Page 136 of Crosshairs

“I really miss him,” he said. “I don’t know how I kept from seeing the signals that he was thinking of ending his life.”

Sarah didn’t say anything, but her knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. After another mile, she turned onto a dirtroad that wound back toward the lake. Soon a rustic cabin came into view. “Here we are,” she said, a little too brightly.

She parked in front of the log cabin, and he looked around, taking in the dense woods and underbrush. The cabin didn’t look as though anyone had stayed in it in years.

He crawled out of the car and balanced on the crutches. “How long has it been since you’ve been here?”

Sarah ducked her head as she locked the car doors and pocketed the key. Then she turned and faced the woods. “Isn’t the lake beautiful? Blake always loved swimming in it.”

Something was wrong. Bad wrong. Sarah had her hands in her pockets and stared past the cabin toward a wall of trees, smiling like she was watching a movie in her head.

“What do you see, Sarah?” he asked softly.

“The lake. Don’t you see the sun shimmering off the water? Let’s go down to the dock and join the others.”

“I think we need to go home,” he said. Sarah had totally lost it. He needed to get her back to Natchez where she could get help.

She whirled toward him, her eyes blazing. “No. We’re not leaving.”

“Yes, we are,” he said firmly.

“No. We’re staying here until Ainsley comes.” She pulled a gun from her pocket.

Blake’s service pistol.His heart slammed against his ribs. “She doesn’t even know where we are.”

“But I’ll call her and she’ll come, and this time I’ll get rid of her.”

“There’s no cell phone signal...” he said. “What do you mean, you’ll get rid of her?”

“Shut up!” She waved her free hand for him to stop, then yanked out her phone. “No! There has to be cell service!”

“I’m afraid there isn’t. Why do you want her here?” Linc had a sick feeling he knew why.

Sarah turned on him. “It’s your fault. You ruined everything.Blake is dead because of you. She has to come. You have to know what it feels like to lose someone you love.”

If she came a little closer, he could use a crutch to knock her legs out from under her. “I know what it’s like to lose someone I love. Blake was like a brother to me,” he said.

“But he wasn’t your brother. He wasmine!It’s your fault I had to kill him.”

His breathing stilled. She’d killed Blake? “W-what? Why?”

“He was so miserable. I couldn’t stand to see him suffer ... so I gave him enough pills to give him relief forever.”

“But he wasn’t suffering,” Linc said. “He was going to a rehab place in Pennsylvania. He was putting his life back together.”

“He was leaving me. Don’t you understand? I did everything for him. Gave up my life for a whole year and just like that, he was going to leave.”

Suddenly she rushed him, knocking the crutches away. Linc lost his balance and fell back, hitting his head on a post. He fought the darkness closing in.

70

Ainsley slowed at the road to the Natchez Lake campground. The chance of anyone knowing the location of the Tolliver cabin was slim. She kept going.

Nate and Sam were still at least fifteen minutes away, and according to Nate, there were houses that bordered lake property on the far side. Mr. Tolliver had said to stay on the gravel road and look for a sign.

Just ahead on the left it appeared there was a driveway, and she slowed. No sign. Ainsley gunned the motor.Wait.Was that a piece of wood nailed to a post? She stopped and backed up. Sure enough, “Tolliver” was written on a wooden sign almost covered with honeysuckle vines.

Ainsley parked just off the road in the drive so Nate and Sam could find the place. She eased the door shut and pulled her gun as she made her way silently to the cabin. There was no sound of anyone around. Maybe she was at the wrong place. She glanced at the ground. Grass flattened by a vehicle, probably Sarah’s. But where were they?

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