Accidental Eyewitness

by Michelle Karl

“We’re fine,” Ellen said, though she wasn’t entirely sure she believed her own statement.

  Leo smiled at her gently, as if he knew—and for some reason or another, she felt a flush of warmth run through her. “Ellen’s quick thinking saved us. Literally saved us. Thank You, God.”

  The warm flush disappeared. She looked away, staring anywhere but at Leo and the phone.

  “Don’t say that around Ellen,” Jamie quipped. “She snaps at me whenever I bring God up.”

  “Jamie. Not the time.” She didn’t miss the questioning glance from Leo. Yes, they all used to attend youth group together, and their families had been members of the same church in Fort St. Jacob. No, she didn’t want to talk about it right now.

  Jamie sighed. Ellen felt the weight of it, the disappointment that radiated from him even through the phone line, now that he’d been assured of her safety and lack of injury. “This whole business has gone too far. Clyne and I talked things over and he’s on board with taking this investigation more seriously—by which I mean listening to other people as well as Trucco, instead of letting her push everyone else around. Clyne knew Rod, too. Everyone did, and the people in town want justice. I made my case for letting you inside, and he understands that time was of the essence. He admitted that he’d probably have done the same thing in my situation. I showed him the cigarette butt, too, but we’ve given that to Trucco for testing and we’re pulling Hogan in for questioning.”

  “That’s a relief.” Leo squeezed Ellen’s shoulder. When he let go, she wished he’d held on longer. And then she wished that she wasn’t having those kinds of thoughts at such a critically serious time. “Let me guess, he wants us to step back now, though? We learned one small thing from the phone calls, but it may be helpful. Someone else should take over making the rest of the calls. I really do think it’s a viable method to start getting some answers and making connections between the break-ins. Hopefully Trucco can get some information from the cigarette butt. It feels important, somehow.”

  “I agree.” Jamie cleared his throat and sniffed. “Hey, Leo, can you pass the phone to Ellen for a sec? I want to talk to her directly—family business.”

  “No problem.” Leo turned off speakerphone and handed over the device. “I’ll be a few meters away, okay?”

  She watched him saunter off, then turned her attention to Jamie. “What is it? I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about me. It would have been helpful if the police had made it to the lake in time, but—”

  “Ellen. Hold up. I was going to talk to you about this back at the station, but since I’m not sure when you’ll get here...” Jamie’s sharp tone of voice brought her back to focus.

  She had no idea where he was going with this. “Really, what?”

  Jamie paused before plunging ahead. “It’s about Leo. He’s my friend, sis, but he’s RCMP. It’s hard enough that I have to spend day in and day out worrying what will happen to you if anything happens to me, but getting romantically involved with an officer...especially after Mom...”

  She lowered her voice. “Leo and I? We’re not romantically involved. We’re not anything involved.”

  Jamie chuckled without humor. “Is he sure of that? When he called me a little earlier about making the phone calls to the other victims...there was something in the way he talked about you and said your name. Trust me, it would have been impossible to miss. I’ve known the guy for a very long time.”

  Ellen blinked rapidly, unsure how to respond to her brother’s insinuation. Of course nothing was going on between her and Leo, even if her childhood crush on him had somehow returned and manifested into a grown-up respect, appreciation and, yes, attraction. But she was the little kid, the younger sister, the friend-by-proxy. She had zero expectation of Leo ever seeing her as anything else.

  Jamie finally sighed. “Just be careful, okay?”

  She managed to extricate herself from the phone call, but her cheeks felt like they were on fire. She was very glad Leo hadn’t overheard that conversation on speakerphone. When she trotted back up to Leo to hand over his phone, she noticed a flashing text message notification.

  “Looks like your brothers are trying to talk to you? I thought I heard a call-waiting beep, but I wasn’t sure.”

  Leo took the phone back and grinned at her as he opened up the text app. “Good talk with your brother?”

  Was her face that red? That was what she got for having such a pale complexion—but despite herself, her heart gave another tiny hop inside her chest, thanks to his smile. Even if she had growing feelings for Leo, even if she’d noticed—in the midst of life-or-death danger on the lake—how perfectly his arms had fit around her and how well she’d tucked up against him as he helped steer, he’d never feel the same way. Her heart needed to calm down and take a reality check.

  Leo’s grin vanished as soon as he read his text messages. “Huh.”

  “What is it?” Her chest tightened with anticipation. She couldn’t tell if his reaction was good or bad.

  “Well, this might be good news, but I’m not sure.” He looked up at her, brow furrowed. “Aaron dug one of the bullets out of the wall after the shooters backed off. Ellen, those guys weren’t trying to kill everyone in the community center at all. They were trying to draw you out. The attack was very strategic. This isn’t normal ammunition we’re looking at. They were using rubber bullets.”

  * * *

  The shock and surprise reflected on Ellen’s face mirrored Leo’s own. According to Aaron’s text, one of Sam’s friends had also been hit by a stray bullet, and while he had a massive, painful welt on his abdomen, he was otherwise all right. Doug’s injury and Aaron’s initial finding prompted the rest of the guys to help take a closer look at the holes in the walls of the community center. Only some of the walls were plastered, with the lowest level being merely painted-over concrete. It meant that bullets hadn’t done much more than bounce around in the basement.

  Trucco is going to have a field day with this.

  “But they tried to kill us with the boat,” Ellen said, incredulous. “We almost didn’t make it.”

  Leo reached across the small space between them, gripped her shoulder and squeezed. “I know. Consider that it happened after we were outside of the community center, though. I have a feeling they were firing real bullets at us on the water. Look, whoever is organizing these events isn’t keen on unnecessary loss of life. And this fits the modus operandi of these thieves, in a way. Rod’s death was an accident. You seeing it happen was unexpected. Your presence means their operation is at risk, so now they want to eliminate you from the equation but without bringing down too much heat onto themselves.”

  Ellen swept her arm from one side to the other. “And of course, nobody saw them. Even though they were firing weapons in broad daylight. The location, the time of year, the weather... What I can’t figure out is how they knew I was there.”

  That had been eating at Leo, too. “I’d say maybe they drove past on the way to another break-in and saw us go inside, or maybe they saw the horses tied up and are aware that we’ve been using RCMP animals to get around. I’d suggest Hogan could have even told them, but Jamie said someone was bringing him in for questioning, right?”

  Ellen shrugged. “But he could have told someone before we arrived.”

  “I’m calling Jamie back.” Something nagged at the back of Leo’s mind. They were missing a critical piece of information, and it felt just out of reach. As soon as the call reconnected, he blurted out his question. “Who else knew we were here?”

  Jamie, to his credit and Leo’s relief, responded with grace. “Honestly? Half the detachment. I was meeting with the staff sergeant and a few other officers when your call came in, and we all had a quick briefing about what we were each going to do next. Unless one of the other officers spoke to someone outside the station—or one of them mentioned it over the radio—then I h
ate to say it, but we’ll have to suspect the worst.”

  “Isn’t it reasonable that the people responsible for the break-ins have a police scanner?” Ellen suggested. “To listen in on local communications? That would give them a way to make sure there were no police in the area before a break-in.”

  Leo nodded thoughtfully. “Actually, that makes a lot of sense. Either they’ve got a police scanner or the leak came from inside. Neither option is a good one.”

  Ellen groaned and tilted her head back, exposing the smooth skin of her neck to the cloudy sky. Leo looked away before she caught him staring.

  “I was actually just about to call back and suggest that you two head back to the station,” Jamie said. “Now I’m not so sure.”

  Leo rubbed his chin. “We’ll be surrounded by a multitude of officers, and I assume there are cameras in most of the rooms?” Jamie confirmed there were. “I’ll make sure we spend time in public areas and stay in rooms with security monitoring. Just in case. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for this—and the police scanner idea makes the most sense. We’ll meet you there?”

  “We’ll keep going down these trails and head back to the far end of the pasture, so we bring the horses in the same way we left,” Ellen chimed in. She began to massage the back of her neck with one hand. Leo regretted not being back at the station already, or else he’d offer to do it for her. That boat trip had to have left her painfully tense all over, with a headache soon to follow if she wasn’t nursing one already. “You were right about the route, Jamie. The entire time we’ve been on these, we haven’t seen a single person. I mean, the thieves know we’re on them now, but they’re getting around in cars and we’re moving quickly. It’s not like they can bring cars into the forest, and as long as we keep this pace, they’re unlikely to catch up on foot.”

  “Keep going, then,” Jamie said. “Before it starts to rain. I’m glad you’re both alive, by the way.”

  Leo tucked his phone away and they continued, driving the horses at a decent clip. After riding for several minutes, Leo slowed his horse’s pace again until Ellen and her horse drew up parallel.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Her complexion had turned paler than usual, and her lively hair looked more like a tangled mess than a regal mane. Her hands gripped the reins with almost as much intensity as she’d held the steering wheel on the boat. When she nodded without meeting his eyes, he reached out to touch her hand.

  She flinched and her gaze snapped to the side, eyes wide and wild, rosy lips parted.

  He winced at her expression. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I just... What happened back there was super intense and terrifying. I know I’ve said it a thousand times by now, but you’re allowed to be upset. I’m still quaking like jelly inside. Praise God that the bullets at the community center were rubber and no one got badly hurt. And He was definitely looking out for us on the water. When that boat came at us, I didn’t think we were going to make it. By God’s grace—”

  “Will you stop that already?”

  He froze. The horse stopped moving beneath him. “Excuse me?”

  Ellen stopped, too, and twisted in the saddle to piece his heart with eyes like daggers. “Stop it. Stop talking about God’s grace or mercy or whatever you claim happened out there. God didn’t save us. My quick thinking and your experience did. Coincidence and good timing played a part. If God is even real, He definitely doesn’t care enough to save anyone’s life, because if He did—”

  Her words were cut off as she snapped her lips shut. Muscles around her mouth and eyes began to tic, and she whipped back around, nudging the horse into motion without another word.

  A deep ache formed in the pit of Leo’s stomach, because he had a feeling he knew what she would have said next. How hadn’t he seen it before? Why hadn’t Jamie said anything about Ellen’s struggles with faith before?

  If she wasn’t clearly so dead set against having a discussion about it right now, he’d love to talk with her and get her side of the story. The young Ellen he knew had loved youth group and been actively involved in the church’s community outreach activities, and had sung along to the hymns and choruses with passion and earnest devotion on Sunday mornings. Jamie had been the Biers sibling more likely to sleep in and miss the service.

  Leo’s heart hurt for her, and the force of his emotions caught him by surprise. He tried to tell himself that it had everything to do with their being childhood friends and nothing to do with the way his mind could easily picture the two of them sitting in a church pew together on a Sunday morning, a little one by their side. Or standing in the kitchen, cooking dinner together—his arms wrapped around her the same way he’d held her on the boat—stirring a pot of soup, stealing kisses every time she turned her head, curls tickling his nose...

  Whoa, buddy. Come back to earth. She sees you as her brother’s friend and nothing more, and besides, you made a promise to Jamie a long time ago to never become romantically involved with her.

  Leo knew it was hard enough for Jamie to go to work every day not knowing if he’d come home—which was the reality for any law enforcement professional—but Jamie never, ever wanted his sister to endure the same kind of heartbreak and loss as their mother had. And after his mother’s spiral into depression and eventual passing, Jamie had been even more certain that Ellen had too much of their mother in her. Jamie had expressed to Leo that he didn’t want to see the same thing happen to Ellen, and Leo couldn’t blame him for that at all. Ellen was his friend, too, and he’d never be able to forgive himself if he was the cause of her darkness and sorrow.

  And maybe someday he’d have a conversation with her about faith and God’s grace. But for now, he needed to get her back to the station and secured until the men who’d tried to kill her could be arrested and hauled off the streets.

  He pressed his heels into his horse to return to Ellen’s side, only to feel stray drops of rain hit his face.

  Ellen looked back at him again. “Did you feel that, too, or am I imagining it?”

  “I thought maybe I’d imagined it, but look at the path—those look like drops to me.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the skies opened up. The droplets became a steady rain, and as both he and Ellen increased their horses’ pace toward town, the rain became a downpour.

  Within thirty seconds, they’d gone from droplets to heavy, intense rain that transformed their small trail from dusty path to slippery, muddy swampland.

  “Do you think we should find the road?” Ellen called to him above the torrential din. “It’s getting hard to see.”

  Leaving the shelter of the trail meant risking higher visibility on the road...but staying on the trail meant risking the horses’ footing. And considering how much they’d slowed since the rain had started, using the muddy trail would make the journey back to town that much longer.

  “It’ll be faster on the road and less dangerous for the horses, but I’m concerned about your safety.”

  But even as he spoke, he felt his horse’s weight shift beneath him. A section of muddy path sloughed away into the small ditch beside the trail, and the horse gave a nervous grunt. If one of their horses was injured, that would present just as much of a problem, because he refused to send Ellen back to town by herself. It’d make her an even greater potential target, but neither would he want her to remain on the trail all alone.

  Ellen gestured at the path. “We have to get back to the road. It’s too dangerous here.”

  He didn’t like it, but he agreed with her. They plunged into the trees, but it soon became apparent that finding the road again was another challenge entirely. The trek took them through a half kilometer of wild, dense forest, and by the time they made it through—with only a few stumbles—and finally clattered onto the road, much of the force of the rain had eased.

  “How much farther until we reach town?” Ellen asked. She sho
ok out one of her arms, sending water drops flying. They were both drenched from head to toe, and the horses weren’t faring much better.

  “Ten minutes, maybe.” He ran a hand through his hair, trying to stop water from dripping into his face. “Maybe I should call ahead and tell the guys at the station to order in some soup and hot chocolate. And some towels.”

  “And a change of clothes. Jamie can run to our place and grab something for both of us to wear.”

  “That’s not a bad idea. Hang on, I need to pause for a second so I can dig the phone out of my pocket. Good thing these new smartphones are water resistant.”

  They stopped as Leo reached into his saturated denim to pull out the phone.

  “Hey, we should move farther off to the side,” Ellen said as he unlocked the screen. “There’s a car coming.”

  “Good idea.” The car came closer as Leo brought up Jamie’s number and pressed the call button. The car seemed to be driving a little fast for how wet the roads were, but Leo suspected law enforcement had similar issues with drivers in and around Fort St. Jacob as his team did up in Fort Mason. The long straightaways tended to tempt drivers into ignoring the speed limits and driving too fast, despite the risks involved with traveling at high speeds in an area known for having a high deer and moose population. Hitting a deer was dangerous, but it was possible to walk away from that type of impact. Hitting a moose, on the other hand... The percentage of fatalities from moose collisions made high speeds in moose country incredibly risky.

  The phone call connected and Jamie picked up.

  “Hey, you two get caught in the rain? I’m running over to our place to grab a change of clothes for you both and some microwave soup packets. How far are you from the station?”

  “About ten minutes or so, faster if we pick up the pace and push the horses the rest of the way, which I’m considering.” Leo glanced up and frowned. The approaching car hadn’t slowed at all, and the horses had begun to shift with unease. “We’ll just have to—”