She stood and walked, however stiffly, into the hall, rubbing her neck as she went. Eli and the policeman followed. At the cleaning-room door, she stared in. “Perhaps Jenn pulled out the dryer. She’s hopeful the town will buy a new one soon. This one’s old and sometimes it didn’t heat up.”
Reading stepped past her.
“Don’t touch anything,” she cautioned him. “That dryer is live.”
“I’ll be careful.” He had been bent down to peer at the dryer. Then, he strategically dropped a thin knifelike tool he’d pulled from his belt. The thing hit the floor at the same time a bright blue arc crossed from the dryer to the tip. Behind them the lights flickered. After the knife conducted the electricity, it clattered away from the dryer. With the tip of his boot, Reading pulled it closer to him and picked it up. “I’d say that dryer is quite live. Two hundred and twenty volts, with amperage to kill, I’m sure. Where’s the circuit breakers? We should turn it off.”
Kaylee told him where to find them. After several minutes and a few flickering lights, the dryer went dead.
Reading returned. “I’d say we’ve got cause for a new rec-center dryer now. That thing’s shot.” With a gingerly touch, he bounced his fingers off the top of the machine to test it. No sparks. Then, with his flashlight, he leaned over it to peer down the back.
“What do you see?” Kaylee asked.
“The rubber mat the dryer sits on is curled up here. And a few loose wires. It needs to be cleaned back here. Dust bunnies.”
“Gee, thanks,” she muttered.
“No offense was intended. Back of my dryer at home must be worse. Except I may not have as many candy wrappers in back of mine.” He stooped down to pick one up.
Candy. Eli felt the color drain from his face, but kept his expression passive and his thoughts to himself. One member of Kaylee’s church met Noah downtown here, walking distance from the store next to the center. The one that sold every piece of popular candy going. Noah had always loved candy.
“Can I take a look?” he asked the officer. Nodding, the man backed away from the dryer.
Eli took the flashlight Reading offered and peered in. He carefully surveyed the entire back of the dryer and the floor behind it. Leaning down, he wiggled the wires. They were loose and one even fell out onto the others from where it was set touching the outer case of the machine.
“We should ask Jenn if she moved this thing, and how far she went in disconnecting it,” Reading said.
Eli looked up at him. “Why would she strip the wires and loosen them enough to touch each other? Why not just unplug it?”
“Those are questions for Jenn.”
“I don’t think she’d do it,” Kaylee said. “She’s too busy to waste time fooling around in here. Would she even know what to do?”
Reading looked at her. “Her father was the town mechanic for years. Before she started to work here, she used to help him in his garage. She’d know what she was doing back there.”
“She wouldn’t loosen wires and leave them in such a hazardous way and then leave the circuit breaker on,” Eli countered. “That would be plain stupid.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions here.” Reading answered. “Everyone makes mistakes. This is a minor accident. They’re nearly all caused by stupidity.”
“Jenn’s not stupid,” Kaylee argued. “I can’t even see her doing this by accident.”
“Maybe so. The only option right now is that someone doesn’t like Jenn,” Reading countered. “We all know she can be strict when it comes to the rules here. Even my own kids have complained about her telling them off.”
Kaylee shot him an exasperated look. “Your son was kicking the volleyballs around. That’s a big nono and he knows it.”
“He got grounded for that incident.” He shrugged. “My point is that if there was foul play here, I’d suspect one of the teenagers first. My son said that they’ve started a new shop program at school about electricity. The kids may be experimenting. Has she caught the kids doing anything else wrong?”
Both Reading and Eli looked at Kaylee. She nodded. “Well, there were obscenities on the chalk-board of the women’s change room, but we don’t know who wrote them. You know the rules. Swearing isn’t allowed. There’s an automatic one-week suspension from the center.”
Reading lifted his eyebrows. “Then if this was deliberate, whoever did this was after Jenn and we were just plain fortunate that you didn’t get hurt too badly.” He peered at her. “You really should get checked out by a doctor.”
Kaylee lowered her gaze. Frustration rose in Eli. “He’s right, you know? If you won’t let us call an ambulance, I’ll take you in myself. Kaylee, you’ve been shocked and hit your head. You have to be seen by a doctor!”
She touched her head and winced. If she’d allow him to check her, he knew he’d find a goose egg there. And she’d say she couldn’t afford to take time off—not while the remnants of a hurricane flooded the gym.
Reading flicked off his flashlight, just as his radio crackled. He spoke on it briefly before looking at her again. “I’ve got to go. The road by the park is flooding. If you think of anything else that I should know, I’m going to be around all night. And,” he added, focusing his attention on Eli, “if there’s anything you think we can do to help, let me know, okay?”
With a nod, he left.
Eli heard Kaylee sigh. He could guess her thoughts. They were as easy to read as the defeated look on her face.
“I better call Jenn,” she said, walking back into the office. She looked tired, pale and ready to drop.
“Sit,” Eli ordered. “I’ll call her. She’ll want to come in.”
Kaylee had seen enough doctors since she escaped from the compound. The doctor that the police ordered and then several in the last two weeks alone. They all meant well, all gave her sound advice, but she was sick of being poked and prodded and questioned.
But she was secretly glad Eli was now driving her into the city. She wouldn’t waste an ambulance and didn’t see that she needed one. But now, over an hour after Eli had found her, nearly to the hospital in Fredericton, she found herself wilting exceptionally fast.
Following her directions, Eli sped up toward the emergency room’s entrance. An ambulance was just pulling out, its lights still winking. The streets all over the city were drenched and deserted, but the hospital was buzzing.
Eli got her in and registered. The clerk informed them that parts of the city were without power and several nursing homes were being evacuated—some of the residents were ending up at the hospital.
“We’ll try to get you in as soon as possible,” she told Kaylee with a sympathetic smile.
True to her word, the clerk called out her name a few minutes later. Eli went in with Kaylee, a fact that she was glad for. The doctor examined her. Her head wound was nothing serious, though she was given a list of things to watch out for. Then he checked all her vitals, saying in the end that it was the rubber boots that kept her from being a better conductor. Although only a few milliamperes could kill, she appeared to have a higher resistance than most.
“Perhaps it’s your lack of body fat. You are one lucky woman,” he said as he finished his exam.
“Luck had nothing to do with it,” Eli stated after the doctor left.
She let him help her off the exam table. “Eli, how can I be grateful that God saved my life, when He could have prevented the accident in the first place?”
He said nothing, but held her hand. Then, a moment later, he pulled her into a tight embrace. Talking into her hair, he said, “There are a hundred answers to that question, Kaylee. And every one of them valid and worth saying. But would you believe them?”
“Maybe.”
“If you were told by someone that you’d get hurt if you went to work today, would you listen to that person and not go to work?”
She lifted her head from his shoulder, meeting his still, soft blue eyes. “It depends on who it was.”
&nbs
p; “Only a very trusted friend would be able to convince you to stay home, right?”
“Yes.”
“Is there anyone in Riverline that you can call a really close, trusted friend?”
She stared down at his jacket, thinking. “Lois cares for me, but she has her family. I have friends back home. Good, trustworthy friends. But, no, no one living in Riverline I would call a really trusted friend.”
She dared a look into his face, to somehow measure his sincerity. He wasn’t smiling. In fact, in the examination room, where the lights were coldly fluorescent, his features looked pale and drawn. The expression was of worry.
Eli was fast becoming the only trusted friend she had here, a thought that tightened her chest and yet didn’t sit well. “The job was the only thing that brought me here,” she said. “My counselor found the house I rent and the job, too. I just took it all.”
“So you haven’t seen your friends back home yet?”
“I called a couple when I first moved to Riverline. I promised I’d go down for a visit soon.”
She felt his grip tighten. “But you haven’t. Why?”
She tried to lift her shoulders to shrug her answer, but he held her tight.
“So you may not even listen to a trusted friend if they warn you, right?”
She lifted her shoulders. “I’d listen. I would respect them that much.” She paused. “But…I would probably go to work. I need the money and it would have to make very clear sense to me not to go.”
Eli pulled her back into his arms and held her there, snugly. His words didn’t make sense. For instance, why did he avoid the issue of God? Why didn’t he use this moment to evangelize? Surprise settled into her as she realized that maybe she was ready to hear Eli’s thoughts on God.
But there were no words for her. Instead, Eli held her close and she could feel his rapid heartbeat, his shallow breathing and what she could only describe as his shaking body.
Then she felt his lips on her hair, warm, touching, almost loving. A gentle gift that left her heart pounding as fast as his was.
“You look a mess,” Jenn announced as Kaylee and Eli returned to the center. All three stood at the entrance to the gym, but with the mop in hand, Jenn was in the middle of a battle with the water that had spread across the gym floor.
Thankfully, she looked as if she was winning. She smiled at Kaylee. “But I’m glad they didn’t keep you overnight.”
Kaylee turned away. “I’ll get another mop,” she said, also thankful.
“Whoa!” Jenn answered her. Kaylee turned. Both Eli and her boss were standing there. While Jenn just gaped at her, Eli scowled.
“You’re in no shape to do any work,” he said.
“I can’t just leave Jenn with this mess!”
“It’s half done, now, and I can help her.”
Kaylee stepped forward. “I wasn’t hurt that bad,” she argued back. “I bumped my head and the shock I got barely hurt.” She wiggled her fingers. “See? Everything’s normal.”
Eli’s scowl deepened. “I disagree. Especially since we don’t know how the accident happened in the first place. It could have easily been a deliberate act and whether against you or Jenn, it doesn’t matter. You were hurt and you’re better off going home.”
“It was just an accident,” she insisted.
Jenn stepped between them, still tucking the mop under her arm as she lifted both hands. She looked at Eli then at Kaylee. “No, it wasn’t an accident.”
TWELVE
Eli and Kaylee cut short their argument to stare at Jenn.
She led them into the hall, stopping at the cleaning room. “I did it.”
“How?” Kaylee asked. “Why?”
Jenn laughed self-consciously. “It wasn’t to kill you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I pulled the dryer out in order to clean behind it. I didn’t want you doing it because you’re still not strong enough.”
Kaylee opened her mouth to protest, but Jenn held up her hand. “And I knew if I told you what I was doing, you’d get defensive.” She turned to Eli. “The town has agreed to buy the center another washer and dryer. This pair is on its last legs. I’m even allowed to pick the set out. I’ve ordered them from the catalogue and they were supposed to be delivered tomorrow.”
“So why did you loosen the wires at the back instead of unplugging it?”
“I didn’t. I meant to unplug it, but the phone rang and I left it. Then I forgot.” She faced Kaylee again, looking stricken. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize the wires were loose and the machine posed a hazard. I’d have never left it like that. I feel awful.”
Kaylee automatically reached out to rub her boss’s arm. “It’s okay. But the wires, how did they get so loose? Eli says the ground is off and another live wire was touching the outside.”
“That dryer has been vibrating all over the room for years. It’s as though something inside is out of balance. It’s worse than the washer, believe me. I came in one morning last year and found it jammed up against the door. I could hardly get into the room. It’s as if the thing has a mind of its own.”
Though she didn’t feel like smiling, Kaylee did so anyway. “But I don’t remember you telling me about getting a new washer and dryer.”
Jenn offered a sheepish look. “That’s my fault again. I didn’t tell you, but I did put the memo from the council in your box. You didn’t see it?”
She shook her head. “The only thing in my box was my check.”
Jenn frowned. “I should have photocopied it. Drat. I need that memo, too, for my files. One councillor wants to rescind the offer, saying he didn’t sign it and I know his initials were on the paper. I wonder where it is.” She strode out of the room and down into the office, Kaylee and Eli following her.
After a hasty search, she found it. The desk beside where she’d awoken after getting shocked, Kaylee noted. She’d grabbed that very same memo and shoved it on the desk after it had fluttered down on her head. But the desk wasn’t assigned to anyone.
Eli lifted his brows. “I put that up there. It fell off when I laid Kaylee down.”
“Hmm,” Jenn murmured. “I was sure I put it in your box. Oh, well, we have it now and you aren’t too badly hurt. But you’re not working tonight. Your man here can take you home.”
Kaylee opened her mouth to protest the term Jenn used, but after spying Jenn’s smug smile, decided not to invite more mischief. She shut her mouth. Eli wasn’t her man. And he wasn’t looking for a permanent home here in Riverline or anywhere in Canada for that matter. So making him her man was just looking for heartache.
“Let’s go,” Eli said, taking her arm. Despite her internal rebuke, his touch felt good and she found herself leaning in close to him. “I can come back and help Jenn.”
“Thanks.” Was she really heading for another big sorrow in her life? Just him touching her arm sent shivers of excitement through her. She liked Eli’s gentle touch.
Whoa. This whole situation was getting out of hand, Kaylee decided as she thanked Jenn with a small smile. She’d lost both parents and her beloved sister. Now she was looking at another painful heartache if she thought that anything could come out of this curious relationship she’d developed with Eli.
Besides, hadn’t he, in the backyard, warned her all men were alike? She’d be crazy not to heed his words.
She had to do something, force him to leave before she got hurt. So what could she do?
There was one way. She could go home. Leave Riverline.
The rain eased over the next twelve hours. And despite the flooded basements and washed-out roads around the area, the late morning air held a cleansed feel. Kaylee had already been out for her walk. She was gaining more endurance, more strength. Her mind slipped back to last night when Eli refused to allow her to work.
She should have helped.
Having seen her return, Lois had already called her to ask if her basement was still dry, adding that the River Road had crumbled in one spot.
Kaylee was due to go back to work that afternoon, and as she set down the phone, she found she was asking herself one question.
Would Eli come with her? He’d spent a week in Riverline and, despite all the difficult issues and the terrible accident, too, she’d enjoyed his company. Last night, he’d been a thankful addition to the cleanup crew, but it wouldn’t be long before he’d hear from his investigator about Phoebe. Then he’d be gone. If she didn’t give him a reason to leave before that. Like leaving first.
Her heart squeezed. She quickly shut the front door and locked it, preparing to walk to work.
Yet as she trotted down her narrow driveway, another question lingered. Was Eli hanging around to find Noah? She’d heard through the center’s grapevine that Hec Haines had claimed to have met Eli and yet she’d heard that Eli denied it.
There was only one answer to Hec’s mistake.
Noah was in Riverline.
Why hadn’t Eli mentioned that to her? Was he trying to protect her? Or was the rumor just that, a rumor?
To counter her crazy heartbeat, she straightened her shoulders. You’ll keep me safe, won’t You, Lord? Please?
She picked up the pace, wondering briefly if she was running away from her prayer or from Noah. Or from the feelings for Eli growing within her?
Running where, though? Like Lois, her aunt had called that morning, anxious to hear how she’d weathered the storm. She also wanted to know if she was coming down before Christmas, or even during the holidays, for that matter. Kaylee had heard the sadness in her voice, the concern, too, and it had cut into her.
“Kaylee!”
She looked up. Coming down the cul-de-sac was Eli. She stopped and watched him. A week ago she’d fainted, thinking he was Noah. But now, seeing Eli every day, she could see the differences in the two men. Eli’s walk was straighter, his movements more fluid, his frame stronger. Yes, he was more tanned, like she had suspected that evening on her back deck when the setting sun tricked her.
Desperate Rescue Page 11