Chapter 16 #2
He never finished high school. He hooked up with other young toughs. Took jobs for crime bosses–then found his way to legitimate businessmen who wanted jobs done that they couldn’t acknowledge.
When he’d gotten a call from someone whose alias was “the Badger,” he’d been pretty sure the guy was dangerous. But he paid well, and Frederick always completed the assignments he was given. And he made good money for his efforts. Enough to live in a nice apartment.
Until he was sent to get information from Evelyn Morgan. She’d tried to fight him off. Tried to get away, and she’d ended up dead. But that hadn’t been Frederick’s intention.
He’d failed, and he’d been afraid of the Badger. He’d never met the man, but he knew it would be fatal to disappoint him, which was why he’d been so relentless in his pursuit of Rachel and Jake.
And she knew he hadn’t been lying to her. He had never met this employer. He had only dealt with the man over the phone, but even at long distances the Badger tied Carter’s stomach in knots.
His fear of the Badger came through very clearly. Along with the memories flashing through the man’s mind.
And overlaying everything was a more engulfing fear. He was dying. But he wasn’t going upward toward the light. He was sinking into darkness so profound that it rose to swallow him up.
You don’t have to go there, Rachel whispered to him.
He startled. Who are you?
Rachel Gregory.
He tried to wrench himself away from her.
No. Let me stay. I’m here to help you.
How?
You can change everything. Give yourself another chance.
Impossible.
You can make a fresh start. Your life doesn’t have to go on the way it has.
She had started this because she wanted to help herself and Jake. As she understood Carter better, she wanted to save him-- with a desperation she would have thought impossible. Because she had left Mickey in the bayou? Perhaps.
Carter was speaking again.
I’m dead. I’m going to the bad place.
Not if you want to change.
Maybe he believed her. Maybe he was so terrified that he would grasp at any straw. But she felt a shift within him. He’d had so few good relationships. So few good impulses. Now she was reaching out to him in a way that pulled him toward what he might have been if his life had been different.
She’d started off hating and fearing him, but the connection changed her perception.
In the background, she heard Jake speaking urgently to her.
Don’t trust him. He’ll hurt you.
She couldn’t answer Jake, not and focus on Carter.
Open to me, she begged the unconscious man. Let me show you what it can be like.
She wasn’t sure what she was doing. She only knew she was showing him possibilities he had never even considered. Each bad thing could have come out differently. Each decision could have been the turning point.
As she tried to show him that, she felt him pulling back from the abyss.
The dark forces clawing at him loosened their hold, and his spirit came back to the body lying on the bed.
Her own body jerked as life swooshed back into him. Blinking, she looked down at him. He was sleeping.
Tell him what will make a difference for him, Jake whispered in her mind.
Go to the police, she said to Carter. Tell them that you were trying to question Evelyn Morgan. Tell them that she died trying to get away from you. It was an accident. You didn’t mean to do it.
He moaned.
I know you don’t want to go to the police, she soothed. I understand. But you don’t want to go to the dark place when you die. You want to change your life. Take your punishment. Then find a job where you work for humanity.
She didn’t know if it was possible. Maybe he’d already gone too far down the wrong path, but she desperately wanted his life to come out differently.
And she knew he believed that.
You think he’ll go to the cops? Jake asked.
Maybe. If we reinforce him.
Carter still slept, and she was exhausted from connecting with him. Jake came over to her side of the bed and caught her in his arms, carrying her to the chair by the window, sitting with her cradled in his lap. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Tell him to stay asleep,” Jake murmured.
She did as he asked, sending Carter soothing, restful thoughts and the suggestion that he didn’t want to wake up yet.
“We have to get him back to town,” she said to Jake.
“We’ve got other problems first. Like, there’s a dead woman lying in front of the cabin.”
She dragged in a strangled breath. “Would you believe I wasn’t thinking about that?”
“You were a little busy.”
“What are we going to do?”
“What they would have done to us. She’s already dead. I think we can leave her for the alligators.”
Rachel fought a wave of sickness, but she didn’t have a better suggestion. He was right. Mickey and Kira would have killed her and Jake and let the creatures of the swamp cover up the crime.
Still, she didn’t offer to help when he strode outside. Through the window, she watched him pick up Kira and carry her into the underbrush where they’d taken refuge when the other couple had attacked.
When he disappeared from view, she waited tensely until he returned–alone.
“I put her in the water with Mickey,” Jake said when he reappeared.
“Did you see him?”
“No. But I saw a couple of gators.”
She winced. “What about their car? They must have left it somewhere.”
He shrugged. “Maybe they went hiking and got into trouble.”
“Maybe.”
“If it’s on the side of the road, nobody may check for several days.” He looked out the window. “But Carter Frederick’s car is still outside.”
She nodded.
“I’ll drive it back to the city with him in it.”
“Is that safe?”
“We’ll tie him up again and lay him on the backseat, just to be safe. You drive the car we came in. And we’ll meet up . . .” He paused to think.
“In the parking lot between the French Market and the river.”
“Kind of a conspicuous place.”
“But not too far from a police station.”
Rachel walked back to the bed and bent over Carter Frederick.
We’re going back to town now, she told him.
Everything’s going to be all right. You’re going to turn yourself in to the police.
You’re going to tell them that you were hired to get information from Evelyn Morgan, and she got killed when she was fighting with you.
You didn’t mean to kill her. It was an accident.
You’ll feel so much better when you explain it to them.
He moved restlessly on the bed, and she reinforced the suggestions she’d given him.
“Let’s go,” Jake said aloud.
“I’d better put my wig back on,” Rachel answered.
“Yeah. Right.”
He waited while she made herself look like the woman who had driven here with him. When she was ready, he stepped to the bed and helped Frederick up. She steadied him on the other side, and together they walked to the kidnapper’s car.
After they’d laid him on the backseat and secured his hands and feet, Rachel told him to sleep on the ride back to the city.
When she was finished, Jake closed the back door and opened the front.
Rachel came into his arms, and they held each other tightly for long moments.
“I don’t like separating,” she whispered.
“I don’t like it either, but we’ve got to drive both cars back to town.”
“Unfortunately.”
Jake backed out of the space in front of the cabin. She did the same, then followed him down the access road to the highway. When she lost sight of him around a bend, she sent him a mental message.
Everything okay?
She felt his startled reaction. You can still reach me?
Yes.
That’s good. We won’t be out of touch on the road.
She followed him onto the highway, keeping him in sight.
It took too much effort to stay with him the whole way, but she checked in with him from time to time, until they’d both pulled into parking spaces beside one of the pavilions of the French Market where vendors sold produce, hot sauce, Mardi Gras masks, tee shirts and other New Orleans souvenirs.
Since it was late in the day, the lot was almost empty. Jake wiped his fingerprints off the steering wheel and the interior of the front seat while she opened the back door and uncuffed Carter Frederick’s hands.
Jake leaned into the other side of the car and worked on the man’s feet.
When he was untied, they helped him sit up. Then they both wiped away any remaining fingerprints and walked into the market where they stood behind a nearby pillar and looked out toward the car.
It’s time to wake up, Rachel said gently.
From her hiding place she saw Frederick blink and look around.
Who’s talking?
Rachel Gregory. You were going to get information from me, but you changed your mind because of what happened to Evelyn Morgan.
Alarm contorted his features. “She’s dead.”
But it was an accident. You want to tell that to the police. You want to come clean, because you don’t want to end up in the bad place when you die. Do you remember that you were on your way there when I pulled you back? It will be for all eternity next time.
He shuddered, and she knew he was remembering the horror of what had happened when she’d snatched him back from the brink of death.
Jake grasped her hand, giving her a silent message, and she glanced at him before looking back at Carter Frederick.
You’re going to forget that I talked to you. You’re going to forget that you found us in Houma. You never left New Orleans. You fought with us here. You tried to kidnap me here. But you never caught up with us again.
“Will that work?” she whispered to Jake.
“I don’t know. But we have to try.”
She sent the same messages to him again, then ended with words of encouragement.
You’re very brave to turn yourself in. But it’s the best thing.
You want to change your life because you don’t want it to end the way it almost did.
You should go right to the police station now.
It’s on Royal Street. You’ll feel so much better when you tell them about the accident with Evelyn Morgan.
Rachel waited a beat before asking, Do you know how to get to the police station at 334 Royal Street?
Frederick nodded. Then, as they watched, he climbed out of the car and looked around as though he had just realized where he was. Or maybe he was looking for them.
Rachel heard Jake gasp.
“What?”
“He’s got a gun. It must have been hidden somewhere in the car.” He cursed.
“Can we get it away from him?”
“We can’t take the chance.”
Before Frederick got more than twenty yards from the car, a uniformed policeman stepped out of the French Market and into the parking lot.
Frederick saw him and froze.
Then he raised the gun.
Oh no! When Rachel started to dart out from around the pillar, Jake held her back.
Stay here. You can’t do anything.
She knew he was right. She’d only get them arrested.
Then the sound of gunfire made her gasp.