Thirty-One and a Half Regrets
Page 77

The land began to climb, making our path through the water more precarious. Mason climbed a short incline and then turned to grab my hand once he found a level spot. He pulled me up next to him with little effort and started to climb the next section once I was secure. I didn’t say anything, but it worried me how cold his hand was. Him reaching out to me in the cold water felt a little too similar to the key scene in Titanic to suit me. At least I didn’t have to worry about sharing space on a piece of wood. There were plenty of downed tree trunks here.
The voices were closer and I could make out a few words.
“…picked up a trail…”
“…heading south…”
Muffy let out a low growl and Mason turned back to face me, fear in his eyes.
I leaned over and stroked her head, whispering, “Shh…” but she continued to make agitated noises.
I unbuttoned my jacket as quickly as my frozen fingers would allow. Realizing what I was doing, Mason had already unzipped his jacket and was stuffing her inside my coat. Once she was secure, he started to fasten the buttons.
Rubbing her head, I cooed in her ear, “Muffy, you have to be quiet.” She was going to give us away.
But her low rumble continued and Mason shot me a worried look before turning to continue his climb.
Muffy jolted against me, scrambling until she was over halfway out of my jacket. Realizing something was wrong, Mason climbed back down as I wrestled to keep my little dog from escaping. She jumped out of my arms, onto the creek bank on the opposite side of Crocker’s men.
Without thinking, I started to call out to her, but Mason clamped a hand over my mouth, pulling me back against his chest. His other hand wrapped around my waist.
Tears stung my eyes as I watched Muffy bolt south, following the creek.
“Rose, I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear. “But we have to go.”
I nodded and he released my mouth and spun me around.
“I promise you that we’ll find her when this is over.”
I nodded again, not trusting myself to speak. My vision gave me some comfort. I knew she’d be found, even though I wished her rescuer could be someone besides Deputy Miller. Still, she trusted him and he seemed to care about her. I had to believe that while he might turn me over to Crocker, he’d be good to my little dog. In the meantime, I needed to focus on surviving this mess so I could see her again.
Returning his attention to the climb, Mason found another foothold and reached for me, grabbing my wrist to pull me up. “I think we’ll be safe if we make it to the top of this.”
I glanced at the ten-foot rise ahead of us, feeling a lot less confident than he sounded. “We’re going too slow.” I dropped his hand and started to climb up, grabbing hold of larger rocks under the water to pull myself up. The sleeves of my coat quickly became drenched.
“Rose, you’re going to freeze to death if you do it that way.”
“I’d rather freeze than let Daniel Crocker catch me.” My way moved us up faster and I climbed over the rise, falling into a deeper pool that soaked me from the thighs down. Thankfully, I managed to keep the gun out of the water.
Mason fell in behind me. “Dammit,” he grunted. “I wasn’t prepared for that.” He climbed onto the bank and dragged me out. The only dry parts of my body were my back and my head. I was shivering violently and Mason wrapped his arm around my shoulders, his own body shaking from cold.
He slipped his bag off his shoulders and pulled out one of the blankets, which were blessedly dry, wrapping it around my back. “I’m going over to the edge of the rise to check out where they are.”
I nodded. I would have gone with him, but I was too cold to move.
He left the bag and adjusted the rifle over his arm before walking farther upstream. Keeping low, he sloshed through the shallower section of the creek and then squatted as he neared the edge of the hill. We were only about twenty feet higher than the grove below, but it was enough to give him an advantage.
My teeth rattled, but not loudly enough to drone out the voices from below.
“Rose!” Daniel called out. “Where are you, my sweet Rose?”
I wrapped my arms around myself, tugging the blanket tighter. Mason stayed perfectly still, but I noticed that he’d lifted the tip of his rifle.
“Rose, I know you’re out here. Why would you run off with that assistant DA instead of waiting for me, baby? You knew I was coming.”
His voice was getting louder and terror bubbled up inside me. I reached for the rifle, laying it across my lap. I wasn’t sure I could actually use it, but knowing it was there made me feel a tiny bit more in control.
“I’m gonna find you, Rose, don’t doubt that for a minute. But the longer it takes, the angrier I’ll get, so make it easy on yourself and come out now.”
Did Crocker know we were up here? His voice told me he was practically upon us. I glanced over at Mason, who was crouching, completely still, the tension in his shoulders the only sign that Crocker was getting to him.
“How much do you like that pretty lawyer, Rose? Maybe he won’t be so pretty when I’m through with him.”
I set the gun down and climbed to my knees, letting the blanket fall to the ground. If I gave myself up, would it save Mason? I doubted that Crocker would let him go, but how could I take that chance?
Mason glanced over his shoulder at me. “No!” he mouthed, his eyes flashing with anger.
I crawled toward the spot where Mason had crossed the creek.