Chapter 33
Kara and Colin froze in place as they heard approaching vehicles, the distant wail of fire truck sirens growing louder.
Their eyes fixed on the door. Kara considered the vehicle outside, but they’d never make it out of town.
It wasn’t exactly road-appropriate. It would be hard to mistake it—the only Mercedes in town, littered with bullet holes and missing windows.
She wished she had some way to contact Elias. Somehow, he always seemed to save her when she needed him most. For now, all they could do was wait to see who was approaching.
Moments later, the sound of a vehicle approaching grew louder. A truck appeared through the trees, cutting through the fading light of dusk.
Kara braced herself for the worst. They had been found, after all.
“Who is that?” she whispered.
Colin immediately stepped in front of her, using his body as a shield as he pulled her behind him.
The sound of the engine idling just outside made Kara’s blood run cold.
“Hide,” he breathed, pointing her toward the bedroom.
Kara’s heart hammered.
She spotted a kitchen knife on the counter and snatched it up, gripping the handle tightly and running quickly to the bedroom. She slipped inside the small closet, bracing herself against the wall as she waited in silence.
She heard the cabin door swing open. Footsteps approached, followed by a familiar scoff.
“Kara?”
She lowered the knife, stunned. Somehow, she had conjured Elias out of thin air. Kara stepped out of the closet to find Colin gripping a weapon that offered little comfort against whoever might have been outside.
“Trouble sure does follow you,” Elias said, glancing between them, landing on Kara. “What’s with the fire? I thought it was you sending me smoke signals.”
She managed an uneasy laugh.
Elias turned and walked out the door. Kara followed without another word. Colin took her hand as they trailed behind him. He opened the passenger door, but Kara climbed into the back instead. Elias got behind the wheel and pulled away almost immediately.
The cabin had barely felt like home, but it had been a shelter, and leaving it behind still felt strange.
Elias shook his head, his expression hardening as he listened.
The main road disappeared behind them. The trees began to thicken as they drove deeper into the foothills.
Eventually, Elias turned down a narrow dirt lane Kara would have missed if she hadn't been watching.
A small house appeared between the trees, an older place with a single light glowing beside the door.
“This is my place,” Elias said.
Kara looked at the house. “Your actual home?”
He nodded. That was the end of the conversation.
Inside, the house was surprisingly welcoming.
Wooden floors, worn furniture, books stacked along one wall, and framed photographs gave it a comfortable, lived-in feel.
A blanket was folded over the back of a chair, a bowl of fruit sat on the kitchen counter, and a coffee mug rested beside the sink.
There was something peaceful about it, something that didn't quite fit the hardened man who had rescued them.
Elias went into the kitchen and returned with a paper bag. “Eat.”
Kara blinked. “What?”
“Food.”
She opened the bag and found two sandwiches. “Thank you.”
Elias simply nodded and walked away.
His quiet kindness caught her off guard. He hadn't asked if she was okay or promised that everything would be fine. The small gesture made her think of George—how he’d never done anything remotely fatherly.
Elias was the kind of person who noticed when you were hungry, who made sure you got home safely, who protected you without making you feel weak for it. Without the murder part, he was almost what she imagined a father should be. She glanced toward him, almost amused by the thought.
Across the room, Colin caught her looking and then turned away.
Kara noticed the distance in him again. He wasn't exactly being rude, but he was quieter than usual, his answers clipped, his attention always somewhere else.
She couldn't figure out what had changed between them, only that she'd felt the cold shoulder since they'd left the cabin.
Before she could ask, Elias reached into a drawer and pulled out a cheap prepaid phone. He handed it to Colin.
“Burner.”
“Vargas,” Kara said as she dug through her bag, looking for the card she'd picked up earlier.
Colin nodded, and they moved to the kitchen table. He switched on the phone, dialed the number on the business card, and punched the speaker. It rang twice.
“Vargas.”
“It's Colin Miller. I’m with Kara.”
“Where the hell are you?”
“Somewhere safe. We need to tell you something.”
Kara leaned closer as Colin glanced at her.
“Richard started the fire.”
Silence followed.
“You're sure?” Vargas asked.
“We saw him at the cabin.”
“I don’t even want to ask why you were…” Vargas trailed off. “If you're willing to give statements, we can bring him in on arson.”
A smile spread across Kara's face as Vargas relayed that they had cracked the code on the ledger and had started making progress with identifying initials. Finally, they had something concrete. They had evidence, a witness, and a charge they could put in front of a judge.
“Richard is going down,” she said.
“I'm happy about getting him off the street.”
“So what happens now?” Kara asked.
“I get the paperwork moving. Don't come back here yet. Stay where you are and let us handle it. There’s a BOLO out for Elias. I couldn’t stop it—he killed a cop.”
Kara nodded, even though Vargas couldn't see her. “Stay safe.”
“You too.”
Her voice softened before the call ended. “We wouldn’t have made it this far without you.”Good thing you came back.”
The words settled somewhere deep inside her. For so long, she'd wondered whether returning home had been a mistake, but sitting there in Elias's quiet house with Colin beside her, she wasn't so sure anymore.
“We actually have him.”
Colin gave her a faint smile. It wasn't quite the reaction she'd hoped for, but she pushed the disappointment aside. With little evidence, a lesser charge was enough.
For the first time in days, it felt like they weren't just running from the people hunting them. They were finally fighting back.
Kara was finally able to relax. Sitting in Elias’s house, she felt a sense of safety she hadn’t felt in days. She knew as long as Elias was close, nothing would happen to them. He had already proven that more than once.
She sat quietly on the couch beside Colin, letting herself take in the quiet around them. It was strange to think how quickly everything had changed. Not long ago, she had been worried about ordinary things. She would never be the same again.
Her mind wandered to her sister. She wondered what she would say if she knew everything Kara had been through.
One day, maybe all of this would just be a crazy story they told over dinner, something they could laugh about because it was finally over.
It was hard to imagine now, but she wanted to believe there would be a day when the fear was nothing more than a memory.
“You okay?” Colin asked.
Kara looked over at him and nodded. Colin reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. His touch brought her back to the present.
There was so much that had happened between them, so much they would have to work through, but she didn't want to walk away from it. She had spent enough time wondering what could have been, and now that they had another chance, she knew she would try.
“I was thinking about us,” she finally admitted.
Colin looked at her, waiting.
“I don't know if this will work,” she said quietly. “But I want to try.”
His expression softened as he squeezed her hand. “So do I.”
The relief didn't last.
By morning, the television was filled with breaking news. Kara sat on the edge of the couch as a reporter stood outside the remains of a burned-out cabin, the blackened structure barely visible behind the flashing lights of emergency vehicles.
“A body was discovered inside a remote cabin early this morning. Authorities have not yet released the identity of the victim, but the death is being treated as suspicious.”
Kara looked back at the television. “A body…”
The words seemed to hang in the air long after the announcement ended.
Kara chewed absently on her thumbnail, her thoughts racing. Questions were being answered, but with every revelation, another seemed to surface. Richard was turning the entire town into a madhouse.
They connected with Vargas, who answered after a few rings.
“What’s going on? Who was found in the cabin!?” Kara asked frantically.
“Chief Daryl Givens. He was shot in the head.”
Kara stared at the screen, trying to process it.
“What?” she whispered in disbelief.
“Wait one second,” Vargas said. A stream of static and garbled words came through the radio before the line went quiet for a moment. “Listen to me. We just got confirmation.”
“Confirmation of what?” There was a pause, and Kara felt her pulse quicken.
“They found Richard Nicholls. He's in police custody.”