"Gage wasn't going to let her walk away before or after the wedding," Dillon said. "He would get rid of her the way he got rid of Melanie. That’s why I had to protect her. This was for her own good. You have to believe me."
"How do you know about Carter?" Kelsey asked again.
"He told me he was in love with you. The secret is out."
"Oh, God! Everyone knows?" she groaned. "I feel so stupid. I didn't mean to hurt Carter. I liked him. But I think I was using him as a reason to walk away from Gage. I feel terrible, Willow."
I believed her. Kelsey had a heart. Unfortunately, her brain allowed her to do things before her heart realized that she was hurting someone.
"I just want to go home," Kelsey said with a plaintive cry. "Please, Dillon, let me go."
Dillon gave an adamant shake of his head. "You both need to stay here until Gage is in jail. He killed Tom today. He's going to come after you if you go home."
"Why would Gage have killed Tom now?" I asked. "Did he know that Tom was his father?"
"I'm not sure. But Tom was getting worried about Kelsey being gone for so long. He must have figured Gage had killed her, too, and he didn't know how he was going to cover up another murder, especially since Ben was now in charge. If Ben didn't bring Kelsey back, his career would probably be over."
"This is unbelievable," Kelsey said.
"Unfortunately, it's very believable," I said. "Dillon might be a little crazy, but he's not wrong about Gage. Gage killed Melanie. And finding out about you and Carter probably would have put him over the edge." I paused, looking back at Dillon. "You picked me up that night. You took me home. Didn't you?"
"Yeah, it was a couple hours later. I shouldn't have been driving, but it was getting cold. I saw you in the road, and you were really out of it. I took you home and put you in the backyard. I couldn't risk letting your parents see me."
"Why didn't you ever say anything? You must have heard I couldn't remember."
He gave a helpless shrug. "To be honest, I started to wonder if I'd imagined everything, if I'd just gone on a bad trip in my head. I didn't know what was real and what wasn't real until years later when Tom told me about Gage, about the coverup."
"You should have said something."
"I know. I was protecting myself. And then you left the island, and I never saw you again."
"It's not just me you should have told. You should have talked to Drake. You should have talked to Ben. I don't understand Dillon. Were you really that scared of Tom and his threats?"
He nodded grimly. "I have a lot of anxiety. I can't be locked up. That's why I live out here. I have to be free. I have to be, Willow."
I could see the pain and panic in his eyes, and I suspected there was a lot about Dillon's past that I didn't know. But I finally knew who had picked me up and taken me home. And that's what I needed to do for Kelsey.
"Okay," I said. "I need to take Kelsey home. It was good that you protected her, but my family will do that now. We won't let Gage near her. Please, take off the chain."
"I just wanted to save her," Dillon said again. "That's all I wanted."
"You did save her. But now you have to let her go."
Dillon pulled a key from his pocket and walked over to Kelsey. He unlocked the cuff and took it off her wrist.
She rubbed her wrist and started to cry again. Then she gave me another hug. "Take me home, Willow."
"I will," I said, giving her a reassuring smile. "You're going to be okay, Kelsey."
"I'm sorry, Kelsey," Dillon said, stepping back. "Maybe you'll never believe me, but I just wanted to save you, because I couldn't save Melanie."
The door behind Dillon suddenly flew open.
I stared in shock at the person who came into the room, gun in hand. "No," I said in disbelief. "Not you."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
As I looked down the barrel of a gun, I froze. It seemed impossible to believe that the woman who puttered in her garden all day long and made me herbal tea every time she saw me was holding a gun on us. Eileen Chadwick's eyes glittered with rage, with insanity, I realized. The Eileen I knew wasn't there anymore. She was gone.
"What are you doing, Eileen?" Kelsey asked.
"Shut up," Eileen ordered. "This is all your fault, Kelsey. You destroyed Carter and Gage. They will never be the same because of you."
Kelsey paled. "You know about Carter?"
"I know everything. And you will pay for your sins."
"My God, it was you," Dillon suddenly said, his dazed gaze snapping to attention. "I thought it was Gage who killed Melanie. I thought the sheriff was protecting Gage. But he was protecting you."
"I did what had to be done to protect my family," Eileen said, evil in her gaze.
As Eileen lifted her arm, Dillon rushed forward.
The gun went off with a thunderous blast. Kelsey screamed. Dillon's body crumpled. He staggered forward, knocking Eileen to the ground, crushing her with his body.
I grabbed Kelsey's hand and pulled her to the door. When we got outside, we could hear a scream of rage coming from behind us. I wanted to run toward the car, down the road, but it was the obvious choice, and there was not as much cover as going the other way.
I made a quick decision and turned toward the trees, pulling Kelsey along with me. We ran as fast as we could, but the terrain was rocky, and the ground was slippery from the pouring rain. The storm had worsened in the last thirty minutes. It was in full force now.
Kelsey yelped as her bare feet hit a sharp rock, but I pulled her along, urging her to keep running.
Five minutes later, I heard crashing behind us, shouts of anger and promises of revenge. Eileen wasn't far behind us.
"Faster," I said.
Kelsey was panting, her eyes terrified. Then she stumbled and fell to her knees, almost dragging me down with her. I tried to help her up, but she squealed with pain and grabbed her ankle.
"I can't do it," she said, a grimace on her face. "I can't run."
For a split second, I panicked, but I didn't have time for that. I looked around, seeing a thick area of brush to the right. "Over there," I said, pulling her up. "We need to hide."
She stumbled with me into the brush. I pushed her behind a bush. "Lay down. I'm going to bury you with leaves."
"What?"
"Sh-sh." Eileen's voice was getting louder. "Stay here and be very quiet," I whispered, as I picked up piles of leaves and dumped them all over her.
"What about you?" Kelsey asked.
"I'm going to lure her away from here."
"She'll kill you."
"It's our only choice. Put your head down."
I covered her blonde hair with dirt and leaves and then I got up and ran in the other direction. I made as much noise as I could, wanting to get Eileen's attention. For several minutes, I wasn't sure it had worked. It seemed too quiet. I silently prayed that Eileen hadn't found Kelsey, that I wouldn't hear the gun go off again.