Page 57 of Lake House Killer

Jack’s finger lifts one more time and I brace myself, slowly moving my right foot back, ready to hook one of Jewel’s ankles with it to take her down. My elbow is ready to rise and knock the gun right out of her hand, hopefully before she fires it.

Jewel’s right arm is yanked back sharply and the gun bounces from her hand as a body pounces over her from behind, taking both of us down.

“Nobody move,” Jack shouts. The next thing I know, he’s pulling me to my feet, the gun is back in his hand, and I look down to see a redhead with a ratted mane of hair squirming on top of Jewel.

Hale runs this way with his weapon trained on the ground before he knocks the redhead off and quickly cuffs our suspect.

“Forensics just came back on that blood found under Nora Archer’s nails,” he grunts. “It didn’t belong to Nora.” He nods to Jewel. “That’s going to cement a conviction.”

“Nikki?” I shout as the redhead turns this way and gives a thumbs-up. Soon, Jack hoists her up and quickly unlocks the cuffs that bind her wrists.

“I’m all right,” she pants. “I made it out of that hellhole.”

A herd of footfalls thunder this way as the entire area is swarmed with every agent at the field office, along with the sheriff’s department, the fire department, and a couple of ambulances that pulled up to the scene.

“Are you okay?” Jack asks me firmly as all-out chaos ensues around us.

“I’m fine,” I say, ignoring the fact my head is blazing as if a sickle just sliced through it.

We help Nikki toward the cluster of ambulances, down where Damien is being tended to by a couple of medics. His shoulder looks as if it were grazed. But he’ll live.

“Excuse me.” Nikki breaks free and steps away into the crowd.

“I didn’t do this,” Damien calls our way. “I didn’t—” He stops cold as he looks to my left and his face loses all color even in this dim light.

We turn around to see Nikki ushering over a disheveled brunette. Her face is dirty and she’s wearing a nightgown that looks covered in soot.

“Lydia?” Damien gasps at the sight of her.

“That’s right,” Nikki sings with an edge to her voice. “She told me everything. How you were cheating on her with not one but two women. How she asked for a divorce and how you begged her to wait until after the conference. I guess you had a little something you needed to do first. Like promise your assistant, who you were also having an affair with, that you would marry her as soon as she cleared up a few things. You promised her everything in exchange for doing your dirty work.”

“It’s true,” Jewel howls from across the way as one of the sheriff’s deputies does his best to hold her back. “He gave me the gun, and he gave me the taser. He helped me load Lydia into my trunk. Then he shot himself in the hand.”

“That’s not true,” Damien shouts. “That’s not true. She’s turning on me. She shot me in the hand. I didn’t have anything to do with any of this,” he riots as spittle runs down his face.

“It’s true as gospel,” Jewel shoots back. “The only thing that you were unaware of was the timing.” She turns my way. “He wanted me to take her after the conference and kidnap her straight from the house. He wanted Owen set up to the hilt.” She bleeds a black smile his way. “You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore. We’re playing by my rules now. And my rules say you’re guilty and I’ll make sure I prove it.”

“I’m innocent,” he thunders her way before shedding a dark smile of his own. “She set fire to those bushes. She was the one trying to set Owen up, not me.”

Jack and I exchange a glance.

“Get her to an ambulance,” Hale bellows. “Knight and Baxter, I want you checked out as well.”

“What the hell happened?” I ask Nikki as I lunge at her for a quick embrace.

“She took me to a shed behind the Coles’ cabin. She set it on fire,” she pants. “We kicked out the door.”

“She kicked out the door,” Lydia says, and her voice is painfully hoarse. “The shed was ablaze. An entire wall came down. We broke into the cabin and she called for help.” She nods to Hale. “Nikki insisted we stop here first.”

Hale nods. “That’s when the call came to head this way.” He shakes his head at Jack and me. “Good job, agents. Now let’s wrap this up.”

He helps Nikki and Lydia as they make their way to the EMTs gathered near the community center and Hale follows suit.

Jack pulls me in hard, his heart hammers over mine as he runs his facial scruff over my cheek.

“I should have done better,” he says, pinning me with his eyes.

“I’m the one who took the lead,” I say. “Next time I’ll let you take the lead and trip over the shrubbery.”

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