Devil's Lake (Bittersweet Hollow Book 1) (27 page)

It’s over.

She watched the cotton candy pink line grow thicker on the horizon behind the trees, dancing off the sparkling surface of Devil’s Lake. She felt calm, calmer than ever before.

“Boone?”

He turned toward her. “Yeah?”

“Thank you.” She took his hand in hers. “For finding my sister.”

A smile slid onto his lips. “No problem.”

He answered as if he’d just bought her a coffee, or handed her an apple. As if it were no big deal.

She loved that.

“I hear the police sirens,” she said. “They’re coming.”

“Yep.” He stretched his legs out. “We’ll probably be here all morning.”

“Probably.” She turned toward him. “But after it’s over, I have a request.”

He cocked an eyebrow in her direction. “What’s that, Peaches?”

She looked toward the lake, glistening in the distance. “I want to go for a swim before we head home.” She paused, then continued in a rushed whisper. “I need to purge him from my system. I think I could do that by swimming for the last time in Devil’s Lake, when I’m not running from someone, not swimming for my life. You know what I mean?” She took his hand in hers. “I want to float and relax. Swim without fear. Enjoy the feel of the cool water on my skin.”

“Makes sense. And it sounds good.” He eyed their clothing. “But we’re not exactly dressed for swimming, are we?”

She shrugged. “I don’t care. I need to feel clean again.” She hitched a sob. “Can you understand that?”

Lights flashed in the distance, and the sound of the sirens grew louder.

Grace, who had been standing with Anderson and Ned behind them, plopped down beside her. “I totally get that. I want to swim, too.”

The sisters embraced, cried on each other for a few minutes, and then sighed, linking arms and gazing toward the water through the trees.

“When I saw him again,” Portia began, “it all came flooding back. I thought I’d crumple into a ball and die.” She leaned over to kiss her sister’s cheek. “But then I saw how brave you were. How you beat him in two days, Grace. Two days! Compared to my two years…I felt so proud of you. I drew on that pride and it gave me strength.”

Grace swiped at her tears. “I kept thinking of you. How he’d hurt you. It made me so goddamned mad.”

Anderson crouched behind Grace and rubbed her shoulders. “How
did
you do it, baby? In two days?”

Grace smiled at him over her shoulder. “I’ll tell you some day, sweetie. But let me say all those acting lessons you gave me came in pretty handy.”

Anderson nodded. “I should have known.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “You’re our hero, Gracie. You’re amazing.”

She pulled him down beside her as the cop cars screeched into the yard. “I kept thinking of you. How much I loved you.”

Portia and Boone exchanged smiles, then rose to greet the officers who ran toward them with weapons drawn.

Chapter 66

G
race and Portia stood at the shore of Devil’s Lake, hand in hand, wearing gym shorts and tees Portia had thrown into her bag when she hastily packed to drive west in search of Grace. They didn’t have towels, but she’d grabbed a big blanket from Boone’s Jeep and it lay ready for them to share when they finished swimming. The men stayed back at the munitions plant, having offered to help the local police search the buildings for more kidnapped girls.

“I’m so glad this is over,” Grace said, wading with Portia into the water.

“He won’t be able to hurt any more girls, that’s for sure.” Portia shivered. “Oh! It’s cold.”

“We’ll get used to it, Sweet Pea.”

Portia turned to her with a trembling smile. “I love it when you call me that.” She squeezed her sister’s hand. “Grace? Will we ever forget Murphy?”

Grace squeezed her hand. “No. But we
will
get over it. We’ll move forward.”

“I don’t know. I keep seeing his face in my nightmares. I wake up screaming to him standing over me.”

Grace turned to her sister, locking eyes with her. “I want you to focus on replacing that image with the one you just saw. Murphy lying tied up. Helpless. Vulnerable. Naked to the world.”

Portia nodded as they walked deeper into the lake. “Okay. I’ll try. Or maybe I’ll picture him in jail.”

Grace let go of her hand. “Even better.” She dove beneath the surface and came up a few yards away. “Come on. It feels great.”

Portia followed her example, and when she felt the water streaming around her face and body, her entire being sighed with relief. She popped up beside Grace. “Wonderful.”

Grace grinned. “Let’s swim out a ways. You ready?”

Portia smiled back. “Ready.”

They stroked side by side until their arms grew tired, then rolled onto their backs and floated. Mourning doves cooed from the shore, and birds flitted and chirped nearby. The sound of crickets came from the reeds in a nearby cove. Lulled by the feeling of security and peace, they linked fingers and drifted without saying a word.

Finally, Grace pulled up and tread water. “Portia? How’s Mom? I’ve been worried sick about her.”

Portia stayed on her back, gazing up into the blue sky above. “No worries. Dr. Kareem got her back on the IV drugs and she’s starting to come back to where she was when she first was released. The doc said he can arrange a visiting nurse to come every other day to set up the IV, since the pills didn’t work as well.”

“Can we see her?”

“She’ll be home in a few days, hon. We’ll be together again. All of us.”

Grace floated up onto her back again. After a few minutes, she said, “You like him, don’t you.”

“What?”

“Him. Boone. You like him.”

“I—”

“Come on,” Grace said. “I know you. I see the way you look at him.”

Portia’s cheeks felt warm. She had been avoiding thoughts about Boone for a while. Avoiding how she felt when she was around him. Her sense of irrational fear had pretty much disappeared. The anxiety had lessened. And now, when he touched her, or leaned a shoulder to hers, or turned to her with those gorgeous deep gray eyes, her heart thumped wildly and her knees went weak.

“I guess I do.”

“What?”

“Like him. Kinda.”

“Kind of?” Grace squealed a laugh and splashed Portia with a cupped palm. “Kind of?”

Portia giggled.

Grace grinned at the clouds above. “I see a cloud that looks like Boone’s face. And I know you want to smother it in kisses.” She paused for effect. “Don’t you?”

Portia let the last of her anxiety go…up, up, away it floated, to the clouds above. She pictured it dissipating like vapors on the wind, gone for good. Never to torture her again. She began to sidestroke back to the shore. “Okay. I’ll admit it. Maybe… maybe I’d like to kiss him.”

Grace caught up with her. “Good. Because he’s been in love with you since you were kids.”

Portia snorted a laugh. “No way.”

“Way.”

“Seriously? Why didn’t I ever…”

“Because you were blind, my dear sister. Blind and…um…stupid.”

“Stupid?”

Grace chuckled and started to swim on her back. “Okay. Not exactly stupid, maybe dense.”

“Oh, that’s a lot better,” Portia said, but she couldn’t stop the smile that spread on her lips. “I’m just dense.”

“It’s just the truth, Sweet Pea.”

It was Portia’s turn to splash her sister. She drove an open hand across the water’s surface, sending a shower over Grace’s face.

Sputtering, Grace rolled over and stood in the shallow water. “Really? You wanna go with me? Huh?” With a laugh, she jumped on Portia’s shoulders and dunked her.

Portia emerged laughing, and collared her sister around the neck, giggling uncontrollably. “You’re incorrigible, Grace.”

“Incorrigible?” Grace snorted. “Oh, give me a break. You learned that word in
The Sound of Music
. The little boy. What was his name? Kurt?”

“Right. ‘I’m Kurt. I’m eleven. I’m incorrigible.’”

“He was a boy.”

“I know. But you’re still incorrigible.”

They reached the shore and wrapped up in the blanket, sitting side by side on a log.

Portia snuggled close to her sister. “I love you, Baby Cakes.”

Grace leaned her head on her sister’s shoulder. “Right back atcha.”

They sat for a long time, until their hair was drier and their bodies were warm. With a satisfied sigh, they stood as one and walked back to the compound.

Chapter 67

D
irk helped Daisy out of the truck, amazed at how much stronger she’d grown in the past week. The intravenous experimental cancer meds had really turned her around, and for the first time in months, he felt a sense of relaxation, almost of…peace.

It was a foreign sensation. Peace. No worries. No wondering where his daughters were.

From Grace’s druggie days, to Portia’s abduction, to Daisy’s cancer, he’d been in a constant state of anxiety that he fought to control and not show. After all, he was of strong Vermont stock. Farm men like him didn’t cry. Didn’t show their fear.

Except in private, when all the lights were out, when everyone was asleep.

When Portia had called him last night to say Grace had been abducted, but that they already found her and caught Murphy, he’d almost lost it.

They’d kept the news from him. His baby girl had been taken by that brutish monster, and he hadn’t even known.

At first he’d raised his voice at her, told her she shouldn’t try to protect him from life.

Then, when she’d explained that she didn’t want him to fall apart with too much on his shoulders, he’d understood. What could he have done, anyway? Except worry some more. He wouldn’t have left Daisy’s side.

So, he apologized for his outburst, thanked Portia for loving him, and told her he’d see her as soon as he could arrange a flight home.

Both girls tumbled down the steps and ran toward them, throwing their arms around Daisy first and then him. Boomer and Cupcake followed in their wake, and in seconds, Boone, Ned, and Anderson appeared on the porch steps, waving and watching. Mirage whinnied from his pasture, turning in tight circles and shaking his head as if he didn’t want to be left out of the festivities.

“Mom! Dad!” Grace embraced and kissed her mom, then jumped into her father’s arms, hugging him as if she’d never let go.

Portia kissed her mother’s cheeks repeatedly, then put an arm around her waist, flashing a big grin at her father. “Mom. You look amazing. How’d you get better so fast?”

“Hi, darlings. It’s so good to be home again.” Daisy smiled at both daughters and waved to the men on the porch. “Dr. Kareem fixed me up good, girls. Now we know how to keep the ‘good’ going.”

Dirk hadn’t told her about the second abduction, and he’d cautioned everyone about that on the phone earlier. Daisy needed all her strength to get well.

He would tell her. In time.

After the kissing and hugging finally died down, they climbed the porch steps, shook hands and exchanged bear hugs with the men, and headed inside.

The aroma of roast chicken wafted up to him. What else was it? Rosemary?

Who the hell had learned how to cook since he’d been gone?

Portia grabbed potholders and opened the oven, and the aroma intensified to the point that Dirk’s stomach growled.

“You hungry, Dad?” she laughed, glancing at his belly.

“Starving. Did you make this?”

She blushed. “I did. I hope it’s edible.”

He hugged her and whispered in her ear. “I’m sure it’s gonna be great, sweetie. And can I tell you something?”

She nodded. “Sure.”

“You look amazing. Completely different. You look…happy.”

She leaned down to poke the chicken. “I am, Dad. I’m feeling like my old self again. Finally.”

***

Over dinner, the conversation eventually drifted to Murphy.

Ned, who’d been invited to the feast by Portia, scooped a second helping of mashed potatoes and plopped them on his plate. “Did you guys see the news this morning?”

Anderson wiped his mouth with a napkin and frowned. “Yeah. Unbelievable, huh?”

Daisy looked around the table. “What? What did I miss? Another school shooting? Oh, Lord, I hope not.”

Dirk put a hand on hers. “Nothing like that, dear. It’s just they caught that creep, Murphy, and they’d been discovering things about him.” He sent a warning glance to Grace, who’d opened her mouth to speak.

Grace nodded in silent understanding. They’d talked about not mentioning her kidnapping until Daisy had been home for at least a few days. “There were others,” she said. “Besides Portia, I mean.”

Dirk grimaced. “I heard they’re still uncovering the bodies. Around the munitions camp.”

Boone forked another bite of chicken. “They’re using dogs.”

Portia nodded. “But they did find that one girl alive.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “
Barely
alive. Poor thing.”

Ned took another bite of potatoes and swallowed. “Where was she again?”

“Tied inside one of the old production facilities at the compound,” Anderson said. “She was only sixteen.”

Portia felt the old fear bubbling up inside her, but she pushed it down forcibly.
I am strong. I am whole.
“Her parents must be so happy to have her home again.”

Dirk took a sip of water. “Damn. I know how that feels.”

Ned pushed back his chair. “They’re uncovering some pretty sick stuff about his childhood, too. His mother was bonkers. Rumor was she…” he looked at Daisy, then continued. “Um…she had inappropriate relations with her son. When the social workers found out, they took his mother away. She escaped from the home, came back to the house where her son lived with an uncle. The next day, they found her dead in the basement. They questioned Murphy about it. He was only thirteen, but they always wondered if he’d been responsible for the ‘accident’ when she fell down the cellar stairs.”

Portia raised an eyebrow. “Really? I didn’t hear that part. Was the mother by any chance a nurse?”

Ned answered again. “She sure as hell was. Go figure, huh?” He covered a belch with one hand. “Excuse me. Anyway, she worked at a nursing home before she got fired and ended up on welfare. The father left before Murphy was born.”