Shadow in the Pines (29 page)

“How are you feeling?” she whispered, leaning as close as she could get without collapsing on top of him.

“Mad as hell and too beat to do anything about it,” he said. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but she thought he sounded stronger than when she’d left him earlier. “Did you find Atkinson?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I’d have shot him too.” Now that the immediate danger was past, some of her fear was giving way to anger.

“Atta girl,” he smiled, struggling to sit up.

“Lay down,” she put a hand on his shoulder to hold him there.

“Oh, baby,” he teased.

“Get over it, you nut,” she chuckled, smiling for the first time in years.

Within half an hour, the woods were illuminated by halogen lights and crawling with officers and technicians. Dani suspected everyone on the Tyler Police Force was there and probably most of the law enforcement from the county. She insisted on riding in the ambulance with Noah and they insisted that a doctor needed to examine her too so it worked out fine.

She wasn’t too happy when the doctor ordered her put to bed in the hospital overnight, but found that all of her strength had abandoned her and she was too tired to argue. But when morning dawned, she was up and ready to go. Begging a set of scrubs from the nurse, Dani showered and changed, then went in search of Noah while her discharge papers were being drawn up. She found him down the hall, propped up in bed with Wylie parked beside him.

“Hey!” Noah’s face lit up when she entered. Aside from a bandage on the back of his head, he looked pretty much like his old self. “My hero!”

“Stop,” she blushed, moving quickly to his side and planting a kiss on his nearest cheek. “How are you?”

“Ready to get the hell out of here, but I’m a little underdressed,” he laughed, peeking under his sheet for effect.

“Really?” a note of excitement crept into her voice as she sat down beside the bed. She was afraid they’d want to keep him awhile and the thought of going home alone was daunting.

“Don’t let him kid you,” Wylie said. “I thought he was going to assault the doctor this morning.”

“Why?”

Wylie snorted. “Cause he told Noah he was going to keep him a few days just to watch him.”

“Did you behave badly?” she smiled at Noah.

He gave her a wicked grin. “Depends on who you ask. I thought I exercised tremendous restraint.”

“So you can go home?”

Noah scowled and Wylie answered for him. “He can go this afternoon, as long as his X-rays come back all right.”

“Can you go?” Noah asked her.

“They’re filling out my discharge papers now.”

Noah frowned. “You’re going to need her, aren’t you?” he looked over at Wylie.

“I am,” Wylie answered. “I can take her over to the station, then send someone back for you when you’re ready if you want.”

It was Dani’s turn to frown. “Am I under arrest?”

Both men laughed.

“Hardly,” Noah said. “Although I hear you did threaten to shoot a police officer. Not a good idea.”

Dani grimaced. “I guess I did. But he wasn’t wearing a uniform! I thought he might be Atkinson.”

“Exactly why we forgive you,” Wylie said.

“You frisked me!” she suddenly remembered.

Noah chuckled. “You held a gun on them, remember? I’d have done more than frisk you, I guarantee.”

Dani frowned. “What?”

Wylie laughed out loud. “If he didn’t shoot you on sight, you’d have been eating ice from the driveway.”

“I plead temporary insanity,” she groused.

“After what’s been happening at your house, you’d have no problem getting people to believe you. That snake deal still has my skin crawling,” Wylie observed generously. “Seriously, I went easy on you in my report and Huckabee’s backing me up. Once I figured out who you were, I knew you were scared shitless. A common criminal, you ain’t.”

“So, I have to go with you?” she asked.

“You’ll have to go to the station and make a statement, then they’ll question you forever about shooting Caroline Crane. By then I’ll be able to get out of here and come to your rescue for a change,” Noah smiled.

It was dark by the time Wylie dropped them off at Dani’s house, but she was glad to see lights burning through the kitchen window.

“I called an electrician,” Noah read her mind, following her to the front door.

“Thanks,” she said, almost overcome with weariness. She’d lost track of how many times she’d had to repeat the horrific tale of last night’s adventure over the last ten hours. Every time she thought she was through, she had to go through the ordeal again with someone else, answering the same questions endlessly until she wanted to scream. Noah assured her it was completely normal, but his definition of the word escaped her.

Once inside, enveloped in the warmth of the now functional heater, Dani sank into the cushions of the couch and laid her head back, closing her eyes. She opened them again at the sound of a noise she didn’t recognize and was shocked to see Noah moving the dining room table away from the window.

“It looks wrong,” he said, seeing her stunned expression.

“Noah, you just got out of the hospital! I think that could wait.”

He just shrugged and sat the table upright, then scooted it across the floor. Once he was satisfied that the room was back in order, he sat down beside her. “Well, it’s over,” he mused with a strange smile.

Dani attempted a chuckle.

“She had me fooled,” he shook his head. “I never suspected it was her.”

“Why would you?”

“I should have dug deeper into Atkinson’s personal life,” he said regretfully. “It was all there, I just didn’t look in the right places.”

“Well I don’t know why you would have.” Dani still had trouble believing a woman could have masterminded the whole thing.

As the pieces came together, they found that Caroline Crane had been in cahoots with Atkinson from the beginning. Even her marriage to Dr. Crane had been a part of the plan she and Atkinson hatched when she dated him in grad school in Lincoln, Nebraska years earlier. She’d skillfully manipulated all the players, helping them get jobs, arranging for funding, throwing soirees to tempt potential investors. She’d been the consummate front woman. She’d have gotten away with it, too, if she hadn’t gotten so greedy. Or, if Dani hadn’t been the one to buy Atkinson’s house. Odd how a quirk of fate could throw such an enormous wrench in a plan.

“Did you hear they found Atkinson?” he interrupted her thoughts.

“No,” she sat up straighter. “Where?”

“Not far from where Crane was. I guess it was getting so dark, I never saw him.”

“Shit,” she chuckled. “So all that time I was afraid he was still out there somewhere, he was dead?”

Noah shrugged. “What a waste of good fear, eh?”

“You never told me how they got to you,” she turned so she could see him better. He seemed a little distant. Reserved.

“Oh. No I guess I didn’t,” he smiled. “I went for wood. You know that. But before I got there, I thought I heard something and turned back. I saw Atkinson run from the end of my driveway to the woods across the road so I chased him. Or maybe it was her. I never once considered there might be two of them. Anyway, Atkinson jumped me from behind a tree. He had a hunting knife that I managed to get away from him and stick him in the leg, but he got my gun and I had to hotfoot it into the trees to avoid getting shot. I still had my other gun, so I got that out and tracked him back near the shed. I got there about the time Crane went down and took a shot at Atkinson, but he got away. I ducked into the shed to make sure he hadn’t gone in there and that’s the last thing I remember until I woke up and you were there.”

They were both silent a minute. Dani was still having trouble processing it all.

“Everything you did was just right,” he said finally. “I’m just sorry I let her take me out. I should have been there for you.”

Dani smiled weakly. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” Throughout the whole ordeal, the thought of his safety kept her going. If he hadn’t made it, she wasn’t sure she would have either. “They made an appointment for me with a shrink,” she said.

He nodded. “See that you keep it. It hasn’t really hit you yet, but it will.”

He was right. The whole thing seemed like a horrible dream. Surreal. The thought that she’d shot a woman and killed her was completely beyond her comprehension.

“You need to go soak in a hot tub and get to bed,” he tugged a strand of her hair.

Dani’s eyes narrowed. The way he said it sounded like a prelude to goodbye. As if on cue, he got up and moved toward the stairs.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He stopped and bowed his head, hand on the rail with his back to her. “I’m going to get my things.” He waited a moment, but when she didn’t answer, moved on up the stairs.

Dani stared dumbly into the blackened fireplace. It was over and he was going home. Just like that. He warned her. She hadn’t moved when he came back down the stairs, duffel bag in hand, more than ten minutes later.

“Get some rest,” he leaned over behind the couch and planted a firm kiss on her cheek. At the front door, he turned back. “We’re still on for dinner tomorrow, right? It’s Christmas Eve.”

Dani forced her lips into the semblance of a smile. “Of course. Six o’clock.”

“I’ll bring the wine,” he said. Then he was gone.

Chapter Twenty Six

Wishing she’d accepted the doctor’s offer of a prescription for sleeping pills, Dani sat in the floor in front of the television trying to decide if she’d take another run at beating the alligator game in Bubblegloop Swamp or try to negotiate the lava pits and get to Mad Monster Mansion where she could turn Banjo into a pumpkin. She’d already been blown out of the sky repeatedly by Tie-Fighters and Mario Kart was no fun to race by herself. Desperation did strange things to people.

After Noah left, Dani had cleaned the house, taken a bath, finished a novel and built a fire. She’d rearranged the gifts under the tree and reorganized her pantry to make sure she had all the right supplies on hand for tomorrow night’s dinner. Get some rest, Noah had said. Right. It was after midnight and she was fast awake.

When Bandit started whining and sniffing around the door, she felt a surge of panic, then realized there was no stalker in the woods anymore. Besides, in her cleaning frenzy, she’d forgotten to take him out. Glad for a chance to do something different, she paused her game and pulled on her coat. Rather than walking with him, she perched on the swing on the porch while Bandit skittered around in the front yard. He seemed intrigued by the snow.

“Bad habit,” Noah’s voice came out of the darkness and nearly knocked her off the swing.

She turned and watched him approach. Instead of his usual down jacket, he was wearing a black denim coat that reached to the ground. He looked like Kurt Russell’s version of Wyatt Earp. “What the freak are you doing out here scaring me like that?”

A slow smile crept across his face as he ambled toward her. “Couldn’t sleep. Mind if I sit?”

Dani scooted over and made room for him on the swing beside her. “You look nice,” she said, noticing he’d removed the bandage and washed his hair. His beard was trimmed neatly and he was wearing dress slacks and a shirt and tie, although the tie was loose and the collar open beneath it. When the wind shifted, she caught the scent of cologne.

“Thanks,” he smiled. “I had to put in an appearance at a company thing.”

“Oh.” Disappointment tugged at her heart at the thought of him going out to a Christmas party without her, not that he didn’t have the right to do just that. In a few short days and weeks, he’d become the center of her world. Obviously, the reverse wasn’t true. She stored that thought away for future reference.

“Why are you sitting out here?” he looked at her quizzically.

She opened her mouth to give a snappy answer, then closed it again as she met his eyes. Pretending required more energy than she had to expend. “I forgot to take Bandit out,” she sighed and looked away.

“I think he’s done now,” Noah said, nodding toward the door where Bandit sat, shivering. “Mind if I come in? There’s something I want to show you.”

The idea that he thought he had to ask caused a sinking sensation. Reluctantly, she followed him to the door, then stepped inside as he held it for her. He made a dashing figure, even more so when he removed the coat and hung it comfortably on the coat tree. Once she’d done the same, she hesitated. “Want me to put on some coffee?”

“No,” he turned to face her, still standing. “I want you to sit down on the couch.”

Wondering why he was still standing in the center of the room, she did as he asked, then watched as he crossed to the tree and shuffled through the packages until he found the one he’d first placed there. Looking every inch as elegant as he had at the Rose Dance, he crossed the room and sat down beside her, still holding the package in his hand.

“It’s after midnight,” he said, as if that explained it. “Christmas Eve. I want you to open this.”

Did she detect a hint of nervousness in his voice? With a trembling hand, she reached out and took the package from him, fumbling horribly with the wrapping.

“Wait!” he stopped her as she removed the paper to reveal what she’d suspected. A tiny jeweler’s box. She looked up at him. “I should say something…” He looked totally perplexed and she had to smile. “No… just open it.”

Dani was just as confused as he looked, terrified she’d lift the lid and find an engagement ring and equally afraid that she wouldn’t – something she couldn’t explain right now if her life depended on it. What she found when she snapped open the box threw her yet another curve. Sparkling in the flickering firelight was an enormous teardrop amethyst solitaire set in a smooth yellow gold band and encircled with diamonds. Eyes wide, she looked up at him in amazement, softening at the anxiety evident on his face.

“Noah, it’s beautiful… but………” How could she ask him what it was? What it meant?

“You like it?” You’d have thought his future rested on her answer.

“Of course I…”

“Try it on! Here…” he took the box from her trembling hand and removed the ring, then slid it on the ring finger of her left hand. “Before you panic, remember that I’m no good at this. I’ve never done it before. Dani Jones, you have completely captivated me. You’re the only woman in the world I can’t imagine living without and I’d like very much to make you my wife. But if it’s too soon for you to make that kind of commitment, I understand and I’m willing to wait, but I want you to have this because I’m making that commitment to you. I’m here for you, as long as you want me or need me. I’ll stay here, I’ll live next door, I’ll fly you to the moon……………would you please say something before I make a complete and utter fool of myself?”