Chapter 38
Carson would find Dane.
Elizabeth watched him drive away.
She had smelled Annette Baxter’s distasteful scent on him.
Elizabeth told herself not to worry about that. He had been investigating the woman. Just because Wainwright had put Carson on administrative leave didn’t mean he would give up.
Carson never gave up.
He would win and Annette Baxter would be history.
It couldn’t happen quickly enough for Elizabeth.
Baxter and Fleming were scourges on the face of this city. They both needed to be sent to prison for the rest of their despicable lives.
If anyone could do it, Carson could.
Elizabeth knew he wouldn’t let her down.
If her parents hadn’t sent her away, she and Carson would be married by now. Perhaps have children.
She thought of the way he’d hugged her before he left. It wasn’t too late.
Elizabeth sighed. She should check on her mother. This was so difficult for her. Patricia tried so hard to be the perfect wife, the perfect mother. At times she failed, made mistakes, but didn’t everyone?
Elizabeth would take care of her, as she had so many times taken care of Elizabeth.
Considering the tranquilizers her mother had consumed, she should be sleeping soundly by now.
Elizabeth trudged up the stairs. She was so tired. Her mother would be disappointed that Dane wasn’t there. But Carson would find him. Telling her so would be reassurance enough.
Outside her mother’s bedroom door, Elizabeth hesitated. Her mother was speaking to someone.
Had someone called? Elizabeth hadn’t heard the phone.
The door wasn’t closed completely so she eased it open just a crack more so she could hear more clearly. Was there news of her brother?
“You have to listen to me,” her mother whispered sternly to whomever was on the other end of the line. “You have to do as I say. Now. Tonight. There’s no time to discuss the details.”
Her mother paused for a long moment. Elizabeth frowned. No wonder she hadn’t heard the phone—her mother was using her cell.
“Please,” Patricia pleaded, “trust me. You have to trust me. Do as I say and everything will be fine. You know I would never let anything happen to you. Tell me the truth and I’ll take care of everything.”
She had to be speaking to Dane.
Poor Mother. She worried so much. Dane had hurt them all far more than he realized. Now Father was dead and Dane wasn’t even here to support Elizabeth and their mother. What kind of brother failed to be here at a moment like this?
One who couldn’t be counted on.
For anything.
“Don’t worry,” her mother urged, “this is not beyond salvaging.” Another long pause. “You know I will. I’ll take care of everything the way I always do.”
Elizabeth started to ease away from the door. The conversation made her uneasy. What was going on? If her mother was keeping things from her . . .
Patricia’s rush to enter another number into her cell caused Elizabeth to hesitate. Who was she calling now?
“It didn’t work,” Patricia muttered vehemently into the phone. “What am I supposed to do now? She isn’t going away . . . and he’s helping her. This has to stop. Do you hear me? Otherwise . . .”
Her mother’s face contorted with anger as she listened to a response she clearly did not appreciate.
“I don’t care,” she snapped. “Do whatever you have to. Just fix this mess!”
Had to be about Dane. Elizabeth could only imagine what Dane was up to. Heaven’s sake, what had he done that would keep him away from home with their father murdered? And have their mother so overwrought?
There was only one thing Elizabeth knew for certain would strike such terror into her family.
Verifying her conclusion wouldn’t be simple. Lieutenant Lynch and District Attorney Wainwright had insisted that a security detail be left at the house.
Elizabeth would need to escape their careful watch.
She waited the hour or so until it was dark. Then she slipped out of the house the way she used to as a teenager. Usually to creep through the woods to meet Carson. Into the garage and out the side door nearest the woods.
With the flashlight gripped firmly in her hand, she sneaked into the dense cover of trees. The underbrush was thicker now. She and Dane had kept it trampled down when they were kids. A trail had led through the woods to the Tanner home. But that wasn’t her destination.
Once she was deep enough into the woods she turned on the flashlight and veered off the path just a bit.
She was close. Very close. Then she saw it, the makeshift cross she’d fashioned from leftover craft supplies.
It was brown and dirty now from exposure to the rain and winter weather.
It had stood there, looking more like an x than a t, for twelve or thirteen years—since the last family pet had passed.
Her breath caught. She hadn’t brought a shovel because she hadn’t expected to have to get her hands dirty.
But now—she stared at the disturbed ground—good Lord.
Elizabeth dropped to her knees. She clawed at the already loosened earth. Someone had been here.
What the hell had Dane done?
Her fingernails scraped something hard. She wiggled it loose. Grabbed the flashlight and directed its beam there.
She sucked in a ragged breath before the tranquility she counted on so very much cloaked her.
“Pepper,” she whispered wistfully as she tilted the skull so that she could trace the fracture line with the light.
“Poor thing.” He’d simply been too large for a family pet.
He’d always made such a mess. A German shepherd could be such a nuisance.
Her mother had suffered tremendously attempting to endure the big, sloppy animal.
Elizabeth tossed the damaged skull aside and kept digging with one hand, holding the light with the other. The bones glistened in the light, gleamed so white. Each one told a story from Elizabeth’s childhood.
“Digger.” She cradled the much smaller skull in her free hand.
Such a sweetheart. A dachshund. Far smaller than the German shepherd but so pesky.
The animal had dug holes all in the yard.
Dane had loved this one so much. Too bad.
Mother’s flowers were too delicate for the little beast. Elizabeth lobbed the skull aside.
Bones, bones, bones.
She dropped the flashlight, dug faster.
Where was the little tin box?
She smiled as her fingers curled around the cool metal. There it was. Not bothering with the light, she opened the little box and fingered the interior.
Empty.
Her smiled faded and her heart pounded. He wouldn’t have done this!
Surely not.
She sat back on her haunches and directed the light into the box. Nothing. She surveyed the mess she had made.
They were missing.
Fury welled up inside her so fast she could hardly sit still.
She had to find Dane.
If he ruined everything . . . he would be so, so, so sorry.