Chapter Nineteen
At the sound of Alice’s shout, Declan hooked his arm around Cully and dragged her to the ground. He moved as fast as he could, pulling her behind the only cover available.
Renee’s body.
It wasn’t a second too soon either because a bullet slammed into the ground less than an inch from them. Hell. That’d come too damn close to hitting them.
Cursing, Declan pushed Renee’s lifeless body onto its side, using it like a bunker for Cully and him. It twisted at him to do this to a dead woman and seemed disrespectful. But then, Renee had just confessed to murdering four people, including her own daughter, so maybe she didn’t deserve respect. There had to be a special place in hell for someone like her.
Renee had certainly given them a lot of information in her deathbed confessions, but she had obviously left out one key component. Well, two actually. Who had Alice, and why had he shot Renee?
The bastard shot me .
That’s what Renee had blurted out, but since they had three male suspects, Declan didn’t know who they were dealing with.
Another shot came, this one hitting a chunk of debris just to Cully’s right. Again, much too close.
Declan scrambled over Cully, trying to use his own body to protect her while he also tried to pinpoint the location of the shooter. He was behind what was left of the chimney. A stone one which meant he had damn good protection.
Plus, he had Alice.
And Declan figured the SOB would use her as a human shield if it came down to her. He had a hard time believing Harley would do something like this, but then this was a desperate move by someone who was clearly desperate.
But Declan had plenty of motivation to put an end to this attack. He needed to get Cully and Alice out of her alive.
“Renee made a full confession,” Declan called out. “No place to run, no place to hide you. Every cop and Strike Force operative will hunt you down.”
That wasn’t bullshit either. All of that would happen, but Declan wanted to try to get this asshole to surrender.
“We know you didn’t do the murders,” he tried again. “So, let Alice go and turn yourself in. You can get a plea deal.”
That last part was a big assed lie. If this guy was Renee’s accomplice even after the fact, then he’d still be facing murder charges.
The silence dragged on for what felt like an eternity. “That bitch Renee was going to pin all of this on me,” the man finally yelled.
Noah.
Declan was sure of it. He was the man shooting at them. He was the one who had Alice.
Because Declan was pressed against Cully, he felt her body tense even more than it already was. She was probably feeling as much raw anger as he was. These two, Renee and Noah, had put a lot of people in danger, all to cover their own asses.
“Years ago, Renee came to me all crying and begging,” Noah went on, “saying she’d killed Savannah and Derrick and asking me for help. So, I helped her build that fucking wall.”
“I’m betting she paid you for that,” Declan threw out there.
“Yeah, she did. And FYI, I didn’t know about Brandon and Jessica being put behind that wall. That was all Renee. But when the bodies were discovered, she called me boo-hooing again and saying if I didn’t help her stop this investigation, then she’d tell the cops I killed all four of them. The bitch had kept a handkerchief of mine that she said had Savannah’s blood and my DNA on it.”
So, that’s how Renee had gotten Noah to cooperate.
“Renee told you to kill Cully and me?” Declan asked.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “She thought you were getting too close. So, I did everything she wanted, again.” Noah shouted that last word. “I kidnapped Cully’s mom here just like Renee wanted. But what did she do when I got here? The bitch tried to kill me. Well, I shot her first. Too bad she didn’t die before you got here.”
“Too bad,” Declan said, the sarcasm dripping from his voice.
This SOB had no remorse about what he’d done. He’d essentially covered up for a killer, giving her the chance to do it again. If Noah had gone to the cops after the first two deaths, Jessica and Brandon might still be alive.
Just up the road, there was a sound of an engine, and headlights slashed through the rain.
“Hell. Is that backup?” Noah snarled.
Declan definitely didn’t like the man’s tone. He was panicking now which meant he might try to escape with Alice. Or outright shoot her and then run.
“No,” Alice yelled.
And even though Declan couldn’t see it, he heard the sound of a struggle going on. Cully no doubt heard it, too, because with the gun gripped in her hand, she wriggled out from beneath him and got to her feet.
Shit.
There was no pulling her back down so Declan did what he’d done earlier. He hurried to get in front of her, putting himself between her and Noah.
They ran, racing toward Alice. They were still several feet away when the gunshot blasted through the air.
“No,” Cully shouted, and she darted around Declan, trying to get to her mother.
Declan was trying to get to her as well, and when he finally was close enough to get a visual on Noah and Alice, he sure as hell didn’t like what he saw. Both were on the ground, and Alice was trying to get the gun away from Noah.
“Stay back,” Declan told Cully, figuring it would do no good.
It didn’t.
Cully rushed forward. Just as there was another shot.
Everything seemed to freeze, but Declan had no trouble hearing the sharp gasp that Cully made. He whirled around and saw her dropping to the ground.
Oh, God. No. She’d been shot.
Maybe she was even dead.
That ripped at his heart, and he wanted nothing more than to run to her. To try to save her. But first he had to deal with the asshole who’d done this.
Declan let the rage come. Hot and fast. It raced through him, and he charged forward, reaching down to latch onto Noah’s arm. He dragged it out just enough so he could stomp on his wrist. He heard the bone snap. Heard Noah cry out in pain. But Declan stomped on him again until Noah had no choice but to let go of the gun.
“Take the gun, Alice,” Declan told her.
She was shaking from head to toe, but Alice managed to scoop up the weapon, and she aimed it at Noah. “Move and I’ll kill you,” Alice warned him. “I might kill you anyway,” she added on a sob, glancing back at Cully.
Declan did more than glance. He ran toward Cully and reached her just as Owen stepped out of his cruiser.
“Get an ambulance here now,” Declan shouted.
And he prayed that now would be soon enough to keep Cully alive.