Chapter 22
The bridge stood out from the wooded road, just as it always had. Radiused steel loomed multiple feet into the sky, while weathered wood made for the flooring. The place was eerily familiar, yet different, though it was hard to put my finger on why. I put the truck in park just before the bridge and killed the engine. The sun was nearly gone beneath the horizon, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, fear thumped in my chest as I slung the door open.
Could Garrett really have done this? And why would he have given me the gun?
The question bounced around in my head as if it was a red flag that I should take heed of as a warning—but I ignored it, shutting the door softly. Heart still racing, I made it to the edge of the bridge, where the gravel transitioned to wood, and took a deep breath before taking a step onto it. My boots made a hollow thud as I walked along, before peering over the edge.
I don’t know why I thought I needed to do that—there was nothing there to see. Nothing was left, not even the crime scene tape that had been shown on the news. My stomach lurched as I thought of Sarah all those feet down, discarded like she was trash. Tears threatened to well up in my eyes and I pushed them away. The site was less than a mile from where Garrett had wrecked his truck that night with Sam and I as passengers...
It's just a coincidence.
Honestly, I knew that it really was. A car accident wouldn’t have any relation to a murder, not this many years apart. I mean, yeah, I had been at Sarah’s graduation party that night—and had chosen to leave early. I felt out of place there after my best friend, Lauren, had left.
Lauren.
That was someone I hadn’t talked to since that night. Last I had heard, she was out in California, pursuing some crazy dream of being an actress. I nearly laughed to myself, thinking of how dreamy the notion seemed. Back when I was younger—before the crash—I wouldn’t have thought it to be unreasonable. Everyone in the town was dying to get out and make a name for themselves, chasing desires and futuristic goals. But that’s the thing about small towns, a person grows up with the small-minded notion that somehow, they’ll stand out in the sea of people.
But it’s not easy, and the sea is much bigger than anyone can wrap their mind around.
I took a deep breath, having no freaking clue where the phone Garrett had seen would be. Part of me was tempted to call him, but I wasn’t ready to give him the notion I believed him at all. Plus, if I found the phone, what would that mean for me? I had just handed over a wiped gun, the same caliber as the one that killed Sarah.
For the next fifteen minutes, I walked the ditches on either side of the road, searching for any signs of a cell phone. Had I not been so triggered, I would’ve heard him out. I should’ve heard him out. After all, I was more than comfortable with people who floated in the gray area of society. I had helped plenty of them lessen their sentences, ironic, given everything that happened to Garrett.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, startling me sideways, and I dug it out of my jeans, staring at the screen and then glancing around. I bit down on the inside of my cheek, almost not answering.
“Hello?” I answered, my voice echoing in the holler.
“I was planning on just leaving a voicemail,” Garrett muttered, his voice groggy on the other end of the line. “Didn’t think you’d actually answer after today.”
“Yeah, well, I’m full of surprises.” I glanced around, once again scanning the bar ditches on either side of the creek.
Garrett was quiet for a second. “I’m sorry about today—at the funeral. I should’ve stayed home, and not to sound overdramatic by any means, but we can end this back and forth between us. It’d be best for you, that’s for sure.”
“Why?”
“I know you turned the gun in,” Garrett said, his voice quiet. “And I don’t blame you for doing that. There’s going to be a lot of eyes on me until it’s proven otherwise. That gun was registered to my dad. They’re already sending it for testing…”
I closed my eyes, stopping on the edge of bridge, facing the direction of the dead end. “I… I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. You were doing the right thing, I guess. It’ll be fine.”
“No,” I stopped him, opening my eyes again. “Blaze knew I had the gun. I don’t know how, but he knew.”
“I don’t know. ”
I squinted into the setting sun, and suddenly, at the fence line, I caught sight of it. “I found it,” I muttered under my breath, keeping my eyes focused on the glimmer, and trudging through thorny bushes to reach it. The briars tore at my jeans, but I ignored them as I reached the phone.
No freaking way.
My eyes were locked onto a cell phone, screen pointed upward. It was halfway covered with dirt, as if it had hit the ground with some impact. The screen was shattered, but the outside case—pink leopard print—made my hands go numb.
“What did you find?” Garrett asked, his voice full of confusion.
“How did they miss this?” I mumbled to myself, stopping before I leaned over to pick it up. I knew better than to do that. “This is insane.”
“Where are you, Beth?” His intense tone caught my attention.
“I did exactly as you said. Came to this bridge and found the phone.”
He blew out a breath. “Don’t touch it. Just… Just call Blaze. Tell him what you found, I guess. Or don’t. It’s probably better if you don’t. He already took the gun from you. It’ll look bad.”
“Only if that gun did the job.”
“Ballistics aren’t reliable and can be manipulated. You should know that.”
“Sometimes, but that’s rare.”
“I’ll come down there. I was the one who found it in the first place. Just go home. I’ll be there in five minutes. I’m leaving now.”
Suddenly, the hair on the back of my neck rose, a shudder running down my spine as the silence surrounded me. I sat still, listening as the crickets ceased to chirp and the night went still.
“Elizabeth?” Garrett sounded worried. “Go home.”
“Something is wrong. I think someone is coming,” I said, my voice quiet as I glanced around. I backed up slowly from the phone, peering both ways down the gravel road.
“You have a vehicle, get in it .” Garrett’s trucks engine roared over the other end of the phone.
Just then, I saw headlights appear in the distance—coming from the dead-end side of the bridge. “I don’t have time.”
“Then conceal yourself.”
He didn’t have to say that for me to already be in motion, heading right back for the fence where the phone was. Using my boot to push down the barbed wire, I slipped through, edging deeper into the trees.
“Are you out of sight?” His voice had an air of warning.
“Yes,” I whispered, my eyes focused on the headlights, now approaching at a distance they would’ve been able to make me out from. I sunk deeper into the woods, hiding behind an old Oak trunk. Thankfully, the brush was still thick, and my dark sweatshirt allowed for me to be mostly concealed.
“I’m just a few minutes out,” Garrett said into my ear.
I kept my eyes focused on the headlights, appearing to slow down as the truck grew closer. My skin prickled with anticipation as the dark colored SUV inched past where I was in the woods, the lights switching from low-beam to hi-beam, illuminating my old truck.
And then the vehicle came to a complete stop.
I held my breath, my heart pounding in my chest as the driver’s side door slung open. I couldn’t tell who it was, them being on the other side of their car .
“Did they pass by?” Garrett sounded almost panicked.
“No,” I breathed out, trying not to move or make a single sound.
“They stopped?”
“Yes.” My voice was barely audible.
“I should’ve never told you to go down there. I’m so sorry, honey. I’m coming. I swear to you. I’m almost to the turn-off.”
I didn’t say anything as whoever it was that had climbed out, climbed back in, slamming the door. They smashed the gas so hard it sent rocks flying and left nothing but a cloud of dust. I closed my eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief, edging my way out of the woods.
“They left.”
The hair on the back of my neck settled as the taillights faded into the ever-growing blackness, and I glanced down, just in time to see the call-failed notification on the screen. I crossed the fence once more, careful not to disturb the phone. However, as I made my way to my truck, I froze, seeing the front tire completely flat.
A sick feeling washed over me, and I glanced back down at my phone, seeing one bar coming and going. I sat like that for a few moments before a second set of headlights came pouring into my vision—the vehicle moving about ten times as fast as the last.
Garrett’s truck came to a skidding to a stop, his door slinging open. He jumped out, and came around the front of his truck, his eyes on my tire. “Did they do that?”
“Yeah… I think?” I struggled to find the words to explain why I didn’t know. “I couldn’t see them… I didn’t recognize the truck.”
“It’s okay. It just scared the crap out of me,” he met my gaze as he raked his fingers through his dark, disheveled hair. His T-shirt clung to his upper body in a way that caused me to stare a little longer than normal, and I had to consciously rip my eyes from him as he spoke. “I’ll change your tire.” He slipped past me, but I caught his arm, stopping him.
“Thank you,” I said, looking up at him. “Really.”
“It’s my fault you’re down here in the first place.” His tone was soft. “And I’m sure the mess I made of today didn’t help. I know what it all looks like—with everything.” He gave my arm a squeeze. “As soon as I change your tire, I need you to go home.”
I shook my head. “No. I found the phone, too. I’ll call Blaze. We’ll tell him the truth.”
“You don’t want to get wrapped up in this with me,” Garrett said carefully, his touch burning me up through my sweatshirt. “You deserve better than this.”
“So do you, G. It’s my fault that you ended up like this,” I nearly choked on the words as I said them, admitting a truth that I had kept hidden for years. “All this time, I tried to blame you for what happened to Sam, but while I don’t remember what happened once we were in the truck, and I don’t remember you saying you loved me…I believe you.”
Garrett nodded, looking toward my flat tire and then back at me. “I waited sixteen years for you to say that. You know, I never cared what people thought of me in this town. Just you. Killed me to let you go, and Dad wanted you to come back and testify for me, but I couldn’t ask that of you.”
“I wish I would’ve, even if I didn’t remember.”
He smiled, letting out a slight chuckle. “Let’s just call it water under the bridge then? Took me a year and a half and one concussion too late to tell you I loved you, when I knew I did long before I ever kissed you that Halloween. I shouldn’t have been so scared. Sam would’ve come around eventually, too, you know.” Garrett held my gaze, tightening his grip on me as I trembled. “He would’ve been happy for us.”
“But he’d hate how we are now,” I murmured.
“Maybe, but I’d say we’re on the mends.” He dropped my arm then, heading to the back of the truck where the spare was. “You better call Blaze, if you’re serious about truth-telling, because every second that ticks by without a call, is gonna have us in hotter water.”