by Katy Lee
“Where is your car?” Sawyer asked him. “I didn’t see it out there. I didn’t even know you were here.”
“I pulled it up alongside the barn. It’s out there.” He held the keys back out to Naomi. “Go ahead, take them. I’ll walk home. I’m not too far. I loan it out a lot. Return it when you don’t need it anymore. I’ve got my truck. It’s the least I can do to help you both.”
Naomi stepped forward again, but this time when she reached for the keys, Jim relinquished them right away.
Sawyer stepped close to Naomi and said, “Jim, we need your secrecy about Naomi being here. If anyone asks, you can’t tell them you saw her.”
“Of course, you’ve got my word. Naomi knows I won’t tell a soul, right, Naomi?” Jim asked her directly.
She squirmed a bit under his insinuation, hoping Sawyer wouldn’t ask questions. She nodded and said, “He won’t tell.”
Sawyer eyed them both back and forth, but if he had any concerns, he held his tongue. Instead, he turned to Naomi as he asked, “Are you okay with driving? It’s getting dark, so no one should see you, but if you would rather not go, I’m sure Jim would take me.”
“I’m going,” Naomi said. “I want to talk to the sheriff...privately.”
Sawyer nodded. “Are you sure we can’t drop you off somewhere, Jim?”
“Nope, you two go ahead.” Jim headed toward the door. Before he exited, he glanced back and made a zipping sound, pretending to zip his lips shut. “Your secret is safe with me.” He looked Naomi’s way, and she knew he meant the first secret of that night long ago.
When he was gone, she let out a deep sigh of relief.
“Why do I feel like there was more going on than the two of you said? It’s almost as if you two knew each other already.” Sawyer folded the paper back up and slipped it into his pants pocket. “Did you?”
“Can we just go? The faster Cassie finds these shooters, the faster I can get out of this town.”
Sawyer flinched and his mouth dropped open in surprise. He recovered quickly and said, “What about Chloe?”
Could she leave without saying goodbye to the baby?
If she had known the last time she held Chloe and laughed with her was their final time together, she would have held her tighter. No. She wouldn’t have let her go. It’s best this way. “Why don’t you stay here with her? Take care of her,” Naomi said somberly. “I can go by myself.”
Sawyer grew quiet. He studied her in the fading daylight, and she could tell he knew she did not plan to return.
“Goodbye, Sawyer,” Naomi whispered and walked toward the side of the barn where Jim said he’d parked the car.
“Wait.” Sawyer followed her to the car, but after she got in and held her hand out for the paper, he kept it from her. “What happened in there? What did Jim say to make you run again? Did he hurt you?”
“He never hurt me. He helped me to see I shouldn’t have come back.”
Naomi reached for the car door to pull it closed. Surprisingly, Sawyer backed away to let her, but he quickly ran around the back and had the passenger door open before she could stop him. He climbed in and shut the door. “You can push me away all you want, but I’m not letting you run away again.”
* * *
The car moved through the winding roads abutting the cliffs that Rogues Ridge was named for. With no streetlights out in the country, the only guides were those of the car’s headlights and the red interior lights that cast bouncing shadows on Naomi’s face as she drove.
She’d yet to say a word since he jumped in the car and demanded to go with her. He could tell by the way she worried her lower lip she was planning something.
“Don’t even think you’re going to lose me,” he said. “I meant what I said. No more running.”
“It’s not running if I have a life to go back to. It’s called going home.”
“You already came home,” he replied. “You came back home. With Chloe. Could you really leave her behind?”
Remorse squeezed her heart and she shook her head. “I wouldn’t have been able to. But I need to return to the women in my group. Rogues Ridge doesn’t feel like home to me anymore. The Amish life is over for me. I have a job where people are depending on me. I’ve lost two women now. I have to get back to the others.”
“What do you mean you lost two? There’s another besides Debby?” He heard his voice raise and took a breath to control his shock. “Does the sheriff know?”
“Brie’s death has nothing to do with Debby, but yes, I told her I’d lost another woman to a hit-and-run.”
Sawyer bit down hard and looked out the passenger window. He reined in his emotions, knowing getting upset wouldn’t help her trust him more. But something felt wrong. Deadly wrong. “When did you lose this other person?”
“Over a year ago,” she said. “Before Debby even came to the group. Like I said, totally unrelated.”
“But she was killed. Just like Debby.”
Naomi gave the slightest of nods.
“I’m sorry I don’t know too much about this line of work you are in, but is it normal for attackers to return to the same victim?”
She shook her head and gripped the steering wheel tighter with both hands. She felt her palms grow damp and slip a bit on the wheel. Sawyer’s words were her worst nightmare. “I—I asked Cassie the same question at your store. Typically, it’s only if they know their attacker.” She took solace in the fact that she didn’t know hers and had no reason to ever cross paths with him again.
Suddenly, a vehicle fell into place behind them and rammed their fender. The powerful blast echoed off the cliffs and the car jolted into a spin.
Naomi let out a scream as she tried to regain control of the car.
“Hang on!” Sawyer yelled and reached to help her with the wheel as the car spun around. He felt it rise on one side, right before it flipped upside down. The windows smashed in and the roof crumpled down on them. The car continued to roll in a deafening sound of crunching metal and breaking glass before it came to rest upside down.
The eerie sound of silence filled the aftermath as Sawyer hung upside down, still connected to the seat by his seat belt. His head felt like a heavy weight as he attempted to turn it to see Naomi. He could barely move it but managed to see her out of the corner of his eye.
She was also upside down, but not moving.
“Naomi,” he whispered harshly. Clearing his throat, he tried again, louder. At no response, panic set in. His breathing picked up as his mind registered the possibility of her being dead. “No, no, no, no! Naomi, answer me!” He reached for his seat belt buckle, fumbling for it until he made contact.
One click, and his whole body fell to the crunched and broken roof of the car. He bent his head forward, so his back took the brunt of the impact and pain. He groaned loudly but bit back the discomfort as he tried to get to Naomi.
A sound from outside stopped his movement. He listened intently and realized it was a person. Someone was out there.
“Help!” Sawyer yelled. “Please, help us!”
But when he looked up from his upside-down position, he saw the tip of a handgun outside the driver’s window. It pointed down beside a pair of men’s business pants. Sawyer couldn’t see above the knees of the man, only his lower legs and the gun.
Then the gun rose and the sound of it locking told him what was to come. The gun was cocked and Naomi’s head was right in the line of fire.
Sawyer had no way to stop her from being hit. From his position all he could do was reach up for her seat belt buckle.
In the next second, the gunman said, “All you had to do was keep your mouth shut.” He pointed the barrel into the car just as bright headlights appeared around the cliff and a tractor trailer blew its horn into the dark night.
Sawyer pushed Naomi’s belt button, and she fell in a
thud into Sawyer’s waiting arms, while the gun blasted around them.
Sawyer pulled her with all his might toward his side. “Please, Gott, help me,” he cried out as he struggled to know how to protect this woman. This woman who was always a part of him. As children, as teenagers and now as adults. She would always be a part of him. No matter where she lived.
The truck came to a stop beside the car, and a door slammed. “Hey!” a man yelled. “Is anyone in there?”
“Ya!” Sawyer yelled. “There’s a shooter! Watch out!”
The trucker bent down on Sawyer’s side to peer in. “There’s no one here now. I already radioed for an ambulance. Help is on the way.”
“Can you pull her out? She’s unconscious,” Sawyer said, hoping his words were the truth, and she wasn’t dead in his arms. “Are you sure the gunman isn’t out there still?”
The man looked around. “He’s gone. I think I scared him when I came around the bend with my lights blaring right on him. I didn’t get a good look. Just know he was wearing a round-brimmed hat.”
“And business pants,” Sawyer said as the man lifted Naomi up under the arms and pulled her out through the broken window. “That’s all I saw of him.”
“Whoa,” the truck driver said as he knelt beside Naomi’s lifeless body. “You’re Amish?”
“Ya, and we’re under attack.” He attempted to climb out but couldn’t. The man came over and reached in to pull him out like he had Naomi. Once Sawyer was free from the mangled car, he knelt beside Naomi and tried to locate a pulse. “I don’t know what I’m looking for,” he said in frustration when he couldn’t find a heartbeat.
Or maybe there wasn’t one to find.
Sawyer bit back the tears closing his throat. He wouldn’t accept it and leaned down to hear if she was breathing. “Come on, liebe. Stay with me, love.”
Sirens drifted to them on the night breeze. Still so far off.
The man knelt down on the other side of Naomi and felt for a pulse. After a few silent moments, he nodded encouragingly and said, “I think I found it. It’s faint, but it’s there.” He leaned down and confirmed she was breathing too. “She’s alive. For now.”
Sawyer reached to remove her kapp and realized it was soaked. Pulling it away and lifting it in the truck’s headlights, he saw the blood. “It’s her head.” He immediately searched for the wound. “She’s got a gash on the top of her head. It might have been the bullet. I might not have gotten her down in time.”
“We’ll let the paramedics decide.” He looked beyond Sawyer. “They’re coming up now. Let’s let them do their work.” He tapped Sawyer on the shoulder to move back as the ambulance screeched up beside them. “Come on,” he said again when Sawyer couldn’t relinquish his hold of her just yet. The man tugged him harder, and Sawyer had to lift his hands off her and move away.
Discussions and protocol on moving her blurred together as Sawyer stood off to the side and watched them handle Naomi with care. When they lifted her into the ambulance, she still hadn’t regained consciousness. The doors closed, blocking his view of her from then on.
“Sir, I’d like to examine you to be sure you aren’t also suffering from an injury.”
“I’m fine,” he said, but he did allow the paramedic to sit him down and take his vitals. “She took the worst of it all. I shouldn’t have agreed to this.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” Sheriff Shaw appeared behind the first responder. “She was supposed to be kept hidden. What happened?”
“I’m so sorry. She was going to come to you with or without me.”
“She was coming to me? Why?”
Sawyer rushed to find the folded piece of paper in his pocket. Taking it out, he passed it over to her. “Irving Adams was Debby’s rapist. Naomi is certain sure of it. Find him, and you’ll find the man who did this tonight. He shot at the car, then at her.” His stomach roiled, and he covered his mouth.
She reached for her radio at her shoulder. “You might have a concussion. I’ll get on finding this Adams guy and you let the paramedics finish checking you out. I’ll be right back. Be thinking of anything you might remember.”
Cassie turned away to share the information on the sheet of paper while the paramedic shone a light into his eyes.
“If there’s a concussion, I think it’s slight,” the man confirmed and shut off his light once he was done.
Cassie returned. “Okay, you ready?” She didn’t wait for a reply. “Whose car is this, and how did you get it? Last I knew Amish didn’t drive.”
“It’s Jim Clark’s, my website tech and partner. He came by and I asked him to look into Irving Adams. When he came back with the information on that paper, he offered his car.”
“You asked him to play cop?” she said with pursed lips. “I was already searching for Adams. Leave the investigating to me, please.”
“I wasn’t sure it was anything. He was at the barn working, and I mentioned the name. I just wanted an address, but Jim brought back all that personal information. He did that on his own.”
She sighed. “Fine, whatever. Let’s get back to this crime scene. The truck driver says the man had a round hat. That could fit the first shooter with a cowboy hat. Maybe the truck driver was too far to see for sure. But you were up close and personal. Did you happen to see the kind of gun he had?”
Sawyer huffed. “I saw that up close. Pointed right into the car at Naomi. It was a handgun.”
“Ok, so that’s the .45 shooter. Did he say anything?”
“No.” Sawyer thought on that. “Wait. Maybe.”
“Maybe? Can you elaborate?”
Sawyer stood up and walked around the car. He fisted his hands, trying to remember the words the man said before he fired the gun. “He definitely said something.” Sawyer stood at the back of the car, trying to imagine the scene playing out again. “He aimed the gun and said something like... ‘All you had to do was keep your mouth shut.’”
“‘All you had to do was keep your mouth shut,’” Cassie confirmed and jotted it down on her pad.
As Sawyer turned to go back, he looked at the license plate number again. He had taken notice of it the other day and how close the numbers were to the car that had nearly run him over the night Naomi was shot.
8-3-8-3-1-7.
In the dark moment at the house, he had thought he read B-3-8-3-1-2. But could he have misread the 8 for a B and the 7 for a 2?
Now that the car was upside down, the 7 did resemble a flipped 2 at a quick glance. When he had read the plate at the house, he had been jumping through the air to avoid being hit. In his nearly upside-down angle, it was possible to have confused the numbers. But what about the B? He had thought it began with a B, but this plate began with an 8. Had he read that symbol incorrectly too?
“Is something wrong?” Cassie asked. “Are you remembering anything else from the shooter?”
“Not this one, but maybe the other one. I had told you the license plate number of the car that he drove. B-3-8-3-1-2. Right?”
“There wasn’t a match,” she informed him.
He nodded at the car. “Maybe because I misread it,” he explained.
“Having four numbers that do match is suspect enough for me. I’ll get a warrant for Mr. Clark’s house. We’ve got a gun to find.” She moved to make the call, while Sawyer’s heart ached at what this meant. Could his friend really have shot Naomi? And nearly run him over?
A few moments later, Cassie hung up the phone and announced, “Irving Adams is innocent.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“At least in regard to tonight’s shooting. The Louisville authorities will have to look into Debby’s first attack as well as her murder. But as for tonight, Adams was tracked down with his family in Cincinnati, Ohio. He’s been there all day with them at the zoo. He was nowhere near Rogues Ridge tonight. So tha
t means we still don’t have IDs on either of these shooters.”
“And they’re both still out there,” Sawyer finished for her. “Naomi! We just sent her in an ambulance with no guard.”
“I’m on it.” Cassie said, running to her cruiser. Sawyer stayed right on her heels.
THIRTEEN
Pain throbbed through Naomi’s head before she even opened her eyes. She groaned with them sealed shut as she heard people talking around her. “Move her into stall 3,” someone said, and before she knew it, she felt herself gliding forward.
Now she forced her eyes wide against the blaring light above. The ceiling tiles whisked by as someone behind her pushed her forward. Pushed her toward stall 3, wherever that was.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“In the hospital,” the person behind her informed her.
“Again?” she asked.
“You’ve been here before?”
“Mmm-hmm,” she answered and shut her eyes again. Just for a moment until the pain subsided.
“I’m going to leave you here. The doctor will be in shortly.”
“Wait.” She moved her hand to try to stop the person. “What happened? Where’s Chloe? Is she all right?”
“You were in a car accident. No one else came with you. I don’t know who Chloe is. Can I call her for you?”
“No, she’s a baby.” Naomi tried to remember what happened. She was being chased, wasn’t she? No, that was a long time ago. “I was with Sawyer... Sawyer!” She pushed up on her elbows. Eye-blinding pain filled her head.
“Ma’am, lie back down,” the man said, touching her shoulder.
“Where is Sawyer? Did he come in? He was with me in the car.”
“Like I said, no one came in with you.”
The curtain fluttered and was pushed aside. A doctor stood at the bottom of her bed and lifted a chart. “Says here you regained consciousness in the ambulance. Good, good. You do have a bad gash on the top of your head that might need stiches. Let’s take a look.” He stepped up beside her and felt around the top of her head. Naomi whimpered. “I know, I know. It hurts. We can get you some pain meds for that.”
