Sour Layer (Bennett Dynasty Book 5), page 6
“Walker is also a forest ranger. He’s a tracker.”
“I’m sure his added abilities make him the best,” I said, turning my gaze to the side view mirror to find the large SUV barreling up on us and riding our bumper. He was an imposing guy, even if he was a bit of a hermit crab.
“My sisters are going to chew him up and spit him out,” I whispered, more to myself than Clark.
“I’d pay money to see that.” Clark chuckled.
“You’ll get a front-row seat when I tell the rest of the family tree where to find these guys.”
We drove the rest of the way to the Lynnfield house bantering easily, until we arrived. A dark cloud hung over the property, shrouding the frame and blocking the sun.
We got out. Walker slammed his car door as he approached. “I already don’t like it.”
“Join the club,” I said.
Walker headed for the side of the house instead of the porch.
“Where you going?” I asked, trying my best to jog in the snow to catch up with him without busting my ass.
“You wanted my help; this is me helping,” he answered as Clark appeared by my side.
Walker stopped at the back of the house and stared up at the pink curtains. “The girl’s bedrooms up there?”
“Yeah,” Clark said. “Nothing seemed amiss in their rooms.”
“Uh-huh,” Walker said as he walked backward staring up at the building. He slowly turned and gestured toward the tree line. “Let’s go that way.”
My brows dipped. “Why? Don’t you need to go look inside and get a read?”
He shook his head and grunted. “Nope.”
“Why not?” I asked, following him toward the tree line.
Were my sisters and I this obnoxious when we were working?
He crossed the distance to a tree limb and pulled a piece of fabric from the tree. “They ran this way, and one of them lost a glove.”
I exchanged a worried look with Clark. “How could he know that?”
“How do you know when people are going to die?” Walker called out as he tramped into the woods.
“Maybe you should go wait in the truck where it’s warm. I’m not sure where this is going to take us.”
“I’m okay,” I answered. My breath crystallized in the air, and I snuggled further into my jacket. I could last a few minutes before I turned into a Popsicle, right?
A few minutes turned into half an hour, and I was afraid I’d never feel my toes again. Just as I was about to offer to go warm up the truck, Walker stopped and held up his hand.
Clark grabbed my jacket and held his fingers to his lips.
My gaze darted around the area. There was nothing out of place. No tracks, no sounds in the dead of winter other than the sound of my breath.
“They’re here,” he said.
“Where?” Clark asked.
He pointed toward the ground. “Below me. They’re here. We need shovels.”
“Do you mean they’re dead?” I asked.
“No, they’re still alive. Get shovels,” Walker demanded, and Clark ran off while I squatted in the snow with Walker and started to dig with my gloved hands as best I could.
“What do you suppose is down there?” I asked.
“Be prepared. There’re more than two souls down there. There’s four.”
Walker stopped and pulled out his phone. He dialed and then spoke in hushed tones. “Dexter, you’re needed in the woods behind the Lynnfield property. I’ve got four souls, and one isn’t doing too hot.”
“I know,” Dexter Bennett said as he, Clara, and Clark stepped out of the tree line. They each had shovels. Clara handed hers off to Walker and pulled me back out of the way.
“You knew?” I asked.
“I know things,” Clara answered, handing me two packets of hand warmers. “But I just got the downloaded knowledge about the girls this morning and we got here as soon as we could.”
“Maybe we should have just asked you instead of torturing Walker into helping.”
“Nah.” She grinned. “Walker needed to be here, just like Dexter does. This is their first step to rekindling their friendship. Your arrival was the catalyst.”
My brows dipped as I took off my gloves and opened the hand warmers.
Clark walked over to us, and he reached for my ungloved hand before slowly lowering it again. “Brandon is on the way with a crew to help assist. Clara, why don’t you take Mercy up to the Lynnfield’s house where it’s warmer? Find what blankets you can.”
“What if there’re bones?” I asked.
“Then you can help, but you’ve done enough. Heck, just getting Walker to come along without shooting me was progress.”
“Told ya.” Clara nudged me with her elbow.
Clara wrapped her arm through mine and paused when Walker called out, “They’re in the bomb shelter.”
A faint scream for help from beneath our feet made my heart race, and I held my breath as Clark and Walker struggled to open the steel door.
A noxious odor escaped into the surroundings as I moved closer and stared down at the four girls whose tear-stained faces stared up at us from the steps below.
Lying on a cot was the woman I recognized from the Lynnfield picture. The woman was covered in cuts and bruises and lying on her side. I held my breath. I already knew the answer. She was dead.
Clark helped the first two out of the hole and carried them while Walker and Dexter each pulled up the other girls and carried them out of the clearing. Clara followed them out, but I remained, unwilling and unable to take my eyes off the woman.
I eased down the stairs into the hole, covering my mouth and nose with my jacket as I approached.
Her bandages were crude as if applied by the girls in an attempt to save her life. Her clothes were torn and shredded. I pulled off my glove.
My hand trembled as I reached for the woman. Letting out a shaky breath, I rested my palm on her cold dead arm and closed my eyes. Energy flared beneath my hand, arcing like the lightning I can’t control.
The scene hit at once. The woman was covered in blood, running and screaming from the house in the middle of the night. The four girls were in front of her, the oldest leading the way.
The sound behind her grew louder. The noises around her turned deadly. When she was tackled from behind, she fell into the snow. Her head made contact with a rock.
The man rolled her over, and all I caught was a glimpse of his face. A face I’d seen before, only this one was riddled with rage and anger. He picked her up and carried her over his shoulder to the bomb shelter. Climbed down the stairs and tossed her beaten and bloody body onto one of the cots.
“I told you what would happen if you screamed,” he growled at one of the girls who wasn’t his own. He glowered over them. “I told you what I’d do. Now you heathens can all die down here with her.”
He climbed up the stairs as all four girls cowered in the back of the shelter. He stood above, looking down, and then slammed the lid closed. The sound of metal scraping reached my ears.
The Lynnfield woman watched through blurry eyes as her eldest appeared by her side. “Momma, Daddy is going to kill us.”
The Lynnfield woman reached for her daughter and squeezed her arm. “That’s not daddy anymore. You’re in charge. You fight him with every last breath. Promise me.”
Those were the last words before the vision faded into black.
I yanked my hand away and heard the approaching crunch of snow from up above.
“Clark…” I said as I looked up.
My breath caught as I took an instinctual step back. Staring down at me wasn’t Clark or any one of the Bennetts but the psychotic murderer, Mr. Lynnfield. The man I’d claimed was already dead.
Chapter 14
Before I could even scream, the guy glanced over his shoulder then returned his gaze to me. He sneered, eyes flat and dull with anger and hate. “You’re as good as dead.”
I glanced around the small room, looking for anything to use as a weapon. There was nothing. Only a few opened cans of foods that the girls must have been eating from.
When I looked up again, the man was gone, and Clark stood above.
“What the hell are you doing contaminating the crime scene?”
“I know what happened and who’s responsible,” I said, climbing up the steps. “He’s here. He was just standing where you are. There must be tracks. Go get him.”
“Who was it?” he asked.
“Mr. Lynnfield.” My hand slipped, and Clark reached for me. It was only then that I realized my mistake. My glove was shoved into my pocket, and Clark wasn’t wearing any.
There was no apology on his face. He didn’t recoil. He only held me stronger.
The sound of his voice grew distant as I closed my eyes and prepared to witness Clark’s death.
Nothing. Not a single bullet, no slice of a blade, no attack, period. I slowly opened my eyes and slipped my hand free and continued climbing out of the hole.
“You okay?” Worry was etched in his voice even as he was slowly looking over the tree line.
“I’m fine, but Lynnfield is getting away.”
“I thought you said he was dead,” Clark said.
“That’s what I felt, but I can’t deny what I saw with my own eyes,” I answered.
Brandon came jogging through the trees. The deputy had on a thick jacket and was carrying more than his sidearm. He had a shotgun.
“Go back to the house where the others are. We’re going to follow the tracks.”
“We are?” Brandon asked.
“We are,” Clark confirmed.
Clark’s gaze was trying to read mine. The question of how he was going to die lay between us unanswered and unasked. Tensions were high, and a killer was hiding in the woods, but he would eventually ask. People who knew what I could do always did. How was I going to explain why I couldn’t read him, when I could read everyone else?
I left him standing there and followed the footprints back toward the house. I passed men and women wearing the Canfield insignia on their crime scene jackets. They’d been quick to arrive, and if I had to guess, Clara had something to do with that as well.
I broke through the tree line to find the lights on in the house and cars parked all over the driveway and in front of the house. The ambulance still had its lights flashing. Clara was leaning against the back-porch railing with Walker watching as I approached. Clara smiled, and Walker grumbled. I wouldn’t be winning an award for most likable Bennett.
“You must be freezing,” Clara said, turning to head inside the Lynnfield home.
“I was dismissed,” I said as I followed her inside the house. “With Clark and Brandon out there hunting Lynnfield, there are police here that can protect the girls, right?”
“There is enough muscle here that these girls are safe. But Lynnfield?” Clara asked, pouring me a cup of coffee and then doctoring it just as I would before handing it to me. “You saw him?”
“Yes, but it’s the damndest thing. When I touched his picture, he was dead. I was sure of it.”
“How do you know?” Clara asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee.
“When someone is dead, I can feel it, and I only see shadows and darkness. Which was what I saw when I touched his picture.”
“Maybe he is dead. Maybe the man in that picture is really gone.” Clara said, sipping her coffee as she turned. “What do you suppose this means?”
“I’m not sure yet.” I shrugged and sipped the coffee, appreciating the heat warming up my throat and my hands as I cupped the mug. “Well, I’ll be on the first flight out tomorrow, so I won’t be in Clark’s way. The last thing he needs is to be distracted by me.”
“So, you’ve figured out everything you need to about my family line?”
“I found you. That was my goal. I wasn’t expecting open arms, and neither was Aunt Abby from the other branch of our tree. You're safe. That was one of the reason’s I wouldn’t leave.”
“And Clark? Did you touch him?” she asked as if knowing the answer.
“I did.”
“How does he die?” Walker asked as he crossed the kitchen to where we were standing.
“Not by your brothers,” I said with a smirk.
Walker crossed his arms over his chest. “No seriously, how does he die? You can tell me. I won’t let anything happen to Milly’s brother, no matter how much of a pain in the ass he is.”
Clara watched me. Silently and patiently as if waiting for me to answer. Did she know that I didn’t have that particular answer? Would they think I was a fraud for not knowing?
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I couldn’t see.”
“At least she’s honest,” Clara said and finally lifted her gaze to Walker’s. “You’ve got to give her that.”
My brows dipped.
“You said she wouldn’t be able to see,” Walker said.
I folded my arms over my chest. “You saw me coming, and you knew I wouldn’t be able to read him.”
“Clara did. That’s her thing,” Walker said, letting out a sigh. “So, this is her?”
“Yep,” Clara answered. “Mercy Bennett is the one.”
I held up my hand. “Listen, I don’t know what you’ve seen about me, but I’m not the girl.”
“Can you shoot?” Walker asked.
“Yes, but all the girls in my family can.”
“Well, she’s got that going for her,” Walker said, letting his gaze drop down my body as if calculating how many muscles I had hiding beneath my coat. “We can train her, given time.”
I stepped back. “Train me for what?”
“To save the sheriff,” Clara answered.
Chapter 15
“No. Uh-uh. Not happening. The sheriff doesn’t need my help,” I argued.
“He does; he just doesn’t know it yet,” Walker said.
“She needs convincing,” Clara said as if she knew exactly what it was that I needed.
Her ability was starting to get a tad bit annoying. I didn’t know why it bothered me that she knew what I needed before even I did.
Clara moved to the entryway that led into the living room and gestured for me to take a look.
I stepped over the threshold to find Dexter and two paramedics working on the girls and checking their vitals. Clara leaned into me. “This isn’t over, and if you leave before it is, then Clark is going to die regardless of whether you know when or where.”
What was she expecting me to see? The girls were being treated. “Those girls weren’t found by me. They were found by Walker. I haven’t done anything to help Clark.”
“You will,” Clara said and led me over to Dexter.
“Dex, I think you need to check Mercy out. She looks like the cold may have gotten to her.”
I held up my hand. “I’m fine.”
Dexter rose from where he was squatted and took my wrist, as if feeling for a pulse. When his skin touched mine, the vision appeared with no warning.
I saw Dexter and Milly dead, lying on the floor. Clark was severely injured, and Lynnfield was carrying a little girl kicking and screaming in his arms.
My eyes shot open, and I yanked my hand back. “You and Milly have a daughter?”
Dexter’s eyes widened. “Yes. Charlotte.”
I took a step back. “Blue eyes, blonde hair, screams like a banshee.”
“Okay, you’re freaking me out,” Dexter said and took me by the arm and led me farther away from the girl he’d been tending. “Just what the hell did you see?”
I covered my mouth and tried to calm my racing heart. “I…” I snapped my mouth closed. “You should tend to the girls so you can get home.”
He tilted his head. “Are they in trouble?”
“Not yet,” I answered. “But you all will be. Including Clark. You need to take your family and leave. Hide, do whatever until Lynnfield is found.”
“He won’t touch us,” Dexter said, dismissing my concerns. “If he hurts any of us, I can heal them.”
I leaned in. “Not if you're dead. Please, heed my warning for Milly and Charlotte’s sake. Leave town.”
Dexter stepped back and turned his gaze to Clara.
“Is she for real?”
“I’m afraid so,” Clara answered.
Dexter gave a curt nod and grabbed his bag. “You guys have this?”
The paramedics nodded.
“I want someone with them at all times and police officers stationed at their hospital rooms.”
“We’ll take care of it,” the paramedic said.
Dexter nodded and met my gaze once more before he turned and jogged out the door.
Chapter 16
“You saved his life. I owe you,” Clara said, an hour later when she guided me to Walker’s SUV and opened the back door for me to climb inside.
The people at the house had started to thin out after the girls were gone. Clark was still out hunting with Brandon, and Walker offered me a ride since he had to take Clara, too. Dexter had left her stranded.
I left word with the forensic team to tell Clark that I’d be at the inn when he got done, not wanting him to worry about me.
“I didn’t save his life if he’s not going to leave,” I said as I climbed into the backseat and buckled up.
“He’d do anything for my sister-in-law and niece,” Walker said as he climbed in behind the wheel. “You can count on that.”
The inn was quiet when they had dropped me off. Although the door was unlocked, Dorothy was nowhere to be found. I was thankful for the short reprieve.
Everyone wanted me to provide answers that I didn’t have. I undressed and got into the shower, standing beneath the hot pounding stream to thaw the ice in my veins. Finding the girls had eased some of my stress. Finding they’d been shut in the tiny space with their dead mother hurt my heart on so many levels. How could I have been so wrong thinking Lynnfield was dead?
Seeing Clark’s death tied to his sister’s and Dexter Bennett’s had shocked me after not getting the information from Clark’s touch.
I dried my hair and dressed in the warmest clothes I’d brought, the chill that had seeped into my soul earlier lingering like a storm cloud.
