She spit in his face and he shoved her down on the table. She screamed as loud as she could, until he covered her mouth with his hand and then she bit him. He swore and back-handed her hard across the face.
Steve and Justin heard the screams coming from over the next ridge.
They looked at each other, both of them imagining the worst.
“Fire off a couple of rounds. Get his attention off her,” Steve told Justin.
Justin fired off two rounds into the air. They looked at each other, listening, but they didn’t hear anything. The screaming had stopped.
“Come on,” Steve commanded and they dashed up the ridge.
Wilcox heard the shots and froze. He rose up and looked up over toward the ridge, back the way they had driven in. It was the distraction Summer needed. She pulled her legs up and jammed them on his chest, pushing him back as hard as she could. He stumbled back and lost his footing on an incline and stumbled down into the shallow bank of the river.
Summer jumped to her feet and ran back toward the shots, screaming, “Help me! Help!” She ran as fast as she could back toward the dirt road. She could hear Wilcox splashing in the river. Turning, she looked back and saw him crawling up the bank. She stumbled and fell. With her hands cuffed behind her back, she struggled to regain her feet. She made it to her knees and suddenly he was on her, yanking her head back with a fistful of her hair.
“Shh. You make one sound and I’ll kill you,” he whispered into her ear. His eyes scanned the woods. He could hear leaves and branches moving. Someone was moving this way. He dragged Summer to her feet and pulled her back to the other side of the squad car. Pulling his revolver, he put it to her head.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cary had stood next to the open passenger door of Steve’s pickup and watched Steve and Justin head up the dirt-road into the woods and out-of-sight. He looked back down at Jessie, sitting on the seat, brushing the tears off her cheeks, as he dialed 9-1-1.
When he finished the call and hung up, he took Jessie’s face in his hands and tilted it up to look at her. “Jess, why didn’t you tell me?” he asked softly.
“I couldn’t. He…he threatened to set you up. He said he’d make it look like he found drugs in your truck and he’d make sure you went to prison.”
“Oh, Jess.” It tore him up that she’d been abused this way, but to think…to think that she’d done it all to protect him. He didn’t know if he could live with that guilt.
“He would have done it, too, Cary. You don’t know him.” She felt so ashamed of what she’d done and she needed Cary to understand. If he…God, if he turned away from her now, she didn’t think she could live with it.
“I believe you, baby. He’s a sick man. Who knows what he’s capable of?” Cary murmured, looking towards the woods and then back at Jessie. He was having trouble getting the words out. He didn’t know what to say to her and he didn’t want to say the wrong thing. There was something he had to ask her, but he didn’t know how. Hell, there was no easy way. “Jessie, did he…did he rape you?”
She pulled her face out of his hands and shook her head, looking down. She couldn’t bear to look in his eyes when she talked about it. “No…he just…he …he made me do things and he took pictures.” She started to cry.
Cary took her in his arms. “Baby, it’s all over now.” God, he wanted to tear that man apart for this. He wouldn’t be coming out of those woods alive, if Cary had anything to say about it.
The sound of a gunshot cracked through the air. Cary turned with a jerk. Jessie started shaking. “Oh, my God, Cary. We’ve got to do something.”
Cary picked up his rifle and propped his arm across the hood of the truck, aiming the barrel into the woods. He watched the dirt-road and the tree-line. As badly as he wanted to take off in the direction the shots were fired, he wasn’t about to leave Jessie unprotected.
Steve and Justin crept toward the ridge.
“Have you ever been up in this area before?” Steve whispered the question to Justin, who had grown up in this County.
Justin shook his head. “No, but that’s the Ruby River.” He nodded to the river on their right.
Steve looked over at it and studied the landscape. “We need to split up.”
“I’ll circle around to the left. Maybe I can get behind him.” He turned to Steve. “You remember that Turkey call I taught you years ago?”
Steve smiled and nodded. Justin turned to go. Steve stopped him. “Justin?”
“Yeah?” Justin turned back.
There had been such bad blood between the two for so many years. Steve was having a hard time believing Justin was here, helping him. Risking his life. “She…she means a lot to me,” Steve whispered.
Justin looked at him a moment. “I know, brother.”
“Be careful.”
Justin nodded and was gone.
Steve inched up the ridge and eased up behind a tree. He peered around to try to get a look at what was on the other side of the ridge. He saw the squad car parked off in the grassy area by the river. He couldn’t see Summer or Wilcox, but he thought he saw movement behind the vehicle.
After a few minutes, Steve heard the Turkey call and knew that Justin was in position. Steve knew he had to draw Wilcox’s attention this way. He stood up, keeping his back against the tree and cocked his rifle.
The sound was enough to get Wilcox’s attention. He rose up and glanced toward the trees where the sound had come. He had Summer in a chokehold, with his left arm around her neck and with his right hand he held a gun to her temple.
“Wilcox!” Steve yelled. “Let her go.”
Wilcox cocked the gun at Summer’s head. “I don’t think so, Garrett. She and I have some unfinished business.” He tightened his chokehold and Summer felt her air being cut off. She gasped for breath and dots began to dance before her eyes.
“You won’t leave here alive. I promise you that,” Steve yelled.
“Maybe, maybe not. But you’re pretty little lady won’t. That’s guaranteed. Now, come on out where I can see you and throw down your weapon, or I’ll strangle her while you listen.” He tightened his hold on her again, and Summer gasped and coughed.
It tore Steve apart to hear it. He stepped from behind the tree and raised the gun over his head, praying that Justin had a clear shot from wherever he was. Steve saw Summer and the fear in her eyes. His eyes moved around the tree-line, trying to spot Justin.
“Drop it,” Wilcox ordered.
Justin emerged silently from a tree behind Wilcox. Steve saw him, but Wilcox and Summer were unaware he was behind them. Justin fired off a round and Steve saw Wilcox drop to the ground, taking Summer down with him, his gun discharging as he fell.
Steve ran down the hill, panicked that Wilcox may have shot Summer. The deputy was lying on his back and Justin was on him in a flash. Summer rolled to her left, away from Wilcox. Steve pulled her to her feet and dragged her behind the car, away from Wilcox.
Justin was standing over him, his .45 aimed at the deputy’s head. Wilcox was bleeding from the thigh, where Justin had shot him, but he still had his pistol in his hand and despite the gun aimed at his head, he wasn’t about to drop it.
Steve held Summer by her arms and looked frantically for wounds. “Are you hit? I heard his gun go off.”
“No. No, I’m okay.”
“Thank God.”
The sound of sirens could be heard approaching and in a moment, two state trooper’s cars came flying over the hill. Justin glanced up for a split second and in that moment, Wilcox put the gun to his own head and pulled the trigger. Steve pulled Summer’s face to his chest to try to keep her from seeing the gruesome sight.
After giving their statements to the state police and the investigators that showed up on the scene, they were all free to leave. Summer had told them about the shallow area where Wilcox had claimed to have buried several victims, including the missing waitress, Darlene Johnson, and Rita Garrett and she’d given the investigators the photos in her pocket, letting them know that more photos could be found at Wilcox’s house.
When she had finished being interviewed by the investigators, she looked over to where Steve was standing, talking to Justin. She knew she had to tell him. She walked slowly over to him. He looked at her as she approached and she wondered if somewhere in the back of his mind he guessed what she might be coming to tell him. She wasn’t sure if he was prepared to hear it, though.
She stopped before him, looking up at him. Then she reached out, took his arm and pulled. “Walk with me?”
Steve swallowed and nodded. They walked over towards the river’s edge. Summer stopped and turned to face him, knowing what she was about to tell him would be devastating. “Steve, he’s been doing this for years.” She watched as he straightened, his body going solid. She gently took his hands in hers. “Steve…” she began.
“He had something to do with Rita, didn’t he?” he interrupted her.
She looked at him and then nodded slowly. “He…he told me he killed her.”
Steve blew out a breath and looked toward the trees on the ridge. Summer could see his eyes fill with tears. The muscles in his jaw clenched as he fought to control the overwhelming grief that was clutching at his chest.
Summer reached out and touched his arm, hating to be the one to have to tell him these awful things. “Steve…there’s more.”
He turned to look at her.
“He said…he said he buried her…with the others…over there.” Summer nodded toward the area that the investigators were already marking off with yellow tape. She watched as he turned to look where she had indicated and his face went ashen. He moved, as if in a trance, toward the shallow graves. He got as close as the investigators would let him and then he stopped. He stood there a moment and Summer watched from a distance. She could see his shoulders start to shake and then he put his face in his hands.
Summer couldn’t bear to see him in such anguish. She walked over and put her hand on his back. He turned and took her in his arms. “At least I still have you and Jessie. I couldn’t have stood it if he’d…” He broke off, unable to continue.
“It’s over now, Steve. Let’s go back and get Jessie. She needs you now.” He nodded and wiped his eyes and they started to walk over to where Justin was waiting next to one of the trooper’s cars, talking with an officer.
“I need to tell him,” Steve whispered.
Summer looked up at Steve and offered. “I could, if you want.”
He shook his head. “No. I need to do it.”
“Okay, honey.” She moved off, giving them some privacy.
Steve approached Justin. “I need to talk to you.”
“Okay.”
Steve could hear the question in Justin’s voice. He looked off toward the taped off area and back to Justin.
Justin’s eyes followed his. “What are they looking for over there? He dump a weapon or something?”
Steve shook his head. “No. They’re not looking for weapons.”
“What are they looking for, then?”
“Bodies.”
“Bodies?”
Steve stared at Justin, the words sticking in his throat. My God, he hadn’t realized, after all these years, just how difficult it would be to finally admit that Rita was dead. To actually say the words out-loud. “Justin…he told Summer” he raised his hand in the direction of the taped off area, took a breath and then his arm fell to his side as he continued, “that was where he was going to bury her. Next to the others.”
“Others?” Justin swallowed. “What others?”
Steve’s head tilted to the side a fraction and his brows came together, a look of anguish on his face. Shit, he just had to say the word before his throat closed up. “Darlene and…Rita.”
Justin’s eyes darted to the shallow area. “Rita?” He shook his head. “Christ, no.”
Steve looked down at his feet. A moment later he felt Justin enfold him in a hug and pat his back. “You alright, brother?” Justin whispered. They broke apart.
“Yeah, I guess.” Steve looked toward the woods. “I finally know what happened to her, but…it’s not the kind of ending I wanted to hear. At least I’ll be able to bring her body back and bury it on the farm.”
“If you need anything…” Justin voice broke with emotion.
“I know,” Steve murmured, squeezing Justin’s shoulder.
An investigator stepped over to them. “Excuse me, Mr. Garrett, could I speak with you a moment?”
“Of course.” Steve and the man stepped away.
Justin stared after them, stunned by what Steve had told him. It felt like someone had just sucker-punched him in the gut. Sensing someone at his side, he glanced up to find Summer standing there.
“You okay?” she asked softly.
He nodded and looked back toward Steve. “I don’t know what to say to him.” They’d both loved Rita, but Steve had lost his wife.
“How about you? It must be hard for you, too.”
Justin’s eyes glazed. “Yeah.” It was all he could get out before his throat closed up and then Summer’s arms were around him.
“At least we know what happened. And the man that did this is dead.”
“Yeah. I wish I’d put a bullet in his face when I had the chance.”
“Thank you for coming. If you hadn’t seen him drive by with me in the back-”
“Don’t, honey. Don’t think about it. It’s over. You’re safe now.”
They broke apart and Summer squeezed Justin’s hands. She looked over to where Steve had been talking to the officer, but didn’t see him. Scanning, she spotted him standing near the graves again, his shoulders shaking, and then he dropped to his knees. She couldn’t bear to see him in such pain and she started to go to him. Justin stopped her.
“Let him grieve for her. He needs to say his goodbyes. He never did,” Justin said quietly, looking at Steve.
Summer looked up at Justin and saw that he, too, had tears in his eyes. They both had loved her. “Are you okay?”
Justin looked down at her. “I’ll be fine. I let her go a long time ago.”
Finally, after some time, Steve stood up. Summer walked over and put her hand on his back. He turned and lifted his arm. She immediately tucked under it, pressing up against his side as he pulled her close. “Let’s go home.”
He nodded.