Chapter 39

Darkness had fallen as Laurel rode in the passenger side of Huck's truck, idly thinking that she hadn't driven her own vehicle in much too long. It had been at least a week. This was getting ridiculous.

"So they just released you?" she asked.

His grip tightened on the steering wheel. "Not exactly. I called in my attorney, and he pointed out that Rachel could not positively identify me as her kidnapper and that anybody could have stolen Aeneas's blanket from the back of my rig. Plus, there's absolutely no damage on my truck and a lot on Rachel's vehicle."

Laurel cocked her head to the side. "Who's your lawyer?"

"He's an old pal from the military who lives outside of Seattle. That's part of what took so long. We had to wait for him to arrive. You'll like him—I assume we'll be seeing a lot of him over the next months."

Laurel nodded. "They're not dropping the case against you?"

"No. They're going to up the charges. My cell phone being in the vicinity of all the murders doesn't look good."

She watched the rain beat the ground outside. When would spring come? "You're most certainly their prime suspect."

He set his windshield wipers on a faster speed. "They're definitely building a case. My lawyer convinced them not to arrest me at this time, so long as I relinquish my weapons, badge, and passport. I'm on indefinite leave."

"I'm off the case as well." Her fingers itched to get back to her case files. "I think Norrs is a good agent, and Nester said he'd be back tomorrow."

Huck flicked her a glance. "They're not as good as you."

Her shoulders sagged. The fact that she could get into a killer's mind would always bother her. "You were deliberately set up," she murmured.

"Could it be by Abigail?" he asked.

"She, for some unknown reason, wants a close relationship with me, or at least whatever ‘close' means to her. You are in the way." Did it track, though? Abigail wasn't somebody who liked to get her hands dirty, and drowning a woman by forcing her head beneath ice was definitely dirty. Yet Laurel had no doubt Abigail would sink to such lows if the ends justified her means. "We've been looking at this case by asking why each victim was murdered."

"That sounds standard to me."

"What if it's all about you?" she murmured.

Huck looked at her. "The fact that my mother was the first victim makes that entirely likely, but I don't have any enemies."

She sat back. "Everybody has enemies. You've had a long career, Captain. You've put many a criminal in prison."

"Sure," Huck said, "and I've let people down."

She studied him. "It wasn't your fault that child died in your Portland case."

"I know, but he left behind a great-aunt who hated my guts."

"We need a list of anybody who might want to hurt you and who you think is diabolical enough to go about it in this manner." Just to cross them off. That theory didn't track for her.

He pulled into his drive and parked near the shop. "You haven't had a chance to tell me how the interview with Zeke Caine went earlier."

"I metaphorically poked the beast," she said.

"Meaning?" Huck turned off the truck and looked at her. Silence echoed through the cab.

She swallowed. "He's furious. If he's going to make a mistake or slip up, it's going to be now."

"You think he's the killer?" Huck asked.

"The puzzle pieces won't snap into place." His smirk said he was. Or he was just messing with her head because he could? "If he wants to hurt you, I think he'd just shoot you. So if Zeke is the killer, this actually isn't about you."

"Ug. My head is aching."

She rubbed her temple. "As is mine. To be thorough, we still need a list of anybody who'd want to harm you. We can pass that on to Nester or even Agent Norrs, but Nester won't yell at us when we do."

"Good point," Huck said. "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Let's go in and find something to eat."

"Agreed." She stepped out of the truck onto the icy ground and shivered when the wind assaulted her. She peered up at the moon shining through gaps in the rain clouds, but looming purplish clouds were sweeping in from the north. "We're about to be impacted by another storm."

"Aren't we always?" Huck reached her side. "I was thinking, after this is all over, let's really take that vacation we've been talking about."

"Somewhere sunny. I could use the vitamin D." She took his hand. "Definitely somewhere sunny."

Somewhere sunny. Streaks of blond. All dead blondes. The puzzle pieces slipped nicely together in her mind. Shock held her still for a moment. How evilly diabolical. The malignant narcissist who'd been thwarted. Of course! She couldn't believe it. "Huck. I've got it. It's—"

A shot cracked out from nowhere, and the captain's body doubled over as he emitted a harsh grunt and then fell.

"Huck!" Laurel screamed, scrambling in her bag for her weapon.

A blur of motion caught her attention, and then a hard body tackled her onto the ice. She skidded several feet. Her purse spun away, end over end, her weapon inside. She looked up to see Zeke Caine's face right before he swung his fist and punched her in the cheek, hard. She'd been right. Her head flopped down again. Her body shook, and she sucked in frigid air, forcing herself to remain conscious. She kicked out, nailing him in the knee.

Grunting, he punched her again in her face, and her head snapped back, hitting the ice. Darkness stole her vision, and she turned, trying to scream for Huck. Was he okay? Was he alive? Was he dead? She scrambled to find him.

Aeneas barked loudly from inside the home, sounding frantic.

Rough hands grabbed her hair and dragged her toward the cabin and then around the side through the scrub brush. She started to fight, but her limbs became heavy and her vision blurry.

"You fucking bastard. I figured it out," she croaked.

Zeke laughed. "You have my brains. Yet I won't accept betrayal from any of my women. Ever."

As they neared the river, Laurel fought to stand. She stood and tried to strike back. He kept his hold on her hair and pulled her along, throwing her down again. She landed on her hands, and pain ricocheted up her arms as agony spread along her scalp. "You couldn't care less about killing blondes."

"Nope. I care about betrayal."

Even though it was dark, there was enough moonlight to see a perfectly cut hole in the ice. A set of crampons had been discarded next to its symmetrical edges. "I knew you killed those women."

"You were right. But don't think you're so smart." Zeke crouched, fury flushing his cheeks a dark red. "I guess we're having our own King Lear moment here, my bitch daughter."

She coughed and searched for a weapon. Those crampons were close. If she could get her hands on them, she might be able to injure him enough to get away. She couldn't think about Huck or the baby right now. She had to focus on survival.

"King Lear?" she mocked. "His actions led to the death of his daughter, but he didn't do it himself. And you're no king." She tried to inch closer to those sharp edges.

He slapped her and she fell back. "All right, then. I guess it's a Titus Andronicus tribute."

She nodded. "He did kill his daughter, Lavinia, but he did it out of love."

"I'm acting out of love." Zeke looked toward the river. "For my life, anyway."

She balanced herself on her tailbone and drew her legs in, searching for the right opening.

He laughed. "I hit you so hard, you'll see stars for days. Don't even think of fighting me. Though I have to admit, I am ready for a good fight. It has been too easy to subdue these weak women."

Laurel coughed, her ears ringing. "All blondes. Do you hate my mother that much?"

He lost the smile. "That bitch. She kept you from me! She deserves to die horribly with her head beneath the ice." His shoulders shook as if with great rage. "Plus, once my church goes national, I can't have her coming out of the woodwork and accusing me of a crime I didn't commit."

"Yes, you did, and you know it." Where were the crampons? She forced her eyes to focus and adjust to the darkness. If she could just keep him talking a little while longer and not think about Huck. How injured was the captain? "The other victims just provided you with a cover?" How evil. She'd questioned its existence before, but now she knew with certainty. Evil existed. All on its own, and it faced her right now.

"Yes."

She gagged. "You killed those women just so you could murder my mother and not be an obvious suspect?"

He lifted his head, hatred glittering in his eyes. "Yes. I want her lungs to freeze as she screams. How dare she keep you from me? From me! " he screamed.

Bile rose in Laurel's throat. He was insane. "Why did you take Huck's mother as one of your victims?"

"Why not? I needed to rid myself of that captain, so two birds, one stone."

She ruthlessly swallowed, trying to regain feeling in her arms. He'd just wanted to kill Deidre. Her poor mother. "How did you find Huck's mom?"

"Easily," Zeke said, apparently enjoying the bragging, as most narcissists would. "A private detective out of Texas. It really wasn't that hard. If the captain had wanted to find her, it would've been easy."

"What about her hair?" Laurel asked. If she hit him right in the ankle he'd go down sideways. She could scramble for the crampons and then slash his face.

Zeke winked. "She voluntarily came with me. I told her that Huck had cancer, was dying, wasn't telling anybody, and his dying wish was to see his mother. I suggested she dye her hair back to blond because that was how he remembered her."

She had to keep him bragging until she could grasp the weapons. "You had her fly here and then killed her by Snowblood Peak?"

"Yep," he said cheerfully. "Abbott's escape was a bonus. I was already planning to kill a few blondes to throw suspicion on someone else before I made my real kill. As a true sniveling twit, Haylee Johnson needed to be put down anyway. All I did was knock on her back door, and she opened it. Can you believe it? I knocked her out, and it was that easy to take her. Then, of course, Rachel Raprenzi. Wow, that smart girl got away."

Laurel bunched her body. "You let her escape."

"Of course. She had that stupid dog fur from the blanket I stole all over her. The woman thought she was so smart. I could have murdered her in a second. Not that I won't. Well"—he looked sadly back toward the cabin—"I guess I won't because this is over. Unless they let the captain stay out of prison for a while, but after they find him and your body, he's probably going away."

"So you're willing to kill me? Your own blood."

He paused. "I have to kill you. It's not like you won't turn me in. You're smart. Too smart. I knew you'd figure it out. Take that as a compliment."

The feeling in her hands still tingled. "You're a pastor. Don't you believe in hell?"

He shrugged. "I'm a god, you know. Rarely fail—am quite pissed your mother outran me the other night. I was ready to make a move."

Laurel shivered. "She was too smart for you." Thank goodness she'd gotten Deidre out of town.

He rubbed his hands together, and the wind lifted the bottom of his jacket. "Deidre will die somehow, but apparently not this way. I did love the elegance of this campaign, though, dealing with her as well as Huck, so as to leave you isolated."

"Isolated? By taking some of my team away?" She tried to concentrate. "The raffle for the vacation?"

He snorted. "I paid for that myself. Goodbye, Walter and Ena."

Her stomach rolled. "And Nester's sister?"

He laughed out loud. "Hit that girl with a truck, I did. Took me awhile to learn her schedule, and I had to hire out for that. But I was the one who introduced her to a bumper."

What a horrible man. Yet Jason Abbott had helped him without even knowing it. "You thought I'd feel alone and come to you?" Laurel asked.

"You would've," he said, his arrogance on full display. "I would've been all you had left once you understood the truth about Abigail."

The freezing wind kept Laurel from passing out. "What about Teri Bearing?"

"Wasn't me," Zeke said. "We both know who it was. Haylee Johnson saw one of you that night, and it wasn't you. Right?"

A branch cracked near the cabin, and they both turned to look. Laurel instantly bunched and attacked, kicking him in both ankles and then jumping up on one foot to nail him in the groin.

He leaned over, grunting.

She dove for the crampons and turned, coming up with them, but he was already on top of her. He grabbed her head and slammed it down against the ice. Her body went limp, even as her brain tried to fight.

"Good move," he growled. Grabbing the crampons with his gloved hands, he pulled her up and spun her around, shoving a gun into her hands.

"What?" she asked.

He put his finger on hers and fired it twice across the river.

His action made no sense.

He pulled the weapon free and tossed it yards away. "Your prints are now on the gun that shot Huck Rivers. Everyone will think you shot him trying to save yourself from the horrible River Reaper. I fucking love that name. Hopefully he is not bleeding too badly, because I'll need to bring his body up here."

"No!" Laurel screamed as Zeke flipped her over, grabbed her hair and dragged her toward the hole.

She fought as wildly as she could, but her body had gone numb. The first plunge of her face into the river shocked her senses, and she went alert, waking up instantly. She shut her mouth and fought back, and then he pushed her head under the ice. She tried to jerk up and the ice cut into the back of her head.

Panicking, she clawed the ice and river rocks, trying to push herself back. It was a natural response.

She could hear his laugh as he easily held her under. This wasn't going to work. He pushed her harder, and she opened her mouth in response. Freezing cold water poured down her throat. She pulled her knees in and then kicked out as hard as she could, barely hearing his muffled oof from beneath the ice.

Her entire body shuddered. Darkness started to fall. Freezing water filled her lungs. The pressure on her head lessened. She heard a crack and a large boom.

Her lungs compressed, out of oxygen, and she nearly relaxed. A warm darkness enveloped her, and her heart stopped.

She didn't feel rough hands yanking her from the water, but the thump of a fist on her chest brought her back to the freezing world. Gasping, using the last of her strength, she shoved away from the ice. Her lungs screamed. She opened her eyes to see Zeke tackle a bleeding Huck onto the icy ground.