Chapter 31
The farther I could get her away from the lake house, the better Petunia’s chances for Fillpot and Delany to reach the little girl before Robin could get her hands on her again.
I jumped over tree branches. The crunch of leaves beneath my feet didn’t mask my movements. I didn’t slow. I didn’t need to look back to know that Robin was chasing me. Her yells were proof enough.
“You’ll never get her,” I yelled, egging her on. “She’s mine now.”
I was almost back to the road where my car was parked when my foot caught a limb, and I went down. Hard. The comforter and doll flew from my arms.
I inhaled sharply as I scrambled to flip over. Robin was staring at the comforter with a gun pointed at my head. “Where is she?”
I shook my head and tried to stand, wincing at my twisted ankle. “I’ll never tell you. She’s safe, and somewhere you’ll never get your hands on her again.”
“She couldn’t have gotten far. That was her second cookie.” Robin’s eyes glittered crazily. Robin put her finger on the trigger at the same time two helicopters lowered, one hovering over the house, the other over me and Robin in the woods.
The confusion was all I needed. I lunged for Robin, charging at her like a bull. The gun went off, and the bullet ripped through my shoulder seconds before I had her disarmed and on the ground.
I kept her at gunpoint until Fillpot and his men appeared in the woods. They handcuffed her and carted her away.
“She got a shot off. I’m impressed.”
I rolled my eyes and handed him the gun, heading back toward the house. “Petunia is in the closet in the spare bedroom at the end of the hall.”
“They’ve already found her. Delany gave us the GPS coordinates of her location. It was smart rigging the kid, by the way,” he said, leading me into the kitchen, where he grabbed a dishtowel and pressed it to my arm. “Ambulance is three minutes out.”
“I’m fine. Petunia needs it more than I do,” I said as a man in fatigues came in carrying Petunia. Her limp body was still frail, and I just wanted to cradle her.
I rode in the ambulance with Petunia, afraid to leave her side again. Twenty minutes later, we were ushered into the ER, where Max, Carter, and Amelia were waiting.
Max took a step in my direction, and I shook my head before being ushered into one of the emergency rooms.
Ms. Delany wormed her way in even though she wasn’t a relative and I didn’t have my own room. She stayed while the doctor stitched the bullet wound. If you’d asked me, I would have said it was just a graze, but neither the doctor nor Delany were satisfied with my assessment.
I was released, signing paperwork, with Delany next to me. “How’s Cassandra?”
“Recovering. They all are. It wasn’t arsenic in the baked goods.”
“I know. It was ketamine,” I answered. “Robin’s daughter died in that lake, and she was convinced that she could be a better mom than Amelia. She was going to kill herself and Petunia so they could be with the dead daughter again.”
“Thanks to you, that woman will now spend the rest of her time in a psych ward.”
“Exactly where she needs to be,” I answered, heading toward the exit. I glanced around the parking lot, just remembering I didn’t have my car, when my sister Cassie pulled up. I grinned and opened the car door.
“Part of the premonition you didn’t tell me about?”
“What kind of fun would it be if I told you everything that was going to happen? You live for playing GI Jane, and considering I knew you’d survive, I decided to hold back.”
“Of course you did.” I chuckled just as Max stepped out of the exit.
“Gwen, can I talk to you for a second?”
I leaned into Cassie’s car. “Give me a minute, but do not leave.”
Cassie grinned. “He’s kind of cute, and I’m sure he digs women in distress. You sure you don’t want me to take off?”
“You leave and I’ll sneak into your house and hide all of your crystals.”
Her eyes widened, and she held up her hands. “I’m staying.”
