Page 23 of Calling His Bluff
He had to get to Josephine.
His eyes flew open, the fog clearing enough as he reached the sliding door handle on the van and flung it open. Jack knew even before he climbed out of the van that it was parked near the edge of one of the cliffs not far from town. The wind pummeled him. He grabbed the side of the van for support.
As dark as it was, he could see three ebony figures silhouetted against the vast ocean. He thought of the woman lying dead at the bottom of the cliffs earlier and saw what was about to happen as if the other had been a premonition.
As if in a nightmare, he yelled Josephine’s name into the wind, but knew at once he hadn’t been heard. The wind hampering his every step, the sharp scent of the Pacific making his head throb worse as he pushed his body into a run toward Josephine and the edge of the cliff.
It was a scene out of a nightmare. His legs weak and clumsy under him. He stumbled and almost fell. As he caught himself, he saw the gun lying on the ground. He quickly picked it up.
He wasn’t close enough he realized. His greatest fear was happening. He wouldn’t be able to save this woman he loved more than life. Jack realized he had no choice. Running at them might only make them throw her over the cliff before he could stop them.
Raising the gun, he fired the first shot. He’d learned to fire a weapon as a kid. His father told him he had a natural talent. He didn’t miss. He aimed for the men’s legs, shooting first the bigger man, Ernie, and then Nels, the son.
To his horror, he saw Ernie stagger forward a step, draggingJosphine with him. He fired again, this time aiming for the man’s head.
But before he could fire, Ernie disappeared over the edge of the cliff. His son still a few yards away.
Josephine was nowhere in sight.
-#-
Josephine had tried to keep Ernie talking, apologizing, then asking him about prison, anything to stall for time. Jack, she prayed was alive. If he regained consciousness…
It was such a long shot that she wasn’t betting on it. There would be no talking Ernie out of this, she could see that. But it was just her and Ernie now. Nels was apparently afraid of heights and refused to come any closer to the edge.
Ernie had a tight hold on her upper arm. He was losing patience, urging her closer and closer to the edge. Suddenlyhis fingers loosened as he let out a cry of pain and rocked forward toward the gaping abyss.
Josephine saw her chance and ripped Ernie’s fingers from her arm. He grabbed for her as he started to fall forward. In that instant, she fell back out of his reach. She watched him flail for a heartbeat before he disappeared from view.
Weak and shaken, she crawled away from the edge and struggled to her feet. Nels blindsided her, throwing himself at her before she could move. He let out a cry as if stung and reached for his thigh. She saw blood, confused as to what had happened as he grabbed for her.
He grabbed a handful of her shirt, looking and sounding hysterical as he tried to pull her toward the cliff’s overhang again. Both taken by surprise, Jack barreled into Nels, who still had a fistful of her shirt and was dragging her with them even closer to the deadly edge of the cliff.
Josephine felt the fabric rip just an instant before her feet reached the point of no return and fell back as Nels disappeared over the rim. Her hand shot out to grab Jack’s before he could follow Nels over the edge and drop to the rocky shore below.
Pulling him back to safety, Jack wrapped his arms around her as the wind shrieked around them. Breathing hard, they held tight to each other as the Pacific Ocean pounded the rocky shore below.
* * * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER 14
Jack couldn’t believe how close he’d come to losing Josephine. The memory of regaining consciousness to find her on the edge of that cliff with Ernie and Nels about to throw her over shook him to his core.
It gave him no satisfaction that he’d been right about her being a target. What had started with her aunt winning a bridal shop in a poker game and leaving it to her niece might have gone unnoticed if not for a small-town elderly woman who thought it made a great story.
The woman had no idea the story would go viral and get her murdered. Nels’ fingerprints had been found on a metal desk that hadn’t burned. He must have gone there thinking the woman knew Josephine and where he could find her. Instead, he’d had to silence the reporter and try to cover up the murder with a fire.
After that, Nels headed for Wild Rose Point. He’d made sure he got a job working for a local contractor who was doing some remodeling at Seaside Vows. Then he waited for his father to get out of prison and join him.
Jack couldn’t shake off the feeling that if he hadn’t followed his instincts and Josephine, he might have lost her for good. As it was, he almost had. He’d come out to the Oregon Coast worried about her, but more than anything, he’d hoped to win her back—at any cost.
They’d both almost lost their lives. As it was, they’d spent hours at the cop shop giving statements. Both Ernie and his son had died from their falls. But both also had been shot. Jack had wanted to kill them, but had only wounded them, praying it would stop them from pushing Josephine off the cliff.
It had been a gamble, something he knew only too well.
But as he knocked at the back door of Seaside Vows, he was about to take an even bigger gamble. He’d called and asked if he could come over. She’d sounded more like her old self than he’d felt after last night. But that was Josephine Bodine. She’d always been resilient, along with being the strongest, smartest, most beautiful woman he’d ever known.
He knocked again and heard footfalls on the stairs. A few moments later, the door swung open and Josphine stood framed in the opening.
