CHAPTER SEVEN #3
Declan couldn’t talk to me about his case, but I could always feed him information, which he could then follow up on. This might be one of those things. If Gil had murdered Eddie, I wouldn’t want to blow Declan’s case by printing that headline. But I could give him what Gil had told me.
I took my seat again, and Gil had already wolfed down the burger and most of his fries. I laughed. “You were hungry.”
He nodded, wiping his mouth with his napkin. His blue eyes were crinkled at the corners as he smiled at me. “I’ve been so depressed, I haven’t been eating much.”
I was glad he’d opened the door to more discussion about his circumstances. “It must be tough, trying to figure out the boat situation while you’re grieving.”
“It’s a nightmare.” He pushed his empty plate away. “I’m sure some people think I’m cold for even bringing up the boat this soon to Rosa. But what am I supposed to do? Wait six months and hope nobody else buys it from her? I’ve got bills. I’ve got to eat. Eddie would understand that.”
“I’m sure he would.”
Tess drifted back toward our end of the bar. She picked up a rag and started wiping down the counter nearby.
“And yeah, I could use the money for the boat to pay my bills, but then what? I need to make a living. I can’t just blow everything on paying my bills, you know?” His gaze was imploring.
“Sure, I get it.” I glanced around. It was only 9:45 p.m., but the bar crowd was thinning out. Craig hadn’t made an appearance tonight, which seemed odd. Usually, he’d show up and Gil would take off. But he hadn’t shown, and Gil had stayed put.
Gil yawned and laughed. “Shit, I’m beat.”
“You should go home and sleep,” I suggested.
He glanced at Tess, and she smiled at him. “Nah, I think I’ll wait until closing.”
Yeah, they were most definitely fucking.
I hated to leave, but I was exhausted, and I’d had all the beer I needed.
Maybe I could talk to Gil another time, or maybe I could dig into his finances somehow.
For now, I needed to head home and sleep.
At least I’d verified that Gil was indeed trying to buy Eddie’s boat, and the money he was using seemed to come from a questionable source.
Or at least somewhere he didn’t want anyone knowing about, if his shushing motion was anything to go by.
Maybe something illegal?
I handed Tess my credit card and closed out my tab. “I’m sure I’ll see you around,” I said to Gil as I stood to leave.
“If you come here, you sure will.” He laughed.
I waved to Tess. “Now I know I’ll see you around.”
She smiled. “Night, Spencer. Get home safe.”
I stepped outside into the cold night air.
I pulled my hood up to keep the chill from the back of my neck.
At least there was no fog tonight, so I could see the stars.
There was a whole sky full of them, and there was the tang of woodsmoke from someone’s chimney mingling with the fishy scent off the harbor.
I really was glad I’d moved here. Small-town life seemed to suit me.
I let out a long breath and started the walk up the hill toward Tideline Road.
I’d made this walk a hundred times over the last six months.
I always took the same route because I could do it with my eyes closed.
I’d head past the darkened storefronts on Main Street, right onto Spruce, then up the hill where the road narrowed and the houses thinned out.
As I walked, my thoughts drifted to Declan.
I really liked him. And the sex had been off-the-charts good.
I shivered just remembering his taste and the way he’d felt inside my body.
I’d have loved to see him again tonight, but that was not to be.
He was a busy guy, especially right now.
Once this case was solved, maybe he’d have more free time in the evenings.
Until then, if I wanted to keep seeing him, I’d have to be understanding.
I blew out a breath, full from the beers and the fish and chips I’d eaten. I was past the switchback, on the uphill stretch where the streetlights got sparse and the trees pressed in close to the road, when I heard a car engine.
At first, I didn’t think anything of it.
Cars drove up Tideline Road all the time.
There were houses up here, people coming home from work or the bar or wherever people in Coral Cove went on a weeknight.
I moved to the edge of the road, the way I always did on this stretch.
There was no sidewalk, just the gravel shoulder and a shallow drainage ditch before the tree line.
I felt a bit uneasy when the engine of the car behind me seemed to speed up. Most people didn’t accelerate on a residential road, but not everyone was a good driver. Maybe they were just eager to be home. I couldn’t blame them; I felt the same way.
The headlights lit me up from behind, and I turned, squinting into the glare.
They had their high beams on, and they were speeding up even more.
Uneasiness shifted through me because that didn’t seem normal.
As I watched the vehicle approach, a feeling of dread formed in the pit of my stomach.
The car was veering off the road and onto the shoulder.
I was on the shoulder. The car was coming right for me.
My brain seemed to short-circuit as I grasped what was happening.
I wasn’t sure if the driver just didn’t see me or what was happening.
But judging by the speed and the trajectory of the car, if I didn’t move out of the way, I was going to get hit.
Raw panic took over, and I threw myself to the right, toward the ditch.
Unfortunately, I didn’t move fast enough.
The vehicle clipped my left side, slamming into my hip and ribs.
I cried out in pain and shock as my feet left the ground and I was thrown, smashing down onto the ground with a sickening thud.
The scent of oil and exhaust filled my nostrils as I rolled, gravel tearing through my jacket.
My head bounced off something hard at the bottom of the drainage ditch, and the world went white, then red, then a high-pitched ringing that swallowed every other sound.
I was in shock as I lay there, struggling to pull in a breath. My ribs felt like they were on fire, and my head was throbbing. I realized I was in the ditch. Cold water was seeping through my clothes. I saw stars above me, the same stars I’d been admiring thirty seconds ago.
I could hear the sound of the car that had hit me fading into the distance.
They had to have known they hit someone, but they hadn’t stopped.
I hadn’t once heard the sound of brakes, only acceleration.
I tried to move, and my body screamed at me.
My left side felt both numb and like I was engulfed in flames.
I was dizzy, and when I touched my face, my fingers came away wet.
I couldn’t tell if it was blood or ditch water.
My phone was in my jacket pocket. I needed to reach it and get help.
My right hand was shaking badly, but I got it into the pocket and pulled the phone out.
The screen was shattered, but it lit up, casting a fractured glow across the ditch.
The first person I thought of calling was Declan.
But then I realized I should call 911 instead.
The ground was so fucking cold and hard, I felt a bit sick.
I wanted to close my eyes and just leave this situation however I could.
No. No. No.
Through blurry eyes, I tried to focus on my cell, attempting to hit the buttons to make a call.
But my fingers weren’t working properly.
I tried again, gritting my teeth and swearing under my breath, but the phone slipped out of my hand.
It landed face-up in the shallow water beside me, its broken screen flickering.
“Shit,” I grated out, staring at the phone. I tried rolling toward the phone, but that was too fucking painful, and with a groan of agony, I stopped trying. I’d never been in so much pain. I was struggling to breathe because it expanded my lungs, which was torture.
Somewhere up the hill, I heard a car. Terror roared through me. What if it was the driver coming to finish me off? Headlights washed over the trees behind the ditch. An engine slowed. A door opened. I didn’t know what to do. There was no way I could defend myself.
“Oh my God!” A woman’s voice, panicked. “Are you okay? Hello? Can you hear me?”
Relief washed through me. I tried to answer, but what came out wasn’t words. Just a groaning sound.
“Don’t move. I’m calling 911. Don’t move, okay? You’re going to be okay.”
I lay there in the ditch, looking up at the glittering stars through the branches of the Sitka spruce.
I listened to the woman on the phone giving the dispatcher my location.
My thoughts were scattering, going soft at the edges.
The pain was also softening as my body became numb and my eyes grew heavy.
I tried hard to keep my eyes open, but it was too difficult.
With a groan, I stopped fighting, and gave in. I closed my eyes, and then there was nothing.