Hearths of Fire (41 page)

“The men weren’t clear on the particulars of the ritual, only that there would be an exchange of blood.” Neal pressed her hands to his chest, ensuring that he had her attention. He didn’t have time to repeat himself and he needed to be sure that Charlotte was safe while he and the team went in to extract Becky. “We were already aware that the Ashes believe Garreth is the messiah. They believe they were chosen to raise him and guide him into his new role. They’ve been searching for years for a young woman that meets their criteria to lead beside him.”

“What are the criteria?” From the tentative way Charlotte formed that question she already knew the conditions, but he reiterated them so that she wouldn’t be left with doubt. “Mandy’s birthday?”

“That’s one. The second is her role in life…in this case Mandy would be considered a healer because of her pursuit of nursing. Third, she needed to be innocent, passive, fair-skinned, and the most vital part…the time in which she was born.”

“The one thing that comes to mind is that Mandy is not passive. She’s stubborn, hardheaded, and downright determined when she wants something.”

“Exactly.” Neal could see that Charlotte wasn’t following along with him. “All Garreth had to do was make Mandy think she wanted one thing—him. Her willfulness would take care of the rest. As you said cults take extreme measures to get what they want and they are damn good at persuading those to see things their way.”

Charlotte leaned her head down on top of their joined hands and he could feel her distress at how this situation could have turned out. Neal would ensure that things didn’t get any more out of hand than they already were, but he figured he would tell her the rest of what they’d uncovered.

“Mandy wasn’t their first target.” Neal rested his chin on Charlotte’s head, holding her close. “Patricia Ashe was arrested two years ago for trying to abduct a young woman who looked very similar in appearance to Mandy. Somehow the Ashes got the case thrown out on insubstantial evidence. They must have access to certain databases that gives them lists of names of babies born on Halloween, along with the times.”

“Mandy was born at eleven-fifty nine on October thirty-first.”

“Which is the exact time the ritual is to take place.” Neal shifted until Charlotte was looking up at him. “There won’t be one, so don’t worry. We’ll extract Becky tonight and once we prove that the Ashes took her against her will, the authorities will take into custody those responsible and those members that are left will probably vacate the premises soon after.”

“Would Trigger leave Diesel behind with me?” Charlotte asked, but Neal was shaking his head before the last word left her mouth. She didn’t understand the vulnerability she would be placing herself in by going home…even with Diesel. “Why not?”

“Because for all we know, when the two men that were taken into custody don’t return they’ll send someone else for Mandy while me and the team are otherwise engaged trying to extricate Becky from the compound. It’s a needless risk that I’m not willing to take.”

“Fine.” Neal could see Charlotte’s mind spinning at the different alternatives available to her. He admired her feistiness, but at this moment he really needed her to listen to what he was saying. She threw out another suggestion. “What if I ask Pam to stay with me to do inventory? I won’t be at home, per your request. We’ll stay inside the store and I’ll even set the alarm. If I so much as think someone is trying to break in I’ll call Nancy to have her send over the deputy on duty.”

“The store is the second place that—”

“No, it’s not,” Charlotte argued before Neal could even make his point. “Mandy never comes to the store…ever. She has no interest in it and Garreth knows that. If the Ashes send someone to look for Mandy and they try breaking into the house again, they’ll see she isn’t there and think she’s with a friend. Pam’s vehicle is parked out front, right behind mine. No one would be reckless enough to try something on Main Street, practically directly across from the sheriff’s station.”

Neal went over in his mind the different scenarios that could take place and he didn’t like any of them. He’d like to sit her ass over at Plinkton’s so that the deputies could babysit her but that wasn’t feasible. The less that people were aware of what was going to take place tonight, the better. If the sheriff or his deputies were to suddenly take an interest in Charlotte, it would tip their hand to the Ashes that something was about to go down.

“Fine.” Neal pulled Charlotte into his arms and held her tight, closing his eyes at the fact that he’d gotten too close to her. It was going to be hell leaving Hearth to go back to San Diego…but it was in both their best interests. He had his life and she had hers. “Do not leave this shop until you see me standing at that front door. One sound, one sight, or one feeling that appears wrong—you call Nancy and get one of those deputies over here. They’ll at least be close by since god knows they don’t leave the office during the night unless there’s a problem.”

“Will you contact me if you find Becky?”

“You mean
when
we find Becky.” Neal finally released Charlotte, feeling as if he needed to stay with her. Leaving her was becoming harder and harder…something he would have to deal with soon. Right now he had a job to do and he had better get his ass moving. He swiftly claimed her lips before stepping back. “Be good.”

‡

C
harlotte and Pam
spent the evening doing inventory, just as she’d promised Neal. The hours had passed by quickly and she glanced at the clock above the counter, seeing that it read ten o’clock at night. Neal hadn’t said exactly what time he and the team would enter the compound, but she figured it had to be soon or else he would have said something. Typically the bookstore’s inventory took an entire Sunday, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that she and Pam would be here until one o’clock. Unfortunately Pam was starting to look a little tired.

“Too many hours?” Charlotte asked, keeping her voice light. She made her way over to the children’s section where Pam was currently rearranging the display for the newer books that would arrive tomorrow. She’d taken a momentary pause to cover the yawn that had come over her. “I truly appreciate that you were willing to cover for me this week. Between Mandy breaking things off with Garreth and Neal still in town, my personal life has been a little hectic.”

“I told you that I’d been wanting more hours,” Pam replied, repositioning her stool as she shifted some of the items on the shelf. “I love it here, Charlotte. You know that. Don’t you remember when we used to come in here during our high school years and beg your mom to let us work the cash register? She’d sign off on our volunteer hours and then pay us under the table.”

Charlotte laughed at the memory, thinking of their friend Gina who’d join them on those days. Neither Pam nor Charlotte had heard from Gina in years. She’d left Hearth to go to college out of state and never returned home. When her parents had up and moved to Arizona the last string had been severed. Charlotte had thought Neal wouldn’t return home after his parents had retired to Florida, but they’d signed their house over to him. She never did ask why they would do that if he’d had no intention of returning. He was currently living in San Diego and renting out his parents’ old place.

“You ended up doing most of the work.” Charlotte felt like taking a break and this reminiscing was bringing back all sorts of memories. This was ten times better than thinking about what was happening out off of Ryder’s Road. She sat down on the floor, using the shelves as back support and setting the clipboard on her lap. “Gina and I used to sneak off into the romance section and recite the love scenes we found in those period novels.”

“Your mother used to get so mad at you guys for ruining the bindings on those paperbacks.” Pam stopped what she was doing and leaned against the other side of the shelving in the aisle. “You know, I can still be your maid of honor. Age doesn’t have a thing to do with it, although I haven’t seen Jimmy Hubber in years—so he’s out as best man. That is unless Neal kept in contact with him.”

Charlotte laughed softly at how Pam had neatly interjected Neal into the conversation. Her friend had tried to talk her out of calling him for help in the first place. Now here Pam was moving a relationship that was going nowhere, according to Neal, back to the altar.

“You seem to forget that you thought it was a bad idea to call Neal.”

“I might have misjudged him,” Pam said with a shrug. “You know that I’ve always liked Neal, but you’re my friend. I think dredging up the past is a mistake, but his presence seems to have given you what you wanted. Mandy broke things off with Garreth and now you don’t have to worry she’ll be transformed into some type of zealot that thinks us old maids are witches.”

Charlotte laughed, feeling better about how this evening would turn out. Neal and his team would rescue Becky, the cult would be disbanded, and the only thing left to focus on was what Charlotte was going to do with her feelings for Neal. Pam had no idea how she’d just put things into perspective.

“Hey, has there been any word on Becky?” Pam asked, compassion filling her brown eyes. “I can’t imagine what her parents are going through.”

“I’m sure you would have heard from Thelma if there was,” Charlotte replied, deflecting the answer. “That woman knows everything in this town. Mandy’s been worried sick though, as are all of Becky’s friends.”

“Thelma did say that it was Neal who got the sheriff to search the Ashes’ compound for any sign of Becky. Is that really true?”

“Neal coming back to Hearth has made things better, Pam, especially with Mandy,” Charlotte confessed, wishing she could share more information with Pam. It wasn’t that she wasn’t trustworthy, but she’d promised Neal she’d keep things to herself for the sake of Pam’s safety. Charlotte would tell her everything after tonight. “I’m not quite sure what Neal said that would warrant the sheriff to institute that kind of search. You should come over to the house this weekend though. We can have a wine night and watch some old time spooky horror flicks as we hand out candy to the kids.”

“Speaking of candy, I’m starving.” Pam looked down at her watch and scrunched her nose. “The diner is closed. Do you think Mauve stayed open late?”

Mauve ran the hardware store with her husband, but with his health declining in recent months it was Mauve who had taken over the opening and closing of the small town family business that had been in her family for generations. Charlotte shook her head, knowing for a fact that Mauve had been shutting the doors to the shop well before the stated closing time on the sign. Fortunately the reminder about candy sparked Charlotte’s memory.

“Hey, I bought some candy bars for trick or treating last week. After Neal arrived and then the weekend happened, I totally forgot to take them out of the back seat.” Charlotte shifted, using her hands to push herself into a standing position. She captured the clipboard as it almost slipped to the ground. “I’ll go grab them.”

Charlotte walked across the store, taking time to put the clipboard on the counter and then grab her keys out of her purse, which had been tucked away below the register. As she walked to the door, she hesitated in her steps. She’d promised Neal that she wouldn’t leave the shop for any reason. Staring out the glass doors, Main Street was deserted with the exception of some deputies’ vehicles parked across the road. She reached over and pushed in the code that would deactivate the alarm. It would only take two seconds to grab the candy from the back of her car. Shoving open the shop’s door, the chilly air immediately caused her eyes to water. Damn, it was cold out here.

Using the key fob to unlock her vehicle, Charlotte looked around once more as she opened the back door. The stillness of the night gave way to some goose bumps, but the threatening feel in the air made her stop. Looking towards the intersection, she could make out the four way stop from the streetlights. To the right of her, that was the direction in which the road led out of town and the two yellow lines faded into the darkness.

This uneasy feeling was only because she knew what was taking place at the compound. Charlotte kept telling herself that as she leaned into the backseat and reached around on the floor. The bag of candy must have slid underneath the seat, so she bent further until her hand finally felt the plastic bag. She lifted it up and was finally able to pull back and set her shoes on the sidewalk. It was only then that she heard the idle of the vehicle and when she turned to see if Neal had finally arrived, it was to come face to face with Sally.

Charlotte’s relief was cut short when she saw Sally’s malicious smile and the stun gun in her hand. Charlotte spun on her heel with every intention of sprinting around her vehicle to the sheriff’s office, but terror took hold as she ran directly into a man she’d never set eyes on before. His large hand muted her screams and before she could do anything to defend herself, he’d spun her around and lifted her off of the ground. She was now their captive and while she was truly terrified, her only thought was that they couldn’t get a hold of Mandy.