Chapter 14
Quin’s phone rang over the car’s speakers, splitting his aching head. It’d better be the sheriff. He glanced at the screen as his car bumped over the uneven ground of the field that connected to Josie’s backyard. Right where he’d had Frasier and right where he’d found the tire tracks.
An unfamiliar phone number lit the screen.
“Hello?”
“Quin. It’s Dez. I’d really like to know what the hell you’re doing here, but where’s Josie? She’s not answering her phone and the sheriff station sent patrol cars there.”
“How’d you—?”
“Please. I know everything that happens in this town, and Mary, my cousin, is the dispatcher you spoke to and who gave me your phone number.”
Duh. He should have known word would spread fast. His headlights beamed over the ground, lighting the skid marks.
He turned in the direction they headed, west from Josie’s property.
Anxiety fired up and down his nerve endings.
He didn’t want to rehash everything that had happened.
Didn’t have the fucking time when right now he had to focus on locating Josie.
But he couldn’t leave Dez in the dark either.
“She’s missing. Someone took her—”
“What?” Desiree’s shriek crackled his speakers. “I’ll be right there. Do you have any idea who did it?”
“Yeah,” he said, his grunt thick with contempt for himself. “Frasier Donohue.” His own stupidity shook him to his core. His head pounded where he’d been struck. When he got his hands on Frasier again, he wouldn’t walk away.
Dez sputtered.
The tire tracks weaved to the right and disappeared down a narrow gravel road. “Look, I’ve got to go. Tell Hank the tire tracks lead into the woods near Grotto Pointe. He’ll be able to find us if he comes through the field behind Josie’s.”
“On it.”
He moved his finger to the button on his steering wheel to disconnect.
“Quin?”
“Yeah,” he barked, as his vehicle rolled into the woods, the moonlight above shrouded by the trees and clouds.
“Find her.”
Quin’s heart twisted.
He had no other choice.
* * *
Josie pressed her back against a tree. Her chest rose and fell in frenzied gasps. The tree bark dug into her shoulder blades, her wet shirt providing no protection from its sharpness. She slowed the breath hissing through her nose.
Cody.
For god’s sake. How could he have done this? She squeezed her eyes against the debilitating ire that threatened to make her do something really stupid and show herself. Quin had been right all along about Liam’s death, but he’d been way off about the culprit. She had to get word to him.
Even if she died today, she had to get justice for Liam.
The slow cracking of twigs sounded in the distance. Rain pounded on the leaves above and filtered through to splatter on her head. She turned her gaze to her destination: Whistlemore Logging’s main building.
Cody wouldn’t expect her to circle back and break into the office. If she could get to the phone or computer before he found her, she just might make it out of here alive.
She wriggled her wrists. She had to get free first. Once she got close to the main building, a sensor or alarm might go off and she’d have only minutes to achieve her task.
She turned to face the tree she was pressed against. She needed something sharp.
A nail would be wonderful, but an unlikely find.
She scanned the ground then turned in a circle.
Her gaze stopped on a broken tree branch, the nub sticking out close to the trunk.
That could work. She lifted her arms and dragged the tape over the jagged piece of wood.
Sweat collected at the back of her neck, the cool air making it icy on her skin.
C’mon, c’mon.
The tape ripped. She yanked her wrists free and the rest of the adhesive parted. She peeled the tape off her skin, wincing as it waxed her arm hair.
“I know you’re out here, Josie!” Cody’s voice bellowed around the trees.
Her throat tightened and her heart rate spiked.
“The longer you make me walk through the woods the more pissed off I’m going to be when I find you. Let’s make this easy.” The whacking of tree branches reached her ears. He was getting closer.
Once she made it outside the forest she’d have to move quickly.
Crouching low, she pushed through the low-lying branches.
Her bare feet squished over the soft, wet ground.
Grass tickled her ankles and she lifted her gaze to the main building ahead of her.
The back entrance was closest. She darted across the lawn to the steps leading to the back door.
The wood groaned beneath her weight as she climbed the stairs.
She grimaced and pressed her palm into the railing as if to lighten her load, but it didn’t work.
She hopped over the final step. Gripping the doorknob, she pushed open the wood. Warm air coated her damp, frozen skin. She closed the door behind her and secured the lock. Not that it would do much, since Cody had a key, but it might just slow him down.
Phone. She needed a phone.
She blinked in the darkness and slid her slippery feet over the hardwood floor.
Large windows let in what little illumination the moon gave off.
She passed a door on her right and poked her head in: lunch table, microwave, small kitchen area, and fridge.
She continued down the hall. Straight ahead was the front sitting area and welcome desk.
It’d been a while since she’d been in the back of the building, but she knew the offices were close.
She peered into the next door on her left.
A wide wooden desk took up the far end of the room, and a tall brown leather chair sat behind it.
Above, an axe was mounted on the wall. A large picture window with its blinds pulled up overlooked the lawn at the side of the house and the wall of forest beyond it. A phone sat on the desk.
Bingo.
She entered the room, shut the door behind her, and then grabbed a chair from in front of the desk and tucked it under the door handle. It wouldn’t hold for long, but it was something. She ran to the desk, sank into the chair behind it, and snatched the phone from the receiver.
A dial tone sounded in her ear.
She sent a thank-you skyward and dialed Quin’s number. Waiting, she tapped her fingers on the desk, anxiety sloshing in her gut. She glanced out the window.
A dark figure stood on the lawn, staring at her.
Terror rooted her to the seat. If by chance he hadn’t seen her, he would if she moved.
“Cody, man,” Quin said in her ear. “It’s not a good time.”
“Quin.” The word came out on a whisper. Urgency made her throat threaten to close. “It’s me.” She kept her gaze on the dark, unmoving shape outside. Her eyes burned with the need to blink, but she didn’t dare for fear he’d materialize in the room with her.
“Why are you—”
“It’s Cody. It was Cody the whole time. I’m in the office at the logging company’s main building.”
“What?” The shrill word vibrated her ear. “Where is he?”
She swallowed. “Watching me through the window. I don’t know if he can see me clearly, or—” The shape moved. His stride was quick as he advanced toward the back of the building. “He’s on his way in here. He knows where I am. He’s going to—”
Quin cursed a slew of cusses. “I’m not far. I followed the tire tracks. Put the phone on speaker and find a way to lock the door.”
She tapped the button on the base of the phone. “Done.” Shoving out of the chair, she got to her feet and flicked on the light. The burst of white made her blink and then cringe, given that her instincts screamed at her to hide. That ship had sailed. Now she needed a weapon and fast.
“Josie, are you there?”
Cody would be at the back door by now. Probably searching for his key.
“I’m looking for a weapon.” She scanned the desk. Rolodex, paperweight—that could be an option—stapler. No, she needed something sharp. There was no closet in the room. Running back to the desk she yanked open the drawers. “There’s nothing.”
The bang of the back door bouncing off the drywall echoed through the building. Fear cinched her windpipe, bottling a scream at her throat.
“Quin, he’s coming.”
“Hold on. I’m ten minutes away.”
She rounded the desk and moved to the door.
When he barged in, she didn’t want to be across the room and at his mercy.
Better to be close and have some way of attack.
She pushed her weight onto the top of the chair under the door, holding it in place.
Footsteps shook the floor, his stomps as angry as a bull’s.
She turned her attention to the desk where the phone sat, Quin still listening like a lifeline. So close, yet so far away. He wouldn’t make it in time. “Quin.” Her voice wobbled.
“I’m here, honey. Hang in there.”
“I want you to know it wasn’t a mistake . . . everything that happened between us. I—I’m glad. I wanted that, okay? I wanted you.” Tears burned her eyes.
“Listen to me, Josie. He’s not going to hurt you. I’m almost there, and the sheriff is coming. Won’t be long, babe.”
She blinked the tears away, and her gaze lifted to the wall above the desk.
The axe. Her heart galloped with hope. Abandoning her position at the chair, she ran to the wall and lifted the heavy weapon.
Its weight pulled on her forearms. The head was solid steel.
Could use a sharpening, but it’d do the trick.
She crossed the room again and flicked off the light. Pressing her back to the wall on the left side of the door, she held her breath.
The doorknob turned. Rough fists banged against the wood. “Open the fucking door!”
She squeezed her eyes shut and clutched the axe. Her pulse screamed in her eardrums. Quin’s voice boomed from the phone’s speaker, his words directed at Cody and not penetrating her consciousness.
Sweat glued the wayward strands of her hair to the side of her face. She didn’t dare dash them aside. Indecision roared inside her as she held onto the weapon. She’d never hurt anyone in her life, would she be able to hit Cody with a damn axe?
Cody banged on the door again. The wooden chair jumped. Any second, he’d come barreling through.
Crack!
The chair skidded away from the door as the wood burst open. Josie let out a scream and swung the axe.
Cody hissed in pain, but his forceful hands captured the length of the axe. “You fucking bitch!” Shoving the weapon, he barreled her backward. She fell, her hip slamming onto the hardwood floor.
Cody loomed over her, his eyes dark in the shadows, his body heaving with rage, the axe hanging from his hand. He held his other arm at an awkward angle—she’d hurt him. If he was wounded, she might be able to escape.
He took a step toward her and the hope vanished.
“You,” he spat.
“Cody!” Quin’s voice roared from the desk. “If you fucking touch her, I swear to god, I’ll gut you.”
Cody laughed derisively.
“Why, Cody?” Josie said, her voice brittle. “What did Liam ever do to you?”
Cody’s eyes turned cold. He lifted the axe.
“You guys can’t really be that stupid. Liam was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and not keeping his nose clean.
” He swung the end of the axe toward the phone on the desk.
“It’s Quin you can thank for Liam’s death. And for getting you killed.”
“Me?” Quin’s voice pitched. “How the fuck are you putting this on me?”
“You wanted a buyout!” Cody yelled. His veins pumped against his temple as he stared at the desk.
“Yeah, bro. Because I invested two hundred grand of my inheritance in the start-up and didn’t want to stick around here forever. It was—”
“Enough!” Cody stalked toward the desk and yanked the cord from the jack before throwing the phone at the wall. He turned toward her, his chest heaving. Cody stomped forward, grabbed her bicep, and hauled her to her feet, holding the head of the axe close to her face. “It’s over now, Josie.”
The zingy taste of terror filled her mouth.
I’m going to die.