Come Find Me

by Debra Webb

  “Sorry...” Sarah needed a drink of water. “I can’t...”

  “Stay awake, Sarah. I’ll send help.”

  Silence echoed around Sarah. She focused on opening her eyes once more. She blinked. Where was Matilda? Had she imagined her?

  Sarah tried to stay awake like Matilda said...but she just couldn’t...

  Funny...she was pretty sure she was dead since she couldn’t feel her heart beating anymore.

  She couldn’t feel...anything...

  Chapter 48

  A steady beep, beep, beep filtered through the haze.

  Was she in the fog?

  Sarah told her eyes to open so she could see.

  Didn’t happen.

  Her head felt like it weighed a ton. She tried to lift her arm, her right, then her left. That didn’t happen, either.

  Go for something little. She wiggled her toes, or tried to. She wasn’t sure if it worked or not.

  Okay, focus.

  Open your eyes!

  Bright light.

  Her lids clamped shut.

  Oh hell. She was dead.

  Wait. There had been something in the light. Working up her courage, she forced her eyes open one more time. Damn, that light was bright.

  She blinked a couple of times. Something blocked the light. A face.

  “There’s my girl.”

  Tae?

  Okay, she wasn’t dead. Tae was too mean to die.

  “We thought we’d lost you.”

  Was that emotion she heard in his voice?

  She licked her lips...tried to swallow. Her throat was seriously dry.

  “Where am...I?”

  “Well, it ain’t the Waldorf-Astoria, sweetheart.”

  Now that sounded more like Tae.

  “What happened?”

  “I’ll let your friend give you the official details. Right now all that matters is that you’re back.” Tae squeezed her hand. “My time’s up. But I’ll be back soon.”

  He was gone before she could say anything. What did he mean his time was up?

  She didn’t know how long he’d been gone when warm fingers closed around hers. Her gaze moved upward and dark, dark eyes held hers.

  Kale.

  “You scared the hell out of me.”

  Her heart did something weird. Not quite a flutter. “Sorry.”

  Flashes of memory from those minutes in the cave bounced around in her head. None of it fit together.

  “Lynda Pope is in custody. Your buddy August got the whole story out of her. The chief, unfortunately, didn’t make it.”

  Panic started to well in Sarah’s chest. She was alive. Okay. Calm down.

  “Barton Harvey is a couple floors down from you,” Kale told her. “He’s been charged with assault and battery.”

  Sarah tried to frown but it hurt. There was something she should remember about the innkeeper. “Why’s he here?”

  Kale lifted an eyebrow. “You don’t remember?”

  She started to shake her head but a burst of pain warned her not to. “No.” Damn.

  “You found where he’d buried his father’s diary and he popped you on the back of the head with a shovel.”

  Damn, and she didn’t even remember.

  “He claims he realized he’d overreacted and dragged you into his mudroom to call for help, but then someone bonked him on the head. Of course we know now that was Lynda.

  Now she remembered. Digging in the dirt and snow.

  “Looks like you were right,” Kale concluded. “It was a woman.”

  Yeah, yeah. “I’m always right.”

  Kale chuckled, the sound rusty and weary. “That’s a fact, lady.”

  Sarah felt her lips smile. She loved his voice. Even when he sounded so tired. Her smile drooped. “Wait. What’s the deal with the diary?” She vaguely remembered finding a journal or something in the dirt and snow.

  “Oh, sorry.” Kale cradled her hand in both his. “Deputy Brighton cleared that up. Barton found the journal a few years ago. He read the journal notes about those two murders twenty years ago and thought the entries meant that his father had committed the murders. He couldn’t ask his father because he’d had a stroke and can’t speak or respond in any way.”

  “Why was his father keeping a journal?” She needed Kale to get to the point. Her head was killing her and she was so damned tired. The only thing keeping her focused right now were those dark, dark eyes of his. She loved looking at his eyes.

  “Barton’s father and the former chief of police were planning to write a book about Youngstown’s first murders. Mr. Harvey kept the notes in that journal. Then when Chief Boggus passed away, Mr. Harvey decided not to move forward with the project. All this time Barton thought his father was a killer and he was trying to protect him.”

  There was still a part missing. “But why did he make Valerie Gerard cry?” Melody had told her about that. Funny Sarah could remember that but she couldn’t remember the innkeeper hitting her in the head with a shovel.

  “Apparently, he found Valerie at his desk and he yelled at her. It was nothing. But even his daughter was worried that you suspected her father and she broke into your room to check up on your activities.” Kale shook his head. “She fell apart when August questioned her and said it was her fault because she told you what happened with Valerie. The whole family’s been walking an emotional tightrope since you got here.”

  The really dumb part was that it was their reactions to Sarah that made her suspicious in the first place. “So it wasn’t Harvey who was involved with Valerie?”

  Kale moved his head from side to side. “It was the Reverend Mahaney.”

  So that was the reason Valerie stopped going to his church. Wait, Tamara had told her something about that. “Did his niece turn him in?”

  Kale frowned. “His niece? No. His wife had gotten worried that his secret would be discovered so she decided to take care of the situation. She gave him an overdose of his heart medication.”

  That was seriously screwed up. “Is he dead?”

  “No, Deborah saw where Pope was arrested and she called 911. Just in time.”

  Sarah was sure she would absorb and assimilate all this later. Right now it was just too overwhelming. The memory of Lynda forcing her to take those pills bobbed to the murky surface of Sarah’s mind. “Lynda gave me an overdose of her drug—the same one she gave Alicia.” As if she’d only just remembered and the symptoms had been delayed by her lost memory, she suddenly couldn’t breathe.

  “We know.” Kale squeezed her hand. “You don’t know how close we came to losing you. We were almost too late.” Sarah blinked, didn’t understand.

  “I went to the inn looking for you and found Mr. Harvey. We started searching for you then. I knew you’d been right all along. I couldn’t find the chief and I had a hell of a time convincing August, but he finally came around.”

  Sarah searched her memory banks. “I beat the crap out of Lynda. Then I tried to help the chief.”

  Kale nodded, his eyes suspiciously bright. “I know. We found you facedown in the snow...I...” He cleared his throat, looked away. “You were barely alive. It took a hell of a lot of prayer and some skilled work here at the ER to reverse the effects of the drug. The doc said if you hadn’t thrown up...you might not have made it.”

  “I’m lucky you found me in time.” She didn’t want to think about the fact that she’d prayed for the first time in about twenty years.

  She would keep that part to herself. For now.

  “Luck had nothing to do with it.”

  Wait. That was right. Matilda had found her. “Did Matilda tell you where I was?”

  Kale frowned. “Matilda? No.” He hitched a thumb toward the door on the other side of the room. “She’s here. She wants to see you.”

  Sarah didn’t understand. “But she was there. She must have told you where I was. She told me to stay awake but I couldn’t.”

  The confusion in Kale’s eyes told her he had no i
dea what she was talking about. “I talked to Pope.” He fell silent a moment; judging by the quiver of his lips, he was conquering his emotions.

  “You talked to Pope?”

  He nodded. “I told him what you suspected and that if he didn’t help me, you would become one more victim of the women in his life. I wasn’t sure which one it was.”

  “And?” Damn, this man had to learn how to get to the point.

  “He told us where you’d likely be. Said he felt compelled to do the right thing.”

  So, she owed her life to God and to Jerald Pope.

  This was all too strange.

  “I guess the investigation is closed then?”

  Kale nodded. “August left as soon as he knew you were out of the woods.”

  It was nice to know he’d cared enough to hang around and see whether she lived or died.

  “Have they said when they’re letting me out of here?” She felt like hell, felt weak as a kitten actually, but she despised hospitals.

  “A few more days. Until you’re strong enough and the effect of the drug is gone completely.”

  “I guess I can deal with that.”

  “There are others waiting to see you.” Kale looked at her hand, where he held it in his own, before meeting her gaze again. “I guess I should give someone else a turn.”

  That’s when she noticed all the flowers. Twenty, no, at least thirty, arrangements. Including red roses.

  “Wait.” Deepest regrets. “Who sent the roses?”

  “You want me to check the card?”

  “No. I mean to the parents of the victims?”

  “Oh, yeah. It was Lynda. She does it every time someone passes away. The whole covert order in Bangor was about making it look as if Jerri Lynn was setting her up. Apparently, Jerri Lynn had gone with her that day.”

  “I can’t believe so many people sent flowers,” Sarah muttered.

  “And you thought nobody liked you.”

  Duh.

  Instinct nudged Sarah. “Why don’t you look at the card with the roses?” She needed to know.

  “Sure.” Kale crossed the room and pulled the card from the greenery. “Deepest regrets.”

  Sarah’s pulse stumbled.

  “Jerri Lynn Pope.”

  Sarah cleared her throat. “That’s creepy.”

  Kale shrugged. “You have to remember, both her parents are accused of murder. She’s pretty much alone now.”

  “Yeah.” Sarah knew how it felt to be suddenly alone. She also knew that Jerri Lynn was one weird girl...from one bizarre family. Although Sarah felt bad for Jerri Lynn on one level, there was still something she didn’t trust about the girl.

  “I’ve been holding on to something for you.” Kale reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace Matilda had given Sarah. “It seemed important to you and I didn’t want it to get lost. They took it off you in the ER.” He placed it in her hand.

  “Thanks.” The rune felt cool against her palm. “Matilda gave it to me.”

  “Matilda and about a dozen other people are in the corridor waiting to see you,” Kale told her, “but I thought I should fill you in first.”

  Sarah blinked, overwhelmed with all the information and emotions. “I appreciate that.”

  “By the way,” he added, “my parents have offered to take Matilda in, if she’ll agree. Polly loves her like a sister and has convinced them to help.”

  Now there was some good news. Something to celebrate. Sarah’s heart felt glad.

  Kale stared at their joined hands a long moment. Then he lifted his gaze to hers. “I was coming after you, you know. I didn’t want you to go.” He looked down again. “I won’t beg you to stay, because that wouldn’t be right. But...” That dark, dark gaze met hers once more. “To hell with it. I’ll beg. I really want you to stay. Think about it, Sarah, okay? Seriously think about it.”

  That was something she could definitely promise him. “Deal.”

  This was going to be a new beginning for her. She was never going to worry about DNA or genetics again. She was who she was. No matter who or what her mother and father were. Sarah considered that Jerri Lynn faced the same dilemma. So far she hadn’t killed anyone. Even though Sarah had considered the girl a prime suspect...but now she knew the truth.

  Instinct nudged her.

  Or did she? Something still didn’t feel right. Maybe it was the drugs.

  Kale kissed her forehead, dragging her back to happier thoughts. “I’m glad to hear that.”

  Sarah smiled. Maybe it was the knock on the head or the medicine or a combination of both, but she suddenly wondered where this guy had been all her life.

  The door opened. “Kale, let somebody else in!” Polly flashed a grin at her. “Hey, Sarah!” Then the door closed as if someone had pulled the girl back.

  Kale managed to smile. “You heard that. I’ve got to let the others have a turn.”

  Damn, Sarah was finally Ms. Popular.

  Sarah held on to his hand. “I don’t want you to go.” But she needed to see Matilda and Polly and whoever else was out there. “Can you send Matilda in next?”

  “I can try.”

  He let go of her hand long enough to cross to the door. He stuck his head out and murmured to those waiting outside. When he drew back into the room, he pulled Matilda in with him. She wore her usual goth getup. Sarah was seriously glad to see her. A smile dragged at her chapped lips.

  “You made it,” the kid said quietly as she moved up to Sarah’s bedside. “I knew you would.”

  Sarah searched her face, wondered if she should even ask. “How did you find me?”

  Matilda’s gaze locked with hers, a frown lined her brow. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  Okay, so she’d imagined the whole thing. “I dreamed you were there with me. You kept telling me to stay awake.”

  Matilda searched her eyes. “I was really worried about you.” She placed her hand atop Sarah’s. “I could feel how bad it was for you. I...I was afraid for you.” She squeezed Sarah’s hand. “So I closed my eyes and thought of you. I saw myself protecting you and bringing you back safely.” A faint smile tilted the girl’s lips. “I guess it worked. Kind of like prayer.”

  “You were right about Pope,” Sarah told her. “He’s pretty much the devil. He and your mother had a run-in. I guess that’s why you got those bad vibes about him.”

  Matilda shrugged. “I get feelings about people all the time. No big deal. It’s just the way it is. My instincts about him were just stronger than most.”

  Yeah, Sarah mused, no big deal. Though she still didn’t believe in all that ESP junk or woo-woo stuff, she knew Matilda was a very special young lady.

  “I should go back out there.” Matilda glanced at the man waiting a few feet away. “Polly and a bunch of other people want to see you, too.”

  Sarah tried to smile but her lips quivered. “I’ll see you later.”

  Matilda leaned down, kissed her on the forehead, then whispered in her ear, “The police couldn’t get him, but you did. You’re special, Sarah Newton.”

  Before Sarah could speak, Matilda had hurried from the room.

  Warm, salty tears slid from Sarah’s eyes. She wasn’t special. Matilda was the one who was special.

  Kale hovered over Sarah once more. He took her hand. “You okay?” He swiped the dampness from her cheeks with warm fingers.

  “Yeah. I’m good.” She searched his eyes, wanted him to see the truth in her words. “I’m better than I’ve ever been.”

  He kissed her nose. “Good.” He glanced at the door. “Look, there’s going to be a riot out there if I don’t let Polly in here.”

  “On one condition,” Sarah told him.

  “What’s that?”

  “Kiss me.” What was he waiting for? “I almost died. I deserve a real kiss, at least.”

  He kissed her.

  He’d found her.

  Or maybe she’d found him.

  Either way, she was never
looking back. She had a new philosophy. The truth is always going to be what it is, but she now knew it could be altered by many things, life, hope...and even prayer.

  And by certain...special people.

  The truth is what it is, but sometimes it was not what it seemed.

  For Sarah, the truth was, it was time to get over the past and make herself a future.

  Sarah had come to find a killer, and she had. But the truth was, she’d found far more.

  She’d found Kale.

  She’d found herself.

  Chapter 49

  Strange.

  Jerri Lynn Pope walked along the massive entry hall.

  There was no one left of her family but her.

  She was like an orphan.

  She drifted into the kitchen and rummaged in the fridge. She should eat. It was well past lunch. There was a lot of change going on in her life. She needed her strength.

  There was no one to take care of her now. She had to learn to take care of all her needs.

  Cheese, fruit...nothing appealed to her.

  When she noticed the thick slab of filet mignon her father had intended to grill today, she smiled. That would work.

  Jerri Lynn grabbed the dish, set it on the counter and went in search of a knife.

  She selected a butcher knife and studied the glint of light from the windows on the blade. She loved those mesmerizing glints. Loved the way they flashed so brightly.

  On second thought she grabbed the bowl of salad and her favorite dressing from the fridge.

  Perfect. Steak and salad.

  She sliced into the thick meat; red ran from its tender flesh. She shivered. She lifted a small piece, considered its color and texture, then popped it into her mouth.

  She chewed. Closed her eyes and moaned.

  There was nothing quite as good as raw meat.

  She thought of how her own blood tasted whenever she cut herself. Would human flesh taste as good as the steak?

  Jerri Lynn’s pulse reacted to the concept. She studied the red trickling down the knife blade.

  One day soon...very soon...perhaps she would know for sure.

  “I found the pajamas.”

  Jerri Lynn looked up as Tamara padded into the kitchen. Tamara struck a pose to show off her new loungewear.