She had to get out. Run. Run. Run. The words beat a tempo in her head.
“Marshall,” she cried out, hoping he could still hear her on the phone somehow. “Help!”
A scream broke from her mouth as she felt a hand grip her hair and pull her back against the wall. His forearm crushed her to his body, pain flashing as her lungs gasped for air.
“No one can save you now. Say goodnight to Marshall,” Jarrett spat, his breath hot in her ear. Her eyes caught on the metallic glint of a knife coming from his belt. Colette shrieked as she realized what was happening. The air squeezed from her lungs with the power of the weapon thrusting into her torso.
A burning sensation radiated from where the knife penetrated her flesh.
Pain sliced through her side, agony exploding in her body through stilted breathing. Clutching her waist, warm blood spilled over her fingers, unchecked. He had stabbed her. She took her hand away from the wound and stared at the stain of crimson in disbelief. Her eyelids grew heavy as she tried to move her legs. Run. Run.
She had to run or die here.
Her legs turned to jelly and collapsed beneath her.
Her vision blurred as she attempted to prop herself up. Maybe she could reach her phone and dial for help.
Get up. Get up. Get up.
With a hearty chuckle, Jarrett picked up her phone off the ground and hung up the call. “Won’t Marshall be surprised when he finds you here? Such an unfortunate accident.Ifhe finds you.” He snickered, then tucked the phone in his pocket. Hisbooted foot came down between her shoulder blades, knocking Colette back down.
Jarrett came to his knees and brought his face close to hers as she lay on the ground, trembling with the blood loss. “I just need to do a little tidy up on the scene first. I’ve made quite the mess here. But not to worry. Isn’t it sad how these old houses sometimes have faulty electrical? Such a shame.” His maniacal laughter rang throughout the living room. “Fire is so handy at making evidence disappear,” he quipped.
She tried to turn her head, but it was so heavy. Everything was moving so slowly. Darkness encroached upon her vision. Her eyelids fluttered as she attempted to keep her eyes open.
The sound of his boots against the hardwood floor was her only way of knowing he had left and returned. Her limbs were full of lead, heavy and impossible to lift. A weak sob escaped her mouth cried out for Marshall once more. Her voice was barely a whisper. No one could hear her now.
The sound of splashing liquid and the smell of gas assaulted her senses before she surrendered to the darkness.
For once, Colette welcomed the warm enveloping inky blackness.
It meant the pain was over.
CHAPTER 52
“That’s the last of them,” Marshall announced, slapping the door of the trailer as he finished loading up the steers he purchased in the auction. He probably should have skipped the auction, but the morning drive helped clear his thoughts. It was a necessary reprieve from everything that was going on at the ranch. To have a day of focusing on the ranch, buying cattle, and hanging out with his rancher buddies he hadn’t seen in a long time.
Overall, it had been a great day.
Now, he looked forward to a long drive to his home and his bed. It would be a slow, careful drive with his new purchases. He was always nervous driving with the trailer, but if he took it easy, they should all get back to the ranch in one piece. Evan was waiting for him, going through the evening list of jobs with the ranch hands and supervising.
Tossing his phone on the back seat, he sat in the driver’s side and started up the truck, eager to get on the road. The sooner he started driving, the sooner this day would be over. The drive had done little to quell his thoughts about Jack and Agnes. He gritted his teeth nervously as the reality of what was going on atthe ranch ate at him. His gut told him that it was all related. Jack and Agnes. Agnes and Jack.
One was spying on him and ended up murdered. The other had discovered that someone was tampering with the finances and had disappeared. This case was going way over his head, and he needed to call the police first thing in the morning and open the case on Agnes’s disappearance. Since there was so little crime in the area, police forces were spread thin and simply didn’t have enough officers to investigate every suspicion thoroughly. Marshall would make them listen. There were too many coincidences. He worried about the ranch hands, regardless of how tough the guys were. The ranch was forever changed, and not in a good way. He was locking his doors at night. Well, when he remembered to. It was a necessity until the killer was caught. There was no telling when he would stop.
After a solid hour of driving and a stunning prairie sunset, Marshall tapped on his truck radio that he had silenced while he ruminated. He craved his home, his bed. It had been a long day. His thoughts were too loud, his mind in need of quiet after the constant noise of the auction. The buzzing of voices, the shouting of the auctioneer, and the sounds of the cattle over everything. It was overwhelming.
He pressed the phone icon on the truck screen, the information popping up before his eyes.
Damn.
Marshall had missed a bunch of calls from Colette. Glancing at the time, he determined that he had about thirty minutes of driving left. He would call her when he got home.
It would take a long time to unload the cattle and have them settled for the night. Maybe he should call her now. Tapping on the Messages icon, he saw that she had left him a bunch of texts.
Alarm bells began to ring in his head. She had found something. Of course, she had. Colette was intelligent and determined. He knew it would only be a matter of time.
His heart stopped in his chest as he read the last message, his eyes moving between the road and the screen.
