It was almost completely dark when Theo and Ted returned more than an hour later with everything Marc and Mandy could possibly need for a night on top of a rugged hill. Ted helped Mandy set up a small folding table and a couple of chairs on a level spot near the car, and then he carefully set a battery-powered lantern in the center of the table. "For ambience," he said. "Also helps you find your food when you're eating. Theo said there are a couple of flashlights in the car as well." He glanced toward the portable restroom set a bit farther away. "I guess I erred in not getting a portable potty with outdoor lighting."

Mandy laughed at that. He'd found one with its own water supply so they could at least wash up with a convenient water source. The lake was a long way down a rubble-strewn hillside.

"I imagine we'll survive, though I'm glad to have the lantern and flashlights. I hadn't thought about needing light." Mandy reached for the cooler filled with dinner. "Of course, it was still daylight when we were discussing this." She was really glad she'd decided to wear jeans and hiking boots, and had tied a sweatshirt around her waist. She'd already thrown it on over her light-weight T-shirt.

Once they had the table set up, she and Ted walked back to the car while Theo helped Marc put together a bed in the back of his car. With a mattress designed to fill the cargo area now covered with a sheet and the comforter and pillows off Marc and Mandy's bed from the cottage, it looked more than adequate. As exhausted as she was, Mandy was already looking forward to crawling into bed. She and Marc had been up and down the steep hill at least a dozen times. She had no idea how JD had maintained the pace she kept, following after her hyperactive dog.

It was almost entirely dark and the men didn't stay long. With a promise to lock the gate behind them, they drove away in Marc's Tesla. Marc and Mandy sat down to their dinner. She put the meal Ca.s.sie had prepared for them on their plates-thick, roast beef sandwiches and homemade potato salad-while Marc opened a bottle of Ca.s.sie's Tangled Vines Red. He poured wine for both of them.

Ca.s.sie had packed real gla.s.ses, good linen napkins, and paper plates that didn't leak. It was all good, and absolutely beautiful out here on this lonely hilltop. Mandy was so glad she and Marc had decided to stay here, though there really hadn't been any other choice.

She'd felt a sense of Marc's mom ever since the first time they'd come out here, as if, like Marc said, she approved of his search. How could she not?

Marc held his gla.s.s up to Mandy's. "I want to make a toast," he said. "To closure in one life, and new beginnings in another."

She stared into his eyes, and instead of the sadness she feared, they practically sparkled with joy. "To new beginnings," she said, tapping the rim of her gla.s.s to his and then taking a sip.

Marc took a swallow of his wine, but before she could say anything, he was out of his chair and down on one knee beside her. "Mandy?" He reached for her hands.

She hadn't expected this. Not here, not tonight, and yet it felt as if his timing couldn't have been better. Her hands were trembling when she put them in his.

Marc, though, was perfectly calm, his grasp strong and sure, his eyes perfectly focused on Mandy. He looked down at their clasped hands for a moment, and then once again focused entirely on Mandy. "I was serious when I told you I wanted a do over. As much as I loved you before when I asked you to marry me, I had no idea what real love felt like. Now I know so much more. I think I've always loved you, but I had no idea how much more those feelings would grow as the days flew by. As we get to know each other better. I figure that in about, oh, say fifty years or more, I'll finally have this figured out, but I know one very important truth. I don't want to live without you in my life. Not ever. Will you marry me, Mandy? Will you be my wife as long as we're both around to draw a breath?"

She slipped out of the chair and knelt on the rocky ground in front of him. "Of course I will. I love you, Marcus Reed. I always have. I always will."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. The ring inside was every dream Mandy had ever had should this moment come to be. A traditional yellow gold band with a single exquisite diamond in the center. It wasn't horribly huge, but it wasn't at all tiny.

As far as Mandy was concerned, her ring-like their love-was absolutely perfect.

They finished their dinner, wrapped up the trash, stuck it back in the small cooler, and left that on the floor in the front of the car. There was an old crocheted afghan that Theo had thrown over their bed in case it got cold tonight, but Marc pulled it off and they set their chairs away from the table, close enough together where they could bundle the afghan around themselves and see for miles.

Mandy was more interested in what was right in front of her. She couldn't stop looking at her ring. Even with the lantern and flashlights turned off, and barely a quarter moon in the sky, there was enough starlight for the diamond to sparkle. She snuggled close to Marc, still gazing at her ring.

"I wasn't sure if you were the diamond type," he said, which told her he hadn't paid much attention to the nighttime view. "You rarely wear jewelry of any kind other than earrings, and those are usually yellow gold. If you don't like the design, you're more than welcome to..."

"No. Not ever." She leaned close and kissed his cheek, which by now was a bit bristly. "While I love Lola and Kaz's rings, they're not at all what I would choose for myself." She held up her sparkly ring finger. "This is it. Exactly it. I don't think there's anything more beautiful than a solitaire. Thank you for knowing me better than you think you do."

He wrapped his hand around her ring finger and kissed her fingertip. "I'm looking forward to a lifetime of getting to know you even better."

"I like the sound of that." She tried to bite back a yawn and failed miserably. "What time is it?"

He glanced at his watch. "After ten. It's been a long day." He brushed a kiss across her forehead. "Ready to go back to our luxury suite?"

"I am." She stood, grabbed her flashlight, and handed her half of the afghan to him. "After I visit the facilities."

The two of them fit perfectly in the bed in the back of Theo's little crossover car, one Mandy told Theo looked like a sports car playing dress-up as an SUV. Mandy had fallen asleep almost immediately. Marc lay there long after, thinking of his mother, of all she'd missed in his life. Knowing that she would have loved Mandy. He was feeling her presence almost as if she were physically nearby, looking over them.

Coyotes howled, not all that far away, and he'd heard an owl hooting earlier. Mandy turned toward his side and snuggled close, and Marc slowly tuned out the outside world, tuned out the thoughts that had been floating through his head, and all the other little things that generally kept him awake. It wasn't long before he slept.

He should have known he'd dream about his mother, camping out here on the site of her illicit burial so many years ago. If there were such a thing as spirits, hers must have been restless all these years while the truth lay hidden.

The truth would be out there for all to know once her remains had been recovered and DNA testing was able to determine her ident.i.ty. Marc had no doubt they'd found her. His memories had been there for a reason, to help give her peace, and finding that remnant of her blanket was all the proof he'd needed.

She came to him tonight, walking out of a moonlit haze and sitting beside him on the shoulder of that big piece of serpentine with the tree growing out of the side. He didn't remember leaving Mandy and walking over here, but that's when he realized his mother wasn't really here, there wasn't enough of a moon tonight to backlight her, and he was still asleep beside Mandy.

Which meant he was dreaming his mother. She shook her head sadly, and he could have sworn he felt her caress when she reached out and touched the side of his face.

Not true, Marcus. I'm as real as your memories, as real as your love for Mandy. Thank you so much for finding me. For not giving up. I knew you would come. I've been with you ever since that night, though it was hard when you didn't believe what I'd told you all along, that I would always love you. I'm sorry your father tried so hard to turn you against me, but you're not him. You're a good man, and I knew that one day you would realize what he'd done.

You have one more thing to do tonight, my son. One very important thing. He's coming. I don't know how, or what he thinks he can do, but you and Mandy won't be safe as long as he's alive. Be alert, Marcus. Don't let him win. Please, hurry. You need to wake up.

Wide eyed, Marc sat straight up in their makeshift bed.

Mandy came awake beside him, rubbing her eyes, frowning. "What's going on? What happened?"

He shook his head, feeling more than a little bit rattled, definitely disoriented. "I don't know. Nightmare, I guess. I was dreaming that my mother was here, that she was talking to me. Then she warned me my father was coming and she told me to wake up." He shook his head. "Man, that was just bizarre."

He started to lie back down, and then thought better of it. Feeling more than a little bit foolish, he put his finger to his lips. "I might sound like I'm certifiable, but, just to be on the safe side..." Quietly he opened the hatchback on the car. Theo had disabled the interior light so it wouldn't bother them, and for that he was thankful.

Mandy was fully awake now, slipping into her jeans, pulling on her boots. Whispering, she said, "I'm going to go use the restroom."

"Okay. I'm just going to look around. Shake off the freaky feeling I've been talking to a ghost."

"That can certainly mess up a good night's sleep." She kissed him. "Be careful."

He watched her walk toward the restroom, the small beam of the flashlight barely showing when she was a few yards away. The serpentine rock with the oak tree was on the other side of the dirt road. He'd peed on it once before, no reason he couldn't use it tonight.

He'd just zipped up his jeans and turned to go back to the car when he heard a car coming down Rockpile Road. There was so little traffic out here this time of night that he climbed up on top of the big rock to see which way it was headed.

It was moving south, slowly, headed back toward the valley. He recognized the older farm truck, one he'd seen out here before, but as the driver went by the entryway to Jeb Barton's property, light glinted off a vehicle parked alongside the road, outside the locked gate. Marc only got a short glimpse, but it appeared to be a silvery gray Lexus.

One that looked an awful lot like the car his father drove.

CHAPTER 16.

The sharp jangle of his cell phone brought Ted out of a sound sleep. Theo grumbled and rolled over, so Ted grabbed the phone and went out into the kitchen area of the small apartment to answer the call. "Robinson here."

"Ted! Thank goodness I got you. It's Jerry Russo. I'm in Santa Rosa, but I just now got a call from the deputy sent to pick up Steven Reed at the San Ysidro border crossing. There's been a major f.u.c.k up. Reed was released Sat.u.r.day from the Tijuana jail, not held to be deported on Tuesday as ordered, but we weren't notified. We have no idea where he is, but there's a real stench to this whole thing. I'm worried about Marc but I haven't been able to reach him. My calls keep going to voicemail. Tried Mandy's cell. Same thing."

"They're up at the site. d.a.m.n, I've had a really bad feeling all day, and Marc thought he saw his father's car in town yesterday. I told him the b.a.s.t.a.r.d was still locked up. I'll grab Theo and we'll get up there as soon as we can. Takes about fifteen minutes, but I'll give you a call once as we arrive."

"Good. I just dropped a prisoner off here at the jail. We're shorthanded up there tonight, so I'll head that way myself. Keep me in the loop."

Ted ended the call and flipped on a light. Yelled at Theo as he shoved his legs into his jeans. "Theo. Wake up. Marc's dad is loose and no one knows where he is. Somehow the b.a.s.t.a.r.d got out of jail Sat.u.r.day, so he's had plenty of time to make it up here." He finished dressing as Theo shot out of bed.

"s.h.i.t." Theo was already throwing on clothes.

Ted slipped his shoulder holster on with his 9mm Glock, grabbed his watch and the fob to the Tesla, and raced Theo to the cottage where the Tesla was hooked up to the charger. Ted got it unplugged while Theo got in and started the car. Ted slipped into the pa.s.senger seat.

"I'm going to try calling Marc again. d.a.m.n, I've got a really bad feeling about this. He told me he thought he saw his dad's car on Sunday, but when he called the sheriff's office, they said Reed was still in jail. I guess no one got the word to them."

"What kind of car?" Theo pulled up to the locked gate.

"A silver Lexus." Ted jumped out, unlocked the gate and then closed and locked it as soon as Theo drove through. Just in case Reed decided to come here. "Marc really needs to invest in an electric gate," he said, frustrated with anything slowing them down. But what if Marc was, right now, fighting for his life? An electric gate was suddenly a very small matter. Grumbling, he hooked his seatbelt and punched in Marc's number.

A phone rang inside the console. "Holy f.u.c.k. His phone's in here. He left it charging."

"Try Mandy's."

He hit Mandy's number.

A phone beneath him chimed. He reached under the seat, pulled out Mandy's purse, and looked hopelessly at Theo. "We have no way to contact them. Hurry."

Theo punched it. Ted hoped like h.e.l.l the car had charged enough.

Mandy stepped out of the portable bathroom and set her flashlight on the paper towel dispenser while she washed her hands at the small attached sink. Once she was done, she grabbed a couple of towels and wiped her hands, poked the used towels into the waste receptacle, and then grabbed the flashlight. As she turned to go back to the car, she heard something off to her left. Startled, she turned with the flashlight and glanced toward the sound.

The attack came from behind. A large hand covered her mouth. A muscular arm snaked around her waist and lifted her off the ground. Kicking her feet, glad she was wearing the heavy hiking boots, she connected with what felt like a man's knee. He cursed. She twisted and turned like a wild thing, spurred by panic and a fierce anger unlike anything she'd ever known. His hand was still over her mouth, but she felt the fatty part at the base of his thumb against her lips. She opened her mouth and bit down. Hard.

He cursed and pulled his hand free, but not before she tasted blood. It should have nauseated her-instead, it empowered her. He tightened his one-armed grip around her waist, but she brought her heel up between his legs-hard-and connected with soft tissue.

"Marc!" Her cry was almost drowned out by Reed's curses, but at least her a.s.sailant had lost his grip on her when she nailed him. She ended up on her hands and knees in the dirt. Freedom was mere inches away as she scrabbled for balance, shoved herself to her feet, slipped in loose gravel and went down on one knee.

You can do this Mandy. Don't let him win.

The pain knocked the breath from her lungs but the voice in her head gave her courage. She shoved forward again. Too late! He had a hand around her ankle and pulled, hard. She went down on her chest, her chin bouncing off the ground. She cried out as he landed on top of her, threw himself across her back, forced the air from her lungs. His arm went around her neck, tightened. He put more pressure against her throat, cutting off her air. Lights flashed behind her eyes and she thought of Marc's mom, dead and buried all these years because this b.a.s.t.a.r.d had strangled her.

She was not going to die. There was no way in h.e.l.l she'd ever put Marc through anything that awful. With that thought in mind, she went limp. Let him think she was unconscious. She was already close enough, but while he was gloating, she'd think of something.

Silently, Theo pulled in ahead of the silver Lexus-one of the benefits of driving an all-electric car. Ted was out of the vehicle in a heartbeat, weapon drawn, heart pounding. Their phones were set to vibrate, and Ted had turned off both Marc and Mandy's phones, but he'd gotten off a call to Jerry Russo the moment they spotted what had to be Steven Reed's car. With luck, Reed wouldn't have heard them pull in-if he was close to Marc and Mandy, the sound of the Tesla's tires rolling slowly over gravel on the shoulder of the road should have blended in with any ambient noise.

But how in the h.e.l.l had Reed known to come here? Supposedly he'd been locked up for more than three weeks-Ted didn't think they'd even confirmed a date to search up here at that point.

Except Marc had let his father know he suspected him of murder, had told him about Rockpile Road. Which meant that Reed probably had gone by the house in San Francisco, and when he realized no one was there, he knew exactly where to look for his son-at the same place where he'd buried Marc's mother.

A scream cut the night. Mandy! She'd cried out for Marc, which meant Reed had to have one of them. Theo took off like a shot with Ted on his heels. They went over the locked gate and raced down the dirt road toward the kids' impromptu campsite.

Marc crouched low behind a patch of deer brush. No phone, no gun, and that son of a b.i.t.c.h had Mandy. It was so frickin' dark he couldn't really tell what was going on, but there was no way in h.e.l.l he was going to let Reed hurt her again.

But getting himself killed wouldn't do either of them any good. He could barely make out the darker shadow that was his father, about halfway between Theo's car and the portable bathroom. He was dragging Mandy, so either she was unconscious or faking it. Knowing Mandy, he hoped like h.e.l.l she was faking, but it appeared his father was limping, so maybe she'd gotten in a blow of some kind.

He moved closer, staying behind whatever brush he could find until he was barely six feet from the man. His eyes had adjusted as well as they were going to, and he fingered the flashlight in his hand. It wasn't very heavy, so it wouldn't make much of a weapon, but it was a bright sucker. If he could get close enough to blind Reed, he might have a chance.

Except he was positive the man was armed. No way he would have come after them without a weapon. Marc moved a little closer. Reed was mumbling about something, but he couldn't make out any intelligible words beyond the occasional curse.

Faintly, in the distance, he caught the sound of a siren. Make that multiple sirens. Were they headed this way, or maybe to a fire somewhere? Except there was no reason for anyone to be looking for them up here, and there was no way to call for help. He'd realized right after Ted and Theo left that their phones were still in the Tesla. He hadn't told Mandy-hadn't wanted to make her nervous.

The sirens grew closer. He wished he knew the sounds of the different sirens, which were the sheriff's department, which ones belonged to fire, but they were definitely coming closer.

Would that make Reed nervous? Maybe not as attentive to his surroundings?

"d.a.m.n you!"

That was Mandy!

Marc grabbed the flashlight and turned it on full force, shining it directly at his father's eyes. Reed dropped Mandy and covered his eyes with his left hand, pulled his right arm up and fired without aiming, shooting toward the light. Except Marc wasn't there. The flashlight lay on the ground and Mandy was rolling to one side. His father fired wildly in all directions. Marc ducked down as a bullet whizzed by much too close to his ear.

Then he circled around in the opposite direction Mandy was moving as his father spun around, firing wildly. The moment Reed aimed in Mandy's direction, Marc jumped. He tackled his father from the left and knocked him to the ground, but the b.a.s.t.a.r.d didn't drop the gun. Reaching around his back, Marc got hold of his wrist and banged his arm against the rocky surface, but somehow his father twisted and managed to throw him.

Scrambling, still holding on to Reed's wrist, it quickly turned into a matter of brute strength. Fired by fear and whatever craziness drove him, Marc's father used his greater weight to pin Marc on his back. He wrapped his fingers across the front of Marc's throat, squeezing the breath from his lungs as Marc struggled to hang on to his father's gun arm.

But Reed was gaining-at least until Mandy raced back into the fight and kicked him in the side of the head. Momentarily stunned, he loosened his grip. Marc rolled free, gasping for air while Mandy went for the gun.

Reed pulled his arm out of her reach and lurched to his feet, winded, struggling to stay upright, but still hanging on to the gun in his hand. He held it and raised it slowly. "Which one first?" he asked. "Or does it really matter, since you're both going to die?"

Mandy turned and looked at Marc, and there was so much love in her eyes. Love and courage, and anger that his father might actually win this one. That was not going to happen. Marc felt a surge of strength and shot forward from his position on the ground, barreling against his father's knees, taking him down.

As he jumped, a light flared and a single shot rang out. The gun had been pointed at Mandy, but his father was the one on the ground. Steven Reed was not moving. Marc pushed himself away from his father's body as Mandy threw herself against him, holding him close and crying. Kissing his face over and over. Loving on him for all she was worth.

Ted and Theo raced across the open area, both of them with weapons drawn. Ted knelt and checked for Steven Reed's pulse, while Theo went down on his knees in the dirt and pulled Marc and Mandy into his arms, hugging them like there was no tomorrow.

"I was so afraid that b.a.s.t.a.r.d was going to win, but we couldn't see to shoot. It was so d.a.m.ned dark until we got that bright flash. d.a.m.n, I'm so glad you kids are okay." Theo's voice shook, and the emotion spilled over onto Marc.

"He's dead, Theo." Ted helped Mandy stand and then hugged her. "You okay?"

"I am. Thank you. We had no idea you were here."

Ted held his hand out to Marc and hauled him easily to his feet. Then he wrapped Marc in a hug as well.