DON'T TELL (Jack Ryder Book 7)

by Willow Rose

  "Has the doctor been through on his rounds yet?" she asked while changing the flowers in my vase. I had been three days at the Haywood Regional Medical Center, and Shannon had made sure I had fresh flowers in my room every day. She and the kids had been here with me every day for hours to make it less unbearable to have to spend my vacation in the hospital. They said I had hurt my back, but nothing was broken, and I had also suffered a concussion. Apparently, there was a swelling in my head that they needed to monitor. It caused me to feel drowsy, but luckily, I felt no disorientation.

  "Yup," I said.

  "And?"

  "And…he had good news. He got the test results back last night from the latest scan, and the swelling is down. I’m being discharged this afternoon." I grabbed Shannon around the waist and pulled her close. She shrieked happily, and I held her in my arms and kissed her.

  Shannon sighed and stroked my cheek.

  "You saved my life the other day; you do realize that, right?" I asked.

  "Just like you have saved me again and again from my addictions," she said. “It’s what we do. You and me.”

  "I still can’t believe what you did. You could have been killed with that shooter after us."

  "Is the sheriff any closer to finding who it was?" she asked.

  I shook my head. The sheriff and his deputies had been my guests almost as much as my family had been the past three days. I had told them everything I knew about Eliza Reuben, Lyle Bishop, and Harry Mayer, and they were taking this very seriously, combing the entire area, doing their best to track down who this person was that had shot at me and Savannah Kelsey out on that ledge. So far, their investigation had only led to dead ends. But one thing was certain, whoever it was wanted us dead. If he was only gunning for Savannah or if I was on his list as well, we didn't know. But I had a feeling that even if I might not have been on the list before, I most certainly was now.

  "They're still working on it, though," I said, trying to sound like I was convinced they would find this person. I didn't want Shannon to worry that any of our lives were in danger. We had to stay for at least a few more days because even though I’d be discharged this afternoon, I had to come in for new tests and at least one more scan, the doctor had told me. Besides, I was in no condition to drive for nine hours in a car anyway. I was so tired all the time and still had throbbing headaches. And my back was still recovering from the blow it had suffered, which meant it needed rest and being able to lie down.

  “I’m sure they'll find him. Right now, they're tracing that text that someone sent Savannah, telling her to kill herself. They think it might have been the shooter, who probably followed her and wanted to make sure that she actually killed herself, or else he would make sure she died by shooting her. Whoever it was wanted to make sure Savannah was dead."

  Shannon shook her head as her eyes grew wet. "It's so unfair. Why did she have to die? She was just a young girl."

  I sighed deeply. It was the same question I kept asking myself while spending hours in this terrible bed, unable to sleep properly because of my back. Savannah had been shot on that night and had still been alive when she was taken away. She died of a cardiac arrest in the helicopter when they had almost reached the hospital. It was unbearable to think about, and it made me so angry, yet I couldn't stop myself from thinking about it. I was certain that this shooter was the same person who had killed Lyle and Harry and tried to kill Eliza. He was getting rid of these people for a reason, and I desperately wanted to find out what that reason was. I had been with Savannah on that ledge and failed to save her. The least I could do was to get justice for her and put her killer behind bars. I owed her that much.

  So far, the sheriff still believed Penny had killed Benjamin, and they were building their case, but I wasn't so sure they were right. Not after Savannah told me that Penny had come to her and told her she had found the fire poker and her brother's dead body and that she didn't know what to do, that she wanted Savannah to turn herself in. That was why her fingerprints were on the murder weapon. I had told the sheriff all this, but he wasn't convinced. He believed Penny only did that to push the suspicion away from herself.

  "How are the kids?" I asked, missing them. "You didn't bring them here today?"

  She shook her head. "Bridget said she'd look after them while I came to see you. They were playing in the snow in the yard when I left. They were having a lot of fun, and it was the first time I had heard them laugh in days, so I figured I'd just let them stay."

  "Gosh, I wish I could be with them," I said, thinking about the other day when I had been out there alone with them, having the time of my life. That was how I had wanted to spend my vacation, that and on the mountain whooshing down the slopes. Not in a gray hospital bed surrounded by strangers most of my day. I was sick of being here.

  "How's Austin?" I asked. "He hasn't talked much to me the times you've brought him here."

  She shook her head again. "I don't…I don't think he's doing so well, Jack. I can't get him to do anything with the rest of us. He's barely eating or sleeping. All he does is sit in that living room drawing while all the others have fun or like today when they’re goofing around outside and building snowmen and having snowball fights. By the way, we found an old metal flyer sled in the back that they're pulling each other on across the yard; it's loads of fun. I asked Austin to come with us and to get some fresh air, but he doesn’t seem to want to go outside at all."

  I nodded. "He might feel guilty about me being hurt, thinking it was his fault. I'll talk to him when I get back today. Hopefully, he’ll feel better once I’m with him again."

  69

  Maggie Valley 2019

  January 25th

  11:35 P.M.

  Savannah drove into the driveway with a deep exhale. She looked at her phone, then sent Benjamin a text.

  I AM HERE. COME OUT ON THE PORCH. I DON’T WANT TO GO INSIDE, PLEASE.

  She saw movement in the window, and soon the door swung open. Benjamin stepped out on the porch. Savannah watched him for a second, smiling secretively. She loved him so dearly, she really did, but she had decided she couldn't take anymore. She didn't know what was going on in his family, but whatever it was, she knew she didn't want to be a part of it. Especially not now with their parents being involved with each other. It was a mess and seemed like it could blow up at any second. Savannah didn't want to have to choose sides when it did. She was angry at her mom for what she had done, yes, but she was her mother and the only family she had left. She wasn't sure she loved Benjamin enough to pick him over her own mother. This was the right time to get out. Between his strange sister and his mother attacking him in the kitchen, she had realized that things were getting a little too tense and complicated for her taste. Next year, she'd go off to college, hopefully, if she landed that scholarship she had applied for, and then she'd be out of there. They could all keep their secrets and troubles to themselves. She was going out in the world to make a life for herself.

  Savannah opened the door, and it creaked. Benjamin was walking back and forth, pacing as she approached him. He leaned over to kiss her, but she pulled away.

  "What's going on here?" he asked anxiously. "Why are you pulling away and why are you asking to meet me out here?"

  She cleared her throat. She had rehearsed her speech on the way there, but as she opened her mouth to speak, the words didn't come as she had wanted them to. They got stuck in her throat and came out all backward when they finally left her lips.

  "I need space. I…all this with my mom and your…dad."

  "Sh, don't talk so loud," he said. "My sister is right in there, and she doesn’t know anything."

  "I'm sorry,” she said and handed him the necklace that he had given her back when she had forgiven him for buying the same one for his sister. "I can't do this…not anymore."

  "So, what…?" he asked looking at the necklace in his hand. "You're breaking up with me?"

  She nodded, biting her lip. "I am."

>   "But…why? And don't say it's my sister again. I’m sick of hearing that song."

  Savannah shrugged. "It is because of her and…well, everything else. Your mom attacking you, our parents. It's just too much, Benjamin."

  He grabbed her hand and held it tight in his, a little too tight. He was hurting her.

  "You don't get to give up on us; do you hear me? I love you. We love each other. We are so good together, remember? You can't leave me. Not now. I need you Savannah, please."

  Seeing him beg her like that somehow made her desire to get away from him even stronger. She looked into his eyes, then tilted her head, realizing something was off. He was sweating, even though it was freezing out. "What's going on, Benjamin?"

  "How about we elope, huh? We can run away tonight. I'll go up and pack now, and you can pack your stuff, and we'll go wherever the old truck takes us, drive till it can’t drive anymore. What do you say? Please, say yes, Savannah, please?"

  "I…I can't, Benjamin. I have my mother here. It'll kill her."

  "Please. I can't stay here. I need to get away."

  "Why? Why Benjamin?"

  He looked at the window nervously, and Savannah wondered about what she had seen in the house the last time she'd been there for dinner. Was he afraid of his mother?

  "What's going on, Benjamin? Tell me!"

  He reached into his pocket and fiddled with something, then took her hand and put it inside of it. He closed her hand.

  "Here. Keep this somewhere safe. If anything happens to me, promise me you'll make sure the police and reporters get this, okay?"

  She gave him a strange look. "I don't understand; are you afraid something might happen to you?"

  "Just say you'll do it, okay?"

  "O-Okay."

  "Don't look at it," he said. "Just go. Hide it somewhere safe."

  Savannah swallowed, then walked slowly to the car, glancing back at him a few times anxiously.

  "Go," he said, urging her along. "Leave."

  70

  Shannon picked me up at the hospital at three o'clock. I had all my things, including her latest flower arrangement gathered, and was sitting on my bed when she entered pushing a wheelchair.

  "Your chariot has arrived," she said, smiling.

  "Very funny,” I said. I walked to the chair, then slid into it. Shannon placed my bags in my lap and rolled me out of the room. I couldn't wait to see something other than gray walls and white coats. Nurse Sawyer stood in the hallway and grabbed my hand as I rolled past her.

  "Come and say hi to us when you get the chance,” she said. "You'll be missed."

  "Not sure I'm gonna do that,” I said, chuckling. “I’m kind of tired of hospitals.”

  "Fair enough," she said, laughing. "But it was nice to meet you and your lovely family. Say hello to the children for me, especially Tyler. He's a hoot."

  "Will do," I said. “And, yes, he is.”

  We continued further, and I asked Shannon to let me pay Eliza Reuben a short visit before we took the elevator down. Her door was open, so I rolled right in after saying hello to the deputy guarding outside. Eliza was still keeping herself barely alive with machines, and there had been no new development in her condition, the sheriff had told me. I wanted to see for myself, though, and now I was staring at her, her chest heaving, her eyes moving behind the lids, but other than that, she seemed more dead than alive.

  I asked Shannon to roll me close to her and grabbed Eliza's hand in mine. A tear escaped the corner of my eye as I whispered in her ear.

  "I will find whoever did this to you and to all the others and I will make sure they never see daylight again. You mark my words. This is my promise to you."

  I squeezed her hand in mine and let the tear roll down my cheek before signaling to Shannon that I was ready to leave. Shannon grabbed the handles of my chair and rolled me out. At the hospital entrance, we stopped, and Shannon helped me get up and out of the chair. Holding onto her, I took a few steps, and the doors slid open so I could feel the cold, fresh winter air. I took a deep breath, still holding onto Shannon, and she handed me a cane.

  "I bought it.”

  “Why? I don’t want a cane.”

  “Yes, you do, Jack. You need it. It’s just till your back is better."

  I stared at the cane in my hand. "I'm gonna look like an old man,” I said. "Even more than I feel."

  Shannon gave me a look that told me this was not up for debate. "Don't be vain now. As long as your back and your knee hurt, you're gonna need something to lean on. There's no shame in using a cane."

  "All right,” I said when realizing this was one area she wasn’t going to budge on. As I took a few steps leaning on the cane, I realized it wasn’t too bad.

  Shannon held the door to the Cadillac for me, and I got in, placing the cane between my legs. As we drove out of the parking lot, I rolled my window down and stuck my head out like a dog, taking in all the wonderful fresh air that didn't smell like hospital.

  As we reached Maggie Valley and drove up the main street, I placed a hand on Shannon's shoulder.

  "There's something I need to do first before we go to the cabin."

  "Okay?" she asked. "What is it?"

  "Take a turn here. There's someone I need to talk to."

  71

  Savannah's mom looked like she had lost ten pounds in the past few days. She stood in the door to her trailer. Shannon stayed behind Jack, wondering what he was up to now.

  “I think you know who I am,” Jack said as the woman’s eyes fell on him.

  "Detective Ryder," Susan Kelsey said, nodding with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

  "Paying my respects. I am so sorry for your loss, and I am so angry at myself for not being able to save your daughter."

  Susan exhaled. "Maybe you’d like to come in?"

  "Yes, please. Thank you," Jack said and walked inside, using his cane to help him up the stairs.

  "Can I get you something to drink? Water? Coffee? A soda?" she asked, her voice quivering.

  "Coffee sounds absolutely wonderful,” Jack said. "What I got at the hospital was barely drinkable."

  "Let me make it for you while you two talk," Shannon said and walked to the kitchen while Jack sat down at the small table in the trailer.

  "Thank you," Susan said, with a heavy sigh.

  Shannon found the coffee maker and some beans, then put on a pot. The machine soon sputtered and spat out thick black coffee that she poured into three cups and served. Then she sat down. Jack had been telling Susan about the last minutes with Savannah on the ledge, getting into the details of how she fought for her life.

  "She told me many things while we were out there,” Jack said, “while we waited for help and thought we would end up freezing to death. She told me that Penny had come to her and said she had found Benjamin's body. But there was also something else she told me that I haven't been able to forget."

  Susan sipped her coffee and Shannon did the same. It was a little strong, but it would have to do. Jack seemed to enjoy it and made happy sounds as he took his first sip.

  "And what is that?" Susan asked.

  "She told me that Benjamin gave her something on the night he disappeared. She went to him to break up with him, but then he handed her something that he told her to take good care of and make sure was given to the police or a reporter if anything happened to him."

  Susan looked surprised. "Really? And just what was that thing?"

  "A flash drive," Jack said and sipped his coffee again. "A flash drive containing information that no one wanted to get out."

  "Really? I never heard of that."

  "I have a feeling you have since Savannah also told me that you and she looked at it together. Once she got back, you were sitting in the kitchen, and she told you about what he had said and given her. You plugged it into the computer and looked at it. And what did you see?"

  "I have to say…I don't know what you're…"

  "Allow me to help your memo
ry then. You saw a series of articles written by a journalist called Eliza Reuben. The articles were about a crash in 2010 in Oklahoma. The circumstances surrounding the crash were more than suspicious since there were two cars involved but only one driver was still there when the police and paramedics arrived, and he was dead. So was his wife. The driver of the other car had mysteriously vanished and was never found. What was even stranger was that the couple who had died in the car crash had a son, an eight-year-old boy, and he was nowhere to be seen. He was never found."

  "Okay, so I might have read some articles about that, yes,” she said with a shrug. “But I didn't even know what they were about or why they were important."

  "But they weren't the only thing you saw on that flash drive; there was something else," Jack said, sipping more coffee. Shannon sensed the tension grow in the trailer and felt uncomfortable. Jack looked into Susan's eyes.

  "There was also a letter. A letter written by eight-year-old Benjamin, recalling in detail what he saw the day his parents died in a car crash."

  72

  "I had a lot of extra time while in the hospital, and so I started to look into what Savannah had told me. It didn't take me long to find out that the woman who was killed in that crash was your sister, Maria, which makes Benjamin your nephew and Savannah's cousin. It also fits with the dates for when the Rutherfords came to town with their—now—three children, moving here from Oklahoma. I spoke to a nurse—a very nice woman—who was a local to Maggie Valley. She told me they bought the house next to where we're staying in 2010, only a few weeks after the accident that had crippled their oldest son, Charles Junior."

  Susan shook her head. "I don't know anything about all that; I…"

  "Charles Junior killed your sister and her husband, didn't he? Right after the crash, he called his parents and told them what had happened and that he couldn't walk. He also told them he was driving while drunk and they knew he would end up in jail for killing those two people if the police were involved. So, instead of calling for help, Mrs. Rutherford and the pastor drove out there to help him themselves. They carried Charles Junior into their car and, when realizing Benjamin was still alive, they took him with them too. He wrote all this in his letter from back then, in detail of how he was trapped inside the car when they arrived, and the pastor helped him get out. Next thing, they packed everything they owned and moved down here, where the pastor found a position in the middle of nowhere, where no one would search for them or even question why they suddenly had a third child. Back home, no one knew who had driven the other car, since it was reported stolen. Charles Junior had most likely stolen it on his night out with friends while drinking."