The Past Life of Jane Scott (A Wild Cove Mystery Book 4) Read online

  Morris leans across the dashboard, his hands covered in blood, his revolver shaking in his grip.

  “Shoot, Morris!” Jane cries.

  “I'm waiting for a shot, I've only got two bullets left,” he groans.

  Now the second SUV comes into view up ahead. It had taken a shortcut and flew out of a side street not far from Wild Cove Hospital. Jane swerves the car and moves around the second SUV ahead, skidding in the process. The tires screech across the hot concrete and the blue Mustang continues further up the road.

  The first SUV comes alongside once again and opens fire. Jane smashes the blue Mustang into its side again to put the gunman off his aim. All the while Morris is leaning across the dashboard in front of Jane, his gun shaking in his hand, his face white.

  Bullets ricochet inside the car; two of the windows, including the windscreen, shatter and spray glass everywhere. Once more, the gunman in the SUV readies his aim.

  “Morris! Now!” shouts Jane.

  With one eye closed and the other trained on the sight of his revolver, Morris' hand finally stops shaking for one brief moment. In that second, he squeezes the trigger deftly. With one bullet, Morris gets it right. He wasn't aiming for the gunman. He was aiming for the driver. As the bullet impacts the driver, the SUV spins out of control and smashes into a red brick wall outside a small factory.

  Jane cheers. “Yes, Morris!”

  But there is no reply. Morris's body falls limply back into the passenger seat. Jane slams on the brakes, the second SUV racing ahead. Jane's car judders to a stop. She leans over and tries Morris's pulse but finds none. Morris was Sheriff of Wild Cove for just a single day, and it was his last.

  “No!!!” screams Jane, thumping the steering wheel in front of her in grief and rage. “No!!!”

  Terrified onlookers now fill the street to see what is going on. Jane sobs for the loss of her friend and colleague. Despite all her efforts, someone she cares about has died because of Robert Roe, and though it was not her fault she blames herself. If I'd never come to Wild Cove this would never have happened!

  A deep desire for revenge now overtakes Jane, and when she sees the other SUV up ahead, turning around on the road and pointing towards her car, she thinks: I will make them pay.

  Turning the ignition on the Mustang sputters and gargles, but it does not burst into life. The exertions of the chase have, at least temporarily, disabled the engine. But the engine of the black SUV up ahead is working very well. It revs and then drives at pace towards Jane in the blue Mustang. She turns the key once more. “I'm not leaving you, Morris...” she says under her breath, even though she knows he is dead.

  The car makes the same struggling noises, but Jane tries again and again to start it. With each turn of the key the black SUV closes in on her. It looks as though the solitary driver is equally filled with rage. Rage at Jane scuppering his plans back in Willow County, and now rage at Jane possessing the hard drive and its contents; information that will expose all of the members of Robert Roe.

  When Jane finally concedes that the engine will not start, she jumps out of the car and runs to the other side, opens the passenger door and then pulls at Morris' body. She will not let his body be mangled in a car wreck, not after his sacrifice. She pulls and heaves at his tall frame, the black SUV's engine now roaring in her ears.

  “I won't leave you...” she says to Morris' lifeless body, tears rolling down her cheeks as she pulls at his arm. It is too late. The black SUV and its driver are upon her. Onlookers scream and turn away, knowing they are about to witness Jane being crushed by her pursuer's car.

  But just as the black SUV is about to ram into Jane's car, another sound comes. It roars and growls from a side street like a lion, and before anyone knows what is going on, a bright red 1969 Ford Capri speeds out onto the road and slams into the side of the SUV. Metal grates against metal, the smell of burnt rubber and body paint fills the air, and when the smoke settles Jane looks on to see the black SUV stationary, the windows broken, the side caved in, and smoke emanating from a small fire in the back. At the same time, the crumpled, rusted body of Jack's red Ford Capri lies in front of Jane. From the smoky debris Jack emerges, dazed, from the driver's seat.

  He looks across at Jane, smiles, then looks at the remains of his car. “I just painted this...”

  Jane breathes a sigh of relief that Jack is alive, but her relief lasts only seconds. A gunshot sounds. Standing next to the black SUV is a tall man with brown hair and a grisly expression on his face. Blood trickling from a wound in his head. He is holding his gun in his hand and gruffly saying, “Give me the hard drive.”

  Glancing to the car seat, Jane sees her gun sitting out of reach. She is defenseless, and Jack is a sitting duck.

  The man in the black suit shouts. “Jane! Give me the hard drive!”

  “I don't have it.”

  Jane notices that Morris' gun is lying next to him, but is it in reach? Even if I get to it, I’ll only have one shot, she thinks.

  “You do have it! I know you got it from the backyard at Bill Carpenter's!” the gruff reply comes. He points the gun squarely at Jack. “If you don't give it to me, I'll blow his brains out.”

  “You're right, I do have the hard drive,” says Jane reluctantly, pulling the wrapped plastic bag from her pocket. “Here! For all the good it'll do you!” She throws it across at the man in black.

  The gruff gunman looks in the bag to see the hard drive and Bill Carpenter's note. “You don't win this time, Jane. Now, you die!”

  Just as the man readies his aim, Jane shouts, “I might die, but I'll still win.”

  A confused, worried expression darts across the gunman's face. “What do you mean?”

  “Remember Gareth Murphy's trailer?”

  “Yes...”

  Jane readies her bluff, one that she hopes will work. “You really should have done more to Gareth than just kill his cat,” says Jane, loudly, hearing the sound of several cars nearing. “Remember all that computer equipment he had? Quite the genius. I found the hard drive earlier and took it to him before meeting Morris at the Carpenters'. Gareth has now made several copies and sent them to newspapers, the police, the FBI and, ironically, Wild Cove Radio, so everyone can know that Robert Roe doesn't exist. That it's a code name for a group of law enforcement agents secretly running a people trafficking and drugs smuggling empire. Along with a nice list of its members; including you.”

  “No!” the man screams. “I'll kill you!” The gunman drops the bag to the ground and opens fire at Jane. But Jane has enraged him just enough with her bluff that his aim is wild and inaccurate. Jane's aim, however, is precise and true. She reaches over to Morris's body, grabs his gun, and fires low beneath the car door. She catches the man in black once in the leg and he falls to the ground, screaming in agony.

  Alongside Jane is the lifeless body of Morris, and, seeing his loyal and kind features once more, rage boils up inside of her. She rushes forward as several cars surround the scene. Doors open and people run towards Jane and the man in black on the ground.

  Jane reaches the man on the ground and points her gun at his head.

  “No, Jane!” It’s Pastor Callaghan, alongside Agent Ross and his FBI team. “That's not justice! That's revenge!”

  The man on the ground quivers in fear like a child. Jane leans towards him, drops the gun and says, “You're under arrest.”

  The man grins, “You're not sheriff anymore.”

  “I think we can forgo that little discrepancy for now,” says Agent Ross, loudly. “Sheriff Scott, read him his rights.”

  And she does.

  Just before the man is taken away by Agent Ross, she says loudly to him, “Oh, by the way, the whole thing about Gareth Murphy copying the hard drive and sending it to people?”

  “Yes?” the man says, wincing from pain as he is put on a stretcher.

  Jane leans over and whispers in his ear, “I was bluffing. This is the only copy.”

  The man with the
gruff voice no longer has the energy to scream or shout, no matter how much he wants to; he’s taken away in an ambulance, before being put in prison awaiting trial. Agent Ross will handle most of that, since the hard drive does reveal details of the trafficking ring and other nefarious crimes across three counties. As it turned out, Bill Carpenter had been working as a handler of sorts, delivering information between some of these groups. He had compiled the list in case he ever had to turn state's witness for protection. When they threatened to kill his wife if he didn't make a public broadcast about Jane, he hid the hard drive somewhere safe. Under the tulips had to suffice. By the time he made the broadcast Bill must have entered into a manic spin, ending his own life in the process due to the pressure.

  Interestingly, several of the people on the list were working in the Wild Cove police department and sheriff's office. Needless to say, Agent Ross arrested each and every one of them.

  Jane has never liked dressing in black; it reminded her too much of the funerals she had attended as a child. Now, she has just buried one of her friends, and is forced once more to wear such colors out of respect for those mourning. Morris' funeral, led by Pastor Callaghan, was a beautiful one, if such a thing can be said about loss. After the burial, people tell stories about him at Arthur's Bar on Main Street. Jane learns a lot of things about Morris that day that she had never heard before. How he was a high school wrestling legend in the county. How he enjoyed fishing and hunting. And that he had been taking dancing lessons for two years every Thursday night. Jane and Morris' colleagues have a good laugh about that one. How they wished Morris was still there to laugh with them.

  When the bar closes, Jack and Jane decide to walk back to the farmhouse. It takes them half an hour, but it is enough to sober Jack up. Jane, who recently drank more out of grief than she ever hoped to, had opted to turn a new leaf. As they enter the creaking old farmhouse, she turns to Jack. “Are you sure you can really handle dating a sheriff? It does mean no more getting arrested. I can't afford another scandal.”

  Jack looks into Jane's eyes. “I think I can handle it. But you should go easy on me; after all, I did save your life.”

  “Technically,” says Jane, “your Capri saved my life, and if your Mustang hadn't stopped working I wouldn't have needed saving.”

  “That's right; you owe me two cars!”

  They laugh momentarily. “Are you going to be okay? I know it's hard what happened to Morris... I mean, there's a lot of stress going back to being sheriff.”

  “I know,” says Jane. “But Wild Cove is my home, and I plan to protect it.”

  And it will be a home that Jane will have to protect one last time. For in the dark forests that surround the town, there are people gathering and plotting. They gather for one purpose, and one purpose only – to remove Jane's closest friend, Pastor Callaghan, from the town of Wild Cove forever. Only time will tell why...

  Also by Laura Greene

  Wild Cove Mystery Series

  Murder At Wild Cove Book 1

  Susan Dern is Missing Book 2

  The Demise of Tom Hendry Book 3

  The Hooded Figure Book 5

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  About the Author

  Laura Greene is an international bestselling Murder Mystery author. She loves the outdoors. Hiking, exploring new adventures in nature and spending time with her family make for some of her favorite moments in life. When she’s not writing a new Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, she loves to connect with her readers whom she considers her friends. Join Laura Greene on Facebook.