Dead Wrong (39 page)

“Quickly, though.” She ran up the steps. “Quickly.”

She struggled into her clothes and tied her old running shoes with trembling fingers. How could Spike have gotten off the deck? He’d never done that before.

“He must have followed something,” she said as she ran out the door without waiting for Aidan.

“Hold up, will you?” he called after her.

“Hurry up, please,” she begged. “There are bears out there, mountain lions, badgers . . . even raccoons will go after a dog if they think their young are threatened.”

“Don’t get yourself into a panic.” He handed her one of the flashlights he’d found in the garage. He’d lost what she’d considered precious seconds while he looked for replacement batteries when he discovered that neither of them worked. “Which way?”

“Let’s start out over the ridge there.” She took off, calling the dog’s name, shining the light around her with every step.

They searched for almost an hour in the dark, stumbling along, Mara becoming more and more distressed with every minute that passed.

Finally, Aidan suggested they go back to the house and resume the search in the morning.

“I can’t leave him out here.” She began to cry.

“Sweetheart, we’ve been looking for him since midnight. It’s almost one in the morning. We’ve called him and called and we haven’t heard a sound. Maybe he chased something—maybe another dog came along and he couldn’t resist. Maybe he’s off in the hills and he’ll find his way back when his little adventure is over. He could just be out having a fun time. But I don’t think walking all over the hills, stumbling around in the dark, is going to do much good. If he’d heard us, he’d have come running. I think he’s out of earshot now, and I think when he’s had his fill of whatever it is he’s doing, he’ll come back on his own.”

“Do you really think so?”

“I do.” He took her hand and tugged on it. “Come on. Let’s head back to the cabin.”

They started down the trail, the twin beams lighting the way. Coming down the slope from the rise above the cabin, Mara realized that Aidan had slowed slightly and his gait had become uneven.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Sure.”

“No, you’re not. Your leg is bothering you, isn’t it?”

“Actually, it’s my hip.”

“I’m so sorry. Here I am, dragging you through the dark, up and down hills, over rocks . . .”

“I’m okay.”

“I’m so sorry, Aidan. I wasn’t thinking of anything except Spike. . . .”

“Mara, I’ll be fine. I just need to sit for a few, maybe with my leg elevated a little. And don’t apologize. I want to find him as much as you do.”

The lights from the cabin appeared all the more bright in the vast black canvas that surrounded them. Mara and Aidan climbed the steps more slowly than they had earlier descended.

“Aidan,” Mara said when they reached the deck. “Aidan, his leash is gone.”

Aidan stopped on the top step. “How could his leash be gone?”

“I don’t know, but I hung it right here, over the rail, after we came back from that last walk, remember?”

“It probably slipped off the rail and fell to the ground. We’ll look for it in the morning. We’ll never find it tonight.”

He opened the door and coaxed her back inside.

“Leave the door open so that we can hear him if he comes back and barks for us to open the gate,” she said, and seeing his hesitation, added, “It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about someone sneaking around here in the middle of the night. There’s no one around for miles except for us.”

Aidan went into the kitchen and came back out with the bottle of wine in his hand. He refilled her glass and handed it to her. Then he stoked the fire and built it up with several small logs, hoping to banish the chill that had settled into the room.

“Here, come sit with me here.” He sat in the middle of the sofa and held out his hand.

“I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t find him,” she said as she sat down, tears welling in her eyes.

He put an arm around her and drew her to him, snug next to his body.

“We’ll find him. Tomorrow. We’ll go out first thing, when it’s light. Maybe we’ll find some trail, some sign of which way he’s gone. But we’ll find him.”

Mara rested against him, taking an occasional sip of wine. His fingers traced from her elbow to her shoulder, and when he realized she had goose bumps, he asked, “How ’bout I find us a few blankets, since we’re leaving the door open and the temperature’s dropped below fifty?”

“There’s a closet right off the hall. We keep extra blankets in there.”

He went to the closet and returned with several blankets and a pillow. Making a makeshift bed on the sofa, he lay down and pulled her alongside him, tucking the blankets around them both like a cocoon. They lay awake, watching the shadows from the fire dance around the room.

“I got Spike for Julianne,” she told him, her voice weak. “She had wanted a dog so badly, but Jules wouldn’t let her have one. He didn’t believe in having animals live in the house. After he took her, I got the dog to surprise her, when she came home. . . .”

“We’ll find him, Mara. First thing in the morning. We’ll find him,” he promised, and hoped he was right.

After lying awake for several hours, Mara finally eased herself from Aidan’s embrace and stood up quietly. She walked to the window and looked out. The sun had yet to rise.

She debated on whether to wake Aidan, then decided against it. His leg had clearly been bothering him the night before. She couldn’t ask him to walk the often steep paths she’d be following in her search for Spike, though she knew he’d not think twice about joining her if she asked him.

Mara went into the bathroom for a quick shower, then dressed, not bothering to dry her hair before heading out the door. She couldn’t stand the thought of her little dog out there all night amidst all the dangers that lurked in the woods. And he just didn’t have the sense to back down from a threat. He was pretty fearless, even when he was threatened.

She shivered as she thought about all the things that could have threatened him during the night and wondered what had led him away from the cabin in the first place.

The first light of day was just beginning to spread over the hills when she stepped outside and scanned the scenery for movement, but she saw nothing other than a few birds. She decided to start with the ridge that rose behind the cabin and continued on for a half mile to the west. At that point, the trail led down to the waterfall and, beyond that, to a narrow valley.

She took several steps toward the ridge, but as she walked past the mailbox, she noticed the hollow stem of a dandelion wedged between the box and the little door. She opened the box and took out the flower, expecting to find something old and dried, left long ago. But the flower was recently picked, the yellow petals still dropping pollen on the inside of the box, where it had lain.

Confused, she twirled the stem. Annie?

But Annie wasn’t there, her car wasn’t there. Had she been at the cabin earlier in the day, before Mara and Aidan arrived? If so, why had she left without leaving a note? Why hadn’t she waited for them?

Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked once. Twice.

Had it been Spike? And from which direction?

Maybe there, toward the falls . . .

Three-quarters of the way to the falls, she came across bear scat, and her heart dropped. Praying that Spike had not had a run-in with the bear who’d left the droppings, she paused, for the first time considering the wisdom of having gone out alone, unarmed. She was never armed, she reminded herself, and she’d hiked these trails for years by herself or in the company of her sister. She’d never been in danger here before.

She paused to listen, but heard neither bear nor dog. She resumed her search, calling Spike’s name as she walked along the trail, hoping he’d hear her voice and bark in response.

On she walked, cautiously, until she reached the head of a ravine.

“Oh, my God . . .” she gasped.

Scrambling down the sloping, rocky sides of the ravine, she reached the car that was hidden there. It was unlocked, but she didn’t have to look inside to know whose car it was.

Annie’s.

Cold fear wound around her chest and threatened to squeeze the life from her.

Panic set in. Her sister. Her dog . . .

She knew without knowing who was responsible. The realization froze her where she stood as terror invaded every cell in her body.

How could he have found her? How could he have known about the cabin? How . . . ?

Aidan. Aidan would know what to do.

A rustle of leaves behind her, a happy bark.

Spike!

She backed away from the car and turned to run in the direction of the sound.

And slammed into the chest of the man who stood behind her, a look of vast amusement on his face. A joyful Spike leapt on the ground at his feet, barking and whining for her attention. She was too stunned to move.

Unaware of his part in leading her into danger, Spike danced his happy dance, begging to be picked up. Keeping her eyes on the man, she lifted the dog and held him as tightly as she could.

“Now, I couldn’t have done a better job finding you, could I?” The man smiled pleasantly. “After all this, you come to me. How perfect is that?”

“Where’s my sister, Channing?” she asked, even as Spike licked at her face.

“Oh, and isn’t she a direct little thing? No games for little Miss Mara, uh-uh. Right to the point.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s waiting for you to join her.”

“Did you hurt her?”

“My, aren’t you the good sister? Here you are, trapped in the woods with the likes of me, and your first concern is for your sister. I am impressed.”

“Why did you steal my dog?”

“Because I wanted him. I’m keeping him.”

“Are you keeping Annie, too?”

“Maybe. At least for now.”

“Where is she?”

“I’m going to take you to her.”

“How did you find this place?”

“Now, that was strictly a bit of luck on my part.” He grinned. “Actually, I’d say my luck’s been running pretty damn good lately, wouldn’t you? Maybe I should buy some lottery tickets or something. It seems I’ve got the magic touch these days.”

He reached for her arm as if to take it, and she recoiled.

“Oh, no, no, no,” he laughed. “You don’t have a choice in this. And let’s get something straight right off the bat, since you seem to prefer candor. I am going to kill you. And yes, of course, I’m going to kill Annie. And your boyfriend, well, he’s disposable. If my luck holds out, I can make it look like he did you both. Wouldn’t that be a kick?”

He nodded as he contemplated the ways in which he could do this. “Yes, that’s the way to go, I think. I’m sorry. I really am. It’s just the way the cards played out.”

“I don’t understand. I don’t even know you. Why would you want to kill me?” She held the dog closer, afraid to move.

“Like I said, it’s the way the cards played out.”

“Those other women . . . the Marys . . .”

“Oh, unfortunate for them, wasn’t it, that little misunderstanding? Though I must say I didn’t mind. The one woman, the older one, she wasn’t much fun, particularly, but all the same, it was an evening out.”

“An evening out . . .” she repeated softly, horrified.

“And today is a new day.” He reached for her arm with one hand. The other brandished a knife, the blade of which was long and wide, the edge of which gleamed. “Today is your day, Mara Douglas. Yours, and mine . . . and Annie’s . . .”

Mara’s heart began to pound so loudly and so furiously she almost expected it to leap from her chest. Hands shaking, knees weakening, brain fogging . . .

Get a grip!
she demanded of herself. If she gave in to the fear, she’d panic, and he’d win. She had one chance, and one chance only, to survive.

Unfortunately, that one chance was still sleeping on the sofa, back at the cabin.

Aidan awoke with the sun in his eyes. He yawned and eased both legs out straight on the sofa. Something in his tired brain sensed that if Mara had been there, he’d have no room to stretch. He sat up and looked around the room.