Ricochet

by Christy Barritt

  “Perhaps you’d like to chat in my car then, somewhere more private?” The smug sound of his voice made it apparent that his words had the desired effect.

  Anger welled inside Molly. Derek wasn’t dangerous, so she wasn’t afraid to be alone with him, she simply had no desire to. Still, she didn’t want all the impressionable college-aged kids around here to overhear this conversation. Finally, she nodded. “Fine, I’ll talk to you in private, but, for the record, I don’t appreciate you coming here.”

  He nodded and started toward his car, waiting a beat for her to catch up with him. “Is there anywhere we could get some coffee?”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you. If we talk, we talk here.”

  “Fine then. We talk here.”

  She folded her arms over her chest. Why couldn’t Derek just leave her alone? She’d known that he was used to getting what he wanted, but did he really have to be this persistent? Did he really think he had any chance with Molly after the drug theft allegations he’d issued against her? They’d just been another way of trying to manipulate her.

  She would not make the same decisions her mother did. She wouldn’t turn to men as a way to fill the voids in her life. She wouldn’t make stupid decisions just so she could feel someone’s arms around her. She’d made that mistake once with Derek, but she wouldn’t make it again.

  “You’re looking good, Molly,” he said. “The sun and fresh air has been good for you, I see.”

  “Being away from you has been good for me.”

  “Come now, is that really necessary? I thought we had something good between us.” He tilted his head toward her in a way that Molly was sure he intended to look charming.

  “You thought that you trying to ruin my life equated to something good between us?”

  He laughed slowly, the sound filled with cockiness. “I wasn’t trying to ruin your life, dear. I was simply trying to get you to see how good we’d be together. You need some persuasion.”

  “You’re a doctor. You’re supposed to heal. Instead, you just corrupt those around you. It’s a disgrace.”

  His smile slipped, but only for a moment. “You’ve never minced words, have you?”

  “Not when I’m speaking the truth.”

  “Just one more thing to love about you.”

  Molly looked away, taking a deep breath as she tried to compose herself. Finally she dragged her eyes back up to meet Derek’s. “Derek, why are you really here?”

  “I told you. I want to take you back to Maryland with me.”

  “Back to the place where everyone thinks I stole drugs? Even if I’ve been cleared, you know some people will always doubt my innocence.”

  He shrugged, as if he didn’t have a care or concern in the world. “I’ve informed everyone that your drug test came back clean and you’re no longer under investigation. My influence and opinion go a long way.”

  “Have you?” Why did she doubt his words? Even if they were true, he’d done so not out of the goodness of his heart, but as a way to manipulate the situation.

  “I told you I could make it go away.”

  “Derek, there are a ton of women out there who would love to be with a handsome doctor. Why are you focused on me?”

  He reached over to touch her arm, but she jerked away. His arm fell to his side. “I just want you to see that we’d be perfect together.”

  “Hardly. We share none of the same values.”

  He shrugged again. “Minor detail.”

  Molly clamped her mouth shut. “We’re done, Derek. You’ve just proven to me over and over again that men aren’t trustworthy.”

  She turned on her heel and stomped back to her room, reminded once again by how easily people could be blinded by their weaknesses.

  FOURTEEN

  “So you’re going to call your friend with the forestry extension office?” Nick clarified with the sheriff as they made their way down the trail back toward the camp.

  “I’ll see if he can come out this week. I just want him to have a look at those trees, see if there’s any significance to what kind they are or the way they were cut. There’s no evidence that anything else has been planted in that area—not yet at least. Of course, there are other areas of the camp’s property that we need to look at.”

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “I’m going to see if I can fly over using one of the local crop-dusting planes. That would be the easiest and most time-efficient way.”

  “I agree. Maybe you’ll see something from up there that we can’t see from down here.”

  “Absolutely. That’s my hope.”

  Just as they emerged from the woods, Nick spotted the taillights of a black luxury sedan heading away from the camp. Who was that? Nick realized it was that doctor who had come looking for Molly last week. Why had he come back to the camp?

  Nick’s first thought was Molly. He hoped the doctor hadn’t upset her. He wanted nothing more than to rush toward the cafeteria and find her. But first he had to wrap up things with the sheriff.

  The sheriff turned to him as they stepped onto the gravel trail leading toward the cafeteria. “I’ll file the report. I know you’re ready to put all of this behind you.”

  “Been ready.”

  The sheriff looked in the distance before slowly nodding. “I think it was a smart thing to cancel camp until we find out what’s going on here. We don’t usually see incidents like this out here.”

  “Something shady is going on, that’s for sure. I appreciate all of your efforts, Sheriff.” Nick shook the sheriff’s hand as they went their separate ways.

  As soon as the sheriff disappeared into his cruiser, Nick hurried toward the cafeteria. He hoped he wouldn’t find Molly there, upset over the doctor’s visit. As the screen door slapped shut behind him, his gaze roamed the large room. Several of the college kids, including Cody and Laura, sat around at the tables talking. Molly was nowhere in sight, though.

  Nick approached Laura, who’d been watching him since he walked in. “Do you know where Molly is?”

  “She’s in her room. She didn’t look very happy.”

  “What happened?”

  Laura shrugged, her eyes still red-rimmed. “Some man came and they started arguing. Then Molly stormed inside and I haven’t seen her since. The man stayed around for a few more minutes until he finally left.”

  Nick clamped his mouth shut. Molly could talk to whomever she wanted, he realized. So why did he feel a surge of jealousy and protectiveness rush through him?

  He stomped down the hallway and knocked at her door. A moment later, the door opened and a red-eyed Molly stood there.

  “What’s wrong? Did that man do something to you?”

  She blinked. “That man?”

  “The doctor.”

  She stared at him and shook her head. “No, he’s gone. Hopefully for good.”

  Relief flooded through Nick. He wanted to reach out to her, but stopped himself. “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll be fine, Nick.”

  “I want to help.”

  She shook her head. “There’s nothing you can do. Nothing at all.”

  His heart seemed to stop. Fixing things was what he did best. Why wouldn’t Molly let him inside?

  He bit his lip. Is this what others felt around him? That there were walls that he wouldn’t let them past?

  Finally, he nodded. “I’m here if you need me.”

  She nodded, but her eyes looke
d listless. “Good night, Nick.”

  * * *

  Molly avoided Nick for the rest of the week.

  Just when Molly thought Nick respected her and was different from the other men who’d been in her life, she found out that he’d been snooping into her background. He didn’t trust her at all, did he? Nothing had changed since they’d broken up.

  And that thought made her heart heavy.

  She sat in the back of The Hill, where Gene’s funeral was being held. The sheriff had informed them this week that the official cause of death had been blunt force trauma to the head and the case went from missing persons to homicide. There were no suspects in his death, however.

  Molly watched as Nick fidgeted beside his mom at the front of the room. Despite her anger toward him, all she wanted at the moment was to tell him that everything would be okay. But she couldn’t do that. Not only was Nick off-limits, but the question remained: Would everything be okay? Someone had murdered Gene. The same person had most likely chased Nick and Molly through the woods. The camp was on the verge of being shut down. Everything didn’t seem all right by any stretch of the imagination.

  Poor Gene. She still remembered the sight of his dead body, the smell of death. No one deserved to die like that. And why? Why had someone killed Gene? As a means to shut down the camp? Had he discovered the downed trees? Or was he involved somehow?

  The funeral was a blur for Molly. Afterward, attendees gathered to chat quietly before heading to the graveside service. Molly hovered close to Cody and his friends, trying not to make the day any harder on Nick by upsetting his family with her presence.

  “Molly Hamilton?”

  Molly jerked her head up and saw a small woman, probably Molly’s age, standing at her side. She looked vaguely familiar. “That’s me.”

  “It’s Teresa Neville. We went to camp together way back when.”

  Teresa Neville. Molly remembered now. The woman had been a shy, slightly mousy girl who’d desperately needed a friend. “Teresa, how are you? It’s been a long time.”

  “I’m fine.” She wrung her hands together. “Can you believe I’m still here? Almost everyone from our camp days is gone now.”

  “The area’s a good place to be, though, isn’t it? Nick and I are back in the area also.”

  Her gaze cut to Nick. “You and Nick...?”

  Molly shook her head. “No, I didn’t mean it that way. We’re just working together at the camp. That’s it.”

  “Out of all the couples I knew who dated in high school, I always thought you two would be the ones who made it. You guys were just perfect together.”

  “Life sometimes turns out differently than what one might expect.”

  She laughed. “I still remember when the two of you sang that Sonny and Cher song at the talent show. You two were hilarious.”

  “You mean terrible.” Molly smiled at the memory of being carefree and goofy and in love. Her smile slipped, replaced with grief over the loss of what could have been.

  “Then we crowned you both the unofficial king and queen of Camp Hope Springs at the camp banquet at the end of the week.”

  “You even made crowns out of aluminum foil.” Molly chuckled. “I have great memories of that week.”

  “I do, too, thanks to you. I remember I wanted to go home after the first day. But you reached out to me and encouraged me to stick it out. I don’t think I ever thanked you for that.”

  “There’s no need for thanks. Sometimes people just need a little encouragement.”

  Teresa’s face turned serious. “It’s just terrible about Gene, isn’t it?” She lowered her voice. “I heard what happened. Not to speak ill of the dead.”

  “What did you hear?”

  She stepped closer. “Not to spread gossip, but rumor has it that he’d done a secret deal with Wendell to let him rent the land—he knew he couldn’t sell it. Wendell gave him a payment but then Gene changed his mind, said he couldn’t do it. Trouble is that Gene had already spent the money.”

  “How do you know all of this, Teresa?”

  She blushed. “Gene and I went on a few dates.”

  Molly digested the new information. Did Gene get himself in trouble financially? Did it get him killed? And was someone still terrorizing the camp as a way of getting even?

  As Molly chewed on the thought, she glanced over at Nick’s dad. Sweat covered the man’s forehead and his eyes looked glazed. Immediately, Molly’s instincts went on alert. She excused herself from her conversation with Teresa.

  “Mr. White, are you okay? You’re looking a little pale.”

  “Molly.” It almost looked like he tried to smile for a moment before his hand went to his chest. “Not feeling...too great.” Suddenly, the man slumped over, sending a paper fluttering to the ground. Molly caught him before he hit the floor.

  “Nick! Help me!”

  Nick looked over, concern flashing in his eyes as he rushed to them. Mrs. White glanced up and screamed at the same moment.

  Molly found Mr. White’s pulse. It was barely there.

  And then it was gone.

  “He’s having a heart attack. Get him on the floor. Lay him down. We’ve got to start CPR.”

  Nick lowered his father onto the floor of the multipurpose room. Mrs. White fell to her knees beside him, weeping as a crowd gathered around them.

  Molly got on her knees and positioned herself to begin chest compressions.

  “Someone call 9-1-1,” Molly shouted. “There’s an automated external defibrillator by the bathrooms. Someone grab it.”

  Two people rushed away from the scene. Molly continued to try and get Mr. White’s heart beating again. She prayed for God’s intervention in the matter. Nick knelt across from her and took his dad’s hand. She saw the worry etched into the lines around his eyes, on his forehead.

  “Is he going to be okay?”

  “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure he is, Nick,” she said.

  “Don’t let him die on us, Molly.” Mrs. White’s face looked sickly pale. “Please.”

  “Here’s the AED.” Someone dropped the device at her feet.

  Molly made eye contact with Nick. “Keep doing the chest compressions, Nick. I’m going to get the AED set up. You hear me?”

  Nick nodded and took over for her as she opened the AED case and pulled out the equipment that would shock Mr. White’s heart back to beating...she prayed, at least. She quickly hooked up the electrode pads to his chest. When everything was in place, she started the machine. After the first shock, she checked for Mr. White’s pulse.

  It was there, but faint.

  “His heart is beating again,” she told everyone. Relief felt palpable in the room.

  “An ambulance just pulled up,” someone shouted.

  At that moment, EMTs rushed into the room. Molly stepped back, grateful that Mr. White had stabilized. The next few minutes were a flurry of activity as the EMTs rushed Mr. White into the ambulance. Nick and his mom went with them.

  “Good work,” one of the EMTs muttered to Molly. “You probably just saved this man’s life.”

  Molly nodded, still shaken up by the whole thing. She helped save people’s lives every day as a nurse, but it always felt different when the person was someone you knew.

  Thank God he was okay. Thank God.

  As they carried him away, Molly looked at the ground and saw the paper that had fallen out of Mr. White’s hands. She reached down and pic
ked it up. Her eyes widened at the words she saw there.

  Death awaits.

  FIFTEEN

  It was past midnight when Nick got back to the camp. His tie was draped around the neck of his wrinkled shirt, he’d long since abandoned his sports jacket and he could feel the circles under his eyes.

  What a day.

  The good news was that his father was going to be okay. The doctor confirmed that he’d gone into cardiac arrest after the funeral but, thanks to Molly’s quick thinking, he’d stabilized.

  Nick needed to thank Molly. In the rush to get his father to the hospital, he’d forgotten. Then everything at the hospital had been a blur. Finally, his mother had sent him home to get some sleep. Thankfully, a friend from his parents’ church had offered to drive him back to camp.

  Molly... He shook his head at the thought of her. Would Molly even talk to him? It didn’t take a professional to see that she was avoiding him this week, but the question still remained, why? He had no idea what he’d done. What had happened to make her act like this? Something with Derek, but what? The whole situation just didn’t make sense to him.

  He’d thought that Molly had forgiven him, that maybe they could at least be friends. He knew he couldn’t ever expect more than that, because she’d never trust him again. If the woman had one thing it was self-respect.

  In some ways, being in Iraq had been easier than being back here on his home turf. How ironic was that, he thought with a disgruntled chuckle.

  The staff quarters were quiet when Nick slipped inside the darkened halls. Of course everyone was probably sleeping. It was late. Regardless, he tiptoed to Molly’s door and looked for light coming from underneath. All was dark. Though he’d expected her to be sleeping, disappointment still weighed on him.

  His thanks would have to wait until the morning. Still, the only thing he wanted at the moment was to be with Molly. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was for hurting her, how thankful he was that their paths had crossed again. How would she react when he shared his feelings?