Page 32

Special Agent Fallon Baxter

Ascream echoes around the room as I do my best to pin Vanessa down, but she spins around and butts her head to mine with violent force. The dark room we’re in spins and wobbles as my vision goes in and out.

She reaches over and clamps her hand over the gun and I squeeze my eyes shut a moment, trying to gain my bearings as the room continues to spin like a top. I’m still dizzy from the first blow to the head, the second felt just about lethal.

Vanessa clamps her hand around the handle of my Glock, and just like that, she has the upper hand once again.

“Get over there,” she pants as she wags the gun for me to join Brittney on the bed and I stagger in that direction, seeing double all the way. “You had to muck things up. You and Jackie. I was sort of hoping I dealt you a fatal blow. I couldn’t think of a better way to break Jackie’s heart than by having his girlfriend rot away in the trunk of my mother’s car.”

“You did all this for Derek?” I shake my head as I land next to Brittney with a thud.

“Shocking, isn’t it?” Brittney snips and I shoot her a look. Although it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have started with the Derek bashing.

“I loved him for as long as I could remember,” Vanessa shouts, gripping the gun with both hands. “We were going to get married. He said he loved me! But you and those little slut friends of yours had to go and ruin everything.” She points the barrel shakily at Brittney. “You did this to me. You took the man who would have been my husband away. You took our children away. You took the happy life we would have had together and you stomped on it for nothing. I never did anything to any of you. I didn’t deserve this.”

“You’re right,” Brittney says, her frame looks emaciated even in this frail light. “We did it. Robin led the charge and we followed like a bunch of cold-hearted lemmings. I’m sorry, Nessa. I really am.”

“Why did you wait so long?” I ask a little too sharply. I really need to work on that, especially considering the fact she has me staring down the barrel of my own gun.

Vanessa’s chest bucks with a silent laugh. “I waited for Derek. I waited for him to come home from prison. I even helped him come up with that lame story about working construction with his uncle out East. I told him I’d take him back. I went to his bar night after night, trying to convince him that we were good together. That I forgave him and that we needed to have our moment, build our family. But he wouldn’t have it. He said our time came and went in high school. Then my mother died. She was the only person who really cared about me. That’s when I truly lost everything.” Her voice breaks. “Then when I got the invitation to the reunion, I had all of these revenge fantasies playing out on a loop. And then one night, I thought why not? Why not make all of my dreams come true? After all, I have nothing to lose. I had already lost all the things I wanted.”

The floorboards creak above us.

Vanessa looks up and I don’t hesitate to pounce on her once again, this time binding her wrists over her head as my gun goes flying. I flip her over onto her belly and jam her arms down over her back until she howls in pain.

“Everybody freeze,” a deep voice thunders and I look up to see Jack with his weapon positioned.

Nikki drops in behind him, beaming a light this way, and soon Vanessa Copeland is in handcuffs.

Within minutes, the place is swarmed with Hale and the rest of the team, the sheriff’s department, and a rash of EMTs and firetrucks.

Nikki and I sit with Brittney while the fire department helps free her from her chains.

“There’s Freddy,” she cries as she points to the corner. “Can you get him for me?”

Nikki shines the light from her phone that way and all we see is a fat, hairy rat.

“Geez.” I jump to the bed and Nikki and a few of the firefighters have a good laugh. “It just stunned me, that’s all.”

“That’s one of the cuties that Nessa threw in the room to scare me.” Brittney sighs as one of the firefighters scoops it up and brings it to her. “Hey there, little guy.” She pats the furry creature on his little head. “I would offer to bring you home and keep you and Melvin forever, but I sort of know what it feels like to be locked up against your will. I think we’ll part ways here. Thanks for keeping me company.”

The firefighter offers a solemn nod. “How about I free him out in the woods? Does that sound good?”

“That sounds perfect,” she says.

“I got the other one,” someone shouts, and soon both rats are on their way to freedom.

A gurney is rolled in and Nikki and I take that as our cue.

“Wait.” Brittney holds her hands out to me. “Can I hug you? I’ll never forget the way you stormed in here. It’s nice to know someone actually cared.”

“We both cared,” I tell her as she pulls me and then Nikki in for a group embrace. “Everybody cared.”

Nikki and I make our way out of the cabin and the lights from the patrol cars cut into the night with a blue and red seizure.

We spot Jack over by one of the sheriff’s vehicles with Vanessa sitting inside of it and head that way.

Jack pulls me in tight without hesitation and rubs his cheek against mine hard. His hot breath scorches my neck, and for a second his lips graze over my temple.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ve got a wild headache.” A dull laugh bounces through me. “But I’ll live.”

“We’re getting you checked out,” Nikki insists. “We need a medic!”

I lean into the car for a moment. “How did you do it? How did you manage to kidnap Brittney and kill Robin in one afternoon? You never grazed yourself with a bullet either. That’s why those sisters never heard a third gunshot. There wasn’t one. Everything was a setup from start to finish.”

The execution was poor, but we all have that to be thankful for.

Vanessa gives a sorrowful attempt at a laugh. “I thought maybe you might think the two cases were unrelated. I wanted to splice your resources, send you in two different directions, and point both arrows at Derek. I guess I did a lousy job.”

“Not true,” Jack says. “We just did better.” He pulls me back to him, gentler this time, and the tip of his nose touches mine and we linger there for a moment. His heart pounds against my chest, keeping in time to mine. “Let’s get you into one of these ambulances. I’ll hop in with you. I sort of enjoy the ride.”

Jack rides with me all the way to Aspen Heights Memorial, and all the way there he holds my hand.

I don’t fight him on it, so clearly I have a concussion.