45. Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Five
E mma
I pace up and down the length of the hallway. The silence heightens my tension and sharpens my senses. I can almost smell the metallic scent of the cell bars and can almost hear the racing heartbeats of the people in the room.
Or maybe that's just my own heart trying to pound out of my chest.
The dim lighting and stuffiness make me so claustrophobic I want to scream.
It’s been nearly an hour since Declan left and I have a bad feeling in my stomach.
Not to mention the guilt weighing me down.
Amelia has been kidnapped and in a way, all this is my fault. Maybe if I hadn’t pushed so much for the renovation, none of this would have happened. Or if I hadn’t found the damn Rainbow Pearls in the basement.
Why did I have snoop around? Why couldn't I just let things be?
If anything happens to Amelia, I'll never forgive myself.
I try to call Rick, but he doesn’t answer. Maybe it's for the best. I was hoping maybe I could talk him down from whatever he's doing, but I also don't want to ruin Declan's plans.
Plus I don't think Rick would listen to me anyway. It seems I don't know him as well as I thought, because I never in a million years expected him to do anything like this.
A boom of thunder punctuates the thought and my mood. It’s going to storm.
But somehow, it feels like a storm already swept through me and I’m left to deal with the devastation on my own.
A sigh has me turning my head toward Officer Jensen. He’s at his desk, with a phone in his ear, likely on hold. He’s made a few phone calls already to law enforcement in surrounding towns and assures me that help is on the way. As he waits, he drums his fingers on the table, next to where his gun is lying.
He looks up to find me watching his gun and shoots me a wry smile.
"Don’t worry hon," he says. "I may be old but I still remember how to work this thing."
I smile back weakly. I wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t. I can’t remember the last time there was anything remotely close to a shoot-out in Laketown and even hunters like Poppy noted the distinct lack of wild animals. My grandpa has a gun too, but he's never used it, so I'm not even sure if it's real or decorative.
The thought of my grandpa reminds me of Rick and once again, my mood takes a nosedive.
I sigh and turn around to pace to the other end of the hall, catching sight of Nate behind the bar. He’s sitting against the wall, his head buried in his hands. He’s been in pretty much the same stance since Declan left and I haven’t tried to talk to him since then.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m furious at him for being involved in this, or because I’m scared about what else he’ll reveal about a man I once considered family.
But now I approach him, folding my hands over the bars, and say, "Why, Nate?"
His shoulders jump a little, although I don’t think it’s from surprise. He must have heard my footsteps coming. He reacts more like I hit him, and I hear him draw in a loud breath.
"It wasn’t supposed to be like this." The quiet declaration bounces around the small cell, a mild echo following it.
"What was it supposed to be like then?" I ask. "Please explain it to me. Because I don’t know why you or Rick would do this, would go to these lengths. Did you need money that badly?"
His shoulders lift slightly, before sagging once more in the saddest shrug I’ve ever witnessed. "I don’t know."
"Then tell me what you do know." I try not to allow frustration into my tone, even with the building anger inside me.
At the end of the day, it's not Nate's fault. Rick holds the lion's share of the blame and I’m trying very hard not to take this whole thing personally, but it feels personal. The betrayal hurts. "Tell me how this started."
Nate is quiet for close to a minute, long enough for Officer Jensen to cough and noisily clear his throat.
And then he finally starts speaking. "Last year, I got into some trouble. Shoplifting at the grocery store." He doesn’t meet my eyes but somehow still feels the need to justify himself. "This time it wasn’t my fault. Mama said the house needed food and told me to get it anyway I could. But I was too sloppy, and the guard caught me. Threatened to call the cops. Rick saw us arguing and talked to the security guard. He convinced him not to call the cops and covered the price of the groceries I tried to steal. And then he asked me if I wanted to get a legit job that would take me off the streets for good."
"And you said yes?"
He nods. "I was tired of living the way I was. Believe it or not, all that thugging around wasn't fun for me, at least not after I turned eighteen. I did it because I had to, because no one would give me a chance because of my reputation. But Rick said he would help me. I figured he would give me a job at the restaurant or something, so I could learn to cook like Yule. But he said that your Grandpa wasn’t so sure about me working there, so he wanted to give me another job. Explained to me that he’d been selling Rainbow Pearls on the side for years, but the lake in the Ashton woods had dried up and so he needed somewhere new to get it and we needed to be creative about it."
"What did that mean? Being creative?"
"The pearls are found deep inside the lake, but I couldn't exactly go around the Pink Hotel with a scuba suit in case anyone saw me. So I had to get really good at holding my breath."
"Why didn’t you just tell me or Grandpa what you were doing? Or tell Declan? I’m sure he would have let you."
"Not when he knew just how much those things cost." Nate finally looks up and meets my eyes. "Those things were fetching thousands of dollars a piece. Rick was worried that if Declan found out then he would want a cut, or better yet, he would cut us out of the business entirely. We couldn't have that happen."
"Declan's not like that," I say confidently. "He already has money. If you'd just told him what you were doing I'm sure you could have worked something out. But instead, you broke into his office and Rick kidnapped his daughter."
Nate ducks his head again. "Like I said, I never thought it would get this far."
"So what now? What’s Rick’s plan?"
"I'm not sure, but I don't think he's going to hurt the girl. Her dad just has to hand over the pearls."
"And you think it's that easy? You really think Declan is going to leave all this behind without retaliation? Maybe if you had just stolen from him it would have been a different thing but Rick took his daughter. She's his world. There’s no way he’s going to let this go."
"I know." Nate sounds resigned, defeated.
And suddenly a bad feeling rushes through me, a truly terrible feeling.
What if Rick doesn't intend on letting Declan and Amelia leave the forest alive?
Oh God.
It’s hard to imagine Rick doing something so evil, but I don't know this Rick or how far he's willing to go for this. And there's a lot of ways to cause an accidental death in Ashton Woods, especially during a storm.
A knock on the door has Officer Jensen bolting up in his seat and reaching for his gun. He points it at the door and squares his shoulders shouting out, "We’re closed for the day."
"It’s me." Cross’ voice is steady.
"It’s okay," I tell Jensen. "He’s here for me."
Office Jensen nods, slowly lowering his gun. I walk to the doors and pull it open, only to gape.
Cross has Xavier slung over his shoulder, unconscious with a black ring around one eye.
"What happened?" I ask as I stand aside to let him in.
"I trailed him to the hotel," he says. "He tried to convince them to let him up to Declan’s room and was making a real nuisance of himself. Then he saw me and caught on to the fact that I was following him and decided to come confront me about it. He was being annoying, yelling and such, calling a lot of attention. So I knocked him out."
"You did that?"
"Well, I would have shot him but I didn’t think you would appreciate that."
Xavier groans and I shake my head.
"Where's Grandpa?"
"Monty is on his way with him. I wanted to lock this one up so I could go after Declan. He may need backup."
"Good idea. I’m going with you."
Cross cocks his head to one side, doubt riffling through his features. But before he can protest, a voice comes out from behind him, "I think that’s supposed to be my job."
Suddenly Monty is at the end of the door with a very perplexed looking Grandpa. "Emma Jane?" Grandpa asks as they walk in and I step back to give them space. "What are you– What is going on here?""Um…" I look at the other two men who merely shrug. "I can’t really talk right now Grandpa, I need to go with Monty to meet Declan."
Monty raises an eyebrow. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Seconded," Cross says. "It would be better if Monty and I go.""Or me," Jensen suggests but I shake my head.
"You don't even know where he is," I point out. "I know where Rick’s cabin is and I know those woods way better than you. Cross, you need to stay here with Officer Jensen and Grandpa before back up gets here. Monty, let’s go.""But–"
"We really don’t have time to waste arguing. It’s about to rain. We need to go now."All four men share a look and I cross my hands over my chest, letting them know that I mean business.
Monty capitulates first. "She’s right. We don’t have time.""The boss is not going to like the two of you going by yourself.""Then let’s make it three." We all jerk in unison as a new voice arrives and spin around to see Micah at the doorway. God only knows how long he’s been standing there.
He smiles wryly. "I was just looking for my friend Declan and they told me he was here. Something tells me I arrived right on time."