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Elmer laughed in her ear as he pressed the cold blade closer.
CHAPTER 14
Marsh did his best to wait patiently by the side of the road, even though he kept feeling the urge to return to Aurora. Jimmy had assured him this was the best place to catch a patrol car on the way back to headquarters, but he had very little patience left by the time he spotted one. He stopped it by the simple expedient of stepping out in front of it. The officer slammed on the brakes, then got out of the car and stomped towards him.
“What the hell are you playing at? I could have hit you?”
The fact that the man seemed bothered by the thought helped reassure him as he thrust the package at the officer.
“Belleview Plantation. It’s concealing a meth lab. And murder, although I don’t think you can prove that. Harold Belleview is behind it all. Transaction records, a recording, and a sample. Directions to the lab are with the records.”
The office gave him a dazed look as he took the package.
“Why don’t you come back to the station so we can talk about this?”
“I can’t.” The sense of urgency was only increasing. “Everything you need is here.”
“Wait -”
The officer called after him but he was already racing back to where Jimmy was waiting with the boat.
“Back to the swamp, as fast as possible. Something is wrong.”
Jimmy nodded grimly and took off, handling the boat with the ease of long experience, slipping between trees and carefully avoiding obstacles without ever slowing down. He extended his senses as far as possible searching desperately for her. The faint coppery tang of blood came from the dock in front of Harold’s house. Had the bastard taken her again?
No, he was sure she wasn’t in the house.
He ordered Jimmy to cut the engine and let the boat drift as he searched, trying to follow that hint of blood. Twice he lost it in a heavy growth of night-blooming jasmine and he finally remembered an old hunter’s trick - disguising one’s scent with another stronger scent, one native to the environment.
“This way,” he said quietly as he started following the scent of jasmine, using his hands to indicate to Jimmy which way to steer the boat.
The trail came to an end at a small island that was covered with jasmine, but he was close enough now to pick out the underlying scents. More blood, and not just Aurora’s. His fists clenched as he recognized Thorn’s blood as well.
Despite his increasing urgency, he forced himself to wait, to test the air, before turning to Jimmy.
“Wait here,” he whispered. “Someone is injured. Maybe more than one.”
“Yell for me if you need help.”
He nodded and slipped quietly out of the boat. The crude path that wound up the rocky side of the island made him feel exposed, the vines on his hair twisting uneasily, but it was the fastest way to the summit. At the top, enough of the thick vegetation had been cleared away to reveal a small ramshackle cottage and what might once have been a fire tower.
The scent of blood was stronger here, from both Aurora and Thorn. Anger at the thought of someone harming them mingled with his concern, the surrounding temperature rising rapidly as his anger built. Mist rolled over the ground and the plants responded to his fury, beginning to lash back and forth.
Thorns covered one side of the cottage and he headed towards it, trying to keep his presence quiet even though his anger had probably given him away. Through a tiny gap in the vines covering the window, he saw a single light inside the small room, a man walking back and forth in front of it, a knife in his hand. With a glance to make sure that there was no one else in sight, he gently encouraged one of the vines to create a split in one of the sheathing boards so he could hear what was happening.
The man was ranting, and Marsh immediately recognized the voice. Elmer, the one who had killed the dealer.
Heart pounding, he widened the gap, desperately searching for Aurora. She was bound to a chair against the far wall, her body limp, but her eyes blazing with fury. Alive. Thank the gods.
“You’ll never get away with this,” she whispered, her voice shaking but her eyes steady as she watched Elmer pace. “Marsh will come for me.”
“Then I’ll eliminate him just like I eliminated the other one.”
“Thorn isn’t dead,” she said, her voice shaky, but he could have sworn she was looking at him.
He remained at his observation post, but he extended his senses, searching for his uncle. He finally found him, crumpled against the rear wall of the cottage, surrounded by blood. So much blood. He scattered leaves over him to try and stop the bleeding, as he waited for his moment.
His instincts urged him to rush inside, but Elmer was between him and Aurora and he couldn’t take the chance.
