Obsession Falls (31 page)
For one long, foolish second, Summer gaped. Then she reacted. She flung the plans aside. She slammed the car into gear, popped the clutch, and peeled out, spitting gravel behind her. She fishtailed, straightened out, roared along for twenty feet.
She was out. She was safe!
Then one branch of the tree slammed down on the trunk, lifting the front wheels off the ground. Summer bounced off the roof. The Judge got traction and leaped forward. She came down on the steering wheel, racked her ribs, then thumped back into the driver’s seat. Somehow, through the bucking bronco of a ride, she managed to cling to the wheel, so as soon as her foot made contact with the accelerator, she floored it again. The tree let her go with a reluctant screech of wood against metal. She blasted forward another twenty feet, and stopped.
The tree was down—the trunk had smashed the cabs on the two pickups that had been parked beside her. She looked to the side. Jack was climbing off the excavator. As she watched, he hopped to the ground, took one look at her, saw her staring. He lifted his hand and took a menacing step toward her.
Her breath locked in her throat.
Then he looked beyond her car. His eyes widened. He turned tail and ran into the woods.
She sat shaking in shock and horror. She was safe now. Safe.
The guys at the site raced toward her, still shouting, but she couldn’t hear them for the ringing in her ears.
Two workers went past, full-tilt boogie, roaring with rage.
Oh, yeah. They owned the pickups.
Berk ripped open her door. He shouted at her, she figured some question about her health.
“I’m okay.” She wasn’t dead, she meant. She took off her hard hat. “But if I hadn’t been wearing this…”
Berk ducked down and looked in the car.
She heard him clearly enough this time.
“Oh, my God,” he said. “You dented the roof.”
Stupidly, she repeated, “I … dented the roof?”
“Look at it! What a heartbreak. Add that to the damage to the exterior…” Something about the way she stared must have penetrated his grief over the car. “You sure you’re okay? You look sort of green.”
My head hurts. My neck hurts. My hands hurt. The steering wheel mashed my boobs up around my throat.
“Scared me,” she said, and climbed out of the car.
One of the construction guys said, “No shit it scared you. But you didn’t sit around. That was the fanciest driving I’ve ever seen. Lady, you rock.”
Obviously, she’d won his eternal admiration. She stood on shaky legs and let the damp, chilly air wash over her hot cheeks.
“Listen.” Berk gently took her arm. “I don’t want you to look. You’ll just be upset.”
At the pity in his voice, her knees gave way. She leaned against the car and tried to brace herself for more bad news. “Now what?”
“The branch pretty much totaled the trunk of your car.”
“The trunk?” Red dots danced before her eyes. She thought she was going to faint.
“I know,” he said. “I know. It’s a crime what that bastard did to this fine piece of machinery. But listen, my cousin runs a body shop in Aberdeen. He’s good. Really good. He’ll fix the Judge. None of this Bondo crap. He’ll hammer out the dents and paint it and make it as good as new.”
She breathed deeply, tried to keep herself from pitching face-first onto the gravel.
Berk leaned closer. “This car is so famous up and down the coast … he would almost work on it for free. Don’t tell him I said that, just keep it in mind when you take it in.”
She numbly nodded.
“That’s the best I can do for you. Now, excuse me. I have to see if I can figure out what happened to Jack. The little asshole.” Berk walked away saying, “You give the guy a chance, and what does he do? He destroys a classic car.”
She leaned against the hood. The cool of the metal soaked through to her skin. She supposed she
should
go look at the trunk to see if the car was still drivable. She wished she could collect her thoughts enough to understand what had happened, because right now, she couldn’t figure out why … why this had happened … to her.
The men milled around.
“What was Jack thinking?”
“He ran away.”
“No shit he ran away. Did you see Orrie and Chuck? They were carrying their hammers when they went after him.”
“Drunk.”
“Drugs.”
“Divorce.”
“But why try to kill
her
?” Accompanied by a nod of the head at Summer.
That was what snapped Summer out of her stupor.
Because that truth she hadn’t quite faced.
Jack had tried to kill her. He had looked right at her, seen her, then deliberately aimed a tree at her.
In the months since she’d come to Virtue Falls, she’d begun to relax her vigilance. She was cautious, yes, but no longer paranoid about everything and everybody. But now, someone
had
tried to kill her. Tried in the weirdest way, but tried—and almost succeeded.
Michael. Gracie.
No. No. He couldn’t have found her at the same time as Kennedy McManus. Unless he followed Kennedy. Unless he was smarter than Kennedy.
Gently, she shook her head to clear it, then as it throbbed, she held it in her hands. When she looked around again, she was alone.
The construction crew were over looking at the downed tree, at the wrecked pickups. One or two of them were headed back to work. It wasn’t that they didn’t care. But they were used to her being one of the guys. When she said she was okay, they believed her.
She wasn’t okay. She was scared. She was in shock.
Why not fire a bullet?
She remembered what Michael Gracie had said about hurting Kennedy:
That’s too easy. I’m going to destroy his family, his friends, his business, everything he’s fought for and loves.
Had Michael decided to hurt her in the same way?
Orrie had chased Jack into the forest.
Chuck was headed back toward her. When he met her, he said, “The lousy little coward pissed himself and ran.”
“I know.” Jack probably wouldn’t stop until he got to Canada. But did he take the paper he’d been reading?
She shook off her pain and terror, and limped toward the excavator. She climbed up on the track and looked inside the cab. The space stunk like a dirty ashtray; the floor was awash with crumpled coffee cups. In the narrow space beside the seat was a piece of white paper, twisted into a hard, stained spiral. Leaning in, she pulled it out and with shaking hands, she spread it out.
Her photo stared back at her, taken recently in Virtue Falls.
Underneath it was printed two words:
Summer Leigh.
“I can’t believe the construction crew was dumb enough to believe you were okay.” Kateri paced across her tiny living room.
“The guys saw no blood, I said I was okay, ergo…” Summer shrugged, and winced.
“Men are simple creatures,” Kateri said.
In unison, the women nodded: Summer, sitting in a straight-back kitchen chair, no top, only her bra, and Dr. Watchman, who was examining Summer’s ribs, back, and neck. And of course Lacey, who watched them with a worried brow.
As Dr. Watchman poked her ribs, Summer held herself very still. “The construction crew cheered when my car started and I was able to drive it off the site. It was the car they were concerned about.”
Kateri rubbed at her hip, and paced to the window. “How did you keep the trunk closed?”
“They hooked it with bungee cords.”
Even Lacey snorted.
At four o’clock, the clouds hid any hint of sun, the wind whipped in from the ocean, and the people on the streets kept their heads down. That first winter storm was getting closer; every joint in Kateri’s body ached, even the artificial joints. Which made no sense—artificial joints had no nerves—but the doctors were philosophical, speaking of phantom pain and the mind playing tricks.
Yeah, yeah.
Kateri said, “I wish Rainbow was back.”
“So do I,” Summer said. At Dr. Watchman’s unspoken urging, Summer tilted her head to one side, then to the other. “I’m worried about her.”
“Pfft.” Kateri waved away Summer’s concern. “Don’t worry about Rainbow. She’s capable like nobody I’ve ever met, and telling her that she could get hurt alone out in the forest just makes her belligerent.”
Dr. Watchman hummed in agreement.
“But Rainbow hears everything that goes on in this town, and she’d know why we’ve had two ‘accidents’”—Kateri used air quotes—“that harmed two women within two weeks.”
Dr. Watchman seldom spoke, but when she did, it was worth listening to. She spoke now. “Two women who are Summer—or look like Summer.”
Summer stiffened.
Kateri stopped pacing.
Dr. Watchman ran her fingers firmly up Summer’s spine. “What? That never occurred to any of you?”
“No, but if someone is after Summer, that is not good, either.” Kateri stared at Summer, and inevitably her gaze came to rest on her little finger.
Dr. Watchman massaged Summer’s stiff shoulders. “No concussion. You’d know if you had broken bones, but you’ve got a lot of bruising. You’re going to feel worse tomorrow. Take some over-the-counter pain pills, apply ice and heat alternately. A skilled massage would help the stiffness. Call Dr. Frownfelter if you get dizzy or have any abdominal pain. Promise me you’ll do that. Promise.”
“All right. I promise,” Summer muttered, and got to her feet. “I’m staying out at the Hartmans’ place, keeping an eye on it. I don’t have to tell everybody here to be careful, huh?”
Kateri and Lacey followed Summer out the front door and onto the tiny, low porch. Kateri pulled the door shut to give them a measure of privacy. “That guy you’re afraid of? Michael Gracie? He’s found you.”
Summer stood round-eyed and horrified. “How do you know his name?”
“When you got to Virtue Falls and you were so sick, you shrieked his name in terror.”
“Oh, God.” Summer knelt and fondled Lacey’s ears. “I shouldn’t have come to you, but I—”
“Of course you should come to me. I’ve already been dead once, drowned and eaten by the Frog God. How much worse could it get?”
Summer smiled as if she found the humor painfully amusing. “I wasn’t responsible the first time you died.”
“If some human guy tries to kill me, he’s responsible. Anyway”—Kateri pointed one finger toward the Pacific—“I’ve been through so much pain it has lost its mystique. I don’t enjoy it, but I can survive it. Don’t you feel that way? That you’ve already been through such an ordeal, you can face anything now?” Kateri thought that of all the people in her life, only Summer would understand.
“Yes. Yes, I do. But it’s also why I train and watch and anticipate.” Summer gave Lacey one last scratch under the chin, then used the iron railing to lever herself to her feet.
Lacey took her place at the edge of the top step and surveyed the street.
Kateri realized that Summer stood on the cusp of a change, a change she had planned since the day she stood up in Kateri’s living room, declared she refused to quiver inside any longer, and she went out to greet Virtue Falls.
Summer watched Kateri bend and rub her knee. “You’re in bad shape today.”
Kateri rocked her hand back and forth. “Kind of.”
“What’s the doctor say?”
“That my recovery has been miraculous, there are bound to be setbacks, and take two aspirin and call him in the morning.”
“He didn’t really say the part about the aspirin, did he?” Summer asked.
“No, he wants me to take pain pills, the heavy-duty stuff, the stuff I could sell on the streets. And sometimes I do take them, but I can’t stand the thought of growing dependent on them.”
“Oh, my dear.” Gingerly, Summer enfolded Kateri in a hug. “I think I have problems, then you make me realize at least I have the possibility of an out.”
“Maybe so, but you’re not
out
yet.”
“I can’t hide from
him
.” From her enemy, Summer meant. From Michael Gracie. “He’s not the Frog God, but he’s crafty and cruel. He’s handsome and compelling. So handsome. So … he’s fascinating. Riveting. Everywhere he goes, he leaves broken bodies and shattered souls.”
“Except for the handsome part, he
sounds
like the Frog God.” Kateri didn’t like the way Summer talked about him, as if he enthralled her.
“Now that he knows where I am, he won’t let me out of his sight.” Summer gripped the black iron railing with both hands, and her eyes glowed when she spoke of him, glowed with fear or infatuation. Or both.
“You escaped before.”
“Only because he didn’t know I was there and what I’d seen.” Summer stuck her hands in her pockets and wrapped the jacket tightly around her middle. “Anyway, I survived today, and I plan to survive tomorrow.” She grinned, as if the act of living was an amusement not to be trusted. “Are you going to the Halloween party?”
Kateri grimaced. “No. Margaret Smith invited the Coasties.”
“Sure. A bunch of virile young military men will liven it up. I know you don’t want to see Landlubber, but don’t you want to see the rest of the men?” Summer peered at Kateri through the deepening gloom. “See Luis Sanchez?”
Kateri wanted to kick the railing. She would have, too, but she didn’t break bones on purpose. “Does everybody in town know I’ve got a thing for Luis?”
Summer hesitated.
Kateri knew what that meant, and she did kick the railing. But softly. “Damn it!”
“You kissed him on the street.”
“I wondered if that would come back to bite me on the butt.”
“I don’t know that everyone believes it. I mean, I’ve heard people gossip about how dedicated he was to you after your accident, but no one seems to think that—” Summer stopped.
“No one seems to think that a handsome, fit guy would bother to want crippled little ol’ me.” Kateri understood. Oh, boy, did she. “That’s the problem. Not too long ago, I could have walked into that party and
dominated
. I was tall, smart, tough, and beautiful. Now, if I go, most people will glance at me and look away. People who do talk to me will either be old friends or people who pride themselves on winning their politically correct points.”