“I agree. We need to check on her. Let’s go around.”
“Okay.”
They hurried through the side gate and into her backyard. A backyard Auri was becoming very familiar with.
“It’s unlocked,” Cruz said, opening the back door and entering the mudroom.
The sound of someone tearing through the house, items falling and more glass shattering hit them. Cruz stopped her with an arm across her torso.
They heard a male voice, angry and volatile. “Where is it?”
Then the sound that broke Auri. Mrs. Fairborn crying. “I don’t know. It was there.”
“You are a lying bitch,” he said.
Auri stood frozen, wanting to run to her but needing to call for help at the same time.
Cruz put his mouth to her ear, and whispered, “Run. Call the police.”
“Wait, what are you going to do?”
“I’m just going to make sure he doesn’t hurt her until the cops get here.”
She nodded, but another thud sounded and Auri’s feet moved before her brain told them to. Cruz’s did, too. They rushed into her kitchen where Mrs. Fairborn sat tied to a chair. A man three times her size stood over her.
“Stop!” Auri shouted.
The man turned, his face the picture of rage.
Auri blinked. “You’re …Are you Billy? Billy Press?”
“Aurora?” he asked, his face twisted in confusion.
“What are you doing?” Before he could answer, she rushed forward, pushed him out of the way, and knelt in front of Mrs. Fairborn. “Are you okay?” she asked, searching for a way to untie her.
The voice that traveled to her was tightly controlled, each word enunciated to precise calculations. “Where’s the necklace?”
She turned and gaped up at him. “The necklace?” She started to point to the downstairs guest room, but something told her if she did, if she told him where to find the necklace, none of them would make it out of Mrs. Fairborn’s house alive.
His fingers curled into two beefy fists in her periphery as he stared down at her, his face twisting in barely controlled rage.
“I—I gave it to my mother. I told you I would. She’s the sheriff,” she added, glancing at Cruz.
He stood a few feet away, his gaze locked onto an oblivious Billy.
She was about to signal for him to run when she found herself airborne. She crashed into Mrs. Fairborn’s glass hutch just as Cruz rushed the man. He delivered a powerful right hook. Then a left.
Billy didn’t know what hit him. He stumbled back, stunned.
Cruz was an amazing fighter from what she’d been told, but Billy was twice his size. And angry. Cruz still knocked him to the ground. The guy didn’t stand a chance until she saw him reach across the floor, his meaty fingers clawing for something.
Auri tried to get to her feet to help Cruz, but she couldn’t move. Her feet wouldn’t listen. Her arms lay motionless as blood leaked into her right eye. She could only watch as Billy sank a knife into Cruz’s abdomen.
It went in so smoothly, it took Cruz a moment to realize what had happened. He looked down as Billy pulled out the knife and pushed it in again.
The surreal turn of events surprised Cruz just as much as it had Auri. He grabbed the blade when Billy pulled it out a second time, but it was slick with his blood. It sliced into his palm and slid free of his grasp before Billy sank it in a third time.
His movements were automatic. Like he was on autopilot as he plunged the knife in. Then his hand slipped off the slick handle. Just as the darkened edges of Auri’s vision closed in on her, Cruz pulled out the knife himself and pressed a palm to his wounds as though trying to stop the bleeding.
Then she watched as Billy, almost in slow motion, reached up and took the knife away from him again. The world went black but she could hear Mrs. Fairborn’s sobs.
Auri fought to get back to her, back to Cruz, but her lids were like anvils. She struggled to open them because she was floating then. She could feel it. Cool air rushed over her hot skin and consciousness danced just beyond her reach. She tried to grab it, but it inched away, taunting her like a schoolyard bully.
She heard labored breathing. Felt arms beneath her. Tasted the metallic tang of blood. The moon shifted into focus then disappeared, drowned out by red and blue lights so bright they blinded her. Then she heard footsteps and a young woman say her name before everything went black once again.
The state police brought the Kents up in an ATV that looked like a small truck. They had the coolest toys. She elbowed Quincy, then pointed. “I want one of those.”
“I thought you said our budget was the size of your pinky.”
“It is. Doesn’t mean I can’t want things.”
“Oh. In that case, I want a service horse and a drone with a camera and a new radio because these things are older than my left ass cheek.”
Sun watched as Addison, who proved surprisingly agile, jumped out of the ATV and ran to the boys across the rough terrain. She couldn’t help but notice that Matthew seemed a little less enthusiastic. Addison hugged both of her boys and sobbed for several minutes.
Sun strolled closer. She hated to interrupt, but she needed a few answers so she could file her initial report. She looked across the mountain to a gorgeous orange moon rising over the horizon, then said, “I know it’s getting late, but can I ask the boys some questions?”
Addison started to protest but changed her mind when she looked at Sun. “Of course. Thank you, Sunshine.” She stood and hugged her, too.
Sun hugged back. It had been a long time coming. “Not at all,” she said, stepping back. “It’s your genius kid who sent us in the right direction.” She grinned at him. “Sorry?”
He beamed at her. “I was hoping someone would catch onto that. It was my backup plan. When those men showed up at the convenience store, I knew I had to have a backup plan.”
“Well, it worked. Levi and I figured it out.” She looked across the clearing to where Levi stood talking to the DEA agent. They were loading the agent onto a stretcher to wait for the helicopter to airlift him to Albuquerque. It wasn’t easy getting him out of the pit, especially since he’d fractured his tibia and dislocated a shoulder, but Elliot had a rope ladder and Sun had a lot of strong, young deputies.
And Levi. She had Levi.
The place was now crawling with representatives from practically every law enforcement agency in the western hemisphere. From the state police to the local PD, DEA, to the FBI. She half expected the CIA to show up. It was a lot of money. Enough to warrant bringing agents in by helicopter.
The DEA took Matthew Kent aside for questioning. They had already found evidence of his hiring Carver, an act of utter stupidity on his part. What kind of man sits on all that money, biding his time until he gets out of prison, only to leave a trail by hiring someone to find it? Not just someone, however. An assassin. How does one even find an assassin?
At least the DEA’s involvement was easy to explain. The Delmar family were notorious. The Ponzi scheme was probably a side deal involving their money-laundering operations.
Normally, with that kind of money involved, Matthew Kent would never have made it out of prison. No one steals from an organized crime family and lives to tell the tale.
But that was probably the whole point. The fact that Kent knew the location of the money was the only thing keeping him alive. That’s why he didn’t tell his wife about it. They would hardly kill Kent before they found it, but they wouldn’t hesitate to torture and kill his family.