Fudge-Laced Felonies (25 page)

Then peace washed over me with the force of a tsunami. Tears flowed, dripping off my chin and landing on my damp blouse.

My strength is sufficient. Wait, My child. Rescue will come.

“Are you crying? Stop it!” Richard pounded the steering wheel. Then he looked again. “Or are you smiling?”

I must have looked like a lunatic with a grin plastered across my face while the tears streamed. For the first time since I started on this crazy quest, I wasn’t afraid. I’d sit back and take my opportunity when it presented itself.

“Sorry if my tears bother you, Richard. They’re tears of joy. Of happiness. Full of God’s love.”

“Don’t spout that nonsense at me.” He turned the car right, heading west. The sun rose behind us, making this direction west, right? I never was any good at directions. Guess I’d have to take a class in navigation. Did anyone offer such a thing? I eyed the phone lying in the car’s console.

“Don’t even think about it. I’ll shoot you in the hand.”

“You’re insane.”

Wrong thing to say. Richard’s eyes narrowed, and his face turned red. The words he spoke were as cold as ice. “Don’t say that! All my life people have told me I was crazy. They sent me to that hospital. Doped me up.” As he spoke, the volume of his words increased, and spittle flew from his chiseled lips as he shouted at me, “Mom wanted me committed. Did you know that?”

Go figure. “No, I didn’t. I’m sorry.” I scooted as far away from him as the door would allow. My gaze caught a sign. We were on Highway 40 headed west. Away from Arkansas and toward Oklahoma. I eyed the phone again.

Richard slowed to take the access road. In a fluid motion, I snatched the phone and flung open the door. Richard swerved the car, dumping me hard to the concrete. I rolled into a ditch, groaning from the pain of a bashed knee. I leaped to my feet and dashed into the trees.

Twenty-One

Where to go? Where to go? My hair whipped around my face as I spun in a circle. The phone. I punched Ethan’s number.

“Ethan! I’m free.” I shoved aside some low-hanging branches as I pushed farther from the interstate. “I’m west on Interstate 40, mile marker 109. Hurry. He’s coming after me.”

Richard screamed my name. Twigs snapped behind me, propelling me forward.

“Can you find a place to hide?” Ethan’s voice trembled.

“I’m trying. All I see are woods.”

“We’re coming, Summer. About twenty minutes.”

A bullet ricocheted off a tree trunk. “You’d better hurry, Ethan. Otherwise, I’m a dead man, uh, woman.” I screamed as another shot kicked up leaves at my feet.

“Step on it, Joe! He’s shooting at her.”

Come on, Summer. Look. There has to be a place to hide. I dropped the cell phone into my apron and sprinted to the right. My apron caught on a briar bush, slowing me before the fabric gave way and ripped. If I’d been able to escape on the mountain, I could’ve found a cave or overhang. Here in the flatland, I had limited choices.

Anything, God. A hollowed tree, a fallen stump. I’m not picky.

“Summer? Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Richard’s singsong voice carried to me through the trees and sent a shiver up my spine.

I stopped, panting, and listened. Not being the athletic type, this dash through the trees had winded me. I lifted a hand to my head and grimaced. A golf ball– sized goose egg took center stage on my forehead. Blood dried on my lip where Richard had slapped me, and my legs hurt. What else could possibly go wrong?

“I see you.”

I whirled, brushing my flinging hair from my eyes. Where was he? If I couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see me, right? I snorted at reverting to the mentality of a three-year-old and darted to the left, slipping and sliding down a shallow hill.

At the bottom, a brook babbled. Praise God! I splashed in, the cool water soothing on my sore feet, and headed away from where Richard’s call had cut through the trees. Had it been twenty minutes?

I reached for the cell phone in my apron pocket. It wasn’t there. I must have dropped it when I slid down the hill. Guess that answered my question about what else could go wrong. I veered toward the interstate.

“Summer! Where are you?”

That wasn’t Richard’s voice. It was Ethan’s. Where— I realized I held the phone in my left hand. I turned toward his voice and ran. “I’m here. Ethan, I’m here.”

After a few yards, I burst through the bushes and onto the highway, yelping as I jumped back to avoid being hit by a speeding vehicle. My gaze searched in both directions. My heart leaped as I spotted the flashing lights of Joe’s squad car. Ethan dashed off the road and headed toward the trees.

“Ethan! Joe!” My love turned to me. His eyes widened.

“Summer, drop!”

“What?” For once in my life, I obeyed. Officer Wayne emerged from the car, his weapon held at the ready. I fell to my knees as Joe raised his gun. Lying flat, I covered my head as they let loose a volley of shots.

Ethan ran to me and pulled me to my feet. “I thought I’d lost you.”

I buried my face in his chest. “Never, Ethan. Never.” I peeked beneath his arm to where Richard lay facedown on the asphalt. “He’s crazy, you know.”

“I know, sweetheart.” Ethan raised my face and covered it with kisses. My insides warmed and flowed. His kisses were as sweet as the chocolate I loved to plunge my hands into. “Did you mean it? When you told Richard I was the only man for you?”

I could drown in his cobalt eyes. Tears escaped, running down the face I loved. “With all my heart.”

Joe yanked me from Ethan’s arms, engulfing me in a smothering hug. “Thought you were a goner for sure, little cuz.”

With muffled words, I said, “I would’ve been, if not for your fine shooting, Joe. I owe you my life.” I pulled back. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank that crazy man of yours. He wouldn’t give up. Roused the whole town. When Aunt Eunice called and said you weren’t where you were supposed to be—”

Man of mine. That sounded wonderful. The adrenaline must have worn off, because my legs refused to hold me any longer. Ethan looked at my face, hefted me in his arms, and marched to deposit me in the backseat of Joe’s car.

“Call an ambulance, Joe.”

“Already one on the way.”

“I’m fine, Ethan.” I tried brushing away his busy hands. Worried or not, I didn’t know how long I could take his hands running over my body before I made a total fool of myself. “It’s only a bump on the back of my head, another on my forehead, a split lip, and some bruises. Nothing that won’t heal.”

“Let me take care of you.” He clasped my face in his hands. “I want to. Today, tomorrow, forever. As nuts as you make me, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

I wasn’t sure loving Ethan was what Aunt Eunice had been talking about, but I prayed that God’s plan for my life included this man. I needed to be in his arms, and nowhere else. “Know what I want, Ethan?”

“Anything.”

“Another of those lip-bruising kisses of yours.” I smiled at him. “It was all I could think about when Nate pointed that gun at me. How I would miss receiving another one.”

He lowered his head. I didn’t get a lip-crushing kiss, but the tender one he planted on me would have melted the sun.

###

About Spyglass Lane

Spyglass Lane Mysteries is a collection of Christian cozy mysteries—modern-day whodunnits with colorful characters and plenty of wholesome romance.

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About the Author

Cynthia Hickey is the mother of seven— three stepchildren, one birth child, and three adopted children. She has five grandchildren. She grew up as an army “brat,” living in California, Oklahoma, and Germany, with most of her childhood spent in the small town of Atkins, Arkansas, in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains.

Cynthia grew up in a family of storytellers. For years she sat around and listened while her grandmother or an aunt or uncle told her stories of their family’s history. As she grew, she learned some of the stories were true, while others were just that—stories. Storytelling is in her blood, and she can’t imagine doing anything else.