Page 15

Chapter

Fifteen

Brex launched himself off the downed boulder and flew up the side of the cliff, using whatever crack or jagged out-hanging he could find for hand and foot holds. He was too angry at himself and the attempted murderer to be afraid of falling or feel any fear of a person that would send a boulder down to split his head open.

He was spurred on by so many emotions—anger at himself and the perp, thirst to know who’d just tried to kill him and who’d killed three other men, fear that Clara would never forgive him, longing to be accepted and loved by Clara and his Savior.

Reaching the top, he saw a flicker of a blue shirt on a slight build, a baseball hat. The person was moving fast along the slick rock.

“Stop!” he hollered.

The person glanced back. He couldn’t tell, but he could swear it was a woman.

He raced after the person. They were heading back toward the trail that he and Clara had come down earlier this morning from this very outlook. If he didn’t reach the murderer first, he or she could hurt Clara. But if it was the person who’d killed her other boyfriends, they hadn’t hurt Clara yet. She had never been the target.

The person disappeared around a large boulder. He raced toward it. Suddenly a body lurched out at him, a small person’s head connected with his chest, and he stumbled backward. He would’ve gone off the fifty-foot ledge behind him, but he spun out of the woman’s grasp, pivoted, and landed on his chest with a hard thump. His head and shoulders hung over the ledge.

“No!” the woman screamed as her legs sling-shot over the drop off. She grabbed Brex’s outstretched hand before she fell and he yanked her to a stop. His shoulder screamed at the abrupt pull of muscle and ligaments.

“Hold on,” Brex grunted, wrapping his other hand around her forearm. “I’ve got you.” He lay face down, arms, shoulders, and chest over the edge of the cliff. Her weight and momentum inched his upper body the wrong direction. He tried to dig in with his feet, but the sand and the slick rock gave him nothing to dig into.

“Please,” she begged.

He looked down into her face. “Jane?”

Jane’s blue eyes were wild.

Brex slipped farther, his feet not gaining any purchase.

“I’m sorry,” she screamed. “It was for Weston. I’m so sorry.”

He’d known Weston was the perp. He’d known it. The guy had forced the innocent, guileless Jane to do his dirty work. What a scum.

“Jane! We’re both going to go over if we don’t change the trajectory.” He was sliding slowly, but still sliding. Unless he released her, he couldn’t stop the movement. “On three, I’m going to swing you to my left, your right. Swing your body that way. I’ll lift you up here.” He didn’t know if it would work, but he wasn’t letting her go and he wasn’t going over that edge. Fifty feet down and headfirst, he’d definitely be dead.

“One … two … three!”

He swung her to the left, and her legs flung up toward the safe space. He realized he had to release her, and as he did, he lobbed her up onto the safety of the ledge. Thankfully she was light enough that it worked.

The momentum shoved his body toward the ledge. He scrambled with his hands and feet, trying to push backward.

He was able to get on an angle but it didn’t stop the momentum. He was going to go over.

Brex said a prayer in his mind as his body slid rapidly toward the drop off. Fifty feet … he might survive. But with rock and the uneven surface down below … probably not.

“No!”

Hands grasped his left arm, torso, and leg. Two pairs of feminine hands, yanking him back toward safety. Inch by agonizing inch. He glanced back and saw Jane and Clara each tugging on him, leaning back and gritting their teeth.

He was able to scramble with them, using his free hand and leg. Then he was on his knees and wrapping Clara up tight, ushering her away from the edge and away from Jane.

The dust settled, and he leaned against a rock with his back, clinging to Clara. They all sat there, panting for air for a few beats.

Clara stared up at him. “You’re all right?”

“I’m all right.”

“Thank the good Lord and all His angels. I’ve never sprinted up an incline so fast in my life.” Her beautiful jade eyes grew bright. Tears crested her eyelids, and she buried her head in his chest and let out a shuddering sob.

He held her close, keeping his focus on Jane.

The woman didn’t appear to be a threat. She lay in a crumpled heap, sobbing. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“Jane.” Brex’s voice was too sharp. He tried to temper it. “You’re okay. I’m okay. It’s over. Calm down.”

Jane kept crying but seemed to calm marginally.

Brex glanced at Clara. “Your prayer. You coming for me. It was miraculous that you could run that fast. You saved my life.” He wanted to kiss her long and hard, but he had to get Jane to the authorities first. The woman obviously wasn’t right in her mind, but she’d helped Weston kill Clara’s boyfriends. He hadn’t seen that coming. He’d believed there was no killer, or that it was Weston.

“I love you,” Clara said. She arched up and kissed him fiercely.

He let himself savor her mouth moving urgently against his for a few beats, but then he had to break the kiss and usher her head to his chest. There would be time to kiss her and tell her he loved her. Later. He hoped.

“We’ve got to get Jane to the authorities and riddle this mess out,” he said. Helping Clara stand, he studied her. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she said, but her voice was weak and her lower lip trembling. “Okay, no. Not really.”

“It’ll be okay,” he tried to reassure her, but it made him sick that seemingly harmless Jane had been the perpetrator.

He pulled out his phone and called 911. Jane and Clara both watched him as he reported the crime, telling the police to bring Weston Darrough to the station, and to send officers to come meet them at the trailhead.

“Not Weston’s fault,” Jane whimpered over and over again. The poor girl was so deluded and misused. “I’m sorry, Clara.”

“Jane,” he commanded, keeping the call open but sliding it into his pocket. “We’re going to walk down the trail. You’re going to stay in front of us and don’t make any sudden moves.” Brex edged even farther away from the ledge.

Jane obeyed and stood, her legs trembling. She slowly walked in front of them. He held onto Clara’s elbow to steady her, and they followed.

His mind spun through the events of the past twenty minutes. He’d almost died. Both women had saved him. It was a miracle. Maybe God and Clara could both forgive him.

He glanced askance at Clara. Her hair was a mess, her face was mottled with tears as she turned red-rimmed eyes to him. He saw love there, but also confusion and suspicion. He’d just admitted that he’d been lying to her the entire time they knew each other. And she’d just found out her two best friends had killed her three boyfriends. She had to be a mess. If only he could hold her and comfort her, share how deeply he loved her.

“I’m sorry,” Jane suddenly wailed from in front of them. They were to the spot he’d revealed the truth to Clara, where the boulder pushed by Jane would’ve landed on his head. He glanced down and saw the jade stone winking up at them next to the boulder.

“You tried to kill me.” Brex put his phone on speaker so the 911 operator could record if this was a confession.

“I’m sorry. You nice to Clara and love her. I didn’t want to hurt you too. But Clara choose you over us. Weston so sad last night. I have to help him. He’s my Weston.”

Weston. That scum. He couldn’t even kill the men himself but sent disturbed Jane to do his dirty work.

“Jane.” Clara’s voice was soft. “Did you kill Harrison, Kyle, and Malik?”

“No Harrison,” she said, walking in front of them and not looking back. “Accident on his bike. No me. Jade stone.” She shrugged. “Gave me idea when you date Kyle. Weston sad and Kyle not nice. I remember Harrison die, jade stone. I find his climbing thing in car at your house. I use my brother’s knife, make little cuts. I follow you. Leave jade stone and pray he falls.” She admitted all of this in a dull voice.

“And Malik?” Clara asked, her voice more dull than Jane’s. “You pushed him off the cliff at Angel’s Landing?”

“Yeah. He never think me hurt him. Surprised I was there. I push and the rain help make it slick. I drop jade stone as he fall. His family.” She shuddered. “Meanies. No like you. He no good for you.” She looked back. “You see? Weston love you. Please.” She stopped walking and faced them. “Love Weston.”

“Jane.” Clara looked as sick and pale as when she’d vomited after Brex chased and confronted the middle-aged mom with cancer. “You need help. You don’t kill people because you love your best friends and want them together. I don’t love Weston. I love Brex.”

Jane’s eyes went wild. “No! You love Weston.”

“I’ll never love Weston. I love Brex.”

Brex’s body warmed. Clara had said it twice, even after he’d hurt her so deeply. He stared down at her, so in love and wishing he could tell her everything that was in his heart.

Movement caught his eye. Jane launched herself at Brex, a flash of silver revealing a knife in her hand.

Clara screamed.

Brex pushed Clara to the side. The knife plunged into his bicep. The sharp bite of pain made his stomach flip over.

He yanked the knife out and tossed it, grabbing Jane and flipping her to face away from him, pinning her hands behind her back. Blood trailed down his arm from the wound. It stung but had missed any arteries. He’d be fine.

Jane thrashed and screamed, “No! Weston and Clara! Weston and Clara!”

Jane had instinctively helped Clara pull him back to safety, but now she was flipping out again. What had Weston done to her? The poor girl was literally insane. No one had suspected her because of her innocent guile. It was heartbreaking and disturbing.

“It’s over, Jane.”

He looked over at Clara. She stood and brushed off, scraped but okay. He wished he could hold and support her, but he had to control the writhing Jane.

“No! Weston and Clara! Please!”

Brex couldn’t believe the brainwashing this woman had endured. Even with two deaths and one attempted murder on her head, she’d get an insanity plea and be put in a home that could help her. But Weston wouldn’t. That scum was going to prison.

“Are you all right?” he asked Clara, feeling inept as a boyfriend as he watched more tears streak down her face.

“No.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said over Jane’s cries.

She only shrugged and focused on his wound. Pulling tissue out of her pack, she hurried over and held a wad of Kleenex against his wound.

He glanced down at her. She was a ministering angel, as always. Her jade-colored eyes were full of sadness as she glanced up at him. He’d lied to her. She had to feel betrayed by him, and now her two best friends had also betrayed her.

Ah, Clara.

If only he could fix this mess. But how could he take back the lies and gain her trust?