sunshine, a fedora over his face and him completely unaware of the approaching storm or anything else.
JACK RACED toward the ski lodge. He couldn’t believe Baxter had escaped and had a good head start. Jack tried to convince himself that Baxter would run. A cop with his background would know how to disappear.
But Baxter wasn’t going to disappear. Jack knew where he was headed. The ski hill and Karen. Baxter knew where she was and how to get there. He’d just resisted arrest. He’d know he wasn’t going to get away with what he’d done. The best he could do would be to get even. Did he blame Karen? Or did he think that by killing the eyewitness to Liz’s murder he might still be able to get off somehow?
Baxter didn’t know that Karen couldn’t remember anything after he’d hit her in the phone booth. Karen couldn’t identify him. He was safe. The irony of it made Jack weak. Karen might never remember.
But worse than all that, she wouldn’t know that Baxter was the killer when she saw him. She would be a sitting duck.
His fear growing, Jack hurriedly dialed the cell-phone number at the lodge. He had to warn her. The phone rang and rang. No answer. She was in the chalet. He’d left the cell phone on the coffee table in the lodge. She wasn’t answering because she didn’t have the phone. She was safe still, though. Baxter hadn’t had time to get to the lodge. Yet.
It began to rain, huge drops that splattered loudly on the windshield like pebbles.
KAREN STOOD on the rock wall, debating whether to let her “guard” sleep or not. It would be cruel to let him get caught in the storm, although he definitely deserved it. Falling asleep on the job. Good thing she didn’t need help.
She jumped down from the wall with a thud she thought would wake him. But he didn’t move. A lot of good he’d do her. He hadn’t heard her calling for him, he hadn’t heard—
She froze. Blood. It was matted in his hair just over his ear. Reluctantly, she leaned down and carefully pushed the hat back from his face. She leaped back, a shriek escaping her lips. Her heart thundered in her chest.
“Howie?” she cried, not even realizing for a moment that her memory had returned at the sight of him.
She dropped beside him and searched for a pulse. Weak, but he was alive. But what was he doing here, she wondered as she stood. Surely he couldn’t be the guard that Jack had—
Jack. Her memory filled in like a flooded hole, drowning her in the truth. She grabbed hold of the stone wall as memories tumbled down on her. One truth lodged itself in her heart, a splinter of unbearable pain.
Jack. Her mind searched frantically for any other explanation—but found none. Jack. He wasn’t her husband. He’d lied. She thought of their lovemaking and closed her eyes in agony. He’d pretended to be her husband. He’d pretended to love her.
She opened her eyes, struggling against the anguish with the only weapon she possessed. Anger. What a fool she’d been. How could she have believed they’d gotten married so quickly? That she’d fallen in love with him almost at first sight?
But you had fallen in love with him. And almost at first sight.
And Jack must have known that. He’d used it against her. Used it to “protect” her. How could he have done such a thing to her?
She looked down at Howie. The only thing that mattered right now was getting help for him. He must have fallen.
She spotted a rock a few feet away—stained with blood. Her heart rocketed. He hadn’t fallen. Couldn’t have fallen on the rock. It was too far from him. She’d only been kidding herself that everything was fine. Nothing was fine. Jack had lied to her. And a killer was after her. How could things get any worse?
She knew the answer to that as she looked toward the lodge. The silence now absolute. Something rumbled behind her making her jump. Just the thunder as the storm moved closer. Rain imminent.
Trying to act as if she still believed Howie had just suffered a bad fall, she headed for the lodge. And the cell phone. Call for help. Call Jack. Just the thought of hearing his voice—
She’d call the police. Not Jack. Soon enough she’d have to face Jack. Face the fact that it had all been a lie. And that she