Page 54 of Engaging the Deputy

Jaden had droppeda half dozen feet, landing hard and pulling broken boards down on him as he fell to his knees. As he’d tried to catch himself, he’d felt nails ripping through his flesh. Blood began to run down his arms as he fought to get to his feet in the broken boards around him. The moment he did, he knew his ankle was badly sprained. He could barely put weight on it.

Pulling out his flashlight, he shone it around. He’d fallen into a space with a dirt floor. He had no idea how large it was or if there was a way out. He looked up, afraid he might not be able to climb out and what that would mean for Livie.

Pushing aside the panic, he knelt to run his flashlight beam under the boards that had collapsed with his weight. If it was a basement, there had to be a way out. Dropping into an awkward crawl, his ankle aching in pain, he moved under the collapsed building until he found what he was looking for.

Ahead, he saw crumbling concrete stairs, but they, too, were blocked by debris. The feel of a breeze on his face gave him hope that there was an opening, and he was going to be able to get out. He moved some boards and other wreckage. Then he shone his flashlight into the darkness. It lit an opening a few steps above him. He began to climb, his only thought getting to Livie.

* * *

Olivia slowed asahead she saw the gaping black hole of the root cellar. Soon it would be over, she told herself. She rebelled at the thought, even as her mind raced for a way to save herself.

“Cody,” she said, turning to look back at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jaden. He’d come out of a pile of rubble below them on the hillside. Her heart leaped, then fell. He was still too far away to help with a lot of tornado debris between them. She had to stall. Her life depended on it. Jaden was there. He was coming for her. “You don’t want to do this.”

In answer, he shoved her forward.Stall, she told herself.Do whatever you have to do, but don’t let him kill you. Jaden is trying to get to you.She took a slow, tentative step and then another. Jaden had found her. She didn’t know how, but she loved him for it. Ahead, the hole loomed black in the moonlight. A couple more steps and she would be down there in the dark.

“Stop right there,” Cody said from behind her. “Drop the bags.”

Olivia felt that spark of resistance that ran deep in her. With all her strength, she took another step and heaved both bags toward the open pit of the root cellar.

* * *

Jaden had lostcrucial time. He had dragged himself out. When he could finally stand, he realized how badly he was hurt. He wasn’t sure how far he could walk on his ankle. It wasn’t broken; at least, he hoped not. As badly as it hurt to put any weight on it, he ignored the pain and headed up the hillside. To keep from being seen, Jaden had previously been forced to stay on a winding path of tornado wreckage.

Now, though, he had no choice but to leave behind any cover and charge up the hillside as best he could with his ankle wanting to give out. He could see that Cody and Livie were almost to the dark abyss of the root cellar. If Cody saw him, Jaden had no doubt that the man would use Livie as a shield and start firing. All Jaden could hope was that Cody wasn’t much of a marksman.

That was when he saw Livie turn and look in his direction. Earlier, he’d thought they’d both seen him. But this time, it was just Livie. There was no doubt that she saw him.

Cody shoved her toward the open pit. Jaden tried to run up the hill, but his ankle turned and he fell, crashing into more debris. He ground his teeth, the pain so intense he thought he would black out. The moment it passed, he was on his feet again.

Up on the hill, he saw Livie throw the large bags she’d been carrying into the old root cellar. There was no doubt that she would be next. Bleeding and limping, his leg apparently hurt worse than he’d thought, he kept moving toward them. He had to get to Livie before it was too late.

* * *

“No!” Cody letout a howl of anger and misery as he watched the bags filled with his money fly through the air over the opening—and then plummet. “You stubborn, impossible woman!”

Dropping the two bags he had carried up from the stone well house, he lunged forward to strike her in the back with his fist. His momentum shoved her forward. As his money hit the bottom of the root cellar’s dirt floor, Olivia followed them down.

Propelled forward, Cody stumbled behind her, stopping so close to the unstable edge of the chasm that he almost went in after her. He teetered there, his anger feeling as if it were eating him up inside. If he could have gotten his hands on her neck, he would have choked the life out of her. What had ever made him think he could love this woman? Didn’t he recall how stubborn she’d been as a kid? As a girlfriend? He’d told himself he liked a strong woman. Ha! he thought now.

For a moment, she didn’t move. He stood waiting to see if she took a breath. Time seemed suspended. He breathed heavily, the exertion of his anger making his chest hurt. He really could use a little something to steady himself. Once he got to the pickup, he’d dig into his supply.

Not now, though. He just had to be sure that Olivia wouldn’t be getting out of that hole alive. She still hadn’t moved. Maybe she’d hit her head. Maybe she was already dead.

Not that it mattered at this point. If she hadn’t tossed his money down there, he had planned to cave in the side of the hole and bury her alive, if that was what it took. Then all he would have had to do was get out of Starling, get on the road, disappear before the law came after him. He’d known it was just a matter of time the moment he’d seen Jaden at Angie’s barn. He’d known then that it was time to leave for good.

Earlier, it had seemed so simple. Just tie up some loose ends, starting at the hardware store. He’d made the calls to some of his associates. He couldn’t just leave without letting his father know how he felt about him. It had taken four of them and a dolly to remove the old floor safe where his father kept his “retirement” money.

While they were at it, they’d loaded up everything they could haul of any value. If Olivia hadn’t shown up when she had, they would have taken even more.

Now he just had to deal with this problem. He stared down at her and his bags of money and swore. “I can see that you’re breathing,” he said through gritted teeth. “Stand up.”

She made no move to do so.

“I need you to stand up. You don’t want me to come down there.”

She let out a laugh and rolled to her side. “Come on down,” she yelled as if she wanted the whole world to hear. She sounded as if the fall had knocked the breath out of her. But when she smiled up at him, he realized that the bags of money had broken her fall.

He cursed. He was pretty sure he could get back out of the old root-cellar hole, even though the rescue crew had broken a lot of the shelving in their attempt to get him out Halloween night. “Trust me, you don’t want me to come down there,” he said, raising his voice as well. He’d convinced himself that they were alone on the hillside. It didn’t matter if she wanted to scream her head off.

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