Before the day’s end, she would get to the bottom of this.
* * *
Chris floated on the edge of consciousness, thoughts he couldn’t quite grasp drifting through his mind. A series of beeps came from somewhere in the distance. Voices, too. Female. One he didn’t recognize. The other was familiar. It sounded like Missy. Where was he? He should probably open his eyes, but they were so heavy. All he wanted to do was sleep.
His head hurt, though. So did his back. In fact, he felt stiff and achy all over. He forced his eyes open just as a woman hung a bag on a metal rack. It had clear fluid inside and a tube sticking out of the bottom. Like an IV bag. His gaze drifted back to the woman...to her eyes. She had kind eyes. Eyes that suddenly met his and widened.
“Well, look who decided to join us.”
Join who? Where was he? He studied the woman with the kind eyes, looking for answers. She was wearing a nurse’s uniform. Was she there for him?
Before he could ponder it further, she walked away and someone else stepped into his line of vision. Missy. He tried to look more fully in her direction, but couldn’t turn his head. What was stopping him? He reached to touch his neck, and his hand met hard plastic. Some kind of brace.
“How do you feel?”
He didn’t respond. Answering the simplest questions required too much concentration. “What happened?”
“You had an accident. But you’re going to be okay.”
An accident? Why couldn’t he remember?
“It was pretty bad,” Missy continued. “You drove out in front of a truck.”
An image flashed into his mind. Nothing before, nothing after. Just a single, disjointed memory—a very large grille right outside his driver’s side window. “I think... I think I remember.”
“Where were you going?”
“I don’t know.” He searched the pathways of his mind for the information she wanted. It was stored in there somewhere. He just had to find it. He would have left home—no, wait. He didn’t leave from home. He left from Missy’s, picked up his Blazer at BethAnn’s. And he was going to work. “I was headed to the store.”
Missy’s brows creased. “But you went straight. You didn’t go left toward Lakeland.”
“I don’t remember.” He tried to shift his position and grimaced.
She flashed him a sympathetic smile. “They’ve got you strapped to a spine board.”
“I think I’ve got a flat spot on the back of my head, and my wallet is permanently imprinted on my rear.”
“They’ve got to look at your X-rays and CAT scan before they let you off of it.”
“I’ve already had X-rays and a CAT scan?”
“You slept through them.”
The scrape of metal against metal cut their conversation short as the curtain was pulled back in its curved track. The same nurse appeared. “I have someone who needs to see you.”
She stepped aside, and a moment later, a uniformed deputy stood next to him. He held a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other.
“Do you feel up to answering a few questions?”
“I’ve had better days, but I think I can handle it.”
“I’ll try to make it as painless as possible.” The smile he flashed him was almost boyish. Actually, everything about him was boyish. Slightly chunky, with a roundish face, he looked like someone who should be delivering pizzas rather than traffic tickets. Except for the uniform.
He looked down at his clipboard. “I’ve already got your registration information, but I need to see your driver’s license.”
“I’m lying on it.”
“On second thought, we’ll save that for last. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“It’s kind of foggy. I’m not sure how much I can remember. I left where I was staying and was going to work.” Except Missy said he wasn’t headed toward Lakeland.
“And?” the deputy prompted.
Why did he go straight? Where was he going? “The brakes.” Suddenly he remembered. “I was coming up to the stop sign, and when I hit my brakes, they weren’t working. I went for the emergency brake, but by then I was already in the path of the truck.”
“I see.” The deputy wrote feverishly in his pad. “When did you last have your brakes worked on?”
“About a month ago. I had the rotors turned and new pads put on all four wheels.”
“Well, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and cite you for faulty equipment instead of running the stop sign.”
Suddenly Melissa gasped. “Dennis!”
Chris looked at her sharply.
“The last note said something about spilling the other man’s blood.”
She was right. There was no way to know for sure without checking his truck. But he would bet his last dollar the brake lines had been cut. Except there was one problem. “My Blazer was parked at BethAnn and Kevin’s all night.”
“Maybe he found me at BethAnn’s and saw your truck there. Or maybe he cut them at Mrs. Johnson’s, you know, just enough of a break for the fluid to leak out slowly, and it wasn’t until that last stop that the brakes actually failed.”
He nodded slowly, then filled the deputy in on all that had happened.
“Has a report been made on this?”
“Several of them. In fact, the Harmony Grove Police Department has all these notes in evidence.”
The deputy made several notations on his paperwork and put his pen back into his shirt pocket. “I’m going to hold on to this until we do some further investigating. I’ll be in touch.”
As soon as the deputy left, a doctor entered the room. At least, that’s who he assumed she was, with her white coat, clipboard and stethoscope around her neck. “Well, Mr. Jamison,” she began, “your X-rays look pretty good. You’re going to be quite sore for a few days, but there aren’t any fractures or dislocations. I am concerned about the head injury though, so I’m going to keep you overnight for observation.” She lowered the clipboard she had consulted and stepped closer to the bed. “We’ll be moving you to a room shortly. Meanwhile, are you ready to part with the neck brace and this comfortable board?”
“You have no idea.”
Once the board was gone and the doctor left the room, he reached for Missy’s hand. “I’m glad they got hold of you. It was nice to wake up and see your face.”
“Wellll...” She stretched out the word and hoisted both shoulders. The gesture was accompanied by a sheepish smile. “They didn’t exactly call me. I heard sirens after you left and had a really uneasy feeling. When you didn’t answer your phone, I had to make sure you were okay.”
He shook his head in disapproval. “You ladies and your women’s intuition. I should scold you for reneging on your promise. But under the circumstances, I guess it was understandable. So how bad was it?”
“It was bad. The driver’s side of your truck was so mangled, they had to pull you out the passenger’s side. That’s what they were doing when I got there. You were unconscious and covered in blood.” She shuddered at the memory. “I can’t believe you weren’t hurt worse.”
“I know. God was really watching out for me.”
Her jaw went slack. “You’re crediting God with taking care of you?”
“Don’t look so shocked. God isn’t just some distant, way-out-there God, you know. He’s close and personal and cares about every aspect of our lives.” His smile was teasing, but he meant every word.
She returned his grin. “That sounds vaguely familiar, like I’ve heard it before.”
“A wise lady once told me that, and I took it to heart.”
“She must have been very wise.”
“Very wise,” he repeated. “And very beautiful.”
Her eyes filled with emotion, and he longed to pul
l her closer, to wrap her in his arms and never let her go. But he tamped down the thought. He had said he would wait until she was ready, and whatever it took, he was going to keep that promise.
“So what are your plans for the rest of the day?”
She dropped his hand and looked at her watch. “I’m going to leave here and get back on my transcription.”
His stomach clenched, and dread settled in his chest. “You can’t go back there alone. If Dennis knows where you’ve gone, you’ll be in as much danger there as at the Tyler place.”
She thought for several moments. “I’ll find out what time Kevin will be home. He always starts early in the morning so he can be through before the worst heat of the day.” She scrolled through her contacts and put the phone to her ear. A short time later, she snapped it closed and dropped it back into her purse. “He’ll be home within the hour.”
He shook his head. “I still don’t like it. As soon as I get out of here, I’m moving you to my place.”
“And what about you? You can’t go back to Harmony Grove.”
Determination coursed through his veins. “I’m going to catch this guy, Missy.”
“I don’t want you to try to catch him. Let Alan and Tommy do it. You’re in more danger than I am.”
“How do you figure that?”
“He hasn’t even hinted at hurting me.”
He stifled a snort. “No, he just wants to kidnap you.”
“But he tried to kill you.”
He studied her for several moments, a ready argument on the tip of his tongue. But the concern in that pleading gaze softened his retort. If the tables were turned, he would have a fit about her going back. “I’ll have to think about it.”
She didn’t have a chance to object to his noncommittal answer. A male nurse entered the room and pulled the curtain fully open. “How about we move you to a real room with a real bed?”
“Sounds good.” He turned back to Missy. “Are you coming up?”
“By the time I find my way to my car and make it back to Harmony Grove, Kevin will be home. So I’m going to get back to work and let you get some rest.”
“I’ve had plenty of sleep,” he argued. “I was out for a good hour or two.” He once again snagged her hand.
“I’ll be back this evening.”
“I don’t know.” He affected a grave tone. “You think I’ll make it that long without you?”
A teasing smile touched her mouth. “Don’t worry—you won’t be alone. I’m sure someone will be in every hour to poke you or take your blood pressure.”
“Thanks for the encouragement, but that wasn’t the kind of attention I was hoping for.”
She waved with her free hand, and he released her.
It was going to be a long afternoon.
SEVENTEEN
Melissa pushed Chris down the hall in a hospital wheelchair, heels echoing against the vinyl tile.
“I don’t know why I have to leave in this thing.” He shifted in the chair and heaved a frustrated sigh. A day and a half in the hospital obviously hadn’t sat well with him. She had never seen him so antsy.
“Because letting you walk out of here is a liability. If you get dizzy and crack your head open, they don’t want to be sued.”
“Well, it makes me feel like an invalid.”
“Poor baby. A little humility is good for you.”
He craned his neck to look up at her. “Hey, I’m a humble enough guy.”
“Well, you were almost a dead guy.” She stopped in front of a bank of elevators and punched the down button. “But I’ve got some good news. On my way up here, I talked to Tommy, and they’ve found Dennis. He’s being taken in for questioning. So I can go back home, and you can, too.”
“I think we should go ahead with our plans until we know for sure everything is resolved.”
She wheeled him through the open elevator doors. Maybe he was right. Dennis had been picked up, and Tommy had lifted prints from the stable and sent them off to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. But the results hadn’t come back yet.
“All right,” she agreed. “We’ve got to pick up Smudge on the way home.” As soon as she’d gotten back to Harmony Grove the prior day, she and Kevin had taken him to Harmony Grove Pet Resort. “We also need to get you a rental car. Then we’ll get my stuff packed.” Making the move now seemed like an exercise in futility, but if it made Chris feel better, she would go along with it. At least he had agreed to stay away from Harmony Grove once he got her moved. Instead, he would be living with neighbors two doors down from the Lakeland house.
By the time they pulled into her driveway, the sun sat low in the sky. The hospital didn’t release Chris until midafternoon, and the rental car had just come back in and wasn’t quite ready. Even the pet resort was swamped; a full fifteen minutes passed before anyone was free to go to the back and retrieve Smudge. Then they had to go to BethAnn’s and repack everything they had unpacked two nights ago. Now that Smudge was being displaced, too, she needed to pick up his things, besides getting a few more items for herself.
Chris frowned at her, creases of tension lining his face. “Let’s make this quick. I really wanted to be away from here before now.”
She brought Smudge inside, then put Chris to work cleaning the litter box and gathering cat food while she tackled her clothes and personal belongings. When they stepped out the door with the last of the bags, the sun had long ago dipped beneath the horizon. She slid into the driver’s seat with Smudge in her arms and watched Chris place a bag of cans on the front floorboard. “What about the bag of dry cat food?”
“I got the cans together and forgot all about the dry. Lock the doors. I’ll be right back.”
Smudge settled onto her lap and started to purr. Once they left, he would have to lie in the passenger’s seat. But he wouldn’t be a problem; he wasn’t afraid of car rides. Actually, there wasn’t much Smudge was afraid of. Except Dennis.
The ringing of her cell phone interrupted her thoughts.
“Melissa, are you with Chris?” The voice belonged to Tommy Willis.
“Sort of. He’s inside. Why?”
“You guys need to leave. We got a match on the prints, and they don’t belong to Dennis.”
“They don’t? But who...”
Her voice trailed off as the metallic clicks of the locks drew her attention. But not for long because Smudge chose that moment to go berserk. He scrambled up the front of her and lunged for the window, making contact with a thud. Before she had a chance to react, he shot across the car and out the now open passenger door, disappearing in a flurry of fur and claws. She gasped and dropped the phone into her lap, grasping, too late, for the cat.
Then her gaze locked on one tanned, muscled arm, and she stopped breathing altogether. An elaborately inked bald eagle stared back, a wicked glint in its beady blue-black eyes. A wave of horror crashed down on her. She knew that tattoo. What the artist had intended as a symbol of strength, pride and power had for her become the embodiment of terror.
Eugene dropped a set of keys into the console and slid the rest of the way into the car, one hand braced against the inside edge of the seat. Muscles rippled and bulged beneath the inked design, bringing the malevolent creature to life. Panic spiraled through her, and she sat frozen—mute, paralyzed, her mind locked. When his other arm came around, her blood froze in her veins. That hand held a pistol.
“Hang up the phone.” The hushed whisper penetrated the fog, and her gaze dropped to her lap. Tommy was saying something, probably telling her that the prints belonged to one Eugene Holmes and detailing the rap sheet he had. She couldn’t make out the words. They wouldn’t have registered anyway, even if she held the phone to her ear. Her brain had shut down the instant her gaze locked on to that tattoo. She slowly closed the
phone.
Eugene touched the gun lightly to her shoulder and traced a line down her bare arm, leaving a tingling path, fire and ice at the same time. “My sweet Melissa. At last, our time is here. I have fought valiantly and won against all odds. And now I’m claiming my prize.”
She lifted her gaze, steeling herself for the rage simmering beneath that cool exterior. It wasn’t there. Instead, his eyes held a dull vacancy, as if the soul behind them was missing. He was completely insane.
She started to reach for her door handle, but froze as the pistol retraced its path up her arm. It came to rest against her right temple, and she dropped her hand to her side. “How did you find me?”
A glimmer of life flickered in his pale gray eyes. “My brother helped me. But you didn’t make it easy.”
His brother? She didn’t know he had a brother.
“You were meant to be with me.” His voice carried almost no inflection. “It’s your destiny. If I don’t help you fulfill it, I’m not deserving of you.” He glanced toward the house, and as he spoke, the pistol slowly followed his gaze. “I know now what is required of me. I must spill the other man’s blood. And when I do, remember, I’m doing it all for you. That is the depth of my love for you.”
The panic that careened through her system lodged in her mind, scattering her thoughts in a thousand different directions. She was trapped in a nightmare and couldn’t wake up. Eugene was going to kill Chris. Somehow, she had to stop him.
“Get ready.” The lifeless tone continued. “As soon as it’s done, we leave. Yesterday I failed. I searched half the night for his car, and when I heard sirens the next morning, I was sure my plan had worked. Tonight I won’t fail.”
She cast a frantic glance at the house. Lights were still on inside. But at any moment, it would fall into darkness, and Chris would step out the door.
Lord, please help me do this right.
She summoned her best powers of persuasion and jammed the key into the ignition. “We need to leave now. If you fire the gun, someone will try to stop us.”
The house went dark. Panic surged anew. She turned the key, and music from the CD player flooded the interior. Lord, help me, she pleaded again, and shoved the transmission into Reverse. Hard. Tires spun against gravel. The car lurched to a stop. Come on, let’s go, let’s go. She restarted the engine and backed toward the stable, pulse pounding in her ears. The front door swung open. She shoved the transmission into first and flew down the gravel drive, disappearing between the trees before Chris stepped onto the porch.
Midnight Shadows (Love Inspired Suspense) Page 17