Silver Falls - Anne Stuart [33]
The Jeep started forward with a leap, tossing her back against the seat. A moment later they were careening down the narrow dirt road at breakneck speeds and she was clutching the cracked leather of the seat, holding on for dear life and trying to remember some kind of prayer to ward off certain death.
They all escaped her—she was stuck with muttering “oh God oh God oh God” beneath her breath. Caleb was having too much fun, taking the switchback curves with abandon, and she wondered what the hell Sophie would do if she was left without a mother and no legal tie to David.
Caleb glanced at her every few moments, waiting to see her reaction, but she gritted her teeth and said nothing. By the time they reached her parked car, she was ready to scream, and when he slammed to a stop he turned and looked at her.
“Fast enough for you?”
Hitting him again wouldn’t be a good idea—it would give him an excuse to touch her and she still hadn’t recovered from their kiss. “Fine, thank you.” She slung one leg over the side of the door, planning to use the back of the seat for leverage, when he put his hands on her butt and shoved.
She landed on her feet, a good thing, because another car had just pulled up beside hers. A black BMW, with David behind the wheel.
“Oh, fuck,” Rachel whispered.
“Watch your language, Mrs. Middleton,” Caleb cautioned. “You don’t want him to know you feel guilty.”
She turned on him. “I don’t! I don’t have anything to feel guilty for.”
“Except kissing me.” He looked up. “Hey, David,” he said in a louder voice. “I’m returning your wife. Reluctantly, I must admit. She got caught up at the falls.”
She expected David’s usual look of sad disappointment as he climbed out of the car, but oddly enough he looked quite sunny. “What were you doing up there, Rachel? It’s a rotten day for hiking. Don’t tell me you’re as morbid as the rest of this town.”
“I’d never seen the falls, and I was hoping to get some pictures. But you’re right—a rotten day. I slipped in the mud and almost went over. Fortunately Caleb was there to catch me.”
“Fortunate indeed,” David said. “I was worried when you didn’t come home. Sophie’s school closed early and I thought I’d better make sure you got the message. Clearly you didn’t.”
All thought of Caleb and guilt vanished in her sudden panic. “Where is she? What happened? Is she all right?”
“Of course she is. She went home with Kristen—if she’s not safe in the home of the police chief I don’t know where she would be. I’m afraid they’ve found another body.”
The air around them suddenly seemed to freeze, like a slow-motion horror movie, and it felt like someone punched her in the chest, hard. “Who?” she managed to choke out.
“They don’t know—apparently she’d been dead for a while. They found her body downriver, but Chief Bannister says they’re thinking she may have gone over the falls as well.” He looked past at her at Caleb, an odd expression playing around his mouth. “Have you seen anyone up there the last day or so, Caleb? Anyone suspicious?”
“No.” The word was short, sharp, and she glanced back at Caleb. He looked stricken, guilty, an odd expression for him, a far cry from his usual mockery. A moment later that expression was gone, and he shrugged. “Not a safe town for young women, is it? I think your wife and her daughter should take a nice long vacation until Maggie Bannister finds out who’s doing this.”
David’s eyebrows snapped together. “Don’t be ridiculous, Caleb. There’s evil everywhere, and you, more than anyone, would know it. They stay here, where I can protect them.”
“I’ll be the one who decides where I stay!” Rachel snapped. “You two can argue all you want—I’m going to get my daughter.”
David moved in front of her. “Rachel, she’s fine—” he began, but she shoved past him, heading for her Volvo. He said something else, but she didn’t listen, she simply jumped in the car and sped off, one thing and one thing only on her mind. She had to