The sound of the front door opening carried through the house, and Summer felt her heart leap into her throat. She stuffed the stack of photos in her jacket pocket and dashed out of the room, down the hall, into the kitchen and out the back door. Her heart was pounding and she could hear footsteps pounding on the wooden floor of the hall. He was coming after her. She ran down the back stairs and jumped in her truck.
As she turned the key and started the engine, she saw Deputy Wilcox come out the door and dash down the stairs. Summer jammed the truck in first gear and stomped on the accelerator, praying she wouldn’t drop the clutch and stall it. She tore across the yard and turned to see Deputy Wilcox running after her. She barreled through the yard, up a ditch and almost went airborne as she hit the pavement. Looking in her rearview mirror, she saw he’d changed directions and was now running across the yard to his cruiser.
Summer floored the accelerator and drove as fast as the old truck would go. A minute later, she glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that the cruiser was closing in on her with its lights flashing. She came up on traffic heading into town and she was forced to slow down. There was a traffic light at the corner of Carson Road and Third Street. She had to stop and he was right behind her. He got out and was at her driver’s door. Yanking the door open, he ordered her out of the vehicle. When she reluctantly climbed out, he grabbed her upper arm and marched her back to his squad car without saying a word. He opened the backdoor and shoved her inside.
She glanced around. There were no door handles on the inside of the rear doors and a metal divider separated the front from the backseat.
He climbed in the front and pulled away, turning the flashing lights off.
“Am I under arrest?” Summer asked. He looked in the rearview mirror and smiled at her, but didn’t say anything and Summer got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that they weren’t going to the station. He went straight through the intersection, avoiding using Main Street. In a few blocks, Summer knew they would be through town and out onto the country roads.
They came to an intersection and they stopped at a stop sign. Just then, Summer saw Justin’s tow truck pull around the corner and he looked down into the squad car and looked right at her. She put her hand on the window and screamed at him. “Justin! Justin, help me!” She banged on the window.
The deputy pulled through the intersection and Summer turned to look out the back window at Justin. She saw him lean out his driver’s window, looking back at her as they drove away.
“He can’t help you, Summer. No one can.”
She turned to see Wilcox smiling at her in the rearview mirror.
Justin couldn’t believe what he was seeing as he’d turned the corner and spotted Summer in the back of the squad car. What was she being arrested for? She’d looked terrified. He threw the tow truck into a U-turn and followed the squad car. Maybe he could meet them at the station and find out what this was about. Maybe she’d need to be bailed out.
By the time he had turned the tow truck around, Wilcox had about a two block lead on him. Justin watched, expecting him to turn left on First Street and cross Main to go down to the station. He was surprised when instead, the squad car made a right turn.
Justin got to the intersection just in time to see the squad car down a couple of blocks, making a left onto State Road 19. He followed. This road led out of town, up into the hills north of Steve’s place, but it was a back way of getting there. This wasn’t the main highway that ran past Steve’s place. So, if he wasn’t taking Summer back to Steve’s farm, where the hell was he taking her? Something about this wasn’t right.
He glanced down at the cell phone lying on his seat and hesitated a moment. “Ah, hell,” he muttered as he picked up the phone and punched in the number to the Garrett farm.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Steve was in the kitchen, looking at the notebook lying open on the kitchen table. It was filled with notes that Summer had written down as she worked her way through calling all the leads that the real estate agent had given her for rental properties up on the lake.
He scanned the page that the notebook was turned to. There were several names and phone numbers. Some were crossed out and some had notes written next to them indicating that she had left a message on an answering machine.
The phone rang and Steve reached over and picked up the receiver. “Garrett’s.”
“This is Bill Taylor. I’m returning a call from a woman named Summer,” the man on the other end said.
“Yes, sir. My name is Steve Garrett. Summer is out right now. Can I take a message?”
“Well, I suppose so. She wanted to know if I had rented some property to anyone with the name or initials CJ.”
“Yes, sir. It’s a long story, but you see, she suffered a head injury and she’s lost her memory. We found her wandering down the highway. No one here in Ruby Falls know her. She and I drove up near the lake and a woman recognized her on the streets of Helen and she told Summer that she only knew her by the name CJ. The woman said she remembered that CJ had rented a place there for the summer.”
“Well, that explains a lot,” the man said. “I had rented out a place to a school teacher by the name of Connie Jean Walker. She signed the lease CJ. She had prepaid for the whole summer, so I had no reason to check on the place. But, when I got that message yesterday, well, I thought I’d better drive by the place this morning and take a look. The place was deserted, but all her things were there and there was still food rotting in the refrigerator. It was like she just walked away and never came back.”
“Sir, where is this place?”
The man gave Steve directions and he jotted them down in Summer’s notebook. “Thank you, sir. As soon as she gets back, I’d like to drive her up there, see if she remembers the place, if that’s okay with you.”
“That’s fine. Her purse was still there, sitting on the kitchen table. So, if it is her, you should be able to look at her IDs, even if she doesn’t remember the place. If you want to give me a call, I’ll meet you there.”
“Thank you, sir. Will do.”
Steve hung up the phone, smiling. Summer was going to be so happy when she got home.
Jessie walked in the kitchen. “What’s up, Dad?” she asked, heading to the refrigerator for a drink.
He turned. “That was a man returning Summer’s call. Said he rented her a place up on the lake.”
“That’s great, Dad.”
“Do you know where she went?”
“She got frustrated earlier and said she was going to town.”
“Well, when she gets back, I’m taking her up to this address and-” The phone rang again. Steve picked it up. “Garrett’s.”
Jessie watched as his expression changed as he listened to the caller.
“Arrested? Summer? For what? If this is some sick joke, Justin-”
Jessie stepped closer. All she could think about was Deputy Wilcox and she panicked.
“Well, where would he have taken her, then? What? Highway 19? Why would he take her down that road?”
Jessie started pulling on her father’s sleeve. “Daddy, Daddy, listen to me.”
“Jessie, I’m on the phone.”
“Daddy, if she’s with Deputy Wilcox you have to go get her.”
“Hang on a minute, Justin,” Steve said into the receiver and then said to Jessie, “What are you talking about, Jessie?”
“Is she with him, Dad?”
Jessie sounded panicked and the hair on the back of Steve’s neck stood up. His eyes never left Jessie’s as he said into the receiver, “Justin, was it Deputy Wilcox that had her?” Steve nodded to Jessie and watched as her eyes filled with tears. “Jessie, what is it?”
“She’s in trouble, Daddy. He’s a bad man. He’s going to hurt her, like he hurt me.”
Steve went cold to the pit of his stomach. “Hurt you?”
“You have to stop him!” Jessie screamed at him.
“Justin, where are you?” Steve asked frantically into the receiver. “Good, whatever you do, don’t lose him. We’re coming. I’ll call you when we get to Highway 19. And Justin…thanks!”
Steve slammed the phone down and turned to Jessie and took her by the arms. “Jessie, what did that man do to you?”
Jessie spilled out the whole sordid tale, tears streaming down her face.
When she was through, Steve took her in his arms and held her tight, rocking her from side to side. “Christ, baby. Why didn’t you tell me, Jessie?” he asked brokenly.
“I…I’m so s-sorry, Daddy. I was so a-ashamed.” She was crying so hard she could barely get the words out.
“Shh, honey. It’s okay. He’ll never hurt you again, I promise.”
“Dad, we have to get Summer!” she vehemently insisted, pulling back.
Steve nodded, moving toward a closet where he pulled out a rifle with a scope and a box of ammunition. “Come on.”
He and Jessie ran out the back door and headed to the truck.
Cary was coming out of the barn. “Steve, what’s going on?” he asked when he saw the stricken look on Steve’s face, the gun in his hands, and Jessie’s tears.
“Summer’s in trouble. Come on. There’s no time to lose. Get in your truck and follow us. And Cary? Bring your rifle.”
Cary tore off across the yard to his house. A moment later he came out carrying his gun and a box of ammunition. He jumped in his truck and followed Steve as they both tore down the gravel drive and out onto the highway.
They made it to Highway 19 in record time.
Steve dialed Justin’s cell phone and asked where he was. Justin told him he’d followed the squad car for miles until it turned down a dirt road and headed into the woods. He said he was waiting at the turn off for Steve to get there.
The woods. Shit, Steve thought. The woods were where all this nightmare had started for Summer. A few minutes later, he saw Justin’s tow truck on the side of the road and pulled off, parking behind him. Cary pulled in behind Steve.
Steve told Jessie to stay in the truck and he got out, took his rifle down from the rack and walked over to Justin, who was standing next to his tow truck.
“He turned up that road,” Justin said, indicating the dirt road. Noticing the rifle in his hand, he asked, “Steve, what’s going on?”
Cary jogged up with his rifle. Steve turned and looked back at Jessie and then to Justin and Cary. He gave them an abbreviated version of what Jessie had told him.
“Holy fuck. He’s crazy,” Justin cursed. “And he’s got Summer.”
Cary didn’t say a word. He walked over to the truck, opened the door and took Jessie in his arms. Steve watched, and then turned back to Justin. “Do you carry?”
“Hell, yes,” he replied, lifting his flannel shirt and pulling a .45 from his waistband.
“Good, let’s go.” Steve walked over to Cary. “I’d feel better if you stayed here with Jessie. If he gets past us I don’t want her here, alone on the side of the road.”
“Okay. But I shoot anything that comes out of those woods without a warning.”
“Just make sure it’s not Summer before you shoot. And call the State police. Right now, I’m not sure the Sheriff isn’t in on this.”
“Right.”
Steve kissed Jessie and turned to leave.
“Be careful, Daddy. I love you,” she cried.
“I love you, too, honey.” And then he and Justin jogged up the road and disappeared.
Summer sat quietly in the back of the squad car, trying to think of a way out…trying not to let her imagination run wild with what this maniac might do to her. They had driven up into the hills and finally he’d slowed the car and turned onto this two-track dirt road that wound back into the woods.
She had a feeling he was going to take her deep into the woods and kill her, where no one would ever find her body. She tried to stay calm, knowing she would need to have all her wits about her if she was going to get out of this alive.
They drove along a ridge and Summer looked down and saw a river running along the right side of the road. Still, he kept driving. They topped a hill and rode on. There was nothing but woods and river that Summer could see.
Finally, he pulled the car down into a clearing near the river, and next to the river sat an old wooden picnic table.
That picnic table! Suddenly Summer remembered this place…and the terrible scene she had happened upon that afternoon she’d lost her memory. She suddenly remembered everything. She’d been out hiking near the cabin she’d rented. It was up over that hill somewhere. She looked, but she couldn’t see it in the falling dusky light of early evening.
She had walked over that hill and come upon him. Deputy Wilcox. He’d been raping a woman on top of that picnic table. The woman had been bound and she was naked, except for the gag in her mouth. Summer remembered making a gasping sound and he had looked up and had seen her standing there, up on the ridge. She’d turned to run back to her cabin and call for help. She’d heard a gunshot and then she’d heard him coming crashing over the ridge after her. She’d run and he’d shot at her.
Summer was jerked back to the present when he opened the rear door and pulled her out of the squad car. She tried to break free, but he was too strong. He pushed her face down over the trunk and cuffed her hands behind her back. Then he yanked her up and turned her to face him. “You remember me now, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes. Well, it was only a matter of time. You were bound to get your memory back, sooner or later. I’ve been planning this little rendezvous of ours for a while now.” He smiled.
“You…you killed her, didn’t you?” Summer asked.
“Who?”
“T-that waitress.”
“Darlene? Yeah. She’s buried right over there with the others.” He nodded toward a shallow area.
“Others?”
“Yes. There are several. But don’t worry, there’s room for one more.” He laughed. “Your friend’s wife is down there.”
Summer’s eyes got big. “Rita?”
“Yep. She was quite a fighter. She didn’t go quietly like Darlene. But then, she had a daughter to live for.”
“Why? Why would you kill her?”
He didn’t answer her and then the smile left his face. “Come on.” He dragged her over toward the picnic table. She pulled back, but she couldn’t break free. He backed her up against the edge of the table and grabbed a handful of her blouse and ripped it open. “Well, well. Pink lace. Isn’t that pretty?”