister comes back.”
He shifted. “I know it sounds crazy, but the people here are not who they seem to be.”
“What do you mean?”
He walked to the window and opened one of the curtains to check out the other trailers. No one was watching, at least that he could see, and if anyone was, he was just returning Kelly’s belongings. “It would be better if you just trusted me and left.”
She tried not to gape. “Trusted you? How can you even ask that after you walked out on me?” She fought for calm. “All your professed love evaporated as soon as you got wind of Charlie. The responsibility scared the love right out of you. That’s a guy I’m supposed to trust again?”
“That isn’t why…” He broke off. His voice was low and soft when he answered. “I guess not, but I’m asking you to anyway.”
She bit down on her impatience. “Why? What’s going on here? I’m not leaving, so you might as well tell me.”
“Did Devin Ackerman hire you?”
She shrugged. “He told me his boss, Martin Chenko, did.”
“On Ackerman’s recommendation?”
“I suppose. Devin brought Gleeson into the clinic. I was just subbing there for a girl on maternity leave so it was actually my last week. He liked my work, and I suppose he recommended me to Mr. Chenko.”
“Don’t trust Ackerman, Kelly. You’ve got to get away from him.”
“Why?” Her voice came out louder than she’d intended. Charlie stirred in the bed, and she lowered her volume. “What do you know about him?”
Shane turned determined eyes on her. “He killed Olivia.”
“How…?” She tried again, head still whirling from the shock. “How do you know that?”
“There are lots of reasons which would take too long to give you now. Main point is my brother is in jail awaiting a murder trial for killing his wife, while Ackerman is the real killer.”
“I’m sorry about Todd. I know how much you love him.” The truth finally dawned on her. “So that’s why you entered this race? To wander around pretending to be a racer to somehow find proof that Ackerman is guilty? That’s not much of a plan.”
“I’m going to find a lead to locate Ellen Brown, the woman who provided Ackerman’s alibi. Someone here will know how to find her. Many of these people raced with her last year.”
“Shane, that’s crazy. You’re desperate to help your brother—I get that—I feel the same way about my sister. But this isn’t logical or rational.”
“I’m past rational.” Shane’s faced blazed with emotion. “We mortgaged the ranch and hired the best lawyer we could afford, and you know what? It still looks like Todd is going to be convicted, even though I know he’s innocent.”
“Just because he’s innocent doesn’t make Ackerman guilty.”
Shane shook his head. “I’m not going to get into the details. Please, Kelly. I want you to leave before you get hurt.”
The look he gave her made her feel dizzy, as if she’d just stepped off a merry-go-round. That face that had lit up at the sight of her, the mouth that kissed her with the promise of forever, the mischievous eyes that looked at her now, shimmering with loss and heartbreak. Whether or not Shane was right about Ackerman, he believed wholeheartedly that the man was a killer.
She glanced over at Charlie. He was so small and vulnerable, and he had experienced more pain than a child ever should. She straightened. “I’ve already been hurt worse than I ever imagined, and I’m not leaving.”
Shane was still, as if he was in another place with his thoughts. Then he nodded. “I’ll let you get some sleep now.”
She watched him walk into the darkness, headed for the trailer two spaces away from hers, head bowed against the heavy mist. He didn’t look back at her, and she found herself oddly disappointed.
Follow your own advice, Kelly. Stay away from him, and the whole thing will be over soon enough.
She saw him fish the key out of his pocket. Then he stiffened, head cocked.
Something about the posture made her hold her breath. The weak porch light cast shadows against the trailer as he stood there, key in hand. She watched as he backed quietly away, before she poked her head out of her trailer door.
“What is it, Shane?” she whispered.
He darted a look at her.
“Someone’s in my trailer. Go inside and lock your door.”
Her body grew cold. “What are you going to do?”
He flashed her an almost grin, reminding her of the cocky Shane Mason she used to know. And love.
Then he vanished into the shadows. Kelly followed his advice and shut herself inside, but she opened the curtains and slid the window open. Heart in her throat, she considered calling someone to help Shane, until she remembered that her phone was on the floor of her car, wedged in the canyon. There was no one to call anyway, except Uncle Bill—and he was nearly two hours away.
The air was heavy with the promise of more rain. Droplets of mist danced in the air near the various porch lights, leaving the rest of the area cloaked in darkness, redolent with the scent of wet earth. She strained to make out any sign of Shane. It was quiet, except for the clunk of wet pine needles falling now and again to the metal roof of the trailer.
The situation was nearly preposterous as she considered Shane’s wild allegations against Ackerman and his plan to pose as a racer to sniff out proof. She knew he was grief-stricken, so consumed by worry for his brother that he’d convinced himself Devin was some sort of calculating murderer. Her heart squeezed at the thought of his paranoia. He was not like the Shane she’d known, brash and unafraid of anything.
Except when Charlie had showed up.
Through all the anger and hurt at his abandonment, she could not shake the notion that there was a strange and unaccountable fear inside him. She’d just turned to check on Charlie when a shout cut through the silence. Out in the darkness, she saw a blur of movement. Shane? Someone else? She couldn’t tell.
Another shout brought her out on the front porch and into the night. She ran toward the sound until Shane barreled around the corner. “What happened?”
He was breathing hard and unable to answer when Devin Ackerman jogged up. “What’s going on?” he demanded, hands on his hips. His dark hair was expensively cut, a tiny diamond stud winking in his ear.
Shane straightened. “Someone was in my trailer, going through my stuff.”
Devin blinked. “Who would want to do that?”
They were interrupted by the arrival of Martin Chenko on a golf cart. He pulled to a stop in time to hear Shane’s explanation. He stepped out of the golf cart and smiled broadly, his stocky frame a few inches shorter than Devin’s. Kelly guessed him to be in his early forties, fit and hearty. “What’s going on?” he asked.
Devin explained. “I’m sure it was nothing. Probably someone got disoriented and went into your trailer by mistake.”
Shane fixed Chenko with a dubious look. “The lock was picked. I thought I saw someone running away.”
Chenko’s thick eyebrows shot up. “Now why would anyone want to do that?”
Devin laughed. “When I heard you shouting, I thought someone had set their trailer on fire.” He clapped Shane on the shoulder. “It’s your imagination. You probably left your door unlocked. Too much late-night TV.”
Kelly saw Shane stiffen, but he did not pull away.
“We don’t have any dishonest racers around here, now do we?” Devin asked.
Kelly thought there was a challenge in Devin’s eyes before he turned to her.
“Kelly,” he said, clasping her hands in his, long fingers wrapping around hers. “I’m so glad you’re okay after what you’ve been through today. It’s like a bad movie or something.”
She wanted to pull away, disentangle herself from his grasp. “It turned out okay, thanks to Shane.”
Devin didn’t look at him. “I’m relieved.”
She finally managed to pull her fingers from his when Chenko spoke. “Wouldn’t do to lose our nurse before we even kicked off the race. So glad you’re okay. And the boy, too? Charlie? Is he all right?”
“Perfectly fine, thank the Lord.”
“How did you make it here so fast?” Shane asked Devin.
“I was out for a walk.”
Shane stared at him. “Bad weather for a stroll.”
A flicker of emotion passed across Devin’s face, but the smile never faded. “I’m not afraid of a little water. Lucky you aren’t, either. Lucky for Kelly here, too. We watched your progress via your GPS, but by the time we got close enough to help, you’d done your hero thing.”
Shane shrugged.
Chenko sighed. “It’s chilly out here. How about we all go to my cottage and we’ll have some coffee? I was just looking over the routes again and trying to think of some alternate plans if the rain continues.”
Shane shook his head. “No, thanks.”
Devin turned to Kelly. “We really just want to meet this lovely lady anyway,” he said with a chuckle. “How about it, Ms. Cloudman? Coffee? It’s boring just talking to Chenko, no offense.”
Chenko shook his head in amusement. “I’m a businessman, not an entertainer.”
Kelly felt Shane’s gaze boring into her, though she didn’t meet his eyes. “Thanks very much, but I need to get back to Charlie.”
She walked to her trailer, suddenly feeling a strange anxiety building in her stomach. Increasing her pace, she covered the ground quickly, confusion roiling through her. Shane’s wild accusations, Devin’s overly friendly gestures and her near drowning crowded through her mind, and she felt desperate to cocoon herself in her trailer with Charlie cradled in her arms. Entering quietly, she heaved a sigh of relief.
The horrible night was over. At least she could hold on to that. She breathed a prayer of thanks and eased off the flip-flops Gwen had loaned her, tiptoeing into the tiny bedroom.
Her heart thunked to a painful stop when reality hit home.
Charlie was gone.
FOUR
Kelly could not make a sound. Terror pricked her skin and froze her vocal cords. She ran to the bed and flung the covers off, checking underneath and in the small closets.
No Charlie.
She slammed into the small bathroom and checked every cupboard and cranny.
He was gone. Charlie was gone.
Body moving in spite of her fear, she ran out the front of the trailer, the door banging into the metal siding. Chenko and Devin were in the golf cart, headed back toward their cabins.
“Help!” she screamed, but they were too far away. She whirled in a circle, looking for some sign of the little boy. A light rain fell in icy needles, but she did not feel it.
“Charlie!” she yelled over the pattering drizzle.
Then Shane was there, turning her in his arms. “What is it?”
“Charlie’s gone. He’s not in the trailer.” She looked helplessly around until her eyes went toward the riverbed beyond the campground.
A strange look crossed Shane’s face as he followed her gaze, a mix of disbelief and horror. Without a word, he turned and ran toward the water. She was about to follow, when a flicker of movement caught her eye. Several yards away, illuminated by a porch light fixed to the side of the lodge, she saw a woman holding something.
Kelly moved closer until she could make out that the bundle in the woman’s arms was a boy.
Charlie.
She ran, yelling his name, and the woman looked up. It was Gwen, her face eerie in the dim light, a faraway look on her face amid the swirl of hair.
“Charlie,” Kelly said, tears on her face. Gwen held him out and she pulled him into her arms. “What happened?”
Gwen blinked. “He was walking around looking for you. I was going to bring him back to your trailer.”
“Walking around?” She looked at Charlie, who seemed dazed. He had been known to sleepwalk when he was disturbed about something, and the day had been traumatic, to say the least. Had he awakened and been disoriented? She kissed his forehead and tucked him under her chin, gently squeezing the comforting weight of him to reassure herself that he was really there, safe, unhurt.
Forcing in a calming breath, she looked at Gwen. “Thank you for finding him.”
Gwen’s eyes were fixed on Charlie. “He’s so sweet.”
“Yes, he is.”
Droplets of water collected on her hair. “You’re lucky to have him.”
Something in the way she said it, the longing in her voice, made Kelly draw back a pace. “Definitely. Thank you again, Gwen.”
She nodded and shoved her hands in her pockets before she walked into the rain.
Kelly hunched her shoulders to keep the cold wind off Charlie as she headed back to the trailer. Shane ran up, face wild and desperate until he saw her holding the boy. The emotion shimmered on his face, intensified perhaps by the watery moonlight, and it confused Kelly. The raw anguish she saw there disappeared under an easy smile.
“He’s okay, Kell?”
“Gwen found him sleepwalking.”
Shane opened the door for her as she eased Charlie up the steps. She unwrapped him from the wet blanket, and he blinked at her.
“Charlie, honey, did you go outside?”
He mumbled something and allowed Kelly to ease him under the covers.
Shane gave her a questioning look as they tiptoed into the kitchen area.
“He sleepwalks sometimes when he’s upset.”
Shane nodded. “The flood?”
“Probably.”
He cocked his head, water droplets plunking softly to the floor. “Why do you look worried?”
She stiffened and turned away to drape the blanket over a chair. “It’s nothing.”
He put his hand out and gently caressed her shoulder. “Nope. I can tell when nothing is something. You used to call me a mind reader, remember?”
She felt the flicker of familiar comfort from his touch, hands that had held and reassured her, thrilled and strengthened her. Pulling away, she turned to face him. “Maybe you can’t read me so well anymore, Shane.”
“And maybe I can.” He fixed her with eyes so intense, she could not look away. “You think something isn’t right.”
She folded her arms. “Not really. It’s just that Gwen is…” She struggled to find the words.
“Hiding something? I’m not surprised. Gwen turns up with Charlie, and Gleeson seems to know more about me than he should. Good reasons to pack up and go.”
“But you’re staying.”
“I have to. My brother is out of options.” He reached out to her, but she did not let him touch her.
“Go, Kelly. Take off while you can.”
“I’m not going.”
He sighed, a defeated look coming over his face. “We’ll leave it for now. We can talk more in the morning. Lock up, okay?”
She turned the bolt as soon as Shane left, stifling her instinct to peek out the window and watch him leave. Slipping off her damp clothes and pulling on an oversized T-shirt, she crawled under the covers next to Charlie and listened to the reassuring ebb and flow of his breathing. Paddy Paws joined them.
Kelly whispered a prayer of profound gratitude and turned off the light. Closing her eyes, she remembered Shane’s expression as he came up from the river. She had never seen Shane Mason afraid of anything, but the anguish written on his face spoke of something from the past, something dark and terrifying imprinted on his soul.
Shivering, she pulled the blankets tighter and fell into an uneasy sleep.
Shane awoke to Gleeson pounding on his door the next morning. His body complained from the rough treatment the previous night as he greeted Gleeson.
“Good news,” Gleeson bellowed as he clapped Shane on the shoulder. “After your idiot stunt on the ropes yesterday, Chenko approved you to race. We’re good to go for a one o’clock prelim to familiarize everyone with the course. Then we start tomorrow.”
Shane blinked. “One o’clock. Got it.”
Gleeson looked around the trailer. “Heard you thought someone broke in.”
“How’d you hear that?”
“Ackerman told me this morning. Said you’re crazy to think someone here would rifle through your stuff.”
“That’s me. Crazy Shane.”
Gleeson’s smile vanished. “Not making too many friends, Matthews. Folks don’t like being accused.”
“I haven’t accused anyone. Yet.”
Gleeson’s eyes narrowed. After a moment he smiled. “Whatever. All I care about is the prelim at 1:00. Have your bike ready, and we’ll hope this rain doesn’t delay things.”
“Where’s Ackerman?”
Gleeson looked surprised. “In the lodge eating breakfast, along with everyone else. Why?”
“Just wanted to check in on a few things.”
“What things?”
Shane gave him a grin. “Nothing that concerns you, Mother Gleeson.”
“Why did I ever take you on as a partner? You’re gonna make trouble before this thing is over.”
You have no idea. Shane followed him out. The morning was cool, water still dripping from the juniper trees that clustered around the campground. The sun had not yet fully risen, the weak light illuminating veils of clouds.
The lodge was crowded with racers clutching coffee cups and crowded around long tables. A breakfast of fruit, granola, scrambled eggs and juices was set up buffet-style in the corner. He scanned the room immediately for Kelly and Charlie, but he didn’t spot them. Shane noticed Ackerman talking to Betsy, who laughed and toyed with her braid. Ackerman was sandwiched between chatting racers, and Shane couldn’t get close so he poured himself some coffee and took a spot near the door. Chenko appeared at his elbow, looking tired. He lifted his cup in salute.
“Thank goodness for coffee,” he said.
Shane nodded, taking in the shadows under the race producer’s eyes. “Bad night?”
Chenko sighed. “It’s the weather. You can circumvent nearly any race obstacle that arises, but not the weather. That annoys me.”
“Have you cancelled races before?”
“Almost. Last year the weather was unpredictable, too. There was an accident on the riding leg of the race. Had to borrow horses from a local.”
Shane stiffened. The locals, he knew, were his brother, Todd, and Olivia. A shadow crossed Chenko’s face. “Nice folks helped us out. I was really sorry the gal was killed.” Chenko shook his head. “You’d think that kinda thing wouldn’t happen out here in God’s country.”
Shane imagined what his brother would say. It’s all God’s country, but anywhere there are people, bad things can happen. He wondered how his brother was doing, locked in a cage, the threads of his faith loosening like a flag fraying in a vicious wind. “Did you have the same team working for you then?”
Chenko raised an eyebrow. “Team?” He laughed. “By team, I suppose you mean Devin. Yeah, been with me for a couple years now. He’s great with people, but he could use some schooling in business. It’s all about connections and keeping your eye on the goal. He’s got his sights on something else most of the time. As my daddy used to tell me, if you don’t keep your eyes on the prize, someone else will take it.” Chenko noticed a newcomer to the group, a mustached man with a bald head toting some serious camera power. “Speaking of which, if you’ll excuse me, I smell publicity in the air.”
Kelly arrived with a bright-eyed Charlie in her arms. Shane opened his mouth to call to her but closed it abruptly when Devin gestured her over. He whispered something to Betsy, who frowned for a moment before leaving the table.
Kelly sat next to Devin with Charlie on her lap. She looked rested, in spite of the harrowing night, slim and strong in the pair of jeans she must have popped in the camp dryer and a race T-shirt. He watched the three of them chatting, laughing, and his heart sank. Man, woman and child. A family. Though Kelly had echoed his desire to not have children, she seemed to have fallen into the mother role so naturally, so willingly.
And Charlie, the little boy with the wide brown eyes, put his hand up and rested it on her cheek.
The gesture knifed through him. Charlie needed Kelly, depended completely on her protection and care. Relied on her to keep him safe.
The terror he’d felt when he’d run down to the river flooded back into his gut.
Please…please don’t let me see him there, face down in that water. Please…
He’d offered the plea automatically, like an ignorant child.
No one up there, Shane. No one for you.
He downed another slug of coffee, relieved when Kelly led Charlie away to prepare plates of food. Devin rose and hopped onto the tiny platform at one end of the lodge, tapping a cordless microphone.
“Good morning, racers. Today is your last day to back out before the official torture begins in the morning.”
The racers responded with laughter and good-natured heckling. Devin turned on a small laptop computer and pulled down a screen. “The race is divided into three legs.” He grinned. “You cowboy types were no doubt disappointed that we’ve eliminated the horseback part of the trip.”
Shane stiffened, fighting the urge to stand up and ask Devin to explain in front of everyone about the mishap and the ensuing visit to his brother’s ranch the year before. He stayed put, though, and Devin’s presentation flowed smoothly on, covering the particulars of the equipment and route. Someone settled into a chair next to him, and he was surprised to find Kelly and Charlie there.
Kelly’s cheeks pinked. “Sorry. This was the only spot with two chairs, and Charlie does better when he’s not sitting on my lap for breakfast.”
Shane managed a smile. “Sure.”
Kelly brushed some hair out of Charlie’s face. “Charlie, this is Mr….Shane. He’s a…” She flicked a quick look at him and then back to Charlie. “He’s a racer, like the others.”
And that’s all he was to her. Just like the others. Like the mom who let her down and the other nameless faces that went in and out of her life. He forced a cheerful tone. “Hello, Charlie. Good to meet you. Do you like to ride bikes?”
Charlie nodded. “I gotta trike for Christmas.”
“That’s great.” He watched Charlie tuck into his scrambled eggs, the fork seeming too large in his small fingers.
Kelly eyed Shane over the top of her coffee cup. She lowered her voice to a near whisper. “Shane…” Her words trailed off for a moment. “I was thinking about the reason you came here. It seems like a long shot to find a way to crack Ackerman’s alibi.”
Shane winced, wishing he hadn’t been forced to tell her about the plan. “It’s the only thing I can do to help my brother.”
“My uncle Bill is back with the Tribal Rangers. Maybe he can help you.”
Shane shook his head, surprised at the offer and fairly certain he would not get much help at all from Kelly’s uncle after what had happened between him and Kelly. “I appreciate that,” he said, looking around to be sure no one had overheard. The group was hanging on Ackerman’s every word. “There’s nothing he can do that the cops haven’t already done.”
“Don’t be too sure. He’s very persistent.”
He couldn’t hold back a smile. “Really?”
She returned the smile for a moment before the humor was replaced by a cool expression. “Anyway, it was just a thought. But you’re not giving up—I can tell.”
“Must be a family trait.”
“I wouldn’t have thought so.”
The words stung. He looked away. She busied herself wiping Charlie’s hands and face, looking around, he imagined, to find another spot to sit. She’d just finished her cleanup when Ackerman announced from the microphone, “Let’s introduce you to our new race medic, Kelly Cloudman. Come on up here, Kelly.”
Kelly flushed and walked to the platform. Charlie watched her. “That’s my mama. I’ve got two. Mama Rose is on a trip.”
Shane found himself unable to answer.
Charlie waved and knocked over his orange juice in the process. Instinctively, Shane threw the nearby napkins down on the spill and said in his best John Wayne voice, “No worries, Cowboy Charlie. We got the flood under control, partner.”
Charlie laughed. “You’re funny.”
Funny. A memory of his little brother’s laughter rolled through him.
Funny Shane. The goofy big brother who could always get a laugh.
Lonnie, whose laughter was swallowed up by Shane’s carelessness in a moment that would change everything.
One horrible moment.
His reverie was broken at the sound of applause for Kelly. She waved, and Ackerman hugged her around the shoulder. Just a friendly gesture, a warm greeting that nonetheless made Shane want to launch himself at the platform and knock Ackerman away from her.
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