When a Secret Kills (28 page)

Elizabeth frowned. “I found them that afternoon before the party.” She licked her lips and shifted the gun. “I couldn’t believe it. He was going to kick me to the curb and take Carmen.”

“But he didn’t.”

“No, I found out just recently that he’d decided not to go through with it. It was all about appearances, you know. If he divorced me, there would have been scandal. Only at the time, I didn’t know he wasn’t going to follow through with it. And besides, after that night,” she gave a smug glance back toward Ian, “Frank wasn’t sure what I knew and he wasn’t about to ask me. Ian just played stupid. But let Frank know that if the subject of divorce came up again, the authorities would find irrefutable evidence of what really happened that night. Well, what Frank
thought
really happened that night.” She swallowed hard. “I kept waiting for the police to knock on my door and arrest me.”

Ian leaned over and whispered something in Elizabeth’s ear. Her face shifted and she motioned with the gun. “Let’s go. Enough talking.”

“Wait a minute. What about Gerald Benjamin?”

“Frank set all that up. He and Elliott thought the only way to cover up the murder was to blackmail Gerald. Only Gerald couldn’t live with what he’d done and was going to tell, so Elliott got rid of him.”

Jillian shuddered. “Was Frank’s heart attack really a heart attack or did you do something to him?”

The woman blinked. “What made you ask that?”

“I don’t know. The thought crossed my mind more than once that the person who pulled the trigger the night of the party might not want Frank to live much longer now that everything was being investigated.”

“Think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?” She tilted her head and studied Jillian. “Okay, yes, I slipped enough potassium chloride into his coffee to kill him. Another heart attack. One that would finish the job this time and no one would question it. I took a chance and got away with it.”

Jillian shuddered at the woman’s lack of remorse.

Elizabeth glanced at the clock on the wall over Jillian’s head. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Jillian asked, her mind clicking, searching for a way out.
Please, God, get me out of this.

“You’re going to disappear again. After all, you’ve done it once, what’s to keep you from doing it again?”

“Because I’m not hiding a secret anymore and Colton knows I wouldn’t leave him. Not now. How can you do that to him?”

Pain flickered briefly. “Hurting Colton is just an unfortunate turn of events.” A cruel smile twisted her lips. “Who knows? He may even thank me when he gets full custody of that cute little girl he’s grown so fond of.”

Nausea threatened. Her mind raced. What was she going to do? If it was just Elizabeth, Jillian had no doubt about her ability to overpower the woman. But add Ian into the picture and that made things a little more tricky. She needed a way out and fast.

The phone on the desk rang and they all froze. Then Jillian dove for the phone as Elizabeth lifted the weapon.

Colton listened as the line picked up and waited for the greeting.

A gunshot echoed through the line and he flinched, nearly dropping his phone. “Hey!”

Dominic shot him a sharp look as the car swerved onto the shoulder of the road before Colton jerked it back under control. He flipped the siren on and hit the gas pedal. To Dominic he said, “That was a gunshot!”

Dominic called it in, requesting backup.

Colton drove fast, but carefully, senses alert, eyes darting to make sure he saw anyone not paying attention. He pressed the gas harder and figured it would take him about another ten minutes before he could be at his uncle’s home.

Jillian hunkered down behind the desk. She’d managed to knock the old-fashioned handset off the hook onto the desk. She just prayed someone heard the shot and called the police. “Elizabeth, stop! I have a child!”

“And so do I. If I go to jail, she’ll have no one.”

“She’s twenty years old! Meg’s nine!” Jillian couldn’t believe
she was arguing about this. But as long as the woman kept talking, she wasn’t shooting.

“I’m not going to jail,” Elizabeth fairly growled. “Come out from behind that desk.”

Jillian looked for a weapon. Any weapon.

Elizabeth huffed as though tired of the game. “Ian, get her out from behind there. This is crazy. Carmen’s going to be home shortly and I need to have this mess taken care of.”

“I’m a ‘mess’ to take care of?” Jillian demanded. “Really? I’m a human being, Elizabeth! How can you just kill me so easily?”

A dark-shod male foot stepped to the edge of the desk and Jillian rose to come face-to-face with Ian. The menace in his eyes didn’t bode well for her. He reached for her and a number of self-defense moves flipped through her mind. But Elizabeth still had the gun. She held up a hand. “What do you want me to do?”

“Follow me,” Elizabeth barked.

Ian shoved her hand aside, wrapped rough fingers around her upper arm, and pulled her from behind the desk. Jillian didn’t bother to struggle. Yet. She had to get out of the confines of the office.

Elizabeth led the way, looking back over her shoulder every once in a while. And still Jillian couldn’t act in the narrow hallway, even if the gun wasn’t pointed at her right this moment. And then they were through the sunroom and out onto the porch where Elizabeth had murdered the governor.

Ian kept going. Onto the gravel walkway toward the wooded area beyond. Where were they taking her? Then she remembered the large man-made pond just ahead and fear gripped her by the throat.

Colton swung into the drive and stared at Jillian’s car. “What’s she doing here?”

He and Dominic bolted from the vehicle and raced to the front door. Colton checked it to find it unlocked. He pushed it open and
stepped inside with Dominic on his heels. “Jillian? Aunt Elizabeth? Carmen?”

The foyer echoed back at him.

He walked toward the kitchen. “Empty.”

Dominic cleared the den.

They met back in front of the sunporch.

“Look,” Dominic said. “The door’s open.”

The door leading from the sunroom to the porch stood wide. “Come on.”

Jillian stumbled on the gravel, her ankle twisting slightly. Elizabeth had moved behind her and now jabbed her with the weapon.

The pond loomed, the edge of the dock only two feet away. She stopped and whirled. “What are you planning? To shoot me and dump me in the water?”

“Works for me. Now move.”

Ian gave her a shove. Jillian stepped onto the dock, her brain whirring. No way was she just going to go quietly to her death.

“Mom?”

Elizabeth froze and turned as though in slow motion toward the gazebo. Carmen lay stretched out on the bench. She sat up, eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?”

“She’s planning to kill me,” Jillian blurted.

“Shut up!” The woman looked horrified, petrified that Carmen had seen her. To Carmen, she stammered, “It’s nothing, darling, just, um . . . some business—” She broke off at Carmen’s look of disbelief, her pointed stare at the weapon her mother had on Jillian.

Carmen walked toward them, her eyes bouncing between her mother, the gun, Ian.

“Carmen, go on up to the house and forget you ever saw this,” Ian said.

“How?” Tears shimmered in the girl’s eyes. “Like I had to try and forget what happened the night my mother shot the governor?”

Elizabeth gasped. “What? You saw?”

“Oh, I saw all right.”

Jillian moved toward the edge of the dock, her eye catching movement at the tree line. Hope rose as she tried to see who was there, but Carmen stood between the movement and her mother.

“Put the gun down, Elizabeth!” Colton yelled.

Jillian’s pulse leapt. She might survive this after all.

“No!” Elizabeth screamed as she spotted her nephew and Dominic. “No! No! No! It’s not supposed to be this way!” She turned back to Jillian. “This is all your fault!”

“Carmen, move!” Colton hollered.

The girl froze.

Elizabeth aimed the weapon and Jillian heard the crack of the gun as the water rushed up to meet her.

Colton yelled, “Drop the gun, Aunt Elizabeth! Do it! Do it now!”

Sirens finally sounded and grew closer. Backup had arrived, but it might be too late to save Jillian. Fear choked him as he kept the weapon on Ian. The man stood with his hands in sight. Carmen stayed in front of her mother.

Dominic glanced at Colton and shook his head. No shot. Agony coursed through him. “Carmen, move!”

She caught his eye and shook her head.

“Ian! On your knees, now!”

Ian dropped to his knees, hands still above his head.

To Dominic, he said, “I’m going to get Carmen out of the way, then get Jillian out of the water. You take care of the rest.” He paused. “I can’t shoot her, Dom.”

“But she might shoot you.”

“I don’t think she will. It’s a risk I’m going to have to take. We’re running out of time for Jillian.”

Dominic nodded. “Get Carmen, leave the rest to me.”

Colton moved, heart in his throat, his worry for Jillian nearly smothering him. As long as he kept Carmen between himself and the gun, he knew his aunt wouldn’t shoot. He raced out into the open, changed his mind at the last minute, and shot past a stunned Carmen. He tackled Elizabeth before she had a chance to do more than let out a ragged scream. He wrenched the gun from her hand.

Dominic approached at a rapid jog, weapon still trained on Ian. He hollered, “Get Jillian!”

Elizabeth lay wilted against the ground, the fight gone from her. Carmen knelt beside the woman, weeping.

Colton passed the gun to Dominic and hit the dock full speed ahead. Then he was in the water, which was only about six feet deep. Frantic, he looked for her. “Jillian!”

He ducked under and opened his eyes. Silence surrounded him. Murky, cloudy water hit his vision. He waded back and forth, panic building as he looked and found nothing. He came up, sucked in a deep breath, and readied himself to go back under.

“Colton!”

The air whooshed from his lungs. “Jillian! Where are you?”

“Here! Under the dock.”

He spun to see her in the water, but just under the edge of the dock, one hand raised to hang on to one of the wood crosspieces holding the dock together.

Colton swam to her and pulled her into a fierce hug. “Are you all right?” His gaze swept over her. Blond hair plastered to her face and blue eyes wide, but she was alive.

“I’m fine. The bullet missed.”

“You jumped.”

“Yeah.”

“I thought so, but I wasn’t sure. You scared me.”

“I was pretty scared myself.”

He gave her a quick, hard kiss, then said, “Let me check on Dominic.”

Jillian nodded and together they swam to the ladder at the edge of the dock and climbed up. He reached down to help her up, then he looked up to find most of the Columbia Police Department surrounding the area, along with Hunter and Katie, holding their guns on part of his family.

He shuddered. His mother would be devastated all over again. But he’d be willing to bet she’d take in Carmen.

Poor Carmen.

She sat on the ground next to her mother, who now had her hands cuffed behind her back. Carmen’s arms were wrapped around the woman’s stooped shoulders.

Ian was gone.

“Where’s Ian?”

“In the back of a squad car with two officers on him,” Dominic said. “I wanted to wait on you to see if you would help with your cousin. She’s not letting Elizabeth go and I didn’t have the heart to pry her away.”

Colton sighed and Jillian gave him a gentle push. “Go to her, she needs you.”

He approached Carmen and sat beside her. “We have to take her in, you know.”

“I know.” Her words were muffled against her mother’s shoulder.

“Come on, Carmen, let her go.”

A sob shook her. “I saw her that night. I saw her shoot the governor and I never said a word. It’s eaten me up inside.”

Elizabeth didn’t move, her eyes empty, vacant. She’d retreated somewhere within her mind.

Colton rubbed a hand down Carmen’s back. “You’re going to have a long journey, dealing with all this. We’ll be there to walk with you. I promise.”

Another sob ripped from her and she let go of her mother to throw her arms around his neck. He looked up at Dominic and nodded. Dominic came and hooked a hand under his aunt’s arm and helped her to her feet. She moved obediently, yet with no expression on her face.

Carmen clung to him, apparently not caring that he was soaking her. “I couldn’t say anything about that night. If I told the police the governor didn’t have an accident, then I would have to admit my mom shot him—even though she didn’t mean to. And I couldn’t do that because my dad was never around and if my mom went to jail, what would happen to me?” She looked up at him, eyes pleading. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Colton held her in a hug. “It wasn’t your fault, Carmen, you were just a kid.” He held her awhile longer as he processed what she’d said. She’d known all along. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

He looked up to see Jillian dripping tears and water, standing beside Hunter. He took Carmen by the hand and wrapped an arm around Jillian’s shoulder. Together, they made their way back up to the house.