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“Who said I sleep?” she said with a snort. “I’m always looking over my shoulder. What keeps me going is knowing that I bested him. It must burn him every day to think of the little girl who got away.”
They were pushing way past the speed limit, tires eating up the miles to their destination. Then something dawned on him. “Jesus—you told me you grew up in Kansas. It was the Kingston Town Killer, wasn’t it?”
She hissed out a breath, as though hearing his name brought her physical pain. “That’s the one.” Her voice was flat. Not at all like the bubbly cadence he’d come to know. “Each morning, I used to wake up hoping that an arrest would be made. Now? I just pray he’s dead so he can’t hurt anyone else.”
Gus took one hand off the wheel, grabbed Wright’s, and squeezed. There were no words for what she’d been through. Hell, she’d never needed him to have her back in the academy. She’d stood up to a serial killer. She had more guts than all of them combined. Once this was over, he was going to talk to Easton about the Kingston Town Killer. If someone left a trail over the web, he could find it no matter how small. It was almost scary what Easton could uncover.
“Right here.” Wright lifted her hand and pointed to a dirt side road with a Private Property plaque nailed to a tree.
He took the turn wordlessly. About half a mile down, they found a BMW with the Harvard campus parking sticker on the back window. The same one that he’d spotted in her driveway. “That’s his.”
“I’ll radio it in,” she said as he shifted the car into park and killed the engine. He was out of his seat, boots on the ground, before Wright pulled her radio from her belt. He stalked toward the car. The trunk was closed, but not completely latched. Bracing himself, he pushed it open. Tape. Strands of red hair. Blood. He ground his teeth, muscles quivering in an uncontrollable wave through his body. He opened his mouth, a half curse, half scream on the tip of his tongue when a hand touched his back, silencing him, reminding him to keep his shit together.
“Come on,” Wright said in a low tone that wouldn’t carry.
The trail wasn’t difficult to follow, crushed branches and a footprint here and there guided them. Every so often, a patch of bark would be missing from a tree, like something had smashed into it. He struggled to close the lid on his rage. Maybe she’d struggled and fell into the trunks of the tree, dislodging the bark. The disturbed path led them to a weathered shack in a break near the trees. They cleared the cabin, more like a shed really, and found no one there. The area by the firepit told a different story. Drag marks marred the earth, blood coated a boulder, and a large loose rock on the ground was stained a rusty red.
“I think she tried to escape, look how low the blood is here.” He pointed to the two stains on the boulder.
“She did. There’s a footprint.” Wright pointed to the print in the mud. It was tiny, just like Sasha’s. His body tensed at the other, much larger prints following behind. They exchanged a glance, then began to run through the trees as fast as they could, still following the path left by Sasha and Ted. They reached a stream, and the trail seemed to disappear.
They were desperately searching for some kind of sign of which way they’d gone when a gunshot rang out in the distance. Adrenaline coursed through his blood, propelled by his speeding pulse. His feet pounded against the earth as he surged in the direction of the rifle fire. Then something shifted to his right, a blur of motion. Deeper into the trees, Ted had his gun raised to Sasha’s forehead.
“Put your hands up or I put a bullet in her.” Gus held his breath, gulping down paralyzing fear. Time seemed to slow, and Ted raised his hands as instructed. Sweat beaded over his forehead as he kept all his attention on Ted. If he looked at Sasha, he’d lose common sense. Do something stupid that would get them both killed.
“What are you hoping to gain from this?” His voice was calm and remote, surprising the hell out of himself.
“More like what I’m trying to lose. She has to die. And because you’ve joined us—” Ted didn’t get another word out before another shot rang out. Ted crumpled to the ground. Wright had snuck up on them, so quiet that even he hadn’t noticed her. She holstered her weapon, and they both ran to Sasha. He fell to his knees at her side, not bothering to hold back the tears burning his eyes.
“You’re alive.” He couldn’t stop repeating the words. They clung to each other, her hands fisted on his shirt, his around her waist. Her hot tears seeped through the material at his chest as she trembled in his arms.
“I hear our backup. I’ll go meet them.” Wright slipped away, leaving them alone.
Sasha cupped his face, clinging to him like he might disappear. Her skin was bruised and bleeding, wrists and arms all torn up, but she’d never looked more beautiful. He was vaguely aware of more law enforcement officers arriving, along with the paramedics. Ted was beyond help—Wright had shot him in the head. He’d never be a threat to anyone again.
“He did it. He set the fire at my house. Killed my family and all of those people.” Her voice trembled so fiercely, her teeth chattered. “They all worked the assembly line at Jefferson and Sons.” He just held on and rocked her as she sobbed.
After a few moments, she raised her head. “I thought I was going to die before I had the chance to tell you.” She searched his face, pure blue eyes filled with tenderness. “I love you, Gus. It took almost dying to realize that I’m going to worry about something happening to you whether we’re together or not. Whatever time we have, I want to spend it with you.”
All the pain and hardship in his life had brought him right here. To Sasha. She was everything he’d never dared to hope for. Everything he needed and so much more. A gift he would never take for granted. “I love you, too. So much. When I listened to that voicemail, I went insane. I could feel something breaking inside of me. Now you’re here, in my arms. I couldn’t ask for a bigger miracle.”
She sniffled and wiped one of his tears away. “You’re my miracle. You opened me up. Showed me what it meant to care for someone again.”
“I don’t think you ever stopped caring. You just showed it in different ways. Your art, the fundraisers. Being a hero when someone needed you most.” He kissed her forehead. “Let’s get you checked out, then we’re going home. Our home.”
“Home.” She smiled. When the EMTs surrounded Sasha, Gus stayed right by her side. Something he planned on doing for the rest of his life. With the danger behind them, they could finally move forward. His siblings would welcome her with open arms, and they’d face whatever life threw at them. Together.
Epilogue
Fall had set in. The trees behind the home she shared with Gus and Julie were bursting with color. There was a chill in the air that spoke of knit sweaters and warm boots. It was amazing how her life had changed in just a few months. Solitary moments to ones shared shopping with Julie, curling up on the couch with Gus, or playing cards with Easton when he came to visit. She’d even been out to lunch with Detective Wright—just Kinley to her now, and the woman who had saved her life and Gus’s. Isaac had just returned from a mission and had a few days of leave, so they had a full house. She and Julie had worked together to make a big welcome-home dinner. Now they were sitting outside, circled around a stacked stone hearth, roasting marshmallows for s’mores.
Gus had his arm wrapped around her waist. She was safe, warm, and so in love with him. When Gus told his lieutenant they were involved, he’d received a reprimand, but the man had met his wife in the line of duty, and he was sympathetic to their situation. In short, Gus had gotten very lucky. She twisted the stick sporting her golden-brown marshmallow, and the diamond engagement ring twinkled on her finger. He’d proposed two weeks ago in this very spot, and Julie captured it all on film.
She hadn’t been this happy in a long, long time. Sighing in contentment, she looked around at her family. Isaac was deep in conversation with Julie, who held Gilligan in her lap, and Easton was quietly talking to Kinley. Gus had told her about what the other woman had been through as a child, making her one of the strongest people she’d ever met. Easton was reviewing the case, trying to see if he could pick up a digital footprint of the serial killer who had evaded capture for over two decades.
“What are you thinking about, sweetheart?” Gus nuzzled into the crook of her neck, planting a kiss on her jawline.
“How this is a really wonderful time in my life. Hoping Easton can help Kinley get some peace. How much I love you.” She kissed him on the lips. Her big, bad detective tasted like chocolate and marshmallows.
