change in my appearance.
'In the supermarket I created quite a scene over some spoiled milk I'd bought several days before, and I had the receipt to prove it. People in the store at that time will remember me. I made sure of it.
'If the authorities inspect the cabin, it will appear that I've been there. Trash dating back several weeks. Fresh produce in the fridge. There's no TV, no radio, no computer with Internet, so I was completely out of touch with the outside world. I'd heard no news.
'Only when I returned to Texas did I learn that my demented brother had murdered three people during my absence! And he's dead, too! Oh, woe is me! I'm devastated!' He smiled smugly. 'You see? I've got it all covered.'
'It seems you do. Except for one thing. I'm still alive.'
'Not for long.'
'If you kill me now, the authorities will know Carl didn't do it.'
'Random act of violence,' he said flippantly. 'Two women left alone in a lake house. A deviant comes along.' He shrugged, leaving the rest unfinished.
'That would be awfully coincidental, Oren,' Berry said. 'I don't think any peace officer would believe that.'
'Any peace officer like your brawny Deputy Nyland?' he sneered.
'If anything happens to Mother and me now, you'll naturally be the prime suspect.'
'Nyland might suspect, but--'
'Nyland knows.'
They all jumped at the sound of the voice coming from the open doorway that connected the kitchen to the dining area. Berry nearly fainted with relief. Dodge stood there, his hands raised high above his head.
Oren squealed as he jabbed the barrel of the pistol against Berry's temple. 'I'll kill her!'
'No!' Dodge kept his hands in the air but frantically waved them. 'Please don't.'
He was red in the face and short of breath, as if he'd just run a mile before stepping through the doorway. His shirt was sticking to him with sweat. Berry shifted her eyes to her mother, who didn't seem all that surprised to see him, and, in that split second, she realized that, somehow or another, Caroline had known he would appear when they most needed him.
He said, 'I just want to talk to you, Oren.'
'Who are you?'
'Berry's father.'
Oren sputtered. 'That's not true. Jim Malone's dead. Do you think I'm stupid? You're a cop they sent in here to--'
'I'm not a cop, Oren. I'm Berry's father. And I don't think you're stupid. I know you're smart. Too smart to pull that trigger. Because as soon as you do, Nyland's going to take you out. He's former Army. Special Forces. The best of the badasses.
'And right now, he's got a rifle aimed at you that looks like it could blow your eye out from a mile away. If you kill Berry, he'll do it. The only reason he hasn't pulled the trigger yet is on the
Oren wet his lips and gripped the pistol more tightly. 'You're trying to trick me.'
'While you've got a pistol aimed at my only kid's head? No way.'
'She's not your kid.'
'She is. I left her in the hospital nursery the day she was born and only just reunited with her. Don't take her from me now. Please.'
'You're breaking my heart,' Oren said.
'All right. You don't care about us, think about yourself. Don't be foolish enough to think Nyland sent me in here to bargain with you. The man's a cowboy. He wants you dead. I had to fight my way past the son of a bitch to get in here. Thought I might get a bullet in the back at any second.'
'You're a cop.'
'I swear I'm not.'
'It's true, Oren,' Caroline said. 'He's Berry's birth father. He abandoned her just as he said.'
'I don't believe you.'
'Who else besides a desperate father would defy Nyland, huh?' He looked at Berry and changed the tone of his voice. 'You're bleeding. Does it hurt too bad?'
'No. I'm okay.'
'Shut up! Shut up!' Oren said shrilly. 'I'm not falling for this.'
'Please,' Dodge implored. 'Don't harm my baby.' Suddenly, he grimaced and sucked in a wheezing breath. Exhaling it slowly, he said, 'Nyland is so pissing mad at me right now, he'll probably shoot me, too. But if you kill my daughter and Caroline...' His gaze shifted to her and stayed for several seconds. Then, back to Oren, he said, 'If you harm them, I'd just as soon die.'
Out the corner of her eye, Berry could see Oren in profile. His face was greasy with sweat. She could feel his nervous tension, his indecision. His bravado had vanished. She could smell his fear that what Dodge was telling him was true.
Dodge took a few steps toward them, but Oren dug the barrel of the pistol into her temple, and Dodge halted immediately. 'Okay, okay,' he said quickly. 'I won't come any closer. But if you want to live, Oren, you gotta surrender.'
'No!' He gave his head a stubborn shake, like a child refusing to eat his vegetables.
'Now's not the time to get stupid, Oren. Nyland found out about your brother, figured you'd come after Berry. He's got this place...' Dodge winced. His breath caught.
'Dodge?' Caroline stood up abruptly. Oren shouted for her to sit back down, and she did, but remained perched on the edge of the sofa, her eyes worriedly fixed on Dodge.
'I'm all right,' he said, patting the air. 'Just winded from fighting off Nyland.' Looking back at Oren, he said, 'The house is surrounded. Nyland was the first here. He saw you through the windows. Saw you holding that gun to Berry's head. He's got the whole sheriff's department, Texas Rangers, every uniform he can think of, in position and armed to the teeth. All of them want a crack at you so bad, they're hyperventilating.'
He cast a guilty glance toward the front windows. 'Of course, I'm not supposed to be telling you that. Just hear this, Oren, and hear me good. You can't possibly escape. Come on. Let Berry go. Release her and Caroline. Give yourself up.'
'I told you no!'
'All right. Don't surrender. I'll be your hostage. I'll help get you out of here in one piece. I'll negotiate--' He broke off as he gave a sharp cry and clapped his right hand over his left shoulder. Bending double, he staggered several feet forward. As he did, he pulled his pistol from the holster at the small of his back.
But it was of no use to him. When he pitched forward and fell to the floor in obvious agony, the pistol dropped from his listless hand and slid across the hardwood.
Caroline, ignoring Oren's warning shout, launched off the sofa and flung herself down over Dodge, calling his name repeatedly.
Berry screamed, 'Mother! Dodge!'
Oren, frantic at having lost control of the situation, pushed Berry aside and kicked
