“Maybe she was going to a different meeting.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you have a number I can reach you at later? To check in and find out if Cleo has gotten in touch with you?”
“I’m going to head over to Coronado for a while this evening—”
“You said you called the Del and Cleo was not there.”
“Oh, yeah. This is something else. I’m not even going down to the Del if she’s not there.”
“Where in Coronado will you be?”
“At the ferry landing meeting someone.”
“The ferry landing. Okay. Meeting someone to go shopping over there?”
“No, I’m just meeting someone.”
“Where at?”
Is he going to follow me? I hoped I wouldn’t have Homeland Security showing up during my plot to find out if Adam was really cheating on me. “Spyro’s Gyros. But it’s a personal matter. Nothing to do with Cleo.”
“I understand. Is there a number where I could reach you?”
I gave him my cell phone number, and the conversation abruptly ended with his command to tell Cleo to call him right away if I heard from her. I hung up with the shivers.
The meetings are in L.A.? I scanned my memory. I was almost certain that she’d said she was down here for a meeting when she got a call from the hospital and went to see Liam. But what if I’m mistaken? What was she down here for?
I worked halfheartedly until five, then began getting ready to meet Adam. I was not as into my scheme to trap him as I had been yesterday, and now I was more than a little worried about what was going on with my sister. I decided to call Liam, not for advice, but for plain old information.
“Hey, Lizzy, is everything okay?” he asked. “You never call me anymore.”
“Everything’s fine,” I lied. “I have a quick question for you, though.”
“Of course, and we need to have that talk, like you said in your note. We keep missing each other. And hey, what’s up with your car? How long are you going to leave it in the driveway? It gives me the creeps every time I pass it.”
“I know. I’m sorry. It kinda freaks me out, too.”
“So, soon then?”
“Soon, I promise. I’m waiting for the insurance stuff. And we’ll talk soon about the note, too. About the condo. For now though, I need you to look in your wallet and pull out your emergency card.”
“Um, okay. Just a sec,” he answered. “Okay, I’ve got it.”
“Can you read me the names listed on the ‘in an emergency’ part?”
“Sure. It’s your name, and it has your work number and cell number. I put it on there when we were still engaged. And I guess it makes sense to keep it that way since we’re still living together. I’ll change it when we sell the condo.”
“Anyone else?”
“What?”
“Who else is on there?”
He laughed a moment. “No one, Lizzy. You know those cards that come with new wallets have, like, no space.”
“You don’t have Cleo’s name on there?”
“Cleo? Why would I have her name on there? There wasn’t even enough room to list my parents. And if there were room, don’t you think I’d list them or my work or my friends before your sister?”
“But the hospital called her when they couldn’t get in touch with me.”
“I thought you called her. She came later.”
“No, she was there all night with you before I even showed up. You were unconscious.”
“Oh, seriously? I didn’t realize that.”
“I’m sure you had other things on your mind.”
“Like coming out of a coma. But I should thank her for coming over. That’s pretty nice of her, especially since she doesn’t even like me.”
“No, she likes you.”
“Please, Lizzy. There’s no need. It isn’t like it’s a big secret, and I don’t really blame her. She’s your sister. She’s protective of you.”
“Yeah. Thanks for the info.”
“Hey, is everything okay?”
“Sure,” I replied before hanging up, but it was a lie.
Why was Cleo called to the hospital? Why was she in San Diego? A sick feeling boiled in my stomach.
I checked my watch, and realized that if I were going to catch Adam and Crystal, I had to leave now. Of course, the issue with Adam was rapidly diminishing in importance, but it wasn’t like I could get hold of Cleo. I had a plan for the evening and if I were going to keep control over my life, I needed to follow through on my plan. It wasn’t as though I had anything else I could be doing, and to sit around waiting for the phone to ring would drive me crazy.
I walked to the ferry stop and looked around for Crystal, but she was nowhere in sight. I handed over a couple of bucks and boarded the ferry.
Crossing the bay, watching the lights of downtown begin to twinkle, I hugged myself as a chill ran through me. My stomach turned, and it was not caused by the waves.
Could Cleo have crashed into Liam?
I felt guilty even thinking about it. My best friend, my sister, my confidant. If she could have tried to hurt Liam—if she could have done something so evil—there was no hope for the world. She was one of the good guys. She spent every day translating for a government agency that had her helping to protect all Americans. She always came to my rescue, whether I needed an idea for an outfit, an ear to vent into, or someone to talk some sense into me. She was sensible. She would never try to hurt me. I’d give my life to protect her, and she’d do the same for me. I was not on her hit list—that was for certain. She might be the one in danger now, since she’d seemingly disappeared. I tried to shake the idea of her guilt, not sure if the idea of Cleo as criminal or victim was worse.
I’m overreacting, like Cleo always says I do. I tried to shake the feeling, shake the thoughts. Turning away from downtown and toward Coronado, I watched the island get closer. The ferry landing was already bustling with tourists and locals. I tried to take in the oncoming island but could not gather any thoughts other than those that insisted on my attention. Deep inside, I didn’t feel like I was overreacting. I felt like I was closing in.
But could Liam have been her planned hit? Could she have come to San Diego for the sole purpose of hurting him? Hurting him for hurting me?
She had gone to the hospital without being called, without any notification that Liam was there. And she’d lied about being on his emergency card. She hadn’t had a meeting in San Diego after all, and was in fact supposed to be in Los Angeles.
Even if she planned to come after Liam, she could’ve just been trying to scare him.
That didn’t make me feel any better about the situation. If she was the one who hit him, whether she meant to scare him or not, she’d almost killed him. Had she meant to hurt him? To kill him? To get him out of my way, so I could have the condo to myself and my life to myself?
This would mean that all this time I had been worried for my own safety, I was not a target after all. The accidents were unrelated. One angry author whose target was only Rain and one overly protective sister whose target was Liam. Unless…
I tried to think back. Had I ever mentioned S. Rain to Cleo? I must have. I’d complained all the time to Liam, and as he grew away from me, I must have turned to Cleo, venting the same way I did with pretty much every subject.
But Rain had been killed by an author. She had been found with a rejection letter.
But I’d complained to Cleo about my horrible boss who made my life miserable. And my horrible boss was killed when her car was purposely rammed.
I’d complained to Cleo about the roommate who broke my heart and made me feel like I could not move on. My roommate was almost killed when he was purposely rammed, albeit in my car.
I trembled. My teeth chattered and it was not because of the cold. The wind whipped my hair as we pulled up to the ferry landing.
Getting off, I almost lost my footing because of my nerves. I wa
s no longer angry or panicked about Adam and Crystal. I was too afraid of the new vision of my sister I’d conjured up.
Who else had I complained about? Jane? Sue? Were they still alive, or was Cleo on some kind of killing spree as I went forward with my superficial and spiteful spying on Adam?
“Adam!” I gasped, remembering my last voicemails to Cleo. I looked around for him, not sure of what I was expecting. He wasn’t driving right now, and Cleo would never know that he was on this date with Crystal. He was safe for the moment, but I needed to find him. Even if he were with Crystal, I would pull him away and talk to him, warn him. We could call the police together. After all, Adam and I weren’t committed. I was still living with my ex-fiancé, for heaven’s sake. All that mattered was that Adam was safe.
Then I saw him in the distance, sitting at a tiny table outside the Greek café. He was looking around, and it seemed that Crystal had not shown up yet. It was just as well. We needed to team up and get to the police post haste before Cleo got my message and before she found the newest subject of my venting, poor Adam. He might not be innocent, but his crime didn’t merit the death penalty either.
I was getting close to him when he spotted me. I was surprised that he didn’t seem panicked, but smiled and began to stand. He’d been expecting me, not Crystal. But who had set up this date if she hadn’t and I hadn’t?
I heard sirens in the distance, multiple sirens, edging closer. Then suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a red Corvette speeding far too fast for the tight parking lot in front of the ferry landing. The license plates were off the car, and the front bumper was smashed in. The sirens in the distance were quite close suddenly. A green kerchief and dark sunglasses covered the driver’s head and face, but I recognized the cheek structure and the long thick hair that I’d envied for most of my life.
Cleo was on the island. And she was on her way.
To Adam.
Still watching me, he didn’t even see Cleo coming. And Cleo, focused on Adam, didn’t see me coming.
I rushed toward him, toward his surprised face. He was smiling, laughing. A woman in the parking lot screamed as she jumped away from the Corvette that didn’t stop for her. Adam turned to look over his shoulder and saw the Corvette as it was speeding directly at him. His mouth dropped, the smile wiped away.
I broke into a full sprint toward him without thinking twice.
My body mass came in handy for once as I made contact with his strong chest, knocking him as far away as I could. Wheels squealed close or in the distance; it sounded like both at once. Red flashed in front of my eyes. Sirens whined and I hit the ground, feeling a horrendous pain shoot through my neck and down my entire body. I skidded across the cement, but even as my skin was tearing, the sting simply blended into the shocking pain throughout the rest of my body. My breath caught and my lungs seemed to collapse deep inside my core.
My body came to a halt with the sickening thud of my skull hitting the pavement.
There were shouts, screams, and sirens all around me. The smell of wet air and oil sank into my nostrils as I lay on the ground, the pain so great that my vision came and went.
Then there was silence. Blackness before my eyes. I realized I might have only seconds of consciousness left, but at the same time I felt certain this was not the end. I was not facing nothingness.
The pain cut across my shoulders, and I let myself escape into darkness.
CHAPTER 18
When I opened my eyes, I knew I wasn’t in hell. Everything was too clean and light. I couldn’t possibly be in heaven either, because I was in a hell of a lot of pain. My eyes wouldn’t focus, and I realized I didn’t have my contacts in around the same time that someone handed me my glasses.
“I didn’t know you wore glasses.”
The deep, warm voice flowed over me like a river of honey. Unless I was mistaken, it was Adam Mestas. I put on my glasses and focused on his handsome face. He wore a light bandage along the length of his arm.
He was smiling. He was safe.
Crystal was not at his side. He was at mine.
“I usually wear contacts,” I muttered, and it seemed new and difficult to speak.
“I like your glasses,” he replied. “They’re cute.” He kissed me on the forehead between my eyebrows.
“I felt that. That must mean I am alive.” My words were weak, as though I wasn’t sure that my assumption was accurate.
“Yeah, thank God,” Adam said. I heard Liam’s nervous chuckle behind him, but I didn’t peek around to find him. Adam rested a hand on my hand.
I coughed, gaining better control over my voice. “I was hit by a car.”
“You weren’t hit.”
“I tried to push you out of the way and then the car hit me.”
“You knocked me out of the way, and in the process went skidding across the pavement,” Adam said, petting my hand. When I looked at him, I could see his midnight eyes misting. “You saved my life, Eliza.”
“But everything hurts. I saw the car—”
“When you knocked me out of the way, you fell on your shoulder and broke your collarbone and your wrist. And your side is totally scraped up, too. Mine is, too, but I didn’t break anything. The driver saw you at the last minute and skidded. She just missed us and plowed into some trees and tables. But no one was hit.”
“But I was unconscious. That doesn’t come from broken bones.”
“You hit your head on the concrete. An ambulance brought you here, and I admit I was scared. But they did an EEG and you still had lots of brain waves and they said that this meant you weren’t, what did they say, comatose. They were almost certain you would wake up soon. In a day or so, they expected. No more than two. And that you’d be fine.”
“Has it been two days?”
“Not even a day. You’re an overachiever.” Adam smiled. I heard Liam laugh behind him again and I wondered how much they’d spoken during the hours that I’d been out.
“Is this ICU?” I asked, remembering the term from Liam’s recent visit.
“Yeah, but I think now that you’re awake, they’re probably going to move you to a regular room and then let you go home.”
I looked at the cast on my arm briefly and felt with my other hand for the brace at my shoulders. “Did they set these while I was unconscious?”
“Yeah. And it was probably a blessing in disguise that you were unconscious for that broken collarbone. The doctors said it’s the most painful bone to break.”
“Well, it sure hurts now. Did they give me drugs?”
Adam looked around, as though there might be a bottle of Vicodin sitting out just in case, and I smiled at his thoughtfulness. “I don’t know. Maybe you just tell them when you need drugs and they bring ’em. I’ll go get a nurse.”
“No, not yet. I just want to relax for a minute. Thanks for being here, Adam.”
“I wasn’t going home until I knew you were okay.”
It hurt, but I leaned forward so that I could see Liam, who was sitting in the chair against the wall. “And thank you, too, Liam, for being here.”
“No problem, Lizzy,” he muttered, but I suspected he might be getting a little bored with the whole hospital situation. I didn’t blame him. Didn’t I feel the exact same way after sitting with him for a few hours when our roles were reversed?
I looked around the room and asked, “Did anyone call Cleo?”
The moment I said her name, however, I saw a flash of her face behind the wheel of her Corvette, plowing towards Adam. Then the surprised, gaping mouth when she saw me appear next to her target. “Cleo!” I gasped.
“Um, she’s all right,” Liam said. “Don’t worry about her for now.”
Adam turned to him. “Come on. She deserves to know the truth.” He turned back to me to me. “Cleo was the one driving the car that tried to hit me, Eliza. I’m sorry. They think she is responsible for hitting Liam and your boss, too. Maybe even other people, but of course they can’t say much yet. Sh
e’s in police custody right now, being held without bail.”
Liam cut in, “Her lawyer said he wants her to plead not guilty at the arraignment, but that she hasn’t agreed. I’m not really sure what’s up with that. The lawyer wants to say it was an accident or something.”
“She hasn’t agreed to plead not guilty? Why not?”
“Probably because she is guilty,” Liam muttered, but Adam broke in.
“We’re not sure. Her lawyer just came in briefly to drop off those flowers on the table and see how you were doing. He said Cleo wanted to know how you were.”
“I—I need to talk to her. When’s her trial going to be?”
“She’ll have a preliminary hearing in a week or two, just to make sure they have enough evidence to hold her in jail for now.”
Jail. It blew me away. Cleo. My best friend. My little sister. The star. In jail.
“Did her lawyer say why she did this?” Then I remembered why she might have done it and didn’t want to discuss it further.
“He didn’t say. We were wondering that, too, though, Liam and I. We thought you might know something.”
“Maybe she was trying to look out for me. She knew when Rain upset me, when most anything made me anxious. Liam, after you and I began, um, drifting apart, Cleo became my new confidant.”
Liam spoke up, not impressed. “Thanks for talking smack about me behind my back.” There was the drama. There was the sarcasm. He was, after all, still in a cast, possibly because of this confidant of mine.
Adam responded to Liam before I could even think of a comeback. “Hey, man. Give her a break. It isn’t her fault that you’re hurt—it’s Cleo’s. And from what you’ve told me about your relationship with Eliza, you don’t seem like the kind of person she’d want to confide in anyway.”
Liam backed down under Adam’s quiet but firm voice. Or maybe it was his flashing eyes and the way he pushed a long ribbon of black hair away from his face. Adam was on my side. He was my champion.
Liam backed down. “Sorry, Lizzy. I guess you had more than enough to vent about.”
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