Last Resort Page 23

  “Are you going to look and see what’s in that file?” Noelle asked Nathan.

  He opened the manila accordion file and pulled out a copy of a cashier’s check to Frazier Logging for a hundred thousand dollars, and bills of sale for a saw and a logging truck. There were copies of correspondence and a record sheet of all transactions. A small, folded bundle of green ledger sheets matched the pages Noelle had found on her first expedition to the attic—the same type of sheets that were in the ledger Carissa had been carrying when she was abducted.

  “Nothing we didn’t expect,” Noelle said. “I wonder why Cecil took the money in the first place.”

  “Dad and Mom got into debt gambling down at Hot Springs,” Justin said. “Dad borrowed money from the company to try to win it back, then he kept losing and taking more, hoping he’d recoup their losses.”

  “That’s it?” Nathan asked. “He wanted to pay off a gambling debt?”

  “What was he supposed to do? I told you, he paid it all back.”

  “And all these years Harvey was blackmailing Melva, Cecil never knew about it?” Nathan asked.

  “Not until Dad found out from Jill about the missing money. He’s never done anything like that since. He doesn’t gamble at all anymore. He learned his lesson the first time.”

  “Well, something else is going on, then, because someone set fire to the old house with us in it,” Noelle said. “Someone tried to kill us.”

  Shock raced across Justin’s face. “Fire!” He glanced down at their clothes. “That’s what happened to you? You’ve been hurt!” He dropped to his knees to examine a burned spot on Nathan’s jeans.

  “We aren’t hurt,” Nathan assured him. “We got out in time.”

  Justin fingered the burned material.

  “I’m fine,” Nathan said. “Noelle smothered the flame before it reached my leg. I’m okay.”

  Justin’s face was pale when he straightened. “When did it happen?”

  “A couple of hours ago.” Nathan held up the file. “We’ve got what we came for, now we have to get back to Cedar Hollow and let everyone know we’re alive. You want to give us a ride?”

  Justin glanced at the file, and he frowned.

  Noelle nudged his arm. “What’s wrong?”

  “Do you think the person who tried to kill you was also Carissa’s abductor?” Justin asked. “Someone in the family, maybe, like you said.”

  “It seems reasonable that the person who set fire to the house this afternoon was doing it to destroy incriminating evidence about past history, and to stop us from searching.”

  “Yeah,” Justin said. “Permanently.”

  “I think it’s time for us to return to Cedar Hollow,” Nathan said, fighting a heavy wave of foreboding that settled on him.

  It was beginning to sound like a horror movie. Return to Cedar Hollow.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  That ugly fire! Why now? There’s no sign of Nathan or Noelle, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t in there. The firemen are handicapped out here—there isn’t a fire hydrant for miles.

  I should be ecstatic, shouldn’t I? All those records Carissa was so adamant about digging up—they’re gone. Only a few more things to tidy up, and everything will be safe again.

  So why do I wish I could die? Why did life turn out this way?

  On the way out to Cedar Hollow from Hideaway, Noelle became aware of a spring poking up through the upholstery in the bench seat of Pearl’s pickup. She was already frustrated with Nathan’s silence—he’d had Justin stop at the general store, then made Justin and Noelle wait in the truck while he went in to use the phone, then he’d returned to the truck without a word. She was getting irritable.

  By the time Justin pulled to a stop in front of Cecil and Melva’s house, that spring in the seat was making itself known. Worse, there was a white car in the drive, with the sheriff’s insignia on the side.

  Justin turned off the headlights and glanced toward the glow in the night sky to the north. “I can’t believe this is happening,” he murmured. “Is Greg going to arrest us for breaking and entering?”

  “No.” Nathan cleared his throat, then said quietly, “Someone else is being arrested.”

  “Who?” Justin asked.

  “He didn’t tell me.”

  Justin shoved open the door and scrambled from the truck. Noelle slid out behind him and took him by the arm. “You may not want to go in there while—”

  “This is my family.” Justin pulled away and yanked open the gate. Noelle and Nathan followed more slowly.

  Before they reached the porch, the front door opened and the sheriff’s bulk filled the doorway. His cowboy hat sat low on his forehead—a sure sign he meant business. He always tugged it down when things got serious.

  He held Melva Cooper’s arm as he escorted her behind him. Her face was smudged, her nose red from crying. Dirt streaked her clothing.

  Noelle stayed in the shadows beside Nathan and caught her breath at the sight of Melva.

  “Melva?” Justin rushed up the steps.

  She looked up in a daze. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea Nathan and Noelle were in the house.” Her voice was unusually soft. “Greg told us they’re okay. I wouldn’t ever have done anything—”

  “Melva,” Greg said, his deep voice gentle. “We need to get you on into town now. We’ve got quite a few things we need to clear up tonight.” He turned to lead her from the porch. Cecil and Pearl filed out behind them from the house.

  Noelle stepped from the shadows. “Melva? You started the fire?”

  Melva closed her eyes and bowed her head. “I didn’t know.” She looked back up at Noelle and reached for her. Greg gently drew her away.

  Pearl clambered down the steps and grabbed Noelle in an exuberant hug. “Do you have any idea what you put us through? What happened? We all thought you two were in that house.”

  “We were,” Noelle said. “We got out.”

  “If I’d only known you were in there,” Melva said softly.

  “Why did you do it?” Noelle asked. This was a nightmare after all, and it pierced her heart more deeply than she would have believed possible.

  “Not to harm you,” Melva whispered as Greg led her to the car. “Never to harm you. I didn’t know, I honestly didn’t know. I didn’t feel I had a choice, what with all those papers stored up there…all those boxes with records. Records showing when I took money out to pay Harvey, records that might show more—”

  Tears streamed down Pearl’s cheeks as she hugged Noelle once more. “I thought we’d lost you for sure, and if you ever do anything like this to us again, you’re not too old for me to smack your bottom good!”

  “Aunt Pearl, we’re all right. I’m sorry we had you so worried, but we had to do it this way.” Over Pearl’s shoulder, Noelle caught sight of Cecil, his arms crossed over his chest, tears shining on his face in the porch light.

  “Where’s Jill?” Noelle asked.

  “Still down at the fire, waiting for the firemen to find you two,” Pearl said. “Greg didn’t tell us you were safe until he got up here. Better get down there, kiddo. She’s never going to forgive you for letting her think you was dead. What happened to you two? Where’d you get off to?”

  While Noelle and Nathan explained themselves and apologized, Greg gently helped Melva into the back seat of his cruiser. Cecil didn’t seem to be functioning properly. Shoulders hunched, tears streaming down his cheeks, he stood watching as Greg backed out of the drive.

  “I smelled gasoline on her clothes,” Pearl said softly in Noelle’s ear. “She finally admitted to setting the fire, though she never would admit to knowing you was in there. Now we know Carissa’s safe, but poor Cecil’s a mess. What’re we going to do with him?”

  As the taillights of the sheriff’s cruiser disappeared into the darkness, Justin walked up to his father and put an arm around his shoulders. “I’m driving you into town, Dad. We need to be there.”

  Cecil shook his he
ad.

  “We’ve got to be there for Melva,” Justin said. “She’s always been there for us.”

  Again, Cecil shook his head. “Think of Carissa…how could Melva have done what she did to Carissa?”

  “You’re going to have to talk to Melva about that,” Justin said. “I don’t know how many times you’ve told me there’s always more than meets the eye. You can’t know what happened until you talk to her.”

  Cecil covered his face with his hands. “I should have picked up on it. I didn’t know she was so upset about something that happened ten years ago. Why didn’t she tell me sooner?”

  “Because she didn’t want anything to happen to you, and she figured you’d blow a gasket if you found out.” There was no accusation in Justin’s tone, only sorrow.

  “Where’s Carissa?” Noelle asked Pearl.

  “She’s at Karah Lee’s,” Pearl said. “After they discovered the fire, Cecil called the clinic and asked if Carissa could stay in town. I guess she’s safe now.”

  Noelle closed her eyes. Would any of them ever be safe again?

  Cecil caught Noelle in a bear hug, and she could feel him trembling. “I’m glad you’re okay. I don’t know what I’d have done if you two had actually been in that fire, set by my own wife.”

  “You need to go to her,” Noelle said.

  He grew still for a long moment, then slowly released her and straightened. “I know that’s the right thing to do.”

  She nodded.

  He rubbed his face wearily, then turned to his son. “Go get the keys. You’re driving.”

  Noelle turned to Nathan. “We need to go find Jill. Aunt Pearl, you want to come with us?”

  “Nope. I think I’ll stay here and try to clear out some of the mess in the kitchen. This place has been a staging area for too many disasters lately.”

  Nathan and Noelle decided to walk the quarter mile to the old house, and they allowed the remaining light from the fire to guide their way.

  Nathan took her hand. “How are you holding up?”

  For a moment, she didn’t reply.

  “None of it makes sense, does it?” he asked.

  “No.” She sounded lost. “Melva has loved Justin and Carissa as her very own ever since she and Cecil were married. How could she suddenly turn on Carissa like that?”

  Nathan didn’t know what to say.

  “But she admitted to starting the fire.” Bewilderment threaded her voice.

  Nathan released her hand and put his arm around her. “There’s no sense of relief, is there?” he said. “No sense of accomplishment at finding a culprit.”

  “I don’t understand it yet,” Noelle said. She leaned closer to Nathan in the darkness.

  He wanted to protect her from the fallout in this family tragedy, but there was nothing he could do. She was strong, he knew. He’d always felt protective of her, even when she didn’t want that protection.

  Now, it seemed, she welcomed it.

  He remembered the times they’d walked together like this when they were growing up. He always wanted to be there for Noelle. He’d always cherished her and admired her inquisitive spirit, even though it had gotten them both in trouble several times over the years.

  She sniffed and dashed her hand across her face.

  He tightened his arm around her. “It’s going to be okay, Noelle. Your family will get through this. We’ll get through it.”

  “I know.” Her voice was hoarse with tears. “I can’t stop thinking about Melva. She must be so frightened, so hurt. She always tries to do the right thing. She always struggles to live her faith, even when people around her aren’t living theirs. What went wrong? How did this happen?”

  “Melva tried to cover for Cecil for so many years because she didn’t want to lose everything he’d worked for. She got so caught up covering Cecil’s past sins she didn’t realize how far off the mark she was getting herself.”

  “But you heard what Justin said. If Pearl had found out about the embezzlement, she’d have forced him out of Cedar Hollow.”

  “Not necessarily,” Nathan said. “Maybe they could have discussed it. Even if Pearl did force him to leave, would that have been such a bad thing? Cecil wanted to leave this place ten years ago. Maybe he’d have lost a multimillion-dollar inheritance, but that isn’t the worst thing in the world.”

  “No, this is the worst thing,” Noelle said. “His family is destroyed. What’s going to happen to Carissa and Justin? Their mother abandoned them, and the stepmother they love might have abducted Carissa and left her—and us—to die?”

  Nathan winced at the despair in her voice. Oh, Lord, please touch this wounded family. Show us what we’re missing in this mess. Give us wisdom and hope through all this, and work another of Your miracles.

  “Nathan?” Noelle’s steps slowed.

  “Yes?”

  “Why does it take something like this to show us how desperately we need Christ in our lives?”

  “I can’t answer that, but aren’t you glad it works?”

  Pearl’s geese suddenly honked, and Noelle stumbled to a stop.

  Nathan tightened his arm around her. “It’s okay. It’s only the Cedar Hollow sentries.”

  “I know, but…something else…”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know…a thought. Something…odd.”

  He waited. “Noelle?”

  She hesitated, then walked on. “Must’ve been nothing.”

  He took her gently by the arm and turned her back. “What is it? Something’s still bothering you, I can tell.”

  She looked up at him, and in the glow from the fire, he could see the confusion in her eyes. “Okay, you’re right,” she said. “I can’t ignore it. It’s not over.” She glanced toward the fire. “I don’t have any peace about Melva’s guilt. I know she admitted to starting the fire, but she didn’t acknowledge anything else. And this is Melva. We grew up with her. We know her.”

  “Did you ever think she would be capable of setting a fire?”

  Noelle contemplated the embers in the darkness for a moment. “I think Melva would do almost anything for someone she loved. But she loves Carissa too. She would never hurt her. That’s what doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “Tell me who else might have done it, then,” he said. “Remember that we decided this is family.”

  “I know, but still…Nathan, I want to check out that ledger book at the sawmill one more time.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m not sure yet,” Noelle said. “But I think there’s something there we’ve overlooked.”

  “But wouldn’t Carissa’s abductor have already taken it if it was incriminating?” Nathan asked.

  “Not necessarily. I need to compare the pages to the ones we found in the attic.”

  “Then let’s go,” Nathan said grimly, taking her arm.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Noelle switched on the light in the sawmill office. The file cabinets were bare. The four drawers in the cabinet by the desk held hanging folders containing invoices, accounts receivable, shipping information and financial records for the last three years. Nothing helpful. There was no dirt-encrusted ledger.

  “I’ll check out the workroom.” Nathan took a flashlight from the desk drawer and aimed it into the cavernous area, then entered the darkness.

  Noelle checked another cabinet and found bank records and personnel files. Still nothing significant.

  “Nathan?” she called over her shoulder. “Did you find the light switch?”

  “I’m getting there.”

  She knelt to check the desk drawer, then froze, suddenly concerned about Nathan in the darkness.

  She turned toward the door and felt another familiar rush of awareness. Something was wrong. Tension and fear traveled through her as she rushed across the office. “Nathan! Get out of there!”

  “Why? What’s—”

  There was a grunt and a muffled thud, then the sound of his flashlight cla
ttering to the floor.

  “Nathan!” She rushed into the cavernous sawmill. “Nathan, where are you? Please answer me!”

  A muffled groan reached her from the center of the mill—the center of that darkness.

  “Nathan!”

  She stepped carefully down an aisle looming with machinery, her feet slipping on sawdust.

  A human shape, barely discernable, lay across the sawdust drag.

  “Nathan!” Noelle fell to her knees and reached for him. Her fingers felt his shoulders and touched the sticky warmth of blood near the back of his neck.

  “Oh, no. Oh, God, please help!” She reached for the pulse at his throat, felt the throb of his heart’s steady beat. Her hands explored further, gauging the depth of the wound at his neck. Her fingers brushed against a pointed metal tip. She felt the length of the curved blade and grasped the handle. The cant hook!

  She had to get him out of here, get away from the danger quickly, before—

  Somewhere in the darkness she heard the sound of a footfall, the brush of clothing—and a whisper. She held her breath, waiting.

  The sudden snap of a switch warned her a second before the mill exploded into dark life. The saw engine groaned into screaming action, its power reaching the huge circle of knife-sharp teeth. The conveyor belt, only a few feet away, kicked into motion, drawing phantom logs toward the hungry blade.

  Nathan’s body jerked beneath Noelle’s hands. She looked down, hope surging. “Nathan?”

  Hope turned to horror.

  In the dim light from the office, she glimpsed the movement of the sawdust drag, its shoveling cups pressing forward with the pull of the chain, catching at Nathan where he lay in the line of their forward motion, snagging at his clothing as they traveled toward the conveyor belt…toward the saw blade that screamed through the blackness.

  “No!” Noelle gripped his shoulders. “Nathan, wake up! You’ve got to get up!”

  One of the cups grabbed and held at the right leg of his jeans. The drag pulled tight, hesitated, pulled harder, hesitated, like a persistent animal hungry for food.