Hearts Divided (Cedar Cove #5.5)(55)

“Yes.”

“Can you reach the hands on the clock?”

“I don’t know. Gran, we need to get closer to the clock.”

“Closer to the dy***ite?” Winifred’s eyebrows winged upward.

“If we don’t find a way to disarm it, it’s not going to matter how close we are. The whole tower will be gone and us with it.”

Winifred nodded, clutching the phone in her bound hands, and rolled across the short expanse of bare wood floor after Chloe. Panting, both women struggled to their knees, their heads and shoulders even with the low window ledge where the clock sat.

“Gran, see if you can open the glass face.”

Winifred lifted her hands, set the phone carefully on the ledge and slipped the little brass hook free to swing open the round glass face.

“Done,” she murmured, her brow dotted with nervous perspiration. She picked up the phone and held it to Chloe’s ear.

“We have the glass open, Jake, and we can reach the hands.”

“This sounds too simple to work, Chloe, but it’s the only chance. I want you to tell Winifred to slowly move the minute hand back thirty minutes.”

“That’s it? Are you sure it’ll work?”

“I’m betting your life on it. And, Chloe, before you tell Winifred…I just want you to know, I love you.”

Tears gathered in her eyes. “I love you, too, Jake.”

“Tell Winifred to move the hands slowly.” His voice was rough with emotion.

“Gran, Jake wants you to move the minute hand backward—thirty minutes. Do it slowly.”

Winifred barely hesitated, drew a deep breath and, without a tremor in her fingers, lifted her bound hands and carefully, slowly, reversed the minute hand.

Both women held their breaths, waiting for an explosion. But the clock merely ticked steadily on.

“Chloe? Chloe!”

“I’m here, Jake. Gran did it—and the dy***ite didn’t go off.”

“Good. Now, get the hell out of there, as fast as you can. We’re in the parking lot. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Right.” Chloe looked at her grandmother. “Jake says to get out if we can.”

Winifred nodded, dropped the phone and clambered to her feet beside Chloe. Hampered by the hobbles on their ankles, they could only take tiny steps. They managed to reach the door, fumble it open and step onto the landing before they heard the sound of a car below. Doors slammed, feet pounded on the stairs.

Jake reached Chloe first, swinging her off her feet and slinging her over his shoulder. Gray picked up Winifred and followed close on Jake’s heels as he ran back down the stairs and out of the building. Sirens screamed; police cars and fire trucks drove across the lawn to join the campus police and surround the building.

Jake lowered Chloe to the grass and knelt beside her to run his hands over her face, down her arms, testing to be sure she was whole. Ignoring the many onlookers, he retrieved his knife and cut her bonds.

“I’m fine, Jake, honestly.” With difficulty, Chloe sat up. “Did the police catch Dodd?”

He lifted his head, looking swiftly at the surrounding chaos. “I doubt it.”

“He might still be here. He said he was going to watch the explosion from the tower at McGyver Hall.”

Jake’s eyes flared, and his face grew hard.

“Go, I’m fine.” She pushed at his arm, reading his unwillingness to leave her. “Gran’s here—and so is half the campus and most of the police and fire departments.”

“I’ll be back.” Jake pressed a quick, fierce kiss to her mouth and stood. Gray joined him and they ran toward McGyver Hall.

Moments later, Chloe and Winifred—whose ties had been released by a paramedic—were in the back seat of a police car. An officer had provided them with paper cups of hot coffee from a machine. They sat in semi-isolation, each cradling a cup while the organized chaos of a crime scene unfolded outside.

“Honey, I told you I wouldn’t mind a little excitement in my life, but this wasn’t exactly what I meant,” Winifred said, her eyes twinkling.

“Sorry, Gran.” Chloe studied her grandmother’s crumpled linen pantsuit and silk blouse. Her white curls were disheveled, but her eyes gleamed with energy. “Gran, I need some advice.”

“About what?”

“I think I’m in love with Jake.”

“And?” Winifred waited, clearly expecting more.

“I know he’s not active military anymore, but he’s a soldier at heart and he looks at life from a warrior’s viewpoint. And his job is dangerous.”

“And that’s a problem for you?” Winifred asked gently.

“I’m not sure. I’ve always chosen a quiet life.” Chloe waved a hand at the campus around them. “I picked an academic career filled with books and study. How will Jake and I manage to blend our lives?”

“My Richard was a warrior.”

Chloe felt her eyes widen. “Granddad? He was a sweetie.”

“Yes, he was,” Winifred agreed. “But he was also a warrior. I was a soldier’s bride, as you know, and he went away to war when we’d been married for just two months. I thought we knew each other so well—after all, we grew up together. But war changes a man, or maybe it’s fairer to say that war strips a man down to his very core. Richard was steel, solid steel. The bravest man I’ve ever known. But with me and the rest of his family, he was a teddy bear.” Winifred’s voice wavered and she paused, sipping her coffee. “We had a wonderful marriage, Chloe. More than fifty years, and though he’s been gone for six years, I miss him every day.”