9

Tessa had no good options. If she shot at Pam, she could drop the lighter, setting both her and Jerry on fire.

Jerry went still. His eyes opened wide in panic. Tessa caught his gaze and held it for a second, then she dropped hers to the hose he still held. He followed her line of sight. Relief crossed his face, as if he’d forgotten he was holding a running hose.

His jaw tightened, and he raised his hand and pointed the hose at the lighter. Water extinguished Pam’s flame. She tried to relight it, but nothing happened. Frustrated, she tried to drag Jerry closer so she could use him as a shield. But he jerked his sleeve from her grip. He broke away and fell to his knees. Turning the hose on himself, he soaked his pajamas, then scrambled back toward the house.

Pam snatched the gas can again and held it in front of her body. Tessa had had enough. The barn was toast, but she wasn’t going to let Pam hurt anyone. Tessa stalked forward. Pam backed up, then stopped when she realized the fire was in her retreat path.

She turned as if to run around the barn. Logan emerged from around the corner, blocking her escape.

Panic lit Pam’s eyes. She backed up again toward the fire, her eyes shifting between Tessa, Logan, and the burning barn. Rain began to fall, dampening Tessa’s face.

“I’ll jump in,” Pam threatened.

Tessa ignored the threat. At this point, the only person Pam could hurt was herself. Tessa was grateful that her mom hadn’t been in the barn, but she still needed to find her. The night was getting colder, and the rain would slow their search and increase the risk of hypothermia.

“It’s over, Pam.” Tessa stooped and snatched the hose from the ground. She aimed it at Pam and pulled the lever. Water gushed. Pam dropped the gas can and raised her hands to block the water streaming in her face.

Tessa gave her a thorough soaking. Pam was sputtering and wiping her eyes when Tessa approached. “Put your hands on your head, and turn around.”

Pam complied.

“You’re under arrest.” Tessa holstered her gun and brought one of Pam’s hands behind her back. “On your knees.”

When Pam resisted, Tessa gave her wrist a twist, using leverage to force her to submit.

Pam sank to the ground. “Bitch.”

Tessa turned out Pam’s wet pockets and found a sopping book of matches and a set of keys but no other weapons. Tessa’s hand automatically went to her waist, looking for her handcuffs. But she wasn’t in uniform. She’d been looking for her mother. She hadn’t planned on arresting an arsonist. “Logan, could you get my spare handcuffs from the SUV?”

After he returned with the handcuffs, Tessa fastened them around Pam’s wrists.

Sirens sounded in the distance.

Jerry waved toward the barn. “Why the hell did you burn down my barn?”

But Pam just glared at him.

“Did you kill Dante?” Tessa asked her.

Pam looked away and didn’t answer, but Tessa could see the anger and guilt in her eyes. Was Pam strong enough to have harpooned Dante? Tessa thought yes. Pam was not a small woman. She was also athletic, and as Logan had pointed out at the crime scene, a harpoon was specifically designed to impale flesh.

Anyway, Tessa didn’t have time to interrogate her now. It would have to wait until she found her mother.

Fire trucks roared down the road, turned into the driveway, and drove past Tessa’s vehicle and a BMW she assumed belonged to Pam. Kurt and Bruce arrived in their patrol vehicles right behind the fire department.

Tessa gave them a quick rundown of the evening’s events. “Bruce, can you take Mrs. Rhodes to the station? Put her in the holding cell. Get a formal statement from Garcia about his relationship with Frank Martin, and cuff him to something heavy.”

“Will do.” Bruce took Pam by the elbow and marched her toward his patrol car.

“I was on my way to your house to set up the search and rescue command center when the fire call came in,” Kurt said.

Firemen hauled hoses across the yard and began spraying Jerry’s house. With the barn a lost cause, the best they could do was to keep the fire from spreading.

“Logan and I are going to hike the trail from here to Orcas Road.” Tessa limped away from the barn. As her adrenaline ebbed, the pain in her leg returned, and nausea swirled in her belly. “This is still the most likely place she would go.”

“I’ll set up the command center at your house.” Kurt got into his vehicle and drove away, strobe lights flashing in the darkness.

Tessa turned to Logan. Soot streaked his face and jacket, and his eyes were red and watering from the smoke. Her own eyes and lungs burned, and her leg throbbed. “Are you ready?”

He paused. “All of this commotion might scare your mother if she’s on the trail. Why don’t you drive around to the other side? I’ll run up the path and meet you. That way, we won’t miss her if she decides to double back.” Logan paused. “No offense. I know you run every day, but you’re injured. I can move faster without you.”

As much as she wanted to, Tessa couldn’t argue with his logic. Her leg felt like it was on fire. She could still function, but she wasn’t at her best. She’d only slow him down.

“All right. I have a flashlight in the SUV.” She went to her vehicle. Logan followed her. Taking two bottles of water from the cargo hold, she handed one to Logan. “And thank you.”

Logan poured water over his face, then drank the rest in a few long swallows. He tossed the empty bottle into the vehicle.

Tessa pulled out her backpack and held it out to him, along with a flashlight. “It’s stocked with water, a first aid kit, a survival blanket . . .”

“I got it.” Logan slung it onto his back. “I’ll meet you on the road.”

“Remember, she might be scared. She might not recognize you.”

Logan stopped her with a hand on her arm. “Tessa, I know how to hunt people down who don’t want to be found.”

“I guess you do.” To find her mother, she was going to have to give up control. She couldn’t fix this alone.

“If she’s there, I’ll find her.” Logan turned and ran toward the woods.

If she’s there . . .

Tessa’s phone beeped as she opened her vehicle door. Cate’s number displayed on the screen.

“Cate?” Tessa answered.

“We checked all along Widow’s Walk,” Cate said. “There’s no sign of your mom.”

Tessa didn’t know whether to be relieved or not.

“We’re going to drive back to your house,” Cate continued. “We’ll meet up with Kurt there.”

“Thanks, Cate.” Tessa climbed into her vehicle, turned it around, and headed away from the fire. As she drove, she put Cate on speaker and filled her in on the fire and Pam Rhodes.

“Why Pam?” Cate asked.

“I don’t know yet.” Tessa would worry about the whys and hows after her mother was safe.

“If you want help interrogating her, I’m in.” Anger sharpened Cate’s voice.

“I appreciate that.” Tessa ended the call. Then she made the loop around the forest and slowed her SUV. The rain intensified, obscuring her view of the woods. She turned on her high beams and crawled along the shoulder of the road, looking for the opening to the trail.

Her mother had to be out here.

Somewhere.

Logan jogged down the trail. He could move faster, but he didn’t want to miss any signs that Tessa’s mother could have wandered off the trail. He stopped every twenty-five yards, scanned the ground with his flashlight, and listened, trying to sort out forest sounds from the honk and squawk of fire trucks in the distance.

Gradually, the sound of the rain falling through the foliage became louder than the sirens.

He swept the flashlight back and forth across the trail. He didn’t want to emerge at the other end of the trail without Tessa’s mother.

Branches rustled in front of him. He pointed his flashlight toward the sound. Five tiny deer bounded away from him, their black tails bobbing with each stride. Disappointment surged through him. If she wasn’t on this trail, if she hadn’t gone to find her portrait, she could be anywhere within a three-mile radius.

The wind moaned through the trees.

Wait.

Logan tilted his head, his ears straining. The sound was not the wind. It was a person.

“Mrs. Flagg?” he called.

The moan grew louder. Logan followed it around a bend in the trail. Tessa’s mother lay on her side, huddled in a ball. At the sight of her, lying completely still, alarm spiked through him.

Please be all right.

Logan approached her as slowly as if she were one of the wild island deer. “Mrs. Flagg?”

She didn’t react.

“Bonnie?” he tried her first name. “I’m here to help you.”

Nothing.

Logan knelt beside her. Holding his breath, he pressed two fingers to the side of her neck. Her pulse thumped weakly against his fingertips. Relief flooded him.

He pulled out his cell phone and called Tessa. “I found her. I’ll have her at the trailhead in ten minutes.”

“Is she all right?” Fear tightened Tessa’s voice.

Shining his flashlight on her, Logan assessed her condition. The toe of her boot was caught under an exposed tree root. A thin line of blood trickled down her temple. Logan ran a hand over her head and found a sticky spot behind her ear. A rock lay on the ground near her.

He didn’t want to tell Tessa how bad her mother looked, but lying to her would do more harm in the long run. If her mother . . .

No. He wasn’t going there. Not yet.

“She’s unconscious.” He stuck to the facts. “It looks like she tripped and hit her head.”

Logan splayed his hand at the base of her throat. The skin of Bonnie’s neck was far too cold. All she wore was a wool coat unbuttoned over a thin cotton nightgown. The skin of her face and neck was white, her lips tinged with blue.

“Hypothermia is a strong possibility as well,” he added. Pale and still, Bonnie looked fragile. “I can’t tell if she’s broken any bones.”

“Where are you?” Tessa asked.

“About a half mile from the road.” He looked down the trail. It was narrow, barely wide enough for a bike to pass. “I’ll carry her out.”

“I’ll call Henry and have him meet us at his office.”

Logan freed Bonnie’s boot from under the root. “Call the ferry terminal too. The boat should be back by now. Tell them to get ready for an emergency run.”

The ferry would be in its pen, waiting for the morning run, and available for emergency medical transport to the mainland.

“I have to hang up now. I’ll meet you in ten minutes.” Logan stuffed the phone into his pocket, opened the backpack, and found the Mylar emergency blanket. He tucked it under Bonnie’s coat as best he could. Then he buttoned the coat. He removed his own jacket and wrapped that around her too.

Logan slipped the flashlight into his pocket. He couldn’t carry her and simultaneously light the way. He slid his arms under her body and picked her up, cradling her close to his body.

Between the heavy cloud cover and thick canopy overhead, the trail was dark. Logan couldn’t run for fear of tripping. A second head injury would not help Bonnie. Moving as quickly as he dared, he made his way up the trail. Ten minutes later, he emerged at the road.

A set of headlights approached. The vehicle slowed and stopped in front of him.

Tessa.

She jumped out of the car. Tears and rain streamed down her soot-streaked face. Logan walked toward the SUV, and Tessa opened the rear door.

He gently deposited her mother onto the back seat. “Why don’t you sit back here with her and let me drive.”

Tessa climbed in beside her mother and closed the door.

Logan slid behind the wheel. He cranked up the heat and turned the vehicle around. “Did you get Henry on the phone?”

“Yes,” Tessa said from the back seat. “The plan is for him to stabilize her before we get on the ferry. He’ll come with us.”

Logan glanced in the rearview mirror. Bonnie hadn’t moved. He drove to Henry’s office and carried her inside.

Henry assessed her, covered her with warm blankets, and started a heated IV. “Her vital signs are surprisingly good.”

Bonnie stirred as he checked her pupils. Relief flooded Logan as she opened her eyes and murmured, “What happened? Where am I?”