Harper shook her head, desperately trying to clear her vision. Her ears were ringing from the blow with the shovel. She’d thrown up twice already and was having an awful time just trying to keep from falling over.
Julia nudged her from behind, pushing her deeper into the woods. Harper stumbled, catching herself against a tree with one hand while keeping the precious box clutched against her chest with the other.
“I’m sorry, Harper,” Julia said. “I shouldn’t have hit you so hard. I never meant for you to suffer.” She reached for her arm, but Harper jerked away.
“You never meant for me to suffer? You murdered my son.”
Julia dropped her hand, but kept the lethal shovel in the other hand at the ready. “You didn’t give me a choice.”
Harper stared at her incredulously. “What are you talking about?”
“The pregnancy. Your father’s reelection was coming up and he was slipping in the polls. His entire platform relied on a show of strength and integrity. One little mistake could have cost him everything.
“I couldn’t risk anyone finding out about you having a child out of wedlock. So I bribed Colette to give me the baby as soon as it was born. I told her I would give him to a family in a private adoption. But of course I couldn’t risk that, either. Someone was bound to figure it out eventually, especially with that birthmark on his face, like his father’s.”
She gave Harper a plaintive look, as if expecting sympathy. “He didn’t suffer. I held my hand over his nose and mouth. It was over in just a few minutes. But Colette grew a conscience. She didn’t trust me and demanded to see the baby. I had no choice. I went to her apartment right before she left for the airport, and made up a story about the baby being with a nanny. We talked over tea and I spiked hers with stewed oleander leaves. She agreed to be quiet if I sent her baby pictures soon. As far as I know, no one in Paris ever suspected anything when she died. It was a perfect plan.”
Harper stared at her in horror. “Would you listen to yourself? You murdered my child. Then you murdered Colette. And you justify it because of a political campaign?” She pressed a hand to her throat. “Did my...did my father know about this?”
“What? Earl? Of course not. He’s weak, always has been. He never would have gotten reelected if it wasn’t for me.” She prodded Harper with the shovel. “Hurry up. Head that way.”
Harper wove her way between the trees, grateful they were close together so she could brace herself against them to keep from falling. She glanced over her shoulder. “Was the ransom your idea?”
Julia snorted. “That stupid plan? Of course not. My idiot daughter and her equally stupid boyfriend thought that one up all by themselves. I realized what was going on, of course, since I knew there was no child to ransom. I figured I’d take it as an opportunity.
“Earl’s been talking to a divorce lawyer and doesn’t think I know about it. I knew this day would come, so I’ve been stashing money away. A lot of money. But if I could have him killed, and you, too, I could blame it all on Cynthia when her ridiculous ransom plan fell through. I’d have gotten everything. But you ruined it by bringing your ex-lover into the picture. You and your father would both be dead by now if it wasn’t for his interference. Now I have to go with plan B.”
A familiar thumping noise sounded up ahead. Harper stumbled to a halt when she saw someone with a much larger shovel than Julia’s, digging a hole in the ground.
He turned around, his eyes widening in shock when he saw her. “Harper?”
“Faulk. I should have known you were helping Julia. You’ve been her constant shadow for months.”
He climbed out of the hole and tossed two large plastic bags onto the ground. Neat stacks of bills filled each one. Harper’s fuzzy vision was useless for figuring out the denominations. But even if they were only twenties, or fifties, it was an enormous amount of money in those bags. Probably hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“It always comes down to money, doesn’t it?” she accused. “My family trusted you. How could you help my stepmother kill my baby? Then hire those thugs to kill my father and me?”
“What? No, no, no. I didn’t do any of that. I’ve been trying to talk her out of her crazy plans from day one.”
Julia shoved her forward until she was just a few feet away from him.
“Day one?” Harper accused. “Was that before or after she murdered Shane?”
His face reddened. Then his gaze fell to the box in her hands and he wrinkled his nose. “Is that where you disappeared to, Julia? I told you to leave it. All we had to do was get our money and get out of Dodge.”
“I was going to plant evidence in the box to make it look like Cynthia’s the one who killed the kid.”
“What good would that have done?”
“If she gets charged with our crimes—”
“Your crimes.”
Julia narrowed her eyes at Faulk. “If she gets charged, I’m in the clear.”
“Did you miss the part about them doing lab tests on the syringes from the hospital?”
She waved her hand in the air. “Anyone could have put a syringe in one of those medical waste things. Any lawyer could get that tossed out.”
“If you’re so sure you could beat this thing, why bring Harper here? Now you have a witness. There’s no way out for either of us except to run at this point.”
“Yeah, well. Like I said. I didn’t expect her to catch me digging up the stupid box. I brought her with me to buy some time. We can keep her as a hostage.”
He shook his head. “No way. She’ll slow us down.”
“Fine. What do you propose we do about her then?”
Faulk swore and drew his gun.
Harper gasped and stumbled back.
He gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry about this. I really am.” He raised the pistol.
Bam! A gunshot echoed through the woods.
A red dot appeared on Faulk’s forehead. His eyes rolled up in his head and he slowly crumpled to the ground.
Julia shouted with rage and dove for the gun he’d dropped.
“Harper, move!”
Gage’s voice galvanized her into action. She threw herself into the gaping hole that Faulk had dug and covered her head with the metal box.
Gunshots seemed to ring out all around her. Loud pings echoed in her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut, making herself as small as possible as she pulled her knees to her chest beneath Shane’s box.
The deafening sounds suddenly stopped. An eerie silence fell over the glade.
A moment later, a puff of dirt rained down on her. She jerked back and opened her eyes.
Gage was beside her in the hole, his face pale. “My God. I thought you were...” He shook his head, gently tugged the box from her arms and set it aside.
“Is she okay?” Mason’s face appeared above them, just past Gage’s shoulder. Another familiar face joined his. Detective Radley.
“I think so.” Gage ran his hands over her arms, along her torso, down her legs. They were shaking when he gently probed her scalp.
She winced and ducked away.
“Sorry, sweetheart. I’m going to get you out of here now, okay?” He scooped her into his arms and climbed out of the hole with Mason and Radley helping him up.
“Wait,” she said, her voice groggy even to her own ears. It was so hard to stay awake. “The box. It’s—”
“I know,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Don’t worry. Mason will get it for us. Won’t you, Mason?”
“Of course.” He hopped down into the hole. A moment later, he was back in front of them, his face pale. “I don’t understand it. The bullets. There are holes all over the top. Nothing on the bottom.”
“Shane protected me,” Harper said, resting her head against Gage’s chest. “He saved me. You both did. Father and son.”
Gage exchanged a startled glance with his boss then turned and strode back toward the house.