“Wade, we know where you are. You know as well as I do there’s a tracking device in the GPS of all your cars. We know you’re on Red Mountain. And we know who’s with you.”
Wade slowly pulled to a stop. They were only about a hundred feet below the summit. He sat there impassively. As if not knowing whether to go forward or turn back. Whether to reply or not. He closed his eyes.
“Wade, it’s all over now.” Warrick’s voice crackled in. “The people who were pressuring you are either dead or in custody. There’s no point getting yourself in any deeper. Or hurting people you care about. I spoke to someone named Hauck.” At the sound of his name, Dani’s insides soared. “He told me about Trey and those people in the balloon. Wade, I want you to stay where you are until we can get a car to you. Dani, can you hear me? Are you all right …?”
“Tell him I’m okay, Wade,” Dani said. “Please …”
Wade opened his eyes back up. His face seemed to have a different cast on it now. Like some doomed, trapped inevitability. Instead of nodding, he just put his foot back on the gas again and continued up the mountain.
“Wade, you can’t,” Dani pleaded. “They know. It’s over. There’s no point going forward.”
He just kept gunning the engine up to the last rise.
“Wade, I want you to answer me,” Sheriff Warrick said. “We’ve been friends a long time. You were always respectful to me, how things went, and I hope you always felt I was to you. I want to hear that Dani’s okay. You have to let her do that now, okay …?”
Wade ignored him and kept the SUV going forward.
“Wade, let me talk to him, please. Chief … Chief!” The reply button wasn’t on; there was no response. “Please, let me tell them that I’m okay and that you’ll wait for the other officers. I’ll be here with you. Kyle would want that, wouldn’t he?”
Wade pushed the accelerator up the last rise, his eyes narrowed ahead.
“Wade, please …?” Dani said, more firmly. The SUV picked up speed. “Wade!” she shouted, becoming scared he was about to do something crazy.
Finally they rose up over the last bumpy rise to the top of the mountain. The stars were close and bright. Millions of them. A canopy of lights. A thousand homes sparkling brightly on the valley floor. Wade traversed slowly over the ridges and rocky growths as what was left of the road came to a stop. Dani’s heart picked up. Wade pulled to within ten feet or so of the edge.
“Wade, please,” she begged. “I’m scared. Don’t!”
He stopped.
He swallowed slowly; Dani almost saw the lump in his throat crawl down his thick neck. He ran his hand across his scalp, knocking off his pride Stetson hat, and then when it fell in his lap, swatted it away in wordless rage into the backseat. He just sat there breathing, composed but heavy. Warrick kept saying, “Wade, Wade, answer me.”
Then he turned off the radio.
“I’ve done some bad things,” he said, staring forward.
“I know. I know you have, Wade. But it’s like with recovery, isn’t that what you always said? It’s never too little or too late. Let me tell them you’ll give yourself up.”
“I don’t mean just about Trey. And Rooster. Though I haven’t lost a minute of sleep over him. And those others …” He finally turned to her. “I never knew any of that was going to happen like it did. I swear.”
She looked at him. “I believe you, Wade.”
“I was talking about Judy,” he said. “Your mom.”
“What do you mean about Mom?”
He inhaled a deep breath that seemed like it had been inside him forever and then locked his hands behind his head. “She had time left. I don’t know how much. But time. You could have made it back to be with her. But I …” He stopped. “She was taking a lot of morphine then.”
Dani’s eyes grew wide and she didn’t understand. “What are you saying, Wade?”
“I took that from you, I know. Your last time with her. I increased her dosage. A lot. More than tripled it. She was in pain and I told myself I was doing the right thing. But we both know I was out of control back then. And scared. I was scared she wouldn’t die. I needed money to pay back a few things. My lawyer. Some people who I owed things to, who would speak up for me.” He swallowed again hard and then nodded as if finally making some peace with it himself. “You should’ve had that time.”
“What are you saying, Wade, you killed her?”
“I just put her in God’s hands, I told myself. But yes, you could say I did.”
Dani blinked. “I always hated myself for not being back with her.”
“I know you did.” He nodded. “But now you see. It was me. That’s why this seems right now. Now get out.”
A wave of anger rose up inside Dani. Now it was her turn to look at him. “What seems right? How could you have done that, Wade? She loved you.”
“Get out now, Danielle. Time’s up.” He took out his gun and cocked it back and pointed it squarely at her. “Walk over toward the edge. Sorry, but it doesn’t end like you wanted it to, Dani. It just doesn’t.” He lifted the automatic door locks.
“What are you going to do, Wade? The police are on their way up now.”
He said, “You want me to just shoot you here? I will. It’s pretty clear I have nothing else to lose. Now go on …”
Dani remained there rooted to her seat.
“Count of three. And don’t test me on this, Dani. Not this.”
Confused, nervous, Dani fumbled at the door. She stepped out and just looked back at him. The killer of her mom. An accessory in killing Trey. So many things became clear.
His face had a cast of doom on it.
“Now close it,” he said, keeping the gun on her and lowering the window. “Step back.”
“Wade, please …” Dani shut the door.
“Now start to walk over. To the ledge.”
Fear shot up in her. “What are you going to do to me, Wade?”
“Take a step, I said.” He kept the gun trained on her through the open window. “Go on.”