Cord stepped out of his car, carrying cake in one hand and a box of rose and baby’s breath corsages in the other. The parking lot of Olbrich Gardens was empty. The building housing the indoor garden and other facilities was dark. Balancing both boxes in one arm, he tried the glass doors. Locked.
He didn’t have to open the lid of the sheet cake and compare to know that he’d come to the right place. The picture on the top of the cake, a garden wedding recreated in icing and sprayed color was a direct replica of the Olbrich gates and gardens beyond.
Maybe that was it. Maybe he needed to enter through the gate.
It was a nice trick, loading him down with cake and flowers, keeping his hands full. But what Kane couldn’t see was the gun he held beneath the sheet cake. The knife he’d stashed among the corsages.
From his brief discussion with his sisters last night, he’d gathered that Sylvie and Bryce Walker had been married here in the gardens. No doubt that was part of the reason Kane had picked this location. Diana and Reed had been married on the beach. Too public. But as long as the gardens were closed, they could be a lonely, isolated place. A place where Kane could have his way.
Cord pushed the gate with his shoulder. It swung open easily. Every nerve on alert, he slipped inside and scanned the manicured lawn and early fall flowers for signs of movement, signs of anything.
Growing up in the city, he’d never spent much time in gardens. But one look at this place, and he knew Melanie would love it. The meandering paths. The pointed roof of a gazebo peeking out from a rose garden. The perfect setting for a wedding.
But he couldn’t think about Melanie now. About the last words she’d said. About the plane that would be taking off soon, whisking her and Ethan to Florida.
He loved her with all his heart. For him, there had never been anyone else. But as much as he’d like to believe in that bright future together that she’d talked about, he couldn’t manage it. Not yet. Not until the shadow of Dryden Kane was no longer blocking the sun.
MELANIE PUT HER ARM around Ethan as the boat cruised toward shore. Up ahead, the lights of the Memorial Union Terrace glowed through the dusk. Next door the fat turrets of the Red Gym jutted dark into the air, an old castle in the middle of the University of Wisconsin campus.
Reed had called to say a rental sedan would be waiting in the parking lot between the Red Gym and the Union, the keys under the seat. After they picked up the car, just a short drive to the airport and they’d be boarding a plane to Disney World and far away from Dryden Kane.
And Cord.
Melanie had tried not to think about him, tried not to wonder where he was, what danger he was facing, but it was no use. Even prayer hadn’t helped the way it had in the past. Nothing had helped but thinking of Ethan. His safety. His happiness. As long as Ethan was all right, she could survive anything. She had to survive anything. Even losing Cord.
She smiled at the excitement in her son’s face as they neared the shore and their trip to Disney. She hadn’t told him about Cord yet. She hadn’t said a word. And she kept hoping that maybe she wouldn’t have to. Maybe the police would catch Kane and everything would turn out okay.
The easy, laid-back rhythm of a reggae band echoed across the water from the Terrace, growing louder the closer they got to shore. It was unusual for the Terrace to be hosting a Sunday evening band, but she had to admit it was nice. As if a festive send off would make for a happy trip.
“Have a good time at Disney.” Diana smiled at Ethan.
Sylvie’s eyebrow ring twinkled in the light from the city. “I hope we can see you when you get back.”
Melanie pushed back another surge of tears. They hadn’t had much of a chance to get to know Cord’s sisters, but what she’d learned about them made her want to know more. They and their husbands seemed like good people. People who had been through hell and had survived. People who’d once been lonely but had forged family ties stronger than just the blood the sisters shared.
“I’d like that.” She offered the twins a smile, then glanced at Ethan. “We sure wouldn’t want to miss seeing the baby when it’s born.”
Ethan nodded. “Where’s Cord? I mean, Dad?”
Melanie knelt down in front of him. “Your dad had to help Reed.”
He eyed her as if he’d picked up wind of her unease.
“We’ll talk more on the plane, okay, honey?”
Ethan nodded. “Okay.”
Bryce cut the engine. The boat drifted toward a pier flanked with sailboats and rental canoes. Its forward momentum had almost stopped when it bumped against the rubber on the pier’s edge.
Emerging from behind the controls. Bryce gave Melanie and Ethan a smile. “I can’t tell you how glad we are that our little guy is going to have a cousin like you.”
“Girl. Our little girl,” Sylvie teased.
Bryce chuckled. “Right. Now, have a great time at Disney. Check out the haunted house for me, will you?”
Ethan grinned. “You bet.”
Bryce made his way to the ladder and climbed down to the pier to secure the boat.
Melanie traded hugs with Diana and Sylvie. Putting her arm back around her son’s shoulders, she ushered him to the ladder and peered over the edge.
Bryce lay facedown on the pier. Red covered the back of his shirt, was smeared over the white boards.
Was he hurt? Had he fallen?
Or was he—
A hand jutted up from the ladder and grabbed her wrist.
She looked down into the barrel of a gun—and the eyes of Dryden Kane.