Читать книгу Cold Case Connection - Dana Mentink - Страница 16

Helen could not process what was happening. Her ears throbbed from the sound of the shots and she was all over goose bumps. Sergio grabbed her hand and pulled her down behind a screen of bushes.

“Stay low as you can get,” he whispered.

“Did someone just shoot at us?”

Sergio wasn’t listening, instead peering through the branches. “The guy on an ATV that just rolled up.” He took out his cell phone and growled. “No service.” He took a picture of the approaching man.

Helen saw through the branches that the man, short, with a mop of curly hair, was getting off his vehicle, gun held ready, walking warily toward the place where she and Sergio crouched.

He murmured in her ear. “I’m going to buy some time. Get away from here. Too risky to go for the horses so run back toward the road if you can.”

“Sergio...” she started, but he stood up and strode out of the bushes.

Run to the road like he told her? But she could not leave him to be killed. Her imagination ran wild for a moment, picturing another funeral, another loss for Fiona’s twin girls. She could not, would not, be responsible for causing the children another moment of pain. She stood instead, creeping out after him.

Sergio was standing with his palms up, facing the man who now held a rifle trained on him. When she drew nearer, Sergio shot her a look of pure anger, a vein in his jaw pulsing.

She didn’t look at him, beaming all her outrage on the guy in front of her. “What do you think you’re doing firing on us? This is public land.”

The shooter stared at her. “Tunnels are dangerous. I help the police keep an eye out for kids.”

“Farraday?” Sergio’s mouth pinched. “So you’re telling me the police chief gives you permission to shoot at people?”

He shrugged. “Ah, don’t be melodramatic. I wasn’t anywhere near hitting you.”

“Near enough,” Sergio spat.

The man shrugged.

“Your name?” Sergio said.

“Kyle.”

“Kyle what?” Sergio’s tone was flint hard. When he didn’t reply, Sergio’s cheeks went dusky. “You could have killed us.”

A cruel smile came and went on the guy’s face. “If I’d wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.”

“So your intention was to scare us?”

Kyle shrugged. “Like I said, kids can get hurt in the tunnels.”

“Do we look like kids to you?”

Kyle tapped a finger to his brow and shrugged. “Nearsighted.”

“Then get yourself some glasses before you murder someone,” Sergio snapped.

Helen got a fleeting impression that murder might be something the gunman was familiar with already. “Since this is public property, we’re fully within our rights to be here.”

Kyle shrugged. “Me too, but if you’re going to go butting into those tunnels like a couple of wandering fools, I’m going to stay on you until you leave, to tell the police where to find your bodies.” He laughed. “You won’t be the first girl found dead in those tunnels, right?”

Sergio jerked forward, but Helen swallowed her flush of panic. “I’m calling the police,” Helen said. “And you can explain it all to Chief Farraday.”

Kyle offered a careless nod. “You gotta hike to the peak to get a signal but go ahead. Farraday will understand. Simple mistake.”

Farraday will understand. Something in those words struck a note of alarm deep in her stomach. Almost like he knew how Farraday would react.

Sergio took her wrist. “We’re going. We’ll saddle up and ride out of here. I already texted your photo to a friend so if we don’t show up in perfect health back at the lodge, the photo will go to the cops and all over my friend’s social media sites. Farraday isn’t gonna like that, I’m guessing. You got me?”

Kyle didn’t acknowledge. He still cradled his gun as Sergio led Helen away. The sound of a round being racked into the chamber made her jerk, but Sergio continued to lead her. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she imagined a bullet plowing through her spine.

“And tell Farraday I want to talk to him,” Sergio tossed over his shoulder.

“Sure. Be careful on your way home,” Kyle called. “Driftwood isn’t the peaceful little town people think it is.”

Sergio turned back and Helen forced herself to as well, though her nerves were shouting at her to sprint away.

“Is that a threat?” Sergio said.

Kyle did not answer, so they continued on and retrieved the horses.

“Don’t stop until we’re clear,” Sergio said, bringing his horse into line behind hers.

It wasn’t until they’d returned to the gentle path that led onto lodge property that he brought his horse to a stop, black eyes sparking with fury. “You should have left like I told you.”

She stared right back. “You needed backup.”

“I didn’t need anything of the kind, and you shouldn’t have risked your safety.”

“I let Fiona down. I’m not going to make that same mistake with her brother.”

He blinked, looked away for a moment, muttering something, before he snapped his gaze back to her. “Let’s get something straight right now. I don’t want you or need you involved in this investigation. Am I clear?”

“Like crystal,” she said. “But you’re on my family property, riding my horse, and you’re here because I went to the police, so I’m already involved in this investigation and I don’t appreciate your tone.”

His eyes narrowed. “I...” Then he huffed out a breath and tipped his head to the sky. “I apologize.”

“Thank you.”

“But I want to handle this case by myself.”

“I understand, and I won’t go out of my way to annoy you, I promise.” She raised an eyebrow. “Did you really text a picture of that guy?”

He grinned. “Yep, but it probably didn’t go through anyway. Even so, I didn’t have time to write a proper text to send with it, so if it did work, Miss Betty is probably wondering what in the world she’s supposed to do with that photo.”

Helen laughed. “Poor Miss Betty.”

“No worries. The woman is made of tough stuff. She raised five boys.”

Helen’s limbs quivered, perhaps the delayed shock at what they’d just experienced.

His half smile faded, and he looked closely at her, causing warmth to climb into her cheeks. “You okay?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“You look shaky. It’s not every day you get fired at, and last night you got knocked down and your cabin set on fire.”

“I’m all right, just trying to figure out what’s going on here.”

“Me too. I plan to find out exactly why Farraday doesn’t want us in those tunnels and why he doesn’t seem to be inclined to treat my sister’s death as a murder.”

“Maybe she left some other clue in the cabin. I’ll...”

“No.” He slid from the horse and offered her a hand for her to dismount. “Like I said, Helen, I don’t need your help.”

No, he wouldn’t take any help from the woman who’d let his sister down. She flinched at the reminder; the flicker of bitterness in his expression told her that recent events aside, he had not changed his mind. She was to blame for Fiona’s death. End of story. Avoiding his touch, she slid off the horse and led her back to the corral. Sergio did the same with the gelding.

She was trying to decide how best to gracefully take her leave when the door of the cabin flew open and a petite dark-haired girl darted out, followed by an older woman with another child walking close beside. The woman had to be Betty, the nanny. She pushed her blue-rimmed glasses up her nose.

“These little darlings were making such ruckus at the hotel, I decided to check us out early and come over in a cab before the manager paid us a visit.”

Sergio scooped up the first child who made it to him and twirled her around, blowing a raspberry on her neck. “Hey, Laurel.”

The girl squealed until he put her down and she promptly ran to the fence to watch the horses, peering through the lower rails. Laurel’s twin hung back, her arms around Betty’s leg, sneaking a sidelong look at Helen and Sergio.

“Come on, Lulu,” Sergio said. “Don’t I get a hug from my sweet girl?”

His gentle tone surprised Helen as the child walked hesitantly to Sergio with Betty’s prompting. Sergio lifted Lucy slowly, much slower than he’d done with her sister, and embraced her. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

He touched her cheek. After a pause, Lucy spoke. “Hi, Daddy,” she whispered before sticking the middle fingers of one hand in her mouth.

The two words caused Sergio’s eyes to close in what appeared to be a combination of pain and pleasure as he cradled her to his chest. He must have felt Helen watching him and he looked her way. “She doesn’t talk much. Probably because she got saddled with me as a parental figure at a sensitive time in her life. It took me a while to get the hang of it.”

Saddled with Sergio, because Fiona had been run down. While Helen struggled to control the wild surge of grief and guilt, Betty spoke up.

“Lucy wouldn’t eat dinner last night, or breakfast this morning,” she said with a sigh. “She’s got to be about half starved.”

“Awww, Lulu,” he murmured to her. “You gotta eat, buttercup, even when I’m not there, okay?”

Lucy didn’t answer, just squeezed him tight, her free hands fingering his ears.

Helen fought a lump in her throat. “I’ll have breakfast brought over. What would they like to eat?”

“Oh, that’s so nice,” Betty started, “but I brought some cereal.”

“The chef makes a great funny-face pancake all the kids love, and scrambled eggs. Please,” Helen said. “Oh, I’m sorry. You’re probably wondering who I am.” She quickly introduced herself. “It would... I mean, it’s no trouble to arrange breakfast. There’s also a buffet in the dining room.”

Sergio shook his head. “I want to eat as a family, just us, until I can be sure Lucy’s eating properly.”

Just us. Helen swallowed. “So I’ll have a tray made up then. Is that okay?” She waited to see if Sergio would reject that idea as well, if everything she offered would be rebuffed.

Betty looked to Sergio, and he paused, still cradling Lucy. “All right. That would be a special treat. Thank you.”

She nodded, turning quickly to escape, but Laurel raced up to her, head tipped back, skin perfect as a flower petal in the new morning sunlight. “Can I ride a horse?” Her voice was high-pitched, face still bathed in wonder at the sight of the animals.

Helen looked into her eyes framed by long lashes, so very like her mother’s. Her voice failed her until Sergio drew close, still cradling Lucy.

“We’ll ride later, Laurel. Miss Helen has some things to do.”

Was he giving her a dismissal or a reprieve? She didn’t blame him for not wanting the girls to be around her. She could hardly stand the pain at having them close. It made her look at Sergio with new admiration. Somehow he’d put his anger and hurt aside to be Daddy to Lucy and Laurel. What sacrifices had he been forced to make?

“I’ll arrange for that breakfast,” she said, hurrying away. As she went, she felt Sergio’s gaze, heavy on her back and on her soul.