A ghostly wail echoed again from the woods. They all froze seconds later when a tall thin woman emerged from the edge of the woods. Gray hair framed a narrow face, badly contorted. Hatred burned in the gaze now nailed to Brenda.
The woman screamed and ran toward Brenda. She threw her body into Brenda and the two fell hard against the earth. Brenda dropped her gun. The banshee woman balled up her fist and struck Brenda hard in the face. Brenda coughed, spit blood, and crawled toward the gun.
Rachel cradled her broken arm and crawled toward the gun, but a winded Brenda rose and scooped it up. Brenda leveled the gun on Georgia.
“Don’t!” Rachel shouted, dread and loss washing over her as Brenda pulled back the trigger.
The ghostly woman rose and lunged toward the gun. The gun went off and the woman clutched her chest. Blood bloomed. She fell to her knees and then facedown into the dirt.
Kate’s pale face dimmed as she stared at the woman. “Annie?”
Rachel stopped, her gaze narrowing on the figure who looked more specter than human.
Georgia, in shock, stared at the woman, this last bit of news overwhelming her.
Brenda stared at Annie. “I thought you killed her.”
“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.