Just For A Heartbeat (Piper Anderson Legacy Mystery Book 2)

by Danielle Stewart

  “The FBI will follow up on Pacey Steele,” Piper reminded them both. “If the girl is still missing they’ll track down what they need to from what is available. We won’t put any of our assumptions we previously had into the case file.”

  “And the resources they pull from somewhere else to track down this girl—and maybe not even find a link—we’re supposed to feel all right about that? I put my name on this. I was depending on you to be forthcoming and reliable.” Bobby’s voice was lower now, laced more with disappointment than anger in true dad fashion.

  “I am,” Ruby argued. “I haven’t talked about it with anyone since it happened. I was hoping this would be the key to putting it behind me. I could prove someone did hurt me that day, and I’m not a liar.”

  “I’m calling it, Bobby,” Piper said, looping her arm in his. “This is getting counterproductive. I understand you are upset, but what’s done is done. Tomorrow you send what you have over to the FBI, and they decide what to do with it. Having Pacey’s name is a good lead. If Maggie is right, she could be the best direct line to the murderer if it was someone who knew her personally. Right now we’re going to go into town and have dinner. Everyone just take a night to sleep on it.”

  “I’m not pissed at you, Ruby,” Bobby edged out. “I know law enforcement here is problematic, and it caused you to harbor mistrust, and rightfully so. I also believe if you reported being abducted and it was mishandled, the drive to find your own justice would make sense. I just wish you’d been upfront with me.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, biting at her lip. “I wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to be able to put this behind me and help these girls.”

  “You still can,” Piper promised, trying to smile wide enough for both Bobby and her. “We’ll all talk tomorrow.”

  When they slipped out the door Patrick looked about ready to follow. “I’m sorry, Patrick,” she whispered, knowing the words sounded hallow. “I should have told you.”

  “I gave you every opportunity.” He rushed through the words he promised he wasn’t going to say. “I told you what happened to me in New York. The truth would have made me more resolved to help. Don’t you believe that?”

  “Yes,” she said nodding vigorously. “If you believed me.”

  “I would have. You didn’t give me the chance. Now I don’t know what to believe,” he said, rubbing his brow feverishly. “What happened, Ruby? Tell me everything.”

  “It’s not easy,” Ruby sobbed, sniffling as she tried to regain composure. “You don’t know what it’s like to have everyone hate you. You can’t imagine what it’s like to be that afraid and no one believes you.”

  “Why didn’t anyone believe you?” Patrick asked, knowing how leading and transparent his attempt was.

  “I lied a lot,” she admitted, throwing her hands in the air. “My parents were living these exciting lives full of adventure and capturing all their dreams. I was a basically carry-on luggage they took with them. More of an accessory than a child. I was always looking for a way to connect with people. I thought the better my story was, the more they’d like me. I was a kid. No one was paying attention.”

  “But the abduction?” he asked, holding his breath, needing this to be real.

  “That was the truth, and it was also the last day of my life I ever considered lying to get attention. Everything changed that day. I changed.” She shook with a mix of exhaustion and anxiety. As angry as the circumstances made him, watching her suffer still pulled at him. Moving toward the couch he decided to settle in. He’d already tried ultimatums and running off, maybe it was time to dig in and show her he could handle it.

  “My parents were in Portland, trying to implore the historical society to intervene. It was their last attempt. I could tell they were ready to move on to something more promising if they couldn’t get the shortsighted people of this island to understand the significance of their work. It wasn’t a big deal for me to be home alone; I was almost eighteen and they’d been leaving me on my own most of my life. But I also knew there was a party down by the school that I wasn’t invited to. It made the loneliness harder to ignore.”

  “What about Stephanie?” Patrick asked, the sinking feeling in his chest growing. “You were friends?”

  “We were . . . we are,” she corrected. “But on those nights she went to the parties. I don’t blame her for that. She was popular. There was no reason she had to be sitting around doing nothing with me.”

  “So what happened?” He gestured for her to sit by him on the couch but she looked reluctant. There was still a tremble in her hands she was trying to hide as she squeezed them tightly together. Finally, she sat by him but her rigid back and distant look made him feel like she was miles away.

  “I went out to get ice cream and popcorn so I could sit around and feel bad for myself. Just as I got to my car, before I could get my keys out, something hit me from behind. I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t see anything, and then everything went dark.” The deep breath she drew in didn’t seem to do anything to steady her. “When I woke up there was a cloth shirt or bag over my head. The base of my neck was on fire, and I thought I was going to die.”

  “You didn’t,” he reminded her softly, trying to pull her back from the memory that was rushing in around her. “You’re right here right now and you’re okay.”

  “I tried to stay calm and hear little clues about where I was or what was happening. I could sense him next to me. I could see his boots with these bright orange laces. I started crying and screaming for him to let me go. This ringing noise started, his phone I think, and he ran. I heard him thudding up these stairs and then it was quiet. My hands were tied together with rope but I was able to get them free. When I ripped the bag off I saw I was on a boat. But my adrenaline was pumping, my head was spinning, and I was in so much pain. I just ran. I ran off the boat and didn’t stop until I got to that shack they call a police station two miles away.”

  “And you talked to Shep?”

  “I tried. I couldn’t talk at first. I was shaking, and I thought I was going to be sick. By the time I got it all out and they made it back to the location, the boat was gone. No sign of it anywhere. It was a secluded inlet and no one else in the area saw it. Suddenly everyone was looking at me like I made it up. I had yanked off the rope on my arms. I left behind the bag or whatever was on my head. There was no boat. They had the doctor come check me out, and he said I had sustained a head injury but a mild concussion could have caused me to imagine the rest of what had happened. They were all just staring at me like I was some crazy person.”

  “You were a victim, they should have treated you like one,” Patrick bit back angrily. “What about your parents?”

  “They were called and said they’d be back in the morning. No real rush I guess,” she breathed out a sarcastic laugh. “I don’t blame them entirely. They knew how I was. They must have just figured I was pissed at them for making my life hell and they were off doing it again that very night. Making things worse.”

  “Did they believe you when they got home?”

  “I don’t know,” she shrugged. “They believed I was upset. They’d been turned away by the historical society again, and before Shep had called them they’d already decided it was time to move on. They figured I’d be glad to hear it. They’d lined up some expedition somewhere and it would be yet again another fresh start. My parents voiced a lot of regret that they’d stuck around so long and no one had really listened to their pleading about the dig site. They did hire a lawyer but that fizzled out pretty quickly.”

  “Why didn’t you go with them?”

  “I was terrified. I wouldn’t leave the house for a week. Then if I did the panic was so bad I would just fall apart. The idea of going toward the water was too much for me. This person was still out there. I just retreated within myself, and when the time came for my parents to go I told them I didn’t want to. I wanted to finish high school here and take some time before joining them
.”

  “They believed that?”

  “It was easier for them than to actually try to figure out how to help me. When they left I was at least able to fall apart without an audience, and they were able to pretend I was fine. Some days I was,” she said, noting how important that was. “I still did things for a while. I still tried to be normal and happy. But the anxiety was always there. The water, the sounds, and the smells were always looming around, waiting to remind me of that night.”

  “So that’s a trigger for you? The boats and the water?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “It became one I couldn’t manage. Which is pretty hard when you are surrounded on every side by the one thing you fear the most. But I get by.”

  “I believe you,” he said, taking her hands in his. “I believe this happened to you, and I will help you try to find out the truth of why it did.”

  “I don’t understand why he left.” She shook her head. “Did I survive because of one perfectly timed phone call? And these girls, they suffered and struggled and feared in a way I can’t even imagine. It’s not fair.”

  “It’s not,” he said, nodding his head in agreement.

  “Bobby is going to come back tomorrow and still be pretty pissed,” Ruby said, hopping up and heading to the kitchen to splash water on her face.

  “Probably, but I bet Piper can help settle him down. I understand why he’s frustrated, but I bet in the light of day he comes around.”

  “No matter what, he’ll be determined that we’re all done with this,” she said, leaning against the kitchen counter. “There will be no changing his mind.”

  “You’re probably right,” Patrick sighed, understanding what it meant to Ruby to give up the one power she felt she had in the situation. It would be out of her hands again, and a truth that eluded her for so long would be that much harder to obtain.

  “I wonder if Piper left this on purpose,” Ruby said, thumbing through the file Bobby had hastily put together when given Pacey’s name. “She strikes me as a really intentional person.”

  “I would say so,” Patrick said with a smirk. “But why would she leave that?”

  “Because she probably knows as well as we do that tonight would be our last opportunity to do anything with this. Bobby is the only one with credentials that matter, and if he says we’re done, we will be.”

  “What could we do with that information tonight? All it gives is her parents’ last known address in Rhode Island.”

  “We could take the last ferry out tonight, rent a car, and be at their place first thing in the morning,” Ruby said far too casually to account for all the challenges that plan would include.

  “We could?” he asked, standing to join her in the kitchen. “You would do that?”

  “I don’t know if this is the same guy who tried to take me,” she said, looking at the photograph of Pacey smiling in front of the lighthouse. “But if it is, and I can know for sure he isn’t around every corner or on every boat, then I think I could get my life back. I really want my life back.”

  “Then let’s go,” he said, reaching his hand out to her. “There is no safer place in the world than being next to me. Boats, oceans, it doesn’t matter. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Pulling her against him, he felt the thunderous pounding of her heart against his chest.

  Chapter 18

  Theory and execution were two very different things. In theory Ruby should have been fueled by the motivation of finally having some power back in her life. In reality the sound of the ferry’s horn felt like it was blasting her body into thousands of sharp edged pieces. Most people thought of anxiety as something raging inside of someone, but it was easy to forget the body needed air. Without it real things started to happen.

  “You need to take some deeper breaths,” Patrick insisted, his voice barely penetrating the ringing in Ruby’s ears.

  “Trying,” she answered, frightened about how passing out would complicate things. She gasped a few times, ignoring a couple staring at her. People’s judgments were the least of her worries right now. It was oxygen she needed. But when a vice clamped down on your lungs and tightened each mile farther out to sea, breathing became a full time job.

  Sweat poured down Ruby’s back, soaking her shirt. Her slick palms reached out wildly for Patrick as the horn blew again.

  “I’ve got you,” he said, grabbing both her hands in his. “The horn is a good thing. It means we’re almost there. Once we’re off the boat we’ll be going inland. Far inland. You can do this.”

  “I’m going to be sick,” she said, her mouth filling with saliva and the hair on the back of her neck standing straight out.

  “You’ve got a change of clothes,” he reminded her, “and this bag if you think you’ll be sick. It’s all right if you use it.”

  “My heart,” she said, taking his hand and placing it on her chest. “It’s going to explode.”

  “Impossible,” he reminded her. “It’s going to slow right down when the boat docks. Less than five minutes and we’ll be off it. Nothing is going to happen in those five minutes. I’m watching everything. I’ve got it all under control. Close your eyes and think about that breakfast,” he said through a smile. “That morning we woke up at your house, all wrapped together on the couch. You made those pastries with the berries on them. I can practically smell them.”

  “Yeah,” she said, pulling the imagery up in her mind the best she could. “That was nice.”

  “We’re going to do it again. Just breathe from your abdomen,” he suggested.

  “You looked that up on the Internet, didn’t you?” she asked through gasping breaths.

  “Maybe.” He laughed. “It’s not easy piecing together a crash course on how to cope with anxiety. I did a lot of speed reading. Bear with me.”

  She let out a small coughing laugh as she squeezed tighter on his hand. “I’m sorry you have to see this.” She blinked away the stream of tears.

  “Are you kidding me?” He nudged his elbow playfully toward her. “This is like watching a warrior take on an army single-handedly. You are so strong, and I’m lucky enough to be here to see it. I don’t think I’ve ever been that strong in my life. You are impressive, Ruby. So very impressive.”

  The words permeated her soul in a way she didn’t think possible while sinking in the depths of panic. There had been people before him who tried to save her from herself but never with such genuine connection.

  “You’re doing good,” she whispered to him in a sudden role reversal of support. “You’re doing really good.” The ferry lurched suddenly as it banged against the pier and came to a halt. The horn blew one more time, and it still rattled her ribs.

  They edged their way slowly off the boat, most of her weight against him, as they navigated the stairs. “Now a few hours in the car and we’ll be in Rhode Island. I’ll get a hotel for the night near Pacey’s parents’ house, and we’ll go there first thing in the morning.”

  “We’re really doing this,” Ruby said, her feet landing solidly on dry and steady land. The world hadn’t ended. Patrick was still by her side, the photographs that might lead to the truth and finally free her from this prison tucked safely in her bag. She’d walked through fire and survived.

  Chapter 19

  “We should talk strategy,” Patrick said as they pulled up to the quaint cottage where the Steeles lived. “I’m not going to say I’m having second thoughts but maybe we should have waited on Bobby and Piper for this.”

  “You look like me on that ferry last night.” She laughed, breathing a lot easier this morning. “You had that under control, and I have this.” She was popping out of the car before he could catch her arm. The idea of getting Ruby out of the house had been so tempting it superseded his rational thinking about what it meant to be standing on the doorstep of strangers, ready to ask them about their potentially missing daughter. He’d done plenty of investigative work over the years to know how badly this could go.

  Patrick’
s panic grew as Ruby fished some photographs out of her bag. “You aren’t going to show them the set of photographs with the dismembered bodies are you?”

  “Relax,” she said, knocking and straightening her shoulders, tipping her chin up. “This stuff I can handle. I know I don’t seem like a people person, but I know what I’m doing.”

  “Hello,” a cheery woman with big blonde hair and heavily painted eyebrows said as she swung the door open. Her pink and purple outfit burst with a shockingly vibrant flower pattern. The point in her nose was similar to Pacey’s in the photograph and Patrick felt a wave a nausea rise up in him.

  “Hi, Mrs. Steele?” Ruby asked in a bubbly tone, flipping her dark hair off her shoulder.

  “Yes, can I help you?” Mrs. Steele had her hands folded together and her head tipped slightly to the side.

  “My name is Ruby Constantine, this is my friend Patrick Sullivan. I’m with the Film and Photograph Salvage Coalition. I’m sorry to bother you, but part of my role is to reunite people with photographs that have been recovered from discarded or lost film.”

  “Okay,” Mrs. Steele said, to Patrick’s surprise looking fully enthralled with the unexpected arrival. There wasn’t a hint of tentativeness in her voice.

  “Through some research we were able to determine these photographs belong here with your family.” Patrick held his breath as Ruby turned over the stack of pictures and prayed they were limited to the beach shots.

  “Oh my,” Mrs. Steele said, her hand moving up to her mouth that had fallen open in shock. “Oh my Pacey,” she said in a whimper. “Where did you find these?”

  “It’s quite a long story,” Ruby said with a chuckle, but added nothing else. Smart girl. Patrick could see she was waiting to be invited in, and Mrs. Steele was quick to oblige.