Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

C ady stopped the SUV in front of her house. Sure enough, the front door was wide open. "Ah, that's how you got out. I guess I was in such a hurry I didn't realize I had left it open." Garth smiled sympathetically and moved to open the door. "Grab an animal first!" Cady called out.

Garth grabbed George and headed to the stairs. "Uh," he said, looking down.

"What?" Cady asked as she tried to wrangle Ginny and Princess.

"Did someone run back inside when you were leaving?"

Cady frowned and stepped forward. "No, why?" But then she saw why. There were muddy footprints leading up the stairs, over her porch, and disappearing into the dark of her house.

"Stay here." Garth shoved George at her and crept into the darkness. She should call Colton and let him know. Only she'd left her phone on the nightstand, which was in there. In the dark.

Cady waited at the bottom of the stairs. Nothing. Cady crept up the stairs and leaned into her house. "Garth?" Nothing.

Princess growled. George growled. Ginny hissed. Cady got the heebie-jeebies.

"In here!" she heard Garth shout out.

Cady released the breath she was holding and walked inside. She put Princess and the cats in their room and turned on the lights. "Garth? Is everything okay?"

Cady headed down the hall as she heard Garth moving around in her office. She turned into the doorway and it took a moment to understand what she was seeing. Her office was trashed. Garth was on the ground. Blood was pooling under his head. There was a man standing over Garth with a bottle of bourbon in his hand.

Cady gasped and tried to run but slipped on the papers scattered across the floor. The man turned and shoved back his hoodie. Hope and relief were quickly quashed as she put everything together.

"Isaac? Why?" Isaac Glover stood, soaking wet, and holding her bottle of bourbon as a weapon in the middle of her office. "Did Bruce put you up to this?"

Isaac sneered. "Bruce is too far up Jordan's ass to do shit. Well, except to fire me. I heard them. Jordan waged a campaign against me for over a year. He knew how to help the declining sales. They were all my fault since I wasn't as good as your father, but Jordan is. He was part of the family while he dated you. Or that's what he got Bruce to believe. I told you I needed those recipes. I need to save my job and the only way I can do that is with your father's recipes."

"You could get a better job than working with a dick like Bruce. Isaac, I would have helped you. But you lit my warehouse on fire and trashed my office. Did you also sabotage things at the distillery?"

Isaac grinned even as Garth groaned. "You figured that out, did you? I wanted to drive you to the same level of desperation as me. You'd turn to old Isaac to help you. Instead, you were so freaking determined to do it yourself. You didn't let anyone in, just like your father. It was always only the two of you. No matter how hard I tried to get into the inner sanctum, I was never allowed."

Cady scrambled backward on her butt as Isaac walked over to her. "Where is the recipe book, Cady?"

Cady had to think fast. She had to get away from Isaac and back to Colton. Fire and police were there. They'd help her. "I'm going to stand up. You have to have my bio scan to get it."

"Where is it?" Isaac didn't help her up, so she got up on her own. She knew he'd expect her to bolt, so she didn't. For now.

"The kitchen. That cabinet above the refrigerator that no one can reach so they don't use it. It's in there." Isaac grabbed her and shoved her down the hall in front of him.

Cady kept her eyes on the open front door, but Isaac didn't give her a chance to dart out of them. His hand was wrapped in her wet hair as he yanked her into the kitchen. "Get it."

"Isaac, I would have helped you. You didn't need to do this."

"You already told me you wouldn't give me your father's recipes. He was the best of the best and nothing else will impress Bruce and save my job from going to that jerkoff, Jordan."

"Well, we are in agreement with one thing," Cady said with a roll of her eyes. "Jordan is a jerkoff."

They shared a quick smile, but then Isaac frowned. "I'm sorry, Cady, but I have a meeting in the morning with Bruce. If I don't produce your father's book, I'm fired. I tried asking nicely, but you left me no other option. Now, give it to me."

Cady saw Isaac's gloved hand tighten on the bottle of bourbon. The second she handed over that book he would kill her. There was no way Isaac would allow her to accuse him of theft.

Cady saw Sophie's spray on the kitchen table. Isaac stood between her and it, but she had a plan. Cady grabbed a chair and stood up on it. She had one chance. She reached up, purposefully teetered, and then threw herself backward off the chair. She screamed, hoping someone would hear her over the storm, as she crashed butt first into Isaac. The force of her fall sent them both falling hard to the floor. Except Cady's fall was padded by Isaac.

Cady rolled off him, snagged the spray, and ran. She hit her porch, got the cap off the spray, and was about to leap down the stairs when Isaac reached her. He tried to grab her, but she slapped his hand away. Cady aimed the spray but wasn't fast enough. Isaac shoved her, knocking her off balance and she fell down the stairs. Hard.

Cady felt the impact with every one of the stairs until she slammed into the sidewalk. It hurt to breathe, she couldn't move, and she felt like a broken ragdoll. Isaac stood over her when she opened her eyes. Rain splattered against her face. One arm was above her head. The other was pinned under her. It hurt like hell, but she didn't think it was broken. Worse of all, the spray had gone flying out of her grip when she tumbled down the stairs.

Isaac stood, straddling her midsection. He bent down, wrapping his hand in the front of her shirt. He yanked her up slightly and slapped her hard across the face. Cady's fingers hit something above her head. Something hard. She crawled her fingers up and felt the small foot of the bourbon drinking gnome that Annie had given her.

They make great weapons . Annie had told her that and now Cady knew what to do. Her fingers curled over the little foot, grasping the gnome tightly. Isaac shoved his face into hers. "Where is the book?" He began to yank her up again, ready to hit her once more. When he did, Cady brought the gnome with her.

Cady arched the pigtailed bourbon gnome over her shoulder as if she were serving in a tennis match. The smiling gnome smashed into Isaac's head.

Isaac immediately dropped her, which made everything hurt even more. There was nothing she could do about it though. She had to choose: fight or flight. Cady chose flight. If she could get to the woods, she could circle around her property and come out close to the warehouse where Colton was. It would be faster to take the SUV, but Isaac was trying to stand again. He was between her and the SUV, so the woods it was.

Cady rolled over, and pushed herself up. She staggered a bit, but the second she heard Isaac roar her name in the thunderstorm, she knew it was now or never. So, she ran. Everything hurt. Her ribs, her chest, her head, her legs, her arms... it all hurt, but it wouldn't stop her.

Cady glanced over her shoulder to find Isaac holding a hand to his head and staggering after her. Her lungs were on fire as she pushed herself into the darkness of the woods that surrounded her distillery.

Colton and his team had been going over every inch of the fire with Luke since Cady had left. Labs would confirm his suspicion, but his team was well-trained. They would have a good guess soon.

"You were right. That's arson," Flint said after smelling the door and fingering the ashes. "Looks like the inside and the outside of the door were soaked."

"Whoever did this soaked the door in gas, jammed it shut, and left. Why? Why not use the gas on the barrels or light the barrels up?" Conley asked.

"That would be too obvious. The wedges were starting to burn up. If the fire hadn't been put out so soon, the evidence would have burned and it could be deemed a lightning strike. But, with me getting here so fast, Luke getting inside, and us detecting something not natural in the fire, we now know." Colton frowned. "Still, I don't get why."

"Hey, Chief Davies," the Lipston fire captain called out. "When is my guy getting back so we can head out?"

Colton frowned and glanced at his watch. Cady had been gone over thirty minutes. That couldn't be right.

Colton looked at his team. They all mirrored his look. Something wasn't right. No words were needed. They were a team and could read each other like brothers. Jack was already starting the fire truck as everyone piled in. He took the turn hard, almost taking out a tree, but no one objected as Jack floored the massive truck. Luke was right behind them in his cruiser. Over their radio, Colton heard Luke calling all units to the distillery.

Time seemed to slow. It took forever to get to Cady's house. Colton didn't wait for the truck to stop when they finally arrived. He jumped from the still moving truck and rushed toward the dark house yelling for Cady. The only response was the frantic barking of Princess.

Colton stumbled over something and looked down. It was a gnome lying on the sidewalk. His heart stopped when he saw the blood on it. "Blood!" he yelled and pointed for Luke to see as he took the stairs three at a time.

The house was eerily empty. A chair was overturned in the kitchen. The animals were put up. But then he saw it. Garth's legs were lying in the mess of the office. "Garth?" Colton put his fingers to the firefighter's neck. There was a pulse, thank goodness. "Medic! Firefighter down!"

"House is clear," Luke called out, rushing to aid him. "He was bashed over the head. But I don't see any signs of Cady."

" Meeeeooooow !" Ginny's screeching was just as frantic as Princess's barking.

Could Cady be in there? Could she be hurt?

Colton ran to the mudroom and opened the door. The dog and cats shot out. Princess's nose was twitching, George hissed, and Ginny looked like a small lion on the attack.

Princess's head turned to the front door, she barked, and then she took off with George and Ginny hot on her heels.

"You think they can smell Cady?" Conley asked.

"Beardies are a herding breed, but they're still dogs. Their sense of smell is better than ours. I'm going to find out. Call me if you hear anything."

Colton took off out the front door and almost lost sight of the animals if not for the lightning strike that made Princess's collar sparkle in the night. Colton ran after them. He didn't slow down when he hit the tree line. What he did notice was how quiet it became. The animals weren't making noise as they ran. They were on the hunt and so was he.