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NINE
Faith gripped the keys to her parents’ house tight in her hand. Dark clouds had erased the morning’s blue sky, as the bad weather predicted by the forecasters came to fruition. A chill raced down her spine. Ahead of her, Chase had palmed his weapon. A precautionary move, but one that reinforced the constant danger surrounding them. He’d explained the possibility that they’d been lured to her parents’ house by the killer. Faith was grateful Holly and Aiden had kept Anna at the police station. The baby would be safe there.
Chase reached behind him with one hand. “Give me the keys, Faith.”
She did as he requested. His heavy jacket accented his broad shoulders and blocked her view of the door. There was no way to miss the river of water running down the cement steps into the yard. The neighbor had been right. Something in the house was leaking.
Chase opened the door and more water poured out of the house. Faith gasped. She jumped out of the way. A pipe under the sink in the mudroom was flinging cold water all over the tile floor. She hurried to shut off the main valve located just inside the back door. “What a mess.”
“The water didn’t get too high, thankfully. There’s no water damage on the walls.” Chase kept his weapon in his hand. “Stay here and let me clear the rest of the house. Then we can mop the floor.”
Faith nodded. She chewed on her fingernail as he disappeared around the corner. The wind kicked up, rustling her hair and seeping in the collar of her jacket. The sense of being watched swept over her.
She spun. A squirrel jumped from the oak tree onto the bird feeder. She let out the breath she was holding and forced her muscles to relax. Things were bad enough without jumping at her own shadow. Chase’s footsteps preceded him back into the mudroom. His weapon was holstered. “There’s no one here.”
“Well, that’s something to be grateful for.” Faith took another deep breath and forced her muscles to relax. She assessed the water damage. It wasn’t as bad as she’d originally thought. “You’re right. The water didn’t get high enough to damage the walls. Mom and Dad were fortunate. They’re coming home Christmas Eve from their trip, so it’s not urgent we fix this today. I’ll call a plumber and we’ll arrange for him to come by tomorrow.”
For the next hour, Faith and Chase cleaned the mudroom. He kept her laughing with bad jokes and funny stories, which made the chore fun. He had a way of doing that. Making everything seem easier.
By the time they made it back into the truck, heading toward town to pick up Anna, the weather had grown worse. The windshield wipers worked overtime to handle the sleet painting the glass. Ice coated the trees as the temperature dropped by the second.
Chase cranked the heater to full blast and switched on the defroster to clear the fog blocking their view of the road. “Looks like you won’t have to worry about missing the Christmas Fair after all. With this weather, they’ll have to cancel it.”
She nodded absently. Now that the immediate crisis with the broken pipe was over, Faith’s mind turned to the deadly attacks and Hillary’s murder. She was brokenhearted over the young woman’s death. And poor little Anna. To have lost her mother at such a tender age… It was too painful to think about. Faith shoved her emotions to the side. They wouldn’t help her. Since leaving Aiden’s office, there was one nagging thought that’d plagued her.
“Chase, if Hillary’s brother murdered her, why did he do it in Cutler? They both lived in Austin. Wouldn’t it have been simpler to kill her there?”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Yes, but Silas may have thought killing Hillary in a small town would work to his benefit. There’s a common misconception that cases won’t be taken as seriously or that the police are sloppy.” He was quiet for a long moment. “Although you bring up a good point. Nothing in his criminal record indicates he has the foresight to plan a complicated murder. He’s more the type to kill someone in the spur of the moment.”
Some of the tension in Faith’s shoulder loosened. She wasn’t a police officer, and while Chase had never demeaned her intelligence, it made her slightly nervous to challenge Aiden’s theory of the case. He was a good man, one who took pride in his job and did it well.
She removed a cloth from the glove box before swiping at the passenger-side window. The defroster was having a hard time keeping up with the abnormal Texas weather. Headlights shimmered behind them, but the driver appeared to be a safe distance away. Trees towered above them on the left. The right-hand side dipped down toward a small valley.
“I keep thinking about the way Dr. Whitcomb was looking at Anna.” Faith handed Chase the cloth and he swiped at his own window. “I know he has an alibi, but…” She bit her lip. “Is it possible he faked it? If Robert is Anna’s father, then he could be behind these attacks.”
Chase glanced in the rearview mirror. “First, we can’t jump to conclusions. We don’t know if Robert is Anna’s father. Second, faking an alibi isn’t easy to do. It’s not impossible, but in my experience, most criminals don’t bother.”
“I don’t think the man who killed Hillary and attacked me is like most criminals.”
He grimaced. “Good point.”
A flash of silver caught Faith’s eye as they passed an offshoot road. She turned in her seat just as the truck’s tires skid across the asphalt. Her heart leapt to her throat.
Black ice.
Faith screamed as the vehicle went into a spin. Headlights flashed across her vision moments before the car behind them slammed into the truck. Glass shattered, raining down onto her clothes and hair. The momentum of the collision pushed them over the edge of the road. Everything moved in slow motion as Faith braced for what was coming next. Her gaze locked on Chase. His hands gripped the wheel, determination etched on his features, as he desperately tried to stop the inevitable.
The truck tumbled over the incline. Metal screeched. Faith’s seat belt gripped her shoulder with a bruising force. The world blurred brown and green as the truck flipped. Inside her head, Faith was screaming, but there wasn’t enough air in her lungs for the sound to carry past her lips. Black spots danced in front of her vision.
They came to a shuddering stop in an upright position. Faith gulped in air, belatedly realizing she’d been holding her breath. The scent of pine and earth surrounded her. Everything was eerily quiet after the deafening noise of the crash. Her air bag hadn’t deployed since all the impact had been on the side or the rear. Faith blinked, struggling to kick her brain into motion. “Chase?”
“I’m okay.” A hand landed on her shoulder. “Don’t move, Faith. You’re hurt.”
She ignored his direction and raised trembling fingers to her temple. Warm liquid coated her skin, and when she pulled her hand away, she was shocked to discover blood on her palm. Pain rippled out from her stitches. “I don’t think it’s serious. My wound reopened.”
While Chase called in the accident to dispatch, she went through a mental rundown of her body, moving her legs and arms to make sure nothing was broken. Other than the bleeding head wound, she was fine. After he hung up, she reassured him. “I’m okay.”
“Still, it’s better to stay put until the medics arrive. They’re on the way.” Chase released his seat belt, and the movement caused glass to fall from his hair. He had a cut along one cheek but otherwise appeared unharmed to Faith’s untrained eye. He retrieved an emergency blanket from underneath his seat and covered her with it. Then he pressed gauze to her bleeding head wound. “Hold this here. I’m going to check on the driver of the other vehicle. I’ll be right back.”
