Кэти Дэйли - The Curse Of Hollister House

“Let’s go to Gracie’s. She’ll be worried. I should check in with her, and I’m sure she’d happily make us something to eat.”

“Okay. If you’re sure.”

“I am.”

The ride to the lake house was accomplished in silence. After Naomi had gotten hold of Rafe and told him my story, he’d tracked down Underwood’s address. When he arrived at his home, he’d found Underwood gone and Cass in a pool of blood on his front porch. He’d been shot in the chest and had lost a lot of blood by the time the ambulance arrived. I remembered the attendant saying that it would be a miracle if he made it to the hospital alive. Thankfully, in this instance, we’d gotten our miracle.

“How is Cass?” Gracie asked the moment we pulled up.

“He’s out of surgery,” I answered. “Stable according to the doctor, but still in recovery.”

“And Underwood?”

“Rafe went after him,” Naomi said.

“He’s a good deputy. He’ll get him,” Gracie said as if to convince herself. “Can I get you girls some breakfast?”

“Breakfast would be great,” Naomi answered.

Personally, I didn’t think I could eat, but if I didn’t, Gracie would worry, so maybe a few bites. When I entered the kitchen, I found Tom on the phone. I wasn’t sure who he was speaking to, but he seemed to be asking about the status of Underwood and the case in general. Everything in my being prayed they’d catch the monster who had killed three little girls and almost killed Cass.

I excused myself and went into the bathroom, where I sobbed out all the tears I’d been holding at bay. I cried for Stella, and Hillary, and Tracy, and Cass. I cried for the loss of my own innocence and the hell the families of all the victims had gone through. When I returned to the kitchen, everyone was smiling.

“They got him,” Tom announced. “The state police got that bastard, and now he can rot in jail as he should have been doing for the past twenty years.”

I half-expected Gracie to admonish Tom for using the B word—she was very anti cussing—but in this instance, she must have felt it was warranted because she simply smiled and hugged him.

“Did he confess?”

“No, but they found a hand trowel in the trunk of his car. They are sure it is the one used to carve claw marks in Tracy’s face.”

“Why would anyone do that?” Naomi asked.

“Maybe so they didn’t have to look at the face of the person they’d just killed and deal with the guilt I have to assume even a monster would feel,” Gracie said.

Perhaps Gracie was right. It did seem like Underwood was obsessed with Stella. Maybe he was obsessed with all of them. Maybe he strangled them in a fit of rage and then disfigured them to hide his guilt even from himself.

Chapter 27

Thursday

“One more house and then we are going to go to dinner,” I said to Paisley. Cass, Gracie, Tom, and I had taken her trick-or-treating. Based on the hundreds of kids out and about, it looked like the town had already recovered from the fear following Tracy’s death, although it did seem as if most of the kids were with adults.

“Can we get pizza?” asked Paisley, who’d chosen to wear my old Inspector Gadget costume.

“Did Cass put you up to asking for pizza?” I asked as she smiled at him and he winked at her.

“I’ll never tell.” She giggled before running up the walkway to what was going to be our last stop before heading into town.

“I can’t believe you would use a child that way,” I teased, standing next to him as he took a break and sat down on the low wall separating the lawn from the sidewalk.

Cass threw up his hands, in an effort, I was sure, to convince me of his innocence. He was taking things slowly tonight and had spent half the evening on a park bench with Tom, waiting for Paisley, Gracie, and me to do the house-to-house thing in the neighborhood near the park, but it turned out the bullet had not pierced any vital organs, so once they’d given him a transfusion and stitched him up, he recovered fairly quickly.

“Actually, I’m just glad you feel good enough to care what you eat,” I added, taking his arm and hugging it to my chest. Tom and Gracie had gone on ahead to speak to a friend who participated in the same bridge club they did, so it was just the two of us for the moment. “I don’t think I’ve ever been as scared in my life as I was when Rafe called Naomi to inform us that you’d been shot.”

“I get that you were scared, and I would have been too if you were the one to have been shot, but I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me. This isn’t even the first time I’ve been shot in the line of duty.”

“It isn’t?”

He shook his head.

“I didn’t need to know that.”

“I’m a deputy. Things happen.”

I supposed that was true, but still. At least, despite the fact that I’d almost lost Cass, things had seemed to work out all right. Cass had spoken to Buck, as he’d indicated he planned to do, and Buck finally admitted that Underwood had both threatened and bribed him to take the fall for him after he’d seen the killer burying Tracy’s body. Buck shared that Underwood had promised him untold riches if he cooperated and a painful death if he didn’t, and Buck, who had been living in the campground, was just broken enough to believe him and act accordingly. The execution of Cass’s plan to confront Underwood had gone flawlessly in the beginning, but the dismount had been pretty shaky when it turned out that Underwood had a gun. At least the claw he’d used to mark the faces of his victims had been found in his trunk, ensuring that he’d never again see the outside of a prison cell.

“When do you have to go back to work?” I asked Cass.

“Not for a while. The county requires me to be fully cleared by my doctor before I can return to active duty, and my doctor is a cautious guy.”

I waved to Paisley, who was trotting back toward us. “I’m glad your doctor is the cautious sort. You need to allow your body to heal before you jump back into the ring.”

“I told you I was fine.”

“Maybe. But I’m happy you will have the time you need. Do you have any plans for your time off?”

Cass looked into the clear and starry sky. “It’s warmed back up after the cold spell we had, so I thought I’d go fishing. I figure if the weather cooperates, I have a few weeks left before the season comes to an end.” Cass grinned at me. “I don’t suppose you’d want to keep me company?”

“If by fishing you actually mean fishing, sure. If by fishing you mean something else, I think I’ll pass.”

“What else would I mean by fishing other than fishing?” Cass tried to appear innocent, but I knew that he knew exactly what I meant.

“I do have Paisley’s piano lessons and my volunteer shifts at the shelter to work around, and I suppose I should think about getting a job of some sort.”

“So you are staying?”

I couldn’t help but notice the hope in Cass’s eyes.

“For now.” I lightly touched Cass’s chest. “Someone needs to be around to keep an eye on you.”

Cass leaned forward and kissed me quickly on the lips. “You can keep an eye on me for as long as you’d like.” He grabbed my hand and stood up from his sitting position. Paisley arrived, eager to share with us the contents of her haul for the evening.

For the first time in a long time, things felt right. I mean really, really right. I still couldn’t explain my need to flee when I was eighteen. I supposed Cass, and my growing feelings for him might have had something to do with it. But deep in my heart, I knew that Foxtail Lake was where I was meant to be, despite the risk of losing my heart, which was the one thing I’d vowed never to do.