Elizabeth would take care of her, as she had so many times taken care of Elizabeth.
Considering the tranquilizers her mother had consumed, she should be sleeping soundly by now.
Elizabeth trudged up the stairs. She was so tired. Her mother would be disappointed that Dane wasn’t there. But Carson would find him. Telling her so would be reassurance enough.
Outside her mother’s bedroom door, Elizabeth hesitated. Her mother was speaking to someone.
Had someone called? Elizabeth hadn’t heard the phone.
The door wasn’t closed completely so she eased it open just a crack more so she could hear more clearly. Was there news of her brother?
“You have to listen to me,” her mother whispered sternly to whomever was on the other end of the line. “You have to do as I say. Now. Tonight. There’s no time to discuss the details.”
Her mother paused for a long moment. Elizabeth frowned. No wonder she hadn’t heard the phone—her mother was using her cell.
“Please,” Patricia pleaded, “trust me. You have to trust me. Do as I say and everything will be fine. You know I would never let anything happen to you. Tell me the truth and I’ll take care of everything.”
She had to be speaking to Dane.
Poor Mother. She worried so much. Dane had hurt them all far more than he realized. Now Father was dead and Dane wasn’t even here to support Elizabeth and their mother. What kind of brother failed to be here at a moment like this?
One who couldn’t be counted on.
For anything.
“Don’t worry,” her mother urged, “this is not beyond salvaging.” Another long pause. “You know I will. I’ll take care of everything the way I always do.”
Elizabeth started to ease away from the door. The conversation made her uneasy. What was going on? If her mother was keeping things from her ...
Patricia’s rush to enter another number into her cell caused Elizabeth to hesitate. Who was she calling now?
“It didn’t work,” Patricia muttered vehemently into the phone. “What am I supposed to do now? She isn’t going away ... and he’s helping her. This has to stop. Do you hear me? Otherwise ...”
Her mother’s face contorted with anger as she listened to a response she clearly did not appreciate.
“I don’t care,” she snapped. “Do whatever you have to. Just fix this mess!”
Had to be about Dane. Elizabeth could only imagine what Dane was up to. Heaven’s sake, what had he done that would keep him away from home with their father murdered? And have their mother so overwrought?
There was only one thing Elizabeth knew for certain would strike such terror into her family.
Verifying her conclusion wouldn’t be simple. Lieutenant Lynch and District Attorney Wainwright had insisted that a security detail be left at the house.
Elizabeth would need to escape their careful watch.
She waited the hour or so until it was dark. Then she slipped out of the house the way she used to as a teenager. Usually to creep through the woods to meet Carson. Into the garage and out the side door nearest the woods.
With the flashlight gripped firmly in her hand, she sneaked into the dense cover of trees. The underbrush was thicker now. She and Dane had kept it trampled down when they were kids. A trail had led through the woods to the Tanner home. But that wasn’t her destination.
Once she was deep enough into the woods she turned on the flashlight and veered off the path just a bit. She was close. Very close. Then she saw it, the makeshift cross she’d fashioned from leftover craft supplies. It was brown and dirty now from exposure to the rain and winter weather. It had stood there, looking more like anxthan at,for twelve or thirteen years—since the last family pet had passed.
Her breath caught. She hadn’t brought a shovel because she hadn’t expected to have to get her hands dirty.
But now—she stared at the disturbed ground—good Lord.
Elizabeth dropped to her knees. She clawed at the already loosened earth. Someone had been here.
What the hell had Dane done?
