Chapter Twenty-Seven
Retta sat on the sofa and looked around the cabin. She was excited about this one. It was a shame that she wouldn’t have it ready in time for Travis’s friend Zeke. From what he’d told her, Travis was hoping that Zeke might stay for a while, and she thought this would be the perfect place for a longer-term stay. Maybe he could move into it when it was done.
She reached for the big legal pad that she made all her notes on and stretched her legs out on the sofa. She’d been on her feet for too long again. She unfastened the boot and put it on the floor. She was getting tired of wearing it all the time. She was hoping that at her next appointment with Trip he’d say that she didn’t need it anymore.
She’d gone through all the cabinets in the kitchen, and the cupboards in the two bedrooms to see what was already here and what she’d need to buy. She smiled as she started to make her list. She wasn’t going to hold back on this one. Although they hadn’t talked about the details yet, she and Travis had agreed that she was going to become a partner with him in the business – and with that in mind, she wasn’t going to worry as much about the budget. She wanted this cabin to feel special.
She leaned back against the cushions and enjoyed the warmth of the sun shining through the windows on her. She couldn’t wait until she was able to get around properly again – those windows needed a good washing.
She must have drifted off because the next thing she knew the door to the cabin was swinging open. She had to blink a few times. That wasn’t Travis standing in the doorway. It was a woman. It was …
“Jamie?”
Retta struggled to sit up as Jamie came storming inside. She didn’t even have the time to react before Jamie’s hand flew through the air and delivered a resounding slap to her face.
“You bitch! I knew he was coming to see you.”
Retta clutched her cheek. “What the …?”
“I followed them. He brought my daughters to see you.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Retta was struggling to process what was going on. Maybe she was still asleep, and this was a dream.
The way Jamie laughed made her think that she might well be out of her mind. “With jealousy? Maybe I am. You see, Marty is mine. He’ll come around – he always does. He says he’s going to leave me, but he comes back to his senses. He’s mine! And you are not going to be the reason that he forgets that.”
“He has no interest in me whatsoever. They stopped to see us for five minutes yesterday, and then they carried on to the park.”
“He’s just trying to throw me off the trail. He suspects that I’m following them.”
Retta just stared at her. The woman was totally unhinged.
“Yes, I’ve been following them since they came here. He doesn’t know that I have access to his email – his passwords are so easy to guess.”
“Well then, I’m sure you can see that he’s not staying anywhere around here.”
“Because he’s trying to throw me off the trail.”
Retta frowned. “That makes no sense – why would he do that if he doesn’t know that you’re following him or that you can read his emails?”
Jamie screamed and slapped her again. “Stop trying to deny it. I know!”
Retta took a few deep breaths, wondering how she was going to get rid of her. When she asked if Jamie was crazy, it had been a figure of speech. Now, she guessed that it might not be far off the mark in a more clinical sense.
“So, what do you want from me?” she asked in a slow, steady voice, hoping that she could at least calm her down some.
“Get up. You’re coming with me.”
“I can’t. I …”
“Get up!” Jamie screamed, and Retta’s heart leaped into her mouth when she pulled a gun out of her purse.
“Okay! I…” She reached for the boot. “I need to …”
“Leave it! Just get up. You’re coming with me.”
Retta struggled to stand, and Jamie waved the gun toward the door. “Go!”
She did her best to hobble without putting too much weight on her left leg, hoping with every step that she wasn’t going to do more damage. She looked over her shoulder – then again, if Jamie intended to shoot her, her leg might be the least of her worries.
She took a deep breath when she reached the front door – Jamie’s white Rav 4 was parked behind her Chevy – she didn’t know if she’d be able to make it that far.
“Hurry up!”
Jamie pushed her, and she fell forward. She managed to get her hands out to break the fall, but when she hit the ground, agonizing pain shot up her leg as Jamie stomped on it – just like she’d done in San Diego. Retta screamed, and Jamie leaned down toward her. She saw the gun swing through the air. The last thought she had was that at least she was going to hit her with it rather than shoot her. Then, pain exploded in her head, and everything went black.
~ ~ ~
Travis held the ring up to the light and grinned at the thousands of little sparkles it gave off. “This is the one, guys!”
The girl behind the counter smiled happily, and the other guys nodded their agreement. The girl was no doubt pleased about her commission – this ring was the most expensive one she’d shown them. The money didn’t matter, though. What mattered was the ring was beautiful, and he knew that Retta would love it. It was a plain gold band, and the diamond was an oval shape. The girl said it was a brilliant cut, and he didn’t know if that was a technical term or just her opinion – either way, he agreed with the assessment. All the diamonds he’d seen were sparkly, but this one was something special, just like his Retta.
Trip grasped his shoulder. “Good choice, bud. Now, are you going to stand there grinning at it, or are you going to pay for it, so we can leave? Then you can start scheming up when exactly you’re going to give it to her.”
Ace chuckled. “Yeah, I want to know what you’re planning. Knowing you, it’ll be some big, theatrical gesture.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know yet, it might be. If it is, it’ll be with everyone there to see – not for my sake, but so that she knows that she belongs, that she’s one of us now, and … You know.”
Deacon grinned at him. “We do. She didn’t have that before she came here, did she? People of her own – family.”
“No, sounds like she hasn’t had it since she was a kid. She had Callie young, and her family disowned her. She’s been all by herself ever since.”
“Well, she’s not by herself anymore. It’s like you said – she’s one of us now.”
Travis paid for the ring and took the pretty little bag that the girl put the box in.
“I know that look on your face,” said Trip. “You’re like a big kid – all excited. Do you want me to keep the ring for you till you’ve figured out how you want to ask her? Otherwise, you’ll give it to her as soon as you see her just because you can’t wait.”
Travis laughed. “Nah. Even if I do that, it’ll be the right moment.”
“You’re not worried about making a premature proposal?” asked Ace with a smirk.
Travis punched his shoulder as they made their way out of the jewelry store. “I’ll have you know …” The sound of his phone ringing cut him off. “It’s Zeke,” he announced.
“Put him on speaker,” said Deacon. “I want to talk to him.”
“Hey, Zeke. Be warned, you’re on speaker with Trip, Deacon, and Ace listening in.”
Zeke laughed. “Hey, guys! I’m looking forward to seeing you all.”
“When will you be here?” asked Deacon.
“I’m here now. At least, I’m at your place, Trav. Turned out that I was closer than I realized when we talked this morning.”
“Awesome! I’ll be back in about half an hour. Did you see the restaurant building when you turned off the road? Ty should be in there – you can hang out with him while you wait if you like. Retta’s up at one of the cabins.”
Zeke laughed. “I don’t think so.”
Travis frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I imagine it was her I crossed paths with when I came in. I waved, thinking that I’d stop and introduce myself, but she drove straight by – probably wise not to stop and talk to a stranger.”
“Yeah. Listen, can Trip call you back? I want to call her and make sure everything’s alright. She wasn’t going to leave the cabin she was working on till I went back for her.”
“Sure.” Zeke chuckled. “Tell her I’m sorry if I landed her in it.”
The other guys laughed, but Travis was starting to feel uneasy.
Trip picked up on it and told Deacon to call Zeke back. He came to stand next to Travis while he dialed Retta’s number and waited.
Travis frowned when the phone rang and rang before it went to voicemail.
“Retta, darlin’. Call me back when you get this, will you? I’m worried. Zeke said he saw you driving. Is everything alright?”
He ended the call and scowled at Trip. “I’m going to head back down there – see what’s going on. I don’t like this.”
Trip nodded. “I’ll come with you.”
“Don’t you need to get back to work?”
“I’ll call Shelly and tell her to reschedule my appointments – I only have a couple this afternoon.”
“Thanks, bud.”
“I’ll follow you,” said Ace.
Deacon frowned at them. He was still talking to Zeke. “Looks like we’ll see you soon.”
“Hey, Zeke,” Travis called when a thought struck him. “What was she driving?”
“A white Toyota – one of those little SUVs, Rav 4 maybe?”
The others all looked at Travis.
“It wasn’t her, then,” said Deacon.
“Did you get a look at her?” Trip asked before Travis could.
“Yeah, short black hair.”
“Definitely not her,” said Ace.
They all looked at Travis again, but all he could see was Retta, with her blonde hair hanging loose around her shoulders and a worried expression on her face. His gut told him that she was in trouble – he just didn’t know what kind of trouble.
“Would you go into the restaurant, Zeke? Ask Ty to ride out to cabin number six with you – see if she’s there? She might have fallen.”
“On it,” said Zeke. “I’ll call you as soon as I get there.”
~ ~ ~
When Retta opened her eyes, her head was pounding. She was lying on the back seat, and Jamie was muttering to herself as she drove. They had to be on a dirt road; the vehicle was bouncing over ruts. Retta had no idea where they were, but she needed to find out. She needed to get away. Although, how she was going to do that, she had no idea.
She kept her eyes half-closed, hoping that Jamie wouldn’t notice that she was awake. She needed to think, but her head hurt so much, it was difficult to think at all – let alone figure out how she could get away.
Her heart started to pound when Jamie stopped the vehicle and turned in her seat. “Wake up!”
She opened her eyes and stared back into Jamie’s. She’d always been wary of her at school, she had a well-known temper, and a vicious streak. But this didn’t even look like the same woman. She looked disheveled, as though she might have been sleeping in the car for a few days, and there was a wild look in her eyes that scared Retta.
“What are you doing?” Retta asked.
“Getting rid of you so that he’ll come back to me.”
Retta closed her eyes. “If you kill me, you’ll get caught – you’ll go to prison, then you’ll never get him back.”
Jamie laughed. “I’m not that stupid. I can’t kill you. I just have to get you out of the way, then I’ll go home and wait for him to come back to me.”
Retta swallowed. She didn’t plan to kill her. She was going to survive this. She …
Jamie opened her door. “You’re going to kill yourself.”
Retta tried to get away from her when she opened the back door. She didn’t know what she meant about her killing herself, but she had no desire to find out.
Jamie grabbed her leg – the leg that Retta was convinced was broken again – and dragged her out of the vehicle. She landed on the ground with a thud and screamed in pain.
“Be quiet!” Jamie yelled. “And get up!”
“I can’t! I can’t walk.”
“Then I’ll just have to drag you – it’s not far.” She grabbed Retta’s arm and started pulling her along. Retta tried to fight her off, but she couldn’t do it. They were on what she guessed was a forest service road at the bottom of a wooded slope.
There was a wooden shack just off the road and Jamie dragged her toward it.
“If I had the time, I’d take you up into the mountains, but this will have to do.” She gave Retta an evil smile. “You’re so pathetic that you won’t be able to get far.”
She tugged on the door to the shack and screamed in frustration when it didn’t open. To Retta’s surprise, she dragged her back to the vehicle. “Get in!”
She didn’t protest and somehow pulled herself up into the back seat. It was better than being left in that shack.
Jamie started the engine and drove straight into the trees. Branches scraped along the sides of the SUV, but she didn’t seem to notice. She went slowly for a few hundred yards and then stopped.
“Get out!”
Retta just stared at her.
“I said get out !”
She opened her door, and Jamie came around and pulled her out again.
“This will do – you’ll never make your way back from here.”
Retta looked around and realized that she was right. This morning, Travis had been concerned about her getting from her SUV to the front door of the cabin. No way would she be able to make her way back to the road from here.
“You brought this on yourself, you know – you should have stayed away from him.”
She didn’t speak – she didn’t want to antagonize Jamie into changing her mind and shooting her. If she left, then Retta knew she stood a chance. Not much of a chance, but it was better than nothing.
~ ~ ~
Travis drove down Highway 89 faster than he ever had, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.
“She’s going to be alright,” Trip assured him.
He didn’t bother to answer. A ball of dread had formed in his stomach.
“I’m so fucking stupid!”
“Hey! No, you’re not. Why would you say that?”
“Because I was worried about Marty. I thought maybe … I dunno. Given everything that’s happened to the women around here lately, I thought that he might try something with Retta – to hurt her or to take her or … I don’t know. When he came and went, I thought I was just being paranoid. I wasn’t – I was just looking for trouble in the wrong place. It wasn’t him I needed to worry about – it was Jamie.”
“The wife? The one who broke Retta’s leg?”
“Yup. She has short black hair. It’s the only thing that makes sense – she’s come after Retta.”
Trip didn’t look convinced, but that didn’t surprise him. He knew it sounded crazy, but he also knew in his gut that he was right.
He hit the button to answer the call when his phone rang, and Zeke’s name came up on the screen on the dash.
“Talk to me.”
“She’s not here, Trav. Her vehicle’s still outside. Her purse and her phone are still on the table.”
“And her boot and crutches are here,” added Ty.
“They are?” Travis’s heart sank. She couldn’t have gotten far without them – at least, not under her own steam. Was he wrong? Had Marty come back for her? Would Jamie be able to carry her? He swallowed – or drag her?
“Is there any sign of … anything?” Trip asked.
“We’re going to take a look around,” said Zeke. “I’ll call you back.”
“We’ll be there soon,” Travis told him.
~ ~ ~
Retta watched Jamie’s SUV drive away. The taillights came on when she reached the road. She turned onto it and went back in the direction they’d come from. The woman wasn’t just crazy – she had to be some kind of clinically insane. There was no reason whatsoever for her to believe that Retta was involved with Marty. She pursed her lips. She knew enough about jealousy though to know that it wasn’t often rational. She’d seen the way it played out between girls on her squad over the years – it sometimes drove them to behave viciously toward each other. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to see that Jamie was just living out a more grown up – and dangerous – version.
She looked around at the dense forest. Suddenly all too aware of the pain in her leg and her head, of the deep scrapes and scratches all over her from being dragged over the ground like that. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She was still alive. The rest was just details – details that she’d get to later, after she figured out how she was going to get out of the trees and back to the road. How she was then going to make it back to Travis.
Tears filled her eyes when she thought about him. He’d be worried sick. She wiped the tears away. She’d make it up to him when she got back to him – and she was going to get back to him. She wouldn’t entertain any other thoughts than that. She dragged herself to the closest tree and used it to pull herself to her feet. Now, she just had to figure out how to hop to the next one – and the one after that. She glanced toward the road – it had seemed like they had only driven a short way off of it, but it looked like a much greater distance now. She’d just have to take it one tree at a time.