Chapter 57
Two vehicles were parked in front of her house when she arrived. A black Toyota Tacoma 4X4 was parked in front of a red Honda Civic Si Coupe. She hadn’t seen either of them in the neighborhood before. She released the strap on her holster and got out of the Mazda with her hand on the Beretta.
Music was playing with a bit more bass than she liked when she entered the house. Shana, Lily, Donny and three other teenagers, two boys and a girl, were cleaning, covering and prepping to apply the second coat of paint to the living-dining area. The two boys were huge, not Billy and Bobby huge, but big enough. One was African-American. The girl, normal size, was also African-American.
Shana ran to her and hugged her. “I’ve got some more new friends.” She waved for her three new friends to come over. “This is Dean Bilsbarrow.”
She shook hands with a handsome boy about 6’4” tall and probably close to 220 pounds.
“This is Leon Redding.”
She shook hands with a handsome African-American boy the same height as Dean but about fifteen pounds heavier.
“This is Diana Cobble.”
She shook hands with Diana.
“This is my mom, Sheriff Joan McGowan.”
“Please to meet you, Sheriff,” Dean said.
Leon said, “We thought we’d give Shana a hand, if that’s okay with you.”
“No problem. Just don’t let her boss you around too much.”
The trio went back to work with Lily and Donny.
“Didn’t we decide this area only needed one coat?”
“They wanted to help, you know, keep busy. I’ll keep an eye on them and they’ll only get decaf. Who knows, if they’re any good at this, I might hire them when I start my own business.”
“And Dean?”
“He’s so cute.” Shana squeaked and rose up on her toes. “He spotted me at the mall. When they heard what happened, he wanted to make sure I was all right. Isn’t that sweet?”
“What about Ian?”
“Who?” She rose up on her toes again. “Dean and Donny and Leon are, like, best buds. He’s going to be the starting quarterback this year. And he’s just the right height for me.”
“We’ll talk later. Right now I have to get to Lookout Peak. Craig’s alive.”
Shana squealed, jumped up and down and hugged her again. “What are you waiting for? Go!”
She ran upstairs despite the pain in her left leg and changed into more appropriate clothes. She stuffed a first aid kit, towels and two bottles of water into a gym bag. On the way back out the front door, she caught a glimpse of Shana playfully hip-checking Dean as they started painting the wall near the covered dining table.
It was going to be a long and overdue talk later.
At the Harding farm, she parked beside the wreckage that used to be a Suburban. Hiking along Lookout Trail wasn’t as frantic as it had been Wednesday, though it was mucky from three days of continuous rain. She could go faster this time, but by the time she reached Lookout Peak her left leg let her know it still needed to finish healing.
Craig wasn’t there. Pale-blue sky that reminded her of his eyes reflected in the pools of water that had accumulated in the depressions of rock and earth. She took out her phone and pressed the last call button. She didn’t hear any other phone nearby start ringing. After a few seconds, her phone advised her it was unable to connect with the number she had just called. His phone could be out of power.
Ignoring the pain in her left leg, she jogged along the bluff searching for any sign of Craig. Her second to last stop was the cliff he had fallen over after tackling Bobby. She looked down and saw only the same view of the valley she had seen Wednesday.
She limped over to the giant-egg boulders.
He couldn’t have passed her on the trail. If he had been able to make it back to the farm, why hadn’t he come to her when she arrived? Was he unconscious again?
“Where are you?” She sagged against a boulder. “Please, don’t do this to me again.” She slid down to the ground.
The growl came from above. Caesar stood on the boulder he’d launched himself from to defend her against Billy. He growled again and lay down to watch her.
“Shana really misses you.”
He flopped onto his side and started purring, but only settled for a few seconds before jumping back up to his feet.
She pushed off the boulder to get herself up.
An eagle took off from its perch on an aspen. The wolf brothers emerged from the forest to the north. Craig came out behind the wolves, a soaked, filthy mess of torn clothes and clotted blood, most of that on his left arm and his face. He staggered.
She helped him over to the boulders. He had a gash on his forehead and another on his left bicep. He was covered in bruises, which reminded her of the last time she saw Mattie alive. She sat him down and gave him a bottle of water to drink while she cleaned and dressed his wounds.
“Why did you wander off? You knew I was coming.”
“What day is it?”
“Sunday.”
“It’s been four days. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.”
“Why didn’t you contact us before now?”
“I’m getting to that. If this is Sunday, then I woke up Saturday. More accurately, I woke up about twenty times Saturday. I woke up mostly for good a few hours ago.” He rubbed the back of his head. “These guys were sitting around me. Ed was circling above. I think they just wanted to stay close. Maybe they thought I’d protect them. Maybe they expected me to take them back to the farm. I just don’t know.”
“We couldn’t find you. It was raining too hard. We had to. . . .” She sounded like she was admitting she’d abandoned him.
“We were completely covered on an outcropping. I don’t think even the best tracking dogs could have caught our scent in that downpour.”
“How did you get off the outcropping?”
“I remember climbing up something and then crawling along something, but that’s it. I remember taking Bobby’s phone off his belt. There’s not much left of him, by the way. I guess they got hungry. They brought me his arm.”
“I won’t hold that against them. Can you walk?”
“I don’t think we’d get very far.”
“We don’t have to; Randal’s coming with the helicopter. You have a concussion, but nothing appears to be broken. How’d you remember my phone number?”
“I don’t remember. About the only thing I do remember is remembering you. I remember the dance. I remember our third date at the pub.” He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut.
“That was our second date.”
“I remember the handcuffs.”
“Okay, our third date.” She kissed him. He kissed back and sagged against her. “You still remember how to do that.”
In the distance, Randal’s helicopter was coming up the valley.
His beautiful eyes fluttered and began to close. His words were slurred and came slowly. “I should have remembered to tell you to wear something red.” He passed out in her arms.
She blushed and kissed him again. “I am.”
THE END
Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer.
K.G. Lawrence
Other Books by K.G. Lawrence
Rembrandt Be Damned
Jaxon Trevelyan is trying to develop a career as an artist in New York City. He usually overthinks and catastrophizes everything that comes his way. The intrigues and increasingly dangerous mysteries he encounters when he takes a job at Remington Bakersfield Draper, however, may justify his suspicions this time if only he lives long enough to prove them right. Available October 2015, Rembrandt be Damned is the second book of the Proteus Group series.
Look for Jellyfish the third book of the Proteus Group series Spring 2016.
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