“I’m not worried that Evan is going to shoot us. Are you?”

“No,” Lance agreed. “Can we call your sister? I trust her and her partner, Brody.”

Morgan dialed. “She isn’t answering her phone. I know she was working tonight, and Mac is still on a search and rescue in the Adirondacks. You’re stuck with me. Let’s go get Evan before this storm gets any worse.”

“I wouldn’t call it stuck. There’s no one I trust more.” Lance kissed her. “But I’d like us to have backup.”

“I know.” Morgan walked to him and put her hands on his biceps. “But Evan needs us now. He can’t wait. Besides, we’re just going to pick him up.”

“We’ll go alone and assess the situation. If it’s too dangerous, we’ll call for assistance. But I’d like to get him out of that cave to ensure he is unarmed. It would be safer for Evan if he voluntarily gave himself up.”

“Agreed.”

They checked in with Gianna and the kids, who were eating cookies in the dining room. Grandpa drank a mug of tea. Sophie sat on his knee.

Morgan quickly explained that they had to run out for a while.

From Grandpa’s grave expression, he clearly sensed the importance of their mission. He waved a hand. “Don’t worry about Sophie. Gianna and I won’t take our eyes off her. Go do what you have to do.”

Gianna nodded and reached out a hand to touch Sophie’s cheek, her affection for the child palpable. Gianna had become one of the family in every way.

Lance put on his boots on the way out the door. Morgan pulled up her hood and tucked in her hair as they ran out to the Jeep. The lake and falls were only a short drive from the house. Rain poured onto the windshield. The wipers could not move fast enough to keep the glass clear. Lance leaned over the wheel and squinted, his face tight with concentration.

An emergency weather alert appeared on Morgan’s phone screen. “The entire area is on a flash flood watch. People in low-lying areas are being encouraged to go to shelters.” She was glad her house was on high ground.

“Oh, no.” He stopped the Jeep. The Scarlet River coursed over the bridge that led out to the main road. “It’s too deep to drive through.” Hooking one arm behind the passenger seat, he backed up and turned the vehicle around. The Jeep surged forward.

Morgan grabbed the armrest. Water sprayed from the tires as the Jeep roared through a puddle.

Lance turned on the defroster to clear fog from the inside of the windshield. “I’ve been to the falls dozens of times. I didn’t know there was a cave there.”

“Me either,” said Morgan, though she had not been there in some years. Steep stairs and sheer rock drop-offs were not child friendly. Railings couldn’t be high enough to safely contain Sophie.

Lance looped through the neighborhood and left via the back exit. Morgan held her breath as they approached the second bridge, but it had been built higher. Water lapped at the edges, but the swell was still several feet below the road as they drove across. The trees on both sides of the road swayed. The ground was saturated from the recent heavy rains. Trees would go down tonight, hopefully not on them.

“There’s the lake.” But Morgan hardly recognized the normally placid water. Wind gusts had whipped its surface into white caps. “Oh, my God. The lake is everywhere.”

Four inches of water covered the parking lot.

“That’s not the lake.” Lance drove past the lake toward the falls, where the ground was higher. “That’s the Deer River.”

The parking area for the Scarlet Falls overlook was on high ground. Lance drove up the gravel road and parked the Jeep at the top. There were a few dozen cars in the lot, but they all looked empty. “People must have moved their cars here in case of flooding. It’s the highest elevation in the township.”

Morgan recognized Rylee’s old sedan and squinted out the Jeep’s windows. “Rylee is here.”

“Let’s go find her. Are you ready?” Lance stuffed a flashlight into a cargo pocket on his pants. “Do you want to wait in the Jeep?”

“No.” She tugged her waterproof jacket over her Glock. “It’s only rain, right?”

But as she stepped out of the vehicle, the fierceness of the driving torrent hit her full in the face. She leaned into the wind. The first observation deck wasn’t visible from the parking area. Foliage and trees blocked the view. Six wooden steps led to a wooden walkway, which made a sharp right turn around a stand of mature trees and ended at the first observation deck. On the other side of the platform, staircases that descended to the ground-level deck had been built to follow the natural contours of the rocks.

Lightning streaked across the sky. The crack of thunder followed right on its heels. The storm was on top of them.

On the third step, Lance leaned back and shouted over the storm. “Rylee said the cave was at the bottom of the falls. We’ll have to take the steps down. I hope he’s on this side of the water.”

Morgan kept one hand on the railing as they went up the steps to the walkway. She glanced over the edge and got her first view of the falls.

The waterfall was spewing twice its normal volume. Her gaze dropped to the ravine below. Large boulders filled the center of the ravine. Normally, the water flowed and eddied around them. But the water had risen so high that only the very tops of the boulders were visible. She scanned the bottom for a cave and saw a small opening at the base of the ravine wall, on the other side of the water. If the flooding continued at the current rate, it wouldn’t take long for it to rise above the cave’s entrance.

Anyone inside would drown.

Water slicked the wooden treads, and the wind whipped branches in her face. She slipped. By the time she caught her balance, the more athletic, better-coordinated Lance had moved a half dozen strides ahead of her. She rushed up the last few steps onto the landing, to be stopped by Lance’s hand.

Tina and Rylee stood in the far corner of the observation deck, drenched from the rain, eyes wide with terror as a man pointed a gun in their faces.

Chapter Thirty-One

Evan woke to the sound of thunder echoing in the small ravine. Rylee had brought him a real blanket. He pulled it up to his chin, but his teeth continued to chatter and the shiver that ran through him rattled his bones. His mouth and lips were dry, his skin was hot, and his arm throbbed. His fever was spiking again.

He reached for his water bottle. How long had it been since Rylee was here? The rain seemed to be going on forever, and the sky had been overcast all day. He had no idea what time it was or how much time had passed since she’d left.

Opening a protein bar, he forced himself to eat it, even though chewing nauseated him. But the protein would help him heal, as if that were possible. Once the food was in his belly, he swallowed more ibuprofen tablets.

A noise outside caught his attention. Had he heard voices? He tried to sit up, but dizziness forced him right back down to the ground.

Shit.

He should have taken the ibuprofen earlier. He waited a few more minutes for his head to stop spinning. Then he drained the bottle of water and opened a new one. He sipped every few minutes. He’d learned the hard way not to chug the water. Slow and steady worked best.

Another voice carried into the cave’s entrance. Was that Rylee and his mom? Evan didn’t want to get his hopes up. The noise could have been the wind. When it gusted through the narrow canyon, sometimes it made a weird whistling sound.

But he had to know.

Afraid he’d fall and smack his head if he stood, he crawled on his knees and one hand toward the cave’s entrance.

The storm had picked up in intensity. Wind and water lashed sideways across the cave opening.

Another voice drifted down into the canyon. Someone was here. Someone could help him.

Evan dragged himself forward another foot, until he could see the falls on one side of the ravine and the observation deck on the other. Two people stood on the deck. They were facing away from him.

Hope unfurled inside him. His mom!

His ordeal was almost over. He was in the cave’s shadow. He needed to drag himself forward a few more feet so his mom could see him. Before he could move, another figure appeared on the deck. A man. And he was pointing a gun at his mom.

No!

It was probably the same man who had killed Paul. Fear gave Evan a burst of strength. He had to help his mom. He crawled to the ledge in front of the cave, only to be brought up short. He rocked back on his heels. The water had risen. The huge boulders he’d used to cross to the other side were barely visible. Evan watched, horror spreading like ice through his veins, as a small wave crashed over the ledge. Water lapped over his legs and formed a puddle in the cave’s entrance.

He couldn’t get out now. He was trapped.

Chapter Thirty-Two

“Come out where I can see you!” the armed man shouted at Lance.

Rain hammered on the nylon hood of Lance’s rain jacket. Wind pushed the rain sideways, pelting his face and blurring his vision. He took one more step forward, until he was under the protective overhang of thick branches. He wiped the rainwater from his face and met the gaze of a killer.

“Stop right there or I will shoot one of them in the face. Hands up!” About twelve feet away, the armed man had cornered Rylee and Tina against the observation deck railing. All three were soaking wet, their hair plastered to their heads. The man changed the angle of his body to keep Lance and Rylee and Tina in his line of sight.

In his peripheral vision, Lance saw Morgan, at his flank, lift both hands, palms out.

Lance raised his hands in front of his body and studied the man. He looked familiar. The photo of Joe Martin stuck to the whiteboard back at the office ran through Lance’s mind. The man’s identity clicked into place. Aaron Martin, Tina’s half brother, looked very much like his father had two and a half decades ago.

“Is he your rescuer, Tina? Did you call him to get you out of this mess?” Aaron snarled. “When he dies, remember it’s your fault. Everything is your fault, including your husband’s death. That’s what you get for being a greedy, backstabbing bitch.”