Deception (15 page)

Colin fired at his feet. “I killed your brother. Don't think I won't kill you, too.”

And Colin wanted to. God help him, he wanted to kill this man.

Buck dropped the knife. Did as he was told.

Colin ignored the voice screaming in his head, telling him to shoot the jerk. He had to do this right. Every decision he made had to be for the right reasons and not to seek vengeance for the past or for Jed's life. Or for Katelyn's.

God, I didn't know how hard it would be!

“Back away from her. Up against the wall.”

Buck couldn't seem to lose his smirk, no matter what. Colin wanted to wipe it from his face. He tugged the handcuffs from his jacket pocket, offering a smile himself for thinking to bring them.

“You mean this whole time you carried those things with you?” Buck's eyes were round with shock.

Colin liked to see it. Liked to see he'd knocked the smirk from Buck's face, too. “Guess you could say I was pretty confident this moment would come.”

“The charges won't stick. You have nothing on me.”

“I have Jewel's testimony.”

“It's my word against hers.”

“And mine.”

“You're just trying to make up for the past. Your testimony won't count.”

“Jewel, come over here away from the falls. Hold the weapon on Buck. Shoot him if he moves.”

She moved toward Colin, relief shining in her eyes, and something more that made his heart swell. But he had to finish this business. Jewel took the weapon and aimed it at Buck. Her hands trembled as she slipped her finger into the trigger guard.

“Easy now,” Colin said. “You don't want to shoot him accidentally.”

Jewel nodded. Steadied her hand.

Colin approached Buck. “Hands out.” They still had to make their way out of here, so Buck would need his hands out in front.

“The charges will only stick if Jewel is around to give her testimony. You think she'll make it to trial? Don't you have enough experience to know better?”

Colin stared, the whole thing unfolding in his mind, reminiscent of the past. Close, much too close, to what had gone before. Buck and Brock had been working together, throwing the investigation.

“They'll stick because this time you're working alone.” Colin cuffed one wrist.

An eerie look came into Buck's eyes. “I never work alone.”

Colin cuffed the other. He had him this time. But the confidence he'd expected eluded him. Instead, he was more terrified for Jewel's life now that he knew what she'd face as a witness. Could he walk this path again?

And what had Buck said? He never worked alone?

This wasn't going to end. It was never going to end until Buck was dead, too. Colin hesitated too long. Buck punched Colin in his already injured nose. Pain nearly blinded him. Colin gripped Buck, wrestling for control yet again, even though Buck was restrained in handcuffs.

He hoped Jewel wouldn't try to shoot, though he knew she could hit her target under normal circumstances. Buck slammed his fist into Colin's gunshot wound. Colin twisted Buck's injured hand, the battle roaring in his ears and growing louder.

Buck pushed Colin and he teetered on the lip of the cave, hovering over the ledge and waterfall. Just like before. And as he stared into Buck's cold, hard eyes, Colin knew without a doubt Buck had pushed him before, but had saved him in the end, just to be able to torment him a little longer.

What about now?

Colin flailed and reached out for his nemesis and gripped the short chain linking the cuffs, unsure if he meant to stop his own plunge or to take Buck Cambridge with him into the falls. Regardless of his intentions, a force beyond their control pulled them both down toward the frothing base of an icy waterfall.

Colin fell through empty space. Plunging fast. Buck released him. Time shifted. What took mere seconds seemed like minutes as they fell together. Jewel screamed his name from above, her cries melding with the rumble of the waterfall.

SIXTEEN

“N
o! Colin,
noooooooo
!”

The violent water rushed beneath the ice, then burst through halfway down the side of the cliff before churning at the base, drowning out her screams.

She watched the two men plummet, then disappear in mist and foam. Her heart sank beneath the water with them.

Oh, God. No.

How could he survive the drop to the bottom, much less the icy water? Fear wrapped around her very core. The day Silas had died she'd heard thunder, a rare event in this part of the world. She remembered thinking about that, but at that moment, she'd had no idea that the sound had followed the lightning strike that had killed Silas. Her husband.

And if she had been there to see it, what could she have done?

Nothing. Maybe she would have died with him.

But she couldn't stand here and do nothing now.

Jewel looked for a way to make it down from the cave. But it was a straight drop. Distress threatened to force her to her knees. She pushed down the panic and dread, turned and ran back through the cave, hoping she remembered the way out of the icy maze. She followed the drops of blood, easy enough to see on the white ice, then slipped through the thin walls where she'd made her escape. A lot of good that had done.

She was running, pushing herself harder, even though pain stitched her side. Jewel wasn't sure she could find her way back to the watercourse or what she could do to help Colin, but she had to try.

God, help him, help him, help him...

While she ran, she prayed harder than she'd ever prayed. Whatever it meant, the deeper meaning of it, she didn't know or care. She only knew that Colin was everything to her. Finally, she could admit that now. Despite protecting her heart all these years, she was here all the same, losing someone she loved, if it wasn't already too late. But she wouldn't think like that. She couldn't lose him, too.

Finally, Jewel rushed from the cave's exit, then hurried back through the woods and around, taking the same direct path that Buck had forced her to go.

“Help!” she called as she ran.
God, please let there be someone out here to help me.
“Help me! Help us!”

She would have thought Colin would have called for backup once he'd discovered Buck had taken her. But maybe he hadn't had time before he'd come chasing after her. If so, then it was her fault for sneaking away. Maybe her mistake had been the catalyst to a tragic ending. Through the woods she could see the river in the distance. It spilled out from the falls a couple of miles from the visitor center. Out of breath, Jewel made her way to the riverbank, searching for Colin. Hoping she wouldn't see Buck.

“Colin!” she called, searching the water and rapids, remembering her own fight with a river.

Jewel only thought she had been helpless before.

She stumbled over a rock and fell to her knees at the river's edge.

And there.

Colin floated facedown in the water. Dread washed through her. Jewel stepped into the liquid ice and hauled him onto the bank. He was heavy, especially with wet clothing, but Jewel was undeterred. Jewel tugged him up farther away from the bank, then rolled him over to immediately start CPR.

She could only hope and pray he hadn't been in this condition for long—five minutes or less and the freezing glacier water would slow any neurological effects like brain damage.

Colin rolled to the side and coughed. Then he got to all fours, hung his head and expelled the river that had nearly drowned him. Groaning, he fell back on his back. His eyes cut to Jewel, but he said nothing.

What was he thinking? “Your lips are blue,” she said, breaking the silence between them. “We have to get you warmed up.”

“Jewel.” He lifted a hand. She leaned in to let him cup her cheek. “You saved me.”

“You're the real hero here, Colin. You saved me first. Protected me, then rescued me from Buck. If you hadn't been there...”

His gaze clouded over, a flicker of emotion shuttered away. What was Colin thinking? Did he hold her responsible? This all had come about because of her mistake. Colin had almost lost his life because of her. And he still might if they didn't get him warmed up.

Shivering, Colin twisted and climbed to his feet. Jewel joined him. He started to pull her into his arms and then hesitated. Because of his disappointment in her?

“For whatever it's worth,” she said, “I'm sorry about everything.”

“Oh, Jewel.” Again, he cupped her cheek. His hand was as cold as ice. “No need to apologize. I just... I don't want to make you any colder.”

He shook almost uncontrollably and blood oozed from the bloodshot wound. Not good. Blood loss was dangerous enough on its own—it was worse when he was struggling against hypothermia. Jewel wrapped her arms around him. She could use her body heat to warm him until help arrived. Was help even coming? “Does anyone know where we are?”

“I called for help when I learned he had taken you.”

“It's taking them long enough.”

He nodded. “There.”

Jewel let go of him to see where he pointed. Coughing, he stumbled forward. Jewel couldn't hold him up without following him.

In the distance she spotted two men hiking toward them.

“Looks like someone from the state police and the local PD,” Colin said. “We still need to find Buck.”

The two men approached. Jewel spoke first. “We need to get him somewhere warm. I pulled him from the river.” She explained as best she could everything that happened and that Colin had helped her to escape a kidnapper.

“Thank you, ma'am. We'll take it from here,” the state trooper said.

“The kidnapper might still be in the river,” Colin said. “We need a search and rescue.”

One officer nodded and assisted Colin up and took him away. The other got on his radio to get a SAR mission number initiated.

Jewel followed, worried the hike down would take too long. Colin had called for help, for backup in taking Buck in, but not for medical assistance.

Hiking behind them she listened as Colin explained about Buck. That he could be dead or he could have escaped.

Oh, Meral! How would Jewel tell her sister? She would be devastated. After their argument, Meral could still believe Buck was innocent, and the blame for this would fall on Jewel.

Then she remembered Buck's words.
I never work alone.

A chill ran over her, adding to the cold that had seeped into her bones. She glanced at the woods around them as they hiked. Was someone out there watching?

This wasn't over yet.

* * *

Colin sat in the park ranger's office off the glacier visitor center, wrapped in a blanket and drinking hot coffee. Considering that he had nearly drowned, he thought he was past the worst of it. He'd let the ranger use the GSW kit on his superficial wound until he could get real medical attention.

No time for that yet.

The trooper stepped into the room. “We found a body that matches your description. His hands were cuffed. He seems to have drowned.”

Colin hung his head. “He never had a chance.”

Jewel entered the small room, her eyes red rimmed. The fierce need to comfort and protect her rose up in him. Why had he ever denied himself loving this woman? The battle with Buck and then the waterfall had opened his eyes. Losing his life until she had revived him, the excuses he'd made before seemed just that. Excuses. But...she was a wealthy woman far out of his league. Colin had been out of his league before with Katelyn, and it hadn't ended well. He would do what was best and walk away from anything more with Jewel. They were not finished with this business, and Colin needed to keep his head in the game.

“We need to tell Meral. How are we going to tell her?” Jewel asked.

The authorities were trying to locate
The Alabaster Sky
,
which had pulled anchor and disappeared.

Colin had already given his statement, as had Jewel, but there was one thing he'd forgotten. He stood and let the blanket drop. “Cambridge said he didn't work alone.”

Silence filled the small office as the words sank in. The ranger sitting across from him scratched his chin.

“But that doesn't mean it was Meral,” Jewel pleaded. “When he first captured me, he said he had drugged her. That she had slept through all the incidents. That she was clueless. She isn't his partner.”

No. Just his wife.

“Regardless, we need to tell her what's happened to her husband.” Colin eyed Jewel. Telling someone they had lost a loved one was the worst part of being a police officer. “And maybe we can find out the truth, including the identities of Buck's accomplice or accomplices. But you need to stay vigilant, Jewel. Your life could still be in danger.”

And he knew that well enough from his past.

Ryan, the police officer who assisted Colin, rushed back into the office. “We've located
The Alabaster Sky
docked at Alder's Bay.” He nodded at Jewel and Colin. “I'll transport you there.”

“Wait,” Colin said.

“What are you thinking?” Jewel asked.

“The yacht has to be waiting to rendezvous with Buck. I hadn't suspected the crew, but now I don't know if the crew or the captain is involved in his crimes or not. This could be our chance to find out.”

“Buck planned to take me back so I could show him where I'd hid the diamond. Other than tearing the boat apart, I don't know how he would have found it.”

“What's your plan?” Ryan asked.

“I'll return to the yacht and gather the staff and Meral and tell them what's happened,” Colin said. “We'll see how they react. If you wouldn't mind sticking around, maybe you can catch anyone who tries to leave. In the meantime, can you get someone to run a background on the crew of
The Alabaster Sky
? See who might have any connection to Buck Cambridge.”

“I'm going, too,” Jewel said. “This is my sister. I want to be there for her.”

Colin hung his head, wondering if Jewel would ever forgive him for his next words. “I'm not sure that's a good idea, Jewel. Despite what you believe, Meral could still be party to Buck's crimes.”

Her eyes blazed. “Look. I know my sister, okay? She isn't capable of this.”

He didn't have the heart to remind her that she hadn't known her sister for at least the past twenty years of her life. “I hope you're right, Jewel. For your sake, I hope you're right. But we can't ignore that possibility, and in that case, you're vulnerable. She could threaten your life to save her own.”

His words cut her. He could see it in her eyes, but they had to be said.

With a deep frown in her brow, she rubbed her arms and averted her gaze. But she said nothing in response. She knew it was true.

With his words he'd begun to sever his emotional connection to Jewel. He could see it in her eyes. Nearly losing himself, everything that had happened, had him vulnerable and willing to let himself love. But he'd come to his senses. He couldn't let himself get any closer.

Caring too much for Jewel had kept him from pressing for answers from the start. If he had just pushed harder, found out about the diamond earlier, then maybe Buck would be in jail instead of dead, and Jed would still be alive. Getting emotionally involved just caused problems.

Back in Texas he was too close to the witness in a case, and he'd kept that under wraps because his chief would have taken the case from him. But he'd fallen in love with her and had wanted to be close and keep his hands on the investigation. To make sure things were done right and she was safe, he'd told himself. And all along, he'd had his eyes on the wrong man.

That had cost her her life.

A person could never know where seemingly innocent decisions would lead or what lives would be affected. Knowing was beyond the realm of humanity. Only God knew these things.

What irony that his bringing charges against the wrong man over a decade ago in Texas would end in him facing off with the right man years later. Colin feared his own mistakes—both from the past and more recently—would cost Jewel more than her diamond.

He couldn't trust himself to protect her. He couldn't rely on his own strength. He'd done that before and had failed.

Please, God, help me to keep her safe!