Reservations For Murder Part 17

"I took it back upstairs, and the sheriff found it."

She shook her head. "I was never worried about him figuring this out. You've been my main threat all along, Alex. I suppose you found my bracelet in your office."

He nodded. "At first I thought Elise had dropped it, but the more I played with it, the more certain I was that it belonged to someone else. I knew I'd seen it before, but I just remembered an hour ago that it was on your wrist, not Elise's. You wore it the first day of the fair as you worked at your loom."

"I came back here to look for it, and when I found it in your room, I knew it was only a matter of time until you figured it out." As Jenny's finger tightened on the trigger, she added, "I'm sorry it had to end this way, but you really didn't leave me any choice."

Chapter 22.

"Don't do anything stupid, Jenny. You can't get away with this."

She smiled softly as she brought the gun up toward Alex's chest. Jenny was ten feet away from him; there was no way she could miss at that range.

She said sadly, "Alex, you're my last loose thread. Once I take care of you, there won't be any trail leading back to me. I'm sorry. I really did like you, Alex."

Alex scanned the lobby, trying to come up with anything he could use to defend himself. He was too close to the wall to be within reach of the fireplace poker.

So what could he use? The closest thing to him was the end table with the ornate iron piece Jefferson Lee had made perched on the edge of it. Alex couldn't imagine using it as a weapon, but what choice did he have? If he could distract Jenny by throwing the iron at her, maybe he could get outside. No one knew the land around Hatteras West better than he did, and if Alex could just manage to escape out the front door, he might still have a fighting chance.

It had to be better than just standing there, waiting for Jenny Harris to pull the trigger.

Before Alex could make his move, he had to divert her attention.

Alex prodded her. "How did you manage to kidnap Marilynn? Why did you kill her, Jenny? I can't imagine that she really committed suicide."

Jenny laughed softly. "Alex, you're giving me way too much credit. I had nothing to do with her disappearance or her death. I imagine she was feeling so wracked with guilt over betraying her husband that she overdosed." A slight frown crossed Jenny's face. "I admit I thought about getting rid of her at one point, but I'm not an animal, Alex. Jefferson deserved to die. He dumped me the second he thought I was pregnant! The irony was, it was nothing but a false alarm. When I tried to tell him, he laughed at me! Can you imagine how I felt? I had the staff in my hands, he'd just finished it at the fair. What choice did Jefferson leave me? It was his own fault. I wasn't going to stand there and take his derision, Alex! He deserved exactly what he got!"

It was now or never. Alex reached around in one swift motion, plucked the ironwork off the table and hurled it toward Jenny just as she fired. He felt a sting bite one arm as he threw the ironwork, but he couldn't afford to see how badly he'd been hit until he was someplace safe.

Alex made it to the door just as another bullet thunked into the wood frame beside him with a meaty slap.

She was good, too good for his tastes!

Alex ran away from the lighthouse the second he was out the door; it had been a benevolent presence for him all his life, but the sentinel was nothing but a deadly trap for him at the moment.

Suddenly, Alex knew exactly where to go: Bear Rocks. If he could get into the maze of stones first, she'd never find him. Sooner or later, Armstrong would get his message and be out there.

He only hoped the sheriff would make it in time.

"Alex, you can't run away from me," he heard Jenny call as he dove into the copse of trees between the inn and Bear Rocks. Alex ran in a zigzag pattern, trying to throw her aim off, but it appeared Jenny was saving her bullets. He glanced back to see how far away she was just before he dove down the first rock slide.

She was close, and Alex saw with satisfaction that the ironwork he'd thrown had struck home. Jenny was bleeding steadily above one eye. Instead of slowing her down though, it looked as if it had only served to make her even more determined to kill him.

"You can't escape, Alex. Why make it more painful than it has to be?"

If he could get her lost in the rocks, he might even be able to get away. There was a highway on the other side of the rock formation that led back into town. With any luck, he could cover the distance that stood between before she even realized he wasn't in the rocks anymore.

"There you are," he heard her say close behind him. A bullet suddenly zinged off a rock two inches from his right hand! She'd climbed to Cradle Rock and was using it to look down on him.

Alex dove down, twisting and turning his adult body through pa.s.sageways that had been s.p.a.cious when he'd been a kid but had grown claustrophobic in the interim. He knew he was bruising and sc.r.a.ping his body as he hurried, but Alex forced the minor pains out of his mind, though his arm throbbed violently every time he brushed it against another rock.

Alex could deal with the pain. He had to. At the moment, he had one task, and that was to escape with his life.

His foot stumbled on loose rock, and he almost went down with a twisted ankle. Fortunately, he caught himself before he fell, though the jarring contact with the stone sent another wave of nausea through him.

The loose gravel gave him an idea. Alex had been a pretty decent pitcher in high school, though he hadn't thrown much since. Maybe, just maybe, he could clip her shooting hand and make her drop the gun. At least she'd shot him in the right arm; he thanked the stars above that he was left-handed.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," Jenny called, laughing.

Alex stuck his head up quickly and saw her back was to him now. He'd managed to work his way around her! Taking a stone the size of a softball, Alex hurled it at her head. It struck her shoulder instead, nearly spinning her around with its impact.

When she faced him again, there was a look of pure hatred on her face. She was almost unrecognizable.

Alex heard the shot whistle past his ear as he ducked down again.

After she realized she'd missed, Jenny said, "Now Alex, why did you have to do that? It's going to leave a bruise for weeks! I'm afraid I'll have to punish you for being bad. Come out like a good boy and take what you've got coming." There was a cloying edge to her tone that set his teeth on edge.

He had to get another clear shot at her. Rus.h.i.+ng through a precarious pa.s.sageway he hadn't been through in twenty-five years, Alex moved quickly among the rocks.

When he looked back at her, Alex saw that she'd been moving in the same general direction! She was much too close! He'd have to throw the stone in his hand and get back down before it hit. Zipping it toward her, she must have sensed something, because Jenny whirled around, sending a wild shot screaming into the rocks above him. Her aim was definitely getting worse.

Alex couldn't afford to see if the stone had struck home.

Hurrying down another pa.s.sageway, he kept moving until he was sure he was far enough away to throw another stone.

He was wrong.

There, standing less than a foot away from him, Jenny had her revolver trained straight at Alex's head.

There was no way out.

Alex's time had just run out.

"Jenny, let's talk about this," Alex said, trying to figure a way out of the jam he was in now.

"Enough talking," she shrieked. "Now it's time to die. Alex, I'm truly sorry. I really did like you."

"Hold it right there."

Alex looked over his shoulder to see Sheriff Armstrong twenty feet away. He had his gun drawn, and there was a look of steel in his gaze that Alex had never seen before.

Jenny snapped, "Put that away, you idiot. If you shoot me, I'll kill him before I die. There's no way you can stop me."

Alex said, "Jenny, what good will that do? You're going to be caught; there's no escape now."

She said snappishly, "I've already killed one man, Alex. What are they going to do, execute me again for killing you? What have I got to lose?"

Alex said softly, "Flip the coin, Jenny. What have you got to gain?"

"Are you kidding me? You toyed with me one too many times. You have to pay for that, Alex."

He touched his arm and pulled away a b.l.o.o.d.y palm. As he held it out to her, he said, "Don't you think I've paid enough?"

"Oh, that's just the start of it, Alex." There was a look of pure, intense hatred on her face as she said it.

Then she pulled the trigger.

Alex kept waiting for the explosion of pain that never came. Jenny cursed the gun, trying to figure out why it hadn't fired, but Alex didn't hesitate. He threw the last of his rocks at her, then climbed toward her just as she hurled the gun at his head.

It missed, clattering off the rocks behind him.

"Enough," Armstrong roared. "If you don't freeze this instant, you're going to die!"

"So shoot me," Jenny screamed. "I don't care!"

"Stop," Alex shouted as he fought to scale the rocks between them. She was still cursing as he wrapped his arms around Jenny in a bearlike grip so she couldn't move. "Don't shoot, Sheriff. I've got her."

It was an awkward embrace, but Jenny couldn't escape, that was what was important. Instead, when she realized that she wasn't going anywhere but jail, she buried her face in Alex's chest, sobbing. "He had to die, Alex, he had to. Don't you see? He had to die."

Alex wanted to feel pity for her, but he couldn't. All he could see was Jefferson Lee's lifeless body pinned against the beam with a steel shaft through his heart.

Jenny gave up completely. She was surprisingly docile as Armstrong put the cuffs on her. After the sheriff put her in the back of the squad car, Armstrong said, "Sorry I couldn't get here sooner, Alex. I was taking care of some personal business, and I didn't get your message until it was almost too late."

"Don't beat yourself up over it. Everything worked out fine, Sheriff."

Armstrong looked at Alex's arm. "You'd better get that checked out pretty quick. Why don't you ride into town with me?"

The last thing in the world Alex wanted to do was to spend another second in Jenny Harris's company.

He was spared that, at least.

A voice behind him said, "That won't be necessary, Sheriff. I'll see that he gets there."

Alex couldn't believe it. Elise was standing a few feet away, a worried look on her face.

She'd come back to Hatteras West after all.

Chapter 23.

"Oomph," Alex grunted as Elise accidentally brushed against him. The pain in his right arm was really intensifying now that his adrenaline rush was nearly over. Waves of angry bolts shot through him every time he so much as moved.

"Oh, Alex, I hurt you! I'm so sorry."

"It's not that bad," he said. "I'm so glad you're back, Elise."

She frowned gently. "I wouldn't leave for good, Alex, you should know that. This place is too important to me. Listen, we can talk about that later. Right now, we need to get you to the hospital."

"Okay," he agreed as he fished his keys out of his pocket. "You'd better drive, though."

"Alex, I've missed you," she said calmly as she helped him into the pa.s.senger seat of his truck.

"I've missed you, too. How's your dad?"

As Elise drove, she said, "He's good enough to go back to the inn and recuperate there. I stayed as long as I was needed, but it just wasn't the same anymore."

"Sometimes I imagine it's tough going home again," Alex said.

"That's the whole problem, Alex. It wasn't home. Elkton Falls is my home now."

It was the best thing in the world she could have said to him.

Doc Drake was at the emergency room, having just taken care of young Jimmy Hickman's broken arm.

As he worked on cleaning Alex's wound, he said, "You are the luckiest man I know. The bullet just grazed you, Alex. I'll be able to st.i.tch you up and have you out of here in no time. I never would have believed Jenny Harris would snap like that."

"If you'd seen what I had, you'd believe it easily enough."

As he finished bandaging the wound, Doc said, "Well, you've been through a lot today. You need anything to help you sleep tonight?"

"No, I'll be fine," Alex said.

Doc Drake grinned. "I hear someone's waiting for you outside. You'd better not keep her standing there in the hallway much longer."

Alex offered his left hand to the doctor to shake.

When the door suddenly opened, Alex expected to see Elise, but he found Sheriff Armstrong instead.

"Got a second, Alex?"

"Just about that. I need to get home, Sheriff."

Doc Drake said, "If you two will excuse me, I've got another patient to see."

After the doctor was gone, Armstrong said, "I just wanted to let you know what I found out." He gestured to Alex's arm. "I figure I owe you that."

"It wasn't your fault I got shot."