FEBRUARY 2010.
Footsteps shuffled by my head. My eyes dragged half open. Through a warped tunnel I saw shoes. Legs.
I lay on my left side. My right shoulder screamed.
A malevolent presence leaned over me, breathing hard. What?...Who?
Melissa.
Killed Linda.
I froze, eyes half mast, in feigned death.
Movement toward me. Something hard pressed against my temple.
My head jerked. I rolled onto my back.
Melissa swept the gun toward my chest.
My right arm wouldn"t work. My left arm shot up and grabbed her wrist. Twisted hard.
The gun barrel jerked away from my heart toward the wall. Melissa yelled. I held on, teeth clenched. My nails dug into the tendons of her wrist.
Her hand shimmied, fingers loosening. The gun fell from her grip onto my chest. My flopping right fingers managed to knock it aside.
Something primal and raw rose within me. I yanked her hand to my mouth. Sank my teeth deep into the side flesh.
Melissa cursed and flailed at my face with her other hand. A pit bull, I would not release. I caught her free arm with my left hand and yanked her down. She stumbled and fell. Her forehead hit the arm of my office chair.
She landed on top of me with a grunt, right hand trapped beneath her, still between my teeth. Melissa screamed curses and beat my head with her fist.
My left arm stretched out across the floor, scrabbling for the gun. Melissa hit me in the temple, once, twice. Blackness swarmed in.
My fingers closed on the gun. I clutched its hardness, warmed by Melissa"s hand. I raised it high against Melissa"s ribs-and pulled the trigger.
A strangling sound wrenched from her throat. Melissa collapsed, her body half on top of me, then rolled to the floor.
My teeth released her hand. My jaw felt like concrete.
I struggled to get up. My legs were mere water. Groaning, I scooted across the floor, weapon still clutched in my left hand. I lifted it up and laid it on my desk. Fumbled for the phone.
Couldn"t...reach.
Somehow I pushed to wobbly knees. Knocked the phone off its base. Picked it up.
Gasps escaped from Melissa. She shifted on the floor.
I hit talk. My right hand wouldn"t lift. I dropped the phone on the floor and used my left hand to punch in the number.
"911, what"s your emergency?"
My tongue thickened.
"911, you there?"
"Yeah. I"m..."
"What"s your emergency?"
"I...did it."
"Did what?"
My voice hitched. "Stopped her."
"Ma"am, what"s happening? Stopped who?"
"Melissa...Harkoff...I got her." My eyes filled with tears. "She killed Linda. She killed my best friend."
SIXTY-TWO.
The world blurred. I don"t know how much time pa.s.sed. Five minutes? Twenty? The quicksand beckoned, but dull fire lit my veins. My eyes closed, dragged open. Closed, dragged open.
Melissa lay crumpled on her side, unmoving. Blood stained the floor beneath her.
Was she dead?
Somehow I managed to drag myself from the office into the hallway.
In the distance-a keening. It grew louder and louder, then doubled. Tripled. Sirens wailed to a stop outside my house.
I lifted a shaking left hand and unlocked the front door. Then collapsed before it.
Darkness drifted over me.
Then voices. Footsteps.
Someone calling my name.
I was lifted. Rolled. Lights and movement and people touching me.
A siren started up again. So very loud. Quicksand shimmied...rose...swallowed the horrible noise whole.
I awoke in a hospital room, my right shoulder bandaged. It felt like I"d been asleep for hours. My body swam in a thick and languid sea. An IV tube led to my left arm.
Perry sat by my bed.
I blinked at him. "Wha-?" My voice was little more than a croak.
His face lit. "Hey." He stood up, touched my hair. "She"s back in the land of the living."
"That what this is?"
"Yeah. And pain meds."
Oh.
"How do you feel?" Perry"s hand lowered to rest gently against my neck.
I swallowed. "Why aren"t you at your store?"
He gave me a look. "And miss the excitement?"
Even my sodden brain saw through the tease. Who couldn"t see the concern tugging at Perry"s brow?
No, not just concern. Something more...
The thought warmed me.
But I couldn"t go there now.
I licked my lips and concentrated on breathing.
As if a switch flipped, memories and realizations pierced my mind. For a moment my tongue froze, unable to choose what to ask first.
"Melissa?"
Perry"s expression clouded. He shook his head. "She didn"t make it."
I ogled him. "She"s dead?"
He nodded.
My mouth flopped open, but no words formed. Dead. I killed her. I killed a person.
"Joanne." Perry stroked my jaw. "She tried to kill you first."
"How...were you there?"
Wait. That made no sense.
"You told 911 and the ambulance attendants."
"I talked in the ambulance?"
Perry smiled. "You downright blathered."
Oh.
"You told them how Melissa came in with a gun. That she shot you." Perry surveyed me, as if not quite sure I was in my right mind. "You said she told you she killed Linda."
Melissa"s spiteful words washed over me. "And you know what? I didn"t care!" My eyes closed.
"Joanne. Is that true?"
I wished my mind could think clearly. I tried to see down the tunnel of days, weeks, months. What would happen now with Baxter? Would we ever find Linda? And where did I fit? I"d spent six years believing a myth. Even now I didn"t know how to let it go.
"Hey." Clearly Perry read my thoughts. I heard a firmness in his tone. "If you hadn"t pursued Melissa, the truth would still be hidden. You uncovered it. You got through all the deceit."
"Not all of it. Baxter"s still around."
"Yeah, well. Wait till the legal system gets through with him. He"ll have a lot to answer for."
If he ever answered at all.
No. Unacceptable.
I wouldn"t rest until he did. Now only he could tell us where Linda was buried. My friend deserved to come home. To a real grave where I could visit her, talk to her.
Carefully I shifted a little. My shoulder throbbed at the movement. I winced.
Perry drew back his hand. "I should let you rest."
"I need to talk to Dan."
"He wants to talk to you. Told me to call him when you"re ready."
"That would be now."
"Sure you"re up to it?"
As if I"d been "up" to any of this.
"If you bring me some Jelly Bellies."
EPILOGUE.