Chapter 41
Logan
I tuck my 9mm into the back of my jeans and stay in the cover of brush as I make my way up to the cabin. It’s times like this when all of Uncle Sam’s training comes right back like I never took my camis off.
The yelling reaches me first. A man. No, two men. And at least two women. It’s coming from Nicole’s cabin.
The small wooden structure has a front door and a back door. It’s mostly two big rooms—a living room and kitchen, and the bedroom. The bathroom is walled off most of the way to the ceiling, but open above. There’s a tiny kitchenette along the east wall, and that’s where I head because of the little window above the sink.
The glass looks like it hasn’t been washed in an age, but through the film, I can make out a few people.
What in the ever-loving fuck?
Police Chief Timmons is facedown on the floor in the living room, and there’s a dark puddle around his head. Jesus fucking Christ. If he’s alive, it’ll be a miracle.
Memphis Lockwood is nowhere in sight, but I can hear Julianne’s muffled voice inside the cabin. The man inside turns to the left, and I get a better look.
Rusty Mills? I haven’t seen him since the bowling alley incident with Emmy, the night Banner got punched in the face by Tricia. Rusty has Nicole tied to a chair, and fury burns through me when he swings and connects with her face. Her head lolls to the side before falling limp.
He’s a dead man.
I reach for my phone, but it’s not in my pocket. Shit, I left it in the truck.
Banner’s smart, though, which means I sure as hell hope she’s calling Cody.
A stick cracks, and I yank my gun out of my jeans and whip around to find Memphis Lockwood behind me.
She raises her hands. “Don’t shoot me. Please. I’m just trying to get the truth.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, woman. Watch your step. You call the cops?”
“Service sucks out here, but I think they’re coming. God, I hope so.”
“What the hell happened?” I ask, keeping my voice low and staying out of sight.
“I hid in the woods when I heard someone coming behind me. I thought maybe it was the property owner, but it was the hairdresser. She tried to look in the windows, but the man saw her and dragged her inside. I was more careful. I think Timmons is dead, though.”
I’m still processing everything she said and working out a plan of attack when Memphis’s eyes go wide at the unmistakable sound of a revolver being cocked behind me.
“Put the gun on the ground, and turn around.”
I turn and face Emmy Harris. “What the hell are you doing, Emmy?”
“You’re trespassing.” She swings the barrel from me to Memphis and back again.
The sight before me doesn’t make any sense. “Did you call the cops, Emmy? Rusty has Julianne, Nicole, and Timmons inside.”
Her mouth drops open into a little O. “You don’t say?”
A shot is fired in the cabin, and Julianne’s muffled voice goes quiet.
Instead of fear, the only feeling inside me is the familiar coldness I honed as a marine.
Emmy smiles, but it’s not a smile like I’ve ever seen before. “Who do you think he shot?” She blinks, and the smile dies. “You’re gonna be next, Logan, if you don’t put that gun on the ground like I said.”
One thing you learn real fast in battle is that not having a gun means you’re dead.
Emmy swings the gun back to Memphis. “You have three seconds before I shoot her, and it’ll be all your fault that she dies. At this range, there’s no way I can miss.”
Knowing she was captain of the girl’s trap-shooting team in high school, I don’t doubt her aim for a second. And nothing except the loss of someone else’s life could convince me to put my gun down.
I crouch and lay it in the leaves at my feet.
“Do I look like an idiot? Kick it toward me.”
I follow her directions, but start talking. “Whatever Rusty made you do, you can tell Cody and Timmons, and I’m sure they’ll understand it was all under duress.”
Emmy laughs. “Timmons is already dead. And now you’re all gonna join him because I’m not going down for this. Can you imagine what my parents would say?”
“Why’d you do it, Emmy?” This question comes from Memphis. “The meth? I know you’ve been using your supplier’s trucks to ship it out of town, and you planted it in Logan’s shop and set the explosion as a distraction.”
Emmy narrows her eyes on Memphis, making me wish the woman would shut up, because the look on Emmy’s face says her patience is gone.
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you? Big-city reporter, coming down here and getting into things that are none of your business. What makes you think I have anything to do with it?”
Memphis, who I have to admit has a pair of brass balls, sounds bored as she replies. “I followed the money. And you’ve been hemorrhaging it for over a year. Your CPA sold you out, Emmy. Don’t ever stop paying your accountant. They know all the dirty secrets. What are your parents going to think when they find out you spent every dollar the restaurant made and more? It’s embezzlement when you don’t own it.”
“Fucking Ashcroft. He’ll pay. I’ve got more dirt on him than he’ll survive.” Emmy’s tone drips acid as she talks about the CPA.
The door to the cabin slams, and Rusty comes around the side of the building, gun in hand.
“Ain’t this quite the little party. Too bad they’ll never find your bodies.”
“Whose idea was it?” Memphis asks, apparently not able to resist her reporter’s nature.
“The meth?” Rusty shrugs. “Mine. And since Emmy didn’t have a problem keeping Timmons too busy fucking her tight little cunt to investigate a damn thing, we could’ve kept this going forever.” He shakes his head. “But no. Y’all had to get nosy.”
The pieces fall together.
“You stole from your family and sold meth to make the money back.” My tone is low, but Emmy’s attention swings back to me.
“I knew you were more than just a pretty face and a hard body, Logan. It’s too bad you didn’t fall in line. I really would’ve liked to marry you. I wouldn’t have spent nearly so much money on that house if I hadn’t been making it perfect for us.”
“The hell you say,” Rusty interjects. “You said you were over him. That house was gonna be for you and me. You’re just a cheating bitch like the rest of them, aren’t you? I bet you liked fucking Timmons too.”
Rusty raises his gun at Emmy, but Emmy’s quicker on the trigger. The percussion from the shot is deafening at close range.
I grab Memphis’s arm and drag her to the ground before diving for my gun. But Emmy has already turned, and the barrel of her revolver presses against my forehead as my hand reaches metal.
“No one calls me a bitch,” Emmy says, her tone conversational. “Especially not Rusty Mills.”
“Oh really, because I have no fucking problem calling you a bitch.”
Something inside me dies when I hear Banner’s voice ring out from beyond the cabin, and the barrel lifts from my head as Emmy turns toward her.
No fucking way am I going to lose her now.
“You’re like a bad case of the clap, city girl. Just showing up when you least expect it and completely unwelcome,” Emmy says. “But thankfully, I know how to get rid of both.”
I close my hand around the grip of my gun and launch myself at Emmy from behind, yanking her feet out from under her. Her shot goes wild, and someone screams.
Fear that rivals what I felt when I drove up on my shop in flames tears through me faster than the shot. I pounce on top of Emmy, my 9mm inches from her face.
“Banner!”
“The bitch shot me!”
My Glock has no safety, and the only thing stopping me from pulling the trigger is the sound of Banner’s voice.
“Where? Memphis, get to her!”
As Memphis rushes toward Banner, I wrap a hand around Emmy’s wrist and flip her over, wishing I had a zip tie or a rope, anything to tie her up with. But I don’t, so I crush her wrists together with a near bone-breaking grip.
“You’re hurting me.”
“Banner! Answer me!”
“I’m okay. I think. Mostly.”
Banner’s voice comes closer and I look up. Memphis is walking with an arm around her, and blood drips from the upper edge of Banner’s arm.
“Grazed her.”
“Crazy bitch!” This comes from Julianne as she stumbles down the cabin stairs, the door slamming shut behind her. “You could’ve killed her! You killed him!”
“Everyone, put your fucking guns down. Hands up. Right now,” Cody yells from the path leading to the cabin.
I lower my pistol and raise the other hand. “Emmy tried to kill all of us. She killed Rusty. Maybe Timmons too.”
“What the fuck? Someone needs to explain what the hell happened. Now.”