When Twilight Comes - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,51

Charlene pry Lexi from her arms. And then Jenna was falling, screaming out her daughter’s name as she pitched toward the darkness.

LORENZO COULDN’T BELIEVE it. A hotel at the end of the road?

He stopped, furious at Jenna for bringing him to this backwoodsy place. He liked cities. Dark woods made him uncomfortable. Add one hell of a rainstorm and he wanted to ring her neck. And Charlene’s, and even Alfredo’s…

He took out his cell phone and called Alfredo. No service. Lorenzo had told the man to stay put, but as he drove by Alfredo’s car, even in the dark he could see that Alfredo wasn’t sitting inside, waiting. What was wrong with him?

A chill crept along the back of Lorenzo’s neck. He rubbed at it with his hand as he realized Alfredo always did what he was told. He was too dumb to do anything else.

Something had happened.

Lorenzo looked out through the driving rain, considering what might be waiting for him at the hotel. Alfredo had killed Rico at the roadblock. Lorenzo had seen Rico’s car pushed off to the side of the accident site.

And with Jolly out of the picture, who did that leave?

Jenna? Lorenzo scoffed at the idea. Sure, she’d taken the gun he had hidden in the bedroom, but did she even know how to use it? Unless she’d learned since divorcing him.

He ground his teeth at the thought of what his dear ex-wife had been up to since the divorce. But one thing he knew for certain: Jenna didn’t have what it took to pull a trigger. Not to mention he was the father of her only child. No matter how she felt about him, Jenna couldn’t kill him.

So that only left…Charlene. Lorenzo groaned as he shifted the car into Drive and parked at the edge of the lot—where, through the pouring rain, he could see the vehicle he’d bought Charlene. She would have his money by now. She would think she was going to live to spend it. Charlene didn’t scare him. He’d kill her before she had a chance to do to him what she must have done to poor dumb Alfredo.

THUNDER CRACKED OVERHEAD, a boom that shook the Jeep.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Mike said, and pointed through the rain.

Rose saw the lights, dim in the pouring rain. “That’s got to be it.” Fernhaven. She felt herself tense, afraid what they would find once they reached the hotel.

Maybe they should have waited for the road to open. It might have been faster. For all she knew Lorenzo could already be down there.

She checked her weapon in the shoulder holster beneath her jacket. Fully loaded. She had an extra clip in her pocket and a knife in her boot, a little trick she’d learned from Luke.

Glancing over, she saw the truth in Mike’s gaze. He knew she hadn’t come all this way just to warn Jenna. Ever since Jenna had confided in her about the horrible things Lorenzo had done, Rose had been determined to take the man down. She’d hoped that she could do it legally—by getting Jenna to turn state’s evidence against Lorenzo.

That had failed. Then Rose had been injured on another case.

Now she had a chance to make sure that Lorenzo Dante never hurt another person.

Mike reached over and squeezed her knee. Their eyes met in silent understanding. He understood her need to right wrongs—even if he didn’t agree with it. But they both knew that things could go very wrong once they reached the hotel. “Be careful,” he said.

She nodded. “You, too.”

He smiled and shifted the Jeep as they dropped off the mountain, down what had once been a logging road but was now little more than a trail. With luck it would come out fairly close to the hotel.

Rose could see the lavish building through the rain and fog. She felt a chill, remembering the ad she’d seen announcing the opening of Fernhaven. The owners had touted the hotel’s former elegance, its hot pools, its ornate, detailed decor and the big draw: its ghosts.

“MOMMY! I WANT MY MOMMY,” Lexi cried as Charlene half carried, half dragged her down the hallway toward the elevators.

“Shut up!” Charlene snapped, stopping to shake the little girl. “Listen to me. You ever want to see your mommy again, you have to shut up. You understand?”

“I don’t like you,” Lexi said, choking on her sobs.

“Well, I’m wild about you, kid,” Charlene said sarcastically. “I’ll tell you what. If you quit crying and come with me without