Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Mason kept digging until the spade pulled up something odd-looking. He set the shovel aside and used his fingers to brush off the soil clinging to the object. No more than an inch or so in diameter, long and curved, he suspected what he was holding was a rib bone.
Something was still bothering him. The timeline didn't quite jibe.
From what Vivi said, the lilies in the backyard hadn't been planted until after Russ's disappearance.
George had said he was under the impression that Russ and Ellen were living together up until the day he left.
According to Harrison, though, their relationship had been under serious strain for months prior to the divorce.
Had they truly been separated? And if so, where had he been staying?
There were no other residences in his name, not even a rental agreement, and Mason seriously doubted he would spend money to stay in a hotel, especially for an extended period of time like that.
Of course, Harrison was only the lawyer who had offered counsel for the divorce.
Maybe Ellen had told him one version of events, while Russ had told George another.
Suddenly, Mason froze as Tyler’s last message popped into his head.
Tyler had wanted to look at the divorce papers.
Harrison had finalized the divorce. But that didn't mean Russ had actually come into the office. The signature on the papers could be a forgery. Maybe Elijah really was innocent. Maybe it was someone else—like the attorney who’d taken care of Russ and Ellen’s divorce. And the trust paperwork for Tyler.
Harrison had connections to everyone. Mason hadn't questioned it at the time, but now Harrison's parting words came back to him.
Tell Vivi I said hello. How had Harrison known about Mason and Vivi?
Had she told him? From what Mason understood, she hadn't talked to him since around the same time Ellen had been moved into the assisted living facility.
And that had been more than a full week before they were officially together.
A chill moved through Mason's body. He whipped out his phone and shot off a quick text to Knox.
Pull everything you can on Harrison Grant. Has connections to all the victims.
“Viv,” he called toward the house. “I think I've got something.”
“That's unfortunate,” came a deep, masculine voice.
Mason snapped his head toward the house, and his blood boiled with fury when he saw the man outlined in the doorway, Vivi in front of him, a pistol pointed at her head. Allowing the bone to slip from his fingers, he relaxed his posture and met the man's gaze. “What are you doing, Grant?”
“What I have to do.” The man's gaze filled with belligerence. “As soon as Elijah told me you’d found her diary, I knew I had to do something. All you had to do was stop poking around where you didn't belong. I warned you, both of you!”
Mason's phone was still in his hand, and he held down the side button for several seconds. He didn’t dare look at it as he continued to speak to Harrison. “Vivi has nothing to do with this. Just let her go and—”
Harrison laughed, but it held no humor. “She has everything to do with this.”
Mason's phone let out a soft ding, and every muscle in his body went rigid as Harrison’s gaze dropped to where it rested next to his leg. He didn’t dare let go of that button, praying fervently that it would function as intended and summon the authorities.
“Put the phone down and get in the house,” Harrison ordered.
Mason held on as long as he could, taking a couple of steps toward them.
“Drop it!” he yelled.
Anxiety and adrenaline rushed through Mason's veins as he dropped the phone to the grass at his feet and slowly held up his hands in front of him.
“Good. Get in.” Harrison fell back a few steps, pulling Vivi deeper into the house with him, ensuring Mason would follow.
Mason needed to get the upper hand, but he couldn't bear for Vivi to get caught in the crossfire. He needed to find a way to get her away from him so he could disarm him. He kept his eyes locked on Harrison as he crossed the backyard, then mounted the porch and stepped into the house. Harrison kept one arm locked around Vivi’s neck as he continued to move backward, maintaining a fair amount of distance between them.
As soon as Mason was fully inside the house, Harrison redirected the pistol from Vivi to him. The way he held it, hand shaking slightly, told Mason he wasn't proficient with firearms. But anyone could get lucky once, and Mason was going to make sure that both he and Vivi stayed safe.
“Why did you do it?” Mason asked.
“No questions,” Harrison ordered. “Get in the bedroom.”
Mason wasn't an expert in dealing with hostage situations, but he knew the more they followed his directions, if they allowed him to take charge of the situation, the less likely they would be to walk out of there alive. “Let's all just calm down for a second—”
“No!” The gun wavered in Harrison's hand before he yanked it back then pressed it to Vivi's temple again. “Do what I say or I swear to God, I'll kill her right here.”
Rage simmered in Mason's veins at the sight of the pistol pressed to the side of her face.
He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes.
He knew he had to stay strong, but he could hear her uneven breaths from where he stood several feet away, and he could see her trembling in his peripheral vision.
He needed to stay calm, needed to focus on the situation at hand.
He couldn't get distracted by her fear or he would snap and do something stupid.
Slowly, he held up his hands placatingly in front of him. “Okay, okay. I’ll go.”
Not taking his eyes from Harrison, Mason put one foot behind the other and slowly backed his way out of the room and down the hall toward the bedroom, moving from memory.
Harrison held the gun trained on Vivi, and Mason kept his movements slow and controlled.
The last thing he needed was to spook him and have him pull the trigger.
He maneuvered into the bedroom, speaking as he did so. “Tell me what happened. Did you kill Russ?”
Harrison shook his head. “You wouldn't understand.”
“He hurt Christine, didn't he?” Mason asked. “And he was going to hurt Vivi unless someone stopped him.”
Harrison’s eyes flicked to Vivi for a second before returning to Mason's. His face slowly crumpled. “We didn't know.”
“About Christine?”
Harrison shook his head. “We never thought… God. None of us ever imagined he could do that. I'd known him all my life, but I still have trouble wrapping my mind around it. But after he tried to hurt Vivi…”
A cold wave moved through Mason's stomach at the thought of what might have happened. “You did what you had to do. You stopped him from hurting another innocent child.”
“Not me.” Harrison swallowed hard. “Ellen.”
Now it began to make a little more sense as the picture became clear in Mason's mind. “She killed him, and you helped her cover it up.”
The other man nodded. “I did what I had to do. We couldn't go to the police.”
“If you were defending Vivi—”
“He wasn't dead when I got here,” Harrison stated flatly. “She called me as soon as it happened. She was frantic, completely beside herself. I thought he was gone, but he was just knocked out cold. He woke up just after I got here. He…”
A muscle ticked in his jaw as he spoke. “I confronted him about Christine. And he admitted it. How could he do that to her? He was her stepfather. He was supposed to protect her, and instead he—”
Harrison drew a deep breath. “I was angry. I just… couldn’t help it. I remember holding the shovel, then swinging at him. I just… lost it.” He blinked, lost in thought. “After I realized what I’d done… I couldn’t take it back. I didn’t want to. I had to get rid of him. For Vivi, and for Ellen.”
That put a whole new spin on things for Mason. Ellen had incapacitated him, but Harrison had taken things one step further by killing him, then disposing of the body.
“And Tyler?”
Harrison’s lips pressed into a firm line, and he closed his eyes briefly before meeting Mason's gaze again. “I warned him,” he said softly. “He just wouldn’t let it go. He kept pushing and pushing, and…” He shrugged. “He didn’t leave me a choice.”
There was always a choice, and Harrison had made the wrong one.
He’d killed an innocent man to keep from going to jail.
Every fiber of Mason's being ached to lash out at him, but he forced his anger down for Vivi’s sake.
He needed answers to all of her questions, and there was something he still didn’t understand.
“Why doesn't Vivi remember any of this?”
“Ellen took Vivi to a doctor the next day. A hypnotherapist. Then a child psychologist after that.” Harrison shrugged one shoulder. “Anyone who would make sure it never came up again. We couldn’t afford to have her remember and risk us going to jail.”
In his peripheral vision, Mason watched Vivi's mouth widen in a little ‘O’ before snapping shut again. “But… all of his things…?”
“Elijah,” Harrison confirmed. “While Ellen and Vivi were out, we erased every trace of evidence that he'd ever been here.”
Mason's heart kicked up in his chest, and he mentally calculated how much time had elapsed. “If you kill us, you’ll still go to jail, even if they don't find Russ’s body.”
Harrison was quiet for a moment. “You know, I've loved Ellen half my life.
When she was married to Russ, I tried to see her as just a friend.
After his death, I still couldn't be with her. She struggled so much after that. She regretted what happened, and I knew I was the cause of that. She saw me differently, and things were just never the same after that night. I loved her so much, but… he was always between us. Even when he died, he was still between us.”
His face creased with defeat. “It's so hard to see her slipping away. Ellen doesn't know me anymore—she didn't even recognize me the last time I was there. She was the only thing worth living for and now she's gone.”
Mason saw the intent in Harrison's eyes, and he didn't hesitate to lunge toward him as he lifted the gun once more. Vivi’s scream filled the air at the same time the pistol blasted loudly, the sound deafening as it echoed throughout the room.