Adrenaline no longer surging through her veins, Sarah could feel each injury, especially the one in her back, the one Karen landed during the fight in the mud. It hurt like hell and made breathing difficult. With slow determination, she made progress toward safety. Sarah knew she should be running, but she was no longer capable.
Karen, running from the tall grass, threw herself at Sarah. They both fell to the lower, more dangerous path, close to the cliffs edge. They rolled repeatedly, hitting rocks, branches, and each other. They tumbled toward the chasm. Sarah had dropped the branch, but she saw Karen still had the letter opener clutched tightly in her hand, and Sarah knew the real fight had just begun.
“You can’t escape, Sarah. You’ll die here, just like I planned, and just like Gerry wanted.” Karen was sprawled across Sarah’s body, and scrambled to get the upper hand. “Remember this?” She held Sarah’s head and pounded her skull into the mud. “Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?”
She laughed wildly and shifted her weight, which gave Sarah a chance to take advantage.
Sarah was dazed, losing consciousness, and close to a complete shutdown, but a very strong will to live sparked, and adrenaline surged through her body. She recognized her advantage when Karen’s body shifted, allowing access to her hands. Sarah pushed through the pain, stiffened her body and, using the last of her strength, she rose up, and shoved Karen back. Thrown off balance, Karen fought gravity to stay on level ground, landing on the path.
“Who’s laughing now, bitch?”
Sarah struggled to her feet, and, in the mud, just inches from her, was the letter opener. She grabbed the weapon while Karen got to her own feet. They faced each other. The precipice was just inches away. Karen had meant to see Sarah go over it, but Sarah held the weapon, and she felt victorious.
“It’s time. You can go the hard way, or you can go the easy way. Just step over the edge. Or would you rather I push you?”
Sarah, unsteady on her feet, answered, “I don’t plan to go anywhere. See.” She held the letter opener proudly. “I’m in charge.”
Karen laughed. “You can barely stand, and you think you can beat me? Let’s see you try.”
“I may not look the part, but I have something you don’t.”
“Yeah, an unsteady hold on a weapon you don’t even know how to use!” Karen bellowed.
For Sarah the sound of her laughter hurt worse than her knife wounds.
“No, bitch, a reason to live.”
Sarah held the knife high, ready to defend herself if Karen moved.
Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot startled them both.
“Steven,” Sarah said, just as a bullet tore through her shoulder. She dropped the letter opener, lost her balance, and fell into Karen, knocking her off her feet. They both fell toward the cliff, but Karen’s legs slipped over the edge. She grabbed Sarah’s good arm, because if she was going over, so was Sarah.
They lay prostrate on the ground, fighting the forces of nature and gravity, and the seconds seemed like hours. Sarah had strong feelings of déjá vu, as memories of Gerry and his attack overwhelmed her. Karen was within seconds of making his desires come true!
“Did your boyfriend shoot you on purpose, or did he just miss me? Think about it, Sarah, because I think he was trying to save my life, not yours. You think maybe it’s because they found all the evidence Gerry left in your attic? Or the letter I planted on the floor of your room? See? I said I could get your lover to hate you!”
Sarah thought Karen had lost grasp on reality, but she did wonder—did Steven shoot her on purpose? Karen was hanging on for dear life, and yet she spoke so clearly, so calmly.
“I’ve got you now, bitch. Your boyfriend is convinced you killed Michael. I can die happy, but I need you to go with me. It’s a promise I made to Gerry. At his funeral, I swore you’d join him at the bottom of the cliff!”
Sarah recalled the nightmare where Gerry’s mutilated corpse waited for her at the bottom, but death was not her choice. She picked up the letter opener with her wounded arm, and forcefully stabbed Karen’s hand. Karen howled in agony and let go. She struggled for a handhold, but the ground was too wet, too slippery. Karen failed in all her efforts, and slid slowly downward.
“You fucking bitch. It’s not over! It’ll never be over. Believe me, this is not the end!” Karen laughed, actually laughed, as she slipped out of sight, and plummeted to the rocks below.
Sarah crawled to the edge. She had to see for herself that Karen was gone. She looked down and saw Karen’s body awkwardly positioned amongst the rocks while the incoming tide struggled to pull her out to sea.
Now, it’s over, please God, let this horror be over. With nothing left, Sarah surrendered to the blackness.
Steven arrived too late to save Karen, but Sarah had managed to save herself. He knew she was going into shock and worked quickly to give her aid. Steven put a compress around her wounded shoulder using his own shirt and covered her naked flesh with his jacket.
Terry strode over, and, without hesitation, advised, “Sarah Palmer, you’re under arrest for the murders of Michael Palmer, Ted Grubber, Becky Meyers, and Karen Shay.”
“Shut up, O’Conner. She’s unconscious. You shot her for God’s sake. Haven’t you done enough?” Steven cradled her in his arms and carried her to the house. Carrying her limp body away from the cliff had become a worrisome habit. He prayed Karen’s death would mean the end of a case that seemed to be never ending. Terry O’Conner, undeterred, followed, spouting Sarah’s Miranda rights.
“Stupid fuck!” Steven said under his breath, but he whispered in her ear, “It’s over, Sarah. Just hang on. It’s finally over.”
ive days after her torturous hour with Karen, Sarah left the hospital. She simply walked away. She refused to discuss her ordeal with the police or her attorney, George Steiner. George immediately filed a lawsuit against the police department after he discovered her handcuffed to the hospital bed. The doctors called her silence posttraumatic shock.
Steven knew Sarah was coping in her own way, but he also knew she was too ill to be wandering around on her own. She’d lost a lot of blood, had a collapsed lung, and a bullet lodged in her shoulder. Her wounds were serious. He was at her side when time allowed, but the case proved an even bigger mystery, with more twists and turns than a mountain road.
Gerry and Karen had worked together, and Brandon James had been a dupe, a victim, but, most importantly, they discovered Karen had killed Michael. A small house owned by Karen, in Tacoma, held all the evidence of the crimes committed. There were charts, timelines, and plans so detailed everyone was incredulous. Karen and Gerry were determined to bring Sarah down, to destroy her, all because of unrequited love—Gerry for Sarah, and Karen for Michael.
The case was madness, pure madness. Steven let Terry do all the talking, even though Terry shot Sarah instead of Karen. The details of their explicit plans—especially the way they set Sarah up to take the fall—explained away Terry’s bulldog attitude, and the Seattle press forgave his mistake. He thrived in the media coverage, while Steven tried to stay in the background. Steven’s concern for Sarah’s health was paramount, but when he found out Ginger Hardin was also one of Kessler’s victims, he flew to Anchorage with the evidence to clear Troy Stoner, and to find his body; the fulfillment of a promise he had made to the parents of the young couple.
While he was busy, Sarah went missing. The nurse said Sarah had been asking for him, and then became highly agitated and uncooperative. One minute she was there, and the next minute she was gone. Steven felt immediate guilt for having abandoned her, but he could not believe they just let her leave. George Steiner filed a new lawsuit, this time against the hospital for allowing a seriously ill woman to walk away.
George then went to work to find better accommodations for Sarah, while Steven tracked her down. He quickly discovered she had paid a cabdriver one thousand dollars to drive her from the hospital to Cliff House. Shocked that she would go back there, he cha
rtered a plane and flew to the coast.
He knew she had a phobia about hospitals, but to go back to Hell House—his new name for Cliff House—made no sense. Trying to second-guess Sarah’s needs was a job he repeatedly failed at. He remembered the number of times he had claimed the horror was over, and his promise to find Michael’s killer. Wrong on so many levels, blindsided, and so distracted by his feelings for her, he almost cost Sarah her life. His guilt and her silence drove a wedge between them even love could not dislodge.
He found her kneeling on the cold, wet ground, staring at the spot where Karen and Gerry had died. She glanced at him, and then turned her gaze back to the ocean. Her appearance angered him. She looked like a ghost, her pallor was stark and frightening. The swelling in her face was gone, but the bruises were more distinct. Her golden hair was colorless and damp from the misting rain, and her jeans and oversized sweater clung to her gaunt body like a wetsuit. He knew her ribs were broken and that surgery had been performed on her arm. She was clearly in pain, and obviously ill, but her attitude angered him the most, because she appeared not to care.
She was abandoning him, and life. He knew she had suffered, but he could not understand why she had quit fighting. To give up after having survived such horror was unforgivable. He blamed himself for her pain, but he refused her death wish.
He knelt beside her. “Sarah, angel, please look at me.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“What are you doing here? Why come back to this place?”
She turned back to the horizon. “Answers. The answers are here… among the ghosts and I need to know.”
“What, angel, what do you need to know?”
“I have to know why.”
He touched her hand. She was ice cold. “Sarah, let’s go inside, please. You’re ill. Come on, we’ll find the answers together.”
She continued to stare, her eyes bright and demanding. “You abandoned me.”
“No.” At first surprised by her accusation, he quickly recognized the truth. “Sarah, please. Okay, you’re right, I’m sorry, but I need—I need your forgiveness, your understanding. Yes, I let you down. I let myself down. I should’ve been there. I should’ve worked harder to solve Michael’s murder. I never should’ve let you out of my sight. Please, forgive me. Then, maybe I can forgive myself. Please, Sarah, we can get through this, we just need each other.”
Sarah never blinked. His words had no effect, and her expression did not change.
“You broke the vows you made to me.”
Steven heard, and understood her disappointment. He assumed she had seen the paper. The Anchorage press was vilifying Steven, while the Seattle press hailed Terry as the hero. He had no idea how they knew, but several newspapers reported in detail the story of the warrant for Sarah’s arrest and claimed he flew to Seattle, determined to be the one who made the arrest. They described how, after enduring Karen’s torture, she was almost killed by the rescuers, then arrested and handcuffed to her hospital bed, while she fought to survive serious injuries. The reporter painted Steven as a mindless, macho detective, willing to throw Sarah to the wolves if the cost was his hero status, but unable to solve a crime where the killers were truly ingenious. Even though a lie, there was a partial truth to it, and he had no answer for her, or for himself. This was his biggest failure.
“You betrayed me. I trusted you with my life. You left me alone. You lied.” She shook her head. “Forgiveness? Not now. Maybe never.”
Steven noticed her coolness, her lack of emotion. What hurt the most was the way she said it, and the finality of it. She took the engagement ring from her left hand and placed it on his palm. She closed his fingers over the ring.
“It’s over. We’re done.” She got up from the ground, turned away from him, and he realized she could no longer stand to look at him.
Steven’s chest hurt from the truth of her words, and her actions had sucked his breath from him. He fought his emotions and smothered his pain, despite how calmly Sarah had wrenched his heart from his body. Slowly, he lifted himself from the ground, staring at the ring in his hand, a gift he had designed. The emeralds and diamonds entwined with the gold he had panned, symbolized the love they shared.
“What do I know of love?”
Yet he realized knowing Sarah had changed his life forever. He wished he had never met her, because he did not know how to deal with the anguish of losing her.
He took a deep breath and stepped in front of her.
She met his eyes.
In a carefully controlled tone, he said, “It’s appropriate Sarah. This is where we first declared our feelings. This makes sense to end us here.” He took the ring and threw it into the ocean. “Oblivion—if our relationship—if we can’t survive this—then we’re done.”
He walked away.
“The past, erased.”
He heard her words and looked back just in time to see her collapse. Despite her rejection, he could not leave her on the wet ground. He ran to her aid and carried her limp body away from the cliff, one final time. Somehow, the action seemed apropos.
Steven took Sarah back to Seattle. He rented a penthouse, brought in Dr. Listten to see to her care, and hired several nurses to look after her until she was once again on her feet. Days passed before she was well enough to carry on a coherent conversation. Emma was with her when she finally found clarity.
“Is Steven here?” was her first question.
“He had to leave, but it’s all right. You’re going to be all right.” Emma smiled through her tears. “Finally, Miss. Finally.”
John never left her side. He was so attentive, Emma felt usurped. John became Sarah’s confidant, and she began to heal physically and emotionally when she shared with him everything about the time she spent with Karen.
One afternoon, he sat with her on the patio. The sun was shining, the temperatures were warm, and her coloring improved immediately in the fresh air.
“Do they finally know who killed Michael?”
“Karen. She cut the brake line at the restaurant, all to frame you. We think Michael rejected her and, out of anger, she killed him. If he’d wanted Karen, you’d have been the one to die in an accident, not Michael. Do you really think Michael lied to you?”
“No, never. It’s just, I heard a rumor about a pregnancy after Michael died, the reason she quit work, and she did accompany him on several of his business trips. There was some truth amidst all her lies, and I have to know…” Her eyes filled with tears. “In a dream, Michael asked for my forgiveness, but I… I couldn’t forgive him, and he threw our wedding rings into the ocean. I just… I have to know for sure…”
John held her as she cried and silently cursed the world. Seeing her so broken, so physically and emotionally damaged by the people she trusted, hurt him deeply. And the fact that Steven had abandoned her again enraged him. John vowed to stay by her side, to protect her from further sorrow, and he would allow no substitutes. Too many people had failed her, and he was not going to be one of them.
“It’s all right. I’ll find the truth. I promise.”
Sarah dried her tears, and Emma gave her a cold compress.
“Where’s Steven? I know he has a lot of work to do, but he hasn’t called. I’ve tried reaching him, but I can’t even get his voice mail. I don’t understand. I just… don’t understand.” She tried to suppress a new wave of tears, but failed. “Oh hell, a good cry, maybe it’s all I really need.”
She smiled despite her tears, and, for the first time since his arrival, John felt confident of her health.
“What if I solve both mysteries? I’ll personally look into Karen’s story for you, and I’ll track down Steven. He’s probably back in Alaska, trying to clear the last details. There was a lot of follow up involved. Will that keep the smile on your face?”
Sarah gave him a hug. “Don’t go out of your way. I’m sure we’ll hear from him soon. He deserves a break from the sick house. And shouldn’t you be in Alaska takin
g care of business? Don’t get me wrong, I value your friendship, and all the attention. But what about Leeann, and your company?”
“I’ll have you know, Eddie and Leeann volunteered to run things in Anchorage so I could be here with you. Besides, I’m opening a new branch of the Thomas and Thomas Security Agency here in Seattle. While I’ve fooled you into thinking I’ve been giving you my undivided attention, I’ve been very busy with work. You, my dear, are the icing on my cake. No guilt allowed!”
What he did not tell her was how he had thrown Steven out the day he arrived. When he first saw the pictures of Karen’s handiwork, the damage she had inflicted, and then heard of the way Sarah was treated by the police, and the hospital, John was sick with grief for her. However, when he found Steven in Anchorage, clearing up the case of Troy Stoner, instead of by Sarah’s side, John lost his cool. He couldn’t understand how Steven could leave her alone in a city that had never treated her well. But he was more surprised that Steven hadn’t put up a bigger fight.
“Yes,” he admitted. “I failed her. Please look after her. If she’s in your hands, I know she’ll be safe.”
Then Steven had walked out, and John, shocked the argument hadn’t come to blows, was glad to see the back of him. But, with Sarah finally on the mend, he wondered, had Steven really forsaken her? Several days later, Emma hurried to her side.
“See, he hasn’t forgotten you.” She waved an envelope at her. “I knew he never believed our Sarah had anything to do with Michael’s death. Arrest her, that other guy, O’ Conner, not our Steven; those papers were wrong.”
Emma stopped when John shot her a hard look.
“What? I don’t understand.”
Confusion had her looking to John and then back to Emma for explanation.
“Never mind.” John assured her. “Open your letter.”
Sarah seemed to dismiss Emma’s comments, but her face registered shock when she read his words. John saw her reaction and was quickly out of his seat and at her side.
Murder, Madness & Love (Detective Quaid Mysteries #1) Page 33