Page 51 of Engaging the Deputy

Cody was thinkingabout his future far from here as he worked his way through the debris toward what was left of the root cellar. It had been such an obvious place to get rid of Olivia’s body. It felt meant to be. No one would look for her there because no one would know where she’d gone.

He liked the idea that some people—the deputy, for one—would think she’d run off with her high school boyfriend. Why not? It could have happened. If it wasn’t for her being in love with the deputy. He cursed under his breath at the thought. Her loss. As his old man often said, there were a lot of fish in the sea.

Lost in dreams of how he’d spend all his money, he’d almost forgotten about Olivia.

Until she seemed to trip and stumble. He still had hold of her bound wrists, so, as she fell, it pulled him off balance—breaking his hold on her. As she hit the ground, he fell beside her.

Before he knew what was happening, she looped her bound arms around his throat and pulled, putting so much pressure on his windpipe that he couldn’t breathe. She dug her heels in as she drove the rough rope of her bondage into his neck. He forced out a guttural sound as he clawed at the rope and fought for breath. It had happened so fast that she had him at a disadvantage, on the ground with her behind him. He couldn’t breathe and the rope tore into his neck. If he didn’t get her off of him soon, she was going to strangle him to death.

He quit trying to rip the rope from his throat. Stretching back, he clawed at her, trying to reach her face, her eyes. She managed to avoid his hands, but at least his attempts had forced her to let up on the pressure on his neck at little.

Getting a grip on one of her arms, he squeezed as hard as he could until she cried out. He wanted to call her names, but he didn’t have enough air as he began to kick back at her legs while digging his fingers into the flesh of her arm.

He felt the pressure on him slacken, but then she jerked as hard as she could, slamming his head back into hers. The blow stunned him, but only for a moment. He swung an elbow around and caught her in the side of the head.

With relief, he felt her body go limp. Swearing, he grabbed her arms, the pressure off his throat, and tossed them back over his head. Through blurred vision, he rose awkwardly from the ground. Maybe she’d hurt him, but she’d hurt herself as well, he saw through his fury. Her eyes were unfocused from the blow to the head and her nose was bleeding, maybe even broken.

He was breathing hard as he rubbed his bruised and scraped throat and looked down at her. He wanted to kick her, beat her into the ground, to take out all his anger and frustration on her. He pulled the gun from his pocket, telling himself to save his energy and just shoot her. Her eyes must have focused enough that she saw how close she was to dying right here on the hillside.

She closed her eyes, expecting a bullet. He tried to catch his breath, tried to keep to his original plan. Killing her here would mean he’d have to carry her dead body up the rest of the way to the root cellar. Yet it felt impossible to rein in his wrath. She symbolized everything he couldn’t have.

But then she opened her eyes and looked at him with raw defiance. Her gaze said that he’d have to look in her eyes as he killed her. He pointed the gun at her head and told himself she wouldn’t be that heavy to carry up the hill. Seconds passed, his finger on the trigger, her gaze locked with his.

With a curse, he swallowed back his rage, reminding himself that he didn’t have a lot of time. He needed to take care of her, then get what he’d left up on this hillside and clear out.

“Get up.” His voice sounded rough. He coughed and swore again. “Get up or so help me…”

She rose slowly, looking dizzy and a little disoriented. Two blows to the head had probably left her with a raging headache. That made him feel a little bit better.

“Move,” he said, motioning with the gun. “Try something again and I’ll empty every bullet in this gun into you.”

Olivia looked as if all the fight had gone out of her. She finally saw him for who he was, not some boy she would wrap around her finger. Not some teenager she’d left pining for her. That Cody was gone, replaced by a dangerous man she didn’t know.

* * *

Jaden turned offhis headlights as he reached the road into Starling. It was hard to drive slowly, but he wasn’t going far. He pulled over and cut the engine in a stand of trees that had weathered the storm. With luck, his vehicle wouldn’t be seen or heard from Starling. He took his shotgun. He was already wearing his sidearm. Both were loaded. He climbed out, closing his SUV door quietly.

He could see Cody’s pickup with hardware store logo on the side parked up the road. Taking long strides, he headed for it, all the time watching the hillside for any movement.

A thin layer of clouds muted the moon and starlight, but he could see well enough when he reached Cody’s pickup. Empty. No sign of a struggle that he could see. What he really hadn’t wanted to see was blood—and he didn’t.

The chilly breeze stung his face but he welcomed the cold. It kept him alert and sharp, he told himself. If Cody had heard his vehicle engine coming up the road, he might be lying in wait somewhere up there to ambush him.

He slowed and listened hard. Voices. He waited, hoping to catch Livie’s. When he did, he felt his heart soar. She was still alive. All he had to do was get to her quickly. He could think of only one reason Cody had brought her here.

When they spoke again, he realized that they weren’t far from the open root cellar. He needed to get closer. His options weren’t good, given the mountains of debris spread across this hillside. There would be no charging up the hill. They would hear him coming as he bounded over what was left of the community, only to get himself and Livie killed.

He began to work his way through the debris that separated them until he could get a decent shot at Cody.

* * *

Olivia hurt allover from her struggle with Cody. She wiped at her nose with her sleeve as she walked. She could feel him behind her. Earlier, she’d thought for sure he’d kill her right there on the side of the mountain. He’d certainly wanted to. She’d seen it in his eyes.

She’d hoped that the Cody she’d known was still in there and that all she had to do was reach him. She’d thought she could talk him down and stop him from doing what she knew he had planned for her.

But she no longer did. She stumbled up the rest of the hill, weaving her way through piles of splintered boards, piles of bricks and cement, portions of roofs and walls, to the spot where a small house had once stood.

Hadn’t Jaden said his parents had lived there when he was a kid before they’d left Starling? It was gone now, leaving behind debris and a large dark hole in the ground that had once been a root cellar.

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