What You See (33 page)

“I don’t know, Rose.” I sighed. Depression was overtaking me
and the future was looking dim. Could I dare hope that Billy heard my cries, or
did the static drown me out?

“Wait a minute,” Rose said. “The handcuffs...”

“What about the handcuffs?”

“I have the key in my pocket!” she shrilled. “Dad was real
big on enforcing the safety of our home. Everybody had a gun of their own and
was taught how to use it, and we all were given keys we had to keep on our key
chain at all times. He told us many times they were our lifeline to freedom. He
was right!”

She shook with laughter. “I’m free!” she exclaimed as she
reached into the back seat and unlocked my handcuffs.

“Move over,” I demanded of Rose as I climbed into the front
seat. “I’m going to get us out of here, or we’re going to die trying!” What a
cliché! It didn’t matter. It worked for me. I was full of myself, and ready to
take on the world. I wasn’t going to die like this!

“Hold on,” Rose said, reaching over to stop my hand from
turning on the ignition. “Let’s think about this before we do anything rash.”

“Rose, I think rash is the only option we have left. We’re
running out of air.” I knew the chances of us getting out of here were slim,
but I refused to give up hope, and the longer I waited, the worse our chances
got. I had to do something, and I had to do it fast.

I heard the sound of a muffled roar, and then felt the earth
vibrate. “What’s that?” I asked, looking over at Rose. “Is that the bulldozer?”

“It is a backhoe, not a bulldozer,” she said. With the glow
from the dash lights, I could see her eyes were filled with fear.

“Bulldozer... backhoe... who cares? What’s going on up
there?”

“Well, they’re either packing the dirt down on top of us, or
someone’s here to save us. What’s your guess on which one it is?”

“I’d say the chance of someone making it to our rescue in the
nick of time isn’t good. We have to save ourselves if we want to get out of
here.”

“All right, then... let me think.” She put her head in her
hands and started to massage her temples. “I remember now.” But she didn’t say
anything. She just sat there as if she was in a trance.

“What, Rose?” I screamed at her. “What do you remember?”

“Don’t yell at me,” she cried. “I’m trying to think.”

My patience was wearing thin. I wanted to grab her by the hair
and shake her senseless. Didn’t she realize we didn’t have time for a casual
chat? I was just about ready to pounce on her when she raised her head and
looked up at me.

“I remember Jay hit me because I couldn’t get the gear right.
It hurt so bad. I started seeing stars. I thought I was going to pass out, but
I didn’t. He kept yelling and yelling. He made me back the car down in the
hole. He said he wanted to be able to pull it out with a winch, in case he ever
had to move it. I was so scared. Then he raised the butt of the gun and hit me
again. That’s the last thing I remember.”

“Whoa! Wait a minute,” I said. “You’re telling me you backed
this car down an incline? We weren’t just dropped into a hole?” My spirits
lifted as I thought about the prospects of us actually making it out of this
death trap alive.

I leaned over and took Rose’s hand in mine. “I know you’re
scared. I am, too. But you have to trust me on this one.” I wanted her last
thoughts to be comforting. If we were going to die in the next few minutes I
wanted her to know that I didn’t blame her. “I don’t blame you for this. I want
you to know that.”

A tear slid down her face and mixed in with the blood. She
smiled a faint smile and said, “Don’t you think we should buckle up? I have a
feeling this is going to be a bumpy ride.”

I had to laugh. Here we were at the footsteps of death’s door
and she wanted to buckle her seatbelt.

“Sure, why not?” I replied.

This would almost be funny if it wasn’t so sad. Here we were,
two young women in the prime of our lives—well, maybe one not so young—battered
and beaten, seatbelts strapped on, buried in a car covered with dirt. This was
going to take a miracle.

I believe in God, but I’m not a religious person. I hate to
admit it, but the only time I seem to talk to Him is when I need Him. I don’t
go to church unless I have too, so I try not to ask Him for much. I know it
might be a sin in everybody’s eyes, but I’ve always felt that if you live your
life honestly and try to be the best person you can be, that’s all He asks of
you. I do my best.

I gave Rose’s hand one last squeeze. “Get ready! We’re
getting out of here!” I let go of her hand and reached over to the ignition.
“I’m going to turn the car on, slam it in gear, and then floor the gas. Got any
questions?”

The backhoe overhead was coming to life. The roar of it,
compiled with the scrubbing sounds I heard, boosted me into action. Whether
someone was packing us down or digging us out was no longer a consideration. I
grabbed the key and turned on the ignition. The Jeep fired up and sprang to
life like the fine automobile it was intended to be. I put the car in gear and
stomped down on the gas pedal. A vibration shook us.

“We’re moving!” Rose shouted. “We’re moving!”

I felt the dirt slowly give way as I rammed my foot on the
gas and held the steering wheel tight. The inside of the car began to fill with
an unpleasant odor, but the Jeep kept running, and I kept on pushing it. The
pressure of a car trudging through dirt was like shoving your hand through a
bangle bracelet that’s two sizes too small. You knew if you twisted and forced
it hard enough it might fit. I kept on forcing.

We both coughed and hacked from the fumes and the dust
floating into what little air we had left. My eyes burned and my throat felt
raw, but I was determined not to give up. I looked over at Rose one last time.
She was laid back in the seat, her eyes were closed and her head hung down.
She’d stopped coughing. In that instant, I knew that these were our last few
seconds of life.

Something came crashing down on the back of the Jeep, causing
the front end to lift up. Glass from the hatchback shattered as something heavy
scrubbed the roof. I could hear the dirt rushing in. The force of the backhoe
had given us just the boost and lift we needed to free ourselves. When the
pressure let up, the Jeep took off. We’d made it through the gates of hell! The
Jeep was still at full throttle.

A second later, the Jeep sputtered, slowed down and died. The
windshield was cleared of dirt just enough for me to make out a huge tree
within inches of the car’s front end. My foot was still pressed to the floor
with the gas pedal mashed down underneath, yet the car sat motionless. I was
frozen. I tried to catch my breath as my fingers inched their way to the controls
on the door. I pressed the buttons down. The automatic windows hissed and a
rush of fresh air came pouring in.

When the dust cleared, I looked at Rose. “Please don’t be
dead!” I cried, reaching over to shake her. When she didn’t stir, I shook her
harder. “Wake up, Rose!” I demanded, tears flowing down my cheeks.

Her voice crackled under the coughs as she gasped for air.
“Did we... make... it?”

“Yes, we did!” I said proudly. “We’re alive!”

The excitement immediately died when the realization hit us.
We sat staring at each other. Had we made it out of the jaws of death, only to
return to the hands of our captors?

The backhoe had been silenced. Voices echoed in the distance
and the sky was lit up with flashing blue lights. The familiar sound of a van
door sliding open and the bark of a dog brought me to my senses.

“Athena!” I wailed, forcing my tired and broken body out of
the car. “Is that you, girl?”

Athena
came running
up to me at
full speed, charging like a raging bull. She was all over me, licking and
digging her paws into my flesh. Her huge body overtook me and we both went
tumbling to the ground. Her feet managed not to miss a sore spot on my body as
her excitement became frenzied.

I grabbed her head in my hands and nuzzled her face, kissing
her wet nose and getting dog yuck all over my face. Normally, I wouldn’t let a
dog lick my face. They lick their butts with those tongues. But this was
different. This time I relished the thought. I was alive and I was safe.

The commotion that ensued next was mind-boggling. The police
and paramedics surrounded the car. Rose was helped out and put on a stretcher,
while two paramedics squatted beside me and tried to help me push Athena away.
I heard the command of Mom’s voice a short distance away.

“Athena! Come here!” she ordered. Instantly, Athena stepped
back, turned and ran in her direction, leaving me sitting on the ground with my
mouth hung open.

“What’s this? You obey her, but not me?” I joked.

Athena sat down beside Mom and waited for another command.

I was stunned by how easily Mom had controlled her.

I was barely coherent by the time they strapped me down onto
the gurney. Questions filled my ears from all different directions. The police
wanted to know all the details of what had happened here. I heard Mom and Billy
in the background asking me if I was all right.

“Not now,” said one of the guys who was carrying me to the
ambulance. “You can talk to her after we’re finished.”

Seeing they were at a stalemate, the police relented and went
about trying to keep everybody else back, doing their duties in crowd
control—and there was definitely a crowd forming. Mom, with her hand holding
Athena’s collar, stood to one side, while Jack and Dennis stood next to her
with comforting expressions on their faces. Cole and Billy approached the back
of the ambulance. In the background, amongst a field of police cars, I saw Jay.
He was sitting in the back of one with the interior lights on, while an officer
in the front seat wrote on a clipboard. A few cop cars down, sat Rita and her
husband. They all leaned forward as if they had on handcuffs.

“It serves you right!” I hissed at them and then yelled as
loud as I could, “I hope you all rot in jail!”

They hoisted me up into the ambulance, and prepared to leave.
The driver was in the front seat, pushing buttons and talking into a box on the
dash, while another guy started to close the back doors.

“We have room for one more person,” he called out.

I heard Billy say to Cole, “You go ahead. I’ll follow you in
my truck.”

“No,” Cole whispered. “You be with her now, because from now
on, she’ll be mine.”

“I don’t think so,” Billy said.

“Shut up, both of you!” I screamed, raising my head up just
enough to see them. “Would one of you please get into the ambulance and let’s
get out of here! You bunch of crybabies!”

Billy jumped up inside and helped the paramedic close the
door. Sirens blasted as we sped down the road. The paramedic bandaged the wound
on my head and then went to the one above my knee.

“The cut on your head isn’t so bad, but the one on your knee
looks like it might leave a healthy scar. I’m going to cover it for now,” he
said.

“Are you sure the one on my forehead isn’t real bad?” I
asked, trying to talk through the oxygen mask. “I thought for sure it was bad,
because it’s been steadily bleeding.”

“Head wounds usually bleed heavily and appear a lot worse
than they are sometimes,” he said, trying to reassure me. “You might need a
couple of stitches. I wouldn’t worry.”

I guess you wouldn’t... it’s not your head. Why do they always
lie?

Once the paramedic gave the okay and backed out of the way,
Billy leaned over close to my face and then grabbed my hand. “Two things,” he
demanded. “I’m going to seriously kick your butt when this is over, and as much
as I hate to admit it, I think Cole really does love you.”

“Where’s he now?” I mumbled. “Why isn’t he here with me
instead of you... if he loves me so much?”

“Because he knows how to let go,” Billy said. “He knows if he
gives you what you need now—your family and your friends—when all’s said and
done, you’ll come back to him in the end.”

“Is that what he told you?”

“Those weren’t his exact words, but close enough. You do love
him, don’t you? When this is all over, where’s the first place you’re going to
run?” He was testing me and I fell into his trap.

“I don’t know, where?”

“You’ll run right back into his arms.”

“Maybe,” I said. “I’m still thinking that one over.”

Changing the subject, Billy asked, “What possessed you to
pull such a stupid stunt like this? Don’t you know you could’ve died back
there? You promised me you were going straight home!”

“I know, Billy.”

“If it hadn’t been for my wisdom and expertise as a great
Cherokee hunter,” he said, sticking his chest out and bragging, “you’d probably
be dead. You’re lucky to have me as a friend.”

“You’re the one who found me, huh?”

“I can’t take all the credit. I had a little help, but that’s
another story. I’ll add this one to my list of great tales.”

“I can’t wait to hear it,” I replied. “Just not now, please.
I have this whole thing figured out. I know where Helen Carrolton’s body is
buried!”

“Save it,” he demanded. “Don’t answer any questions when we
get to the hospital until Jack’s by your side.”

“What? Why?” I was confused.

“If this plays out the way I think it’s going to, the police
are going to charge you with obstruction of justice. You interfered with an
ongoing investigation and got caught. The cops don’t take kindly to people
getting in their way, and boy did you ever get in their way.”

“I solved the case!” I cried.

“I hate to tell you this, but the cops already had it figured
out. Once they had Helen’s purse, that was all they needed.”

“But do they know where the body’s buried?” I asked.

“Oh, they’ll find the answer soon enough,” he replied. “After
what happened to you, by tomorrow morning, they’ll have their guys out there
like rats on cheese, digging up every inch of ground. It’s just a matter of
time before they find her.”

“I can take them right to the spot and save a lot time,” I
offered.

“No way!” he objected. “You tell me where she is and I’ll
tell them.”

“That’s not going to happen! After all I’ve been through, I
deserve to be there. I earned that right.”

“You’re one stubborn `ge ya,” he hissed. “You can barely
walk, yet you want to go back to the place where you almost died.”

“I want to see for myself if I was right.”

“You mean you’re not sure? Nobody told you her exact
location? What kind of private eye are you?”

“We didn’t get around to specific details. They were too busy
trying to bump me off.”

The
ambulance pulled up
to
the emergency room entrance. I was whisked into an examining room, leaving the
waiting area filled with police. Billy was by my side.

“You’ll have to wait outside,” the intern told Billy.

“No!” I screamed, removing my oxygen mask. “He stays, or I’m getting
up from here and walking out!”

“I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible, Ms. Watson,” the
intern replied. “They’ve posted an officer outside the door to make sure you
don’t leave. They want to question you before you’re released.”

I looked over at Billy and asked, “Can they do that?”

“I’m afraid they can,” the intern answered before Billy had a
chance to reply. He looked at Billy. “Are you a relative?”

“He’s my boyfriend,” I butted in.

The intern grabbed the curtain to close it and looked at Billy
then back at me. Smiling and shaking his head, he said, “Who am I to judge?
I’ll be back in a minute.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I screamed after him. “That
guy has some nerve!” My voice got even louder. “Who does he think he is?”

Billy laughed. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch! He’s got a
point, you know. I’m almost twice your age.”

“Sixteen years, that’s all!” I corrected him. “Besides, who
knows, maybe I like old men.”

“Thanks a lot!” Billy said, acting insulted.

“You know what I mean.”

A few minutes later, the curtain was pulled back and people
dressed in green hospital scrubs surrounded my bed. A tiny, young woman removed
the bandage from my head and began washing up my wound, while an even younger
looking guy took a pair of scissors and cut the leg of my jeans. A tall,
slender, blond-haired girl—I guessed her age to be around sixteen—took down
information on a clipboard.

“Don’t you have any grownups working in this hospital?” I
cried.

“Jesse!” Billy admonished me. “Don’t pay any attention to
her. She’s delirious,” he said to the group around me, trying to apologize for
my rude behavior. “She’s been through a lot today. You have no idea.”

“We realize people say and do things they don’t mean when
they’re in a place like this. Hospitals are intimidating. They’re in pain, and
pain does weird things to people’s manners.” He smiled as he scrubbed, poked
and prodded.

“Drop dead!” I spat. “I was already in pain, and now you’re
making it worse. What the ... Ouch... that hurts! I want some morphine!”

He motioned to the blond and spoke under his breath as he
continued to torture me. “Miss Jensen’s going to get the doctor.”

“You mean you guys aren’t doctors? What are you then, Candy
Stripers?” I continued to lash out at him. I hurt all over, and my disposition
was quickly turning ugly. I had suffered enough for one day.

Billy was in the process of trying to calm me down and assure
me everything was going to be fine when the doctor walked in, followed by a
whole new team of hospital personnel. The tall blond handed him her clipboard
and the first group left, so the real doctors could take over.

“I’m so glad you could make it, doctor!” I spewed forth my
venom. “I just told that little boy I needed something for the pain if he was
going to continue his ritual act of human torture.”

The doctor scanned the chart and then looked up at Billy and
said, “She’s going to be fine.”

“Don’t talk to him!” I became hysterical. “Talk to me!”
Everything that had happened to me in the last twelve hours came crashing down.

I had been shot at... again... beat up, buried in a hole, and
left to die. The police were sure to hound me until they could come up with a
reason to lock me away for the rest of my life. These were just some of the
things that had happened to me since I moved to the mountains. The list was
quickly becoming a long one.

I felt the prick of a needle.

“This will help ease the pain,” a soft voice said.

I turned my head to the side and looked into the nurse’s
bright blue eyes.

“You should start to feel better in a moment,” she promised.

“Are you kidding? Now that the doctor’s here, I feel better
already.”

Two hours later, my wounds repaired, I was bedded down for
the night.

Rose was in the room across the hall, according to Billy. It
was decided that because of our inhalation of a toxic substance, we should be
monitored overnight for possible side effects of said poison. With the two of
us so close to each other, the police would have easy access. They could
question me and then run next door and question Rose.

“I’m nobody’s fool,” I whispered to Billy. “I know what
they’re doing.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Tomorrow, they have to release
you, assuming you don’t go into a coma and die tonight. By then, we’ll have
this mess fixed.”

“What do you mean? Fix what mess? Why do I need to fix
anything?”

“The mess we’ll have if we give the cops a chance to screw
things up. They have a way of doing that, don’t you know? Fortunately, the
hospital has procedures. Once I told them you wanted your lawyer, they had to
inform the cops. The cops have procedures, too. They can’t question you now
until you have counsel. The hospital will let your lawyer and your family in
first, and then after that, the cops will be turned loose. They’ll swarm in
here like bees on honey.”

Mom entered the room, followed by Jack and Dennis.

“Where’s Athena?” I asked. “Your little posse isn’t complete
without her. Oh, that’s right. They don’t let dogs in the hospital.”

“Don’t be cute,” Mom retorted. “She’s outside on a leash.
Cole’s taking care of her. You don’t think I’d leave her locked up in the van
on a warm night like this, do you?”

“She’s on a leash? How did you manage that?”