Deadly Inheritance: A Romantic Suspense (22 page)

“Mine’s dead, now,” Sarah announced, staring at the phone in Nora’s hand before closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall. “I saved my flashlight batteries. For all the good it did me.” Her eyelids fluttered, and she fixed an angry glare on Nora. “Why didn’t you listen to me? Why did you have to come down here?”

“I’m sorry. I thought you were hurt—that I could help you get out of here.”

“Well, you didn’t. And now we’re both gonna die here.”

“Don’t be so melodramatic. The place is crawling with police. They’ll find us.”

“They never found me, did they?” Her gaze turned curious. “How did you find that door to the cellar?”

“Find it? I don’t understand. I just followed the corridor next to the refrigerator.”

Sarah bit off a dry chuckle. “There’s normally a panel there, painted with that chalkboard paint so I can write things for the shopping list. Are you saying it was open?”

“Must have been, because I just walked into the hallway and found the cellar door.” With a tired sigh, Nora sat down cross-legged, facing Sarah. “So Gabe, or the police, are sure to come soon. They’ll find us.”

A clanging noise cut her off. Nora lifted her head to listen, noting that Sarah did the same.

The clanging turned into a rumbling, whooshing, sound that reverberated through the space, echoing off of the cement walls. Nora winced. The noise pounded into her head.

The house seemed to tremble around them, and then, with an even louder crash, a gush of water spurted out from a pipe high above their heads in the far wall of the pool. Nora leapt to her feet and caught Sarah’s horrified look. She helped Sarah to her feet and propped her up against the wall.

Within seconds, the water was up to their ankles.

“What’s happening?” Nora gave Sarah’s shoulder a little shake to get her attention.

Sarah’s mouth gaped, and her eyes blinked rapidly as her gaze bounced around in terror. “I don’t know,” she moaned, her hands clutching the kitten more tightly against her chest. The kitten meowed piteously, but it seemed too weak to struggle against Sarah’s grip. “I wasn’t allowed this far—I’m not supposed to be here.” She looked at Sarah. “Mr. James’ll punish me—I’m not supposed to be here.” Her voice rose shrilly. “We’re not supposed to be here! His ghost is here!”

Icy water swirled around their thighs and then their waists. The force of the gushing stream created waves that surged and splashed over their shoulders.

Nora shivered and gripped Sarah’s arm. “Don’t panic. We need to stay calm. We can float or swim. Maybe the water will bring us within reach of the edge.”

“Are you
crazy
? We’re not gonna get out of here—we’re not meant to get out of here. His ghost’ll see to that.” Water lapped their chins. Irrelevant though it was, Nora noticed a fleck of spittle caught at the corner of Sarah’s blue lips.

Why didn’t she wipe it off?

Suddenly, her feet left the floor of the pool as the water rose above their heads.

Gabe searched the house with growing frustration. First Sarah had disappeared and now Nora. Where could they have gone?

He sat down on the edge of the bed in Nora’s elaborate bedroom and scratched the back of his neck. Time to get smart. Illusions and misdirection hid the truth at Autumn Hill, and even he had found it difficult not to be distracted by them. He pulled his phone out. Sarah’s cat was also missing. Presumably, she’d gone in search of the cat. And Nora had gone in search of
them
.

He assumed they were now together and could be found, if he could see past the illusions.

He called his sister. “Moira? I need you to bring Einstein here.”

“I’m fine. It’s so nice of you to ask. How are you?” his sister asked, relentless in her pursuit of civility and manners.

“Fine. I’m sorry, but I really need Einstein. It’s urgent.”

“I can’t remember the last time you called me when it wasn’t urgent.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t really have a lot of time. A woman is missing. Two women.” He rattled off directions to Autumn Hill. “The police are here. Just tell them you’re my sister.”

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

He was staring at the antique vent in the ceiling and trying to understand why some idiot had bracketed it with a pair of fat cherubs coyly facing away from the grill when he heard shouting.

Uh, oh. What had Moira done now?

Downstairs, a straggling line of cops was running toward the front door. Gabe shouldered his way through until he bumped into Gerhardt. The detective was staring down into the moat.

“What is it?” Gabe looked over his shoulder and was relieved to see his sister sedately drive up and park.

“The water’s gone,” Gerhardt said.

“The water—what?”

“Gone.” Gerhardt stepped forward onto the bridge.

With his view cleared, Gabe looked down at the moat. Except for a few puddles here and there, and a lot of nasty-looking piles of twigs, rotting leaves, and algae, the water was indeed gone. As he stared, he realized that some of what he thought were twigs were actually bones.

Thankfully, none looked big enough, or thick enough, to be human.

“What the hell? Where did it go?” Gabe felt like an idiot as the words left his mouth.

Gerhardt shrugged. “Leak?”

“Hey, guys,” Moira strolled up to the drawbridge with Einstein, Gabe’s black poodle, trotting obediently beside her. “What’s up?”

“I wish I knew.” Gerhardt studied her and shifted subtly until he blocked the bridge.

Gabe made the introductions as he reached around the detective to take Einstein’s leash. “Thanks for bringing him, Moira.”

“No dogs,” Gerhardt said. He frowned at the animal.

Einstein sat down in front of him and gave one small whimper, his huge brown eyes going from the detective’s uncompromising face to Gabe.

“He can help. Sarah Lennox is missing and now, Nora. We need to find them,” Gabe explained. “This is the fastest way.”

“Nora?” Moira asked, watching his face in the light from the hallway.

“Yeah.” Gabe turned so that she couldn’t look into his face directly.

It didn’t help. She smiled as if she could read every thought that ever wandered through his mind. “Oh, yeah. I see. Love is grand, ain’t it?”

The tips of Gabe’s ears burned. “Moira, thanks. You can go now.”

“Are you sure I can’t help?”

“Three people have died here,” Gerhardt said. “So, no.”

Moira glanced from the detective to Gabe. Her eyelashes fluttered, but she somehow managed not to look at the dog and bring the animal to Gerhardt’s attention. “Right. Okay, then. I’ll just be going. Call me, Gabe.” She flipped her hand at him in a casual wave and walked quickly to her car.

“Wait!” Gerhardt called as she climbed inside. “The dog!”

Moira slammed her door shut and gunned the engine. Smiling like a madwoman, she waved at the detective and then quickly wove her way through the parked cars and drove away in a veil of dirt.

“You can’t bring that dog in here.” Gerhardt faced Gabe.

“Well, I can’t leave him out here. And we need to find those women.”

Gerhardt eyed the dog.

Einstein wagged his tail.

“I’ve never heard of a poodle trained to track people,” Gerhardt said. “Is he trained?”

“Not exactly.” Gabe moved back into the house to allow the detective to enter, as well. “But he has this thing about cats. And Sarah Lennox has a cat.”

“So you think Ms. Lennox is hiding somewhere with her cat?”

“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”

“Just keep him out of our way.” Gerhardt brushed past him and walked back to the study. A few of the policemen who’d been loitering around the hallway suddenly snapped to attention and followed the detective.

“Come on, boy.” Gabe led the way to the kitchen.

As soon as they entered the room, Einstein’s tale started wagging. He sniffed the floor and pulled on the leash, trying to get into Sarah’s bedroom. Gabe took the leash off and let him go.

Einstein raced into the bedroom and sniffed around, pausing at the litter box and the bed. The dog whimpered when he realized there was no cat, despite the elusive scent of one.

“Find the cat, Einstein. Find the cat,” Gabe encouraged him. Time was slipping away. He couldn’t shake the sense that Nora was in danger, and the sudden emptying of the moat was too much of a coincidence. It had to mean something bad.

Whining with excitement, Einstein galloped from the bedroom into the kitchen, sniffing wildly as he went. He circled the room once, jumped up on the table and then down, and ran around the room again. He slowed by the refrigerator and then stopped.

“No, boy. No food. You’ll get a treat when you find the cat.”

Einstein cocked his head at the sound of Gabe’s voice and then continued sniffing around the refrigerator.

“Cat, find the cat.” The dog went insane, scratching and barking at the chalkboard wall next to the refrigerator. Gabe tried to pull him away by the collar, but it just made the dog dig even more frantically. “No! I told you, no food until you find the cat. Find the cat.”

Einstein refused to budge.

Maybe this wasn’t such a brilliant idea, after all. He was about the clip the leash on the poodle and drag him away when he noticed a tiny crack in the corner. The chalkboard wall didn’t quite meet the other wall.

What the hell
? Hadn’t they checked this area earlier?

After a quick glance around, he grabbed a heavy cleaver and went to work on the wall. The panel was a lot flimsier than it looked. It didn’t take him long to realize that there was a corridor behind it that hadn’t been on the blueprint.

When the gap was large enough, Einstein raced through and headed down the corridor. He barked once at Gabe when he reached a corner and then disappeared around it.

“Einstein! Stay!” Gabe yelled before widening the gap enough for him to ease through.

He’d taken one step into the corridor before common sense stopped him. Nora and Sarah had already disappeared. He wasn’t going to make a third. He stopped long enough to throw open the kitchen door and tell the cop sitting outside to find Detective Gerhardt and show him the hidden corridor.

He just hoped he would actually need the reinforcements and wasn’t just wasting time Nora might not have.

Struggling to keep her mouth above the water, Nora kicked off her shoes. The crashing flood had subsided, but they were still several feet below the edge of the pool. Her heart clenched as she scanned the sheer cement sides. There was no way to climb out.

How much longer could they stay afloat? Already her muscles ached, and she could feel the warmth slowly draining from her body.

“Sarah, are you all right?” she called, kicking over to the older woman.

Sarah’s head was tilted back, with her nose and mouth barely above the water. Her eyelids fluttered at Nora’s question, but she didn’t have the strength to answer. Her lips were blue. As Nora watched, she nearly submerged as she held the kitten above the water in trembling hands while she kicked feebly.

“Let me hold Dizzy.” Nora gently took the trembling cat out of Sarah’s hands.

Sarah’s brows wrinkled, and she opened her mouth only to sink below the water. Nora swam closer and nudged the older woman up to the surface. If they couldn’t get out soon, they were going to drown. She kicked enough to float more horizontally and braced the cat on her chest, just under her chin, so she could free her other hand to clutch Sarah’s blouse and keep her head up.

A sluggish stream of water kept trickling out of the wide mouth of the pipe that had flooded the pool. But the opening was at least four feet above her head.

Was there a way to drain the water? She scanned the rough walls. Nothing broke the pitted, gray surface.

They were going to die. There was no way out this time.

She didn’t want to die, she couldn’t die like this.

Oh Gabe, where are you?

A bubbling sound warned her that Sarah had sunk below the surface. Weary and trembling from the effort, Nora tightened her grip on the older woman’s blouse and kicked, drawing her back up to the surface.

So cold…so tired
. Her legs and arms felt numb and uncoordinated. Her feet dragged like rocks, pulling her down. All she wanted to do was relax and let go.

Click-click-click.
The sound of a dog running across the floor, toenails clicking on the cement. She jerked at the sound, confused.

A hallucination. It had to be. The thought frightened her, but even that fear failed to generate a warm rush of adrenalin. She was too numb to feel anything, so exhausted that the water no longer felt icy as it washed over her shoulders and neck.

In the distance, her hallucination barked, the sharp noise echoing and bouncing off the walls.

Foul water lapped over her lips. She spat it out and kicked feebly, trying to clear her mind and hang on. A movement at the edge of the pool caught her attention. She blinked and tried to focus on it.

Black fur. It looked like the fuzzy head of a poodle. As she watched, it started barking excitedly and pacing along the edge of the pool, its toenails tapping against the cement.

“Nora?” Gabe’s voice sounded strong and clear.

Nora kicked again to raise her chin out of the water. “Gabe?” His name was barely more than a whisper.

“Nora—my God.” He peered down at them from the edge.

“Don’t…” she whispered, her voice trailing off. If he dove in, they’d all drown.

A scraping sound and metallic rattle indicated that he had found the ladder. Panic twisted through her. If he climbed down, he’d be trapped as well.

“No,” she croaked, strangling on the word.

One end of the ladder appeared, overhanging the rim of the pool by about a foot. She saw it angle down as Gabe started to lower it.

Suddenly, the dog started barking frantically. The ladder fell back with a jarring crash, uselessly jutting out over her head. Gabe fell over the rim. As he tumbled forward, he somehow managed to grab the rounded edge with one hand. His shoulder muscles rippled and tightened with his effort to haul himself up. His left hand flailed inches from the edge. Then, with a grunt, he caught it.

A dark shadow wavered above him.

Gabe grunted in pain as his right hand lost his grip.

“Don’t fall.” Nora’s heart thudded in sickening fear, watching him. “Don’t let go—please don’t,” she whispered.

Straining, Gabe pulled himself up enough to hook his right hand back on the rim and kicked his foot over the edge. The silhouette of someone else appeared again, elbowing back the poodle and trying to push Gabe back into the pool.

Gabe’s back and arms bulged as he summoned his strength to resist the efforts of the man trying to force him down. With one final surge, Gabe threw himself over the edge and disappeared from Nora’s view.

She heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a grunt. The dog barked wildly, the high pitch lowering into deep-chested growls.

“Gabe?” she called weakly. They had to hang on.

Gabe had to win.

The guttural sounds of the fight continued, broken by the rattle of someone falling against the ladder. A metallic scraping sound caught Nora’s attention. She glanced up in time to see the ladder thrust out even further past the edge of the pool. As it teetered above her, she heard another deep grunt and screech of metal rasping over cement.

The ladder overbalanced and fell into the pool with a deep splash. It landed at a crazy angle, but the upper rungs were out of the water.

Nora shook Sarah, but the older woman was too exhausted to respond. Nora stared at the ladder. Just a few feet. If she could just swim those few feet, they could get out of the icy water. She kicked and almost swallowed a mouthful of foul water. Spitting, she jerked her head back and tried again.

They floated closer.
Kick. Float. Kick
.

Her elbow nudged the ladder. She hooked her arm through one of the rungs to rest, refusing to think about what might be happening beyond the rim of the pool. With her last remaining ounce of strength, she propped her trembling feet on a rung and climbed until she was halfway out of the water.

She hooked one of Sarah’s arms through a rung so that the older woman’s head and shoulders were above the water’s surface, and she tucked the deathly cold kitten under her shirt. Maybe her body warmth would keep the tiny creature alive. It was all she had left to give.

Nora closed her eyes and rested her head on one of the rungs, listening.

Beat the crap out of him, Gabe.

Dizzy with fear, she winced at the thud of a solid punch and the sharp intake of breath.

Whatever you do, just don’t lose.