Runs Deep (27 page)

CHAPTER 77

J
ulie’s heart pounded as she stared down at Steve’s unconscious form.
He had Mel’s necklace. Mel never took that off.
She began to shake. She had a vision of Steve stabbing Mel, angrily, viciously. Followed by an image of Steve covered in Simone’s blood.

It was him. All this time, it was him.

She made a wide arc around Steve as she ran to the kitchen and scooped her car keys off the counter. Then she sprinted out the back door, stumbled down the steps and around the house.

Stupid. I am so stupid.
She was weaving like a drunk, but she couldn’t walk straight—she couldn’t think straight.
He did it. He killed them all.

She yanked the car door open and all but fell into her seat. Her hands were shaking so hard, it took her three tries to get the key in the ignition. She felt hot and a bead of sweat rolled down her back. She kept glancing up at the house, expecting Steve to vault out the door at any moment. Finally, the engine flared to life. She slammed the car into reverse, peeled out of the driveway, then shifted into drive and slammed on the gas.

Oh my God. Oh my God
. Julie took a corner too fast and her heart leaped into her throat as she barely missed a Honda parked on the street.

Calm down. You need to calm down
, she warned herself. But she couldn’t stop the tremors that wracked her body. She also couldn’t seem to slow down. She’d been wrong. All these years, everyone had been right. It had been Steve all along.

Tears clouded her vision. She swiped them away, picturing Simone. Seeing her parents crouched over her sister’s lifeless body.

“I’m so sorry, Simone,” she whispered.

Oh, God
. She felt nauseous as she thought about how tenderly she’d bandaged him up after the police had brutalized him. And then she had saved him when those men had tried to hurt him.
I should have let them kill him.

But I helped him go free.
Her stomach rolled.
Whoever he kills next, that’s on me.

In ten years, she’d been unable to accept the truth. But there was no hiding from it now. She raced through the streets, not paying any attention to where she was going. She was in shock, just driving without thinking. When she finally blinked and got her bearings, she realized that she had driven all the way to the far side of the island. And she was driving way too fast.

She tapped the brakes, knowing she needed to turn around. She hydroplaned a little, and the back of her car swung out. Heart racing, she jerked the steering wheel to the right. But she jerked too hard. The car began to spin.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Julie mumbled, trying to bring the car under control. A wave of water flew up as she careened into a deep pool of standing water. The water stopped her spin with a jerk, but it also doused the engine.

Julie turned the ignition off. She said a little prayer and then turned the key. Nothing. “Oh, come on,” she pleaded.

She pumped the gas and tried again. Still nothing.

She looked out her window; the water reached halfway up her door.
The engine is literally flooded.
The car was never going to start.

Should she stay here and wait for someone to find her? But there was no one around, and it was getting dark. To make matters worse, the skies chose that moment to open up, and rain thundered down on the roof of the car.
Great.

She imagined the water level rising until it covered her car. Unrealistic or not, she still felt a panicked need to get out of the car. Besides, Steve could be up, could be looking for her. And no way in hell was she going to sit here and wait for him.

She rolled down her window, thankful that at least that worked. Raindrops stung her face as she pulled herself out through the window. She balanced on the door for a minute before lowering herself into the water below.

“God damn it.” The water reached her upper thighs, and it was freezing. She waded through it as quick as she could, but she was still damn near frozen by the time she got out of it.

She jogged in place at the side of the road, trying to stay warm as she looked around. There were no houses in sight. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she might be at the edge of the protected land, which meant that the nearest buildings would be the rental cabins about a mile down the road. Mostly they were used by vacationers, so there might not be anyone around, but at this point she’d be willing to break in if that’s what it took to get warm. She’d pay for the damages later.

A shiver tore through her, and she knew she needed to get moving. She was already beginning to feel sluggish from the cold. She started to jog down the street, waving her arms to try to increase her temperature.

She’d find a phone, call for help, and warm up. Steve would never look to find her way out here. And as long as Steve couldn’t find her, she’d be safe.

CHAPTER 78

T
he pain in his head was his first sensation. It passed through in waves. When it finally stopped, he opened his eyes. He was on the floor. He stared at the carpet and frowned. That wasn’t his grandmother’s carpet. He pushed himself up, and his stomach rolled with the pain in his head.

He pulled himself up to the couch, closed his eyes again, and leaned his head back. What the hell? His mind was foggy. He couldn’t remember how he’d ended up on the ground. He looked around.

“Julie?”

No answer. He saw the smashed lamp next to the chair. And the memories returned.
She thinks it’s me.

Because I had Mel’s St. Christopher necklace.

Mel never took it off. Never. When Steve had found Mel, he hadn’t even noticed it was missing. But everyone knew he wore it. How the hell had it gotten in his pocket?

Steve struggled to think. Had he picked it up the morning he’d found Mel? Although he’d been in shock, he didn’t think so. After he called Declan, he’d stayed by the door, not going back to the body. Besides, he didn’t even have this jacket then.

So he hadn’t put the medal in his pocket.

Then who had?

The only people who’d had access to the jacket were his grandmother and Jack. He discounted Bess right away. Besides the fact that she didn’t have it in her, there’s no way she would physically be able to move Elise’s body or have the strength to plunge that knife into Mel.

That left Jack. Steve’s mind rebelled at the thought. Jack had been his strongest supporter all his life. It couldn’t be him.

Not all your life
, a voice whispered in his mind.
Only since your father died
.

Grudgingly, he had to acknowledge that that was true. When he was kid, Jack had actually been horrible to him. His dad had even tried to keep them apart. He never let Jack watch Steve or let Steve go anywhere alone with Jack. At the time, Steve had thought that was just his dad being strict with him. But why had he done that?

It can’t be Jack
, he thought. There was a rational explanation for all of this. It wasn’t Jack. It couldn’t be. Someone must have broken into the house. Put the medal in his pocket. It was the only explanation.

And yet, he felt a powerful need to check on Bess and make sure she was safe.

Steve stood up, and the world swam a little. He put a hand on the wall and waited for the dizziness to pass. Idly, he thought about how people said prison was so violent. But he’d been hurt more in the few days since he’d returned home than in his years of being locked up.

He walked over to the window and looked out. Julie’s car was gone. She’d probably gone to the cops. Well, at least she’d be safe. But he needed to get out of here. He didn’t know why, but something told him he needed to get moving. Things were spiraling out of control. And he needed to know his grandmother was safe.

He’d go stop by Declan’s sister’s house and just make sure Bess was all right. Before he went—where? It’s not like there were a lot of places for him to go.
Declan.
He’d find Declan. Declan would know what to do.

But first things first—Grandma.

He considered walking, but it would take too long, and after his last walk, he didn’t want to chance it. He needed a car. He remembered Declan telling him once, a few years ago, that he and his father were restoring a car. Steve prayed they had finished.

He walked through the kitchen in the dark and found the door to the garage. Light coming through the windows illuminated a car under a dusty tarp. Steve pulled off the tarp to reveal a black 1967 Impala. Even in the dim light, the car looked good.

Steve searched the car for keys. Nothing. Next he checked the workbench. Tools were strewn across it, and along the back of the bench were mason jars filled with nails, screws, bolts—and in the last jar, a pair of keys.

Steve grabbed the keys, then, since the power was out, manually pulled up the garage door. He hopped in the Impala and turned the key in the ignition.

The engine roared to life. He would have smiled if a steady ball of fear hadn’t been spreading through his body.

It’s not Jack. Grandma is fine.

But he was no longer sure if he was saying it because he believed it or because he wanted to believe it.

CHAPTER 79

D
eclan and Russ rolled up around the corner from Declan’s father’s house. They’d had to stop by the police station to get more weapons and officers. Declan had debated not telling Keith, but that was his pride talking. Julie’s safety had to come before anything.

Keith’s smirk had been huge. “How’s it feel, Declan, knowing you helped a murderer go free?”

Keith had insisted on running point. Declan didn’t argue. He wasn’t sure he would be able to bring himself to do what needed to be done, and he had no doubt Keith could.

“All right everybody, let’s go,” Keith said over the radio.

Russ and Declan stayed where they were. They were not part of this arrest.

Declan stared down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. How had he been so wrong? He had never seen an inkling of any violence in Steve. Not when he was a kid, not as a teenager. He leaned his head against the window.
What the hell kind of cop does that make me?

“He fooled us all,” Russ said quietly next to him.

“Not all of us,” Declan said quietly. Keith had been right this whole time.

“All clear. Suspect’s not here,” Keith growled through the radio.

Feeling more tired than Declan could ever remember, he pushed open the door and headed for the house.

The front door was wide open, as was the garage. He headed through the front door. In the living room, a table was overturned and a lamp broken on the floor. Declan brought his hand to his mouth.

Keith stomped over. “Well, your boy is gone. When this is all over, Reed, I’m having
you
brought up on obstruction charges. You’ve been helping that murderer ever since he got out. You don’t deserve to wear a badge.”

Declan opened his mouth to respond, then shut it. What could he say? Keith was right. He just nodded wearily as Keith grunted and stormed away.

Russ came in from the garage holding a tarp. “Is there something usually underneath this?”

Declan nodded. “Yeah—my dad’s old car. We’ve been restoring it.”

“It’s not there.”

The fog in Declan’s brain began to clear. “And Julie’s car’s not here either. That means she could still be alive.”

Russ pulled out his radio. “All officers be on the lookout for a—” He glanced at Declan.

“A 67 black Impala, no license plate,” Declan said.

Russ repeated the description into the radio.

Keith stormed into the kitchen. “What’s with the BOLO?”

“My dad’s car is missing, and so is Julie’s. Which means Julie was alive when she left here,” Declan said.

“You don’t know that,” Keith said. “Kane could have dumped one car and come back for the other.”

“Maybe,” Declan conceded, turning for the door, “but until we find a body, I’m going to act like there’s still a chance to save her.”

CHAPTER 80

J
ulie stumbled down the driveway leading to the cabin park. The jogging had helped keep her warm, but she wasn’t dressed for this weather. The rain had now shifted over to freezing rain. She gritted her teeth.
I have not missed fall in upstate New York.

She spied a utility phone attached to the telephone pole at the entrance of the park. She blew on her hands a few times trying to warm them up enough to grasp the locking mechanism. It still took her four tries before she was able to open it.

Finally managing it, she yanked the receiver off. It rang twice and then connected.

“Thank God. I—”

“You’ve reached the Millners Kill Police Department. All officers are busy right now. Please leave a message and we’ll get right back to you.”

Julie wanted to scream. But instead, she waited for the beep. Her words came out in a rush. “This is Julie Granger. I’m stranded out at the cabin park. I left Steve Kane unconscious at Fergal Reed’s home. He has Mel’s St. Christopher medal. There’s no doubt—” She swallowed. “Steve killed Mel. He killed all of them. Send help right away.”

She hung up the receiver and closed the box. She felt drained, and only partly because of the cold sapping her energy. She had just publicly declared Steve a murderer. It was done. There was no hiding from the truth now.

Not giving herself time to dwell, she pushed away from the pole and jogged slowly down the drive. It was probably going to take them a while to get out here. And with Dee gone…

Julie took a shuddering breath.
Steve killed her too
. She shoved the emotions aside. She needed to focus on making sure she was all right—and right now, that meant getting warm.

Up ahead she could see the log cabins. Each one was pretty basic: two bedrooms, a small kitchen, one bathroom, and a small living room. But in the summer they were always full of people—mostly tourists. Some even had a dock. Not surprisingly, though, no one was out here now.

Julie hurried toward the first cabin, but then remembered that she knew who owned the cabin three down. Jack Kane. She headed for his instead. He certainly wouldn’t mind if she broke in, not under these circumstances.

She pictured Jack, and felt sadness. He’d defended his brother all these years. It was going to break his heart to learn that Steve was actually the monster everybody thought he was.

Just like it had broken hers.

Jack’s cabin was locked, as expected. Julie looked around quickly to see if there was any obvious hidey hole for a key. But honestly, she was too cold for a long search. After only a minute she pulled her gun from her pocket and aimed it at the lock.

Sorry about this, Jack
. She pulled the trigger twice.

The lock shattered. She quickly opened the door and then shut it behind her. The inside wasn’t much warmer than the outside, but at least it was dry and out of the wind and rain. She made her way to the wood stove and tossed in some logs and kindling. She grabbed the box of matches from the mantel and lit the fire with shaking fingers.

As soon as the kindling caught, Julie placed her hands as close as she could without getting burned. Her hands began to tingle, and then she felt pinpricks of pain as the warmth seeped in.

“Oh, thank you,” Julie breathed out.