Authors: Yvonne Harriott
Markie let that sink in then drew in a ragged breath. O’Malley gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze then turned to Parker to fill him in.
“She’s long gone,” Parker said looking apologetically at Markie. Then he addressed O’Malley. “We found nothing. Opie is still checking the units on her floor.”
“We need to get the forensic guys up in her apartment to see if we can figure out where she went.”
“Let’s go,” one of the paramedic said. Markie walked beside the gurney as they pushed it out into the narrow hallway. She helped as they tried to get it up the stairs from the basement. After what happened to Malcolm, it was a miracle that her sister was still alive.
Yes, Sydney was alive, and was going to be okay. She had been found a week to the day she’d disappeared. Markie wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Fear overwhelmed her. Would Sydney survive this emotional experience?
Then there was the woman that had caused all of this emotional upheaval. She was still on the loose and no one knew how to find her. That more than anything left an unsettled feeling in her stomach.
• • •
Beck jumped when he’d heard the gunshot over the radio. Moments later O’Malley’s voice had boomed over the radio for the paramedics. In went the paramedics and one of the officers guarding the door. That was ten minutes ago. Marklynn’s face appeared before him, and on impulse, he started towards the apartment building.
“Stay put and keep calm,” the officer guarding the door said with a hand on Beck’s shoulder.
“Can’t you at least find out if anyone is hurt?” Beck asked, anxious. Marklynn was still inside the building. There was no way he was going to be anywhere near calm until he saw her walk out the door.
“If someone was down they would have said so.”
It had to be about Sydney. His mind raced. Carlos made his way over to Beck and stood beside him, arms folded across his chest. Reinforcements had arrived to relieve him from duty. He too had heard the call for medics in the basement.
Beck wanted to go to the hospital with Malcolm, but he also wanted to be there for Marklynn if she needed him. If they found Sydney then she would need him. There was a chance it may not be Sydney, he thought trying to convince himself.
“It may not be Sydney,” Carlos said a few minutes later mirroring his thoughts.
“You’re right. It could be someone else.”
They both knew the odds of it being someone else was slim, but it was better than facing the truth.
Carlos followed his gaze as he watched while they placed Malcolm into the ambulance.
“I’ll go with Malcolm and you wait for Markie.”
“Thank you.”
• • •
“Nan?” Sydney moaned.
Markie turned from the window watching her sister. She was sleeping, but it wasn’t a peaceful sleep. Her head turned from one side of the pillow to the other. She’d even cried out a few times.
Sydney had been that way since they had brought her into the hospital a little after one in the afternoon. That was almost seven hours ago. When Markie had called Nan to tell her about Sydney, she knew. It didn’t matter how Nan knew. All that mattered was that Sydney was okay.
Moving towards the bed, Markie sat down on the chair taking Sydney’s hand between hers. It was as cold as ice and she began to rub her sister’s hand, first the left then the right. Sydney’s eyes were still closed, yet her head turned from side to side on the pillow. Then she bolted up screaming.
“Nan!”
“Shh. It’s okay. You’re safe.” Markie folded Sydney into her arms and held her until she stopped screaming. “Nan went to get something to eat. She’ll be back soon. Okay?”
She nodded and calmed down.
“I saw her in the light,” Sydney said and lay back down in the bed.
“What light?”
“I’m sorry she’s dead. It’s my fault.”
“You’ve nothing to be sorry about. Nan is very much alive and we’re both glad you’re okay.”
“Nan is alive?” She asked looking confused. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. Now get some rest.”
“Thanks for coming for me,” and with that Sydney closed her eyes again.
“You don’t have to…” before she could finish Sydney was asleep. She smoothed Sydney’s hair from her face, “…thank me.”
Markie heard voices in the hall and turned her head towards the door. For a moment she thought it was Beck.
Beck.
She remembered seeing him briefly when the paramedics had placed Sydney in the ambulance, but she wasn’t close enough to tell him Sydney was okay. But she figured he knew by now.
His friend was dead. Carlos said Malcolm had died on the way to the hospital. She’d caught a glimpse of Beck in the hall when she left the room in search of the washroom earlier, but they still hadn’t spoken.
Markie wasn’t ready to talk to Beck. There were too many things whirling around in her mind clouding her judgment and she wanted time to sort it all out.
She looked at Sydney, her chest rising and falling gently. The doctor said she would be fine physically, but it was too early to comment on her emotional health. Would she pull through?
Then there was Jared. As much as she’d tried to suppress his memory, he kept pushing through whenever she thought about Beck. He hadn’t been a part of her life in a long time, yet since meeting Beck he’d become a ghost between them.
Jared wasn’t honest with her. He had said she was enough when they had the discussion about children. Then he changed his mind. Not being able to have children was something she’d told herself over and over again that she could live with. Even accepted it.
Yet the question that was always in the back of her mind whenever she met someone was would he change his mind? It wasn’t about anyone else. It was about Beck. Would he change his mind? That she could not take and she wasn’t willing to take the risk no matter how much she loved him. And she did love him.
“Go grab a bite,” Nan said as she came into the room with a bottle of water. Worry creased her brows. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m tired,” Markie lied. It wasn’t a total lie. She didn’t want to get into it with Nan.
“Mmm,” Nan said not believing her for a minute, but she didn’t press the issue. “I got some water for Syd. Did she wake up?”
“Briefly. She asked for you and something about seeing you in the light.”
“She’ll be fine,” Nan said looking at the red marks on Sydney’s wrists. “My baby will be just fine.”
Markie got up from the chair so Nan could sit down, but before she did Nan hugged Markie.
“What was that for?” Markie asked when she pulled away.
“To thank you. Because you needed it. Because whatever is bothering you I hope you sort it out. Take your pick. Now go on and get something to eat.”
Markie wasn’t hungry, but she left the room in search of the lounge to be alone. If she was honest with herself, she didn’t really want to be alone. She wanted to be with Beck, but he had lied to her.
She had always tackled problems head on, not allowing her fear to paralyze her. Yet, this was different. Very real. More real than any battles she had fought.
And because he did lie to her, she was afraid to trust him. Afraid to want him… Afraid that if she gave him her heart, he would leave her.
• • •
Beck saw Marklynn enter the lounge and hurried to follow her. After he’d called his office to get the number for Malcolm’s parents, he called them. It wasn’t something he had ever had to do and hoped he would never have to report the death of a loved one to a parent again.
He had met the Rivers’ when they visited him in the hospital after his car accident. They had flown in from Texas to see him because he was a friend of their son. They didn’t deserve this.
Once that call was completed to Malcolm’s parents, he then notified his parents. Malcolm had an open invitation to his father’s annual barbeque. His father was in shock. He wanted to come and pick him up. Any other time Beck would have told his father he wasn’t fifteen any more, but he understood the cause of his father’s concern.
When someone close to you dies it changes everything. Even though his father had remarried, he still mourned the dead of his mother.
“I’m going to be here for a while dad,” he had told his father.
And the reason why had just walked into the family lounge area, right across from the nurse’s station. He didn’t want to leave the hospital without her.
“Hi,” he said hesitating for a brief moment before entering the lounge.
A lamp on an end table in the corner of the lounge lit up the room. A worn brown leather couch was pushed up against a wall with a wooden coffee table in front. A vending machine hummed in the background.
Marklynn turned from the window and glanced at him over her shoulder.
“Hi,” she said turning her attention back to the window. “I’m sorry about Malcolm.”
The sadness he heard in her voice tore at his heart. Sydney was alive. She should be happy. Yet, she wasn’t. Had Sydney taken a turn for the worst?
“I’m sorry about Malcolm too. How is Sydney?”
“She’s doing better,” Markie said running her hands through her hair. “She’s sleeping.”
She breathed in deep lifting her shoulders letting them drop. Weary. It was as though she was carrying a heavy burden and he wanted to pull her into his arms.
“Marklynn, look at me.”
She turned around slowly to meet his gaze. She’d built up a wall between them closing him out and he wanted to tear it down.
“I’m sorry I lied to you,” he said with regret in his voice. “I should’ve told you the truth about the picture or what I suspected.”
“Doesn’t matter anymore.” She shook her head. “You did what you had to do.”
She faced the window again looking off into the darkness at something only she could see. He came up behind her and turned her around to face him holding on to her arm. It mattered if she was going to use what he’d done as a roadblock to distance herself from him.
“Why don’t we have it out now?” Beck wasn’t going to tiptoe around her anymore. He was tired and hurting. He didn’t want to be pushed away.
“Let me go.” She pulled her arm away.
“I think it’s time you leave, Beck.”
Carlos was standing in the doorway. Big and menacing. They were friends when the day began during the raid at Melanie’s apartment. Now Beck felt like the enemy and Carlos was protecting Marklynn, from him?
Hell no. Everyone was trying to protect her. What about him and how he felt? He’d made a mistake and wanted to make it right. This had nothing to do with Carlos. It was between him and Marklynn.
“This is personal and does not concern you,” Beck said pointing a finger at Carlos who started to advance into the room. Carlos halted his steps looking at Marklynn as if waiting for her to say something. When she didn’t, Beck said, “Back off.”
Carlos looked at him and Markie for a moment as if assessing the situation. He must have concluded Markie was not in danger, turned on his heels and left the lounge with a grunt disappearing down the hall.
Beck focused his attention back on Marklynn who seemed surprised at Carlos’ sudden departure, yet made no comment. He figured if she wanted him gone then he would have been gone, not Carlos. She wanted him to stay. He could feel it, even if she wouldn’t admit it.
The only thing he wanted to do at the moment was pull her into his arms and he did just that. With her head on his shoulder and her arms around his waist, she clung to him, shaking.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered in her ear while caressing her back feeling some of the tension leaving her body.
“Is it?” He heard the tremor in her voice.
“Come home with me,” he said softly wanting to take her home and to ease his pain and hers. Most important, he wanted to keep her safe. Melanie was still out there somewhere and O’Malley couldn’t find her.
Marklynn stiffened. “I can’t do this again,” she said pulling away from him, but he wouldn’t let her go.
“Do what again, Marklynn?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
He could see the struggle within her. She wanted to be with him, but something was holding her back. It had to be her ex and he wasn’t going to let the man’s ghost stand between them.
“I love you, Marklynn. I’m not your ex who broke your heart. Give me a chance. Give us a chance. I’m sorry I lied to you. I wanted to help.”
She didn’t say anything just stood there staring at him, lost. He didn’t want to let her go for fear he would lose her.
“After Monika, I never thought I could be with someone without thinking about the scars. When I’m with you it doesn’t matter. We can work it all out together.”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Why?”
“Because of you my sister was almost killed. I’ll never forgive you for that.”
Beck knew that was coming and he deserved it. In a way he was responsible for what happened to Sydney. When he could have helped he didn’t. He gambled and lost. All he was concerned about was his company. He had his company and Marklynn wanted nothing to do with him.
Beck didn’t say anything else because there was nothing left to be said. He let her go, turned and walked out of the lounge without looking back.
• • •
Markie reached for the gun on the night table when she heard the doorbell and shoved it in the back of her jeans pulling her shirt over it. She had sent Carlos back to the hospital after he’d dropped her home last night. With Phoenix still on the loose, she wanted Sydney protected.
She had also gotten permission for Nan to stay at the hospital with Syd. That way Carlos can keep an eye on both of them. Besides, after her confrontation with Beck, she didn’t want to run into him again.
Now she was back to protecting herself. Something she was very capable of doing. Then that mad woman who thought she was some mystical creature came into her life and turned it upside down.
With Sydney and Nan safe, it was time to get back to her life and her job. There was some unfinished business she had to take care of first…a visit with Melanie’s parents for one. They needed to know what Melanie was up to. She had to get their address first and was waiting for Cate to call her back.