Desperate Strangers

by Carla Cassidy

  She wouldn’t remember that he’d held her when she’d been frightened during a thunderstorm. She wouldn’t care that he’d been there for her through her laughter and her tears.

  He’d built a past with her based on lies. He’d also made love to her under those false pretenses. Who in the hell would want to build a future with a man like him?

  When she’d opened her beautiful eyes after the accident, she’d taken all that he’d told her at face value. She had openly and trustingly given him everything...her body, her heart and her soul.

  He loved her. He loved that she had little self-edit when it came to what thoughts she expressed out loud. He adored her sense of humor and how often they laughed together about the silliest thing.

  Yes, he loved her with every fiber of his being. He wanted his future to be with her, but his feelings didn’t matter. He could love her to the moon and back, but he knew she was going to hate him when the truth came out.

  He got up from the bed and walked over to his closet. If he couldn’t be with her forever, he could at least keep her safe until her memories returned.

  He reached up on the closet’s top shelf and pulled down the hoodie wrapped around the weapon.

  Once again, the gun felt cold and alien in his grip. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to handle one. He and a couple of the other coaches occasionally went to a gun range to shoot. Yes, he knew his way around the weapon, but it was how and why he’d gotten this particular gun that made it feel like it didn’t belong in his hand.

  He grabbed a small duffel from the bottom of the closet. He placed the gun in the bottom and then folded several T-shirts and placed them on top.

  Glancing at the clock, he noted that it was time for the evening news. He figured he still had a couple of hours before Julie would be back home, so he placed the duffel on the bed and once again sat down.

  He’d been trying to catch the news every evening to see if there had been any follow-up to Brian McDowell’s murder. However, each day the news was filled with other murders and crimes, making it impossible for him to follow the investigation. He also watched the news to see if any of the other men on their hit list had been killed.

  How he wished he could rewrite the history of the past year. How he wished he would have really met Julie in a coffee shop and everything he’d told her about their relationship was real.

  His attention was captured by a picture on the television. He grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

  “Police have been called to the scene of an accident along 169 Highway. Eyewitnesses say a car spun out of control and a woman jumped out and ran into the wooded area. Two other car occupants also abandoned the car and ran. This video was shot by a bystander.”

  The blond newscaster disappeared and a shaky video came on showing a car on the side of the road and a woman in a red dress jumping out of the passenger seat.

  It was a brief clip but Nick’s blood stopped flowing through his veins. A tight pressure filled his chest. That was Casey’s car and it had been Julie who had run away. He didn’t know exactly what was happening, but he knew with certainty she needed him...now!

  He grabbed the duffel bag and raced out of the house.

  Once he was on the road, questions began swirling through his head. What was going on? Why would Julie get out of the car and run away from the scene? From her sister and her mother? It didn’t make sense.

  She would only do that if she believed she was in immediate danger. Casey? Their mother? He couldn’t imagine one of them being the source of the threat, but he knew in his gut Julie was in a wealth of trouble.

  He thought of the gun he carried with him. He would have no problem putting a bullet into somebody who was trying to hurt Julie. He didn’t give a damn who they were.

  All he had to do was to get to her in time.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Julie’s heart nearly beat out of her chest as she ran through the thick woods. A thrashing came from someplace behind her, letting her know her sister and Ace were coming after her.

  The sweltering late-evening heat made it even more difficult for her to catch her breath as she frantically looked around for someplace to hide.

  Brush and thickets tried to trip her up, grabbing at her legs and catching on her dress. Damn her choice of a red dress. It was like a vivid target in the green depths of the woods.

  She had no idea where she was going. All that was important at the moment was that Ace not catch her. There was no question in her mind that if he caught her, he’d kill her. He’d already tried once and, if he had his way, she wouldn’t make it out of these woods.

  Gasping for air, she ducked behind a tree to catch her breath.

  “Julie...come out,” Casey called from someplace in the distance. “We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to talk to you. Come out so we can have an adult conversation about things.”

  Julie squeezed her eyes tightly closed against the tears that threatened to fall. She didn’t believe Casey. Her sister had probably been in the pawn shop when Ace had tried to strangle her. It had probably been Casey who had turned out the lights. Nobody who wanted to have a conversation with you hid their killer boyfriend in the car trunk.

  She stuffed down the sense of betrayal, shoved the utter devastation away. She couldn’t deal with that right now. She had more important things on her mind, like trying to stay alive.

  “Come on, Julie. I promise everything is going to be okay. Just talk to us for a few minutes and then we can all go out to eat and we’ll take you back home,” Casey said in a smooth, reassuring voice.

  Julie wasn’t reassured. The woman attempting to get Julie out of her hiding place had nothing to do with the sister Julie had grown up with. She had no idea what had changed Casey, and right now she didn’t care.

  “Julie...” The deep male whisper seemed to come from right behind her.

  Too close. He was far too close. With a gasp, she took off running again. She ran as fast as she could, blinded by tears and terror. She cried out as she stumbled over a tree root and fell to the ground.

  She jumped up and cast a quick glance behind her.

  Ace was visible and as he saw her he raised an arm. Was that a gun in his hand?

  Drawing in a deep gulp of air, she dove to her right and rolled until she came to another big tree. She crawled on her hands and knees to get behind it.

  A siren sounded from the direction of where she’d run from the car. Thank goodness, help was arriving. Still, she couldn’t exactly dash out into the open to get to the police. The siren wailed for another minute and then went silent.

  She remained plastered against the tree trunk, holding her breath and praying Ace hadn’t seen where she’d rolled when she’d hit the ground. Still, no police officer would know where she was unless she let them know.

  A rustle sounded far too close to her. Drawing in another deep breath, she released a scream that sent birds flying from the tops of the trees. And then she ran again.

  Once again she darted ahead blindly, just wanting to keep one step ahead of Ace. She tried to weave a path that would take her back toward the highway where hopefully police had arrived and could save her.

  However, she’d become disoriented and, without the sound of the siren, wasn’t sure in which direction to run. Again she leaned her back against a tree trunk, her gaze shooting frantically all around.

  How long had it been since she’d run from the car? Minutes? An hour? It felt like forever. Nick. Her heart cried out his name.

  How she wished his strong, loving arms were around her right now. She needed him. She frowned, her mind racing for more memories...any memories of him.

  A strong hand grabbed her wrist and she screamed as she was pulled away from the tree and the tight hold released. “Hands up.”

  She stared into the barrel of a gun, a police
officer’s gun. “Oh, thank God,” she exclaimed to the middle-aged man clad in a khaki uniform. “They were going to kill me. They didn’t want me to tell what I knew. At first I didn’t remember what I saw, but my memories all came back and they want to kill me...”

  She knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t stop herself. “He was hiding in the trunk. Ace...my sister’s boyfriend...he was in the trunk of her car. My sister told me we were going out to dinner, but they were taking me someplace to kill me.” A deep sob escaped her.

  “We’ll get everything sorted out, ma’am,” the officer said as he holstered his gun. “Right now, I need you to keep your hands up over your head and walk that way.” He gestured for her to walk to her left.

  She walked in front of him for some distance and finally they broke out of the woods.

  She froze as she saw Casey and Ace standing next to Casey’s car with two other officers.

  “Why aren’t they in handcuffs?” she asked. “They wanted to kill me. They need to be arrested.”

  “Julie, come on, honey. Everything is going to be okay,” Casey called.

  “Jules, we were just going for a nice drive,” Ace said as if they were the best friends in the world.

  Jules? What in the hell were they playing at? A hundred knots twisted in her stomach as the officer moved her forward.

  Casey leaned toward the officer standing next to her and spoke, but Julie was too far away to hear the conversation.

  Still, the look the officer gave her was full of speculation.

  Casey, who could charm the bark off a tree. What had she been telling the officers about Julie? What lies had she told them to save her and her boyfriend’s asses?

  “Julie, everything is going to be okay,” Casey said when Julie reached the car. “You’re safe now.” Her voice was filled with such caring, but her eyes held a hard edge Julie had never seen before.

  “I understand you were recently in a car accident, Ms. Peterson.” The officer next to Casey was a big man and he wore a name tag that identified him as Deputy Ben Rodman.

  “What does that have to do with anything?” she asked defensively.

  “Julie, you know you haven’t been yourself since the accident,” Casey replied. She looked at all the policemen. “We’ve all been so very worried about her.”

  “We thought she might enjoy a nice drive, but she freaked out and grabbed the wheel and then bailed from the car,” Ace said.

  “Shut up.” Julie snapped at him. “You were hiding in the trunk for a reason. I don’t even know you and you tried to kill me last night in the pawn shop.”

  The big, bald man shook his head with a sad smile. “Now, Julie, you know that isn’t true.” He looked at the deputy who had brought Julie back. “She’s been paranoid since her car wreck and thinks her family members are out to kill her.”

  They were trying to make her look crazy and, by the expressions on the officers’ faces, it was working.

  “He’s lying and what I told you is the truth,” she replied frantically. “Check it out with the police department in Kansas City. I was attacked last night and it was because they don’t want me telling anyone they’ve been selling drugs out of the back of the family business.”

  “Julie.” Casey shook her head in obvious pity.

  “You’ve got to believe me,” Julie exclaimed. Tears burned at her eyes. “They were taking me someplace to kill me so I couldn’t tell anyone about what they’ve been doing.”

  “She needs mental help,” Casey said. “My family has been talking about having her committed for a little while so she can get the help she needs.”

  Julie gasped. This was all going so horribly wrong. “He had a gun,” she said and pointed to Ace. “I saw it. He pointed it at me and was going to shoot me.”

  “Julie, honey, the deputies patted down Ace. There’s no gun,” Casey replied as if she were speaking to a three-year-old.

  Julie looked at each of the deputies’ faces. Oh, God, they believed Casey and Ace’s story. She was in big trouble. It was possible she’d wind up in some mental hospital and nobody would ever believe her about what Casey and Ace had been doing...what they had already done.

  At that moment a familiar car screeched to a halt behind one of the police cars and Nick got out. She’d never been so happy to see somebody before in her entire life.

  “Nick!” Before anyone could stop her, she ran to him. His arms awaited her and enfolded her tight. His heart beat against hers in the same frantic rhythm.

  “Are you all right?” He pulled slightly away from her as his gaze bore into hers.

  “They’re trying to make it look like I’m crazy. They were taking me someplace to kill me, Nick.” Before she could say anything more, Deputy Rodman joined them. “This is my fiancé, Nick Simon. He can tell you what’s going on. He’ll tell you I’m not crazy.”

  Rodman held up his hand. “We’re taking you all in to the station to sort this out.”

  Nick released her. “I’ll follow you there.”

  Minutes later Julie was in the back of a police cruiser and her sister and Ace were passengers in another vehicle. Fear still tightened her muscles and dried her mouth.

  Were they going to let Casey and Ace go? She wanted them locked up. Her heart not only ached for the little sister she’d loved, but also for her parents, who would be devastated by Casey’s crimes.

  * * *

  IT WAS HOURS later when Nick and Julie finally walked out of the police station. Ace was being held for pending charges and two outstanding warrants. Casey was also under arrest. A search of her car had uncovered a box of prescription pills not prescribed to her.

  Julie slid into the passenger seat of Nick’s car and leaned her head back as Nick got in behind the wheel and started the engine.

  “Tired?” he asked.

  “Mentally and physically exhausted,” she replied. She looked down at her dress. Pulls and tears in the material evidenced her mad dash through the woods. Thank God, her dress’s was the only death that had occurred today.

  She pulled her cell phone from her purse and stared down at her parents’ number. “I need to call Mom and Dad and tell them what’s happened. This is going to absolutely break their hearts.”

  “It would have broken their hearts if Casey and Ace had succeeded in killing you,” Nick replied. His voice deepened as he continued. “It definitely would have broken mine.”

  She flashed him a grateful glance and then hit the button on her phone that would connect her with her parents. It was the most difficult conversation she’d ever had.

  She cried. Her mother cried and her father cursed. They were in shock, but ultimately they proclaimed their love for Julie and the fact that Casey would now have to face the consequences of her actions.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” her mother asked.

  “I’m fine,” she replied. “I’m with Nick and I’m okay. I’m just tired and ready for my life to get back to normal.”

  By the time the call had ended, she was utterly drained. Once again she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The memories she’d been missing again flashed through her mind.

  Difficult customers in the shop... Joel’s new dog... Casey and Ace coming in the back door with drugs... Casey attacking her in her living room, breaking the lamp while Julie threw the candle, hitting the glass on the painting and, finally, her jumping into her car to escape.

  She opened her eyes and sat straighter as Nick came to a stop in her driveway. Her heart started a new quickened pace, one of disquiet...of uncertainty mingling with a faint touch of fear.

  She looked at Nick in the purple shadows of twilight that had descended. He had been by her side through everything. She was desperately in love with him, but at the moment that didn’t matter.

  “I’ve been desperately searching my memory to find
you and I realize now that my memories of you aren’t missing. They were never there to begin with. You aren’t my fiancé, so who in the hell are you?”

  * * *

  NICK HAD WAITED for this moment to happen. Initially he’d anticipated it and then he had dreaded it. Now it was upon him and a swell of desperation filled his chest.

  “Can we go inside and talk?” he asked.

  Her eyes were dark and filled with mistrust. She gave a curt nod of her head and then, together, they exited the car and walked to the front door. At least she wasn’t locking him out before she could hear his side of the story.

  Her shoulders were stiff, her beautiful face emotionless as they went inside and sat on opposite sides of the sofa. Only able to imagine the trauma she’d been through as she’d run for her life through the woods, the only thing he really wanted to do was to hold her close and assure himself she was really okay. However, everything about her posture let him know she wouldn’t welcome any kind of touch from him.

  “Who are you and why are you in my life?” she asked.

  “I’m the man who is in love with you,” he replied.

  She raised a trembling hand. “Don’t. I know you weren’t in the car with me on the night of the accident. I also know you and I didn’t have a fight in my living room.

  “Casey and I fought that night and I got into my car alone. Why are you here and where did you come from?” Her gaze searched his features as if she’d never seen him before this moment.

  Where did he begin? How did he even start to try to make her understand what he had done? He was desperate to get her to believe that none of that mattered, that he was in love with her now and that he believed she’d fallen in love with him.

  “I was on the street when you wrecked your car. I’m the one who called for help,” he said.

  She stared at him without blinking, obviously waiting for him to make sense of things.

  What had made sense to him on the night of her accident now seemed completely insane.

  “So, how did you go from Good Samaritan to my fiancé?” she asked.