Paws and Effect Page 23

  I lay there for a moment like an overturned bug, rain falling on my face. Then I rolled to my side, got on all fours and pulled the cover all the way back from the opening of the hole. I crouched at the edge but I couldn’t see anything. Or anyone.

  “Hope,” I called.

  She didn’t answer.

  I leaned closer, bracing myself with my hands on either side. “Hope,” I yelled again.

  What if she’d collapsed? What if she was lying facedown in that water right now? Just looking onto that yawning opening made me shake, but if I had to go back down into it again then that’s what I was going to do.

  And then I heard her. “Kathleen.”

  I pulled the scarf I was wearing under my jacket off my neck. I tied a slipknot at one end and tightened the loop. I looked around for somewhere to brace my feet. The trunk of a nearby tree was going to have to do. “I’m dropping my scarf down to you,” I said. “Put one wrist through the loop and pull it tight. I’m going to pull and help you up.”

  I hung as much of the top half of my body down in the hole as I dared, planted my feet, toes down in the mud, against the tree and let the scarf down, swinging it a little so Hope could find it. Given the length of the scarf, Hope’s height and my long arms, this should work. Please let the math be right, I prayed. Finally I felt her grab the scarf.

  “Keep your weight on your left foot as much as you can,” I called. “Ready?”

  After a moment I heard her voice. It may have been weak but I could hear the determination. She began to climb. I pulled and I prayed and somehow by some miracle we did it. One of Hope’s hands was close enough to grab, and then the other, and we screamed with the effort but together we got her over the top. She was on her stomach in the mud and I was on my side and the rain pelted us like tiny stinging fists, but we were out.

  It wasn’t until I sat up that I realized Hope had passed out. I felt for a pulse and leaned my face close to hers. Her heart was beating and she was breathing. She was just unconscious. Somehow I had to get her down to Wisteria Hill.

  I could make some kind of sled and drag her, I decided. I looked around for a couple of long, sturdy branches, thinking I could tie my raincoat to them and drag her. Off to my left for a moment I thought I saw a wink of light. I shook my head. It was just a trick of my overloaded brain. Then I saw it again. A bobbing light. I wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating. A voice called my name. “Kathleen!”

  I stood up and waved my arms over my head. “I’m here,” I shouted, relief making my whole body shake.

  The light bounced again and turned in my direction and Elliot Gordon came out of the trees, trailed by a very wet black-and-white tuxedo cat. I pressed my hand to my mouth and sobs shook my body.

  Elliot caught me by the shoulders. “Oh my God, Kathleen, are you all right?” he said. He was soaked to the skin, his hair plastered to his skull.

  I nodded. “Hope’s unconscious,” I said, gesturing behind me.

  “Hang on,” Elliot said. He moved past me, crouching to check Hope.

  I kneeled on the ground and gathered Hercules into my arms. He craned his head up and licked my chin. “I’m so glad to see you,” I said, half laughing, half crying. I unzipped my jacket and put him inside, zippering it around him, holding him against me with one hand. Even wet he was better than any electric blanket.

  “Can you take this?” Elliot said, holding out the flashlight he was holding. “I’ll carry her.”

  He had a gash near his eye, angry and red, I realized.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry,” he said with a hint of a smile. “It wasn’t your cat. I had a small altercation with a tree branch. I’m okay.” He was still holding out the light.

  I took it from him, swinging it to look down into the cistern. The water had to be chest-height now. I could make out the remains of what looked to be a raccoon on the bottom. My hands trembled and I turned the light away.

  Elliot looked at me, horror etched on his face. “Keller put you down there?” he asked.

  I nodded. “It’s not as deep as it looks.” Then I realized what he’d said. “Wait a minute. How did you know it was John?”

  Elliot wiped the water from his face with one hand. “Long story,” he said. He glanced at the scarf still wrapped around Hope’s wrist but didn’t say anything else. He just untied the sodden fabric and handed it to me. I stuffed it in my pocket.

  Elliot slid his arms under Hope’s limp body and stood up. He gave me a look I couldn’t quite fathom. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

  Hercules poked his head out of the front of my jacket and meowed his enthusiasm for the idea.

  “John Keller killed Dani,” I said to Elliot.

  He nodded. “I know.”

  I frowned at him. “What do you mean, you know? And I don’t understand how you found us.”

  “Your neighbor, Rebecca. You talked to her about John’s alibi—or, I should say, lack thereof. She came back to talk to you and when your truck was there and you weren’t she called Marcus. He was with Brady Chapman. When they heard Rebecca’s story Brady called Detective Foster. They got John before he could leave town.” His face tightened. “He wouldn’t tell them where you were. Everyone has been looking for you.”

  “He set Marcus up,” I said. “He left his own key fob from the drive-in with Dani’s body and then took Marcus’s the next time he was at the house. He hacked his phone to make it look like Marcus and Dani were texting.”

  Elliot nodded, his lips pulled into a thin, tight line.

  “How did you know we were out here?”

  He inclined his head in the direction of the ramshackle camp. “Burtis and I and some other guys we knew used to play poker there. I was driving around trying to figure out where you might be and it occurred to me that Keller had been out in these woods and he’d likely seen the old building.”

  I pushed my wet hair out of my face. “Okay, but I don’t understand how you ended up with my cat.”

  Elliot looked over at Hercules and smiled at the little cat, who it seemed to me smiled back at him. “The old carriage house on Everett Henderson’s property. I was walking across the field behind it and there he was, heading for the woods. I knew then that I was on the right track. There was no other reason for him to be out here in the rain.”

  I leaned forward and kissed the top of Hercules’s head.

  Hope was still unconscious. I reached over and felt for her pulse again. It was steady and strong.

  “She’ll be okay,” Elliot said. “Help’s coming. I couldn’t get my phone to work at first, but I had a signal just before I found you.”

  I looked up at him. I could see so much of his son in his face. “You saved us,” I said in a voice choked with emotion.

  He smiled and shook his head. “I think you pretty much did that yourself.”

  17

  We made it the rest of the way through the trees. It took both of us to get Hope down to the field behind the carriage house but we managed. As we came around the old building I heard the scream of sirens. A black truck I recognized as belonging to Burtis skidded to a stop with a spray of gravel at the top of the driveway. Brady was driving and Marcus was in the passenger seat. He was out of the vehicle before it had even stopped moving.

  Hercules squirmed in my jacket. I undid the zipper and set him down as an ambulance crested the top of the driveway followed by Roma’s SUV. And then I ran to meet Marcus, throwing myself into his arms.

  Elliot headed for the ambulance. I reached out to touch his arm as he went by and he smiled at me.

  Marcus took my face in both hands. “Are you all right?” he said. I could see the fear in his blue eyes.

  I nodded, suddenly unable to speak. Roma had parked her car and was heading toward us.

  “Kathleen,” she said, and I could see
tears running down her face.

  I kissed the palm of Marcus’s hand and then I turned to hug Roma. “We didn’t know where you were,” she said. “We thought you were . . .” She didn’t finish the sentence. Instead she gave me a wobbly smile and brushed the tears away. Then her eyes narrowed and she caught one of my hands. “You’re hurt,” she said.

  For the first time I noticed that I’d scraped the skin off the palms of both of my hands. After what we’d just been through it didn’t seem like a big deal. I shook my head. “I’m all right. That’s just from getting out of the well.” I pointed at Hope. “I think her ankle is broken and she has some kind of head injury.”

  The paramedics had Hope on a stretcher and they were both bent over her. Elliot was walking toward us with a bottle of juice in his hand.

  “He put you in a well?” Marcus said. His free hand clenched into a tight fist and he tightened his grip on me with the other.

  Roma closed her eyes for a moment. “The old cistern on Ruby’s property.”

  I nodded. “What saved us was that as far as I can tell it’s partly filled with gravel. It was only about twelve feet or so deep.”

  “Only?” Roma said softly.

  “What saved them was Kathleen,” Elliot said. He handed me the juice. “Drink,” he ordered.

  I did. No glass of orange juice had ever tasted as good.

  “She got both of them out of that hole in the ground,” Elliot told Marcus and Roma.

  Hercules was at my feet and he meowed loudly, unhappy, I was guessing, at being left out of everything. I bent down and picked him up again. “Hercules was in Hope’s car. He somehow managed to get out when John took it.” I looked at Marcus. “Your father found him here. He came looking for us. Hope was unconscious. He carried her out. I wouldn’t have been able to do that.”

  Elliot gave us a small smile. “Somehow I think you would have managed.”

  Marcus turned to his father. “Thank you . . . Dad,” he said. He swallowed a couple of times and then wrapped his father in a hug. Elliot’s eyes were bright as he hugged his son back.

  One of the paramedics was coming toward us. As he got closer I realized it was Ric Holm. He’d come to my rescue before.

  He smiled at me. “Hi, Kathleen,” he said. He raised an eyebrow. “We have to stop meeting like this.”

  “Her hands need to be cleaned and bandaged,” Roma said. She caught my free arm and held it out so Ric could see.

  I gestured at Elliot. “Look at his face first, please. He took a branch in the eye.”

  Elliot held up a hand. “I’m fine. Take care of Kathleen’s hands first. They’re going to get infected.”

  Ric laughed and shook his head. “Both of you, stop being noble.” He caught my fingers and rolled my hand over for a closer look. “We’re going to have to pick some splinters out,” he said. “How did you do this?”

  “A wooden cover over a well.”

  He winced and turned to check the side of Elliot’s face, probing gently with his fingers. “I can clean that but you should be checked out by an eye doctor just to be safe.”

  Elliot opened his mouth, to object I felt certain.

  Marcus nodded. “I’ll take care of that, Ric.”

  Elliot turned to look at his son.

  “Don’t start, Dad,” he said. “You won’t win this one.”

  Ric raised an eyebrow at Roma. “We’re getting ready to transport the other patient. Can you give me a hand?” He looked at me. “That okay with you, Kathleen?”

  Roma was a certified first responder as well as a vet and this wouldn’t be the first time she’d taken care of me. I smiled. “It’s fine.”

  We walked over to the ambulance. Hope was wrapped in a couple of blankets on the stretcher under the care of the other paramedic in attendance. Her eyes were half open and as I came level with her one hand reached out and touched my arm. “Kathleen,” she said in a low voice.

  I stopped and leaned over her. Hercules meowed softly. Hope managed a small smile. “He got out of the car,” she said.

  I nodded. “He’s pretty resourceful.”

  “So are you,” she said. “You saved us.”

  “We saved ourselves,” I said.

  “You’re the right person for him,” she said, and I knew she was referring to Marcus.

  I nodded. “And you’re the right partner.”

  She closed her eyes and I gave her hand a squeeze before Roma led me away to the back of the ambulance.

  I sat down on the tailgate and set Hercules beside me. Ric looked down at the cat. “This isn’t the one who . . . ?”

  I shook my head. “No. That was Owen. This is Hercules.” At the sound of his voice the cat looked up at Ric and meowed. His fur was matted in some places and sticking up in others.

  “I take it the same hands-off policy is in effect, though,” Ric said, climbing into the back of the ambulance.

  “Yes,” Marcus and Roma said as the same time. Hercules looked at them, all green-eyed innocence.

  Ric handed supplies to Roma, who was pulling on a pair of plastic gloves. He jerked his head in Elliot’s direction. “Have a seat, sir,” he said. He reached over my shoulder and handed a small plastic bag to Marcus. “Turkey jerky.”

  “Thanks,” Marcus said, “but I’m not hungry.”

  Ric laughed. “It’s not for you. It’s for the cat.”

  Hercules meowed loudly just in case Marcus was wondering which cat. Marcus pulled a piece of jerky out of the bag and set it down in front of Herc, who murped a thank-you and bent his head to eat.

  Elliot was still standing. I slid sideways to make room for him and indicated the space. He sat down with a sigh. “I’m fine,” he muttered.

  Once my hands were cleaned and bandaged and the gash on Elliot’s face had been attended to they took Hope to the hospital. Elliot and I were allowed to go home after Marcus reassured Ric that he’d make sure both of us saw a doctor in the morning. Wisteria Hill was crawling with police officers.

  “Roma is going to drive you,” Marcus said. “I’m just going to fill the guys in and I’ll be right behind you.”

  Brady was standing off to the side. “I’m going to take your father down to the hotel to get some clean clothes,” he said.

  Elliot was standing a few feet away from us, looking in the direction of the woods. I wondered what he was thinking about.

  “Elliot, come back to the house once you’re cleaned up,” I called.

  Marcus nodded. “Please, Dad,” he said. He pulled his keys out of his pocket and stripped one off the ring, handing it to Brady.

  “Take Dad back to my place,” he said. “It’s faster and we’re the same size.”

  * * *

  Maggie was waiting at the house, sitting on the back steps. She wrapped me in a hug and unshed tears sparkled in her eyes. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said. She winced as she caught sight of the bandages on my hand. “You are okay, right?”

  I nodded. “I could use a shower.”

  She smiled. “That we can do.”

  Maggie looked down at Hercules, waiting patiently on the step to be let in instead of walking through the door. She pulled something out of her pocket. It was a small can of sardines.

  “Maggie,” I said.

  She looked at me. “He was walking in the rain, Kathleen. He was coming to help you. In. The. Rain.” Indignation was in her voice and her stance.

  “Merow,” the cat said, just a little self-righteously it seemed to me, and to Maggie’s delight he actually lifted one paw in the air.

  I reached down and stroked his fur with my fingers. “Maggie’s right,” I said. “You’re a hero. You can have all the sardines you want.”

  Roma wrapped my hands in a couple of plastic bags and I managed to shower and get cleaned up. Maggie helped me get dress
ed and dried my hair.

  “How many sardines did you give him?” I asked.

  “I didn’t count,” she retorted as she brushed my hair. Then she stopped, put both arms around my shoulders and hugged me fiercely. “I’m so glad you’re all right.” There was a catch in her throat.

  “I am, Mags,” I said. I held up my hands. It looked like I was wearing fat fingerless gloves made of gauze. “Roma went a little overboard with the bandages, I swear.”

  Maggie sat next to me on the bed. “I can’t believe John tried to kill you and Hope and that he did kill Dani. I thought he was a nice guy.”

  “You and me both,” I said.

  Roma had heated up the last of the soup. Elliot and Brady had arrived and Elliot and I sat at the table each with a bowl. Hercules jumped onto my lap and breathed sardine breath in my face. After Owen had determined that I was okay he had turned into Maggie’s shadow.

  There was a knock at the back door. “I’ll go,” Brady said.

  He came back after a minute with Rebecca. She took one look at my hands and her face paled. “Oh my word, Kathleen,” she said. “What did that awful young man do to you?” I pushed back my chair and went over to her, giving her a hug.

  “He didn’t do anything that a little antibiotic cream and a few days won’t heal,” I said.

  “I’m so sorry, dear,” she said. “I should have said something earlier.” Her expression was troubled.

  I shook my head and patted her shoulder awkwardly with one hand. “You don’t have anything to apologize for. Because of you the police caught John. Because of you Dani gets justice.”

  “Because of me you were hurt. And Hope.”

  “No,” I said firmly. “Because of John Keller. Not you.”

  I noticed then that she was carrying a small bag. “Is that for me?” I asked.

  That at least got a smile out of Rebecca. “Lemon tarts,” she said. “They’re still a little warm.”