Page 28 of Engaging the Deputy (Silver Stars of Montana #3)

Now, though, he had no choice but to leave behind any cover and charge up the hillside as best he could with his ankle wanting to give out.

He could see that Cody and Livie were almost to the dark abyss of the root cellar.

If Cody saw him, Jaden had no doubt that the man would use Livie as a shield and start firing.

All Jaden could hope was that Cody wasn’t much of a marksman.

That was when he saw Livie turn and look in his direction. Earlier, he’d thought they’d both seen him. But this time, it was just Livie. There was no doubt that she saw him.

Cody shoved her toward the open pit. Jaden tried to run up the hill, but his ankle turned and he fell, crashing into more debris. He ground his teeth, the pain so intense he thought he would black out. The moment it passed, he was on his feet again.

Up on the hill, he saw Livie throw the large bags she’d been carrying into the old root cellar. There was no doubt that she would be next. Bleeding and limping, his leg apparently hurt worse than he’d thought, he kept moving toward them. He had to get to Livie before it was too late.

* * *

“No!” Cody let out a howl of anger and misery as he watched the bags filled with his money fly through the air over the opening—and then plummet. “You stubborn, impossible woman!”

Dropping the two bags he had carried up from the stone well house, he lunged forward to strike her in the back with his fist. His momentum shoved her forward. As his money hit the bottom of the root cellar’s dirt floor, Olivia followed them down.

Propelled forward, Cody stumbled behind her, stopping so close to the unstable edge of the chasm that he almost went in after her.

He teetered there, his anger feeling as if it were eating him up inside.

If he could have gotten his hands on her neck, he would have choked the life out of her.

What had ever made him think he could love this woman?

Didn’t he recall how stubborn she’d been as a kid?

As a girlfriend? He’d told himself he liked a strong woman. Ha! he thought now.

For a moment, she didn’t move. He stood waiting to see if she took a breath. Time seemed suspended. He breathed heavily, the exertion of his anger making his chest hurt. He really could use a little something to steady himself. Once he got to the pickup, he’d dig into his supply.

Not now, though. He just had to be sure that Olivia wouldn’t be getting out of that hole alive. She still hadn’t moved. Maybe she’d hit her head. Maybe she was already dead.

Not that it mattered at this point. If she hadn’t tossed his money down there, he had planned to cave in the side of the hole and bury her alive, if that was what it took.

Then all he would have had to do was get out of Starling, get on the road, disappear before the law came after him.

He’d known it was just a matter of time the moment he’d seen Jaden at Angie’s barn.

He’d known then that it was time to leave for good.

Earlier, it had seemed so simple. Just tie up some loose ends, starting at the hardware store.

He’d made the calls to some of his associates.

He couldn’t just leave without letting his father know how he felt about him.

It had taken four of them and a dolly to remove the old floor safe where his father kept his “retirement” money.

While they were at it, they’d loaded up everything they could haul of any value. If Olivia hadn’t shown up when she had, they would have taken even more.

Now he just had to deal with this problem. He stared down at her and his bags of money and swore. “I can see that you’re breathing,” he said through gritted teeth. “Stand up.”

She made no move to do so.

“I need you to stand up. You don’t want me to come down there.”

She let out a laugh and rolled to her side. “Come on down,” she yelled as if she wanted the whole world to hear. She sounded as if the fall had knocked the breath out of her. But when she smiled up at him, he realized that the bags of money had broken her fall.

He cursed. He was pretty sure he could get back out of the old root-cellar hole, even though the rescue crew had broken a lot of the shelving in their attempt to get him out Halloween night.

“Trust me, you don’t want me to come down there,” he said, raising his voice as well.

He’d convinced himself that they were alone on the hillside.

It didn’t matter if she wanted to scream her head off.

“Oh, why not, Cody?” she shouted. “Afraid I might hurt you?”

He kicked dirt down on her, some of it hitting her in the face.

That shut her up for the moment. She seemed to have forgotten that he was still in control.

She sat up, wiping away the dirt and spitting a couple of times.

He’d taught her how to spit like a boy one day in their tree house.

She looked up at him again, defiance in her dirty face. “I’m waiting! Jump on down here!”

“Olivia, damn it, I never wanted it to end like this,” he said, trying to sound as conciliatory as possible, yet still yelling too. “I would have let you be if you hadn’t shown up at the store when you did.”

“You mean when you were stealing your father blind?”

He doubled up his fists. “Just throw the bags up to me. I won’t kill you. I’ll just leave. Maybe you can even figure out a way to climb out. Or someone will find you. I could call anonymously once I’m down the road and tell your deputy where he can find you.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Do you really expect me to believe that? What happened to you, Cody? You want everyone to feel sorry for you because you felt your father did you wrong. How about you stop making excuses for the decisions you’ve made?

You broke the law. Now you’re going to have to pay for it.

Killing me isn’t going to help. I don’t think you’re going to be able to live with the guilt.

” He gave her a smirk and kicked more dirt into the hole. This time she covered her face.

When she glanced up, he could see her eyes. They seemed lit by the moonlight. He tried not to shudder at the look in those eyes, let alone her words. “I will come back and haunt you, Cody. I promise you. You’ll never find peace for what you’re about to do.”

He took a step back. “Great speech, Olivia. Unfortunately, you’re assuming I have a conscience.

” His laugh didn’t ring true, even for him.

“I don’t. So come to me in my dreams all you want.

You don’t scare me.” He pulled the gun from his pocket.

“But if you don’t throw those bags up to me right now,” he raged, “I’m going to start shooting you—not kill you, just wound you so you can lie there bleeding to death, and no one will be able to save you. ”

“You don’t think I know I’m dead no matter what? I just hope I don’t bleed all over your money, Cody,” she shouted as she pulled the closest bag to her chest, her look daring him to pull the trigger.

He took the dare.