Chapter 21
Twenty-One
NOT FINDING CASSIE in the passageway, Joel exited by the parlor, assuming she’d gone back to the group after getting separated. One minute she was following him. The next, she was gone. He’d searched the lower passageway, where they’d gotten separated, multiple times but no Cassie.
Arguing still roared in the parlor.
He stepped inside. “What’s going on?”
“He’s keeping us prisoner,” Amy said, gesturing to Jayce. “And I have to use the bathroom.”
Jayce linked his arms across his chest. “I asked her to wait until you were back. You said not to let anybody leave.”
“Thanks,” he said to his bro, then shifted his attention to a very impatient, bouncing-in-place Amy. “It’s okay. You can go.”
“We need to go too,” Savannah said, gesturing between her and Kendra.
“Fine.” He nodded. With Amy and Savannah with her, Kendra couldn’t go anywhere—if she was their culprit.
Plus, their exit would give him time to converse with Jayce about their suspicions of Kendra.
He’d question her when she returned, along with Heath, who stood holding up the wall, one foot braced on it behind him.
At least Cassie would be safe with Heath stuck in the room with him.
Unless it was Devon . . . who was not in the room. He turned to Jayce. “Where’s Devon?”
Jayce scanned the room. “He was here.” He shook his head. “That’s so weird. I didn’t even see him leave. Although, I’ve been chatting with Kendra.”
Of course, Kendra. Had Devon slipped out the secret door into the passageway while Kendra had Jayce preoccupied? He needed to find Devon and, more importantly, Cassie.
“AAAAAAHHHH!”
He looked at his brother before bolting into the hall, Jayce’s footsteps tracking after him.
“She’s dead,” Savannah cried, mascara streaks down her face, doubling over, her arms wrapped around her waist, her body heaving with sobs.
“Who is?” he asked, his gaze scanning the hall.
“Amy,” she cried.
Kendra. “Did you see what happened?”
“No. There are only two stalls in there, so I was waiting out here. Kendra came out, so I went in and found Amy. Her throat slit. It had to be Kendra. She was the only one in there with Amy.”
“Where’s Kendra now?”
“I don’t know.” She hyperventilated, her words coming in spurts. “I rushed back in the hall, and . . . she . . . was . . . gone.”
The passageway. He moved for the closest entrance into it when a snowmobile rumbled outside. His muscles coiled, his body freakishly frozen in place. “Cassie.” Gathering his momentum, he rushed outside.
A snowmobile raced by him and up the steep incline. Devon with Cassie draped over the front of his lap, his arms around her, steering. Was she unconscious? What had he done to her?
He rushed for the sheds.
“What are you doing?” Jayce asked, hurrying behind him.
“Going to see if there’s another snowmobile.”
“There is. I saw an old one in the shed when I went to search out Brady’s crime scene. I was so distracted with that, I forgot to mention it.”
“It’s okay. Which shed? The first one?” That’s where Brady had been murdered, according to his brother.
“Yeah. It’s under the big gray tarp, but it might not run.”
“Then we’ll have to try and fix it.” He entered the dark, cold shed, his breath a white mist in the small shaft of his flashlight’s beam. He sat on the snowmobile and turned the key, which, shockingly, was still inside the lock, but no dice—probably why it was still there.
“Could be the spark plugs,” Jayce—their family mechanic—said. He checked the engine. “Yep. A spark plug is missing. Hang on, let me look through the tool drawers and shelves.”
Joel bounced his leg. “Come on. Come on.” He kept trying the key but to no avail. Devon was gaining too much ground at this rate.
“Found one,” Jayce said, rushing over. Connecting the spark plug, he stepped back. “Try it now.”
Joel turned the ignition, and it roared to life. “Thank you. Now move out of the way,” he said, angling for the door.
“You could freeze out there.”
“I’ve got to go.”
“I know, but how do you even know where they’re headed? I think the snow is falling too fast to follow the tracks.”
“He’s got to be heading above the avalanche. He’s going to try to race the ridge.”
“That’s suicide. What’s he thinking?”
“That he can get back to the lodge and his vehicle, I bet. I’ve got to catch him before he hits that ridge, or they both could die.”
“Be safe,” Jayce said.
“Will do.” Joel revved the snowmobile. “Find Kendra.”
“On it,” Jayce said
Joel sped up the mountain in the whiteout, trying to forge ahead in the snow and ice pelting at him.
Please guide me, Father. I can’t see anything, but you can see everything. Please direct me to Cassie. Let us get through this.
He’d been saying the same prayer for a year, but for the first time since she left him standing at the altar, he had hope.
Driving blind was crazy, but he had no choice. He couldn’t stop until Cassie was safe.
He couldn’t see their snowmobile, but finally the roar of its engine revved ahead. Off to his left. If Devon wasn’t careful, they could easily fly off the cliff. In this whiteout, it would be impossible to see it until it was too late.
Speeding as fast as the snowmobile would go, he veered toward the echo of the engine, finally catching sight of them.
“Joel!” Cassie yelled, slumber thick in her voice.
“Remember what I taught you,” Joel hollered.
They were so close to the cliff. She had to move fast. Come on, Cassie. Throw that elbow.
“Taught her what?” Devon mocked, their snowmobile driving ever closer to the cliff.
The fool had no idea of his surroundings.
Cassie swung her elbow back. It collided with his nose.
He released one handle, grasping his nose.
“Now, Cassie!” Joel shouted.
She lunged off the snowmobile, screaming as her leg hit the ground. She ducked into a roll, away from Devon.
“You—” Devon cussed up a storm.
Joel headed straight toward a very distracted Devon. Perfect. He rammed Devon’s snowmobile from the side.
Devon rammed back, but Joel regrouped and smashed into Devon—again and again.
Devon fought back, ramming him until Joel sped away.
“That’s right,” Devon taunted, speeding ahead, completely oblivious.
Joel rounded and sped back, ramming the side of Devon’s snowmobile just right—sliding him over the cliff he or Kendra had thrown Brady over.
Devon screamed the entire way down, then an explosion roared up—flames and smoke mixing with the storm.
Joel raced back to Cassie. Stopping the snowmobile, he shut it off and ran to her side, wrapping his arms around her.
She burrowed into him, and he sat there, holding her. The cold vanished—everything vanished, except the feel of the woman he loved in his arms.