Chapter Twenty #2
Ed fought back, pulling away from her, but she clawed at his face with her uninjured hand, raking her nails across his skin, grabbing whatever part of him she could.
When he tried to club her with the gun, she rolled sideways, trapping his arm beneath her weight.
She kicked her feet and pulled at his hair, all the while screaming at him to stop and leave them alone.
The door to the apartment burst open and suddenly the room was filled with people. Someone pulled her off of Ed and wrapped her in a bear hug. She was still screaming and fighting, still enraged.
“Mira, calm down, it’s okay.” Jake Gwynn spoke in her ear. “You’re safe,” he said. “You don’t have to fight anymore. It’s going to be okay.”
The fiery rage drained out of her, leaving her weak and weepy. “Carter!” she moaned, and looked around for him.
“The paramedics are taking care of him,” Jake said. Still holding her, he wrapped her in a blanket. She realized she had lost her robe in the struggle with Ed. Jake turned her so she could see where Carter lay on the floor, surrounded by uniformed paramedics.
“Ed shot him,” she said.
“He’s still alive,” Jake said. “We’re going to take care of him.”
The sheriff joined them. “Mira, are you all right?” Travis asked.
She nodded, then shook her head. “I don’t know.” She couldn’t look away from the crowd around Carter’s prone body. “Is Carter going to be okay?”
“We’re doing everything we can for him,” Travis said. That wasn’t the answer she wanted. She wanted someone to tell her he hadn’t been hurt badly, but having seen the blood seeping out of his chest, she knew that was a lie.
“What happened here?” Travis asked.
“Ed broke into the apartment. He said he was going to kill us. He shot Carter. He tried to shoot me. I was so angry. He had no right to do that.” Mortified, she began to sob.
A woman in a paramedic uniform came over and embraced her. She realized it was Jake’s wife, Hannah.
“We’re getting ready to load Carter into the ambulance,” Hannah said. “Come and talk to him.”
Carter lay on the gurney, covered with blankets, an oxygen mask obscuring much of his face.
His green eyes were cloudy and unfocused.
Mira wrapped her fingers around the only spot on his arm that wasn’t obstructed by some piece of medical equipment.
“Say something to him,” Hannah said. “He can hear you, even if he can’t respond. ”
She was afraid to speak, afraid she would burst into sobs. But what if this was her last chance to talk to him? “I love you,” she said, shocked that the words burst forth. But saying them was a relief.
Hannah patted her back, then led her away again as her coworkers rolled the gurney toward the door.
Travis and Gage approached again. “We really need to talk to her,” Gage said.
“I think she needs a sedative,” Hannah said. “She’s been through a lot.”
Mira straightened her shoulders. “No, I can talk. I want to tell you.”
She settled on the sofa—the sheriff across from her, Gage beside her. She reminded herself she was safe now. People were doing everything they could to help Carter. Her job was to make sure the sheriff had everything he needed to stop Ed Anders from hurting anyone ever again.
She took a deep breath. “Ed Anders killed David Ketchum, in Santa Fe three years ago,” she said.
“He confessed to me and to Carter. He was never convicted of the crime. I don’t know if he was even a suspect.
He left town after that. He’s only been in Eagle Mountain, living with his son, Mitch Anders, for a few months.
Mitch took him in because he thought his dad was helpless and had nowhere else to go.
But apparently that was an act to fool people.
Ed is in good enough shape to climb my fire escape and break my window, and I’m sure he’s the person who attacked me on the hiking trail, too.
And he wrote those letters accusing me of having something do to with David’s death. ”
“Did he say why he wrote the letters?” Travis asked.
“He hated me because he thought I was the one who turned George Suarez in to the police in Santa Fe. Ed was George’s friend.
They were part of a group of people who traded and sold child pornography.
George apparently told Ed that I had turned them in to the police.
But I had no idea what they were up to. I was beyond shocked to learn the truth.
” She stared down at her hands, knotted in her lap.
“Did you know Ed in Santa Fe?” Gage asked.
“No. I’m sure I never met him. But he apparently recognized me. Maybe he had seen me with George, or a picture of me. Or maybe he only knew my name and recognized it when he heard about the new teacher at the school.”
“Did he say if he was the person who kidnapped Bryce Atkinson and tried to abduct two other boys?” Gage asked.
“Yes. He thought no one would suspect him because they all thought he was a helpless old man. But he’s not helpless.”
They walked her through everything that had happened that evening. By the time they were done, daylight streamed through the front windows and her whole body ached. “That’s all for now,” Travis said, and stood. “Try to get some rest.”
“I need to see Carter.” She stood also.
“Where’s Mira? Is she all right?”
She turned and saw Dalton pushing his way past the law enforcement personnel who were still examining the scene. Bethany was right behind him. “Hey, Mira.” Dalton stopped a few feet in front of her.
Bethany came right up to her. “Are you okay?” she asked, and touched Mira’s arm lightly.
“I’m okay. But Carter…” Her voice broke.
“We just talked to the hospital,” Dalton said. “He’s in surgery right now, but they think he’s going to be okay.”
“We’re on our way to see him right now,” Bethany said. “We thought you might like to come, too.”
“Yes. Yes, I’d like that. Thank you.” She looked down at the blanket she clutched to her. “I need to get dressed.”
“I’ll help.” Bethany put her arm around Mira. “It must have been awful for you.”
She could only nod, and let Carter’s sister lead her to the bedroom, where she dressed in the same clothes she had worn the day before.
“Mom and Dad are driving separately but we insisted on stopping here first,” Dalton said as he led the way across the parking lot.
“We’ve got coffee and pastry in the car,” Bethany said. “That should help.”
The coffee and sugar helped, but an even bigger lift came from Dalton and Bethany’s assumption that she was one of them now—another member of the family. They didn’t ask for details, but she told them anyway—how Carter had goaded Ed into confessing everything.
“I think both of us still thought of Ed as a feeble old man,” she said. “We never thought he would really shoot. When he did, I was terrified—and then I was furious at him for hurting Carter.”
At the hospital, she followed Bethany and Dalton into the cubicle in the ICU where Carter had been moved after surgery. The three of them crowded around the hospital bed and stared at Carter—the shadow of his beard dark against his pale, pale face.
Mira took one hand and Bethany the other. His shoulder and much of his chest was bandaged, and an oxygen cannula was in his nose. His hand was cold and still. Mira swallowed hard. She wasn’t going to cry.
Then his eyes were open, looking into hers. “Hey,” he said, his voice a harsh rasp.
“Hey.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m not feeling anything.” He squeezed her hand. “How are you?”
“You scared me.”
“Yeah, I’ve gotten in trouble for running my mouth before, but no one ever shot me.” His expression sobered. “What happened to Ed?”
“Ed’s in jail,” Dalton said. “I doubt he’s ever coming out.”
There was more movement at the door and Mr. and Mrs. Ames peered in. A nurse hovered behind him. “He’s not supposed to have more than one visitor at a time,” she said.
Dalton put his hand on Bethany’s shoulder. “Come on, sis,” he said.
At the door, he blocked his parents. “Give Mira a minute,” he said, and urged them back into the hallway.
When they were alone, Carter smiled up at her. “You look great,” he said.
She put a hand to her head. Her hair was uncombed, her makeup smeared. “I look terrible,” she said.
“No. You look wonderful.” He squeezed her hand again. “Did I dream it, or did you say something to me when the paramedics were there?”
“Say something?” So he really had heard.
“I swear you told me you love me.”
Her eyes stung and her throat tightened. She was not going to cry! She nodded. “I do,” she whispered.
“That’s all I needed to know.” He closed his eyes, and his breathing grew heavy and even.
She touched his cheek, and thought of how close she had come to losing this chance at happiness.
Carter wasn’t perfect, but neither was she.
Together, they would find a way to trust each other. To let love lead the way.