by Curry, Edna
“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt. Cars can be replaced.”
“Yes, your insurance should replace the car,” the officer said. “Most policies have a vandalism clause.”
An hour later, Mel and Cara had finished answering all the questions. Kenny still hadn’t arrived, so they left him a message as to where they were going and took a cab to a nearby restaurant to eat their very late supper. They’d called Sharon and she was on her way to meet them.
Cara eyed Mel as she bit into her hamburger. “Someone knows I’m back, don’t they?”
Mel met her gaze, then nodded. “I’m afraid it looks that way.”
Sharon strode in, followed by Kenny. Sharon grabbed Cara and hugged her and then looked them over carefully. “Are you sure you’re all right? Kenny says there’s not much left of your car.”
Cara groaned at the sight of another officer. “We’re fine, Sharon. Kenny, we’ve already answered questions about this until we’re blue in the face. Can’t you just read his report?”
“Kenny’s my friend and can help.” Sharon pulled out a chair and sat, a stubborn expression on her face. “This is serious, Cara.”
Cara grimaced. “Don’t I know it?”
Mel glanced at her. “Cara, the more people working on solving this, the better. I think we really need some help, here.”
“I suppose you’re right.” She sipped her soda as Mel answered Kenny’s questions, going again through the sparse info they had.
Finally, Kenny seemed satisfied. “I agree someone knows you’re back, Cara. And maybe he thinks you’ve regained your memory and can finger him. So he’s decided to silence you.”
Cara shuddered at the thought. She didn’t want to tell him she was remembering more and more all the time. She was so tired of people asking her what she remembered.
“I think you should stay away from that apartment until we figure out what’s going on.”
Mel looked at Sharon and said, “Cara has some photo albums at her apartment she’d like you to go through with her. If you can help her identify people in some of the pictures, maybe she can narrow down who she might have been involved with recently.”
“Good idea,” Kenny said. “But we’ll only make a quick stop for the albums and then go to Sharon’s place to look at them. I don’t want to take any more chances.”
“We’ll also pick up my car,” Cara said, shooting Mel a ‘don’t argue with me on this’ look. “We can use it until your insurance company replaces yours.”
~ * ~
Two hours later they still sat around Sharon’s dining room table, going through Cara’s picture albums.
Lydia phoned. Cara talked to her mother, but assured her they were fine and didn’t tell her about the car bomb. Neither Sharon nor Cara wanted to involve her in any of this.
Kenny, who’d met Lydia on several occasions while he was dating Sharon, agreed. “She’ll just get upset. It’ll be time enough to tell her when we get to the bottom of this.” But he did take the phone and questioned Lydia about whether she had heard from Walter. When she said no, he asked if she had any idea where to find him. Lydia coldly told him to forget Walter. He’d had nothing to do with all this. Kenny frowned as he hung up the phone.
He looked at Sharon. “Does she really believe he had nothing to do with this, or is she covering for Walter?”
Sharon chewed her lip. “I don’t know, Kenny. But I can’t see Walter trying to kill anyone, certainly not for money. He just doesn’t care about money or things that much. He’s always been a gentle bookworm sort of person. Even if he has spent all his inheritance traveling, he can still make a good living teaching in some college or other. That’s the kind of life he prefers, anyway.”
“That’s true,” Kenny said.
Cara and Sharon went back to talking about the incidents and family occasions in the pictures as they went through the albums.
“I remember that!” Cara said over and over.
As they hugged after laughing and then crying over pictures of their late father, Cara felt her love for her parents and sister return. She remembered other times when they’d shared hugs and sorrows.
Cara felt so relieved to feel details from her past come back to her. Her world righted as though she’d just landed onto firm ground after riding the Tilt-a-whirl at the State Fair.
As she looked through the albums, more memories returned as she looked into the faces of her relatives and friends.
But she found no picture of any man who might be the one who’d pushed her by the dam. And she still couldn’t remember who he was.
~ * ~
Kenny left, and Cara and Sharon continued talking. It was late when Cara and Mel left, Cara insisting she preferred a hotel room to staying with Sharon. “I don’t want them targeting you as well,” she told Sharon. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
They started across the street to where Mel had parked her car. A car pulled out from the curb down the street and roared toward them at high speed.
“Look out,” Mel yelled, pulling Cara out of its path just in time.
She huddled against his chest, trembling. “That car tried to run us down.”
“It sure did! Come on,” Mel said, pulling her along to her car. They jumped in and he slammed the door.
“Call 9-1-1,” he said, tossing Cara his cell phone. He started the engine and roared after the dark sedan that was now several blocks down the street. There was almost no traffic at this time of night, so he could easily keep it in sight.
She talked as he drove, bracing herself against the dashboard as they sped around a street corner, narrowly missing a parked car. She gave the officer the street names as they sped along. “He says they’ll be here soon,” she gasped as Mel sped up and pursued the car. “Several police cars are in the area.”
“Hang on,” Mel said. “There’s a freeway on-ramp coming up in a couple of blocks. I’m going to try to cut him off before he can get on the freeway. He’s not getting away this time!”
“Mel, I don’t think the driver is a ‘he’. It looks like a woman driving!” Cara said and repeated that info into the phone for the police dispatcher.
With a squeal of tires, Mel passed the other car and forced it into the guardrail, stopping it. Sparks flew and metal scraped, pieces scattering along the roadway as Mel crunched Cara’s car into the other one. “Sorry about the car, Cara, but I don’t know any other way to stop her.”
“Be careful, Mel. What if she has a gun?” Cara cried.
“Stay down.” He pushed open his door to get out and heard a siren wailing.
The driver roared her engine, trying to back away, but her front fender was crushed too badly for the wheels to turn.
Mel jumped out to confront the woman.
Cara followed. “Be careful, Mel.”
A heavy set blonde woman stepped out of the damaged car and began cursing at them. Just then another vehicle roared up from behind them. As the woman turned to stare at the second car, Cara saw she was obviously pregnant.
Mel called over his shoulder, “Stay behind the car, Cara. Let me handle this. The police will be here in a few minutes.”
Cara stared at the driver as the second car stopped behind theirs and then she gasped in recognition. “No, Mel. It’s Barry, my ex-boyfriend! It’s me he wants. It’s not your fight.”
He turned back to her. “It is when he attacks the woman I love.”
A surge of joy shot through her at his words. But there wasn’t time to think about that now. “Look out, Mel,” she shouted as she saw Barry open his car door.
When the tall blond man stepped from the car, he yelled at the other woman, “Stay out of this, Joyce. I’ll handle it.”
“No! I want to kill your slut, Barry! She has no right to try to steal my husband!”
“Go home, Joyce. This isn’t your business!”
“The hell it isn’t,” Joyce screamed.
Cara yelled at him, “Barry Jeller!
You’re the one who pushed me into the river!”
Barry eyed her coldly. “So you got your memory back, eh, Cara? Too bad it won’t do you any good.”
“You S.O.B! You were selling drugs to kids at my school! You’re a worthless creep! You tried to kill me!”
“That was your own fault. You forced my hand by threatening to turn us all in. You should have stayed out of my business,” he said.
When Mel saw that Barry’s attention was on Cara, he attacked him. He hit him hard on the jaw, but Barry didn’t go down. Instead, he stepped back and pulled a gun from under his jacket.
“Look out, Mel, he’s got a gun!” Cara screamed.
Mel ducked, happy to hear sirens screaming now, almost upon them. The police were close, but they’d never arrive in time if Barry used that gun.
At the sight of the gun, Cara ducked behind the open car door, looking inside the car for anything to use for a weapon. Her hand closed over a hardcover book lying on the seat.
She grabbed the book, rose above the car door and threw it at Barry as hard as she could. It hit him directly in the face. Blood spurted from his nose.
“You bitch!” Barry cursed, raising his hands to his injured face.
Mel saw his opportunity. He jumped forward and kicked out, knocking the gun from Barry’s hand. They both dived for it, but Barry was closer. Barry grabbed the gun again.
Mel rolled, attempting to put Barry’s car between them.
Barry struggled to his feet and fired at Mel.
Pain raced through Mel’s leg like a hot poker. Damn, he’d been hit. He grabbed his thigh. His hand came back bloody. He tried to get to his feet, but his leg wouldn’t cooperate.
Tires squealed as police cars pulled up and officers took positions behind their cars.
Cara yelled at the officers, “The blond man has a gun. He’s trying to kill us!”
An officer shouted, “Give up the gun, fella. You’re surrounded.”
“Like hell I will,” Barry yelled back. “You’re not taking me alive.” He turned and fired at the officers.
They returned fire and Barry fell.
Joyce screamed and ran forward towards Barry as he lay on the blacktopped road. She crouched over him, crying and cuddling him.
Silence reigned for long seconds. Then an officer cautiously left his cover, watching Barry. When Barry didn’t move beside his crying wife, a couple of them moved forward. Cara could hear another one on the phone, calling for an ambulance.
“Mel, are you all right?” Cara gasped, running to where he lay on the ground behind the car.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Mel said. He tried to pull himself up onto the car. “But I don’t think I can stand.”
“You’re hurt!”
“It’s not serious.”
“Help, Mel’s been shot,” Cara called to the officers.
One came to look at Mel and quickly knelt beside him, assessing the damage. “Lie still. We need to stop the bleeding.” He ran to his squad car, came back with a first aid kit and fashioned a tourniquet on Mel’s thigh. “An ambulance will be here soon,” he assured Mel.
“Did you get Barry?” Mel asked.
“Yeah. He’s dead. What was this all about, anyway?”
“It’s a long story,” Cara said.
Kenny came around the car and said, “I’ve already heard most of it. I take it this is the creep who tried to kill you in Landers?”
“Yes,” Cara said. She breathed a long sigh of relief in seeing Kenny. At least he knew most of the story already and could help her explain to the other officers. “I remember him now. He’s the one. His name is Barry Jellers and he lives in Wisconsin.”
“Yeah, I got his ID,” an officer said, opening Barry’s billfold. “We’ll need a statement from you both.”
“That can wait until the medics take care of that leg,” Kenny said. “I’ll come to the emergency room with you.”
“Thanks, Kenny,” Cara said. “I appreciate that.”
~ * ~
Mel was treated and released, thankfully only having suffered a flesh wound. “It’ll be painful, but should heal up just fine,” the doctor told him.
As Kenny walked out of the hospital with them, he said, “I sent a picture of Barry to the officers who were investigating the drug sales at the school where you taught, Cara. They’d set up a video tape surveillance there a couple of months ago, but hadn’t identified everyone on it. Barry was one of the people on the video tape. He was seen exchanging drugs for cash with one of the maintenance people there. Apparently Barry was the supplier and the maintenance man was doing the actual selling to the kids there. So we think we’ve solved that problem, too.”
They stopped in the deserted hospital lobby to talk. Cara shuddered. “To think I’d been dating the man and he was only using me as his excuse to be at our school.”
Pain slid through Mel at her words. “Did you love him?” he asked, hating to think she might still care about the man, in spite of everything.
“No,” Cara said, her voice definite. “I think I was just really lonely and he flattered me when he sought me out.”
“I’m glad,” Mel said, relieved.
“I remember why he tried to kill me,” Cara said, pain coloring her voice. “I heard him talking to John, our janitor, about money and got suspicious about why he was so friendly with the school employees. I didn’t even know he knew them, I thought he’d just come to pick me up. He denied anything was going on.”
“Naturally,” Kenny said. “Barry already had a wife and baby. She had lots of money and her father was Barry’s boss, besides.”
Cara nodded. “That makes sense. So if she’d learned about me, Barry would have lost both his family and his job.”
“Most likely,” Mel agreed.
“I wanted to believe him,” Cara said with a sigh. “So when he promised to explain everything on a picnic, I went along with him. Then, suddenly, we were in that dangerous spot overlooking the dam and he pushed me in!”
Mel shuddered. He took her into his arms and hugged her close. “I’m so glad it’s over now, Cara.”
“Joyce admitted she was the one who tracked you down to Landers and shot at you that night, too.”
“Oh!” Cara said. “I can’t believe she’d really go to such lengths.”
“Well, she says Barry did the car bomb, though. She had nothing to do with that.”
Cara shuddered. “That was too close for comfort.”
“Well, I’m heading to finish paperwork and then to bed. I have to work again tomorrow,” Kenny said. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride back to your apartment. It should be safe now.”
“Thanks.”
On the ride back, Cara said, “My mother is going to have a fit when she hears about this. There’s no way to keep it out of the papers and you know how she hates publicity.”
Kenny said, “Don’t worry about it, Cara. Sharon and I will talk to her about it.”
“Thanks, Kenny. I’m glad my brother wasn’t the one behind all this.”
“Me, too. And you’re welcome. I had your car towed to the garage, Cara. You two are kind of hard on cars, you know.” He stopped outside her apartment.
Cara laughed uncertainly. “I guess we are at that. We’ll use a rental for a while. Thanks for the ride, Kenny.”
Kenny tipped his hat and left.
As they got ready for bed in her bedroom, Cara said, “I’m so glad they solved the school’s drug problem. But I’m glad I won’t be going back there to teach this fall, anyway.”
“Why?” Mel asked climbing into bed.
“I still don’t remember why I didn’t sign that contract, but maybe because I was unhappy with the whole situation there?”
“Maybe.”
She got into bed and Mel cuddled her close. “Anyway, I’m glad I didn’t sign it.”
He leaned over to kiss her. “Do I dare hope that means you’ll consider coming back to Landers with me?”
She met h
is eyes. “Yes, if the offer’s still open.”
Hope surged through him. “My offer comes with a lifetime marriage contract, Cara. Are you sure you want to give up your life here?”
“Yes. But who says I’m giving up anything? I have plenty of money, so we can have luxuries in Landers, too, you know. I remember enough about my life here to know I had lots of luxuries, but I was lonely without someone to love.”
“I love you, Cara.”
“I love you, too, Mel. That’s the most important thing to me. Besides, Landers is only an hour away from here. We can come back to visit my family and they can come see us. We’ll enjoy the best of both worlds.”
He kissed her thoroughly and slid his naked body against hers. She ran her hands over him, enjoying the smooth feel of his bare skin.
“We’ll buy a real house.”
“You have a real house.”
“I mean one separate from my business. With a picket fence if you want one,” he promised.
“Umm, with a rose garden,” she murmured between kisses. “And good teachers can usually find a job anywhere, so I can teach, too. If there are no openings in Landers, then maybe in a nearby town. Until I have a baby of our own to take care of, that is.”
“Whatever keeps you happy, Darling.”
The End
(This book was formerly published by Class Act Books as “Bear Trap”.)
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About the author:
Edna Curry lives in Minnesota and often sets her novels there among the lakes, evergreens and river valleys. She especially enjoys the Dalles area of the St. Croix Valley, gateway to the Wild River, which draws many tourists who give her story ideas. Besides non-fiction articles, she writes mystery, romance and romantic suspense novels.
Edna is married and is a member of the Romance Writers of America and two of its chapters: Kiss Of Death and Northern Lights Writers.
Circle of Shadows (half of Deadly Duos #1) was a finalist in RWA's prestigious Golden Heart Contest.