Tall, Dark, and Deadly Read online

  “He must be out, come on! Marnie, help me, we have to find Loretta and go!”

  Rowan gritted his teeth and grasped his side. With Sam’s help, he came to his feet. “Where is Loretta? Is she alive?”

  “Back against that wall, I think,” Marnie said.

  With the door open, Sam could see where they were. It was a very simple shack with some high vents. The windows had been boarded over. There was a cot and a trunk. Storage containers. Water barrels. Joe had tortured his victims, but like a good weekend warrior, he had kept the place supplied so that he could keep them alive as long as he chose to do so.

  And against the far wall…

  A tangle of flesh and blond hair. Loretta.

  Rowan pushed away from Sam and went to the woman. “Is she alive?” Sam asked anxiously.

  “Barely,” Rowan said. Grunting, he picked her up.

  “Rowan, you won’t make it—” Sam began.

  “Go!”

  But she rushed to his side, supporting him. They started out. He turned back. “Marnie? Can you come?”

  But Marnie wasn’t listening. She was staring at Joe.

  And she had seen the knife on the ground.

  She started to scream, reaching for the knife.

  She gripped it and came to life. She flew at Joe’s fallen form. And she began to stab him.

  Again and again. Sam heard the blade hit flesh, bone. The sound was terrible.

  “Marnie!” Rowan said. He put Loretta down, easing her toward Sam. And he went back for Marnie. She was wild, and she nearly stabbed him as well. Her arms flailed. She sobbed.

  “Marnie, Marnie…”

  She fell into his arms.

  “Marnie, come…”

  Sam suddenly heard the sound of a motor.

  “My God, there’s help!” she breathed. Thank God. Loretta was naked, as cold as ice. Sam could only pray that she would make it.

  “Help?” Marnie whispered. “Please…” She pushed away from Rowan. Sam followed her quickly as she staggered out into the dying green daylight.

  It was true. An airboat was arriving. Teddy, Rolf Lunden, and two other uniformed cops were on it.

  And Gregory. Gregory, who saw them and began to scream and shout and point.

  Sam started running to him.

  “Sam, the gators!” Teddy shouted.

  Too late. She had raced across the shallow water, sunk to her middle. She was moving faster than any alligator. Teddy dragged her up on the airboat, and Gregory was in her arms. She held him for a very long time. She was vaguely aware of shouting and commotion as the cops went to help pull the others aboard the vessel. Then Rowan was with her. His arms were around her. Gregory burrowed against Rowan. He was shaking. Rowan soothed him. He calmed down at last but remained with the two of them, his head bowed low against Sam’s shoulder, his eyes tightly closed.

  Together, she and Rowan watched as the cops retrieved Joe Taylor’s body. He wasn’t going to be left as food for his own beasts. Teddy was too much of a cop for that.

  “How did you find us?” she asked Teddy.

  “We had an idea, naturally. Rowan had shouted Joe’s name to Aidan. Aidan got me… we came right after you, but you know the swamp, it wasn’t easy. We might not have found this little twist in the canal, seen the cabin… if it hadn’t been for the boy. He’s the smartest damn idiot I’ve ever met.”

  “Idiot! Teddy, that child is a genius!”

  Marnie was on the airboat then. Heedless of her cuts, bruises, bites, lack of dress, and blood-drenched hands, she reached for Gregory, pulling him into her arms. Her words had held her old confidence, her old bravado. But they faded into a gulp and then tears. Sobbing, she hugged him. “You saved my life!”

  He studied her face. “Marnie,” he said.

  Clearly. Loudly.

  He had known. He had known all along. He had fought for her all along.

  They simply hadn’t known how to listen.

  Two nights later there was a gathering at Sam’s. The bullet had been removed from Rowan’s side. They had made him stay in the hospital overnight. Sam had stayed with him. She wasn’t about to be parted from him for anything. Not for a very long time.

  Marnie was suffering from exposure, bites, dehydration, and more. She had refused to stay in a hospital any longer than twenty-four hours. Loretta would have to remain hospitalized for another few days. She had been completely dehydrated, and several of her ribs had been broken. It seemed that Joe’s psychosis was usually tripped when a girl agreed to leave a party with a man; in Loretta’s case, he'd been just waiting for the right opportunity.

  They had put together some of the pieces when they had all given statements to the police, and when the police, in turn, had shared their information.

  Tonight, it was over.

  Teddy was there with Laura. They weren’t exactly back together, but they were becoming friends. For the two of them, that was the most important thing for the time being. So Laura had told Sam. But she had also told her that she had put away the past. Teddy had spent a few more nights at the house, and they had been wonderful.

  Aidan was there, as well as Lacey, who had just come home. She was sitting with Thayer, who had been exonerated. His arm was around her. Lacey was euphoric, having returned to find out that everything was all right. Her own trip had been great, but her life, she said, had been turned around by Thayer. She had confessed her secret life to Sam, who had promised not to tell her parents unless the time came when she absolutely had to. Thayer had been at a party that she had worked, and his shock and disappointment—and support and unwavering friendship— had been all she needed that night to know that she was done.

  “He picked me up. We went for a long ride. We talked and talked and I took a later flight.”

  She had told Sam the truth while they sat together in the hospital, waiting for Rowan to come out of surgery.

  That night, at Sam’s house, she told them all, “I may have a role in the play, I may not. But I will get one someday.”

  Rowan’s eyes met Sam’s. He smiled. She had found out from Lacey how he had stood up for her, kept her secret—and threatened Chapman on her behalf.

  So much for being suspicious of Thayer. He was proving to be a fine young man. He was not the least bit bitter about having been arrested.

  Marnie had greeted him with tremendous affection, and he had been treating his sister like a porcelain doll.

  Marnie stared at Sam as they sat, shaking her head. “I’ve had time to reflect on my life lately. Too much time to reflect on my life. No, maybe not enough, because I was afraid that I was going to die at any time. But Sam, you know, in all honesty, I did know I was lucky to have you as a friend.”

  “Sam insisted there was something wrong from the very beginning,” Teddy said.

  Sam grinned. “Marnie, I have to admit that your eccentric ways were part of what absolutely convinced me that something bad had happened to you. Your makeup tray was out of order.”

  “When Joe kidnapped me we struggled. The makeup scattered. He thought he was putting it all back right…”

  “But he didn’t,” Sam said.

  “And then, thanks to our young friend Gregory always staring at the house,” Rowan added quietly, “we found the tiny blood drops on your bedpost.”

  “He thought he was so perfect!” Teddy said bitterly. “And he almost was.”

  “How could he have been so crazy… and we not know?” Sam asked for the hundredth time.

  “Who would imagine? A man so virile, so handsome,” Teddy said. “But that was the point in this case. He wanted perfection, and then he was only wanted for the perfection he achieved in himself. He couldn’t form a real relationship.”

  “He needed to be adored. Worshiped,” Marnie said. She leaned her head back, closing her eyes. “Chloe always said that she used him for his body. She said it to his face. I—I wasn’t much better. And still…”

  “Still, he’s dead. It’s over,” Thay
er said.

  “Will I go up for murder?” Marnie asked. She seemed different. Subdued.

  “You’ll never go up for murder,” Teddy assured her.

  “And I’m alive!” she breathed happily. Then she tousled her brother’s hair. “So, Thayer! They arrested you!”

  “Well,” he said, “I did know Chloe. And at the time I had a tremendous crush on her. She never looked my way. But that’s why she was in my painting.”

  Marnie gripped her brother’s hand. “Have you seen the house yet, Thayer?”

  “Yeah, kind of—”

  “It’s yours.”

  “What?”

  “I never want to stay in it again.”

  Thayer was quiet for a minute, then he smiled at her. “I have never been a bum, Marnie. My path is just different from yours.”

  She sighed, looking at him. “No, you’ve never been a bum. You’ve looked after that bum who is our father. Forgive me, Thayer.”

  “I love you, Marnie.”

  “You, too. I still want you to have the house. I just won’t be comfortable in it again. And I want to go away. I want to travel.”

  “To where?” Sam asked.

  She made a face. “Somewhere cold. Very cold. Without swamps.”

  They all managed to laugh.

  Epilogue

  Miami, Florida

  Late afternoon.

  Temperature eighty-two degrees.

  Life, Rowan reflected. It was just life itself. Or, perhaps, the realization of a new and very humble appreciation for life that made Rowan feel very generous toward Beth.

  Maybe it was because they’d been in the same hospital after the night in the Everglades.

  Then again, there had been Sam’s suggestion…

  Whatever the case, Rowan had given Beth first shot at the interview of a lifetime.

  It was a beautiful day, the sky was blue, untouched by even a hint of clouds. A soft breeze moved in off the bay.

  Television cameras were there, news stations, other media—but Beth was the one asking the questions today. She looked smart in a satin two-piece suit, dressy enough for a guest, business-y enough for the cameras.

  Music played, flowers were everywhere, champagne flowed. Caterers in tuxedos carefully stepped around the pool to deliver up trays of delicious delicacies to the many guests at Rowan’s house by the water.

  “First off, Rowan,” Beth said, “tell us, how do you feel today?”

  “Wonderful. Better than I’ve felt in my entire life.”

  “Does the bullet wound still you give any trouble?”

  “I’m breathing; it’s all I need.”

  “You were in the hospital after the incident, however, right?”

  “Yes, as was Miss Newcastle.”

  “She’s not here today! And she was such a good friend to Samantha Miller. Why wouldn’t she be here on this very special occasion?”

  “Ah, well, she and Sam are still very good friends—but Miss Newcastle is attending her own wedding. She’s marrying her old boss, Mr. Daly, and the two of them are setting up a new practice in Montana.”

  “Montana?”

  “Miss Newcastle was looking for somewhere with a cooler climate to live.”

  “What about her beautiful home?”

  “Her brother has taken it over. He’s actually become engaged to a young cousin of Sam’s, and I believe that, together, they’ll dispel whatever ill will might linger in the house.”

  “Ill will… Well, Rowan, you’ve certainly done well living past the ill will that plagued your life here in Miami ! I know that many people were suspicious of you…” She hesitated. “Especially after I was attacked on your property. I saw the attacker, but I was unconscious and couldn’t help the police. How did you know to follow Samantha that day? How could anyone have imagined that a man as handsome and virile as Joe could be a psychotic killer?”

  “Process of elimination. I didn’t actually know though, until he was in the process of kidnapping her. He was always looking for perfection in himself—and in others. He was fascinated by strippers, fascinated by the body. It was when the women he watched agreed to work the private parties he himself arranged that his mind seemed to snap. Except for Sam. She became dangerous to him. And I believe that no matter what type of a front he was putting up, he was coming closer and closer to snapping all the time. We were lucky. Very lucky,” Rowan said, and he suddenly turned slightly from Beth, aware that Sam was approaching.

  She had just changed from her wedding dress into the smart black pantsuit for their flight. His heart quickened; his wife was beautiful. His wife. They’d made it; they’d endured. The past had been riddled and torn by suspicion and tragedy, but the future was theirs. And he had never felt so positive about anything in his life. Her gaze touched his. Her lips curved. There were so many things they shared now without ever a word being said. There was so much warmth in her. Passion and courage—and the kind of commitment to those she loved that was totally unique.

  Wonderful. He felt wonderful. Better than he had in his whole life.

  Sam reached him. He slipped his arm around her. She smiled at Beth. Sam had actually been the one to suggest that he lay all his demons to rest by giving this opportunity to the reporter.

  “Sam, how does it feel to be Mrs. Dillon at last?”

  Sam grinned up at Rowan. “Wonderful.”

  He grinned.

  “And you’ve shared this happiness with family and friends. Your parents are here?”

  “My mother and my stepfather are over there. And that’s Rowan’s dad, the very handsome gentleman standing with Lilly Vincent, the artist.”

  “Perhaps there’s more romance in the future?”

  “They do seem to be hitting it off,” Rowan said.

  “And the band is wonderful!”

  “Some old friends—-and some new ones. Aidan Henley and his group—and Gregory Lacata on drums.”

  “Gregory! A very special boy. What about children? Do you plan to have your own family? How many children?”

  “Three—” Sam had begun.

  “Four,” Rowan said.

  They laughed.

  “Three and a half?” Sam asked, with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter—time will tell. We certainly both love them and want them.”

  “Tomorrow, don’t you think?” Rowan suggested.

  “Certainly.”

  “Then perhaps you’d better get going. Where will the honeymoon take place?”

  “We’re not telling exactly where…”

  “But there’s snow there,” Sam said, smiling up at Rowan.

  “So are you two looking for somewhere cold to move as well?” Beth queried. “What a loss it would be to our community.”

  Rowan grimaced at Sam. She answered for him. “Oh, no, we’re coming back. We both love the water and the sun and boats—Mollie in the bay at the docks… and even the Everglades. I’m not terribly fond of alligators anymore, but…”

  “We love the area. We wouldn’t dream of leaving it for good,” Rowan finished. “And now, if you’ll excuse us…”

  The Swiss Alps.

  Dusk.

  Temperature thirty-two degrees.

  It was a beautiful evening. Snow covered the distant lodge on the hill, and the rolling landscape in front of their small ski lodge. The world was white, delicately shaded in pastels by the dying sun. Outside, it was cold. Inside, a fire raged. Champagne cooled in a bucket, there was a hot and inviting Jacuzzi, and the mammoth bed in the center of the room was piled with pillows and down comforters.

  He heard Sam come out of the shower. Felt her slip her arms around him and study the snow, as he was doing.

  “Beautiful,” she said softly.

  He turned her in his arms. Her robe was loose. He felt her naked flesh, breasts against his chest, belly… legs.

  “Beautiful,” he agreed.

  He kissed her. Long, deep, lingering… longer, deeper, more lingeringly.

  Then his li
ps broke from hers. “I never knew it was possible to be this happy, this… secure. My God, we came so close to losing it all… losing everything, life…”

  “But we didn’t. You rescued me, remember?”

  “Well, you kind of rescued me, too. I was dumb enough to get myself shot.”

  “Not dumb. You saved Gregory’s life,” she reminded him.

  “The kid was well worth it.”

  “And so are you!” she teased.

  “And there’s the future. We still have so much ahead, so much to decide. Sam, what do you want out of the future?”

  “Only to wake beside you every single morning,” she told him.

  “What if I were to go on tour, what if we have children, what if—”

  “Almost every single day of my life!” she said, laughing.

  “No, every single day. I’d never tour without you— you’re the best drummer I know. And when you have those three and a half kids, I’ll be in the hospital beside you.”

  She shook her head, looking up at him. “Don’t you see, Rowan, you are always with me. And I’m always with you. Even if we’re not together!”

  And he smiled. And kissed her again. And he felt the pressure of his arousal against her and the sweet warmth of the lire and the taste of her…

  And he knew they had talked enough. The future would wait.

  He swept her into his arms.

  The fire crackled in the hearth.

  The ice melted in the bucket.

  Their future was beginning.