The Guest House Hauntings Boxset by Hazel Holmes (novel books to read txt) 📕

Dell shut his eyes, cursing under his breath. He shouldn’t have left them alone at the tavern. He should have waited for a highway trooper for backup or gotten George’s ass out of bed or—

“So this is what’s going to happen,” he said, his voice a little closer now, which meant that he was moving toward Dell. If Sarah was unconscious, he’d left her alone somewhere. No way he could be moving that quietly while carrying her. “You’re going to toss that gun on the ground, and you’re going to come out with your hands in the air, and then we’re going to talk like the pair of upstanding law enforcement officers we are. What do you think about that?”

The voice was coming from Dell’s right, so he worked his way to the opposite side of the tree, standing straight up, the pistol still in his hands. “I say no.”

The voice paused. “Well now, that’s a real shame.”

The air, the trees, time itself stopped cold as Dell waited for movement, for a sign of the man’s position, all the while struggling to keep his thoughts in the present moment and not on Sarah’s status.

A branch snapped to his left, and Dell spun in position to fire, only to be pushed backward by three gunshots that missed wide left and right, sending him running to the safety of another tree.

The man followed, the gunfire relentless, as Dell huddled behind the trunk. He waited for any break in the barrage of bullets, but they only grew more frequent.

A brief pause triggered Dell to spin around the opposite side of the tree, quick as he could, gun raised. When he cleared the tree trunk, Brent collided into Dell, knocking both men to the ground.

Their pistols were flung from their hands, the pair transforming into a blurred ball of hands, elbows, and legs as they rolled over the frozen and rocky terrain.

Dell was to his feet first and lunged, but Brent quickly spun around, arm reaching for his left hip, from where he drew a knife that he slashed with wildly. Dell pulled his hips back, watching the blade nearly skim across his uniform.

Brent stabbed forward, forcing Dell to retreat, his boots scraping against the frozen ground, until Dell’s heel hit something metal. When Brent dropped his eyes, Dell did as well, and both spotted the pistol in the grass.

Brent stumbled back, and Dell charged. He worked the body, two quick punches to both sides of the ribs, and then delivered a thundering right cross to Brent’s face that spun him around and knocked him to the ground.

Both men rolled, hands clamoring through the frozen and dead foliage, fingers twisting over the deadly weapon. Shoulder to shoulder, their cheeks reddened. Dell had his fingers on the handle, while Brent had his fingers wrapped over the barrel and a portion of the trigger.

Dell head butted Brent, loosening the detective’s grip. Dell yanked the weapon free and then jumped to his feet, his vision blurred and his forehead bleeding from the fight. “Don’t move.” He wobbled on two feet, gun aimed at Brent’s head. “Where is she?” He panted, watching Brent rise to his knees, blood streaming down his smiling face, which only made Dell’s anger boil over. He lunged forward, pressing the gun against Brent’s forehead and gripping the collar of his shirt. “I said, where is she!?”

“What happens when you find out she’s already dead?” Brent asked, a smile creeping up his face. “You wander out into the darkness, and your foot catches on her arm, and you find her face down in the frozen dirt, blood already congealed around the body and the life drained from those pretty little eyes.” He wobbled back and forth, clearly disoriented from the blows. “You know how many guys she’s made have that same look on their face that you’re wearing right now?” He laughed. “She managed to wrap you around her little finger, and you couldn’t care less.”

Dell pulled the hammer back on the pistol, and all of that rage and adrenaline and fear focused to the pinpoint accuracy of the sight on the gun. “You didn’t kill her. You wouldn’t have run out here if you had, so where is she?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, amigo,” Brent said. “I woke up in the ditch back there with my car wrecked, and I saw blood traces leading into the forest.”

Dell grimaced and then let go of Brent’s collar and reached around for his handcuffs, keeping the pistol trained on Brent’s head. “Turn around.”

The cuffs clicked into place, and Brent winced when Dell tightened them and then shoved him toward the road.

The red and blue of the flashing lights acted as a lighthouse of sorts, a beacon guiding him home. Dell shoved Brent into the back of the squad car and put the guy’s revolver in his glove box, then took one last look at the wrecked GTO and the darkened forest. “Where did you go?”

74

Sarah stumbled through the woods like a zombie, nothing on her mind but getting back to Bell. It was a primal instinct, one that she knew was fed by the icy scales on her leg.

It was in the darkness that filled the night. It was an inaudible whisper that tickled the hairs on the back of her neck. All of it was leading her back to Bell, back to the house.

In a fit of exhaustion, she collapsed to the ground, rolling to her side, her breaths shallow and quick as she stared up at the night sky.

Barren tree branches twisted up and outward against the starry night sky. She caught her breath and thought how beautiful the night would have been if it weren’t for the circumstances. But that had been the story of Sarah’s life. A series of unfortunate events, that had accumulated to bring her life to an end before she had ever had an opportunity for real happiness. For real peace.

Sarah