Cold Case Secrets Read online

  “No!” He groaned. “I’ve been shot.”

  She almost laughed at the sheer strength of the frustration in his voice. “Yeah, I got that. Tell me you’re left-handed.”

  “Nope, sorry.”

  “Do you want me to check it?”

  “Not right now. Thankfully it’s just a graze.” He yanked a bandanna out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Bullet’s not in the wound. Tie this down over my arm right here, like a bandage, not like a tourniquet. Hopefully this will absorb the blood and help it clot until we get somewhere we can get it properly bandaged.”

  She took the bandanna and tied it over his sleeve in the place he pointed. She could tell he was trying not to wince, even through gritted teeth.

  “Where are you?” Cutter’s voice came from behind the trees. “Get out here! Show yourselves!”

  “Sorry, Detective, but I’m borrowing your gun,” she said and yanked the weapon from his holster. She crouched on the balls of her feet, set Cutter in her sights and fired twice. He swore and disappeared into the trees. She looked back down. Jacob was saying something in his shoulder microphone.

  He looked up. “Tell me you hit him.”

  “I don’t know.” She scanned the woods. “But I can’t see him or hear him. Driver either. But he can’t be far behind. Tell me your guy’s ready with that helicopter.”

  As much as she wanted to reach the cabin and get that information, escaping the shadow of her father’s blackmail was way less important than getting them both out alive. Cut bait now. Circle back later.

  “Warren says that it looks like Cutter is retreating, Driver’s climbing down the rock behind us and that there’s a clearing ahead of us to the left. He’ll lower the rope down and collect us there.” Jacob started to pull himself up, then winced. She reached out her hand for him and felt his hand grip hers for a few moments as he climbed to his feet. Then he let go. “Now give me back my gun.”

  She bit her tongue to keep from asking him why he didn’t just use Cutter’s gun, partly because every inch of his tone implied that now was no time to argue, but mostly because he’d taken a literal bullet for her. She handed him back his gun. He took it. “Now, come on. Let’s go.”

  She ran, dodging between the trees with Jacob right behind her, expecting at any moment to hear gunfire behind them. The trees parted and a long open slab of rock spread out in front of her, making a smooth gray platform. She stopped short, her feet on the edge of the tree line. Once she ran out, there’d be no cover.

  The roar of rushing water ahead mingled with the thrum of the helicopter above.

  “Go!” Jacob shouted. “Trust me!”

  A rope ladder tumbled down from the sky, dangling out over the stone ahead, promising rescue and survival. She gasped for breath and ran for it, feeling her footsteps slip as they crossed the smooth wet rock. She leaped for the ladder, gripped it tightly and started climbing, rung after rung, as it shook and swayed beneath her, tossing her like laundry in the wind.

  For a moment, she thought she was going to fall. Then she felt the rope ladder go tight like she’d suddenly been anchored. She looked down. It was Jacob. He’d holstered his weapon and was awkwardly clinging to the rope one-handed below her. The helicopter rose, sending the ladder flying out over the raging water below. She glanced past Jacob to the river churning beneath them. Her stomach lurched. This was reckless. She couldn’t do this.

  “Grace!” Jacob shouted. “Look at me!”

  She clenched her jaw and shifted her gaze to the strong and determined face of the man beneath her. His eyes met hers, a reassuring smile crossed his face and she felt something like a light switch on inside her.

  “You’re okay!” he shouted. “Just keep climbing!”

  A spray of bullets ripped through the forest beneath them. The helicopter lurched upward, nearly throwing her into the trees. Jacob shouted in pain. Then as she watched, he fell backward through the air, tumbling down toward the river below. A scream ripped from her lungs. No! His body hit the water and went under. Her heart pounded. He couldn’t be dead. He just couldn’t be. The helicopter rose higher. Jacob’s body surfaced. Thank You, Lord! The spontaneous prayer surged through her heart, She watched for a moment as he swirled in the water, fighting one-handed against the current and struggling to shed the weight of his bulletproof vest.

  Jacob had taken a bullet for her and now he was going to drown.

  She glanced to the sky and the safety of the helicopter above. Suddenly the memory of being fourteen-years-old and watching her father run from the police filled her mind. No, she wasn’t like him. She didn’t run, not from someone who needed her, not to save herself, no matter what. Well, now was as good a time to try praying as any.

  God, if You’re listening, help me save him. And get us both out of this forest alive.

  She let go of the rope ladder and let her body fall toward the river.

  FOUR

  For a moment, there was nothing but a rush of air beating against her body and a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she plummeted through the air.

  Help me! Please!

  Her body hit the water with such a force and impact that, for a split second, she thought she’d missed the river and hit the shore. She was sucked under and the swirling rapids closed around her. Pain filled her limbs. Panic filled her chest. The water was so cold it seemed to cut through her, freezing the blood inside her veins. She forced her body back up toward the surface and gasped a breath of muggy air.

  “Jacob!” she tried to scream, pushing her voice over the water’s roar. “Jacob! Can you hear me?”

  But she could barely hear her own voice before water swept over her again, overwhelming her lungs. She coughed hard, fighting to breathe. The smell and taste of the river overwhelmed her senses. Water rose in dark gray-and-white-capped walls around her. She wasn’t swimming as much as fighting the current just to survive.

  She was going to drown. She was going to die. And all to save some man she barely knew. What had she been thinking? Why had she done this to herself? She gasped a breath. No, she knew him. Maybe they weren’t friends. But she knew he dedicated his life to saving victims and putting criminals away. He was the man, who instead of running to save himself, had thrown himself in the way of danger for her.

  All she was doing now was returning the favor.

  The reason she’d let go of that rescue ladder and let herself fall hit her like a defibrillator jolt to the heart. Yeah, she’d had no idea it would be like this, how hard the fall would hit her or how violently the water would beat and batter her. But even if she had, it wouldn’t have stopped her. Because if it was like this for her, how much worse must it be for him?

  She steeled herself and forced a deep breath into her core. For a moment, she swirled and scanned the river ahead. Then she saw an outcropping rock and brush jutting out into the river ahead of her, no more than a couple of feet wide. She swam for it. Her legs bashed against sharp stones submerged beneath the surface, her feet dug deep into the mud, her body draped over the tiny island and she clung there, letting fresh air fill her lungs as water rushed past her.

  Now, come on, Gracey. What were you thinking, jumping off a helicopter ladder like that? A warm voice filled her mind that sounded like her mother. What did I tell you about never leaping into trouble for some man?

  Grace laughed, even trying to imagine how she’d explain this to Mom and Frank when she made it back to Toronto. She could honestly say it made no difference that Detective Jacob was tall, handsome and not too shabby to look at. She’d have leaped to save him no matter what he looked like. Just as she knew he’d have done the same for her.

  Thank You, God, that I made it this far. Now what?

  She wasn’t exactly sure why she’d decided to try praying again. She’d given up on God long before her father had been carted off the jail because of how w
omen at church gossiped about the fact that she’d been born before Frank and Mom got married. She’d been bullied for years by a couple of peers in her youth group and felt pushed to the outside of the social circle because of the circumstances surrounding her birth. At first, she’d tried rebelling, breaking every rule she could think of to spite the God she hadn’t even thought she believed in. But then after her father went to jail, she changed course and decided she’d be better. She’d work harder, achieve more, keep more rules and win more awards than every single girl whose judgmental mother had thought she wasn’t good enough to be her daughter’s friend.

  But now she was scared, overwhelmed and really needed help.

  Rock walls towered on both sides, lined with trees. Even if she could make it to shore, there was no way she could climb up there. Her only option was to swim down river, find a place she could make it to shore and then run down the bank, hoping to find him.

  “Grace!” A voice filled the air—strong, and male, and utterly incongruous. “Hang on! I’m coming for you!”

  “Jacob?” she called.

  “Yes! Grace! Oh, thank You, God!” His prayer floated toward her over the water, so filled with relief she thought this wasn’t the first time since she’d dropped that he’d tried calling her name.

  “Where are you?” she shouted. And wherever he was, did he really think he was in any position to rescue her? “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I’m just hanging onto a tree. You still in the water?”

  “Yeah! Hanging onto a rock!”

  “Keep hanging on! I’m going to figure out a way to come to you!”

  Really? “How?”

  “I don’t know yet!” His voice came back to her. “But I promise you, I’ll figure it out.”

  That she didn’t doubt. Another laugh slipped through her lips. Not because his statement was funny. But because there was something oddly wonderful about the sheer determination in his voice. And somehow she knew that if she needed him, truly needed him, he’d probably drown trying to swim upriver with a shot arm before he gave up attempting to rescue her.

  “How big is that tree?” she called.

  “Pretty big,” he shouted back. “It’s split at the trunk but still anchored to the shore.”

  “Big enough to support two people’s weight?” she asked.

  “Yeah...”

  “You hold on! I’m coming to you!”

  “What?” he shouted. “Don’t!”

  But she’d already let go. Immediately the water seized hold of her again, tossing and turning her around as it carried her away.

  She swam downriver. Her energy was revived. This time she was prepared and her limbs were strong from years of swimming at Toronto’s Cherry Beach before work and canoeing alone in Ontario forests. Her determination was even stronger.

  Then she saw him, sooner than she’d expected, just a few breaststrokes and a single turn of the river away from where she’d stopped. He was clinging with one arm to a long and thick pine tree that lay across the water like a bridge, anchored to the shore by a bent and split stump. About six feet of sheer rock face lay between the broken stump and the top of the ridge.

  All right, she just had to hit the tree, make her way along it to the shore, then climb up. Easy.

  “Inbound!” she shouted.

  He turned and almost tried to reach for her, stretching out his one good hand as he leaned over the tree for support. She shook her head and steered out of his way. Her body hit the tree a few feet away from him, in between him and the shore. The tree shook under her weight. She grabbed on with both hands and turned toward him.

  “Hey.” She gasped for breath. “So what’s the plan?”

  Green eyes opened wide in a rugged face that was ashen pale. “Are you okay?” His voice was deeper and huskier than she remembered. “I saw you fall.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “But what about you? You fell—”

  “It’s nothing.” He frowned. “A bullet pinged my boot. I momentarily lost my footing and my grip failed me. But it’s really not a big deal—”

  “You were shot! And fell into a river—”

  “And I’m fine.” His tone hardened. “Like I said, it’s no big deal.”

  Did he think he was indestructible? Talking to him felt like they were two rivers battling to flow in opposite directions. “You’re clearly not fine,” she said. “You were—”

  “Shot,” he finished for her. “Yes, I know. But it’s a flesh wound and I’m mostly fine. Why did you fall?”

  “I didn’t fall—”

  “I saw you—”

  “I let go on purpose.”

  He blinked. He stared at her, and his lips parted like he didn’t know what to say.

  “I let go of the ladder on purpose,” she said again. “Because I saw you fall...”

  Her voice trailed off. Why? Why was he looking at her like that?

  “And so, you let go.”

  There was a question moving beneath his words that she couldn’t quite decipher. “Well, yeah, you’d just taken a bullet for me. And I really didn’t want you to drown. So I let go and dropped into the water to help you. Then the helicopter left.”

  Jacob’s mouth closed slowly, and for the first time that she could remember, the great Jacob Henry seemed speechless and not by choice. For a second, he didn’t say anything, neither did she, and instead they just clung there, side by side, gasping for breath as the water beat against them. And somehow she found it impossible to look away from his gaze. He was like no one she’d ever met before—ridiculously good-looking, impeccably professional, impossibly stubborn and all together infuriating. Back in the real world, there’d always been this weird and awkward tension that seemed to radiate off him, or maybe off both of them, whenever they came within a few feet of each other. Even suspended on a tree in a raging river, that tension hadn’t dissipated at all. If anything, it was as strong as it had always been. An unexpected laugh slipped her lips before she could bite it back.

  His eyebrows rose. “What?”

  She shook her head for a second and debated telling him the truth. Then again, if she couldn’t be honest with someone when she was suspended on a broken tree over a river with them after dropping from a helicopter, then when could she? “It’s just that I’ve been fighting for just five minutes of your time for months and now we’re stuck together.”

  His gaze drifted up to the sky and she wasn’t sure if he was praying, searching for the long-gone helicopter or very slowly rolling his eyes. Possibly all three. The tree creaked beneath them and she wondered for the first time how it was managing to stay rooted with the weight of two people dragging it down.

  “We need to get to shore,” he said finally. “Do you think you’ll be able to slide your way along to the rock and climb up?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Can you?”

  To her surprise, he smiled, very slightly, like he wasn’t used to anyone talking to him like that. But all he said was, “Yeah, you go first. I’ll follow. As long as we stay close, our combined weight should stabilize the tree and keep it from moving too much.”

  Okay then. She slid along the fallen trunk slowly, moving hand over hand along the slippery bark and kicking her legs to fight against the current as it threatened to yank her down.

  “Don’t worry,” Jacob said. “Don’t overthink it. Just keep moving. I’m right behind you.”

  He clearly didn’t know just how much overthinking was her strong suit. But somehow something about the simple sound of his voice encouraging her helped her block out the pain in her limbs and the relentless pull of the water. She gritted her teeth and focused on the rock. The tree rose higher and, for a moment, she felt her legs leave the water. But then she felt the comforting and stabilizing weight of Jacob beside her, rooting the tree beneath them and helping her regain
her balance. She reached the rock wall and looked up. The sun had almost set and the steep granite gleamed in the muggy air. It was slippery, it was steep, and her arms and legs were already aching so hard she couldn’t even imagine how she was going to make it up.

  “It’s okay.” Jacob’s voice was comforting, solid and strong. “You got this. You’re going to hoist yourself up onto the tree, climb up the rock and be just fine. I’ve got total faith in you.”

  He did—she wasn’t sure why he did. She believed him and what’s more, she knew he was right, in a deep core way that completely bypassed her logical brain. The ever-pressing need to ask why niggled at the edges of her brain, but for once she pushed it away and told it to wait until she was back on dry land.

  “You got this,” Jacob said again, and she suddenly remembered he was the big brother of at least one other sibling, who also happened to be a detective.

  “I know,” she agreed. Was this what having an older brother was like? “Just haul myself out of the water onto the log, climb up the rock and I’m home free.” Or at least back on dry land and out of the water.

  She took the deepest breath she could and pushed her body up out of the water, grasping onto the splintered stump. Her legs swung into the air. Her arms screamed in pain from the pressure of supporting her weight. Then she half slithered and half crawled her way onto the stump.

  “Good job!”

  “Thanks.” She didn’t look back and fought the urge to tell him she didn’t need a cheerleader. It’s not like his encouragement was hurting any. Slowly she climbed on top of the fallen tree, digging her feet in beneath her as best she could and started climbing up the rock face, grasping onto jutting rocks and handfuls of scrub, until finally she felt the top. She slid onto the forest floor, gasped a breath—Thank You, God!—and prayed without even thinking.

  “You okay?” Jacob’s voice came from beneath her.