Page 709 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

She lowered the gun.Walter took advantage of the opportunity and stepped forward just as she jerked the gun back up. This time it was aimed directly at his chest. “You killed Avery and Sydney. How many more people have to die because of you? You’re destroying innocent lives. Those kids you’re selling drugs to have done nothing to you!”

“Maurene, honey, you’re not making any sense.” His eyes plead with hers. “Nowadays all kids take drugs. If I weren’t furnishing drugs for them, someone else would be.”

She shook her head. “No, that’s not true.” Her voice was barely audible.

Walter started walking toward her. “Now give me that gun.” The sound of the shot vibrated through the house. He stared at Maurene, then fell to the floor. There was a moment of silence. Maurene stood looking down at him. “I’m sorry Walter … for both of us,” she said softly. She turned the gun to her head and pulled the trigger.

The three ofthem made a cozy picture, with Sean and Sydney wrapped in blankets and all of them sipping hot chocolate. Sydney was sitting next to Sean, who had his arm draped comfortably around her shoulders.

Stella’s eyes widened as she listened to them relate the events of the day and how they’d barely escaped with their lives. Stellaclucked her tongue. “Walter and Kendall. Who would’ve thought it? Both of them sure had me fooled.” She sighed. “What will happen to them?”

“The authorities are on their way to pick them up right now,” Sean said.

Sydney turned to Sean. “Was Louellen involved?”

“No, but Lewis Jackson and Buck Gibson are a different matter.”

Sydney nodded. “Thank goodness for Louellen’s innocence. Otherwise, I couldn’t begin to imagine what would happen to Hazel. It will be bad enough for Mrs. Fletcher and Emma.”

Stella took a sip of her drink. “Yes, it is going to be hard on them.” She paused. “But time is a great healer, and they have each other.” Stella placed her cup on the table. “It’s funny how people think they’re an island unto themselves and what they do only affects them. It’s like ripples in a pond. Everything we do touches the lives of those around us.” Sydney’s eyes caught Stella’s and a look of understanding passed between them. She knew Stella was thinking about Avery.

A comfortable silence filled the room. Sydney stared off into the distance. Something extraordinary had happened to her today, something even more powerful than the fire. She’d been in the depths of despair and had received help straight from heaven, right when she needed it most. The Lord was mindful of her. He’d given her peace. It was a feeling that she wanted to bottle up and clutch next to her heart forever. Her thoughts went to Kendall and his trembling hand when he touched her face for the last time. Her feelings for him were so complex and mixed up that she wasn’t sure what to make of them. “Kendall was a good man in so many ways.”

Sean scowled. “Yeah, except in the ways that really mattered. The most frustrating part of this whole case has been watching Kendall pull the wool over your eyes and the whole town. Youknow, Syd, Kendall was a big boy. No one held a gun to his head and made him do the things he did. He made his own choices. I’ll tell you another thing too. He didn’t become a murderer overnight. What you saw today was the end result that he built layer upon layer over a long period of time.”

Sydney sighed. “He just reminded me so much of my dad.”

Sean was quick to counter. “No, you’re wrong, Syd. They were very different. Avery had conviction and died for what he believed in.”

This won him a look of admiration from Stella. “You’re a man wise beyond your years. A drop of water, harmless enough in itself, yet over time, those tiny droplets, one upon the other in a continuous flow can hollow the face of stone.”

Sydney let this sink in. For her it would never be that black and white. Kendall would always be linked to her tragic past, a mixture of good and bad. One whose inner demons got to him in the end. “You’re right, Sean. I guess I just assumed that because Kendall was such a good person when he was young that he was the same now. I never really understood him.” She could follow that train of thought further and add that because Sean was so handsome and suave that she’d automatically assumed the worst of him, but she wasn’t ready to say that out loud … at least not yet.

Sydney’s mind raced to another part of the puzzle. She looked at Sean. “How did you know that I was in trouble today? And how did you know where to find me?”

Sean withdrew his arm from around Sydney’s shoulders and shifted on the couch. “To answer your first question, I know this may sound strange, but all I can say is that I had a terrible feeling that something was wrong. I’ve learned to trust that inner feeling.”

“Me too,” Sydney said.

“Now the second part was more concrete.”

Sydney’s eyebrow arched; she waited for him to continue.

“Hazel told me.”

“Hazel?”

“I went to your house to check on you and saw Hazel watching me. I went next door to talk to her. I told her you were in danger and that I needed to know where you were. She told me how Kendall had insisted you go on the boat with him. I was headed to the dock when I saw Kendall speeding down the road.”

Sydney chuckled. “Well thank goodness Hazel was eavesdropping again. And to think how aggravated I used to get because she was always poking her nose into my business.” She smiled at Sean and used her elbow to give him a slight jab in the ribs.

He winced in pain. “Careful. I’m a little sore there.”

“Sorry.” A sheepish smile crept over her face. “I knew you were a lousy sawmill manager, but it never dawned on me that you worked for the FBI.”

He made a face. “Was I really that bad?”

She nodded.