“I did,” Kate whispered.
Rachel scooped a handful of dirt and lunged toward Brenda, tossing the dirt in her face. The woman’s shock distracted her just enough for Rachel to smack her squarely in the face. In panic and confusion, Brenda pulled the trigger and fired her gun. Rachel grabbed hold of Brenda’s hand and wrestled the gun free.
Georgia blinked and moved to Annie and rolled her on her back. Brenda’s bullet had caught her squarely in the chest.
Nikki/Annie looked up at Georgia, her eyes panicked and lost. “Where’s Rudy? He takes care of me.”
Georgia smoothed her hand over her hair, knowing the injury was fatal. Her expression pained and panicked, she smoothed trembling fingertips over thin gray hair.
“He’s coming,” Georgia said. “He’s coming.”
Kate pulled a gun from her blankets and leveled it on Rachel as Deke burst through the line of woods. He instantly assessed the scene. His gaze zeroed in on the threat: Kate’s gun.
“Drop the weapon!” he shouted, his voice cutting through the air.
Kate didn’t respond.
Deke fired. The bullet struck Kate in the chest, and she fell back, dead.
“Momma!” Brenda wailed.
He quickly cuffed Brenda as more uniformed officers burst through the woods. He looked to Rachel, who cradled her arm, and then Georgia. “Georgia, are you all right?”
Georgia wept. “This is Annie.”
“What?” Deke asked.
Georgia stroked the woman’s hair. “That’s what Kate called her.”
Rachel hugged her injured arm, wishing she did not want Deke to hold her. She understood Georgia needed her brother and, in this moment, she was alone.
Deke looked at the dead woman, his anger clear and cutting. As uniformed officers burst into the clearing he said, “Get Georgia away from here.”
Georgia tensed. “I can’t leave her like this.”
Rachel moved to Georgia and said softly, “She’s gone. She’s gone.”
Georgia glanced up at her with red-rimmed eyes all but jumping off her pale face. Deke wrapped a strong arm around Georgia and helped her stand. As they moved away from the bodies, more uniformed officers gathered. A screaming Brenda was hauled away and EMTs summoned.
Deke wanted to pull Rachel in his arms but he’d never seen Georgia so weak and rattled. A uniformed officer approached Rachel. He couldn’t hear what was said but watched as the officer guided Rachel away.
He’d made a connection with her. He’d imagined with Rachel the future might be different. But the job had tugged at the fragile connection until it frayed. In the past, he’d have let the threads unravel but the thought of it now made him hollow and aching. “Georgia.”
Tears welled in her eyes as she raised her chin. “Go to her. I’m fine.”
“You aren’t.”
She closed her eyes, hesitated and then looked at him. “I can survive a few minutes alone. Go.”
Deke touched Georgia’s face and then turned and jogged to Rachel as the EMTs readied to raise her stretcher into the ambulance. He cupped her face, staring into dark eyes already dulled by painkillers. “Rachel.”
“Deke.”
He leaned forward and kissed her on the lips. “You’re going to be all right.”
Rachel squared her shoulders but the act of bravado cost her pain. “I’m always all right. Bouncing back is what I do.” The loneliness coating the words tore at him. She’d lived apart and alone too long.
“I’ll be there for you.”
Her head tilted as she searched his gaze. “You said being there is not your thing.”
He traced her jaw with the calloused edge of his thumb. “Not this time. This time it is my thing.”
Epilogue
Six weeks later
A special day should be filled with bright sunshine. It should be warm and the birds should have been singing. It’s how Rachel had always imagined the day when her brother would have been released from prison.
But that day had never come and this day was gray and cold as the granite walls of the prison. Rachel sat in the car, watching the rain droplets slide down the windowpane.
Rachel shifted in her seat as her shoulder throbbed. It had been four weeks since her surgery and her arm still ached on cold and damp days. The doctors had said it could take a few more weeks before she was up and running and they’d advised her against the trip. But she’d refused all advice and concerns.
She peered from the dark SUV, staring at the gates of the prison. She could have gone inside but Kirk Jones had asked if he could go in and get his father, Jeb. Happily, she’d agreed.
Seconds ticked, as she watched the gates and when she thought they’d never move, they opened and Kirk Jones walked out with his ailing father at his side. Jeb could barely walk these days and required a wheelchair but he’d insisted on walking out of prison.
The old man raised his face to the gray sky and closed his eyes. There wasn’t much sun to be had today but Jeb lapped it up as if starved. Kirk opened the car door of the Jones garage truck. Jeb looked past the car to Rachel, raised a trembling hand to her and smiled. She smiled, raised her own hand and watched Jeb get into the passenger seat.
KC had been devastated by Brenda’s lies. And when Deke had talked to him, he’d admitted he’d met her in the prison. When Brenda had made a move on him, he’d been so damn flattered he’d not questioned her or the affair. Weeks before the vigil, he had complained to Brenda about Rachel’s DNA request. He’d also admitted to Deke that he’d shared with Rudy case information on Annie Dawson’s case.
Rudy had been arrested after Annie’s identity had been confirmed and he’d confessed that he had found Annie soon after Kate had beaten her so badly. He’d not called the cops but had taken her back to his bar and nursed her. He admitted that he’d always loved her and had wanted her for himself.
Annie had never really recovered from her head injury. Her memories had been destroyed and her thoughts never able to focus again. But Rudy had resolved to take care of her. For weeks he’d kept her in the second floor of his bar, tending her as cops and patrons flooded the downstairs bar.
When KC came into Rudy’s all those years ago, unburdening himself with the details of the Dawson case, he’d never realized Rudy had known all along where Annie could be found. As the weeks passed Annie started to improve some. She would never be the same but now was a little harder to handle. With cops refusing to let go of the case, he’d feared it was a matter of time before Annie was found. Rudy realized he needed a body to get the police to stop searching. He’d found the body of a dead prostitute who resembled Annie in height and stature. He’d beaten the body postmortem, removed the head and hands and left it in the woods dressed in Annie’s bloodied clothes and necklace. When he was sure the remains could not be identified, he’d called in the tip.
Kate had believed Gary had guessed her terrible secret and that he had taken Annie’s body and hidden it to protect her. When the remains had been found, she’d feared for him so she’d hidden the tire iron in Jeb’s car, found Max and given him the tip. The discovery of the body and the tire iron had ensured Jeb’s conviction.
Rachel’s thoughts skittered to Luke, whose nagging voice had been silent for weeks. Maybe he was at peace now? Maybe she could live a more normal life.
Let me go. I am free.
Tears glistened in her eyes. “I hope so.”
“Hope what?” Deke asked as he came around the car.
She swip
ed away a tear. “Just talking to myself.”
Deke leaned against the car on her good side, so close his shoulder brushed hers. For a moment the two just stood close, absorbing each other’s energy. “You must be proud.”
Rachel rarely celebrated victories. There’d just never seemed to be enough time for accolades. But not this time. This time, she would celebrate. “Sometimes, life tosses out a real special moment. As rare as a blue moon, they do happen.”
Deke faced her, wedging her body between his body and the car. “Only on blue moons?”
The heat of his body warmed her. “It’s not like I said never.”
He traced her jaw with his finger. “Blue moons come every two or three years. I’m thinking we can do better than that.”
They’d been seeing each other for weeks. No promises of forever. No lifetime plans. Just fun and a gradual peeling away of all their protective layers. It would take time. But it seemed there was no real rush. “Maybe a little bit more often than that.”
Deke laughed and skimmed his hand up over her hip and cupped her waist. “I’m thinking there could be many great moments.”
She cocked a brow. “Sounds a bit like a commitment. I thought we weren’t doing that.”
Smiling, he kissed her. “Don’t look so rattled, Wainwright.”
Rachel wrapped her good arm around his neck. It felt so good to hold him close. “You can’t rattle me, Detective.”
“Ah, that’s what I like about you, Rachel. Always a challenge.”