****
Rubbing his hands together, Trent quickly re-entered the drugstore, seeing Jeb standing at the front window watching her car drive away.
“You couldn’t convince her stay, huh?”
“No. She says she’s headed to Butte to pick her fiancé up from the airport in the morning. I hope she beats the storm. I don’t think that little car of hers was meant to handle a Montana blizzard.”
“She doesn’t look like she’s ready for a Montana winter. That girl didn’t even have a coat on.”
Trent’s radar was still going off. Something here just wasn’t right. “Hey Jeb, let me see that credit card receipt she signed.”
Jeb looked at Trent, wondering what was going through his head, but opened the drawer and took out the receipt. Glancing at her signature, he read, “Sara Brownell.”
Trent took the offered receipt and a notepad from his pocket. Jotting down her license plate number, he added her name and then pocketed the pad and the pen. “I’m gonna go back over to the office and check a couple of things out real quick. I’ll see you later on.”
“You gonna run that girl through the system?” Jeb asked.
“I’m gonna go run the plates first. Make sure the vehicle’s registered to her and that everything’s in order.”
Jeb nodded and said, “I hope you don’t find that girl’s in any trouble. I get the sense that she’s had it pretty rough recently.”
Trent didn’t reply. He would reserve his comments until after he had some facts. His gut told him that she was in trouble; what sort, he aimed to find out.
Chapter 2
Sara had almost made it back to the highway when another coughing fit struck. This one was the worst yet and she had no choice but to pull off the side of the road and place her car into park. Holding her chest, she tried desperately to stop the coughing. Knowing there was no one around to see, she gave free rein to the tears that came with the agonizing pain. As the coughing fit stopped, she pushed the driver’s seat back a little and pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to hold herself together.
Sara leaned her head back and closed her eyes, trying to take slow, calm breaths so it didn’t hurt as badly. Finally able to breathe easier, she opened the bottle of cough syrup and took several small sips. Washing it down with the rest of the bottled water the storeowner had given her, she closed her eyes again and waited for the medicine to begin to work.
“God, I don’t know if you’re there, or if you even care, but I need a miracle. I know it’s the Christmas season and all, but I’m scared and I don’t know what to do anymore.” Taking a deep breath, Sara tried to clear her mind and push back the panic that had been prominent for the last several days.
She was in Montana, not California, and David Patterson was nowhere around. She would be successful in finding a place to hide. She just needed to get back on the highway. Opening her eyes, she started to sit up, only to sink back down again as the urge to cough made itself known. Maybe another few minutes wouldn’t hurt. She would just sit here and take a small rest. Turning the ignition off, she grabbed a blanket from the backseat and wrapped it around her to keep warm. Leaning her head back against the seat, she allowed her eyes to close as she concentrated on keeping her breathing slow and even.
****
Trent fixed himself a cup of coffee as he waited for the license plate information to come back on his computer. He was hoping to find nothing, but his gut told him that would probably not be the case.
Seeing the message indicator start flashing, he returned to his desk and took a sip of his coffee before clicking the screen open. As the information came up on the screen, he sat up straight and cursed. The car was registered to one David Patterson, who had been attacked two days prior and his car reported stolen. His new bride, Sara Brownell, was wanted for questioning in the attack and theft.
That little gal had attacked a full grown man and stolen his car? Again, his radar was going off. He quickly ran another search on Sara Brownell and wasn’t surprised to find that she was squeaky clean. Not even a parking ticket was tied to her name.
On a hunch, he ran her groom’s name through the same database. Checking the time, he saw that less than 10 minutes had passed since she had pulled away from the drugstore. She couldn’t have gotten far. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but something in his gut told him it was imperative that he find her and bring her back to town. She needed help and he was the only one in a position to help her at this point.
As the search came back for David Patterson, his fears were confirmed. It wasn’t that he had a long record, or even any arrests, but the yellow flag on the account identified him as a person of interest with the feds and that meant there was more to this situation than at first appeared.
Grabbing his coat and hat, he sprinted for the jeep parked out front and headed towards the highway. He didn’t even take time to tell Becky, his secretary, goodbye. Sara was in trouble and although he couldn’t sanction her having stolen a car, he wanted to be the one to bring her in and see if he could help her in any way. She didn’t seem like a criminal to him, but it was his duty to enforce the law. He would find her, and then make a few phone calls and see what other information he could obtain on her groom.
As he neared the entrance to the highway, he spotted her vehicle pulled off to the side of the road. Slowing down, he parked behind the vehicle and noticed that it wasn’t running. Cursing again, he climbed out of the jeep and approached the driver’s side door. The windows had become fogged up, but he could see her huddled underneath one of the blankets on the front seat.
Not wanting to startle her, but needing to get her attention, he called her name several times, but she didn’t seem to hear him. When tapping on the window didn’t get her attention either, he tried the door, finding it unlocked. Didn’t she have any sense of self-preservation? He definitely needed to have a conversation with her about safety.
Opening the car door, he noticed the car was still warm inside, but Sara didn’t stir. Reaching inside, he placed his hand on her head, and then on her neck, looking for a pulse. Her forehead was clammy and even though she was shivering, she was sweating profusely. Her pulse was strong, but as another cough wracked her body, he could see that she was unconscious. Whether by exhaustion or illness, Sara Brownell was a danger to herself as well as others as long as she remained behind the wheel of a car.
Carefully lifting her into his arms, he tucked the blanket around her, carried her to his jeep, and buckled her into the passenger seat. Returning to her vehicle, he grabbed her purse and the small duffel bag from the back seat and then turned on the car’s emergency flashers. Sprinting back to the driver’s side, he jumped in and headed back to town. Getting on the radio, he contacted Becky, “Get in touch with Dr. Baker and tell him I’m bringing over a young woman. She’s been coughing for several days and appears to be running a fever. She’s passed out cold. Tell him I’ll be at his clinic in 15 minutes.”
“Will do. Is there anything else I can do?”
“Yeah, will you get a hold of Jim over at the filling station and have him come tow her care back to town. It’s pulled off the road about a mile from the highway entrance. Silver Camry with California plates. I turned the flashers on and the key is under the floor mat.”
“I’ve got it. Where do you want him to tow it?”
“Have him park it over at his place for now. I’ll call him later and give him further instructions.”
“Okay. Good luck.”
Trent looked over at his passenger, still passed out cold and a wave of tenderness passed over him. He didn’t know what it was about this woman, but he felt a need to protect her. Seeing her start to stir, he reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Sara, can you hear me?”
Sara felt warmth and for the first time in days, she didn’t feel the urge to cough as she took in a slow, deep breath. Her ribs still felt tender, but the agonizing pain was gone. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw t
hat she was in a moving vehicle and immediately tried to sit up as panic assailed her.
“Shush, you’re okay. Just sit back and relax. I’m taking you to see Dr. Baker and then we’ll get everything else sorted out.”
Turning her head to locate the source of the voice, she found herself sinking in the warm gaze of the sheriff, Trent Harding. “Where…,” swallowing, she tried again, “Where am I?”
“I found you parked off the side of the road. You’re in my jeep and I’m taking you back to town so Dr. Baker can look at you. You’re running a fever and were passed out in your car.”
Sara shook her head, “I don’t need to see a doctor. I was just resting. I took some of the cough medicine and was waiting for it to start working before I got back on the highway. I didn’t want to risk having an accident if I started coughing again.”
“Well, I’ll feel better after Dr. Baker takes a look. Sara, I ran the plates on the car.” Trent paused and watched for her reaction as he made this statement. Instead of guilt or even remorse, he saw immediate fear and panic take over.
Trent had trained at the FBI facility in Quantico for several months prior to returning to his hometown. The bureaucracy of the federal government had been more than he could stomach. He had no doubt in his mind that he would have made a fine profiler and field agent, but Castle Peaks was home, and it suited him just fine.
His training came in useful at times like these, as he evaluated her response to him having checked up on her. Sara was scared, and not because she had stolen her husband’s car.
Sara tried to sit up again. She had to convince him to let her go. “The car’s not mine. It belongs to my fiancé.”
Trent gave her a sideways glance, before saying, “Is your fiancé in the habit of reporting his car stolen when he lets you borrow it?”
David had reported his car stolen. Great! “His car was reported stolen?”
“Yep. And, according to the California Highway Patrol records, someone going by the name of Sara Brownell is the prime suspect. Oh, and she’s also wanted for questioning in the attack of David Patterson, the owner of the car.”
Sara sank back into the seat. She watched Trent for a minute before asking, “Have you reported in that you found me, yet?”
Trent shook his head, trying to figure out why she was asking. Sara reached out and grabbed his arm, “Please don’t. Please don’t tell anyone that I’m here. He’ll know soon enough because I bought the cough syrup, but please, just take me back to my car and let me go. I didn’t steal his car and I can’t go back to San Francisco.” Sara knew she was begging, but Trent was her only hope. As she finished her plea, another bout of coughing took over and she hugged her ribs, trying to keep the pain from stealing her self-control.
Trent pulled up in front of the medical clinic and turned the jeep off. Turning to look at her, he placed his hand on her back and rubbed slow circles until the coughing fit eased. Murmuring to himself, he asked, “What are you mixed up in?”
Sara had heard his question, but just shook her head and kept her eyes looking down at her lap. She couldn’t go into the details. Who would believe her?
“Let’s go see Dr. Baker and then we’ll sort the rest of this out.”
Chapter 3
“Thanks for meeting us here, doctor,” Sara told the man who had tenderly examined her ribs and then taken an x-ray to assure himself none were broken. She knew he had seen the bruises, but had allowed her to brush them off as a silly accident.
“No problem. Now, young lady, I’ve filled your antibiotic and cough syrup prescriptions. It may take a day or two before you start feeling real good, but the coughing should be controlled in the meantime. Those ribs are gonna be tender for days to come. Don’t do any heavy lifting and take it easy. Rest is the best thing for you right now.”
Sara glanced at the doctor and felt like crying. He had been so kind to her. Holding back her emotions, she shook his hand, “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.”
“Yes, well – about those bruises…”
“Doctor, I’ll be fine. I don’t even notice them much now, just when I cough.” Sara knew that Dr. Baker hadn’t believed her story about how she had come by those bruises. Thinking back on the incident, she had trouble believing she had been so clumsy. Deciding it was probably best to end his questions right now, she asked, “How much do I owe you?”
Dr. Baker knew full well that the little gal was trying to change the subject. Giving her another examining look, he decided she had all she could handle right now. Whomever had been responsible for her previous injuries was no longer a threat, and he knew without a doubt that Trent would not only be digging into her situation, but protecting her in the interim was a given.
“Well, my office gal isn’t here right now. She does all the insurance filing and such. Do you have your insurance card? I’ll just take a photocopy of it and have her straighten it all out when she comes in tomorrow morning.”
Sara dug in her purse for the card and handed it to him. She hoped that it would take several days for the claim to be processed. It wouldn’t bode well for her if David knew where she was and that she was ill. Even now, his henchmen were probably en route to Montana to get her.
Dr. Baker took the card and left the exam room to make a copy. Seeing Trent pacing in the waiting area, he motioned him over and asked, “Where’d you say you found her?”
“She came into the drugstore looking for some cough syrup and things just seemed off. She said she was heading to Butte to pick up her fiancé at the airport tomorrow. When I ran the plates on the car she’s driving, the car’s been reported stolen and the owner says he was attacked during the theft. She panicked when I told her I had run the plates.”
“She does seem rather anxious. Are you going to arrest her?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I want to talk with her and get her side of the story. Something’s not right.”
“She’s a beautiful young woman. It doesn’t set very well with me if someone’s trying to cause her harm,” said Dr. Baker.
“Me either. There’s something about her that just gets to me.” Trent shook his head, knowing that Dr. Baker was liable to start examining him next. As the town’s most eligible bachelor, Trent had made it clear to all of the town’s proud mamas that he didn’t intend to settle down anytime soon and they should set their sights on other young men as future sons-in-law.
At the age of twenty-nine, Trent was comfortable with his life. Sure, he dreamed of someday having a family and a couple of kids, but he was in no hurry. He had seen too many of his close friends rush into things, only to see the relationship end in failure before it could reach the two year mark. He wanted to do it once and do it right.
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but in light of the information you found out, you should know she’s got some rather suspicious bruising. The marks on her upper arm look like someone grabbed her pretty hard, and there’s another bruise on her back and one on her thigh indicating she either took a nasty fall or was struck.”
Trent immediately saw red at the idea of someone hurting the woman sitting in the next room. In his book, there was never a justifiable reason to hurt a woman, and anyone caught doing so on his watch had better run for cover.
“Did you ask her about the marks?”
“Yes and she got very defensive. She told me that she had fallen down the stairs at work and that they actually looked much better.” Dr. Baker looked at Trent and shook his head, “I’ve seen a lot of bruises, and those can’t be more than a couple of days old.”
“Okay, I’ll see if I can get anymore information out of her. I’m holding the cards right now.”
“I’ll bring her back out front.”
“Thanks.”
Sara finished dressing and was ready to leave when Dr. Baker came back in with her insurance card. “Here you go. Trent’s waiting out front for you. You make sure you take that entire prescription of antibiotics and use the cough syrup as of
ten as directed.”
“I will. Thanks again, doctor.”
Sara walked back into the waiting area with trepidation for what was to come. Looking at Trent, she knew her time for running had ended. Trent stood up as she entered, “Are you feeling better?”
Sara nodded, wrapping her arms around herself again. Trent held out a brown jacket and helped her put her arms inside, “Dr. Baker had an extra jacket and he’s letting you borrow it. It’s too cold for you to be outside without some protection from the elements.”
Sara looked back at the doctor, “Thank you again.” She smiled at him as she pulled the coat more closely around herself.
Sara in Montana - A Christmas Wish Page 2