Whisper of Revenge (A Cape Trouble Novel Book 4) (14 page)

At last the back hatch opened with a squeak.  She heard the
duffel zipper.

A man’s voice breathed, “Damn.  Lady, why are you carrying
around money?”  More softly, “A
lot
of money.”

A new kind of fear entered her bloodstream like a virus,
multiplying with impossible speed until it filled her with burning terror.  The
man standing there looking at the ransom money was not the kidnapper.

She reared up, whacking her back on the steering wheel,
trying to untangle herself as she screamed, “Don’t touch that!  Who are you?” 
She made it to her knees in time to see a man carrying the duffel bag and a
rifle slung over his back step from the paved turn-out into the forest with all
its concealing understory of dense ferns, salal, Oregon grape and
huckleberries.  He wore camouflage, like a hunter, but it was dirty and torn
and his hair looked matted.

And then he was gone.

“No, no,
no
.”  Somehow, Hannah scrambled out of the
car.  She fell to her hands and knees on the pavement, barely conscious of a
sting.  She half-crawled until she regained her feet and made it around the
front of the Land Rover, facing the river and forest, searching frantically for
any sign of movement.

She started after him, wading through ferns.  “If you take
that money, my little boy will die!” she yelled.  “It was ransom!  Do you
understand?  It was ransom.  I need it back.”  Her foot hooked on an unseen
root and she fell again, smacking down hard.  “He’s only five,” she whispered.

Face down, she didn’t see him, but the air stirred.  With a
thud, the full duffel bag landed beside her.  Unbelieving, she stared.

By the time she pushed up to her knees, she was completely
alone.

*****

Daniel pulled in behind the Land Rover.  Before he came to a
complete stop, Elias was out, running.

She’d called.  She was here somewhere.

But when he saw her, he froze.

Hannah huddled just off the pavement, facing the woods and
river.  She didn’t so much as turn her head, but kept rocking, her body curled
around the leather duffel bag as if it was her missing son.

“When I got to the phone, he wasn’t there,”  Hannah said
dully.  “I think…”

The three of them sat in Daniel’s borrowed car.  Elias had
gotten in the back with Hannah, who leaned against him as if too weary to hold
herself up, her head resting on his shoulder.  Daniel had turned so he could
see them.

“I think?” he prompted.

“A car went by while everything else was going on.  It
slowed down, then speeded up.  That almost had to be him.”

Elias’s blood chilled.  “You didn’t catch even a glimpse of
it.”

Her head shook slowly, loose tendrils tickling his neck.  “I
was still squeezed down on the floorboards.”

“Think about the sound of the engine,” Daniel said.  “Was it
a roar like a diesel?  Maybe a truck?  Quieter, like a car?”

“Car,” she said immediately.  “Although it could have been a
crossover or…even some SUVs don’t sound any different from cars.”

He asked more questions.  Hannah kept shaking her head.  The
muffler wasn’t shot, the engine wasn’t hesitating.  It was just a car.

Frowning, Daniel said, “It could have been Deputy Colvin.”

“Another car passed when I first pulled over,” Hannah said. 
“The driver didn’t even look at me, but it was a man alone.”

“I’ll talk to him.”  He kept frowning.  “Okay, Hannah, tell
us what happened.”

When she was done, Elias said, “Larry?”  But he didn’t
believe it.  The Vietnam War veteran who still lived in the woods was reluctant
to take any kind of handout.  To help himself to a duffel full of money seemed
unlikely.

“He never carries a weapon,” Daniel asked.

“I’ve seen Larry,” Hannah said.  “This guy had dark hair. 
Shaggy and kind of matted.  But he did wear camo like Larry does.”

“Jeff Dunn.”  Daniel sounded resigned.  “Thin?  Not real
tall?”

“Maybe” was Hannah’s uncertain response.

“Sure as hell.  He’s a lot more paranoid than Larry, but
Sean Holbeck thinks he’s okay.”

“We’ve crossed paths.”  Elias sought out isolated spots to
work, whether on lonely stretches of beach or deep in the woods.  He’d never
felt unsafe, until one day when he turned his head and saw a man watching him
from only a few feet away, a rifle in his hand.  Elias had nodded, said, “I’m
an artist,” and received a nod in return.  He had glanced down at his palette,
and when he looked up again, the man was gone.

“He gave me the money back,” Hannah whispered.  “When he
heard why I needed it, he turned around and dropped the duffel right next to
me.”

They sat in silence, and Elias knew he wasn’t the only one
stunned at the unlikely mischance of the Iraq war veteran, wracked by PTSD,
happening on the ransom drop.

“He doesn’t look like a cop,” he said.  “If the kidnapper is
a local, he’s probably heard about Larry and this Jeff.  Half the people in
town leave out food or supplies at night for them.”

Elias had done that once, when he caught a glimpse of a man
in camouflage on the edge of the woods behind his isolated home.  It had
happened to be a bitterly cold stretch of winter.  Giving thought to old times,
when people had set out offerings for brownies or the fey, he had bundled a
sheepskin-lined coat that had seen better days and some canned goods in a bag
and put it out on his garbage can.  A few hours later, he’d looked to find his
offering gone.

Even then, he’d pondered the homeless man’s remarkable
range.  He must walk twenty miles or more in a day, not always returning to his
camp, wherever that was.

“Dunn would have seen the passing car,” Daniel said
thoughtfully.  “If Holbeck can track him down, we might have something.”

“But…he’ll call, won’t he?” Hannah said in a small,
desperate voice.

Elias tightened his arm around her.  Harshly, he said, “He
wants the money.  He won’t quit that easily.”

Her head bobbed, but he knew she was too afraid to believe
him.

*****

Covered by a fleece blanket, Hannah curled at one end of her
couch.  No matter that it was a sunny, seventy-five degree day, she was
freezing.  Elias coaxed her to drink a mug of soup followed by tea, but nothing
could warm her.  She stayed focused on the two telephones lying on the coffee
table: her own, and the one the kidnapper had given her.  Elias had laid his
own beside them.  Dented, scratched and with a cracked screen, it still worked,
he’d told her.

Daniel hadn’t stayed.  She wondered vaguely whether there
was any possibility of finding a man who had melted into the woods as if he was
part of it – or a ghost who had let himself be seen only briefly.

She had called Grady, who agreed with Elias that the
kidnapper would give her another chance.  To her ears, he sounded overly
hearty, as if he was trying to buck her up but wasn’t convinced himself. 
Talking to her parents had been hard.  Her mother had cried until her father
took the phone from her.  He offered money she knew they couldn’t afford, his
voice shaking.  She had the sudden wish to feel her daddy’s arms around her,
but Elias had laid his hand on her shoulder just then and she’d been able to
breathe again.

The hours bled together.  She felt Elias’s worry as he
watched her, and every so often was startled into awareness of him.  He had a
cat’s ability to stay very still and intensely focused for extraordinary
lengths of time, and when he did move, he had feline grace and sure-footedness,
too.  She had never seen him stumble or so much as bang into the edge of a
table.  The stark lines that formed his face made him beautiful in a fallen
angel way, especially with his coloring – gold tempered by the pure silver of
his eyes.

And he was here, refusing to leave her.  She puzzled over
that, as she hadn’t let herself last night.  Maybe she needed the distraction. 
Why her?  It wasn’t only kindness, she knew that much.  His every touch held
tenderness.  This morning, as she’d left the house she’d taken with her the
last glimpse of Elias’s torment at having to let her go alone.

She had sunk back into despair when Elias settled on the
couch beside her again.

“Did you know you were having a boy before Ian was born?”

She blinked at him.  The question had come out of left
field…but she knew what he was saying. 
Tell me about your son.  We’re not
mourning.  Hold onto memories while we wait.

“Yes.  Grady wanted to know.”  She actually smiled a little,
remembering the small bundle handed to her after being cleaned up.  “He was
eight pound, twelve ounces when he was born.”

“A big baby,” Elias commented, surprising her with even that
much knowledge of newborns.

“Yes…but he seemed tiny to me.  He already had red fuzz. 
And muddy blue eyes that were obviously going to be brown.”

She kept talking, prompted by an occasional gentle
question.  He promised to show her a picture of him as a baby.  “Bald as a
billiard ball,” he said, his mouth curving just a little.  “Mom told me one
time I looked like I’d had chemo.”

Talking, sharing funny or scary moments, brought Ian to life
in a way her despairing re-runs hadn’t.  She and Elias were quiet sometimes,
too.  Once, she met his eyes and thought she’d never seen him so unguarded. 
She saw concern, and tenderness…and maybe something more.  It gave her heart an
odd squeeze.  She had never felt so close to anyone in her life, except Ian,
and that was in a different way.

Finally Elias said, “Hannah, you have to eat to stay
strong.  Why don’t you come sit in the kitchen while I cook?”

Her phone rang.  The one
he
had given her.  The leap
of adrenaline and the acceleration of her pulse made her light-headed.  Scared
to death, she anchored herself again by looking into Elias’s eyes.  When he
nodded, she picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“You didn’t follow instructions,” the voice said coldly. 
Despite the muffling, she heard him fine.  He was angry.

“I did!” Hannah cried.  “I did exactly what you told me.  It
wasn’t my fault that—”

“You told somebody.”

“No!  I didn’t know where I was going.  How could I?”

“Did you not have the money ready, so you had to head me
off?  Was that it?”

“No!” she cried again.  “I had it with me.  He – the man
with the rifle – he tried to steal it.”

A pause had her nerves twisting into knots.  “Tried?”

“I begged.  He gave it back.  So…so I can give it to you.”

“Who was he?”

Elias nodded encouragement that helped her steady her voice.

“A homeless veteran.  Not Larry, someone younger.  I think
he was just curious.”  She took a deep breath.  “I’ll do whatever you want. 
Just tell me Ian is all right.”

“So far.”  It was almost a snarl.  “One more chance. 
Maybe.”

“Please—”

“Is your new lover there with you, Hannah?”

“We’re not—”

“Is he there?”

She wanted to lie, but if he was watching, he’d know the
Land Rover was parked in front, although the rental car was now gone.  “Yes.”

“You’ve trusted foolishly, Hannah.”

Elias didn’t move, but she felt his increased tension. 
Sitting so close to her, he had to be hearing some of what the horrible man was
saying.

“What do you mean?” she faltered.

“He has a temper, of course.  Women he likes tend to get
hurt.”  No muffling could disguise the rage.  “Isn’t that right, Elias?  You
are listening, aren’t you?  Have you told Hannah how many of your girlfriends
have run away?  Or about the one who died?”

Fury glittered in Elias’s eyes.  He looked like he wanted to
lunge for the phone, but somehow found the self-control to stay still and
quiet.

“Please.”  Hannah didn’t recognize her own voice.  “What
does he have to do with—”

“I think you know.  You could have done so much better. 
Your loss.”  With contempt, he added, “A big one,” and the quality of the
silence changed.

He had disconnected.

Shocked as if she’d been shoved over an edge she hadn’t
known was there, she felt bruised.  All she saw was Elias.

“He does hate you.”  She looked at him, the man she was
afraid she loved.  “He took Ian because of
you
.”

*****

Hours later, Elias was still sickened by the truth of her
accusation.  He drove in the dark toward his house, half his attention on his
rearview mirror.  Hannah shouldn’t be behind the wheel, but they had all agreed
she needed to have her car available when the kidnapper called again.

Daniel had suggested they move to Elias’s house.  “We need
to talk,” he had said, “but let’s wait until dark.  If either of us is
followed, we’ll know it.  Yes, he undoubtedly knows where you live, but if he
guesses that’s where the two of you have gone, it’ll still take him time to get
into position.  Your place is pretty isolated.”

It was.  He liked the quiet and solitude in the woods.  He
had neighbors, but none he could see from his house.  A road that was paved
when it left the coast highway gradually narrowed and finally became gravel. 
His driveway was the last.

Hannah had stayed right behind him the entire way, but once
he turned into his driveway, dark beneath the trees, her car all but rode his
bumper.  If they’d been on foot, she’d have been stepping on his heels.

A moment later, his high beams illuminated the clearing that
surrounded his house.  Stained the color of the bark on the fir and spruce
trees, it had a steep-pitched roof and far more windows than normal.  He craved
light, and didn’t like feeling closed-in.

He pressed the button on the remote to raise the door on his
detached garage and drove into it.  As they’d agreed, Hannah parked her
Highlander outside, but Elias was to leave the garage door open for Daniel. 
With his car out of sight, his presence wouldn’t be immediately obvious to
someone skulking in the woods.

Hannah waited for him.  A motion-detecting floodlight
illuminated their way to the wide front porch.  Elias unlocked and flicked on
the porch light, but didn’t turn on a light inside until they were in the
kitchen.  Until recently, Jeff Dunn was the only human who had likely stood
outside and watched Elias through the uncovered expanse of glass in the living
room.  If the deer or owls or a wandering cougar observed him, that was fine.

Since the slashed tires, he couldn’t walk through the living
room at night without being uneasily aware someone could be out there in the
dark watching.  He took his chances – but he couldn’t allow Hannah to be so
exposed.

Sitting in the kitchen was handy anyway.  He’d made dinner
earlier, but she had only pretended to eat.  While they waited for Daniel, he’d
try again.  In the meantime, he took both phones from her and plugged them in
to charge.

He hadn’t tried to defend himself.  Elias clung to the fact
she’d been willing to come here.  She had even packed a few things to spend the
night.  When he said he’d tell her anything she wanted to know, she had shaken
her head.  “Wait until Daniel can hear, too.  That way you don’t have to repeat
yourself.”

She still trusted him.  He couldn’t blame her if she didn’t
once he had laid bare his life.

He’d known better.  By letting himself be tempted by her, he
had put her at risk.  Worse, from her point of view, he had endangered Ian.

The water hadn’t yet boiled when he heard an approaching
car.  Leaving Hannah, Elias went out onto the porch and watched Daniel pull
into the garage.  Once he emerged, Elias used the remote to close the garage
door and waited for him.

The first time they’d really met had been right here.  Elias
had been wary to have the police chief drive out to see him.  The shock had
been Sophie.  He’d been told that Michelle Thomsen’s daughter was in town, but
to see how much she looked like her mother…  He’d been careful that neither of
them saw how shaken he was.  Seeing her and having to talk about that long ago
summer had awakened unwelcome memories.  Memories that hadn’t been buried as
deeply as he’d believed, or he wouldn’t have spent so many years drawn only to
women who resembled Michelle.