A Faint Cold Fear (4 page)

Jeffrey patted her front pockets, finding her stethoscope and putting it into her limp hand. When he said 'Frank is calling an ambulance,' his voice sounded so far away that Sara felt as if she were reading his lips instead of hearing his words.

'Sara?'

She was paralyzed by her emotions and could not think what to do. Her vision tunneled, and all she could see was Tessa, bloodied, terrified, her eyes wide with shock. Something passed between them: abject horror, pain, blinding fear. Sara was utterly helpless.

Jeffrey repeated, 'Sara?,' putting his hand on her arm. Her hearing came back in a sudden rush, like water sluicing through a dam.

He squeezed her arm hard enough to cause pain.

'Tell me what to do.'

Somehow his words brought her back to the moment. Still, her voice caught when she said, 'Take off your shirt. We need to control the bleeding.'

Sara watched as Jeffrey pulled off his jacket and tie, then ripped through the buttons of his shirt. Gradually she felt her mind start to work. She could do this. She knew what to do.

He asked, 'How bad is it?'

Sara did not answer, because she knew that voicing the harm done would give it more power. Instead she pressed his shirt to Tessa's belly, then put Jeffrey's hand over it, saying, 'Like this,' so he would know how much pressure to exert.

'Tess?' Sara asked, trying to be strong for her sister.

'I want you to look at me, okay, sweetie? Just look at me and let me know if anything changes, all right?'

Tessa nodded, her eyes darting to the side as Frank made his way toward them.

Frank dropped down beside Jeffrey. 'They've got Life Flight less than ten minutes away.' He started to unbutton his shirt just as Lena Adams came into the clearing. Matt Hogan was behind her, his hands clenched at his sides.

'He must have gone that way,' Jeffrey told them, indicating the path that led deeper into the forest. The two ran off without another word.

'Tess,' Sara said, pressing open the chest wound to see how deep it went. The trajectory of the knife would have put the blade dangerously close to the heart. 'I know this hurts, but just hang on. Okay? Can you hang on for me?'

Tessa gave a tight nod, her eyes still darting around.

Sara used the stethoscope to listen to Tessa's chest, her heartbeat like a fast drum, her breathing a sharp staccato. Sara's hand began to shake again as she pressed the bell of the stethoscope against Tessa's abdomen, checking for a fetal heart rate. A stab to the belly was a stab to the fetus, and Sara was not surprised when she could not find a second heartbeat. Amniotic fluid had gushed from the wound, destroying the baby's protective environment. If the knife blade had not damaged the fetus, the loss of blood and fluid certainly would.

Sara could feel Tessa's eyes boring into her, asking a question Sara could not bring herself to answer. If Tessa went into shock, or her adrenaline surged, her heart would pump blood more quickly out of the body.

'It's faint,' Sara said, feeling her stomach lurch at the depth of the lie. She made herself look Tessa in the eye, taking her hand, saying, 'The heartbeat is faint, but I can hear it.'

Tessa's right hand lifted to feel her stomach, but Jeffrey stopped her. He looked down at her palm.

'What's this?' Jeffrey asked. 'Tessa? What's this in your hand?'

He held up Tessa's hand so she could see what he meant. A look of confusion came to her face as the plastic fluttered in the breeze.

'Did you get it from him?' Jeffrey asked. 'The person who attacked you?'

'Jeffrey,' Sara said, her voice low. His shirt had soaked through with blood, covering his hand to the wrist. He saw what she meant and started to take off his undershirt but she told him no, grabbing his coat because it was quicker.

Tessa groaned at the momentary change in pressure, air hissing out between her teeth.

'Tess?' Sara asked loudly, taking her sister's hand again. 'Are you holding up okay?'

Tessa gave a tight nod, her lips pressed together, nostrils flaring as she labored to breathe. She squeezed Sara's hand so hard that Sara felt the bones move.

Sara asked, 'You're not having trouble breathing, right?' Tessa did not respond, but her eyes were alert, darting from Jeffrey to Sara.

Sara tried to keep the fear out of her voice, repeating, 'Are you breathing all right?' If Tessa became incapable of breathing on her own, Sara could do only so much to help her.

Jeffrey's voice was tight and controlled. 'Sara?' His hand was tensed over Tessa's belly. 'It felt like a contraction.'

Sara shook her head in a quick no, putting her hand next to Jeffrey's. She could feel uterine contractions.

Sara raised her voice, asking, 'Tessa? Are you feeling more pain down here? Pelvic pain?'

Tessa did not answer, but her teeth chattered as if she were cold.

Tm going to check for dilation, okay?' Sara warned, lifting Tessa's dress. Blood and fluid covered Tessa's thighs in a sticky black matt. Sara pressed her fingers into the canal. The body's reaction to any trauma was to tense up, and Tessa's was doing just that. Sara felt as if she were putting her hand into a vise.

'Try to relax,' Sara told Tessa, feeling for the cervix.

Sara's obstetrics rotation had been years ago, and even the reading she'd done lately in preparation for the birth was sorely lacking.

Still, Sara told her, 'You're fine. You're doing fine.'

Jeffrey said, 'I felt it again.'

Sara cut him with a look, willing him to be quiet.

She had felt the contraction, too, but there was nothing they could do about it. Even if there was a chance that the baby was alive, a cesarean section in this setting would kill Tessa. If the knife had cut through her uterus, she would bleed out before they reached the hospital.

'That's good,' Sara said, pulling out Tessa's hand.

'You're not dilated. Everything is okay. All right, Tess?

Everything's okay.'

Tessa's lips still moved, but the only sound she made was the sharp pant of her breathing. She was hyperventilating, throwing herself into hypocapnia.

'Slow down, sweetie,' Sara said, putting her face close to Tessa's. 'Try to slow down your breathing, okay?'

Sara showed her, breathing in deeply, letting it go slowly, thinking all the time that they had done this same thing in Lamaze class weeks ago.

'That's right,' Sara said as Tessa's breathing started to slow. 'Nice and slow.'

Sara had a moment's relief but then every muscle in Tessa's face tensed up at once. Tessa's head started to tremble, and Sara's hand then her arm absorbed the vibration like a tuning fork. A gurgling noise came from Tessa's lips, and then a thin stream of clear liquid dribbled out. Her eyes were still glassy, her stare blank and cold.

Sara kept her voice low, asking Frank, 'What's the ETA on the ambulance?'

'Shouldn't be much longer,' Frank said.

'Tessa,' Sara said, making her voice stern, threatening.

She had not talked to her sister this way since Tessa was twelve and wanted to do a somersault off the roof of the house. 'Tessa, hold on. Hold on just a little bit longer. Listen to me. Hold on. I'm telling you to-'

Tessa's body gave a sudden, violent jerk, her jaw clamping tight, eyes rolling back in her head, guttural sounds coming from her throat. The seizure erupted with frightening intensity, working through Tessa's body like a current of electricity.

Sara tried to use her body as a barrier so Tessa would not hurt herself more. Tessa shook uncontrollably, grunting, her eyes rolling. Her bladder released, the smell of her urine strongly acidic. Her jaw was clenched so tight that the muscles in her neck stood out like steel cords.

Sara heard the whir of an engine in the distance, then the distinctive chopping of a helicopter's blades.

When the air ambulance hovered overhead before circling toward the riverbed, Sara felt tears stinging her eyes.

'Hurry,' she whispered. 'Please hurry.'

TWO

Jeffrey could see Sara through the window of the helicopter as it lifted into the air. She was holding Tessa's hand to her chest, head bent down as if in prayer. Neither he nor Sara had ever been particularly religious, but Jeffrey found himself thinking a prayer to anyone who would listen, begging for Tessa to be okay. He kept watching Sara, kept silently praying, until the helicopter made a wide right turn, angling over the tree line. The farther away it got, the less easily the words came to mind, so that by the time the machine turned west toward Atlanta, all he felt was anger and helplessness.

Jeffrey looked down at the thin white strip of plastic he'd found clutched in Tessa's hand. He had peeled it off her palm before they loaded her into the helicopter, hoping that perhaps it would lead them to the person who had attacked her. Staring at it now, he felt a crushing sense of hopelessness bearing down on him. Both he and Sara had touched the plastic.

There were no obvious fingerprints in the blood.

There was no telling if it even had anything to do with the attack.

'Chief?' Frank handed Jeffrey his suit jacket and shirt, both of which were dripping with blood.

'Jesus,' Jeffrey said, extracting his police badge and wallet. They were as soaked as his clothes. He found an evidence bag and sealed the plastic strip inside, asking, 'What the hell happened?'

Frank held out his hands, speechless.

The gesture irritated Jeffrey, and he bit back the cutting comment that came to mind, knowing that what had happened to Tessa Linton was not Frank's fault. If anything, it was Jeffrey's. He had been standing with his thumb up his ass less than a hundred yards away when Tessa had been attacked; he'd known something was wrong when Tessa was not at the car, and he should have insisted on going with Sara to look for her.

He tucked the bag into his pants pocket, asking, 'Where are Lena and Matt?'

Frank flipped open his cell phone.

'No,' Jeffrey told him. The worst thing that could happen to Matt in the middle of the forest was to have his phone ring. 'Give them ten minutes.' He glanced at his watch, not sure how much time had already passed. 'If they're not out by then, we'll go look for them.'

'Right.'

Jeffrey dropped his clothes on the ground, resting his wallet and badge on top. He continued, 'Call the station. Get six units out here.'

Frank started to dial in the number, asking, 'You want to cut the witness loose?'

'No,' Jeffrey told him. Without another word he started down the hill toward the parked cars.

He tried to get his thoughts together as he walked.

Sara had felt there was something suspicious about the suicide. Tessa's being stabbed in the immediate vicinity made that possibility even more likely. If the kid in the riverbed had been murdered, it was possible Tessa Linton had surprised his assailant in the woods.

'Chief,' Brad said, his voice lowered so as not to be rude. Behind him Ellen Schaffer was on her cell phone.

Jeffrey cut his eyes at Brad. Within ten minutes everyone on campus would know exactly what had happened.

Brad winced, understanding the mistake he had made. 'Sorry.'

Ellen Schaffer followed the exchange, giving a quick 'Gotta go' into her cell phone before ending the call.

She was an attractive young blonde with hazel eyes and one of the most off-putting Yankee accents Jeffrey had heard in a long time. She wore a pair of tight running shorts and an even tighter cropped Lycra shirt.

A belt with a CD player sat low on her hips, and an intricately designed sunburst was tattooed in a circle around her belly button.

Jeffrey began, 'Ms. Schaffer-'

Schaffer's voice was more grating than he remembered when she asked, 'Is she going to be all right?'

'I think so,' Jeffrey said, though his gut twisted into a knot over the question. Tessa had been unconscious when they loaded her onto the stretcher. There was no telling if she would ever wake up again. He wanted to be with her now with Sara but there was nothing Jeffrey could do at the hospital except wait. At least this way he might be able to find some answers for Sara's family.

Jeffrey asked, 'Can you tell me again what happened?'

Schaffer's lower lip trembled at the question.

He prompted, 'You saw the body from the bridge?'

'I was jogging. I always jog in the morning.'

He looked at his watch again. 'This exact time?'

'Yes.'

'Always alone?'

'Usually. Sometimes.'

Jeffrey made a conscious effort to be polite when what he really wanted to do was shake the girl and make her tell him what he wanted to know. 'You usually jog alone?" 'Yes,' she answered. 'I'm sorry.'

'Do you normally take this trail?'

'Normally,' she echoed. 'I go down the bridge and then up into the woods. There are paths…' Her voice trailed off as she realized he must know this.

'So,' he said, getting her back on track, 'you jog this same path every day?'

Ellen nodded, a quick up-and-down. 'I don't usually stop at the bridge, but something didn't feel right. I don't know why I stopped.' She pressed her lips into a thin line as she considered it. 'There are usually birds, nature sounds. It felt too still. Do you know what I mean?'

Jeffrey knew. He had sensed that same eerie feeling when he was running through the woods looking for Sara and Tessa. The only sounds had been those of his own feet pounding into the ground and his heart pounding even more loudly in his head.

Ellen continued, 'So I stopped to stretch, and then I looked over the railing and there he was.'

'You didn't go down to check on him?'

She looked embarrassed. 'I didn't… Should I have?'

'No,' he said and then, to be kind, added, 'it's better that you didn't contaminate the scene.'

She seemed relieved. 'I could tell…' She looked down at her hands, silently crying.

Jeffrey glanced back at the woods, nervous that Matt and Lena were not back by now, especially with the noise the helicopter had made. Sending them out into the forest was probably not one of his better ideas.

Schaffer interrupted his thoughts, asking, 'Did he suffer?'

'No,' he assured her, though he had no idea. He said, 'We think he jumped from the bridge.'

She seemed surprised. 'I just assumed…'

He did not give her time to dwell on her feelings.

'So you saw him. You called the police. Then what did you do?'

'I stayed on the bridge until the officer got here.'

She indicated Brad, who gave a sheepish smile. 'Then the others came, and I stayed with him.'

'Did you see anyone else? Someone in the woods?'

'Just the girl going up the hill,' she said.

'Anyone else?'

'No. No one,' she answered, looking over Jeffrey's shoulder. He turned, seeing Matt and Lena walking out of the woods. Lena was limping, her hands out to the side in case she fell. Matt offered his hand to help her down the hill, but she waved him off.

Jeffrey told Ellen Schaffer, "I'll follow up with you tomorrow. Thank you for making yourself available.'

Then, to Brad, 'Make sure she gets back to the dorm.'

'Yes, sir,' Brad said, but Jeffrey was already running up the hill.

The soles of Jeffrey's loafers slipped on the ground as he ran toward Lena and Matt, but all he could think was that he had jeopardized another woman by sending Lena into the woods. By the time he reached them, remorse was a tight band around his chest. He put his hand under Lena's arm to help her sit.

'What happened?' Jeffrey asked, feeling like a parrot, thinking he'd asked that question a million times today and still had not gotten a satisfactory answer. 'Are you okay?'

'Yes,' Lena said, shrugging him off so quickly that she fell the rest of the way down. Frank started to help her, taking her arm, but Lena jerked away, saying, 'Jesus, I'm all right,' though she winced as her foot touched the ground.

The three men stood transfixed as Lena untied the laces of her shoe, and Jeffrey knew they were feeling the same emotions he was. When he glanced up, both Matt and Frank leveled him with an accusatory glare.

Lena could have been seriously hurt in the woods.

Whatever had happened to her and whatever could have happened was Jeffrey's fault.

Lena broke the spell, saying, 'He was still out there.'

'Where?' Jeffrey asked, feeling his pulse quicken.

'The bastard was hiding behind a tree, looking to see what was going on.'

Frank muttered an angry 'Jesus,' but Jeffrey did not know if his anger was for the attacker or for Jeffrey.

'I chased him,' Lena continued, oblivious to the tension, or perhaps just choosing to ignore it. 'I tripped on something. A log. I don't know. I can show you where he was hiding.'

Jeffrey tried to get his head around this. Was the attacker staying around to make sure Tessa got help, or was he watching what happened like a home movie, sucking up the drama?

Frank had an edge to his voice when he asked Matt, 'Where were you when all this was happening?'

Matt used the same sharp tone. 'We spread out to cover more area. Say, a coupla minutes later, I saw the kid running.'

Frank grumbled, 'You shouldn'ta left her in the first place.'

Matt grumbled back, 'I was just following procedure.'

'Both of you,' Jeffrey said, trying to stop them. 'We don't have time for this.' He turned his attention to Lena again. 'How close was he to the scene?'

'Close,' she said. 'Off the trail, about fifty yards away. I backtracked, thinking if he was still hanging around, it'd be close, so he could see the action.'

Jeffrey asked, 'Did you get a good look at him?'

'No,' she told him. 'He saw me before I saw him.

He was crouching behind a tree. Maybe he was getting off on watching Sara freak out.'

'I didn't ask for speculation,' Jeffrey snapped, not liking the condescending way she had said Sara's name. Lena had never gotten along with Sara, but now was hardly the time to bring up the grudge, especially considering the state Tessa was in.

He said, 'You saw the guy. Then what?'

'I didn't see him,' she shot back, her anger ignited.

Jeffrey realized too late that he had pushed the wrong buttons. He looked to Frank and Matt for help, but their faces were just as hard as Lena's.

'Go on,' Jeffrey said.

Lena was terse. 'I saw a blur. Movement. He stood up and took off. I ran after him.'

'Which way did he go?'

Lena took her time, looking up to find the sun.

'West, probably toward the highway.'

'Black? White?'

'White,' she said, then added a flippant, 'maybe.'

'Maybe?' Jeffrey demanded, aware that he was fueling the fire but incapable of stopping himself.

'I told you,' she said, defensive. 'He turned and ran.

What was I going to do, ask him to slow down so I could ascertain his ethnicity?'

Jeffrey paused a moment, trying to hold back his temper. 'What was he wearing?'

'Something dark.'

'A coat? Jeans?'

'Jeans, maybe a coat. I don't know. It was dark.'

'Long coat, short coat?'

'A jacket… I think.'

'Did he have a weapon?'

'I couldn't see.'

'What color was his hair?'

'I don't know.'

'You don't know?'

'I think he was wearing a hat.'

'You think he was?' Suddenly, all the helplessness that had been building up since he had seen Tessa lying near death exploded out of him. 'Jesus Christ, Lena, how long were you a cop?'

Lena stared at him with the kind of burning hatred he was used to seeing in suspects he interrogated.

He demanded, 'You chase a fucking suspect, and you can't even tell me if he was wearing a hat or not?

What the fuck were you doing out there, picking daisies?'

Lena kept staring up at him, her jaw working as she held back what she wanted to say.

'It's a damn good thing he didn't go after you,'

Jeffrey said. 'We'd be looking at two girls on that chopper instead of one.'

She snapped, 'I can take care of myself.'

'You think that little knife on your ankle's gonna protect you?' He was disgusted by the surprised look on her face, mostly because he had taught Lena better than that. Jeffrey had seen her ankle sheath when she'd slid on her ass down the riverbank.

He said, 'I should run you in for carrying concealed.'

She continued to stare, her hatred palpable.

'You better check that look,' he warned her.

Lena's teeth were so tightly clenched that her words were hard to make out. 'I don't work for you anymore, asshole.'

Something inside Jeffrey was very close to snapping.

His vision sharpened, everything coming into startling focus.

'Chief,' Frank said, putting his hand on Jeffrey's shoulder. Jeffrey backed down, knowing he was acting insane. He saw his bloody clothes on the ground, Tessa's blood. Everything rushed in on him in that moment: The tears on Sara's face making tracks on her bloodstained cheek. Tessa's arm, limp, dangling off the stretcher as they lifted her.

Jeffrey turned away so they could not see his expression, picking up his badge, polishing it with the tail of his undershirt, trying to buy himself time to calm down.

Brad Stephens chose that moment to walk up, twirling his hat in his hand. He asked, 'What's going on, Chief?'

Anger made Jeffrey's throat tight. 'I told you to walk Schaffer to her dorm.'

'She ran into a couple of friends,' Brad said, turning pale. 'She wanted to go with them.' His clear blue eyes were wide with fright, and he stuttered, 'I-I-I figured she'd be better off with them. They're with her house.

Keyes House. I didn't think-'

'All right,' Jeffrey interrupted, knowing that taking out his anger on Brad would only make him feel worse. He told Frank, 'Get some of our people on the highway. Tell them we're looking for someone walking. Anyone walking. Maybe in a jacket, maybe not.' He did not look at Lena on this last part, though she must have known a description would make all the difference.