Page 139 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Jane, you need to drop me off.”

“It was empty. The building was empty.”

“Fine. It was empty. Turn around and take me to my car.”

But she kept going, all the way to the top. Then she slammed on the brakes, and they screeched to a halt. She jumped out before slipping it into park, and he had to reach into the front seat and jam the gear shift forward to keep it from driving into the woods.

She’d lost it. She’d completely lost it.

He didn’t know what to do.

All his planning, his careful plotting, and she’d blown it. She’d broken the first rule. The one rule they’d all agreed on.

And murdered a woman.

It could only have been a woman. He’d heard her voice in her sobbing. A sad woman, alone in the building.

Please, let her have been alone.

Jane was running toward the overlook, going too fast.

He followed her. He didn’t know if she was trying to kill herself or if she was just too far gone to understand what she was doing. A tiny part of him thought maybe it would be better if she flew over the edge.

But he pictured her body at the bottom, broken and bloodied.

No matter what she’d done, he loved her.

He was faster and caught up with her before she careened over the edge. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her back. “What are you doing? You’re going to kill yourself.”

Her eyes were wild, insane. She yanked something from her pocket, lifted it and brought it down toward his head.

He managed to deflect her hand, catching the glint of metal an instant before pain registered in his palm. A knife?

She’d sliced his palm with a knife.

He didn’t know where it’d come from, only that if he hadn’t seen it coming, she’d have stabbed him in the chest.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “Stop it. Sweetheart. You need to pull it together.”

But she was out of control. She reared away, took a few steps back, closer to the edge of the cliff. It wasn’t far down, maybe twenty or thirty feet, but she probably wouldn’t survive a fall.

“Please, Jane.” He kept his distance, afraid that if he stepped closer, she’d back away. Another two or three steps and she’d go over. “Listen to me. It’s going to be okay.” It had to be. They could still fix this. “We just have to follow the plan. You remember the plan?”

But Jane wasn’t listening. She wasn’tthere.

She let out a visceral scream and came at him again. He managed to grab her wrist and turn the knife to the side an instant before her body crashed into his.

He lost his balance, and they both tumbled. She landed on him. He wrapped his arm around her and turned her over so he was on top. He needed to get her under control. He needed to pull her back from…from wherever she’d gone. He needed to reason with her.

He pinned her wrists to the ground and levered himself up over her. “You need to listen to…”

His words faded as he took in the sight.

He’d angled the knife outward. Out, toward air. Hadn’t he?

But there it was.

Protruding from Jane’s neck.

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