Page 27 of Engaging the Deputy (Silver Stars of Montana #3)

Jaden had cut across the lower part of the hillside, working his way through the debris, seeking cover where he could find it.

He finally reached a spot where he could start up the hillside.

They were standing next to the root-cellar hole.

He feared that Cody would throw her down before he could get a shot at him and started to move toward them when he realized that he’d been seen.

In the moonlight, he could see them both looking in his direction. He froze, back pressed to the shadowed darkness of what was left of one of the houses. He cursed his luck. There was no way he could get a clear shot from this distance. On top of that, now Cody would be looking for him.

To his surprise, Cody seemed to change his mind.

He pushed Livie ahead of him as they started down the hillside.

Cody was keeping her where he could use her as a shield.

Bastard. All Jaden could do was wait and hope for a shot.

But that was going to be difficult since Cody had taken a path on the other side of the debris.

Jaden was only getting glimpses of them.

Where was he taking her? To his surprise, they appeared headed for a small stone structure that was still standing farther down the hill. Jaden wanted to get closer but there was too much rubble. He watched as Cody and Livie disappeared into the tiny building.

He considered trying to get down there but realized that he stood a better chance once they emerged. He had no doubt that Cody would take Livie back up the hill as a shield until he felt he didn’t need her anymore.

But why the little stone building? Because there was something he wanted to retrieve?

Of course, he would have needed a place to hide his ill-gained money.

Cody knew this place. But once he collected it, then what?

Jaden waited, growing more anxious. What if he was wrong?

He’d been so sure that if Cody planned to kill her, he wouldn’t want her body to be found. Why else would he bring her here?

The waiting was killing him. He couldn’t understand what was taking so long. What if he was wrong and Cody killed her inside that small building? There was probably a well in there. He could dispose of her body down the well if it was large enough, deep enough.

He couldn’t take it any longer, even knowing that if he’d been wrong, then Livie was already dead. He started to step away from the side of the house, but as he did, the boards under him gave way and he dropped into darkness, coming down hard.

* * *

Cody froze. He’d heard what Olivia had. She felt the change in him. He was scared. But so was she. What she’d heard sounded like boards breaking and then a duller crash followed by silence.

It was the silence that terrified her. Cody must have heard the same thing.

But had it been someone out there? Or an animal?

She’d been pretending she’d seen someone earlier, trying to buy time.

As paranoid as Cody was acting, she was thankful it had helped.

Otherwise, she would already be in that root cellar, probably under enough dirt that she would no longer be breathing.

The thought that it really might be someone gave her hope.

If it was just her and Cody alone out here tonight, Olivia wasn’t sure how she would survive.

As jumpy as he was, he would be watching her closely.

And he had a loaded gun. She felt as if he had reached a point where he had nothing to lose.

Even if by chance someone tried to stop him, it would probably only get them killed.

He was intent on getting rid of her and leaving.

That the law would eventually catch up to him didn’t help. By then, she would have been dead for weeks, months or even years.

“Take these and don’t drop them,” Cody ordered as he shoved two of the bags at Olivia. “We’re going to head back up the hill. I’ll be right behind you with a gun at your back.”

The bags of money were heavy as she stepped out of the pump room into the night.

What was left of Starling appeared eerie in the thin light of the partial moon.

She shivered against the cold breeze as she looked for movement.

If someone was out there, she didn’t see them.

Because they’d fallen and either hurt or killed themselves.

Earlier in the day, her mother had predicted a snowstorm. Sharon hadn’t been wrong. It had snowed in the mountains while she and her mother were making the jelly.

Yet there was no doubt that the temperature had dropped here in the valley. She could hear Cody behind her, almost feel his desperation. Several times, she glanced back to catch him looking around as if still not sure there wasn’t someone out there in the shadows of the Starling skeletons.

Fortunately, he’d had to pocket the handgun he’d pulled earlier to carry the heavy canvas bags he’d retrieved. He seemed to be working himself up into a state as if afraid he’d come this far to lose everything.

Olivia knew the feeling. She’d come home to make amends for her bad decisions.

She’d ended up alienating the two men she’d cared about.

Was that why she hadn’t noticed how much Cody had changed?

He’d been angry on Halloween, but his whole demeanor had changed when she’d suggested they go back to the vehicles and leave.

Now she understood why. He’d planned to kill Rob Perkins that night. What he hadn’t planned for was the tornado, but even that he’d used to his advantage.

That the boy next door had grown up to be a killer shocked her.

She’d loved that young Cody. She could understand the pressure he was under with his father and the hardware store.

He’d worked in that store from the time he was a boy, only to realize that he was trapped.

He could have walked away, but without money and nowhere to go, he’d stayed and started his own lucrative but deadly business that would eventually get him killed.

It all seemed such a waste as she worked her way through the debris in the moon and starlight.

Everywhere there were hazards. Splintered boards, broken glass, pieces of twisted, sharp metal.

Something caught on her jeans. She heard it rip as she tried to pull free and felt whatever it was bite into her skin.

Her head still hurt from earlier, the dizziness making walking hard without worrying about what might attack her legs. The blows had weakened her. She didn’t think she could get the better of Cody again—let alone fight him off.

* * *

Jaden had dropped a half dozen feet, landing hard and pulling broken boards down on him as he fell to his knees.

As he’d tried to catch himself, he’d felt nails ripping through his flesh.

Blood began to run down his arms as he fought to get to his feet in the broken boards around him.

The moment he did, he knew his ankle was badly sprained. He could barely put weight on it.

Pulling out his flashlight, he shone it around. He’d fallen into a space with a dirt floor. He had no idea how large it was or if there was a way out. He looked up, afraid he might not be able to climb out and what that would mean for Livie.

Pushing aside the panic, he knelt to run his flashlight beam under the boards that had collapsed with his weight. If it was a basement, there had to be a way out. Dropping into an awkward crawl, his ankle aching in pain, he moved under the collapsed building until he found what he was looking for.

Ahead, he saw crumbling concrete stairs, but they, too, were blocked by debris.

The feel of a breeze on his face gave him hope that there was an opening, and he was going to be able to get out.

He moved some boards and other wreckage.

Then he shone his flashlight into the darkness.

It lit an opening a few steps above him.

He began to climb, his only thought getting to Livie.

* * *

Olivia slowed as ahead she saw the gaping black hole of the root cellar. Soon it would be over, she told herself. She rebelled at the thought, even as her mind raced for a way to save herself.

“Cody,” she said, turning to look back at him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jaden.

He’d come out of a pile of rubble below them on the hillside.

Her heart leaped, then fell. He was still too far away to help with a lot of tornado debris between them.

She had to stall. Her life depended on it.

Jaden was there. He was coming for her. “You don’t want to do this. ”

In answer, he shoved her forward. Stall , she told herself.

Do whatever you have to do, but don’t let him kill you.

Jaden is trying to get to you. She took a slow, tentative step and then another.

Jaden had found her. She didn’t know how, but she loved him for it.

Ahead, the hole loomed black in the moonlight.

A couple more steps and she would be down there in the dark.

“Stop right there,” Cody said from behind her. “Drop the bags.”

Olivia felt that spark of resistance that ran deep in her. With all her strength, she took another step and heaved both bags toward the open pit of the root cellar.

* * *

Jaden had lost crucial time. He had dragged himself out.

When he could finally stand, he realized how badly he was hurt.

He wasn’t sure how far he could walk on his ankle.

It wasn’t broken; at least, he hoped not.

As badly as it hurt to put any weight on it, he ignored the pain and headed up the hillside.

To keep from being seen, Jaden had previously been forced to stay on a winding path of tornado wreckage.