Deadly Holiday Reunion

You survived, Ella kept telling herself. You made it out alive.

But things had been different in her case. The killer knew she was FBI, knew she wanted to find him and bring him to justice. He’d lured her out with a special set of dead drops put up just for Ella. As if he’d been waiting for her to come.

She’d found him but he’d almost killed her. And he’d broken her. If it hadn’t been for her faith and her grandparents’ strong, enduring love, Ella probably would have curled up and died.

Pushing away the tremors moving up her backbone, she asked, “So what did the note say?”

Jake paced in front of the decorated fireplace. “Told me to go alone to a pavilion on the west side of the lake and look on the picnic table closest to the boat launch. I found the necklace dangling off a nail.”

She whirled around to stare at him. “And you must have found his next note.”

Jake nodded, tugged at his clipped light brown hair. “White paper, nailed on a nearby tree. ‘Tell Ella I miss her.’”

Ella hands trembled in spite of her clenched jaw. “He sent you to me.”

Jake started for her but stopped. “I’m sorry, Ella. He knows I’d come here and I had to come. For Macey’s sake. And to make sure you’re okay.”

“Do I look okay?”

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I should have killed him when I had a chance.”

But he’d stayed with her instead. Because when he’d found her curled up in a ball against a cypress tree like a wounded, dying animal, Ella had latched on to him and begged him never to leave her again.

Delirious. She’d been dehydrated and delirious and...Jake had taken her into his arms and held her. While the killer got away. They’d searched almost every inch of the lake and the surrounding areas and they’d put out APBs and a BOLO, but they’d never found the wounded killer.

She put that out of her mind. Remembered how she’d pushed Jake away after he’d come to see her in the hospital. Remembered how she’d once loved him and wanted to marry him.

She’d been too damaged and broken and burned out after her ordeal to handle what she considered his disapproval. Too damaged to go back into a relationship with the man she’d loved since high school, a man who’d become a Texas Ranger. Jake loved his job but after her two short years as a federal agent Ella hated anything having to do with criminals and lawmen. She’d become a coward. A big, scared coward. Jake’s wife had died the year before Ella’s ordeal and he’d deserved so much more than Ella could give.

Now, five years later, he’d come to her again but she’d only just begun to heal.

Finally.

She was headed right back into the nightmare but she couldn’t say no to Jake. Not when that madman might have his daughter.

Ella said a prayer for courage. “Okay, he’s got our attention. What next?”

Jake gave her a look that told her everything but said nothing. “I think he’s going back to the scene of his last crime.”

Ella’s head jerked at that. “You think he’s got Macey somewhere on the lake?”

“I think he’s brought her to the place where he brought you.” He shifted on his boots. “He didn’t get to finish that job.”

The place where he’d brought her to die. The killer had dragged her all over East Texas and then back to the place he knew she loved. Caddo Lake.

She could still remember his hot breath on her neck, could still see the black mask he always wore and the intensity of the last few words he’d spoken to her. “You’ll never be found, dear one. The alligators and snakes will take care of you. Here on your beloved Caddo Lake.”

The authorities decided the alligators and other creatures had taken care of his body instead.

Ella held her eyes tightly shut. “I believed he’d died in the woods or had drowned.” She shook her head. “I wanted to believe that. But I always wondered....”

“Ella...”

She wouldn’t give in to the tremendous need to rush into Jake’s arms. She had to keep it together for Macey’s sake. It wasn’t Macey’s fault that her mother had taken Ella’s high school sweetheart and made him hers by getting herself pregnant, only to up and die on him. And it wasn’t Macey’s fault that five years ago when another girl had turned up missing, circumstances had brought Jake and Ella back together to help track the killer and that girl. Nor was it Macey’s fault that fate had pushed them together again today.

Sometimes Ella dreamed of being back in high school and instead of telling Jake she wanted to become an FBI agent, she wished she’d told him yes, she’d marry him and be his wife and live a simple life out in the country while he worked at becoming a Texas Ranger.

It wasn’t anyone’s fault that they would never be able to get back to that place of love and need that had once colored their world in sweet shades of amber and gold.

But it was the Dead Drop Killer’s fault that she was standing here with this Texas Ranger and her Remington, about to go back out into those woods that had held her captive for so long that she still had nightmares about them.

That was the killer’s fault and because she had to help Jake find his daughter, Ella now had one more chance to do what she should have done all those years ago.

So she nodded at Jake and dropped extra ammo into her rucksack. “He’s probably left something here at the farm. We need to get out there and find the next clue.”

THREE

Ella opened the front door but Zip rushed past her, the big dog’s light bark alerting Jake and Ella that someone had arrived at the Terrell farm.

“Who is it?” Jake asked as he automatically moved in front of Ella to shield her.

“My grandparents,” she replied, purposely stepping around him. “If it had been a stranger, Zip would have barked loudly and knocked us over getting to them.”

“Good dog,” Jake said. He brushed a hand over the big dog’s chocolate-brown top coat. At least he could rest easy that Ella had set measures in place to protect herself.

But this killer had been known to get around any type of security measures. As far as Jake could tell, Ella had only the dog and her few weapons scattered around to keep her safe. Far too vulnerable.

“What are you gonna tell them?” he asked, his anxiety at top level. He had to get out into those woods and find Macey before he went stark-raving mad. Once that task force showed up and the killer found out, Macey could be dead before nightfall. This man would savor the attention but he could be pushed too far, too fast if they weren’t careful.

“The truth,” Ella replied. She set down her rucksack and her rifle. “I’ll hurry. I know you’re anxious to get on with it.”

Jake nodded. It didn’t take much to see that, but Ella had always known how to read his moods. Swallowing back the deep pit of fear that had clutched his gut since he’d gotten the call last night, Jake continued the silent, screaming prayer he’d been reciting since he’d realized just who might have his daughter.

Protect her, Lord. Protect my baby girl. And help me to do my job to the best of my ability. For all of our sakes.

Ella stepped forward to help her elderly grandparents with the groceries. Jake did the same.

Grandpa Terrell stared through his bifocals. “Edna, we got company for our noon meal.”

Edna Terrell’s smiling face greeted Jake as he reached to take a bag from her. “My, my, is this Jake Cavanaugh I’m seeing here with my own eyes?”

“It’s me,” Jake said, shooting a glance toward Ella. “How you doing?”

“We’re just fine as frog hair,” Edna replied with a laugh. “What in the world brings you all the way out here on this chilly day?”

Ella stared up at her granddaddy with solemn eyes. Wilson Terrell was a shrewd, smart man. He nodded at Jake as if he knew something was up. “Good to see you, Jake.”

Ella held a sack of groceries and guided her grandmother up to the house. “We were about to leave,” she began. “Jake needs my help on...a case.”

She went on inside and waited for Jake and her grandpa.

Now even cheery Miss Edna had gathered something was wrong. She took off her glasses, her gaze darting between the two of them. “What kind of case, honey?”

Ella put a hand on her grandmother’s arm. “Listen, Granny. I need you and Grandpa to take Zip and go into Gilmer for a few days. You can stay with Aunt Rosalyn, okay?”

“Why?” Edna asked, her blue eyes moving from Ella to Jake. “What is it?”

Ella’s look of fear cut Jake to the core. He didn’t want to put her through this again but he had no choice. He had to save Macey. He’d lost so much in his life—first Ella after their breakup, then Natalie had died and a few years after that both his parents had gone on to heaven just two years apart. Macey was the only good thing he had left. And Ella was the only woman who could understand what he and his daughter were going through.

Ella tried to speak, then glanced over to him, a look of panic and doubt clouding her heart-shaped face.

“We have reason to believe the Dead Drop Killer is back on the loose, Miss Edna. He’s taken another girl.”

Edna put a hand to her heart. “Oh, no. I thought he was dead and gone.” She grabbed Ella by the hands. “You can’t go back out there, honey. You’re not prepared for this. Let Jake take care of it.”

Ella gave her grandmother a wistful glance. “I have to help, Granny. Jake needs me.”

Wilson stepped forward to put his arm around his wife’s shoulder then scowled at Jake. “Why would you come here and put her through this again? That man is dead. You don’t need her for anything else.”

Jake held up a hand then let it drop. This time Ella had to do the talking.

“He has Macey, Grandpa,” Ella said, her voice cracking for the first time since he’d told her. “He has Jake’s daughter. And he’s already left clues in this area. We think he has her somewhere on the lake.”

Edna sank down on a chair. “Mercy me, I can’t believe this is happening again.” She gave Jake a look full of understanding. “What can we do?”

“Do what Ella has asked,” he said through the lump in his throat. “Go somewhere safe.”

“We can defend ourselves,” Wilson said, his backbone straightening. “Got guns and Zip. And I’m still a pretty good shot.”

“You can’t protect yourselves from this, Grandpa,” Ella said. “Please do this for me. I can’t help Jake if I’m worried about the two of you. Call Aunt Rosalyn and tell her...tell her you need to stay with her for a few days.”

“But she’ll wonder—”

“No one else can know what we’re doing for now,” Jake said, shaking his head. “No police except for the team in Tyler that’s already involved. They’re doing what they can but I’m off the grid for a while. Just me and Ella on this one for now.”

“I don’t like that idea,” Wilson retorted. “You need to bring in the sheriff and get some more Rangers out here.”

“The sheriff is aware of the situation and he’s working behind the scenes. I don’t like going it alone, either, sir. But that madman will kill my daughter if he thinks we’ve brought in a whole passel of law enforcement. We’ll call for backup when the time comes.”

“Or when it’s too late, like last time,” Wilson retorted. “But then I shouldn’t have to remind either of you—”

“Grandpa, it’s okay. We’ll alert the kidnapper if we set up a command post anywhere near these woods. The Tyler Police Department and the FBI have a task force in place, right, Jake?”

Jake nodded. “Set it up late last night. They know where I am and they’re working on every angle and waiting to hear, but right now, I need to get out there and see what I can find.”

“I still don’t like it,” Wilson said. “You’re using my granddaughter as a decoy again. It’s too dangerous. Same as what happened last time.”

Edna went to him and patted his shoulder. “Shhh. Jake’s got enough to worry about without you bringing up things we can’t change.”

Jake lowered his head. Ella’s granddaddy had a right to blame him for Ella’s ordeal. He’d been the lead investigator since the killer had taken the last girl into his territory. But Ella had been called in to help because she’d worked two of the other cases and because she knew these woods. Who could have predicted that the killer knew these piney woods, too? The Dead Drop Killer had set a convincing trap for Ella by having the girl call her for help and because she wanted to save a life, she’d walked right into it.

They’d have to keep that in mind and be diligent this time, not only for Ella’s sake but to keep Macey alive, too.

“I’ll be smart,” Ella said, her tone not so convincing, her big eyes wide. “I’ll be with Jake.”

“I won’t leave her side,” Jake said, hoping he sounded a little more confident than Ella. “This time, I’ll make sure she stays safe. I promise.”

At least Ella had given him a vote of confidence. He needed her to trust him and in this case, he needed her to lead him. He was too distraught to think straight. Ella would help him snap out of that so he could focus on finding Macey.

His little girl. She was a blossoming teenager now but she was still his baby. Images of lacy party dresses and dainty diamond earrings seared through his raw nerves, only to be followed by other images he had to get out of his head. He glanced at Edna Terrell and saw the compassion in her eyes.

It almost brought Jake to his knees. “Can you do me one more favor, Miss Edna?”

“Of course,” the gray-haired lady replied.

“Pray,” he said.

Edna nodded then stood up and hugged him close. “Of course we will.”

It took a few more minutes of persuasion but finally, Ella called her aunt and explained that the farm was having safety problems. The restaurant would be shut down for the next few days and possibly longer.

Apparently, her aunt hadn’t questioned her. When Ella hung up, she turned to her grandparents. “She’s looking forward to having y’all over. I know we live only an hour or so away, but she misses y’all so go and rest and I’ll check in as often as I can.”

“You’d better,” Edna said, her gaze on Jake. “I’ll go pack a few things while Wilson puts away the groceries.”

Ella explained to Jake that the restaurant was only open for reserved private dinners on request and closed on Mondays, so she called the handful of employees who worked at Caddo Country and explained that she’d decided since they didn’t have any bookings till later this month, she was shutting down the kitchen for a break before the holidays.

Jake knew the excuse she’d concocted would have to be enough for now, but word got out quick in the country and people would be asking questions. No matter the excuse, this had to be done and now. Each minute they wasted was another minute his daughter was in danger. Closing his eyes to the horror playing out in his head, Jake said his own prayer again.

After seeing her grandparents off, Ella turned back to Jake and he watched as she braced herself for what was to come.

“Let’s go,” she said. Then she hurried out the door before he could tell her to run, just run.

He followed behind her. “Ella, I...I should never have come here. I panicked and I’m sorry.”

“You did the right thing,” Ella replied, her backbone as straight as a carpenter’s level. “What else could you do? He’s obviously here and he wants another go at me. Now let’s get on with things.”

Too late for him to stop her. Jake figured she wouldn’t back down now, no matter how scared she was. But if anything happened to her, the guilt that swirled inside his gut would become an even heavier burden on his heart.

He’d have to do his best not only to save his daughter, but this time he needed to keep Ella safe, too.

* * *

Ella was headed to her old, beat-up pickup when Jake stopped her. “Let’s take mine.”

Frowning, she turned to his vehicle. “Don’t like my driving?”

“I’d feel better taking my truck.”

Ella didn’t believe that but she followed him to his vehicle. She tossed her rucksack in the jump seat but held her rifle close. “Do you think he’s watching my house, Jake? That maybe he’s put something in my truck?”

Jake nodded. “He has to know you’re here. He wanted me to come to you and I played right into his hands. I should get you to a safe place and take care of this myself.”

“Don’t go doubting yourself now,” she said, her hand on his arm. The touch of her fingers on his skin singed her enough to make her draw back. “I want to help. I need to help.”

She pointed at her old Chevy. “Let’s check a few spots around here before we go off on a wild goose chase.”

Jake couldn’t argue with that. Her truck didn’t have any hidden notes or clues. It might be old, but Ella kept it clean as a whistle. Next, they checked the barn, making sure all the animals were accounted for. Again, clean and tidy and without any sinister reminders.

“I didn’t think about tending the stock,” Ella said as they walked around the fenced corrals. “Maybe I can call a neighbor to help with that.”

After they’d done a quick check on the perimeters of the yard and barn area, he glanced at the restaurant. “So today’s Monday. It’s closed?”

“Yes.” Ella started that way. “I haven’t even been there to check on things today.” She held her rifle down and did a visual of the yard and woods.

Jake followed her with his own rifle, his gaze taking in the lighted garden path leading to a huge square pavilion-type gazebo surrounded by tall pines and bald cypress trees. It was screened in but he could see an enormous fireplace at the front of the big open building and a long wooden table with high-backed chairs centered in the space in front of the fireplace. The whole place was gussied up for a cozy Christmas. A wooden sign over the double screen doors stated, Welcome to Caddo Country.

Rustic, beautiful and isolated.

He took a long look at the nearby woods, noticing paths down to a wooden dock out over Caddo Lake.

“So...you opened a restaurant?”

Ella did the same visual, her eyes moving over the trees and then to the woods that lifted away from the shoreline.

“Yep, sorta. We cater to parties up to fifty at a time, but we like doing small groups to make it more intimate.” She shrugged. “More of a meal for friends who pay than a real restaurant.”

Jake gave a surprised grunt. “Never figured you for a gardener or a cook.”

Her left eyebrow lifted in a graceful curve. “Because you always saw me as too ambitious to boil water?”

Jake couldn’t deny it. “Yeah, maybe. What made you start doing this kind of thing?”

She got over her defensive stance pretty fast. “It happened by chance. I saw a news report about how big produce companies out in California have started doing what they call farm-to-table dinners. I tried a couple and it worked out pretty good so we expanded and now we work most of the spring and summer. Taper off a bit in the fall and winter unless it’s a special request. We’ve got some holiday dinners planned and I’m scheduled for an open house during the upcoming Christmas Festival.”

They both checked the surrounding woods and the lake again, then Jake asked a few more questions. “So it’s not a 24/7 type place? More exclusive?”

She nodded. “We cook our guests a meal that comes straight off the land. The meat, the vegetables, the bread. Even the butter, cheeses and eggs. It’s a real, home-cooked organic dinner and it makes people appreciate farming and growing food a whole lot more.”

Impressed, Jake said, “Sounds like a lot of work.”

“It is,” she said over her shoulder when they reached the double wooden-faced screen doors. Pulling out a key she unlocked the bolt. “I don’t know why I lock it. Anyone could cut through these screens even if they are heavy-duty weight.”

“Any alarms?” Jake asked, quiet now.

“Just Zip’s barking. But we do have floodlights at night and we really don’t keep anything out here but cooking utensils and dishes. We have an outdoor kitchen behind the fireplace and a storage freezer back up the hill.”

She pointed to a covered catwalk from the storage freezer to the open-air kitchen tucked behind the fireplace.

Jake followed her inside the wide square structure, the scents of fresh evergreen branches merging with something that smelled like cinnamon and apple pie. The big candles lining the mantel, maybe?

“Pretty place.” He could see how patrons would be drawn to this spot. Homey and inviting, it boasted gleaming wooden beams and arches with heavy wooden supports between the screens. The windows provided a perfect view of the lake from every corner.

“My grandpa helped me design and build it,” she said on a soft tone. “I used the life insurance money I got...after my parents passed. Took us over a year to get everything together but we’ve had a successful couple of seasons. As I explained, we do winter meals on request, but for the most part we shut down in early November and don’t open back up until spring.”

Jake followed her toward the fireplace. “Everything looks okay for now.”

Ella stopped in front of the rock-covered structure. “Not everything.” She pointed inside the blackened bricks of the hearth to a white piece of paper sticking up out of an iron cooking pot held by a heavy shepherd’s hook.

The killer’s next clue.

FOUR

“The next note,” Ella said on a burst of breath. “This is real, Jake. He’s come back.”

Jake grabbed her hand and held it there between them. “Maybe he never left.”

Ella retreated from him and went to a storage cabinet. She pulled out a set of serving tongs and used them to lift out the stiff paper. Turning, she dropped it on the polished plank table so they could read it.

“Let the games begin. It’s been too long, way too long.”

Jake hit his hand on a chair. “He was here. No telling how long he’s been watching this place.”

“I never told him I was from East Texas,” Ella said, panic rising like bile in her throat. “But he somehow knew and that’s why he brought me back here. I tried not to give him too much information when he had me. I didn’t let on that I even knew these woods or this area.”

But knowing her surroundings had been part of what saved her. That would have to be in her favor now, too. “When I came back here after he’d taken me, I stayed hidden away for the first few months. I should have left the state.” She shook her head. “I’ve put my grandparents in danger. When the killings stopped and we thought he was dead, I got too complacent, too content. I should have left—”

“It’s not your fault,” Jake replied. “We all searched and searched. He was badly wounded but we couldn’t find a trail past the water. Nothing. I always figured he’d gotten away or at least he’d died somewhere else but he’s still on every Most-Wanted List I know. I never dreamed he’d be so bold as to come back.” He looked off into the distance. “I should have kept searching.”

“And I ought to have kept going,” Ella said. “I could have gotten far away from here.”

“He’s the type who’d find you, anyway,” Jake said, his eyes roving around the structure and the woods. “He probably knew you’d lived here as a child, and that’s why he brought you back. If you’d left, he’d have found you and none of us would have been able to help.” He checked the floor for footprints, touched on the ceiling-to-floor screens for cuts. “We never found a trace of him and the murders stopped.”

Ella shivered at the thought of being in that madman’s clutches again. She couldn’t let it happen to Macey. Just knowing a killer had that child made Ella physically ill.

The wind lifted and the forest rustled. Down on the lake, a snowy egret lifted out over the water in a wild flight. What had startled the graceful white bird?

“Maybe you’re right,” Ella replied to Jake on a shaky whisper. “Maybe he’s been hiding out in these woods for years now.” Had he been watching her all that time?

“Hunters and fishermen would have seen him or at least signs of someone living out here,” Jake said, probably trying to reassure her. It didn’t work.