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Nicole. Let’s just say the death she’d met at the hands of Brett hadn’t been a good one. Parts of her had been skinned, and her midsection was missing half its guts, along with its skin and muscle and tendon.
I tore my gaze away from Nicole and looked all around, and off to the side, I saw another body. I rushed to her side, falling to my knees as I breathed out her name: “Brianna.” On her back, her eyes closed, not moving an inch, she looked dead, but when I checked her pulse, I felt her heart beating.
She wasn’t dead.
As I cradled her body against my chest and checked for any wounds, I made a few more calls. I had a crew I could put on Brett’s tail. The bloody handprint on the door must’ve been his blood, and with this, we’d have enough to go after him, get a warrant out for his arrest, free Gareth and absolve him from all implication in any of these crimes. I’d have Brett’s house watched like a fucking hawk. If he went back there to stitch himself up, we’d have him.
I didn’t know what happened, but after my calls were done, my eyes spotted an empty syringe on the ground, not too far from where we sat. If I had to guess, I’d say Brett had drugged her, but she’d managed to hurt him worse, which got him on the run.
“Brianna,” I spoke her name again, shaking her gently, trying to wake her up. “Come back to me, Brianna.” Depending on what was in her system, it might be impossible for her to wake up so soon. I had no idea what he’d given her.
We couldn’t leave this barn yet. We needed all of the evidence in this barn, including Nicole’s body. I pinged my location to Rick and told him to send a squad car and an ambulance my way. He tried calling me, and I answered, but all I told him was, “She’s fine.” And then I hung up.
All of my attention had to be on her. Rick had to understand that.
Ironically, it wasn’t until I heard sirens in the distance that Brianna stirred. Her eyelids cracked open, and she stared up at me with a hazy look. I had no idea if she was conscious, if she’d remember any of this or not, but regardless, I told her, “You’re okay. I got you.” Things didn’t work out quite like I’d wanted them to, but at the very least, we could pin everything on Brett now.
It was only a matter of time before someone saw him and we got him. I probably wouldn’t be able to dish out the kind of justice I preferred, but that was all right. Sometimes you had to make sacrifices. Sometimes you were forced to.
“Alistair?” Brianna breathed out my name… or tried to. The letters weren’t fully enunciated; she slurred it pretty badly. “I got him,” she murmured. “A bone.”Her eyelids fluttered closed after that.
“A bone?” I asked, and even though I didn’t want to take my eyes off her, I did just that. Glancing around, I spotted a red bone laying on the ground, something I’d neglected to notice before. My eyes were drawn back to Nicole’s hanging body, and I counted her exposed ribs, finding one was missing.
Ah, so Brianna had stabbed Brett with one of her mother’s ribs. Fitting. Nicole had never done anything to keep her daughter safe, she’d never really cared for her at all, but in death, her body had proven useful.
Flashing lights outside alerted me to the fact that the authorities had arrived. A sheriff raced inside, gun drawn, and when he saw Nicole’s body hanging in the back of the barn, he gagged.
“Over here,” I called him, and since my face was the most well-known face in Eastcreek, he recognized me immediately. He raced over, kneeling beside us, and he did the same thing I had when I first saw Brianna: he checked her pulse.
He radioed in something, and then he looked at me. “Ambulance is two minutes away. What happened?”
“Brett Banks kidnapped her from the vigil. I got here moments before you did.” A little bit of a fib, but a necessary one. “I think he drugged her with something.” Brianna was out cold again, which was why I had to say, “She said she got him with a bone.” I nodded my head towards the rib on the ground, and the sheriff glanced at it and swore under his breath. He was seconds from relaying what I’d said into the radio, but I stopped him by telling him, “Rick already knows.”
The sheriff looked at Nicole. “We got any idea who the vic is?”
Right, now was my time to act like a husband whose wife had been murdered and whose stepdaughter had narrowly avoided death herself. I blinked and looked down, acting as though I couldn’t bear to gaze at Nicole’s body. “That’s… that’s my wife.”
“Shit.” The sheriff got to his feet, gave me a pat on the back, and then wandered over to look at her up close.
Things turned even more hectic after that. The ambulance arrived, and they took Brianna to the hospital. They couldn’t touch Nicole until the crime scene investigators came and took pictures and all the other evidence they’d need. I drove separately to the hospital, needing to stay by Brianna. There was no use in remaining at that barn with Nicole’s corpse.
The doctors didn’t know what Brett had given her, some kind of sedative, which they’d said would wear off soon. They gave her fluids to speed up the process, so her body could pump through the stuff quicker.
I sat beside her, watching her and waiting. Rick was on his way with Gareth. It was obvious to everyone that Nicole’s body fit with the others. He’d pulled some strings to get him released sooner, but the official story was that Neo had found out about his cousin’s crimes, and Brett had killed him and set the fire himself while trying to frame Gareth.
It wasn’t the perfect cover-up, but it was one most everyone would be more than willing to believe. After all, Gareth was a Montgomery, and there was no way a Montgomery would ever be a killer.
If only they knew.
Brianna stirred, and I snapped back to reality, watching as her dark gray eyes opened. Her brows furrowed, and she took in the hospital room she was in. Groaning, her head rolled in my direction, and the corners of her lips curled into a small smile. “Alistair,” she breathed out my name like a prayer on her tongue.
I wanted to hold her, to feel those lips on mine, but the door was open, and anyone could walk in, so all I could do was hold her hand and give her a supportive look.
“Did you—” She stopped when I shook my head, and to say she appeared crestfallen would be the year’s worst understatement. To see the hope dashed from her, it made something in me ache. I didn’t like disappointing her.
“No,” I whispered. “We haven’t gotten him yet. Rick found his car abandoned on the side of the road, and he put an APB on him. Every sheriff in the county will be looking for him. It’s only a matter of time until they get him.” Neo’s parents would continue to be watched, and Brett’s home a few counties away would be torn apart for evidence.
That asshole wouldn’t be able to show his face in public without being thrown onto the ground and handcuffed.
