Chapter Eighteen
“It’s Mom,” Cully heard herself call out when she saw the person—a woman—lying next to a pile of charred wood.
The emotions slammed into her like a Mack truck. The fear. The horror of what she was seeing. And that sickening sensation of dread.
God, was her mother dead?
The person on the ground certainly wasn’t moving, and Cully thought she saw blood. Everything inside her screamed for her to get to her mother now. She had to try to save her.
When Cully threw open her door, Declan reached for her, but he must have realized there was no stopping her because instead he bolted out the driver’s side and hurried around the front of the SUV to get to her. He caught her before she could run out into the open and pulled her in front of the SUV’s grill.
Cully fought him, her focus pinned to that unmoving body.
“We’ll go to her,” Declan said. “But we have to take some precautions. Her attacker is still out here somewhere.”
She didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Especially since it made sense. Cully only wanted to get to her mother, but she forced herself to stop. To settle. It wasn’t easy, not with the worst-case scenarios flying through her head. Her mother could be bleeding out, and being cautious could end up costing Alice her life.
“Simon, text Owen,” Declan instructed through his earpiece. “Tell him we need an ambulance and to approach with caution.” He glanced back at her. “Stay low and right by me,” he ordered. “And if you hear gunfire or see anyone, drop to the ground, understand?”
“Yes,” she managed to say, but they were already on the move.
In a crouched position, Declan made his way to the other side of the SUV where he stopped and looked around. Cully tried to look, too, but it was next to impossible in the rain. Still, Declan seemed to be managing it because after a short pause, he started moving again.
Making a beeline toward the body.
There was another flash of lightning, and it seemed to spotlight the woman. She still wasn’t moving, and because of the way she was slumped to the side, Cully couldn’t see her face, only her bare legs. She was soaked to the bone, including her hair that was so wet, it was impossible to even tell what color it was.
Declan picked up the pace once they were in a clearing. Probably because this would be a good time for the killer to pick them off. But no shots came.
“Check for a pulse,” Declan told her when they reached the woman.
He kept his attention on their surroundings. Looking for a killer. While Cully stooped down and touched her fingers to the woman’s neck.
And the relief rushed through her.
“She’s alive,” she let Declan know.
Cully maneuvered herself even lower so she could get a look at the woman’s face. And this time, it wasn’t relief she felt. But rather shock.
“It’s not Mom,” she managed to say. “It’s Renee.”
What the heck was going on here? Where was her mother?
“Renee,” Cully said, gently shaking the woman’s shoulder. “Who did this to you, and where’s Alice?”
Renee moaned, a sound of pain, and she opened her eyes. “Cully,” she mumbled. “He shot me. You need to kill him.”
“Kill who? Who shot you? And where is my mother?” Cully couldn’t ask fast enough.
Maybe Declan and she had been wrong about the killer bringing her mother here. All wrong. But was this connected to her mom’s abduction?
“Renee, tell me what happened,” Cully demanded.
“He shot me,” Renee repeated. “The bastard shot me. Now, I’m dying. I can feel it. I’m just bleeding away here.”
She was. With another flash of lightning, Cully could see the blood on the front of Renee’s dress.
“Deathbed confession,” Renee went on, her voice ragged and hoarse. Her words, slurred. “I, uh, convinced Savannah to meet me here, and I…killed her. Shot her. And I shot Derrick when he came in to see what was going on. I took the bitch’s ring that my husband had given her so I could sneak it into Alice’s jewelry box. To cover myself.”
Cully knew this was important. Renee had murdered her father and Savannah and then tried to set up Alice. It was the confession Cully had been desperate to hear. But right now, she needed to know something much more important. Derrick and Savannah were dead. There was nothing she could do to save them, but she might be able to save her mother.
“Where’s Alice?” Cully begged. “Who has her?”
Renee groaned, and her eyelids drifted back down. “Deathbed confession in this fucking burned-out hellhole.” A raw sob ripped from her throat. “I killed Brandon and Jessica when I found them here having sex. Sex,” she spat out like profanity. “This was less than an hour after Brandon had left my bed. The bastard.” She sobbed again. “I didn’t mean to kill Jessica, but she jumped out in front of the gun. I killed my own daughter.”
The sobbing turned to a cough, and Renee seemed to drift away again. So, they had their confession, but it could come at a huge price if Renee had used her dying breath to give it instead of telling them where Alice was.
“I’ll burn in hell,” Renee muttered, her voice with hardly any sound now.
Cully heard the rattle in the woman’s throat followed by a small gasp. And Renee took the last breath that she’d ever take.
“Who has my mother?” Cully yelled, trying to shake some life back into the woman so she could answer.
There was another shout. But it didn’t come from Renee. This came from behind that huge pile of rubble.
“Watch out,” someone yelled. It was her mother. “He’s got a gun!”