Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Hannah's phone rang, startling her from a restless sleep. Hope filled her chest as Luke’s name flashed across the screen, and she lifted it to her ear.
“Luke?” When he hadn’t responded to her text, she had finally fallen into bed—not quite an hour ago—and cried herself to sleep.
“Hannah.” His voice was strained to the point of politeness, but she could hear the heavy undercurrent in his tone.
It also wasn’t lost on her that he hadn’t used his nickname for her, and the knowledge stung.
Silence filled the line for several seconds before he cleared his throat and began to speak.
“Listen, I’m sorry to tell you this way, but there’s been a break-in at the health center. ”
She sucked in a breath. “What happened?”
“We’re not sure yet. Raúl called to let me know the alarm went off about five minutes ago. The police have been notified, so they’ll clear the building to make sure everything’s good. I just wanted to give you a heads up.”
“I’ll meet you there.” She threw the covers aside and slid from the bed, already tugging on a pair of sweats that lay discarded on the floor.
“No need. I’m already on my way, and I’d feel better if you stayed at home where I know you’re safe.”
“Luke…”
“Let me take care of it. Please.”
His words stopped her mid-motion, and she sank to the edge of her bed. “Will you call to let me know everything’s okay?”
“Of course. I’ll call as soon as I’m done.”
“Thank you.” She hesitated, gripping the phone so tightly her knuckles ached. “And, Luke?”
His voice was tentative. “Yeah?”
It took a moment for her to gather her courage, and her words came out on a whisper. “I miss you.”
There was a sharp inhale on the other end of the line. “I miss you too, honey.”
“Can we talk sometime? Maybe tomorrow after work if you’re free?”
“I have all the time in the world for you, Doc.” His voice was deep and full of promise. “Hey, I’m at the health center now, so I’ll call you in a few.”
“Be safe.”
“I will.”
She reluctantly hung up and stared at the phone in her hand, a riot of emotions swirling in her stomach. She wanted to laugh, to cry, wanted to throw her arms wide and dance for joy. Still clutching the phone, she collapsed onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.
She needed to address things with Andrew once and for all. He’d stopped by the health center to see her, but she’d turned him away. Her heart hurt at the thought of losing a good friend and confidant, but today’s discussion with Audrey and Fiona had opened her eyes.
Maybe Andrew really was more concerned about his own interests than hers.
He was a good guy, successful and handsome, but she would never feel about him the way she did with Luke, who went out of his way to make sure she was safe, always placing her needs before his own.
More than once he’d dropped everything without hesitation.
He was strong and sturdy, trustworthy and dependable, and she—
She jerked to a sitting position. She loved him. And Luke loved her, too. He’d told her days ago, but she’d refused to believe it. It didn’t seem possible that she’d come to care so deeply for him over just a few weeks’ time, but she knew what was in her heart.
For the first time, she wasn’t scared. Instead, anticipation surged through her veins. There would be ups and downs, good times and bad—but they could make this work. As soon as he called back, she would go to him, lay her heart on the line, and tell him how much he meant to her.
Unable to wait a moment longer, she scrambled from the bed. She pulled a sweater over the camisole she’d slept in and yanked off her sweatpants, replacing them instead with jeans. Shoving her phone into her back pocket, she jogged down the stairs.
Bubbling with emotion, she tapped the switch to awaken the coffee maker, then scooped grinds into the basket. The potent aroma filled the air as the percolator jolted to life and spewed the hot brew into the cup.
Her phone rang again, and she tapped the button to answer without looking at the screen.
“Dr. Whitmore speaking.”
“Hannah, thank goodness I was able to reach you.”
Her heart sank as Andrew’s voice floated through the phone and his words registered. “What’s wrong?”
“A man just called me—gave me a woman’s name and an address. I think it was Steve Iverson.”
Oh, God. “Have you called the police? Did—?”
“We need to go. You don’t want him to hurt someone else, do you?”
Fear constricted her heart, and she sucked in a breath. She couldn’t allow that to happen again. How would she live with herself?
“Okay, okay. I’m on my way out the door. Where is it?” She dumped the coffee down the drain and started for the front door.
“I’m already on my way to your house. I’ll be there in just a minute. Get ready and I’ll tell you everything on the way.”
Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she slipped her feet into the ballet flats sitting on the rug by the front door and tossed her phone into her purse before slinging it over her shoulder. Rain pelted the windows, and she quickly disengaged then reset the alarm before striding out of the house.
A small silver Toyota sped around the curve on her street just as she closed the door, and it slowed to a stop at the bottom of her driveway.
The window rolled down, and Andrew waved to her from the driver’s side.
She hurried toward him and slid into the passenger seat.
She glanced around the interior of the sedan as she fastened her seat belt.
“I didn’t recognize you in this. When did you get a new car? ”
“I’ve had it for a while, I just don’t drive it much.” Andrew threw a quick glance her way before making a U-turn and speeding toward the allotment’s exit. “You got ready fast.”
“I was already dressed. I actually got a call from Luke just before you showed up.” She shook off the water clinging to her skin and pulled her phone out to check for any updates. “Apparently the alarm went off at the health center and he stopped by to check it out.”
“Is everything okay?”
“I’m not sure, I haven’t heard back yet.”
Andrew nodded absently and turned right out of the complex, heading toward the outskirts of town. She watched the trees fly past the window in a blur as the streetlights became fewer and farther between.
“Do you know where we’re going?”
“Of course.”
She recoiled at his curt reply. He’d never lashed out at her before, never raised his voice. But underneath that carefully cultured tone, she detected a slight deviation—was that a faint change in dialect or accent she heard?
“Okay.” She nodded, unable to suppress the uneasy prickles spreading over her skin. She flipped the phone over in her hand and cast another surreptitious look at the screen. Still nothing. What was taking so long?
As if conjured by her thoughts, her phone rang and her heart jumped into her throat. She swiped her thumb over the screen and lifted it to her ear. “Hey, is everything okay?”
“It’s fine, but—”
“Thank God.” She breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m coming over right now. We need to talk.”
“I’m not home. I think Steve Iverson might be after another woman. Andrew got a call—”
A muttered oath filtered through the line. “Is Andrew with you?”
She blinked at his hard tone. “Yes, we’re—”
“It’s not Steve Iverson—it’s Andrew.”
What? Her head spun as she tried to process his words. “But—”
“Sweetheart, I need you to listen to me. Don’t say anything, just listen, okay?”
“I—”
“Please.” The plea in his voice made her blood freeze in her veins. “Doc, it’s him. It’s been Andrew this whole time.”
No. That wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. She was dimly aware of Luke speaking, and she forced herself to focus.
“…the breaking and entering, the assault at your office. We found him on the cameras. Everything lines up.”
Her heart seized and every muscle went rigid, hyperaware of Andrew’s eyes on her as she spoke. “What about…?”
She could sense his hesitation, and he finally let out a resigned sigh. “Selah was his first.” Tears pricked her eyes, and she fought to control her breathing as she blinked them away. “I’m sorry, baby.”
“Well, thank you for looking into that.”
If he’d killed Selah, he would certainly kill her too. Fear and sadness and anger warred within her, twisting her stomach into knots.
“Do you know where he’s taking you?”
She threw a quick glance out the window at the darkened road. “I’m not sure.”
“You already left your house?”
“Yes.”
“Is he heading toward town?”
“Um…” She paused, pretending to think. “No, I don’t believe so.”
“Where is he going?”
From the quiet tone of his voice, she could tell the words were more for himself than her, but she felt compelled to answer, her own response soft and unsure. “I don’t know.”
Luke swore under his breath. “Here’s what I want you to do: pretend to hang up but keep the call connected. Put it between the seats or somewhere he can’t reach it. Okay?”
“Thank you again for the update.” She hoped he understood her affirmation, and she was rewarded when he responded a moment later, his voice thick with emotion.
“I’ll find you, sweetheart. I promise.”
Tears pricked her eyes, emotion clogging her throat. What if this was the last time she ever heard his voice? “Luke, I—”
“No.” His voice was fierce, and there was a moment of silence as he drew a ragged breath. “You tell me when I find you. Just hang in there for me.”
“Goodbye, Luke.”
Her heart fractured, and tears spilled over as she dropped the phone into the space between her seat and the door.
Regret filled her for the time she’d wasted, and she swiped at the tears coursing down her cheeks.
It wasn’t fair; she couldn’t bear to lose the love of her life just when she’d found him.
“Are you okay?”
Andrew’s voice intruded on her thoughts. She wanted to lash out at him, scream, cry, tell him the game was up, but she could do none of those things. Not if she wanted to get out of this alive.
“Fine.”
“You still care about him.”
It was a statement rather than a question, and for a moment, she was unsure how to respond. Should she lie to him and tell him things were over for good? No, he was too good at what he did; he’d be able to see right through that. Opting for a semi-truth, she nodded.
“I like him a lot. But… some of the things you said made sense. I just don’t know if we could have a future together.”
And wasn’t that the understatement of the century? She sat inches from a man who, for years, had pretended to be her friend. He’d deceived her. Used her. And now… he would kill her.
The farther they drove into the darkness, the more the butterflies in her stomach kicked up, filling her belly with dread. If she survived this, she swore she would never leave Luke’s side again.
Andrew drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, and his lips pursed pensively before turning down in a frown. “You’re nothing like her, you know.”
His Midwestern accent was back, and it hit her full force, transporting her back to that awful night. Somehow she managed to choke out the word, though she already knew the answer. “Who?”
“Selah.”
Hearing her name roll off his tongue was like a stab to the heart. She’d known he was responsible, yet hearing those words from his own mouth somehow made it more real. Hearing him admit it, that he was capable of something so awful… Her heart ached.
“Why did you do it?”
Andrew shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand. No one does. I saw her and I just knew. I felt this sense of… finality, like destiny calling me. Besides, it’s not like she was the angel everyone wanted to believe.”
He threw a look her way before continuing.
“After her death, they painted a picture of her being this good little Christian girl. But we knew better, didn’t we?
She flaunted herself, treated others as if she expected them to bow to her, and I hated her on sight.
It was like something deep inside me let loose, clawing its way to the surface, desperately needing to lash out.
It was so overwhelming, and I just couldn’t hold it back anymore. ”
Bile rose in her throat, and she forced it down with a hard swallow. “But why me? What did I ever do to you?”
“You never did anything.” He sighed and lifted a shoulder in a very un-Andrew-like shrug.
“By that point, I was high on adrenaline—I couldn’t turn it off.
And you were a loose end. I knew you’d survived, of course, but I left the next day and headed back to college in West Virginia.
I’d been gone for years by that point, and no one remembered me. I knew they’d never find me.
“But I couldn’t let you go. It took me years to finally find you. Except…” He smiled ruefully. “It wasn’t at all the way I imagined it would be.”
“You look… different.” His face haunted her dreams, but over time his features had dissolved away, leaving only the macabre mouth twisted into a sneer.
He stiffened in the driver’s seat. “I’d already had the surgery scheduled. I mostly kept to myself, so no one thought twice about it.”
Of course no one noticed. As far as anyone knew, he’d been miles away with no connection to the small town. His voice cut through her thoughts.
“Do you remember how we met?”
The question threw her for a loop, and she hesitated for a moment before turning to look at him. “Yes. It was the conference in Austin, I believe.”
“That’s right.” His head bobbed in acknowledgment.
“I knew where you lived, what you did for a living. I’d planned for years to find you and finish what I’d started all those years ago.
But then we started talking, and I got to know you, got you to open up about your past. And all I could think about while you told me your story was how much you’d changed yet stayed the same.
You’d matured into this beautiful, intelligent woman, but inside you were still the same scared little girl you were ten years ago.
“Then I realized something—you’d been saving yourself… for me. Don’t you see, Hannah? We’re meant to be together. From now on, we’ll never be apart.”
Ice sluiced through her veins, and fear clutched at her throat, making it almost impossible to swallow. She fought down the urge to cry, to scream. She wanted—needed—Luke. He told her he’d come for her… But what if it wasn’t enough?
She pushed the thought away and steeled her spine. She needed to get her emotions under control and think. Leaning her head against the cool glass, she watched the trees rush past in a dark blur as they drove deeper into the unknown.