Chapter Twenty-Seven
Riley
The SUV pulled up to the gatehouse, coming to a rolling stop just long enough for Lucas to leap out.
He'd stay with the guard and the women until we gave him the signal that the property was secure.
My heart pounded, my nerves drawn tight with fear for Annalise.
I wanted to jump out of the SUV, go tearing through the house calling her name, but that wouldn't do any good.
Charlie, Sophie, and Amelia had already searched Winters House, along with Mrs. W. Annalise wasn't there. If she’d left the estate, it hadn't been in a vehicle or the guard would have seen it. She was here somewhere, but not in the house.
I walked through the front door, across the entry hall, to the terrace doors and stepped outside. The gardens were serenely beautiful in the afternoon spring light, the flowers swaying in the breeze, the lawn perfectly cut, the beds edged with precision.
Not a blade of grass was out of place. There was no sign of Annalise.
I stood still for a moment, my hands braced on my hips, the weight of my gun at the small of my back reassuring. I wanted a target, a focus for my fear, for my fury. Someone had dared to take her, had forced her from her home. As soon as I found her, I’d make them pay.
"To the cottages or into the woods?" Cooper asked.
Going with my gut, I said, "Woods."
If I had been right, and this was about Anna, the house in the woods was as good a place to start as any. We took off at a jog, me in the lead, Knox and Cooper just behind. We’d just passed under tree cover, slowing to accommodate the lack of light and uneven ground, when Cooper's phone rang.
He listened for a few seconds and then said, "Call the fire department. When they get there, show them the way back. We'll clear the house if we can."
Fuck the bad light and uneven path. I put on a burst of speed, calling over my shoulder, “Fire department?"
If the house was on fire, and Annalise was inside, I didn't have a second to waste.
"Alarm went off at the house. Just a minute ago."
Fear was an icy ball in my chest as we cleared the woods. Smoke poured from the roof at the back of the house. We couldn't see flames yet, which might be a good sign. I wouldn't know until I found Annalise.
The front door was bolted, the handle refusing to turn.
Stepping back, I drove my heel into the door beside the lock.
It lurched under my blow, the bolt tearing halfway through the wood.
I tried again, throwing all of my weight into my heel.
Wood cracked as the door gave, swinging open to reveal a smoke-filled entry hall.
A shout echoed from the second level. I raced for the stairs, hearing Cooper tell Knox to check the first floor. Feet sounded above, running. A heavier tread followed, further away.
The thud of my feet on the stairs drowned out the noise from above.
I pulled my shirt up over my mouth, trying to filter the thick, acrid smoke.
My eyes teared, blurring my vision. Looking up through the rail of the banister, I caught sight of Annalise sprinting down the hall, a brass candlestick in her hand, William Davis a pace behind her.
With one long arm, he reached out and caught her hair, wrapping it around his fist and yanking her back. Her feet went out from under her, her back hit the floor, and her head bounced on the hardwood with a hollow thud.
Davis was on her a second later, dragging at her jeans. Primal, white-hot fury raged through me.
He didn't get to touch her.
He didn't get to hurt her, to scare her.
Not for one more second.
Bracing my hand on the post of the banister at the landing, I vaulted around the turn, clearing half of the upper stairs just in time to see Annalise bring up the candlestick and slam it into the side of William Davis's head.
My gun was in my hand before I made the conscious decision to shoot. Annalise drew back and struck him again, driving him off of her. She scrambled back, deeper into the smoke, out of view. Davis lunged to his feet a second after I cleared the top of the steps.
He didn't see me. He was blind to everything but Annalise, pursuing her down the hall with single-minded devotion.
He never saw my gun come around, never saw my finger tighten on the trigger. When the bullet caught him in the shoulder, the expression on his face was pure, undiluted surprise. He went down in a crash of long limbs and lay unmoving.
"Cover me," I shouted to Cooper and went for Annalise. Stowing my gun, I caught sight of her in the thick smoke of the hallway and scooped her up, carrying her away from the fire and away from William Davis.
I held my breath as I jogged down the stairs and out of the house, only taking a breath when we hit clear air. Lise's coughing almost drowned out the wail of the fire engine.
I carried her to the edge of the circular drive, leaving plenty of room for the engines to get to the house. In the distance, I heard Cooper directing the firefighters to a dry hydrant at the back of the house.
Knox strode our way.
"We need a bus," I said, over the sound of Annalise's deep, wracking coughs.
"Incoming," he said. "Just went through the gates." He studied Annalise and then asked, “She hurt besides the smoke inhalation?"
I thought of her unbuttoned jeans, Davis's hands clawing at her. Pressing my lips to her ear, I said under my breath, “Did he hurt you? Anywhere? Don't try to talk, just nod or shake your head."
Vehemently, she shook her head, her hair spilling over my arm, dull with soot and smelling of smoke. I tightened my arms around her and said, “Okay. Paramedics are on the way. We’re going to get you checked out at the hospital. You're okay. It's going to be okay."
Lise turned wide panicked eyes to the house, to the smoke billowing from the roof and licks of flame on the shingles.
Knox reassured her, "Cooper studied the schematics when we upgraded the security at the main house. There’s a dry hydrant connected to a cistern behind the house.
If they can get enough water out of it, they should get this under control.
We've had a lot of rain this spring. That’ll help.
" To me, he said, “What happened up there? "
I looked at Annalise, her bloodshot eyes and tear streaked face.
I said only, "Davis."
"William Davis?" Knox asked, incredulous. Seeing the way Annalise's eyes squeezed shut, the hitch in her chest interrupting her wracking coughs, he said, “Fuck."
The ambulance came down the drive, sirens screaming, saving me from having to tell Knox to shut the fuck up. Lise needed medical attention. She needed to feel safe. She needed to be far away from here before anybody pressed her for details on what had happened in that house.
No one was going to make her talk until she was ready. If they tried, they’d have to go through me.
I put her in the ambulance myself, climbing in with the paramedics over their objections.
I stayed out of the way as they put an oxygen mask over her face, moving to take her hand after they were done.
She opened her mouth as if to speak, but I shook my head.
Brushing her hair off her forehead, I said, “Later.
We'll have time later. I'm not going anywhere. "
A tear dripped down her cheek, cutting a line through the soot on her face. I wiped it away with the side of my thumb. "Everything's okay now."
They took her away from me when we reached the hospital, wheeling her out of the ambulance and rolling her down the hall into the ER.
They had to check her out, and I would only be in the way, but letting her out of my sight tore me up.
I'd left her alone for an hour, and Davis had gotten to her. I never wanted to leave her side again.
I paced the waiting room, ignoring Knox, trying to beat back my irrational desire to storm down the hall and demand to see Annalise.
I never thought I'd be so relieved to see Aiden Winters. The second my eyes fell on his drawn face I said, “She's okay. They're checking her out, but she's okay. No burns, no injuries other than the smoke."
"You're sure," he said.
A wry chuckle rumbled in my throat, surprising me, and I said, "I'm guessing you can get more information than I can, considering one of these wings is named after your family, but the paramedics felt good about her condition. Why don't you make yourself useful and go badger an update out of them."
Without responding, Aiden strode past me to the front desk. He never raised his voice, but the nurse picked up the phone and made a call immediately. A few minutes later Aiden was back.
"Follow me."
Knox fell in beside us as Aiden led us deeper into the hospital, up a floor, and down another hall to a private waiting room. When the door was closed, Aiden said, “The nurse couldn't get an update, but someone will be here as soon as we can see her.”
"What did Cooper tell you?” Knox asked, carefully.
"That Flynn saved Annalise's life. That the cistern behind the house was full and the damage to the house won't be bad, all things considered." As if it was an afterthought, he added, "William Davis is dead."
"I thought I hit him in the shoulder," I said.
"You did. But in the confusion no one mentioned to the firefighters there was someone in the house and by the time they got up there, Davis was dead."
"The smoke," Knox murmured.
Aiden nodded. Looking at me he said, “What else do you know?"
Again, I thought of Annalise's unbuttoned jeans. I kept my mouth shut. This was her story to tell, not mine, and I’d let her tell it the way she wanted to when she was ready. Davis was dead, and she was free.
We had all the time in the world.