Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
His heart had dropped to his stomach at the sounds of a crash and her last cry for help. Now, nothing. He couldn’t even hear her moaning or moving. She could be seriously injured from the wreck—or worse.
Clay held the accelerator to the floor, but he urged his pickup to go even faster. He could see from the GPS that he was only minutes away.
He prayed those minutes weren’t too late.
He spotted two vehicles on the shoulder up ahead, one pulling over as he approached. A woman hurried out just as another figure ran back up the embankment, jumped into the parked SUV, and took off. Clay parked on the shoulder behind the woman’s vehicle.
He caught sight of Darby’s car, slammed against a large tree down the embankment and it stopped him cold.
The memory of his wife’s totaled vehicle flooded his mind.
The same crushed metal that had taken Jackie and Olivia from him.
“No,” he rasped, his legs propelling him down the embankment. “Please God, not again.”
He reached the car where the other woman stood gaping into the vehicle.
She pointed to the van. “Help me,” she called to him, her voice calm but determined. “There’s a woman in here. She’s unconscious and I can’t get the door open to get to her.”
Clay hurried to the window and peeked inside. Darby sat still as death in her seat, head on the headrest, eyes closed, but the gentle rise and fall of her chest told him she was breathing.
A gash on her forehead dripped blood. “Did you see what happened?”
“No, I saw that other guy’s truck then the crashed van. When I got out to help, he ran back to his vehicle and took off.”
“What kind of vehicle was it?”
“A black SUV.”
Darby had mentioned an SUV in her final words to him and he’d seen one drive away as he approached the scene.
“Your stopping to help probably saved her life,” Clay told the woman. If the crash hadn’t killed her, that man would have finished her off.
With no witnesses.
He tried the door. Locked.
The front end had buckled, and the hood and engine had practically become part of the tree. Even if the doors had been unlocked, the frame had bent, which meant the door was unlikely to open.
“I called for help as I got out of my car but the call dropped as I was coming down,” she explained. “The police and ambulance should be on the way.”
Good. He’d need help to get her out of the vehicle.
For now, he wanted to make sure she knew she wasn’t alone. He ran over and found a rock then told the woman to stand back as he used it to bust the passenger’s side window.
Once it was clear, he slid into the van, then he leaned over the seat to check on her. The front dashboard was practically in her lap, pinning her legs but he saw no other obvious signs of trauma other than the cut on her forehead though she could have suffered internal injuries or head trauma.
“Darby.” Clay touched her face and called her name, and she stirred. Her eyelids fluttered and she groaned, which was a good sign. “Darby, can you hear me?”
She moved her hand to her head and groaned again. “What happened?”
“You had a wreck.”
Suddenly, her eyes flew open wide, fear shining in them. “That man. He ran me off the road. He came toward me—”
“It’s okay. He’s gone. Another driver stopped and I guess it frightened him away.”
Clay motioned toward the woman standing outside the window. When Darby glanced her way, she waved.
“I hear sirens.” The woman started up the hill. “I’ll go up and meet them.”
As the adrenaline rush of the moment eased and it appeared she was okay, anger set in at her and what might have happened. “What were you thinking, leaving the house without me, Darby?”
“I had to go to David.” She gripped his hand. “Please, I have to know my son is okay.”
He nodded and took her phone. It still seemed to function. “I’ll call the camp and let them know what happened. Once we’re sure you’re okay, I’ll take you to see him.”
That seemed to settle her for the moment.
The sirens in the distance grew louder, and Clay spotted several vehicles parking up the embankment. “The first responders are here, Darby. The fire department will probably have to cut you out, but I need to make room for them. I’ll be right outside, okay?”
She clutched his hand a moment longer then nodded and released it. He climbed out the way he’d entered just as several police, firefighters, and paramedics hurried down the embankment.
“Is she conscious?” the paramedic asked.
“Yes, but she’s trapped inside the car.” Clay made room for the rescue crew and paramedics to reach her then gave the few details he knew about the vehicle that had run her off the road.
“The woman who arrived first can give you more information. All I saw was someone running back up to his SUV. I didn’t get a good enough look to identify him or the license plate number. ”
He wanted to kick himself. He shouldn’t have made such a dumb mistake.
While the paramedics and fire fighters worked to get her out of her vehicle, he looked up the number for her son’s camp in her phone and called David’s counselor.
He picked up on the first ring. “Jason here.”
“This is Agent Walker of the FBI. I’m calling about Darby Foster. There’s been an accident. She was on her way to the hospital to see David.”
The man who answered paused for a moment before asking, “Why? David’s playing football. I can see him from here.”
“Darby got a call, saying he fell off a horse and broke his leg, and she needed to meet him at the hospital.”
“Dude, I don’t know who made that call, but it wasn’t us. David is fine. His group hasn’t even been horseback riding yet this week.”
Clay grimaced as he stared back at her now-totaled car.
She could have been killed. This had all been a ploy to get her out in the open for the attack.
He thanked Jason then slid his phone back into his pocket. Once Darby was able, they’d head to the camp. He knew she wouldn’t rest well until she saw David and knew he wasn’t injured. And it wouldn’t hurt him to get her cell phone records so he could find out who had placed that call.
Someone had lured her to the camp, using her son as bait.
Darby held her breath and prayed silently, forcing fear to the edge of her mind as the firefighters worked to pry her from the crumpled van. She couldn’t fall apart—not with David in the hospital, waiting for her. She had to get to him.
As they freed her then lifted her out, she caught sight of her van, the front end mangled beyond recognition.
Her temple throbbed and every inch of her body ached, but she brushed the paramedic’s concerns.
The gash on her forehead ached, making a perfect match to the cut on her cheek from the attack earlier that morning.
She bit her lip to keep from laughing bitterly at the symmetry.
Clay appeared at her side and helped her up the hill toward the waiting ambulance. After checking her vitals, the paramedics prepared to transport her, but she shook her head. “I have to get to my son. He’s hurt and in the hospital.”
“Which hospital?” the paramedic asked. “Regional Medical Center is the closest hospital. If he’s there, you can see him after the ER doc checks you over.”
She hesitated. The camp had told her the hospital’s name, but it slipped her mind in the chaos. She looked to Clay. “Did you get the hospital name when you called the camp? If not, it’s in my phone’s GPS.”
His eyes widened and he lowered his eyes and crossed his arms. Something was up with him.
“What is it?”
She pressed him again, anger, fear, and pain battling for center stage in her mind. “If you know something about David—”
“He’ fine. I called Jason, the camp counselor. He told me David didn’t fall off a horse. Hasn’t been on one all week.”
“This was all a ploy? They used my son against me?” Relief flooded her then anger as she processed this update. But she had to be certain. “Are you sure he’s okay?”
She’d never believe David was all right until she saw him.
Her son would be upset when she didn’t bring him home, but he was safer at camp.
Assuming the facility was safe. Clay could check it out.
But Darby couldn’t bring David home until this entire fiasco was over and they’d stopped the killer. Or killers.
“We’ll go and you can see for yourself. But, first, you need to go the emergency room to get checked out.”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t know that. You could still have a concussion or internal bleeding. Let the doctors verify you’re not hurt then we’ll go see David. I promise. You need to make certain he still has a mom to come to.”
His plea pushed through her resolve. He’d promised David was fine so there was no reason to rush to him…except her own need to calm her fears. She reluctantly agreed.
Hours later, after getting the all-clear from the ER doctors, she was released with instructions to watch for lingering effects.
Darby climbed into Clay’s pickup. The headache returned with a vengeance, but she stayed focused. David came first.
Clay followed her GPS to the signs pointing to the camp.
He turned onto a long road that led to a gate with a buzzer and a Silver Lake Campground sign overhead.
He pressed the speaker button, explained who they were and what they wanted.
The gate opened, allowing them to pass through to the main office.
Clay parked then hurried around to help her out. She was grateful for the help since she was still shaky and unsteady on her feet.
Jason greeted them, shaking their hands before turning to Darby. “I didn’t tell David you were coming. He’s finally settling in and I didn’t want him to worry.”
Darby hesitated. She didn’t want to upset him either, but she wouldn’t rest easily until she saw for herself that he was safe. “I’ll do my best not to disrupt.”
They got into a golf cart parked nearby and started down the gravel lane.
She took in the scenery as they drove, liking what she saw.
A beautiful lake, pristine cabins tucked into the wooded lanes, boats, ziplines, and archery targets ready to be used by the active campers.
The brown rolling hills would turn green come spring but they’d added to the Christmas spirit with lights and decorations lining the trees and buildings.
Thankfully, the day had turned mild, warm enough for the kids to play outside.
As they turned a corner, she heard a childish laughter roaring from a group of boys about her son’s age, who played on an obstacle course.
She spotted David’s sandy hair among a group of kids just before he bolted up to a tower on the high ropes. He jumped up and climbed over then slid down the other side, raising his hands in triumph and fist bumping a male counselor, a big smile on his face.
As he circled the tower and headed for the ropes again, he spotted Darby. David’s eyes lit up and he sprinted toward her. She fell to her knees, and when he launched into her arms and she soaked in the feel of him.
“Mama, you’re here.”
“Yes, baby, I wanted to see you.” She held him tightly until he wiggled free.
“You’re smothering me,” he squealed, pushing away from her. “Did you come to bring me home? I’m just starting to have fun.”
His pout made her smile as she recalled how upset and homesick he’d been just a few days earlier.
“No, you can stay. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
David’s eyes turned toward Clay. “Who are you?”
“My name’s Clay. I’m a friend of your mom’s.” He bent down and shook David’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
A bell sounded and the kids began to line up.
David glanced over his shoulder at the dining hall. “That’s the lunch bell. Can I go now? We’re having hot dogs.”
Her arms ached to keep him with her a moment longer, but she had to let him go. “Sure. Go ahead.”
Clay offered his hand and helped her to her feet as David ran to re-join his group. “He looks okay.”
Tears threatened at her suddenly empty arms. She blinked them back then turned and pressed her face into Clay’s chest. He wrapped his arm around her. She just wanted her son back home and life back to normal. “Please take me home.”
Later, as they headed back to Sheraton, Darby glanced at Clay as he drove. She owed him a lot. If not for him, she would be dead, and David would be alone in the world.
This was the third time she owed him her life.
Yet she knew so little about him. “How did your meeting with Chief Dean go?”
He grimaced. It must not have gone well. “What happened? You can tell me.”
“Not much. He’s a slick control freak. I think he figured out he can’t intimidate me. Cooper’s diving deep into his past, but for now, we should be careful around him.”
“Suzanne always said she could get him to do anything.” And she’d proven it too when he’d gotten her out of trouble and helped to publicly smear Darby by proclaiming the video of Suzanne stealing as a fake. “I still don’t trust him.”
“I don’t either but there’s no proof that he’s crossed any line. Besides, we need the Sheraton PD to help keep you safe. I want to know who made that call to you, pretending to be the camp so I asked Cooper to pull your cell phone records. Hope that’s okay.”
“Glad you thought of that. I want to know too. And what about the SUV that ran me off the road?”
“Local police are looking for witnesses and trying to track down the vehicle. The lady who stopped got a better look at the suspect and the vehicle than I did. Hopefully she gave the police a good description.”
“What do we do now?”
“Go to your place so you can rest.”
“No, I’m fine. Couldn’t we do something?”
He tapped something into the GPS screen. “We’re only an hour or so from the sheriff’s office. We should stop there and see if they’ve found something.”
“Wouldn’t he have called you?”
“I’d still like to talk with him to see what they’ve discovered about the two men who abducted you.”
She hadn’t forgotten about those men or the fact that they worked for Brent. Had he also pretended to be from their child’s camp and lured her out into the open?
Clay’s phone rang and he pressed a button to answer it, put it on speaker.
“Cooper, Darby is with me.”
“Good. You both need to hear this. I just went through Darby’s cell phone records. The call came from a landline at Foster Auto Sales.”
Brent’s dealership.
Tears sprang to Darby’s eyes as the final thread snapped.
Her ex-husband was behind all of this.
She turned in her seat to face Clay. “Take me to the car dealership. I want to confront Brent.”
“Sheriff Malone’s deputies haven’t found him, so he’s probably not there.”
“Maybe his employees can hide him from the police, but not from me. If he’s there, I’ll find him.”