The Best Man to Trust - By Kerry Connor Page 0,73

in any way,” Tom said with utter coldness, “then you’re going to have to shoot me, too, before you can get to Rachel. Because I will be coming for you.” His voice sounded closer, and she knew he must have moved nearer. Not close enough to intervene, but enough to truly have her back, exactly as promised.

“Me, too,” Scott said. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him finally, slowly, rise to his feet.

“And me,” Rick said, his voice deadly calm.

“That’s it, Greg,” Meredith said. “If you want to kill Rachel, you’re going to have to kill all of us first. Is it really worth it?”

From the frustrated rage on his face, he wanted to argue that it was. His eyes flicked from her to the others and back again, until resignation slowly fell over his features. “No,” he murmured. “I guess it’s not.”

She felt no relief at hearing him say it. In spite of his words, he didn’t lower his weapon, the gun remaining unwaveringly focused on her.

“So what now, Greg?” Tom asked calmly. “You’ve had your say. We all know the truth. Why don’t you put the gun down?”

Greg looked down and past her, Meredith imagined, to where he could still see Rachel, even if he couldn’t get a clear shot. “All right. Maybe it’s better this way. Now you know your friends are dead because of you, the same way my son is. You have to live with that.”

“And what about you?” Meredith asked softly. “What are you going to do?”

He shifted his eyes toward her, the look in them so chilling her heart leaped into her throat. He smiled. “I’m going to be with my son.”

Before anyone could react he swung the gun to his own temple.

And pulled the trigger.

Meredith flinched, a scream bursting into her throat and sticking there, her tense muscles refusing to let it out. Instead, she could only stand there, trying to process what she’d just seen, trying to erase the horror that had just unfolded before her. In the back of her mind she heard Rachel scream.

Then Tom was suddenly at her side, gently placing his hand on her elbow and leaning close. “Are you okay?”

She looked up into his eyes, taking in the concern on his face—and more important, the fact that he was whole and solid and unharmed. They both were. All of them—Scott, Rachel, Alex. Rick and Ellen.

It was finally over. They’d made it.

She managed a shaky nod. “Yes.”

“Can you get everyone out of here? I’ll check on Greg and get something to cover the body.”

It took a second for the words to sink in. “We can close the room up until the police get here.” Which didn’t seem as urgent anymore. There was no longer a killer for them to apprehend, and the danger was over. No one else was going to be hurt.

At least, not physically, she amended, glancing over at Rachel and Scott. Rachel still sat in her chair. Scott stood in front of his. Several feet separated them, but they might as well have been a million miles apart. They didn’t look at each other, didn’t speak, simply remained where they were, shell-shocked.

Her heart aching for them, Meredith shook off her own remaining shock about what had happened. Squaring her shoulders, she moved forward. “Come on, you guys,” she said gently but firmly, glancing toward Alex on the far side of the room to include him. “Let’s get out of here.”

The danger might be over, but these people were still her guests, her responsibility, and they needed her, perhaps more than ever. Needed her to take charge, needed her to be there for them, needed her to be strong. And for their sakes, she would be.

As strong as she knew she could be.

Chapter Nineteen

“I think that should do it. You folks are free to go.”

Tom felt a collective sigh of relief fill the study. The sheriff’s pronouncement was what the wedding party had been waiting to hear for days. Now it was finally here.

After an endless night of waiting for the police to arrive, they’d finally made it through that morning. At long last, the bodies were taken away, the questions had been answered to the best of everyone’s abilities and the remaining members of the wedding party were cleared to leave.

It was finally over.

Meredith rose to her feet. “Thank you, Sheriff. Let me walk you out.”

With a nod to the rest of them, the sheriff followed her from the room.

Leaving the