Twin Targets (15 page)

“We appreciate it, but we can’t let you do that.” Micah said the words in his best authoritative cop voice. It didn’t seem to impress the woman. “You just heed what I say. You’ll bring the truck back when you don’t need it anymore. Till then, you take care of this girl.”

She didn’t wait for an answer or an argument. She turned and stomped off down the lane. Jade watched until the incongruous figure vanished around a stand of trees.

“What are we going to do?”

Micah slid out and walked around the truck, climbing into the driver’s seat. Then he gave her a singularly sweet smile. “We’re going to take what’s offered. You have to admit it. When the good Lord decides to send help, He does it right.”

Micah put the pickup in gear and pulled out. Amazing, how fast things could turn around. A half hour ago, he’d been wondering how they’d survive. Now he was buoyed by a sense of optimism.

“Okay, now things are going our way.” He made the turn toward the interstate. “We’ll get back on the highway. Even with slow going from the snow, we’ll be at the lodge in a couple of hours.”

“It can’t be that easy.” Jade sounded as if she didn’t quite believe in their change of fortunes.

“Why not? We’ve had enough bad things happen to us.” They were coming up on the interstate ramp already, and he took it. No cars in sight, but tracks in the snow told him some traffic was moving.

“I hope you’re right.” A smile wiped some of the worry from Jade’s eyes. “Ms. Carson was a dear, wasn’t she?”

“Tough, self-reliant, open-handed to those needing help. That’s the best of folks out here.”

“You’ll never go back to Chicago?”

“Not unless I get reassigned, which I hope doesn’t happen.”

“Don’t you have people there any longer?”

“Just my brother.” His gut tightened at the thought of Jackson’s current opinion of him. “My mom lives in Phoenix. I’m settled here now.”

“It’s good, isn’t it? Feeling settled.”

Jade had good reason to feel that way, based on everything she’d told him. “You know it.” He reached out to clasp her hand. “You’ll be back in your own house soon. Everything will be the way it was. Well, except for your bells. I guess you’ll have to start a new collection.”

Her hand jerked in his, as if in denial.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject.”

“It’s all right.” She was silent for a moment, but her hand relaxed a bit in his. “I told you the bells didn’t mean anything special. That wasn’t true.”

“I sort of figured that.” Was she actually going to confide in him?

“I told you about my librarian friend, Mrs. Henderson. I stayed with her once—it was a rough time, and she just let me go home with her.” Jade’s voice filled with a kind of wonder, as if that sort of kindness hadn’t happened often in her young life.

“That was good of her.”

“Yes. She was a good person, good all the way through.”

He knew what she meant by the phrase. Most people had some little quirks—the odd touchy places that made them get defensive, or lie, or cheat in some way to protect themselves. Some few were good all the way through. His mother was one of those.

“She had a little house in a nice neighborhood, with everything as neat and orderly as her library. She had a collection of bells that she’d bought when she traveled.

She had a story about every one of them.” Jade’s hands moved, as if they tried to express something for which she didn’t have words. “I guess that became my image of a home I’d have one day, where everything was clean and neat, and you could have something fragile without it being broken.”

“That made it hurt doubly to see yours broken.” This was the explanation of her tears, and his throat went tight thinking of it.

“It was like…” she hesitated “…like being trapped in that world again.” Her voice dropped on the words. He could fill in the pieces. Her mother had been an alcoholic and an addict. Anything fragile or remotely valuable would have been broken or sold to support her habit.

“You’re not there anymore,” he said firmly, praying that what he said was true.

She nodded, but he wasn’t sure she totally believed that. She was swinging back and forth between hope and despair, and that wasn’t surprising, even what she’d been through today. Maybe the best thing he could do for her right now was to keep her talking.

“You said you stayed with her for a while. How did that happen?”

She didn’t answer. Silence stretched between them. A semi went by in the passing lane, going too fast for road conditions and splattering the windshield with slush. The wipers struggled to clear the glass.

“I must have been about thirteen at the time.” Jade clasped her hands together in her lap. “My mother…well, you know what she was like. There was always a boyfriend around. This one drank as much as she did. Usually when he was there I could stay out of his way.”

“And that time?” He kept his voice soft with an effort, guessing what was coming.

“He came on to me.” Her fingers strained against each other. “Maybe he’d just noticed that Ruby and I were growing up. Anyway, I panicked. I got away from him, but I knew I had to get out of there. Once Mom got high she wouldn’t protect me.”

Edie Summers had been a poor excuse for a mother, all right. Once he’d have denied that people like that existed, but his job had taught him better.

“So you left?” He longed to pull over so that he could give her his full attention, but he was afraid if he did that, it would break the thread of remembrance.

“I tried to get Ruby to go with me, but she just laughed. She insisted that when he got drunk he got generous. She called me a coward. So I left.”

She was probably holding on to control by a thread, but he sensed that she needed to get this out. “Where did you go?”

“The library. I stayed until closing, and Ms. Henderson seemed to see what I didn’t say.” She let out a shaky breath. “I stayed a couple of days. When I went home, Ruby flashed a wad of cash. She insisted nothing had happened. Said he’d just given it to her.”

“You didn’t believe her.” His heart seemed to be splitting in half at her pain.

“No.” She breathed the word. “I didn’t. Things were never the same between us after that.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said, knowing that’s what she believed. “You couldn’t help what happened.”

She swung her face toward him, and he saw that tears spilled over onto her cheeks. “I should have. I should have helped her. She was my sister. Maybe if I’d stayed…”

“If you’d stayed, you’d have been the one he raped,” he said the words bluntly. Better to get it out in the open.

“You tried to help her. She didn’t let you.”

Her breath hitched. “If I’d tried harder, maybe I could have gotten her to leave with me. Maybe she’d never have gone down the path she did. Maybe she’d be alive today.”

“Maybe. And maybe a hundred other things might have been different.”

Unable to stand it any longer, he pulled onto the berm and stopped, putting the truck’s flashers on. Then he pulled her into his arms.

For an instant she strained against him. Then she turned her face into his shoulder and let the tears take over. He’d held her like this before, when she’d wept after Ruby’s funeral. He’d cared then. He’d wanted to comfort her. Now…now she meant so much to him that his heart was breaking with it. He loved her. How had he not seen it before? How had he been able to deny it?

He loved her, and he could do nothing to ease her pain. Nothing but hold her, and stroke her hair and try to share her pain.

FIFTEEN

She had wept in his arms before. The thought shook Jade out of the fog of misery that gripped her. That time had been over Ruby. This…this was about her terrible guilt, and she didn’t see how he could even want to comfort her, knowing how she’d let her sister down.

“It was my fault,” she whispered the words, needing to make him understand.

“No.” He drew back a little and took her face in his hands, cradling it. “Don’t say that. It wasn’t your fault. You were a kid, trying to survive. You couldn’t make her go with you.”

“I should have.” She couldn’t let go of it, and she knew with sudden clarity that this was what had come between her and God. How could God ever forgive this?

“I should have found a way to help her. Instead I just saved myself.”

“Stop it.” He sounded almost angry, and his fingers tightened. “You did what you had to do.”

“But…” She couldn’t let go of her guilt so easily. She’d been living with it too long.

“No buts. Don’t you see? Yes, a terrible thing happened that night. But there were lots of other times when Ruby could have made different choices. She consistently made the one that she thought was easy.”

“That’s not fair. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.” She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her.

“Of course not. Neither of you deserved to be born into that situation.” His gaze was intent on his face, burning into her. “This isn’t about deserving. It’s about choices. All along the way, Ruby made her own choices. It wasn’t until the world crashed in on her that she finally made the hard one.”

She stilled, thinking about that.

The hard grip of Micah’s hands eased. His thumbs stroked her cheeks, wiping away the tears.

“Ruby wasn’t you. She looked for a different way out. You couldn’t change her any more than she could change you. But in the end…” He hesitated, as if searching for words. “In the end, she did the right thing. She found her way back to God.”

He kissed her eyes, first one, then the other, in a touch so gentle it might have been a blessing. “We can’t change the past. You don’t know why she took the road she did, but she ended up where she belonged. She was content. I told you that, remember? I’m sure she had regrets, but she was content.”

She had to ask the question that haunted her. “Do you think she forgave me?”

“I doubt she ever thought there was anything to forgive. You knew your sister. Do you think she’d welcome the idea that you were supposed to rescue her?”

That sliced through her misery like a knife, and she almost smiled. “She’d have been more likely to smack me if I suggested it.”

“There you go, then.” His eyes filled with so much tenderness that it took her breath away. “If there was anything to forgive, God forgave it long ago. You’re the only one who hasn’t forgiven yourself.”

The words seemed to sink into her heart, soothing away all the pain she’d been hiding so carefully. Healing her. Making her whole.

Micah stretched, bracing his hands against the steering wheel. His head was no longer throbbing, just the possessor of a dull ache that extended right down to his shoulders. He glanced across the seat at Jade. She looked relaxed, even half-asleep. She’d been better after they’d talked, as if what he said really had helped.

Since then, they’d made one uneventful stop for food, which they’d both desperately needed. Other than that, he sensed that they’d both felt oddly at peace after those moments when Jade had bared her soul to him. They’d been close, closer than he ever had been to another person. If they got through this, he knew he wanted her in his life.

Still, he had to be careful. He might be sure of his own mind, but Jade was vulnerable. She’d gone through the tragedy of her sister’s death, narrowly escaped death herself, and had her world turned upside down. He couldn’t rush her or take advantage of her vulnerability. And, always assuming he still had a job after this, he ought to wait until the case cleared. Which could be a long time, the way things had been going. No, he couldn’t believe that. The very fact that so much had happened so quickly meant that Martino was rushing into this without thinking. That made him prone to error, and with Jackson on his case, Vincent couldn’t afford errors.

Jade sat up, blinking. “I was nearly asleep. Is everything all right?”

“Fine. Traffic is starting to pick up.”

There were more trucks on the road as the drivers tried to make up for whatever time they’d lost. The passing lanes were slush-covered, but otherwise the road wasn’t too bad.

“It’s getting dark.” She pushed back her sleeve to check her watch. “Is it just me, or has this day lasted forever?”

“Definitely not just you, but it’s nearly over. The next exit is ours.” He frowned at the gray January dusk settling in. “It’ll be dark by the time we get to the top of the mountain, though.” He felt for his cell phone. “I’d better try Jackson again.”

The faintest of signals, but maybe it would be enough. Someone picked up on the second ring, and he heard his brother’s voice through a fog of static.

“Jackson, listen, we’re almost to the lodge.”

Jackson said something in response, but he stopped listening, focusing instead on the rearview mirror.

“We’ve picked up a tail again.” He pressed the phone to his ear, praying he was getting through. “I have to lose them.”

Jade swiveled in the seat, her eyes wide. “How did they find us? We’re not even in the same vehicle.”

“Worry about that later.” He dropped the phone to grab the wheel with both hands and pressed the accelerator. “I’ve got to lose them. We can’t risk leading them straight to the lodge.”

“How?” She braced her hands against the seat as the truck surged forward. “There’s no place to hide on the interstate.”

They passed a sign. The exit was a mile ahead. Take it? He thought of the lonely, winding road that led up to the lodge.

The maroon sedan cut in front of a semi, earning a blast of the horn. Surely they wouldn’t risk taking a shot in full view of several truck drivers. That hadn’t deterred them so far, though.

The sedan was in the passing lane now, closing fast. No chance to lose them—

With a triumphant blare of the horn, the semi driver swung back in front of the sedan. For a moment, at least, they were hidden from the sedan driver’s view, and there was the exit.

Holding his breath, Micah waited until the last possible second and slewed the wheel, sending them shrieking onto the exit ramp. The semi and the sedan rocketed past the exit while he slid his way down to the stop sign.

“You did it.” Jade grasped his arm. “By the time they get to the next exit, we’ll be safe.”

“They may not be that obedient to traffic laws. Still, by the time they find a break in the guard rails where they can get turned around, we’ll be halfway up the mountain.” He took his hand off the wheel long enough to squeeze hers.

“It’s not long now. When we get to the lodge, we’ll be safe.”

The tires bit into the mix of snow and gravel on the side of the mountain road, jerking Micah to attention. He blinked, careful not to oversteer as he got them back into the ruts made by previous drivers.

“Are you all right?” Faint alarm sounded in Jade’s voice. “Do you want me to drive?”

“I’m fine.” He took his gaze off the road long enough for a quick assessment. One look at Jade’s pale, drawn face was enough to convince him that she’d reached the end of her tether.

“You’re tired,” she persisted. “I can take over for a while.”

“Long hours are part of my job.” But added to the way his head was splitting, he suspected his fatigue would soon reach a dangerous state. “It can’t be more than a couple of miles farther, if that. Once you’re safely settled, I’ll use Stan’s landline to call Jackson. Maybe then I can crash for a couple of hours.”

She let out a breath, audible in the close confines of the truck’s cab. “I can hardly believe it’s almost over.”

“It is.” He grasped her hand for a quick squeeze, all her could risk at the moment. “We’re going to get through this.”

They would. This day had been like running a 10K, sure at times he’d never make it, reduced to just putting one foot in front of the other. Then, suddenly, the finish line would loom ahead, small in the distance but getting bigger with every step. That’s where they were now, with the finish line almost in sight.

The truck veered a bit to the left, and he steadied it, peering ahead in the gathering dusk. “There—is that a signpost on the right?”

Jade leaned forward, her face a pale oval in the dim light. “Mountaintop Lodge. That’s it!”

A spurt of energy surged through him. “I told you we’d make it.” He patted the steering wheel as if it were the shoulder of his favorite horse. “I knew this old girl wouldn’t let us down.”

Jade swung toward him. “You will see that it gets back to Mamie Carson, won’t you? And I’d like to give her a thank-you gift.” She smiled, the sight lifting his spirits.

“I suppose a flower arrangement isn’t really a sensible gift in the middle of winter.”

“We’ll get the truck back safely, with a full tank of gas. Let me think about the gift. I’m sure we can find something she can use.”

We. Using the word to refer to the two of them pleased him. There’d be plenty of future occasions when they’d be buying gifts together, making plans together, doing all the things a couple did. His mother was going to love Jade. She’d start dreaming of grandchildren the minute she knew he’d found someone.

The lane to the lodge had recently been plowed. They rounded a curve and there the lodge was, settled into the mountain as if it had grown there, its rough-hewn timbers blending into the surrounding woods.

“Stan’s got a light on for us.” He drew up to the wide porch and stopped. “With a little luck, he has a pot of soup on the range.”

He slid out. A wave of dizziness hit when his feet touched the ground. He grabbed the door to keep from falling. Jade was out and around the car in an instant, supporting him. “You need a doctor.” Her tone, worried and scolding all at once, comforted him.

Suck it up, he ordered himself as he straightened. “I’m okay.” He slammed the truck door by way of emphasis.

“Let’s get inside.”

Arms around each other, they stumbled up the three steps to the porch. The front door swept open, revealing Stan’s bulgy, balding figure standing in a rectangle of golden light.

“Micah! Good to see you, good to see you. And your friend. Come in here and warm up.”

He gestured them inside, his round face beaming. “I was beginning to think you got lost. Shouldn’t take you that long to get here from Billings.”

“We had a few detours,” Micah said dryly. Warmth surrounded them the instant they stepped into the high-ceilinged lobby. A fire burned in the stone fireplace, welcoming them. Jade took a step away from him, as if she’d suddenly realized that they were clinging together. “This is beautiful, Mr….” She broke off, apparently realizing she didn’t know his name.

“Just call me Stan, Ms. Summers. Glad you like it. Don’t you worry about a thing. You’ll be safe here. Just come on in, take your jackets off, relax. Nothing to worry about now that you’re here.”

It took concentrated thought to pull off his gloves, unzip his jacket. He’d gotten it halfway off when he was aware of a faint warning alarm going off in the back of his fatigue-fogged brain.

Ms. Summers, Stan had said. But he hadn’t told Stan who he was bringing. He’d never mentioned a name. He was sure of that. It was second nature. He let the heavy parka drop to the floor, kicking it out of his way as he reached for Jade with one hand and his weapon with the other.

“Jade…”

She turned toward him at the sound of her name, her eyes widening at his expression. Stan turned, too. His face was a ludicrous combination of joviality and guilt.

“Micah, what’s goin’ on? You don’t need a gun in here.”

“Maybe I do.” If he was wrong, he’d apologize, but he’d err on the side of caution. He pulled Jade behind him. “How did you know Ms. Summers’s name, Stan?”

“You told me, man. That’s all. You told me.”

“I don’t think so.” He forced his brain to function, going over that phone conversation which felt as if it had happened in another decade.

“Sure you did.” Stan’s grin widened. “Listen, you know you can trust me. Hey, I owe you my life. You think I’d forget that.”

“Micah?”

At the sound of Jade’s questioning voice, his mind cleared. He was right. And that meant that Stan…

“He’s figured it out, Stan.”

Micah swiveled. A man stood in the door to Stan’s office, his dark suit an incongruous detail in this setting. He held a businesslike automatic in his hand, and it was pointed straight at Jade’s heart.

A shudder swept through Jade, as cold and paralyzing as if she’d been doused with ice water. Betrayal. They’d been betrayed. Micah’s friend had betrayed them.

“You’re keeping strange company, aren’t you, Stan?

What’s Frankie Como doing here?” Micah’s voice was cold, too. One hand reached toward her. She made an instinctive movement toward that hand, but the man…Como…Micah had said, gave a warning sound.

“Just stay perfectly still, Ms. Summers. Let’s not do anything we’ll regret.” His tone was cultured, almost pleasant, as if he really regretted the unfortunate events that had brought them to this.

“Stan’s already done something to regret.” If Micah felt pain at this betrayal, he covered it. “What was it, Stan? How did they get to you?”

Stan backed up a step, shrugging. “Guess maybe I wasn’t really cut out for living way up here, hardly seeing a soul. It was tough to break all the old ties. You oughta know that.” He shrugged. “So, I stayed in touch. I hear things. Like how much money Vincent Martino has out on some woman he wants iced. I wouldna done nothing about it, but when you called, it just seemed like it was meant.”

Como lifted his shoulders slightly. “Stan, Stan. Your tongue is running away with you. Somebody might have to do something about that.”

Stan blanched. “Sorry. I didn’t mean…” He mumbled off into silence.

“So, what’s Vincent Martino’s right-hand man doing getting mixed up in this?”