DEAD CERTAIN

by Carla Cassidy

  "This isn't good enough, Savannah. We've got to get these solved. It's the mayor who's busting my butt about the fact that we have two heinous unsolved murders in a town where murder has been rare."

  "I know, I know, but what do you want me to do, Glen?" she said irritably.

  "I want you to solve these cases."

  "Yeah, well I wouldn't mind doing the same," she snapped. She ruffled a hand through her hair and drew a deep breath to calm herself. She'd felt as if every nerve in her body was on edge since her last encounter with Riley.

  "No witnesses have come forward. I've chased down every lead that has come in. I'm still waiting for some of the forensic reports to come back, but I can only do what I can do."

  "Well, try to do better," Glen said, and she knew these final words were a dismissal.

  She left his office and flung herself into her desk chair, fighting against anger and frustration, depression and grief.

  The things Riley had said to her when he'd left the other night had been playing in her head, causing her near sleepless nights. When she did sleep she dreamed of Riley and Jimmy, and in the dreams Jimmy was nearly transparent and when he tried to wrap his arms around her all she felt was chilled and empty.

  Was it time to give up her grief? The thought was so frightening. Her grief had become a warm and familiar friend and to live without it meant opening herself up to other human emotions.

  "Heard you got your butt chewed by the chief."

  She looked up to see Jason Sheller standing in front of her desk, his usual smirk crossing his handsome face. "Somebody must have exaggerated, my butt is just fine, thank you very much."

  He raised a dark eyebrow. "That's the understatement of the day. Your butt is more than fine."

  "Go away, Jason," she exclaimed.

  Instead, he sat in the chair opposite her desk. "I was just wondering what kind of progress you're making on the murders? Got any suspects?" He wiggled in the chair, his gaze not quite meeting hers.

  "Why do you care? You don't work homicide."

  "Just curious, that's all. So, got any suspects?"

  Savannah sighed, realizing the best way to get rid of him was to give him what he wanted. "Initially, Greg Maxwell's wife was at the top of my suspect list in his murder, then Sam McClane wound up dead. I can't tie her to Sam and we're pretty sure the same perp killed both men, so Virginia is off the list for now and nobody else has taken her place."

  "Bummer," he said. "Sounds like you've hit a dead end." To her relief he got up. "Keep me posted, would you? Maxwell was a friend of mine." He wandered back toward the break room, and Savannah sighed once again.

  Odd, she hadn't known that Jason even knew the Maxwells. She sighed. Murder cases, a missing mother, a grieving, angry father … and Riley. She felt as if her head might explode from all the chaos inside.

  Thomas's transition from the hospital to the house had not been a smooth one. Twice today Uncle Sammy had called her to tell her that Thomas was out of control, throwing things and cursing, then weeping inconsolably.

  Savannah had told him to call the doctor and see if there was anything he could do. But she knew there was nothing anyone could do other than find her mother safe and sound and return her to the man who loved her with all his heart. Nothing would he right in Thomas's life until the day Rita was returned to him.

  And nothing would be right in her life ever. Riley had been her single chance for moving on, but he'd been right. She was a coward, afraid to face an uncertain future with him when she could cling to the memory and the thought of what might have been with Jimmy.

  "You're my woman, Silver Star," Jimmy had said to her so often. "You're my woman forever and always." But neither of them had known that forever and always would only last two years.

  The phone rang, and for a moment she hesitated to pick it up. What if it was Riley? She quickly dismissed the very idea. He hadn't called since the night he'd left, and the absence of his nightly phone calls had only increased her sense of loneliness, of emptiness in what she called her life.

  She grabbed up the phone. "Officer Tallfeather."

  "Savannah, it's me."

  "Hi, Bree." She relaxed a bit as she heard her sister's familiar voice. "How's my favorite sister?"

  Breanna laughed, sounding oddly happy. "I believe I'm your only sister."

  "Then, how is my favorite niece?"

  "A handful," Breanna replied, but Savannah could hear the smile in her sister's voice. "She's particularly excited today."

  "Why? What's going on today?"

  "She's just learned she's going to be a big sister."

  It took a moment for Breanna's words to sink in, then Savannah gasped in surprise. "Oh, Bree! You're pregnant?"

  "I am." She laughed with happiness. "You're the first person I've told … I mean beside Adam and Maggie. I figured this family needed a little good news."

  "That's great news. I'm so happy for you. Tell Maggie I know she's going to be a terrific big sister."

  "I will. I've got to run now. Even though I'm only eight weeks along, Adam seems to think we need to go out today and buy a few things."

  "Go and have fun. We'll talk later." The two sisters hung up.

  Savannah was thrilled for Bree. She'd been so lucky in meeting Adam, who had moved into the little rental house next to her Victorian home. Love had bloomed, marriage had followed and now a baby was on the way.

  Yes, Savannah was positively thrilled for her sister but she couldn't seem to control the tears that seeped from her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

  Lucky, lucky Breanna. Her house would be filled with children and love and laughter. There would be no children for Savannah. No laughter, no love would fill her small apartment.

  "Hey, have you heard?" Jason came toward her desk, a cup of coffee in his hand.

  "Heard what?"

  "You know that guy you've been seeing … that builder from Sycamore Ridge?"

  "Riley Frazier. What about him?" Even his name on her lips made a pain shoot through her. She stood and grabbed her purse, deciding she was ready to call it a day.

  "I just heard from one of the guys in the break room that apparently they were digging a foundation out at his place and found a body."

  "A body?" Horror swept through her and it was suddenly difficult to draw a breath.

  "Yeah, guess his business will be shut down for a few days. But the real stinker of it is, the body has been identified as his mother." He jumped back in surprise as she shoved past him.

  Blindly she pushed past him and headed for the station house door. Pain like she'd never known before raked through her.

  Riley. Poor Riley. His mother was dead. She was dead … dead. The words reverberated around and around in her head as she ran for her car.

  She had to get out of here … she had to go.

  The hope she'd entertained that her own mother would be found alive and well crashed and burned with the news that Riley's mother was dead … had probably been dead since the day she'd gone missing.

  But Savannah's pain went beyond that knowledge. Her pain was too enormous to figure out its source, it was a combination of shattered hopes and broken lives and unfulfilled dreams. It was the stark, raving pain of the living.

  She got into her car and began to drive, not knowing, not caring where she was going, just knowing the need to try to outrun her pain.

  * * *

  A nightmare. Riley felt as if he'd been plunged back into his deepest, darkest nightmare. He'd thought he'd prepared himself for the knowledge that his mother was probably dead, but he knew now there was no way to prepare oneself for such a thing.

  It hadn't taken long to make the identification. Joanna Frazier still wore the distinctive wedding ring her husband had bought for her so many years before. Around her neck was a locket, with a picture of Riley inside.

  The police had brought him the ring and locket and in the first instant of seeing the two pieces of jewelry, that last vestige of hope
he'd maintained had shattered. He'd clutched the last of his hope in his hand and had known the pain of deep bereavement.

  Both his parents were gone now. He was alone … utterly alone in the world. From that moment the evening had been a study in sheer torture.

  Yellow crime-scene tape took on a garish aura as the ominous clouds overhead grew darker. Workers stood in small groups, waiting for the police to talk to them.

  Riley had already been grilled for several hours as the murder of his father was revisited and new questions were asked about his mother.

  The County Medical Examiner had already left after determining that his mother had been killed by blunt-force trauma to her head.

  The bulldozer operator had indicated that the body had been uncovered with the first scraping of earth. It had been a relatively shallow grave.

  "At least you finally know," Lillian had told him when the news had come that it was his mother they had found. "At least you finally have some closure." She'd hugged him tight, and he'd welcomed the warmth of her hug.

  Yes, he now had closure. For that he was grateful. The unknowing had always been difficult, and deep in his heart, in a place he'd never really wanted to acknowledge, he'd always known she was probably gone.

  He waited until the last of his workers had been dismissed, and only then did he leave the trailer and head for home.

  It was while he was driving home that his thoughts turned to Savannah. A sudden fear gripped him. Had she heard? Did she know that his mother had been found dead?

  He'd known for some time that somehow in her mind she'd tied the two women together—his mother and hers, both missing, but hope not lost.

  If she'd heard that his mother had been found dead, then what state of mind would she be in? No matter what had happened between the two of them, no matter that she couldn't love him enough to have any kind of future with him. He loved her enough to be scared.

  She hadn't promised him. When he'd asked her to promise that she'd never again go to the bridge, never again allow the pain of life to drive her over the edge, she'd refused to promise him that.

  He had to find her. He had to make certain she was all right. He wasn't sure why, but as he headed toward Cherokee Corners, a terrible sense of dread accompanied him.

  * * *

  Chapter 15

  «^

  He drove fast despite the slash of lightning that rent the blackened sky and the crashes of thunder that shook his car.

  He, more than anyone, knew how fragile Savannah was and he feared that the news about his mother's death would drive her straight over the edge. He didn't fear for her sanity. He feared for her very life.

  She wouldn't promise me. She refused to promise me. Over and over again these words played and replayed in his head, haunting him, scaring him.

  Deep in his heart he knew that the driving need to see that she was okay was compounded by his own need to hold her, to help ease the pain he felt at knowing his mother was truly and really gone.

  By some miracle the rain continued to hold off. It was as if the heavens knew that enough tears would be shed tonight so the clouds' weeping wasn't necessary.

  He drove by her parents' place on the way into town, but her car wasn't there. When he reached Cherokee Corners the first place he went was her apartment. But her car wasn't in its usual place in the parking lot. The next place he checked was the police station.

  Despite the fact that he didn't see her vehicle, he parked and went inside. Maybe she was out chasing some lead and hadn't heard the news about his mother. He hoped that was the case. If she had to hear the news, he thought it would be better if she heard it from him.

  He was greeted in the police station by a handsome officer who introduced himself as Jason Sheller. "Yeah, she was here, but she flew out of here like a bat out of hell a couple of hours ago," he informed Riley.

  "Do you know where she was going?" Riley asked, a sense of urgency filling his soul.

  Jason shook his head. "Don't have a clue. But, hey, sorry to hear about your mother."

  So, the news had made the rounds here in Cherokee Corners already. "Thanks," he said distractedly. "Did Savannah know … about my mother?"

  "Yeah, it was the last thing I told her before she flew out of here." Jason offered him a sly grin. "I figured she was on her way to console you. I know you two have a thing going on."

  The words irritated Riley, seeming to diminish what he felt for Savannah. "That thing is called love and I need to find her."

  "Can't help you there," Jason said with a shrug.

  Riley didn't waste any more time. He left the police station knowing there was one other place she could possibly be, and the thought of her there chilled him to the bone.

  The storm outside seemed to have intensified, the sky electric and noisy as Riley got back into his car. Fear slashed through him as lightning lacerated the black night.

  If she had lost all hope of finding her mother alive, had she also lost the last of her will to live? Was she finally ready to make that leap into the river to join her husband in the spirit world?

  "No." The single word ripped from his throat.

  His heart pounded as loudly in his ears as the thunder boomed overhead. Even if Savannah didn't love him, he didn't want her to join her Jimmy.

  He wanted her alive and well and even if it wasn't with him, he wanted her to find love and happiness once again with another man.

  He didn't want the authorities dragging the river for her body. He stepped on the gas, frantic, as sweat beaded up on his forehead. He had to get to that bridge and he hoped, he prayed she wasn't there … that it wasn't too late.

  His heart tumbled to the depths of hell as he approached the bridge and saw her car parked nearby. "God … no," he whispered as he parked his car and plunged out.

  He stared up at the structure, but found it impossible to see clearly in the darkness. He got back into his car and reached into the glove box for a flashlight.

  "Please God," he prayed as he once again left the car. The grass and underbrush between the road and the base of the bridge was overgrown, thick with tangles and thorny bushes. He clicked on the flashlight to aid him as he made his way to the old wooden structure.

  As he hurried through the brush, he alternated between shining the light on the ground just ahead of him and upward toward the bridge, but the light wasn't strong enough to allow him to see anything, anyone that the bridge support might harbor.

  When a flash of lightning occurred, he quickly looked upward, but before he could focus, the light was gone, replaced by a thunderous roar that sounded like God's fury.

  He had no capacity for any thought except for her. Savannah filled his every pore, she raced in his heart. The need to save her from herself usurped any other desire, superceded anything he'd ever wanted in his life.

  He reached the bottom of the bridge and once again shone the light upward. "Savannah!" Her name ripped from his throat, but was swallowed by a booming clap of thunder.

  "Savannah!" he yelled again, the anguished cry coming from the very depths of him.

  He focused his light first on one area of the bridge, then on another, and a sob escaped him as he finally saw her, crouched in the underbelly of the structure, sitting on a support beam just over the river below.

  Looking around frantically, he saw the way he suspected she'd climbed up, a crisscross of beams that created a kind of ladder.

  Laying the flashlight on the ground with the beam pointed in that direction, he grabbed the first beam and began to ascend.

  "Savannah," he yelled once again as he got closer. In the flash of lightning he saw her turn her head toward him, shock momentarily shining on her features.

  "Riley … get down," she said.

  In another flash of light he saw that her face was shiny with tears. He didn't get down. Instead he went higher. "Not without you," he replied.

  Thunder rattled the earth, and Riley clung to the wood, for a moment afraid that t
hey'd both be shaken off into the river below.

  "Please, Savannah, please come down with me. Just because my mother was found dead doesn't mean there isn't still hope for yours. Don't do this. You can't do this. Even if you don't love me, don't do this to your family, don't do this to yourself. You have people who love you, who need you in their lives."

  For a moment he thought it had begun to rain, for his face was wet. Then he realized it was tears … tears for her, for her pain, for the anguish that would drive her to be here now.

  "Riley, get down before you fall," she exclaimed, and he heard fear in her voice.

  He held out a hand toward her even though he wasn't close enough to touch her yet. "I told you, I'm not leaving without you."

  Lightning flashed once again, and their gazes met. In hers was an expression he couldn't read, but it didn't appear to be the expression of a woman on the verge of suicide.

  A sob released itself from him again as she scooted toward him. Closer … closer … closer she came, then her hand was in his.

  Together they descended the bridge support and it was only when they reached the firmness of the ground beneath them that he pulled her tight against his chest.

  He held her so tight it was impossible for her to speak, impossible for her to do anything else but desperately cling to him.

  When he finally released her, he framed her face with his hands. "There's life after tragedy, Savannah. No matter how desperate you feel right now, no matter how bleak things seem at the moment, it passes. Even if you don't love me, even if you don't want to build a life with me, at least believe me when I tell you that things will get better."

  "I do believe you," she replied softly. She paused a moment as thunder roared, then continued in the stillness that followed. "Oh, Riley. I didn't go up there to jump off the bridge. I went up there to say goodbye … goodbye to the past … goodbye to Jimmy."

  "Goodbye?" he echoed in surprise.