Liam shook his head. Here he was obsessing on it again. This was his year, and an idiot with a computer and a printer wasn’t going to ruin it for him. He could win this scholarship, and if Hannah agreed to go out with him, well, he would have it made.
Setting the timer on his watch and the fitness app on his phone, he jogged down the farm lane, and as soon as he was out of sight, put in the earbuds, and turned on his music. When the laneway met the county road, he turned east into the wind, letting the tension roll off of him. His mind emptied and while his eyes focused on the road ahead, he listened to Mrs. Strange’s latest release. Soda Music was right up his alley. He loved the whole kaleidoscopic rock and roll scene, and the tempo suited the pace he preferred.
Enjoying the adrenalin rush he got from running, feeling the cold wind caress his face, and pleased with the way his muscles worked effortlessly, he was surprised when the alarm went off to show he’d run forty minutes straight. He wasn’t even breathing hard and had barely broken a sweat.
Knowing his mother was probably pacing the house and checking the clock every two minutes, he crossed the road and turned west, heading back to the farm. With the wind at his back, he would be home well within the time he’d allowed himself. He’d only gone a mile or so when the skies opened once more, showering him with a cold drizzle, but he barely broke stride. Running in the rain was nothing new, but at the moment, it felt as if he were caught inside a cloud, making visibility poor. If Mom was looking outside, her anxiety meter had gone sky high.
He was less than a hundred yards from his own driveway when the bright LED lights of an approaching vehicle blinded him. There weren’t many of the newer trucks or SUVs in the area, and given the height of the lights, it had to be one of those. Blinking rapidly since the beams pierced his eyes with their intensity, he slowed his pace and relaxed. Despite the mist, there was no way the driver could miss him—his jacket had to be lit up like a Christmas tree.
Liam chuckled softly. Whoever was behind the wheel probably thought he was some kind of idiot. He didn’t care. There was something exciting about braving the elements. The lights vanished as the vehicle disappeared in a trough on the hilly section of the road. Lost in the music, Liam was startled when the lights appeared again, moving toward him faster than they should be. What kind of fool sped under these conditions?
His inner sense of preservation warned him, and after yanking the earbuds out, he inched farther to the side of the road, but the dark pick-up increased its speed. Liam sucked in a breath, surprised by how cold he suddenly felt. The tension in his gut increased. Terror filled him as that note came back to him. Who knew he would be running tonight? Everyone. As Erik had reminded him, his routine was well-known.
Tamping down his panic, Liam moved as far to the edge of the ditch as he could. Unless the driver were under duress and had lost control of his vehicle, which was unlikely given the road conditions, whoever was behind that wheel was aiming right for him. If this was some crazy game of chicken, he wasn’t interested in playing. And if that’s what this was, then the jacket his mother had thought would protect him had just made him a target—a great, big, neon-orange bullseye.
Waving his arms frantically and screaming his lungs out, he stopped within a few yards of his own laneway, standing as close to the slippery edge as he dared, praying he wouldn’t end up at the bottom of the embankment. It was a moot point when the dark-colored truck caught him in the stomach, veered away from the edge of the road, and tossed him into the air as if he were nothing but a rag doll. The full frontal impact with the pavement snapped his head back uncomfortably, his melon bouncing twice before coming to rest on the blacktop, blood pouring from his nose and mouth, his chest on fire, filling him with agony.
The sound of a metal door slamming kept him from succumbing to the darkness all around him. Everything seemed surreal. Was that the hoot of an owl? Footsteps, slow and measured, the click of hard heels on the pavement, floated toward him. The driver was coming to help him. Liam wanted to turn over, to sit up. He couldn’t stay here on the road like this, but his body refused to obey him. The footsteps advanced. Why weren’t they running, hurrying toward him?
A foot caught him in the ribs, adding to his suffering, and flipped him onto his back. Blood from what was most likely his broken nose and the various cuts and scrapes on his face slipped into his mouth, the coppery taste making him gag. Didn’t Mom always say head wounds bled more than any others?
A low moan escaped him, the sound swallowed by the ambient sound of the wind and the truck engine. Liam opened his eyes, but with the blood in them and the rain on his face, he couldn’t focus. All he could make out were the silver-capped, pointed toes of black leather cowboy boots, their heels shining incongruously in the light from the flashlight aimed at his face.
“Too bad you didn’t listen, kid,” a gravelly voice said. “Didn’t want it to come to this. It’s nothing personal, but you pissed off the wrong people.”
The pointed boot caught him forcefully in the ribs again, bringing with it excruciating pain, raising his body up and then letting it flop back down again. The back of his head struck the tarmac hard, sending knives of agony racing along his spine, this anguish almost too much to handle.
Departing footsteps, as slow and measured as they’d been before, echoed on the road, and the vehicle door slammed shut once more. The truck moved away until the sound of the engine was just a memory. He fought to open his eyes, but the rain intensified, as if Mother Nature shared his distress.
Deep cold and numbness erased some of the pain. Was this how it all ended? Thoughts of his mother flooded him. She would never get over this. Losing both her sons at seventeen was more than any mother could handle—and his dad? He would blame himself for not leaving the car.
The owl—was it the one he’d heard earlier?—hooted again. Blood filled his mouth and throat, making it harder to breathe, harder to swallow, and he choked. He tried to turn his head to the side, move his body to crawl off the cold, wet surface, but nothing worked. Where was he? In the middle of the road? The truck had flung him up in the air like garbage and left him to die. Why? What could he have done to deserve this? Would the next vehicle even see him?
An engine, one badly in need of tuning, approached, its steady throb moving closer and closer. It would be upon him in no time. His head swam. This was it. Gone without ever realizing any of his dreams. The blackness edged closer, threatening to take him with it, but Liam fought to stay conscious. On the verge of losing the battle, the squeal of brakes pulled him back.
“Oh God, Liam,” his father’s cry penetrated his consciousness, the agony in his voice almost too much to bear.
Liam wanted to speak, wanted to tell his father how much he loved him and how sorry he was for everything, but he couldn’t fight anymore, and the pain and blackness overtook him.
* * * *
The sound of the car horn sent Hannah Connors rushing down the stairs.
“Mina’s here,” she yelled, anxious to get to her cousin to learn anything new about last night’s accident. Liam was seriously hurt, maybe even dying, and beyond telling her there’d been an accident, Mama wasn’t saying anything. She didn’t understand how Hannah felt about Liam, but Mina did, and she would know details. Grabbing her jean jacket off the hook, Hannah pulled it on over her red hoody. “I’ll be back later.”
“I wish you would stay home,” her mother said, stepping into the hallway from the kitchen, wiping her hands on the towel tied apron-like at her waist.
“I know, Mama, but this isn’t just anybody, it’s Liam. Mina’s a good driver. She’s always careful. I need to be with my friends right now.”
“I didn’t realize he was special,” Mama said, sensing the emotions Hannah thought she’d hidden. The compassion in her mother’s eyes soothed her aching heart.
Pulling her into her arms, Mama hugged her like she used to do when Hannah was younger. After last night’s accident, she’d stayed home today an
d had been on the phone with a number of people coordinating meals and other help for Liam’s parents.
“Be home before supper.” Her tone stated this wasn’t up for negotiation. “Your father will want to see you, especially after the last twenty-four hours he’s had. Working on kids is never easy, but it’s always worse when he knows them.”
“I know, Mama. I’ll be here, I promise.”
“I won’t rest easy until the police find whoever’s responsible for this,” her mother said, stepping back and trying to hide her concern, but it was etched in the worry lines on her forehead. “I can’t imagine how Cathy and Luke are feeling. Losing one child is devastating, but possibly losing both? Your father will do everything that he can for Liam, honey, you know that. Now, be careful. I won’t say ‘have fun’ because it isn’t that kind of day.”
Hannah nodded and left the house. She hurried down the veranda steps and out into the driveway where her cousin waited. Since Mina was already seventeen, she had her intermediate license and could drive. Hannah hoped to have hers by next summer.
“Is it true?” Mina asked as soon as Hannah opened the car door, dashing her hopes that her cousin might be more in the know than she was. “Is he still alive?”
Hannah climbed into the front seat of the white sedan and fastened her seatbelt.
“As far as I know, but trying to get anything more out of Mama is like pulling teeth,” she said, struggling to hold back the tears she’d shed off and on since they’d gotten the call. “I’ve taken a crack at eavesdropping on the phone. Papa’s still at the hospital. He was there when they brought him in. I don’t know any of the details, but apparently Liam was hit by a vehicle while he was running, and it’s bad.”
Mina put the engine in gear, turned up the heater, and expertly reversed out of the driveway. Despite the feeble sun fighting to make its way through the clouds, it was cold and damp. Even with a wool sweater, her hoody, and her jacket, the cold clawed its way inside Hannah, and she shivered.
“My mother called my Uncle Jim, he’s a state trooper. She wouldn’t tell me how badly Liam was hurt, but the case is officially a hit and run,” Mina said, filling in one of the blanks and pursing her lips.
“Who would do something like that? I mean hit him and just leave him there to die?” Hannah’s voice, barely above a whisper, was clogged with too many emotions to identify. At the moment, fear and dismay fought for top spot.
“My uncle figures it was a stranger. Apparently the rain had started, and it was misty. He assumes the driver didn’t see him and panicked. It’s either a new driver who was too terrified to think straight or someone with a bad driving record—maybe they’d been drinking—but the police will get him or her. They’ve set up roadblocks all over the place, and they’re stopping everything with the least little amount of damage to the front end.”
“I don’t get it.” Fury filled Hannah. “How could they leave him there, like an animal?”
Mina shook her head. “I don’t know, but I’m sure my uncle’s right about it being a stranger who probably thought they’d killed him. I’ll bet they didn’t even stop to check. No one from Cedar Grove would do something like this. If one of the locals had hit him for whatever reason, they would’ve stopped and called for help. My uncle claims they’ll be widening the search to include all of Maine and the adjoining states—even Canada. Since today’s a Teachers’ Development Day, the kids from 4 H are meeting at O’Malley’s this afternoon. They’ve canceled tomorrow’s outing to Lalonde’s corn maze. Maybe someone knows more than we do.”
Hannah nodded, unable to speak. The image of Liam lying on the road had haunted her dreams, and she’d begged God all night long to let him survive, but depending on how broken he was, that might not be possible.
Papa was a good surgeon, one of the best, who could’ve worked in any of the big hospitals if he’d wanted to, but Cedar Grove was home. This was where he wanted to be, raise his family, and give back to the community. The local hospital was a small one, but because of Ivy Hills and all the rich kids and sons of diplomats there, it was almost as well-endowed as any of the big city ones.
She’d waited anxiously for the phone to ring last night, trying to keep her excitement in check, but when the phone did ring, it had been her father calling from the hospital, and she’d been disappointed. When Mama had come up to her room and told her about Liam, she hadn’t been able to hide the tears, and had called Mina right away.
“Do you think Erik Jenkins will be at O’Malley’s? I mean he isn’t in 4 H, but he and Liam are as close as brothers.”
“Maybe,” Mina answered. “I’d hoped that if Liam was calling you, I might get a call from Erik, but…” She shrugged.
“I hope so. He’ll know what’s going on for sure.”
“I would be at the hospital if my best friend was at death’s door … Just saying.”
Hannah inhaled sharply as her cousin’s words pierced her.
Color flooded Mina’s cheeks.
“I’m such a ditz. Forget that. Liam will be fine. You’ll see. You’re dad’s the best surgeon there is.”
They drove the rest of the way in silence, each lost in thought, but Hannah’s were growing grimmer by the second. Twenty minutes later, Mina pulled into the overcrowded parking lot at O’Malley’s, but because it was full, had to leave the lot and park two blocks over. The wind had picked up and the sky was dark, promising rain, sleet, or even snow again before the day was over. Shivering in what was now too light a coat, Hannah pursed her lips.
“The place must be packed,” she said hurrying along the sidewalk, not only for the sake of speed, but hoping the exertion might warm her up a bit. “Someone has to have news about what happened.”
“Yeah, but let’s hope it’s real news and not just gossip or supposition. You know how the rumor mill works around here.”
The town’s gossip mongers were always among the first to expand on a tidbit of news, but whether their take on the matter was real or not was another thing. This crime, and that’s what it was, had to be the worst thing ever to happen to Cedar Grove. Liam had to be okay. He just had to be.
Chapter Three
Stepping into the diner, Hannah found the silence shocking. There wasn’t an unoccupied table, but the restaurant was as quiet as a funeral parlor, and her hopes plummeted. It had been noisier than this last Sunday morning in church.
Swallowing her panic, she looked around at the concerned faces of people she knew well. Some were from the school, others from the church, and she identified Mina’s 4 H friends. There wasn’t anyone from Ivy Hills, but those student—all boarders, except for Erik and Liam—would’ve gone home for the weekend.
“Hannah!”
Recognizing her friend Ronje’s voice, she turned in the direction of the sound. Mari and Erik Jenkins, looking more crestfallen than anyone she’d ever seen, both of them with eyes red-rimmed and that lost puppy look on their faces, tore at the strings of her heart.
Hannah swallowed awkwardly. “Let’s join Ronje and Mari. Erik’s with them.”
“You go,” Mina said. “I’ll talk to the 4 H kids and join you in a few minutes.”
“Okay.” Hannah wove her way between the tables until she stood next to them. “Hi.”
“Hi, Hannah. You know Mari, have you met Erik?” Ronje asked.
“Not officially, but I’ve seen him around. You were on the Science Challenge Team this year, right?”
Erik looked up briefly, reddened, and nodded, but made no move to speak. The Jenkins’ family had moved to Cedar Grove only five years ago, and Hannah had never had the opportunity to get to know him. Unlike Mari, his twin, he had always been shy and quiet, so his reserve now wasn’t too surprising.
“Have you heard anything new about Liam?” she asked.
“Not since early this morning,” he answered so softly she almost didn’t hear him. “My parents are still at the hospital, and we’ll be going back shortly. When we left to get some lunch,
he was out of surgery, but the next twenty-four hours are critical.”
“Yeah. My father operated on him, but he hadn’t come home yet when I left, and even when he does, I don’t know how much he’ll share—patient confidentiality and all that crap.”
Erik smiled weakly at her, as if her approval was important, and then pursed his lips. “I get that, but my father says he’s one of the best, so I’m going to think positive.”
The dejected look on his face implied the opposite.
“What do you know?” Hannah asked, wishing she had an excuse to go to the hospital right now.
“Not much, but what we do know isn’t good news,” Mari answered, rescuing her brother as she often did. “His upper body was banged up pretty badly. When I went down to the cafeteria to get the adults coffee earlier this morning, I heard the nurses talking. Apparently he has bruising indicating he was kicked in the ribs after he was hit.”
Hannah felt cold fill her as if her blood had turned to ice water. Someone had stopped and instead of helping him they’d injured him more? What kind of monster did this?
“It gets worse,” Mari continued. “They put one of those collars on him to keep him immobilized.”
Hannah swallowed her fear. They did that when there was a danger of spinal cord injury.
“He’s lost a lot of blood,” Ronje added. “My dad and three brothers were all called to the hospital to donate. Liam’s O negative, just as they are. It’s kind of weird that of the 5 percent of people in the world with that blood type, five of them should live in the same town. I’m O positive like my mother.”
Hannah nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. “Me, too.”
But she’d gladly have given blood if it would’ve helped. She’d learned all about blood types and the Rh factor in biology this year. In an ideal situation, hospitals had sufficient amounts of blood on hand for transfusions—blood that was an exact match for type and Rh factor. Even then, they still checked small samples of recipient and donor blood for compatibility through cross-matching. O negative red blood cells could be given to anyone, especially if it was a life-threatening situation or the blood type needed wasn’t available, but when the person was O negative, there wasn’t anything else they could get. Cedar Grove Memorial wouldn’t have had a lot of it available.
Prove It! Page 3