Autumn's Game

by Mary Stone

  “Don’t look, sweetheart,” she murmured to the boy as she worked on his mother’s ropes. They were impossible. She needed a knife. “Just stay very still. We’ll get you out soon. It’s all over.”

  Behind her, Emily keened, and Autumn understood the sound well.

  Linus was gone.

  Autumn turned to find Emily bent over the body of her only child. “I was afraid, Linus. I was afraid of what he would do if you ever stood up to him. I’m sorry I didn’t do enough for you. I’m so sorry.”

  Very slowly, Gina Webster walked to Emily’s side and sank to her knees before pulling the older woman into her arms. A motherless child comforting a childless mother. Tears sprang into Autumn’s eyes.

  EMS surged in next. The hostages were freed, and the wounded loaded onto stretchers. Within minutes, the room was empty again.

  Well, almost.

  Linus Ashby lay where he had fallen.

  Footsteps pounded across the porch, then Winter appeared in the doorway.

  She looked so pale, and Autumn imagined her own face was equally bloodless.

  “I’m seriously going to kill you,” Winter spat.

  Autumn smiled. “I think you’ll need to get in line for that.”

  Winter entered the room, marching around the body. The expression on her face was so fierce that Autumn had a true moment of fear before she was wrapped in her best friend’s arms.

  “You scared me.”

  Autumn tried to pull away but couldn’t move and relaxed into the hug. She’d spent so many years avoiding touching others that it actually felt nice, if not a little too snug.

  “I scared me too.”

  Winter sniffed and finally let her go. “Don’t do it again.”

  Autumn wrapped an arm around her friend’s waist, and together, they left the cabin as the medical examiner arrived.

  The air was cold, but Autumn breathed it in, hoping it would replace the stench of death she’d just witnessed.

  “A life lost and a life gained,” she murmured.

  Winter elbowed her in the ribs. “I think that was officially five lives gained tonight. Your idiocy helped change their world.”

  Autumn elbowed her back, but she was smiling. “So, does that mean I only have six billion, nine hundred and ninety-four million to go?”

  35

  Autumn shifted her weight from side to side on the rigid plastic chair, trying to find a comfortable angle. The chairs in the pediatric ward’s waiting room were terrible, especially if your entire body already ached from being tense for days.

  Autumn got up, walking past the corner full of children’s toys and well-worn books to a coffee-pod machine next to a humming snack dispenser.

  She plunked a “vanilla latte” pod into the machine, put a cup under the dispenser, and pressed the lever. The only thing that could make waiting worse would be reporters, but they couldn’t get in past the locked entrance. The shift nurse had declared that they didn’t need to be on her floor tonight.

  Autumn waited for the machine to finish spluttering, then chucked her pod into the trash and took the cup with her back to her uncomfortable chair.

  Because of the early January sunsets, it seemed like the night had stretched out forever. It wasn’t even midnight by the time she’d reached the hospital. It was only ten o’clock.

  Autumn’s mind went back to other emergencies she’d survived. Time seemed to move in strange ways. There was the emergency itself, where time passed with every second packed with enough events to fill an hour. But during the aftermath, time turned into mush, either dragging or disappearing entirely. She wanted to stay alert until she found out what was going to happen to everyone, but it was hard. She wanted to close her eyes and sleep for a week.

  Sheriff Morton was also in the pediatric ward, waiting to find out how Gavin Carter was and talk to his mother. Bill Carter was in surgery to deal with the stab wound to his side. Carla was currently taking advantage of the locked ward doors to run the investigation without being interrupted. She spent most of her time on the phone, pacing back and forth.

  Abruptly, Carla ended the call. “We have an update on Bill Carter. Linus managed to miss any major organs so he should be just fine in a couple of weeks.”

  Autumn offered her a half-hearted high five. She was glad Bill Carter was okay. It was just hard to keep focused.

  Carla pocketed her phone and sat next to Autumn. “How you doing, kid?”

  “Okay, I guess.”

  “You look like you’re about to fall asleep.”

  Autumn raised her coffee cup. “I’m fine. How’s everyone else? How’s Gina?”

  “Other than the bottom being ripped out of her universe, she’s doing okay. She’s strong and tough, as she very well proved the past few days.” Carla rubbed her face with her hands. “Rich is thrilled that she’s going to be living with him. With time and some therapy, he hopes she’ll take some college courses and find a career that she loves.”

  “Has she been cleared as a possible aid to Linus’s crimes?”

  Carla clucked her tongue. “We still have to question her about any association.” When Autumn started to protest, she held up a hand. “Not tonight. I know it seems like an injustice after what she’s been through, but believe me, it’s for the best. In the court of public opinion, it’s guilty until proven innocent, and we need to get her statement and interview on the record or the reporters will tear her apart.”

  Autumn glared into her coffee. Reporters had already tried. They’d apparently found it romantic to have a Bonnie and Clyde situation to report on.

  Autumn rubbed the backs of her hands. “I just wish there had been another way to stop Linus.”

  Carla patted her knee. “I know it’s cynical of me to say so, but he’s better off dead. That boy wouldn’t have taken well to prison.”

  Autumn didn’t agree, but she wasn’t sure how to put that into words. “I also wish that so many innocents hadn’t had to witness his death.”

  “If I’m following where you’re going with this, let me cut to the chase. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Autumn. You didn’t make the call to have him shot. You didn’t even know about it. That was between me and Winter and the man who pulled the trigger.”

  Confession time. “I worked to get him in front of the open door.”

  Carla nodded. “Five people are alive right now because of a chain of events none of us expected. Did you know that Linus was in the process of making that little boy stab his mother when Gina ran off and hammered on that door?”

  Autumn’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”

  “As a heart attack. We managed to get a camera in between one of the boards so we could see everything going on inside that room. Linus had that knife in that boy’s hand and was pushing him toward his mother.”

  Autumn shuddered. “What else did I miss?”

  Carla smiled. “I’ll have to let you see the replay of Gina attacking Linus as soon as he opened the door, then you come charging in like a bull, tripping over Emily and nearly eating the floor. It would have been funny if we hadn’t been so scared at the time. I had to hold Winter down. Thought she was going to pummel me alive to get to you.”

  That made Autumn smile too. “She’s a good friend.”

  Carla nodded. “I can see that, and I want to give you a little of my own friendly advice. It’s okay for you to be relieved to be alive when someone else is dead.”

  That cut right through to the center of her pain. “I thought I was supposed to be the psychologist.”

  “You are, hon, but I’m the local sheriff. I’ve been the one who has to make the final call for over a decade now. I know about hard choices and what it feels like to be the one who walks away when the other guy doesn’t.”

  A little of the crushing guilt lifted away. “Thanks. I needed to hear that.”

  Carla pushed to her feet. “Even so, this was a rough one. At least Rich will be there to care for Gina now. I know he’s been fe
eling pretty low since we brought Mathers in. He’s being hard on himself for letting Gina end up in the foster system to start with, even though he was fighting for his own life at the time. Nobody can blame him.”

  Autumn smiled. “When I’m the president in twelve years, I’m going to fix the system.”

  Carla tipped an imaginary hat. “You’ve got my vote. I better head back to the office and start on the stack of paperwork waiting for me there.”

  Autumn groaned. “I have a stack of paperwork to finish myself.”

  “Call if you need me. Just remember, you did good.”

  After Carla was gone, Autumn finished her coffee before heading to Emily Ashby’s room. She had been brought in and stitched up and was being held for observation overnight. She was lucky too. Well, lucky physically. Emotionally?

  She knocked on the door. “May I come in?”

  Emily turned to face her. Her skin was as flat and colorless as paper. She had aged a decade in less than an hour. “Sure.”

  Autumn adjusted the chair next to Emily’s bed. “I’m so sorry about Linus.”

  “You tried.” Emily’s eyes were watery, but she wasn’t crying. “All them folks, they wanted him caught and killed if need be. They tell me you were the one who tried to understand him and tried to save him from himself. Nobody else saw my boy. You don’t need to be sorry. Just sad.”

  Autumn’s breath caught in her throat. “But—”

  Emily made a dismissive gesture with one hand. “I’m the one who needs to apologize. When you and Carla came to my door the first time, I should have listened instead of turning you all away. I should have remembered that Carla Morton was a good woman, if a hard one. I should have said something. Maybe my boy would be alive if I had.”

  Now, the tears spilled over.

  Autumn found a small box of tissues and handed it over. “If you’re looking for someone to blame, then blame Helen Mathers. She’s the one who emotionally damaged and manipulated him into this whole mess.”

  “I don’t understand it.” Emily lifted her hand in a stop gesture. “But don’t explain it to me. I don’t want to know. I don’t know the woman. I don’t want to understand what was going through her mind. It breaks my heart just to know what was in Linus’s.”

  “I understand.”

  “If anybody can, you might. If you tell me that she pushed Linus into doing what he did, I believe you. That’s enough. And I’ll be there in court every day when that woman is tried.”

  Emily blew her nose and left the tissue clutched in one hand.

  Autumn put the box back on the table. “I have to warn you that Helen Mathers might never see full justice for her role in the murders. The best we can hope for is that she’ll be convicted of her other charges. I do know that they’ll be interviewing her other fosters to see if other victims want to come forward.”

  Emily settled back into the bed and closed her eyes. “That’s fine by me. As long as something sticks.” One corner of her mouth twitched, tiny wrinkles pulling at her lips. “The world needs more justice.”

  Autumn couldn’t argue with that.

  It was after midnight when Autumn finally went downstairs to the hospital’s main entrance, struggling to remember where the car was parked. She dropped into one of the chairs in the lobby and pulled out her phone.

  When footsteps echoed from the hall, Autumn looked up. Walking across the lobby was Millie Laird, the social worker. She glanced at Autumn, did a double take, and changed course to sit in the chair next to her.

  Millie held out her hand. “Autumn Trent. Millie Laird? Do you remember me?”

  Autumn resigned herself to the flash of insight that would accompany the handshake. It was hard to cope with seeing the world through other people’s eyes when she was this tired. She shook Millie’s hand and got a flash of Lisa laying in her hospital bed. “Of course, I remember you. How are things going with Lisa? And Ashley?”

  Millie gave Autumn one of her wide, charming smiles. “Lisa has already been sent to be with Benji and Nicholas at a new foster home, one in Portland. We decided that they would be better off away from all of this. Helen’s trial will come up sooner or later, and they don’t need to be swamped with the constant reminders. And their new parents are pleased to have them. They’re just waiting for Ashley to be released so they can throw all four of them a welcome party.”

  “They’re going to be together?”

  Millie’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, yes! Would you believe it, the couple specifically begged for teenagers? They said that they couldn’t deal with diapers but hated their empty nest. They have two grown children, both of them with kids of their own and living on the other side of the country. Two college professors, one in IT and the other one in English.”

  “And Ashley?” Autumn prompted.

  “She was moved to a regular room this morning, and they think she’ll be able to go home in a couple more days.” She yawned unreservedly, rolling her shoulders and neck. “I’m going to take her out for a haircut, a new outfit, and a mani-pedi before she meets her new parents. We’re gonna do lunch and make sure we have our game plan in place, in case she doesn’t feel safe.”

  “What about therapy?”

  Millie smiled. “All four of them will be seeing a therapist, so don’t worry about that.” She pulled a business card out of her purse and scrawled a note on the back, handing it to Autumn. On the front was Millie’s name and number. On the back was: In case you’re worried about Ashley Franklin, Lisa Hill, Nicholas Barnes, and Benji (Benjamin) Young. Call anytime!

  Autumn smiled at how thoughtful Millie was and gave her a business card in return with her personal cell phone number on the back. She frowned at the word “Latham” on the front, but she’d worry about that at another time.

  They said their goodbyes, and when she checked her phone, there was a text from Winter she’d missed: Ready to go back to the motel? Where are you?

  Her thumbs flew over the screen. Yes! In the lobby.

  K. Stay put.

  A few minutes later, the elevator dinged and Winter appeared. She had taken off her bulletproof vest and seemed as cool and competent as she always did. Autumn knew that she was just as human as anybody—but also that she never let herself get distracted from her job.

  Except when it came to Justin.

  As Winter crossed the lobby and saw Autumn, the mask of professionalism fell for a second, and she smiled with relief. “I thought I lost you! I checked everywhere I could think of but the morgue. I didn’t think you’d want to see the body, but you never know.”

  Autumn grimaced. “No interest whatsoever, thanks. I’ve already seen it. Up close.”

  Sympathy transformed Winter’s face. “How are you? Mad at me for calling in a sniper? You look a bit traumatized.”

  “To be honest, I feel traumatized, but I’m not mad.” Autumn remembered what Emily Ashby had said. “Just sad.”

  “You handled it like a pro in the cabin. I realize you were too stunned at the time to notice, but Mike Shadley said so too.”

  Autumn’s shoulders sank. The exhaustion that had fallen away from her when she had talked to Carla was back again. “I just…I don’t feel like I did. Linus is dead. Emily feels like she betrayed him, and it’s going to be a long road back to recovery for Gina emotionally. If only we had stopped him earlier…”

  Autumn drifted into silence, her throat so tight she couldn’t speak.

  Winter sat next to her. “It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you lose someone, especially when they leave behind people who are suffering themselves. Your actions gave four kids a chance to live in a new home away from Helen Mathers. What you did meant that Helen Mathers will never be able to foster children again. Your instincts sent us back to that foster home. Your instincts found Linus. We’d all still be running around looking for Kyle Murphy if it wasn’t for you.”

  Autumn put a hand over her eyes as emotion flooded her once again. “I think I’m going to need a therapist o
f my own to work through the past few days. If there was one thing Adam was right about, it was that I still have issues about having been in foster care.”

  Winter handed her a tissue.

  Autumn blew her nose and wondered if what marked a professional law-enforcement officer was that they always had tissues.

  Winter yawned. “Talking to a good therapist is rarely a terrible idea.”

  Autumn laughed despite herself, snorting loudly. “Really? What a surprise.”

  “Seriously, Autumn. You were the one who got important information from Linus during that first call, and you were the one who convinced Emily to give us the location of that cabin.”

  “But Mike did it the smart way, with records.”

  “I’m not saying he didn’t. But if we’d had to stop and sort through all the records he pulled, we would have been too late to save the Carters. You maybe don’t have all the nerdy skills that Mike has yet, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t use the tools you knew to crack open the case. Without you, more people would be dead. Not fewer. And you should be proud of that.”

  Autumn’s stomach clenched. Pride in what she had done was a bridge too far to travel at the moment. “Let’s just go back to the motel, okay? I desperately need to sleep before I have to get up tomorrow and deal with the fallout.”

  Winter stood, then yawned so big that Autumn could see her tonsils.

  And of course, it was contagious.

  When they walked through the sliding doors, Autumn shivered from the sudden cold. It wasn’t cold cold, not East Coast cold, but it was definitely chilly.

  Once inside the rental, Winter started the engine, but before she put the vehicle into drive, she made a face. “I’ve been trying not to be pushy, but…you should really consider quitting Shadley and Latham and joining us at the FBI. It’d be a cut in pay, but I think we’re a better fit for you. Plus, you’d get away from Adam.”

  Autumn curled her lip. “I can handle Adam.”

  “I know you can, but even more than that, Shadley and Latham is about data, not thinking on your feet or using your intuition into how people think.”