Appalachian Prey Read online

  “You ain’t got nothing to fear from Thaddeus now.”

  “You don’t understand. Aunt Vi found jewelry he stole from those women he murdered. He’d hidden it behind the bathroom plumbing. He walked in on us and saw that we knew. It made him crazy. He wasn’t going to let me take the evidence to Harlan.”

  “Course not. This is most unfortunate.”

  “Unfortunate?” Lilah snorted. “I’d say it’s a bit more dire than that. Thanks for your concern,” she added bitterly.

  “You set everything in motion the minute you came back here to Lavender Mountain and found that stuff Chauncey stole.” He made a tsking sound. “A shame Thad couldn’t have found it first.”

  “Are you talking about the money? Why does it matter who found it?”

  “I ain’t talking about the blackmail money.”

  “Look, I don’t know what trash Thad’s filled your head with, but Dad didn’t blackmail him,” she said hotly. She’d had it with everyone putting down her dad, especially when it came to his own brothers. “He knew he was dying and asked Thad to help him out. For us. His kids.”

  Her throat swelled, threatened to close shut on her. Okay, so taking the money wasn’t her dad’s finest moment. But he’d done it for Jimmy and Darla, and for her. In his own bumbling way, he had wanted to help.

  The scent of cherry tobacco made her stomach roil. It clung heavily in the room now that one of the windows was shut. Which reminded her—Lilah strode past him and slammed the back windows shut, too.

  “You mind not smoking right now?” she snapped. “I know it’s your house, but it’s making me nauseous.”

  Jasper scowled. “It’s never bothered you before.” His eyes traveled down her body. “You ain’t with child are you? I’ve heard rumors.”

  Lilah bit her lips. She’d deliberately not said anything to Uncle Jasper, knowing his strict religious bent. But since he’d outright asked... “Yes. I’m pregnant.”

  “Harlot.”

  Lilah shook her head. He hadn’t really said that—had he?

  “You turned out no different than those fallen women Thad killed.”

  Jasper dropped his pipe in the ashtray and it clanged as loud as a dropped shotgun shell. Burnt ash spilled out of it like bits of molten lava. Lilah couldn’t tear her gaze away. She didn’t want to look up and see the disgust in Jasper’s face.

  “I thought you were different from your sister,” Jasper continued. “She was always trash. But you—I had hopes you’d turn into a decent, respectable lady.” Gone was the detached tone and odd indifference. His voice crackled with condemnation. “Now look at you. Pregnant, unwed and living in sin.”

  She lifted her chin. “Don’t you dare talk about my sister that way. Or me, either. After today, you’ll never have to see my face again. Trust me on that.”

  “No doubt.”

  The eerie calm had returned, as though he’d slipped back on a mask.

  “How about letting me borrow your truck,” Lilah said stiffly. She wanted out of the smoky, stuffy room. “I’ll see it’s returned to you tomorrow.”

  Jasper bent over, picked the bible up from the floor where he’d dropped it earlier and then rifled his fingers through a jar filled with ink pens. He selected a crimson one and laid it in the middle of the book where their ancestry tree was located.

  Crimson.

  Ernest, Dad and Darla’s names had been scribed in the color of blood.

  Lilah took a step backward. “If you’ll just give me those truck keys,” she said desperately. “I’ll go away and never come back. Promise.”

  “We both know it’s too late for that. Poor LayLay. You’ll be the hardest one of all.”

  “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She took another step backward, mind in a whirl. Somehow, she’d stepped into the twilight zone. “Look, just give me the keys—”

  “Chauncey was a blackmailer. A man can’t treat his family like that. It’s wrong.”

  This was no alternate universe. This was real. If she wanted to survive, for her baby to live, she’d better get it together.

  “You’re right,” she agreed, playing along. “It was wrong. Dad shouldn’t have done that.”

  “I had to kill him. What kind of man threatens to turn his own brother into the police? Chauncey found that jewelry and guessed the truth. Only a matter of time before he ruined everything.”

  “You knew Thad killed those women?” she asked, breathless.

  “From the start.”

  Jasper stepped past her.

  She couldn’t help asking. “Why didn’t you do something?”

  “They were nothing but harlots. An abomination. Still, he shouldn’t have killed them. We had an agreement. He wouldn’t tell anyone I’d killed Dad, and I’d keep my silence.”

  He lifted the gun from the mantel and cocked the slide, checking the chamber. “Yep, loaded.”

  “But killing your father was like—self-defense. Right? He hurt you.”

  “That’s the way I seen it,” Jasper agreed. “Shot him cold in the back and claimed it was a hunting accident. Only mistake was that I didn’t know Thad was watching.”

  “So when you found out Thad strangled those women, you couldn’t say anything for fear he’d turn you in.”

  “Exactly.”

  Lilah backed all the way into the doorway, feeling behind her for the door handle. Where was it?

  Jasper gave a crooked smile. “Go on and open the door. We’ll take a little walk.”

  What was she thinking trying to get outside? Better to stay inside. Jasper was crazy—not stupid. If he shot her in the cabin, he would never be able to cover up the crime. “It’s—it’s raining,” she stammered, grasping at straws.

  He barked a laugh.

  She scooted along the side of the wall, away from the door, not daring to turn her back on Jasper.

  “Did you kill Darla, too?”

  “Had to. Stupid chit. All over that cheap glass bauble. Thad and I tried to reason with her, offered to get her another necklace in exchange. But she’d taken a shine to it. Or so she’d claimed. Kept asking why it was so important to us, demanding to know why we wanted it. She always was the sassiest little ole thing.”

  Lilah hoped that the killing had been quick, that Darla hadn’t known what was coming. “So y’all argued. Did you force her to hand over her wedding ring?”

  “That came afterward. Thad said the missing ring might make it look like a possible robbery.”

  No, Thad had only wanted to expand his sick collection of tokens. They were both responsible for her sister’s death, but she still wanted to know who had pulled the trigger.

  “Was it you or Thad that shot Darla?”

  “Me. I’m the eldest. The one who cleans up his little brother’s mess. ’Sides, Thad’s a coward at heart.”

  “Big words from a man who shoots defenseless women in the back.”

  The broad side of his free hand smacked her across the face and she fell to the floor. Pain exploded in her right cheek and ears. Lilah hunched up, instinctively shielding her stomach from another blow.

  The next landed on her right thigh—a vicious kick.

  “Get up,” he commanded.

  Lilah scanned the room, desperate for a weapon. Her eyes lit on the bible and she crawled to it, picking it up and clutching it to her chest.

  “Put that back on the table,” he ordered. “You ain’t worthy enough to be holdin’ it.”

  “You wouldn’t shoot a woman holding a bible, would you?” She inched away from him, needing to get out of striking range.

  Jasper swooped down and grabbed a handful of her hair. “Get up now!”

  The book fell out of her hands and she rose to her feet, tears blinding her eyes. “Okay, okay. Please stop hurting me.”

 
His grip released a fraction. “And now we take that walk.”

  He marched her to the door and thrust it open. Her scalp was on fire.

  This was it. She was going to lose the baby, lose Harlan, lose her life. In ten minutes, she’d be nothing more than another death her uncle recorded in crimson ink.

  Wind swept the rain onto the porch and the sky rumbled. He would force her into the woods now and shoot her in the back like he’d done with Dad and Darla.

  “Please,” she begged. “Don’t shoot me. I won’t tell anyone.”

  “Damn straight you won’t.”

  * * *

  HARLAN CLIMBED IN the cruiser, adrenaline spiking his body like a bolt of lightning. Lilah had run from the lion’s den right into the belly of the beast.

  Sammy scrambled onto the seat beside him. “I’ll radio for backup,” he said. “We’ll send a search team to check the woods in case she didn’t make it all the way to Jasper’s.”

  He didn’t answer. All his attention was on the slick roads. The windshield wipers blasted away sheets of rain, squeaking out a message. Hur-ry, hur-ry, hur-ry.

  “We can’t help Lilah if you get us killed on the roads,” Sammy warned. “Should have let me drive again.”

  “I got this.”

  “She’s going to be okay,” Sammy promised.

  He had to believe that, had to cling to that bit of faith. Otherwise, he couldn’t function.

  The tires squealed as he rounded a bend a bit too quick. The cruiser spun wildly in a half circle before he regained control.

  “Not so fast,” Sammy cautioned.

  Easy for him to say. His wife and kid weren’t in danger.

  Finally, finally he arrived at Jasper’s.

  Two figures were on the porch. Damn this rain. His vision was limited to one-second patches of clarity as the wipers continued their frenzied action. He hit the accelerator and then skidded to a halt at the ramshackle cabin.

  His heart jackhammered at the sight of Jasper poking a shotgun at Lilah’s back. No! He jumped out of the car, pulling the pistol out of his side belt.

  “Stop!” he ordered. “Drop the gun, Jasper.”

  Lilah’s gray eyes, turbulent as the storm clouds above, lit on him.

  And then, he knew the truth.

  He loved her.

  Madly. Heartbreakingly, bone-crushingly loved her. Probably always had. How could he have been so stupid for so long? He couldn’t lose Lilah. Not now—not ever.

  “Let her go!” Harlan ordered. “Set the gun down and put your hands in the air.”

  Jasper lowered the shotgun to his side, but he grabbed Lilah in a chokehold with his free hand.

  “You ain’t takin’ me alive,” he shouted. “And if I go, she goes, too.”

  Jasper backed up to the door. Bastard was planning to barricade himself in the cabin with Lilah as his hostage.

  “Don’t do it, Jasper,” he warned. “Let her go now or it will only end up worse for you.”

  “Couldn’t be no worse,” he huffed, dragging Lilah with him.

  Lilah pulled at his arm and kicked his shins, but Jasper’s hold didn’t loosen.

  He couldn’t let Jasper get her inside the cabin. Harlan holstered his gun, lunged forward and leaped up onto the porch.

  Jasper shoved Lilah to the side and started raising his shotgun.

  There was no time to draw his pistol, or get out of Jasper’s way so Sammy would have a clear shot at the bastard. Harlan did the only thing he could do. He dove at him, hoping to knock the shotgun out of Jasper’s hand before the shot went off.

  He didn’t make it.

  A roar exploded and a tremendous pressure burst on his left shoulder. Lilah’s scream echoed in his brain. The shotgun. He focused his eyes on it and managed to fall forward, knocking it out of Jasper’s hand. It clattered on the wet rotting floorboards of the porch.

  “Harlan.” Lilah leaned over him, eyes wide in horror. He felt blood ooze from his shoulder. Soon, the pain would set in. For now, shock and adrenaline kept his mind sharp and focused.

  “I’m okay,” he said with a rasp. “Go get in the car and stay low.”

  Jasper’s footsteps pounded by them. Coward was running away.

  Harlan pulled himself to a seated position. He could still shoot with his right hand if Jasper came back toward them.

  “Halt, or I’ll fire!” Sammy yelled, aiming his pistol at the fleeing Jasper.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sammy fired a warning shot in the air, but Jasper kept running—drawing closer to the edge of the woods.

  Lilah lifted her chin. Get in the car, my ass. Jasper was getting away. The man who had killed her dad and her sister and had almost killed her.

  She picked up her uncle’s fallen shotgun and steadied it against her right shoulder. With no hesitation, she racked the chamber and took aim through the drenching downpour.

  Boom.

  Jasper’s body twitched in the air and then hurtled to the ground.

  Got him.

  Dead center through the heart, if she wasn’t mistaken. Shot in the back the same way he’d murdered his own kin. Justice could be a bitch sometimes—but not today.

  “Good job,” Harlan drawled, his voice weak.

  Lilah set the gun against the wall and knelt beside him, kissing him soundly on the mouth. “Let’s get you to the hospital,” she said, helping him to his feet.

  Sammy rushed over to them and slid his shoulder under Harlan’s right arm. “Lean on me.” He tossed Lilah the keys. “Open the back door and start the car.”

  She caught the keys in the air and turned.

  “Hey, Lilah,” Sammy called. “Great shot.”

  “That’s my girl,” Harlan added.

  * * *

  THE HOSPITAL ROOM was filled with flowers and fruit baskets. A large window on the far wall allowed a view of bright stars glistening over the mountains, as well as a few lights from cabins in the hollows.

  Who would have thought a hospital room could be so cozy or so beautiful?

  The nurse had finally shooed out the slew of visitors, declaring her patient needed rest. Despite their speedy arrival at the hospital, Harlan had lost a lot of blood. They’d given him a transfusion and were keeping him overnight for observation—much to his disgust.

  Lilah lay down on her cot beside the sleeping Harlan, close enough so she could reach out and touch him. He’d claimed not to be tired, but ten minutes after the nurse had run off his guests, the medication had done its job and he’d drifted away. Gently, she ran her fingers over his right hand. She should have been exhausted, but she was wide-awake.

  And so damn grateful to be alive and with Harlan.

  “Hey, gorgeous,” he mumbled. “You’re still here. You should go home and rest.”

  “Hush. I’m exactly where I want to be. With you.”

  Harlan squeezed her hand and she enjoyed the peaceful silence between them—the sort that is most appreciated after the passing of a storm.

  “Can we get it right this time?” Harlan asked, breaking the quiet. “A ring, a wedding—the whole nine yards.”

  Her mouth curved upward. “You asking me to marry you again?”

  “I won’t stop until we’re properly married,” he said. “I know I can be a pompous ass, and my future’s uncertain—”

  “It’s not,” she argued, picking up the silver star badge on the end table. “Lewis Slidell left this for you.” She pinned it on his thin cotton hospital-issued gown. “You’re the new sheriff in town and quite a catch.”

  He held her arm. “Doesn’t mean we have to stay here. I’m willing to leave Lavender Mountain if that’s what you want.”

  Her breath caught. Being the sheriff was his dream job. “You’d do that for me?”

  “I’d do anyth
ing to have a chance with you again.”

  “Is that the medication talking?” she asked with an unsteady laugh.

  “Hell, you know I love you, Lilah. My life was never the same once you walked in it.” He grimaced. “Only took a life-or-death situation to make me realize the truth. Can you stand to be married to such an idiot?”

  Which left the original problem that had destroyed their relationship the first time. “What about your career? Won’t being hitched to a Tedder destroy your reputation?”

  Harlan winced. “Anyone who knows you realizes that I’m the lucky one.” He drew a deep breath. “And if we’re getting everything out in the open, there’s something you should know. It was never about whether you were good enough for me. I’m the one not good enough for you.”

  “You? You’re damn near perfect, Harlan,” she argued.

  “I’ve told you about my father. I promise you, I’ll do everything in the world not to be like him. I want to be the kind of husband and dad that you and the baby deserve. Here or wherever you want to live.”

  Damn, she loved this man. And, truth be told, she loved her home. Together, they would raise their children nestled in the same ancient mountains where they and their families had lived. Harlan would make it a safer place; she had absolute faith in him.

  She leaned over the hospital cot, kissed him chastely on the forehead and started to pull away. Harlan tugged her with his uninjured arm and she fell on top of him. “Harlan!” She giggled. “We can’t. What if the nurse comes back?”

  He gave an exaggerated sigh. “Guess I’ll have to wait until we get home.”

  Home with Harlan—that had a nice ring. “Just a few more hours. And then we’ll have the rest of our lives together.”

  * * * * *

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