She looked at Sara. “But then you were so alone that you welcomed anyone into your life. How hard that night was! I had to talk to someone like you about your despicable books and your petty problems. You’ve never known anything about true tragedy.”
Bella got out of the truck, went around the side and untied the rope around Sara’s waist. “The problem with murder is that you’re left with a body to dispose of. Howland was easy. I dropped pills in his drink, then covered his face. Everyone believed he’d killed himself.”
“Not me,” Sara whispered.
Bella pulled her from the truck. Sara barely managed to stand upright enough that she didn’t hit the side of the vehicle. Her legs gave way, but Bella caught her.
“Do you know what hell you put me through this week? Had I known about that skeleton, I would have blown up that damned hole with that freak in it.”
“Puck,” Sara said.
Bella was half dragging Sara through the open gate. “Yes. Her! Always spying, always hiding. She was beginning to suspect me. She—”
“You called the bank,” Sara said.
“Oh yes, that was me. I tried to warn you. Tried to save you from yourself but you and your little entourage wouldn’t take the hint. You filled my beautiful home—the one I’d worked so hard to get—with that riffraff. Scum of the earth. Howland’s death is your fault. Yours!”
They were standing at the edge of the pit. The rusty bars covering the opening and the vines were gone, cut away by the police in their investigation. It was just a big, open, deep hol
e in the ground.
“Who cared about some randy stable boy being shot? No one! But you had to stick your nose into it, didn’t you?”
“I—”
Bella put her hands on Sara’s shoulders, smiled into her face and gave her a push.
Sara fell backward into the hole. Her arms were too weak to flail. She just went down and down and down.
* * *
When Sara woke, she thought she was in heaven. A beautiful blond angel was leaning over her.
“You’re awake?”
She closed her eyes again. Every muscle in her body hurt. She could feel bruises. She just wanted to lie very, very still.
“I think you should wake up. We’ve both been asleep and from the look of the light, it’s been hours. We need to figure out how to get out of this place.”
Reluctantly, Sara opened her eyes. Straight above her, she could see a round circle of light, but it seemed far away.
“I checked and I don’t think any of your bones were broken. Didn’t mean to be so forward but circumstances merited it.”
“Chris.” Her memory was coming back to her—and with it, panic. “She—!”
He put his hand on her arm. “You need to worry about your injuries. See what you can and cannot move.”
With a nod, Sara obeyed. Starting at her toes, she worked upward. She could move all and nothing seemed to be broken. “Bella pushed me.”
“Me too.” Chris leaned against the wall of the pit. “She ran out in front of me. Poor horse bolted. Ran away. She said you’d fallen and she needed help getting you up. Of course I went with her.”
Sara was doing her best to try to sit up. “Then she shoved you.”
Chris nodded.
For the first time, Sara really looked at him. “How are you?”
“A bit smashed, I’m afraid. Cracked forearm, leg broken rather badly.”