Bone Deep (19 page)

Two men hoisted the stretcher
and others
went ahead to clear a path for them along the stream. The Brodbecks walked behind the stretcher and the other men trailed after.
Soon
the only people who remained
near the cave-in
were Andrew,
Sheriff
Ziegler, Sarah and Tom.

The sheriff
blew a long breath and wiped his sweaty face
as he watched the last of the men leave
. H
e looked at Tom. “Good work
. Y
ou saved her
life
.”

Andrew
’s gaze went to Sarah and Tom’s clasped hands.
He
stared hard for a moment then stooped
to collect the abandoned shovels.

Ziegler clapped Andrew on the
back
. “Thanks to you too, Harper, for organizing those guys.”

“Glad to do it.”

They continued to gather the shovels and talk, while
Sarah turned to Tom.

“Are you all right? You look terrible.”

“My head hurts a little,” he admitted

She guessed
it hurt a lot more than ‘a little.’
His eyes were bloodshot
and the
bits
of his skin not covered
in
ink were pale
, but a
t least his nose had stopped
bleeding
.

“We’ll get you home and you can have a hot bath and
some
aspirin. You did an amazing
,
wonderful thing today.”

He smiled slightly
but
shook his head
.

“You did
!
You were a hero.”

“It won’t matter t
o them. Those people.
They still won’t want me here.”

Sarah grasped Tom’s hand.
Their dry, dirt-
encrusted
hands slid together
and t
he warmth and life pulsing under his skin sent
a
bolt of electricity
through her.

Sheriff Ziegler cleared his throat.
“Are you coming?”

Sarah realized they
’
d stood too long holding hands an
d gazing into each other’s eyes. B
oth Andrew and Ziegler
were
watching them. She headed for the path, embarrassed to meet their eyes, although she
had no reason to
feel ashamed. And this was only beginning.
T
here
would
be many more sidelong glances and disapproving eyes in her future
with Tom by her side
.

Chapter
Nine

Sarah’s legs felt heavy and numb
as she trudged the long path back to the road
, b
ut
Tom’s bowed head
and slight stagger
signaled
his exhaustion was
much
worse. She couldn’t imagine the effort of mind and will it had taken for him to tap into his psychic power and f
o
rce
it
to work for him.

When they reached the road, the ambulance had gone.
Mike
leaned against his car waiting for them. “Phil
’
s gone to tell
the searchers
Aileen’s been found and her parents rode to the hospital in the ambulance. I
figured
you all could use a ride back.”

Ziegler hefted his bulk into the passenger seat next to Mike, forcing the other three
to share
the back.
Sitting between Tom
and Andrew
was extremely awkward. Sarah folded her hands in her lap and stared at them, acutely aware of the men on either side of her.

“So, are you going to introduce us to your friend
, Sarah
?”
Mike asked.

“
This is Tom.
Tom, these are my friends, Mike Cunningham and Andrew Harper.”
Observing
the social niceties in
such a strange
situation
felt bizarre
.

After a moment’s silence,
nosy
Mike started in again. “
Y
ou want to tell us a little more, Sarah?”

She sighed. Now that the crisis
of
the missing child was over, everyone’s attention would turn toward Tom. People were going to want an explanation.
S
he would have to tell his story over and over again.

“The morning after the carnival left I found Tom in my loft. Arthur Reed
had kept him a
prisoner most of his life. I’ve
let him
stay
at the farm
while he figures out what he wants to do next. That’s really all there is to it.” She was pleased. It was
brief
, to the point and explained all
people needed to know.

Mike looked at her in the rearview mirror. “
What
about all this mind stuff?
How does that work
?”

Even though the proof of Tom’s power had been exhibited to
everybody
, Sarah felt
ridiculous
explaining
the phenomenon
.
“He
sees flashes
, s
ometimes impressions of what people are feeling and sometimes images from their lives.
When he told me today he’d seen Aileen trapped someplace. I took him to the sheriff, and you know the rest.”

She
glanced at
Andrew sitting
ramrod
straight and listening intently to her story,
and at
Tom
,
scrunched down in his seat
, staring out the window, his mind seemingly
a million miles away.

“Can I ask why you didn’t tell Grace and me about this?”
Mike asked.

Sarah
wanted to snap
Because it was none of your business
.
“I don’t know.”

Sheriff Ziegler, who had been
unusually
quiet, suddenly spoke up. “Well, this is a
n unusual
situation, but it
seems
your friend here is in his right mind and no crimes have been committed, except maybe by that carnival fellow.
If
you want to press charges
against
Reed
, I can call over to Hooperstown and have him
taken in for questioning
.”

“No.” Tom
turned
from the window,
clearly
more
aware of the conversation than he
’d
let on. “No. Let it go.”

Ziegler
turned to
look at him over the seat
. “If
what
you say is true, I’d think you
’
d want some justice.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said quietly.

“Yes, it does,” Sarah argued. “Reed should pay for what he did. He should be in jail. Why wouldn’t you want to have him arrested?”

Tom’s
clenched his jaw and
stared out the window again. “Other people depend on the carnival. It’s their lives. Without it
,
without him
,
they have no work, no place to go.”

Sarah pictured the rest of the so-called freaks and the
ba
rkers who operated games and rides. The carnival was a little
world
all of its own
,
and she understood Tom’s reluctance to destroy it. “But
Reed’s
a monster. He shouldn’t be allowed to get away with everything he’s done.”

Tom looked at Ziegler and said firmly, “No.
I don’t want to press charges.”

Everyone fell silent. A few minutes later Mike pulled in behind the other cars and pickups parked at the edge of the orchard.
P
eople were still milling around discussing everything that had happened. The last thing she wanted was
to have their attention turned on Tom who needed to go home and rest
.

“Mike, will you
take us
to my car? It’s at the sheriff’s office
.
”

“Sure thing.”

Andrew and Ziegler got out of the car. The sheriff leaned
to talk to them
through the window. “Call me if you have any trouble
out at your place
.
You know the kind of trouble I mean.
”

“Thank you.”
Sarah tried to imagine the townsfolk with pitchforks and torches
and thought that was a little extreme. They were reasonable, civilized people after all. They might not like Tom being in their community but they wouldn’t come to drive him out.

Tom drove on to
Main Street
and
when he dropped them off by the
Plymouth
, Sarah said
, “
Thanks for the ride, and p
lease tell Grace I’m sorry about keeping secrets. Tell her to come over soon and we can talk about everything, okay?”

Mike smiled. “Don’t worry, Red, we’re not mad at you, and if you need help with anything let us know. Like if Tom here needs a place to stay,
maybe
he could come to our house for a while.”

Sarah understood his message. A single woman living alone with a man
was unacceptable
even if the relationship was innocent. She was risking her reputation letting Tom stay at the farm, and that
a reputation was something
that
could never be
replaced once it was lost.

When Sarah pulled her car into the driveway, Tom was asleep, hunched in his corner of the front seat. She hated to wake him and
when s
he shook his shoulder and called his name
, she
actually had trouble rousing him
.

His long
lashes fluttered and he stared at her blankly for a moment. Then recognition flooded them and he smiled. “I thought, maybe I dreamed you.”

“Nope. I’m here. Flesh and blood.” She massaged his shoulder, leaving dirt on his shirt. She touched his cheek with her filthy fingers then leaned in
to kiss him
lightly. “I’m
very
real.”

He sat up
and pulled
her close, nuzzling the curve of her neck. They cuddled and kissed for several minutes before Sarah finally pushed Tom away with a smile.

“Time to clean up.”

T
hey washed away the worst of the dirt
at the old hand pump in the yard, stripping
off
most
of their filthy clothes and rins
ing
faces and arms before going into the house.

Upstairs i
n the bathroom
,
Sarah set water running in the tub. She
took
off her underclothes, enjoying
how
Tom’s
gaze
swept over her body
and told
her silently how beautiful he thought she was.

She
went
to him and ran her
finger
along the waistband of his boxers. “We could take a bath together. Tub’s big enough.” She hooked the
edge of his underwear
and started to pull
them
down.

Tom grabbed her wrist.

“It’s
all right
. I’ve already seen it.” She kissed his chest
right in the center of the chained heart
. “You have nothing to hide from me.”

He frowned
but let go of her hand. “When
did you see
?”

“This morning, while you were sleeping. You were naked. It was kind of hard
not
to look.”
She ran
her finger
back and forth
under the waistband
.

“You don’t mind it?”

“No. I told you before, I think you’re beautiful.” She reached her hand inside the boxers and caressed his hard
, smooth
shaft. “Everywhere.”