Find Me (41 page)

She tossed the knife aside.

Lynda grinned with triumph. "I knew you couldn't do it."

"Shut the fuck up." Sarah grabbed two handfuls of the bitch's hair and banged her head against the rocks a couple of times. When her eyes rolled back in their sockets, Sarah figured that was enough.

But she wasn't taking any chances. Keeping one hand on the bitch's neck, she reached for the duct tape lying on the ground. She grabbed the end between her teeth and pulled a good length free, then tore it off. She scooted backward, manacled her prisoner's hands together. As she tore off another length of tape, Lynda came to enough to try and fight. Sarah banged her head against the rock twice more and Lynda went lax.

"Bitch," Sarah muttered.

She wound the tape around Lynda's wrists several times before doing the same to her ankles. She didn't bother taping her mouth shut. If she woke up, let her scream.

Sarah moved over to the chief, checked for a pulse. Nothing. She put her cheek to his face, felt for breathing. Nothing. Her head still spinning, Sarah attempted CPR until she became too groggy. Still no pulse.

Shit.

The pills. She had to find help. Sarah tried to stand. Didn't make it.

Wait. The chief would have a radio or cell phone. Sarah dug around in his pockets. No radio… her fingers wrapped around what felt like a phone and relief rushed through her. She could call for help once she got outside.

She managed to stand and then stagger toward what she hoped was the mouth of the cave.

The ground tilted under her feet. The rock walls moved and shook.

By the time she was outside it was almost impossible to keep her eyes open.

She fumbled with the chief's phone. Kept dropping it. What the hell?

The pills. Shit. All the adrenaline was amplifying the affect.

Sarah dropped the phone and did the only thing she could. She shoved her fingers down her throat. She gagged. Repeated the process. Then she puked.

One more time. Gag. Puke.

Hopefully she'd gotten rid of some of those fucking pills.

Groggy as hell, she reached for the phone again. Couldn't make it work. Shit! The keypad was locked. Her heart thumped. She didn't know the right password or code.

Dammit!

Get up. Walk. Find help!

Sarah struggled to her feet. After three attempts she managed to stand.

One foot in front of the other.

Again.

Keep going.

Her mouth felt dry. The ground kept moving. Her vision was narrowing.

"Damn."

She fell forward in the snow. Told herself to turn her head to the side so she could breathe.

Maybe she did… maybe she didn't… she couldn't say for sure.

She thought about Kale Conner and his family… about how it felt to be with him… she should have been nicer to him…

She must have turned her head because she could see the moon reflected in the water. She could hear her heart beating. Slower and slower.

She was dying.

Tae would be pissed.

Her shrink would nod and say she suspected it would happen.

Kale would be sad.

Something hot rolled over her nose and onto her cold, cold cheek where it rested against the snow.

A tear.

Shit.

Then Sarah did something she hadn't done since she was nine years old… she prayed.

Please, God… let him find me.

"Sarah."

Her lids fluttered helplessly. Had someone said her name?

"Sarah, wake up."

Sarah struggled to force her lids open. Finally she managed a narrow crack. She smiled. "Matilda." Sarah licked her lips. Her mouth was so dry. "I thought you were gone."

"You needed me."

Sarah tried to laugh but the sound was more a grunt. "No shit. I think I might be dead already." As if on cue, her lids grew too heavy to keep open.

"Stay awake, Sarah!"

Sarah jerked at the loud command. Her lids fluttered open again.

"You have to stay awake," Matilda told her. "If you go to sleep you won't wake up. Ever."

"Sorry…" Sarah needed a drink of water. "I can't…"

"Stay awake, Sarah. I'll send help."

Silence echoed around Sarah. She focused on opening her eyes once more. She blinked. Where was Matilda? Had she imagined her?

Sarah tried to stay awake like Matilda said… but she just couldn't…

Funny… she was pretty sure she was dead since she couldn't feel her heart beating anymore.

She couldn't feel… anything…

A steady beep, beep, beep filtered through the haze.

Was she in the fog?

Sarah told her eyes to open so she could see.

Didn't happen.

Her head felt like it weighed a ton.

She tried to lift her arm, her right, then her left.

That didn't happen, either.

Go for something little.

She wiggled her toes, or tried to.

She wasn't sure if it worked or not.

Okay, focus.

Open your eyes!

Bright light.

Her lids clamped shut.

Shit. She was dead.

Wait. There had been something in the light.

Working up her courage, she forced her eyes open one more time.

Damn, that light was bright.

She blinked a couple of times.

Something blocked the light.

A face.

"There's my girl."

Tae?

Okay, she wasn't dead. Tae was too mean to die.

"We thought we'd lost you."

Was that emotion she heard in his voice?

She licked her lips… tried to swallow. Her throat was seriously dry.

"Where am… I?"

"Well, it ain't the Waldorf-Astoria, sweetheart."

Now that sounded more like Tae.

"What happened?"

"I'll let your friend give you the official details. Right now all that matters is that you're back." Tae squeezed her hand. "My time's up. But I'll be back soon."

He was gone before she could say anything. What did he mean his time was up?

She didn't know how long he'd been gone when warm fingers closed around hers. Her gaze moved upward and dark, dark eyes held hers.

Kale.

"You scared the hell out of me."

Her heart did something weird. Not quite a flutter. "Sorry."

Flashes of memory from those minutes in the cave bounced around in her head. None of it fit together.

"Lynda Pope is in custody. Your buddy August got the whole story out of her. The chief, unfortunately, didn't make it."

Panic started to well in Sarah's chest. She was alive. Okay. Calm down.

"Barton Harvey is a couple floors down from you," Kale told her. "He's been charged with assault and battery."

Sarah tried to frown but it hurt. There was something she should remember about the innkeeper. "Why's he here?"

Kale lifted an eyebrow. "You don't remember?"

She started to shake her head but a burst of pain warned her not to. "No." Damn.

"You found where he'd buried his father's diary and he popped you on the back of the head with a shovel."

Damn, and she didn't even remember. Asshole.

"He claims he realized he'd overreacted and dragged you into his mudroom to call for help, but then someone bonked him on the head. Of course we know now that was Lynda."

"Looks like you were right," Kale concluded. "It was a woman."

Yeah, yeah. "I'm always right."

Kale chuckled, the sound rusty and weary. "That's a fact, lady."

Sarah felt her lips smile. She loved his voice. Even when he sounded so tired. Her smile drooped. "Wait. What's the deal with the diary?" She vaguely remembered finding a journal or something in the dirt.

"Oh, sorry." Kale cradled her hand in both his. "Deputy Brighton cleared that up. Barton found the journal a few years ago. He read the journal notes about those two murders twenty years ago and thought the entries meant that his father had committed the murders. He couldn't ask his father because he'd had a stroke and can't speak or respond in any way."

"Why was his father keeping a journal?" She needed Kale to get to the point. Her head was killing her and she was so damned tired. The only thing keeping her focused right now were those dark, dark eyes of his. She loved looking at his eyes.

"Barton's father and the former chief of police were planning to write a book about Youngstown's first murders. Mr. Harvey kept the notes in that journal. Then when Chief Boggus passed away, Mr. Harvey decided not to move forward with the project. All this time Barton thought his father was a killer and he was trying to protect him."

There was still a part missing. "But why did he make Valerie Gerard cry?" Melody had told her about that. Funny Sarah could remember that but she couldn't remember the innkeeper hitting her in the head with a shovel.

"Apparently, he found Valerie at his desk and he yelled at her. It was nothing. But even his daughter was worried that you suspected her father and she broke into your room to check up on your activities." Kale shook his head. "She fell apart when August questioned her and said it was her fault because she told you what happened with Valerie. The whole family's been walking an emotional tightrope since you got here."

The really dumb part was that it was their reactions to Sarah that made her suspicious in the first place. "So it wasn't Harvey who was involved with Valerie?"

Kale moved his head side to side. "It was the Reverend Mahaney."

So that was the reason Valerie stopped going to his church. Wait, Tamara had told her something about that. "Did his niece turn him in?"

Kale frowned. "His niece? No. His wife had gotten worried that his secret would be discovered so she decided to take care of the situation. She gave him an overdose of his heart medication."

That was seriously screwed up. "Is he dead?"

"No, Deborah saw where Pope was arrested and she called nine-one-one. Just in time."

Sarah was sure she would absorb and assimilate all this later. Right now it was just too overwhelming.

The memory of Lynda forcing her to take those pills bobbed to the murky surface of Sarah's mind. "Lynda gave me an overdose of the propranolol." As if she'd only just remembered and the symptoms had been delayed by her lost memory, she suddenly couldn't breathe.

"We know." Kale squeezed her hand. "You don't know how close we came to losing you. We were almost too late."

Sarah blinked, didn't understand.

"I went to the inn looking for you and found Mr. Harvey. We started searching for you then. I knew you'd been right all along. I couldn't find the chief and I had a hell of a time convincing August, but he finally came around."

Sarah searched her memory banks. "I beat the crap out of Lynda. Then I tried to help the chief."

Kale nodded, his eyes suspiciously bright. "I know. We found you facedown in the snow… I…" He cleared his throat, looked away. "You were barely alive. It took a hell of a lot of prayer and some skilled work here at the ER to reverse the effects of the propranolol. The doc said if you hadn't thrown up… you might not have made it."

"I'm lucky you found me in time." She didn't want to think about the fact that she'd prayed for the first time in about twenty years.

She'd keep that part to herself. For now.

"Luck had nothing to do with it."

Wait. That was right. Matilda had found her. "Did Matilda tell you where I was?"

Kale frowned. "Matilda? No." He hitched a thumb toward the other side of the room. "She's here. She wants to see you."

Sarah didn't understand. "But she was there. She must have told you where I was. She told me to stay awake… but I couldn't."

The confusion in Kale's eyes told her he had no idea what she was talking about. "I talked to Pope." He fell silent a moment; judging by the quiver of his lips, he was conquering his emotions.

"You talked to Pope?"

He nodded. "I told him what you suspected and that if he didn't help me, you would become one more victim of the women in his life. I wasn't sure which one it was."

"And?" Damn, this man had to learn how to get to the point.

"He told us where you'd likely be. Said he felt compelled to do the right thing."

So, she owed her life to God and to Jerald Pope.

This was all too strange.

"I guess the investigation is closed then?"

Kale nodded. "August left as soon as he knew you were out of the woods."

It was nice to know he'd cared enough to hang around and see whether or not she died.

"Have they said when they're letting me out of here?" She felt like hell, felt weak as a kitten actually, but she despised hospitals.

"A few more days. Until you're strong enough and the effect of the drug is gone completely."

"I guess I can deal with that."

"There are others waiting to see you." Kale looked at her hand, where he held it in his own, before meeting her gaze again. "I guess I should give someone else a turn."

That's when she noticed all the flowers. Twenty, no, at least thirty, arrangements. Including red roses.

"Wait."
Deepest regrets
. "Who sent the roses?"

"You want me to check the card?"

"No. I mean to the parents of the victims?"

"Oh, yeah. It was Lynda. She does it every time someone passes away. The whole covert order in Bangor was about making it look as if Jerri Lynn was setting her up. Apparently, Jerri Lynn had gone with her that day."

"I can't believe so many people sent flowers," Sarah muttered.

"And you thought nobody liked you."

Duh.

Instinct nudged Sarah. "Why don't you look at the card with the roses?" She needed to know.

"Sure." Kale crossed the room and pulled the card from the greenery. "
Deepest regrets
."

Sarah's pulse stumbled.

"Jerri Lynn Pope."

Sarah cleared her throat. "That's weird."

Kale shrugged. "You have to remember, both her parents are accused of murder. She's pretty much alone now."

"Yeah." Sarah knew how it felt to be suddenly alone. She also knew that Jerri Lynn was one weird girl… from one bizarre family. Although Sarah felt bad for Jerri Lynn on one level, there was still something she didn't trust about the girl.

"I've been holding on to something for you." Kale reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace Matilda had given Sarah. "It seemed important to you and I didn't want it to get lost. They took it off you in the ER." He placed it in her hand.

"Thanks." The rune felt cool against her palm. "Matilda gave it to me."

"Matilda and about a dozen other people are in the corridor waiting to see you," Kale told her, "but I thought I should fill you in first."

Sarah blinked, overwhelmed with all the information and emotions. "I appreciate that."

"By the way," he added, "my parents have offered to take Matilda in, if she'll agree. Polly loves her like a sister and has convinced them to help."

Now there was some good news. Something to celebrate. Sarah's heart felt glad.

Kale stared at their joined hands a long moment. Then he lifted his gaze to hers. "I was coming after you, you know. I didn't want you to go." He looked down again. "I won't beg you to stay, because that wouldn't be right. But…" That dark, dark gaze met hers once more. "Fuck it. I'll beg. I really want you to stay. Think about it, Sarah, okay? Seriously think about it."

That was something she could definitely promise him "Deal."

This was going to be a new beginning for her. She was never going to worry about DNA or genetics again. She was who she was. No matter who or what her mother and father were.

Sarah considered that Jerri Lynn faced the same dilemma. So far she hadn't killed anyone. Even though Sarah had considered the girl a prime suspect… but now she knew the truth.