by Lynn Bohart
“I’ll take a stack of blueberry pancakes, sausage, and hot tea,” I replied. “And where are your restrooms?”
She cocked her head to the right. “Down the hallway.”
I glanced over at Amy who looked relieved to sit down. “Get whatever you want.”
“Can I have two waffles and bacon? And a glass of milk.”
The waitress wrote it down and then turned to Blair, who was using a napkin to wipe dirt off the backs of her fingers.
“I’ll take a Denver omelet and hash browns,” she said. “And some orange juice.”
While we waited for the food to arrive, we took turns going to the ladies’ room to wash up. Once the food did arrive, we dug in without any ceremony. There was little conversation; we were all too busy satiating our hunger. I’m not sure blueberry pancakes had ever tasted so good to me.
We had just finished eating when the doorbell jingled, and the remaining four members of our group burst in.
Blair and I jumped up to share hugs with them, me protecting my ribcage. They pulled up chairs and sat down with us.
“This is Amy,” I said, putting my arm around her.
She looked up with a shy smile, while I proceeded to introduce the others. She nodded to each one, and I noticed tears beginning to form in her eyes.
“Thank you,” she mumbled. “I can’t believe you all risked so much to help me.” She used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes.
“Thank Julia,” Doe said, reaching out to grab her hand. “She’s the one that insisted we pursue their RV. The rest of us weren’t even sure you were in there.”
I gave Doe a grateful smile.
Amy turned to me and started to cry again. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
I smiled and gave her a hug. “Don’t go all the way to Boston for college,” I whispered in her ear. “Your mom is going to want to keep you close for a while.”
She smiled and nodded.
“So what now?” Aria asked.
“Have you called your mother yet?” Doe asked.
Amy shook her head. “I’m afraid to,” she said, wiping her tears away. “We had a big fight the night before I disappeared. I said some really ugly things to her.”
I took her hand. “Trust me. You mother won’t care.” I looked up at my friends. “But I have an idea. I don’t think we should call her mom just yet.”
“Why not?” Rudy asked. “She has to be worried sick.”
“The two men who chased us last night thought Amy had escaped by herself. They didn’t know we were with her. And they think they injured her when they fired a round into the barn. For all they know, she’s still lost out there in the wilderness injured or even dead.”
“What’s the point, Julia?” Doe asked.
“Maybe I’m thinking too much like a mystery writer, but we heard Monty say they needed to get to Chicago by tomorrow night. Someone named Yoda said that since he couldn’t get Amy’s father to do what they wanted, he would go after him directly. If they don’t know whether Amy is safe or not, she remains a threat, and it might just knock them off their game.”
“And in the meantime?” Rudy asked.
“We keep Amy with us. I’ll call David. Maybe the police can go to her home and tell her parents privately.”
“We can’t do that,” Rudy said, shaking her head. “We need to get her to a hospital. We should have already taken her.”
“No!” Amy said. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” Rudy said. “And the police will want to interview you. Maybe even save your clothes and get pictures of your arms,” she said, nodding toward Amy’s elbows.
Amy’s eyes flashed with fear as she turned to me. “Please. I want to stay with you. I…I…” Her composure began to disintegrate as tears rolled down her cheeks, creating rivulets of dirt. She even began to shake. “I can’t be left alone. I…I just can’t.” She suddenly burst into sobs.
“We won’t leave you,” I said, putting my arm around her again, holding her tight. I turned to Rudy. “We can’t leave her behind. She’d be all alone until her parents could get here.”
“But we need to get to Chicago,” Blair said. “Someone is still after her father.”
“We could split up,” Aria suggested.
“No,” I said. “We’re a team in this. It’s the only way we’ve survived so far.”
“Then what do we do?” Doe asked. “And no matter what you say, Amy needs to call her mother.”
I sighed. “We keep Amy with us. Let’s get on the road. We’ll preserve her clothes and take photos of her arms and anything else we have to.”
“And you think the police will accept that?” Aria asked skeptically.
I rolled my eyes. “No. But I’m not willing to leave Amy here.”
“Neither am I,” Blair said. “We risked life and limb to save her. I’m not abandoning her now. But we do have to get going. We’re the only ones who know what these people look and sound like.”
“I agree,” I said. “We need to be in Chicago. I’ll call David from the road. He can talk to her parents and then she can call her mom.”
“I’m okay with that,” Amy said, wiping her eyes. Her hands still shook, but she took a cleansing breath. “I want to do whatever I can to get these guys.”
The waitress arrived with our bill.
“I’ve got it,” Doe said, pulling out her credit card.
“Thanks, Doe,” I said.
“Okay, let’s get on the road,” Rudy said. “We’re supposed to be at the Aberdeens’ in a couple of hours.” She turned to Amy. “I bet a shower would feel good.”
She smiled. “Yes. Thanks.”
It was 8:35 by the time we finally made it to the sidewalk ready to board the Hulk.
“Wait a minute,” I said, throwing my arm out to stop Rudy. I was staring at the roof of the motorhome. From where I stood, it looked as if the air conditioner had been ripped halfway off. In fact, it was hanging part-way off the side of the roof and there was a deep scar running along the upper wall of the RV, where a portion of the siding had actually been peeled away. “What the heck happened?”
Doe suppressed a laugh. “Rudy happened.”
I turned to my little athletic friend, who was already blushing.
“Hey, we were driving around looking for you. It was pitch black out, and I drove under a big oak tree that hung low over the road.”
“More like she drove into it,” Goldie said, rolling her eyes. “We were right behind her.”
“Good going, Rudy,” Blair said with a giggle.
“Listen, we were worried sick about you guys,” Rudy said in her own defense.
“As well you should have been,” I said. “But now, I’m keeping score.”
Once we were back inside the Hulk, Blair found clean jeans and a t-shirt that would fit Amy and gave her soap and shampoo to take a shower. We also gave her a trash bag in which to put her dirty clothes.
“If you’ll let me,” Blair said, “I’ll go with you to take pictures before you wash all the evidence away.”
She nodded and the two went into the small bathroom.
As Rudy pulled away from the curb, I went to the back bedroom to take a look at my ribs. Doe came in behind me and saw the big bruise that extended across the right side of my ribs and wrapped around my side.
“Oh, Julia, that doesn’t look good,” she said.
“A large rock and I had an altercation,” I said with a groan. “The rock won.”
“It’s probably too late for ice. You might want to tape it, though.”
“Let’s wait until I can grab a shower at the Aberdeens’ first.”
“Okay,” she said. “Let me know when you’re ready and I can help.” She sat down on the bed. “Listen, Julia. I’m sorry if I was the constant nay-sayer in all of this. You were right all along, and I’ll never doubt you again. I’m proud of you. You saved that girl’s life.”
My throat began tighten. “We did it toget
her. I don’t know what I’d do without the rest of you.”
She got up and we hugged briefly, separating quickly when I winced.
“Sorry. Come out and relax a bit,” she said.
We returned to the main cabin, and I sat in the swivel chair. As we traveled, a rumbling noise coming from the roof of the RV made me nervous.
“Is that the air conditioner?” I asked Doe.
She smiled ruefully. “Yes. But I wouldn’t say any more about it to Rudy. It wasn’t her finest moment.”
“I think I’ll call David,” I said. “Can I borrow your phone? Mine’s almost dead.”
“Sure.” She pulled her phone out of her big black bag and gave it to me as I plugged mine into a charger.
“Okay, give me a minute. By the way, didn’t you guys call the police last night?”
“Yes, but this area is covered by the state patrol, and they were all at the county fair. Anyway, after we saw the stolen motorhome leave in a big hurry, we decided to go find you. What we found was Eva.”
I paused with the phone in my hand. “You found Eva?”
“Yeah,” she said glumly. “That’s when Rudy called David. He got a response. A squad car arrived within a few minutes. You know they shot her.”
“We heard the shot,” I said with a shake of my head.
“Okay, just give me a minute.”
I left the table and walked back to the bedroom and dialed David’s cell phone. When he heard my voice, he said, “Julia! Thank God you’re okay.”
“I’m fine. Well, not perfectly fine. I think I cracked a rib. Never mind about that. Listen, I don’t have time to tell you the whole story, but we saved Amy Owens.”
“Rudy said she thought you had. She didn’t know where you were, though. Is Amy with you?”
“Yes.”
“Her parents will be thrilled.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
I briefly explained my idea and why I thought it would help the situation.
There was a brief pause before he said, “I get it. Good thinking, Julia. I need to let her parents know, though. We can’t keep something like that a secret from them. But we can keep it out of the media. When do you think you’ll be done with the Gateway police?”
My heart missed a beat. I took a deep breath. “We haven’t talked to them. We’re on our way to Wisconsin. We have to deliver the motorhome to the Aberdeens, and then…”
“Wait. What?” he erupted. “Julia, this was a kidnapping!”
“Believe me, I know, David. I almost got killed saving her.” He was quiet on the other end of the line. I took another deep breath and lowered my voice. “We discussed taking Amy to a hospital, but she freaked out. We never would have gotten her there. She doesn’t want to be alone with all those strangers. But we’ve put her dirty clothes into a plastic bag and Blair is taking pictures of her arms where they shot her up with drugs. But we are not turning her over to the police right now at her own insistence.”
“Okay,” he said in a resigned voice. “I don’t like it, but I’ll call the Chicago PD and let them know what’s going on. They’re going to want to interview her, though. I’ll see if I can get her parents there, too. I’ll call you after I talk to them.”
“Okay. We’ll meet you in Chicago tomorrow. And David…I…I…”
“I know,” he said in a lowered voice. “Love you, too.”
My eyes burned as I hung up. He’d said again what I couldn’t bring myself to say. I would have to rectify that.
I returned to the table. Blair had finished with Amy.
“What did he say?” Blair asked.
“He’s on board with the idea and will meet us in Chicago tomorrow.”
“So let’s have it,” Doe said. “How did you two rescue her?”
We sat down and related how we had tricked Eva and freed Amy. We spoke loud enough that Rudy could hear us from the driver’s seat.
“You rock!” Rudy called out from the driver’s seat.
“But why are you so scratched up?” Doe asked.
So then we had to explain how we had escaped into the forest, tumbled down the hill and fled up the stream bed.
“Boy, I only remember bits and pieces of that,” Amy said.
She had come out of the shower with wet hair, looking decidedly better. She wore Blair’s jeans folded up at the bottom and a crystal blue t-shirt.
“You look beautiful,” I said.
She smiled shyly. “The pants are too long, but they’ll do.” She put the shampoo and soap on the counter and came to sit at the table. “Now I know why I have big bruises on my legs, though.”
“That’s how I injured my ribs,” I said, gesturing toward my midriff.
“How did we get in the barn?” she asked.
I continued the story. When I described Elizabeth’s and my mother’s intervention, Amy almost choked.
“Seriously?” Her pretty brown eyes were opened wide. “Ghosts?”
“Yes, but you may not want to tell anyone else about that. We all accept the paranormal in my life. Others may not. It’s up to you.”
She smiled, exposing a slight overbite. “I’m good with that. It will be our little secret. But, dang, I wished I’d seen that.”
The bottle of shampoo flew off the kitchen counter and landed on the floor. Amy spun around in surprise. When the bottle began to spin in a circle, her mouth hung open in shock.
“Amy, meet Chloe,” I said.
Her eyes were the size of computer discs. I got up and put the shampoo into the sink. I turned to Amy. “By the way, the police are going to let your parents know you’re okay and then you can call your mom. They’ll probably want to fly in to meet you. But we’re keeping it all on the down-low.”
“Is that a mystery term?” Blair said with a smirk.
Amy laughed. “Okay. I’m in.”
My phone rang. I pulled it off the charger and opened it. It was David.
“You’re good to go. Amy can call her mother. I’ve also spoken to the Chicago Police. They want us to meet at the downtown precinct. They’ll need to know what you know if they’re going to have any chance of protecting Senator Owens. He’s already been warned not to attend the dinner tomorrow night, but apparently he’s ignoring the warning.”
“Okay, what time do you get in?”
“I get in around noon local time. I’m going to join the Chicago PD and the FBI for a walk-through of the conference facility. We’ll all meet back at the precinct at two o’clock.”
“Okay, we’ll meet you there.”
“Julia,” he began, “I know you have to go to Wisconsin, but be careful. This was too close.”
“Hold on.”
I got up and took the phone into the bedroom. “We’ll be careful,” I said. “And I promise I’ll call you if we see them again. I didn’t mean to snap before.”
“No worries,” he said.
“But I do worry,” I said. “I know I push things too far for you. I don’t know how you put up with me.”
“Julia, you…”
“No,” I said. “This time, I have to say it. You mean more to me than you can ever know, David. And I can hardly wait to see you so I can tell you how I feel in person. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
I hung up before the conversation disintegrated into a sentimental mess. I had to keep focused.
When I returned to the main cabin, I said to Amy, “Your parents have been notified, so you can give them a call. I still need to charge my phone, but you can use Doe’s.”
Doe handed Amy her phone.
“Thanks.” She got up and went back into the bedroom and closed the door.
“Julia, why don’t you get a shower now?” Doe said. “Then we can tape your ribs.”
I glanced over at Blair, eyebrows raised. “Okay with you?”
“Absolutely. I’ve already washed out the cut on my arm. I can grab a shower at the Aberdeens’.”
I’ve never taken a shower that
felt better. As the water washed away the dirt and grime, my spirits soared. We’d actually saved a young girl’s life. I got a little teary-eyed myself at the thought and was happy I had the shower water to wash away any tell-tale sign of my emotions.
I emerged in clean khaki pants and a yellow blouse. Amy had returned to the kitchen table, so Doe joined me in the bedroom to tape my ribs with an ACE bandage. When we both came back out, Rudy was already leaving the interstate.
“We’ll be at the Aberdeens’ in about forty-five minutes,” she said from the front seat.
“How are we going to explain the damage?” I asked her.
I saw her clamp her jaw shut and press her lips into a straight line. “Just tell the truth,” she finally replied. “What else can we do?”
÷
It was almost noon by the time we pulled up the hill to the gray split-level house in an upper-middle class neighborhood just outside of Madison. Rudy had called Nathan Aberdeen earlier to let him know what time to expect us. She hadn’t told him anything else, however, so there was a level of anxiety in the motorhome that would rival the first trip home with a new boyfriend. We had discussed stopping to get the motorhome cleaned, but decided it wouldn’t make much difference. There would be no sugar-coating how much damage we’d done to his prized possession. And I had no illusions it would go over well.
Rudy pulled to the curb, angling the wheels so the Hulk wouldn’t roll backwards down the steep hill, although at this point, a little more damage wouldn’t have mattered.
Aria parked behind us.
As Rudy killed the engine, the front door to the house flew open and Nathan and his wife stepped outside and came down the steps.
I watched from inside the motorhome as their expressions changed from open and welcoming to confusion and then slowly to abject horror. Their footsteps slowed, and finally they came to a complete stop. Their mouths actually hung open.
Rudy was the first to disembark. The rest of us followed, including Amy. We all gathered at the end of the walkway, with Goldie and Aria bringing up the rear.
By the time we were all assembled, it seemed that Nathan had regained the use of his vocal chords and blurted out, “Oh, my God, wha…what happened?” His eyes were fixated on the roof. His jaw opened and closed a couple of times without sound.
