Dying to Have Her (39 page)

Serena believed him. She turned to Jeff.

He lined his hands. “Hey, don’t look at me. I got caught up in Jane Dunne’s web. I never had anything at all going with Jinx.”

“Did you write Jane Dunne some kind of threatening note that might have made her really mad?” Serena demanded.

“I didn’t write her any kind of note at all!” Jeff said indignantly.

Headlights suddenly hit them, a car bursting straight through the gate.

“What the hell … ?” Jeff said.

“Jesus, someone is coming after
us”
Jay cried.

“It’s Liam, just Liam,” Serena murmured, but the way that the car was coining through …

“Bullshit! Liam or not, the driver is trying to hit us!” Jay stated.

“Get behind the truck, or you’ll get run over!” Jeff warned, dragging her toward it. Jay lit out for the tomb. The car came to a halt.

It wasn’t Liam who stepped from it.

Oz was a magician. He had finally managed to freeze a single frame of the film, and in it, he could see the angle of a man’s face.

Liam stared at it for a long moment.

“Recognize anyone?” Oz asked. “I can make it just a shade bigger. …”

“Jesus!” Liam breathed.

“You know the guy?” Oz asked.

Liam couldn’t answer. He was already on the phone. Sergeant Clooney was on the desk at headquarters. “I need Olsen quickly.”

“He’s gone, Liam. Sorry. So is Hutchens. He picked up your messages from Conar Markham, and then the one from Serena McCormack, saying you should get her at the Egyptian set. She had found the ‘paper’ and the ‘ref’ and something about Conar leaving and being with Jay and Jeff. It’s all written down here. Hutchens was going to try to catch up with you, but you were gone so fast—”

Liam had already dropped the phone. “Hey, Liam!” Oz called.

“Call the station. Try again for Olsen,” Liam told Oz. “Or Rigger.” He was moving as he spoke, thinking quickly. “Have one of them tracked down, insist on one of them, and send them out to the
Valentine Valley
set. Fast.”

“But, Liam—”Oz began.

Too late.

But by then, Liam was out the door.

The car came to a screeching halt.

The man who emerged from it was Bill Hutchens. He sounded upset, worried. His gun was already out of his holster, at the ready.

“Serena!” he called, sounding frantic.

“Bill! It’s all right!” she called, letting out a sigh of relief and starting to emerge from the barrier of the truck. Jay was already walking out from the tomb, probably heedless of the fact that he was carrying the fake rifle. Bill aimed his gun at Jay.

“Hey!” Serena called. “Bill, no—Jay! Get the rifle down! He’ll think—”

A shot rang out. Serena shrieked, certain Jay had been hit. But Jay had fallen to the ground and rolled, shouting out a protest. “Bill! It’s a prop—it’s gone! See, I’ve dropped it!”

The prop rifle was lying in the sand.

Bill didn’t seem to hear.

“Hey, Bill, no!” Serena cried.

A second shot was fired. Jay rose, scurrying behind a sand dune next to the main set.

“Serena!” Jeff hissed. He grabbed her, dragging her back behind the truck. She couldn’t see what was going on anymore.

“Stop! Stop! It’s a prop!” she heard Jay shouting.

But another bullet rang out and another.

Jeff had Serena’s arm in a death grip. “Jeff!” she protested. “We’ve got to stop him! He doesn’t understand that Jay was just carrying a prop—”

“He’s
firing,
Serena. Shit! Maybe the Jinx thing unnerved him completely. Maybe he’s gone nuts! We’ve got to get out of here.”

“And let him shoot Jay down?” she demanded.

Before he could answer, another set of headlights illuminated the eerie set. They heard the opening and slamming of a car door and then trampling over the sandy terrain. Scurrying. The sound seemed to come from everywhere.

People … running.

Jay?

Bill?

The headlights created huge, ominous shadows around the trucks and the set pieces. Some shadows tall and lean, some squat, like the trucks.

Footsteps, scurrying, seemed to echo from shadow to shadow.

There was a sudden burst of gunfire. It was returned. The sound seemed deafening.

“Serena!”

This time, it was Liam calling her. Desperately. She started to answer. Jeff clamped his hand over her mouth, shaking his head with panic. “We can’t have anyone know where we are!” he whispered. “They’re just firing and firing!”

Another shot rang out. Footsteps crunched the ground, coming their way. They froze together.

“Oh, Jesus! Oh, Jesus!” Jeff breathed, holding Serena close.

Suddenly, a figure loomed out of the shadows. Serena opened her mouth to scream; the sound died in her throat.

Liam appeared at the end of the truck.

He had a gun, and it was soundly in his grip, ready to fire.

“Liam!” was all she managed to whisper.

His hand shook for a moment. He came closer. She saw the relief in his eyes, though they seemed almost black in the darkness.

“Stay down!” he commanded softly.

“What the hell is going on?”

“It’s Hutchens.”

“What?” Serena whispered, incredulous.

“Hutchens, Serena. Hutchens is trying to kill you … all of us now.”

“Bill Hutchens?” she repeated incredulously.

“I told you he was firing on purpose!” Jeff hissed. “Liam, he … he might have gotten Jay.”

Liam nodded. “Just stay down, both of you!”

They heard another gunshot. Liam sidled around the end of the truck, disappearing from Serena’s view. She was sure he hadn’t gone far. Time seemed to stretch endlessly. .

Only seconds were passing in the sudden dead silence.

“Hey!” Jay called out from the tomb. “Hey, what the hell is this? I didn’t do anything! You can’t just shoot me.”

Liam called out then, distracting Bill, who must have found Jay.

“Bill!” Liam shouted. “What the hell is the matter with you? You can’t just shoot him down in cold blood! You have witnesses.”

“I’m not leaving any witnesses!” Bill Hutchens cried back.

There was an exchange of gunfire. Then …

Silence. Again, silence, stretching and stretching …

From somewhere out in the shadows and light, the sound of footsteps falling on the sand and gravel came to them again.

Eerie laughter echoed in the night.

“Did I get you, old buddy?”

Jeff stared at Serena with horror and started to move. Terrified that Liam had been hit, Serena clutched Jeff’s arm to keep him still and brought a finger to her lips. Taking care to be as silent as possible, she tried rolling under the truck again. She wasn’t going to be caught unaware again. She remained under the truck, just inching out, trying to look around as she did so.

A hand fell roughly upon her hair and nape. Her face hit the dirt, then she was dragged to her feet.

She knew before she saw his face that Bill Hutchens had her in his grip.

He pulled her up; then wrenched her back hard against his chest, keeping his fingers vised into her hair.

“Let me go, you asshole bastard!” she cried, tears stinging her eyes, fury mingling with her fear.

“Shut up!” he hissed against her ear. “Just shut up, you bitch. You’re about to get your just desserts. The Emmy of all time!”

“Let me—”

She broke off with a cry as he jerked her hair so hard that strands tore from her head.

“Hey! Liam!” he shouted out loudly. “You know, Liam, you were a buddy. I never wanted you hurt. Hell, I meant to help you. Jane was just a bitch, seducing men and discarding them in a single night. If she had died in the accident I suggested to Jinx—well, no big deal. But this one … the queen! Miss Serena McCormack! She makes you fall in love. She makes you see all the promise in the future. She’s kind, she’s nice—she gets you jobs as an extra in the movies. But that’s just it. You’re always an extra in her life. A bit player. I was there when you walked away. I was ready to be everything that she ever wanted. Except that she didn’t want me. You should have been grateful that I was getting her out of your world as well! And you!” He wrenched on Serena’s hair again so hard that involuntary tears stung her eyes. “I might have had you that night at your house when Jinxy made all those phone calls, thinking she was doing me a favor. Stupid girl. Without her, I could have gone back in. I had your key. She’d copied it for me. Slipped it right out of your purse and copied it for me. I could have gotten into your house without a soul knowing … and ended it all right there. But there you were, screaming your head off, running around. … Jinx was stupid that night. I had such an opportunity. But then, Ricardo was there, and Liam. Damn you, Liam!” he shouted suddenly and loudly. “You left the force, but hell, you’re just the conquering hero, huh? When the cops can’t find the answer, bring back Murphy. Hell, he’s the best we ever had! Well, now, you are leaving the force for good. Come out right now, or I swear, I’ll blow her brains out!”

His gun was suddenly against Serena’s temple. She could feel the cold steel. The circle of the muzzle, pressing into her flesh. Her mouth went dry. She could almost feel the heat of the bullet that could, at any second, tear through flesh and bone and end her life. …

He was trying to make Liam come out in the open. He had to kill Liam, and the others, to get away with this.

Despite her fear, she bit the hand over her mouth.

“No, Liam—”

Bill howled, but clamped his hand over her mouth again so swiftly he nearly smothered her then and there.

But Liam had already appeared. He came walking out from the tomb area—a casual stride, almost as if they were meeting for lunch.

“You missed Braden, Bill, you know. Jay is alive and well.”

“I won’t miss when I fire next time.”

“Jeff is out here, too.”

“He’ll be like hunting down a wounded doe.”

“How will you explain the fact that we’re all dead?”

“Easy. Everyone will believe that Jay, not Kyle Amesbury, was the man who goaded Jinx into her evil deeds. It all blew up out here tonight. I was trying to save Serena. Sadly, I failed, and you all died in the cross fire. Naturally, I’ll kill the others with your gun.”

“Who’s going to believe that kind of shit?”

“Hey, this is Hollywood. All kinds of shit happen here. But don’t worry. You won’t be around to find out if it did or didn’t work. You know, though, actually, I never wanted you in on this. Olsen insisted.”

“When the hell did you go so bad?”

“When? Gradually, Liam. Really gradually. A little money here for a little thing . … It’s not easy watching a bunch of assholes get rich because they’re pretty boys. Then, suddenly, you begin to realize just how much power you do have.”

“You’re a fool. Jinx was in love with you.”

“Oh, yeah, really in love. So much so that she lured me into Kyle’s great porno flicks! But I knew the cameras were there. He blackmailed me, of course, even though I didn’t think the tapes were that dangerous. But you knew, huh? You just found out recently, I assume, or you’d have been to Olsen or Rigger in a flash.”

“I’m here,” Liam said. “And you have to take me first. You know I won’t go down easy. Let Serena go.”

“Not on your life. Serena, you found what was left of that valentine I had sent Jane, didn’t you? That’s what little Jinx was whispering when she died. Funny thing—we never meant to kill Jane. But what the hell? She deserved it. But now, the paper … it could make me look bad. You see, Jinx wasn’t all there. Well, you all know that. She was so … desperate. I gave her the suggestion long before she carried it out. So I was just pissed as hell with Jane … and she winds up dead when it was Serena I wanted dead. Serena, who just wouldn’t take me seriously. I had to show her just where the real power was. The stupid paper! Jinx told me she’d gotten rid of it. But she hid it. She was crazy as a loon, but not stupid. So … where is the paper now? Um. I’m willing to bet Serena has it on her. She would give it to you first, Liam. But now … I’ll find it.”

“Bill, I’ll give you the paper,” Serena said quietly, watching Liam and desperately trying to remain as calm as he appeared to be. “You are surely hidden in the tapes. And if no one has the paper, you’re in the clear. You weren’t involved—” Serena said.

“Oh, no, I need to clean it all up. Jinx never meant to go down without me. Such a little fool. Who would have ever thought
she’d
be the one to get obsessed with me? She thought I should be there, just for her. I guess Jinx and I were both obsessed. We loved the movies … TV … fame. Look what’s it all come to? Well, I will be the only one around to watch the miniseries. No more explanations.”

“Oh, yeah, there will be explanations. Oz Davis has cleaned up one of those tapes, Bill. And your back … your clean-shaven back is in those tapes. You thought looking like a movie star could make you into one.”

“I’ll get that damned tape!” Bill swore. “You think you can always come out heads up, eh, Liam. Not this time. Conquering-hero type, it’s time to die.”

Hutchens removed the gun from Serena’s temple. He started to aim straight at Liam’s heart.

In raw panic, Serena slammed her elbow against his ribs, sobs escaping her.

Little good this can do!
Serena thought.

But God knew, maybe it did help. It threw Bill’s aim off a hair.

Liam secured the gun he had tucked into the back of his waistband.

Both men fired simultaneously. Serena screamed.

Bill fell to the earth, the impetus of his weight bearing her down with him. She struggled against him; he was no longer holding her.

She stared into his face. His eyes were open.

There was a bullet hole dead center in his forehead.

She gaped at it, smelling the powder, horrified, yet marveling at the precision. She had never known that Liam was such a perfect shot.

Bill was dead. He was still staring at her. She choked, gasping, still desperate to get away from the entangling limbs of the man who had meant to kill them all.

Liam was there then, beside her, pulling her from the dead man’s hold and into his arms.

He had never held her more tightly—or thrust her away more quickly, black eyes searching her thoroughly. “Are you all right?”