Bones of a Feather - Carolyn Haines [115]
Barclay laughed aloud with delight. “I wanted to see your expression when you finally caught hold of the breadth of our plan.”
“How much?”
“Another four million. Double that if she dies of violent means.”
“And you needed Tinkie and me to set up the kidnapping and make it real.”
“Several of your conversations have been recorded. As the grieving son, I’ll turn them over to the police. Aunt Eleanor will verify that you three decided to handle the abduction on your own, and that it went awry. The kidnapper threw Monica’s body in the river, took the insurance money, and left. Monica is dead. Both of you are dead.” He waved the gun to indicate I should move down the tunnel into deeper water. “The loose ends are all tied up.”
“You’re worse than the sisters.”
“Not hardly.”
“When Coleman gets here, he’ll figure it out. He isn’t gullible or dumb. You’ll never get away with this.”
“A risk we’re willing to take. Too bad you won’t be around to see if we get away with it.” He pushed Tinkie toward me so hard that we both splashed backward into the water. “Start swimming. I doubt you’ll be able to get out of the tunnel now, but you can try.”
“You’re crazy. We aren’t going to make it easy for you.”
“I can always knock you out and hold you under.” He waved the gun down the dark corridor. “At least swimming you have a chance.”
The batteries in my flashlight had been steadily weakening. Darkness would work better for us than him. I threw the light at Barclay’s head as hard as I could. Score one for me! It hit with a dull thunk and he cried out in pain. I grasped Tinkie’s hand. “Dive!” I whispered, and we both arced below the cold water as he pumped bullets into the water around us.
* * *
When we surfaced, we were treading water. I could feel the top of the passageway. The whole place was filling with water. And I couldn’t see a damn thing.
We had to swim back to the place where Barclay waited or we would drown. We couldn’t risk trying to swim out to the river. I tapped Tinkie’s shoulder. We had to stay close so as not to lose each other in the darkness. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” She whispered. “Look.”
I couldn’t tell where she indicated, but I spun in the water, praying I didn’t lose my sense of direction. I saw it then. A light. It bobbed slightly, moving along the wall. And it came from the direction of the river.
Tinkie and I pressed ourselves against the cold, clammy bricks of the passage. The baked clay was slick beneath my hands and I wondered how much longer the tunnel could withstand the ravages of time and water.
Very slowly the light drew closer.
“William Wallace, if you’ve ever helped an old Scot, show me where those lasses are,” the voice grumbled into the darkness.
“Jerome!” Tinkie started forward as if she meant to swim toward him.
I stopped her. “We can’t trust him.”
“Then we’ll take his boat.” She shook me off and struck out for the light. I was only two seconds behind her.
When we came up beside the small skiff, Jerome caught us in the beam of his light. “Get in. Hurry!” he said. “The water’s rising faster than I’ve ever seen. If we’re to escape the way I came in, we only have moments.”
I helped boost Tinkie into the bottom of the small boat and I managed to haul myself in after. Jerome applied muscle to the paddle and we shot toward the river.
“Stay low,” he said. “It’s going to be a tight squeeze to get out of here.”
“Why did you come to save us?” I asked.
“I couldn’t let you girls come to harm. Monica is a bad person, and she’s corrupted Eleanor. Stealing money was bad enough. Murder? Well, I couldn’t just let it happen. When I realized how bad the storm was, I knew you’d be in danger. So I came.”
“You left Briarcliff. Where have you been?”
“Here and there, trying