“Steve was hurt? What happened? What’s going on? Is Ellie hurt? What about my girls? Oh God. My babies.” Fear started to act on Amelia like a drug, pressing down on her like a physical weight as her breathing turned rapid. Travis rushed to the side of the bed, shaking his head apologetically.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Your children are safe; they are with Steve’s parents. Mrs. Saxton didn’t want to leave, but your daughters needed her. Ellie is helping with your dad, and Steve is okay, he’ll be released soon, but, Amelia . . .” He got serious and looked her right in the eyes. “You were shot. Do you remember that? Do you remember being shot?”
Amelia searched her memory. It was like trying to remember a dream. At first, everything from the morning was blank, like it hadn’t even happened. She remembered going to bed last night and then the curious feeling of needing to take her sister to school, but beyond that, everything was gone, erased.
“I can’t remember,” she said, shaking her head carefully and feeling like a failure. Steve was in the hospital, injured, maybe in front of her eyes, and she couldn’t even remember it.
“That’s normal. You’ve been through a lot. Take your time.”
Amelia closed her eyes and ran them back and forth in the darkness. As she focused, brief flashes began to flood in. The car. The house. The lights not working. Then the Broadlands Roofing office and a man with a mask. A gun. Yes. A gun.
Amelia opened her eyes, panting.
“I don’t know for sure, but I remember a man in the office, wearing a mask. He was holding a gun.” She ran her tongue over her teeth, rough with tartar, trying to think past the man in the mask. “I don’t know about anything else. It’s like a wall, a black wall I can’t get through.”
“Don’t push too hard. It will come.” Travis rocked back onto his heels, nodding slowly. “We’ll talk again soon, and Ellie has my number. She can call me when you have more input.”
“Officer . . . uh . . . Travis. Can you call Ellie?” Tears started to run down her cheeks, and every sob stabbed at her chest. She didn’t know what was more painful—her injuries or the heavy blanket of loneliness that covered her suddenly. “I need my family. I need someone.”
“Yeah.” He nodded, looking at her sympathetically. “It’s probably good to check in with her anyway. I’m not sure what happened to her. Maybe she stopped by the ER first to see—” He cut off his sentence, which would’ve seemed odd to Amelia if she hadn’t been so anxious to talk to her sister. Travis took out his phone and pressed a button. The phone rang loud enough that Amelia could hear it in her hospital bed. It seemed to ring endlessly, and she closed her eyes and focused on it, finding every thought and movement exhausting. Five, six, seven . . . then a pause before Ellie’s brief but chipper voice mail.
Hi, this is Ellie. Leave a message or just text me.
Travis pressed the red button to cut off the call and stared at the phone.
“That’s so strange,” he said to himself, and then looked at Amelia like he was seeking answers. “She’s been waiting to hear about you all day. Let me try again.”
He dialed again and held the phone to his ear. Three rings and then a pause. Ellie’s voice, thin and nervous.
“Hello?”
“Brown, where are you? I’ve got some good news.” He smiled down at Amelia, his face suddenly bright and animated. This man didn’t just work with Ellie; he liked her. For some reason the thought made Amelia swell with a bit of pride. She didn’t blame him; her sister was beautiful and funny and strong . . . so so strong.
“Yeah? Everything okay?” Ellie asked, sounding hesitant like this was some kind of trick.
“More than okay. Amelia is awake. She’s talking and coherent and asking for you. Are you close?”
Amelia couldn’t hear her response. Gaining a little strength, she gestured for the phone.
“Here, I’m going to pass you to her.” He nodded briefly and put the phone to her ear. Ellie’s breathing was loud and shallow through the receiver and didn’t sound right.
“Hey, L. You okay, sweetie?” She talked to her like she used to when Ellie was just a little girl and Amelia was the fill-in mom. Ellie gasped, and her voice hitched.
“M . . . you made it. Oh my God, I’m sorry I’m not there.” A loud whimper muffled the rest of her sentence, and even lying in bed, Amelia ached to reach out and comfort her.
“Shhh, Ellie. It’s going to be okay.” In the background, behind Ellie’s faint cries, she thought she heard a man’s voice speaking sternly. Ellie seemed to respond to the voice by taking a gulp of air and swallowing loudly. When she spoke again, her voice was less emotional, more measured.
“Ellie, where are you?” she asked with a sinking feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with the surgical incision there.
“I’m in the car, on my way. I’ll be there soon. I promise.” The voice in the background rumbled, and there was something about the tone of Ellie’s comment that made Amelia bristle.
“You aren’t in the car, Ellie. Who’s with you? Who is that man?” As Amelia’s alarm increased, Travis took notice. She could see the muscles in his arms tense and the corners of his eyes draw together. Ellie’s breathing grew heavy again and thick.
“I’m at your house. I’m with Ste—” The words were rushed and spilled out fluidly until the last was cut short and the phone went dead. Amelia glanced up at Travis, who was still holding the phone to her ear. He was watching her facial expressions intently, leaning over the bed railing until the plastic casing creaked.
Ellie’s last phrases went through her thoughts again, sparking a dim thought or memory. Her house. Her husband. Her sister’s voice, strained and on edge. Then the bright flash of a gunshot and another. A man with a mask but another man too. A man she knew but couldn’t quite make out.
“You need to find Ellie.” Amelia turned her face toward Travis, knocking the phone over, the steady beeping on the machine turning crazy again. “I think she’s in trouble.”
CHAPTER 39
ELLIE
Wednesday, May 11
7:36 a.m.
Steve yanked the phone from Ellie’s hand and pressed the End button. He placed it in the front pocket of his pastel button-up shirt angrily.
“Damn it, Ellie. What the hell?” Steve glared at her. “I told you that no one could know I was here. I have to get out of town, now. I shot a man. I can’t stay.”
Ellie put her hands in her pockets to keep them from shaking. Seeing Steve in the abandoned house was shocking enough, but then when he told her about shooting Randy and leaving town, her knees went weak, and she wondered how many more of her idols could fall in one day.