In Search of Grace (27 page)

             
He knelt down next to her,
trying
to pull her into his arms, but she would not allow him to touch her.  Standing up
,
she balled her hands into fists.  He
panicked
knowing he was
losing her
again.
  

             
The silence was deafening, as they both were deep within their own thoughts
trying to figure out their next move
.
Mentally exhausted from hiding all of the time
,
she realized
she
d
id feel better having finally revealed to
Charles
what was eating at her
and
haunting her for years.
  Looking towards the kitchen her eyes caught sight of the flowers. 

             
“Did you get me flowers?”

             
“
What
?”

             
“There
are
lilies on the counter
.
Did you get me flowers?”

             
“No, sorry, I didn’t.  They were on your front porch
when you were in
New York
.  I meant to give them to
you,
but for some reason, forgot.”

             
Walking to the
kitchen,
he returned and handed the bouquet to her.  Watching
intently
, he
waited for any change in
her expression as she
reached in and pulled out the e
nvelope
with
the card.  All color drained from her face as she
looked at the card.
  Seth
quickly went to her.
  “Alex, what is it?”
Staring blankly at him, she turned the card over so that he could see
the
words
.
He read them out loud, already knowing what it said. 
“Grace, I cannot wait to see you again.”

             
“Who
sent
th
ese
to you?”

             
“I don’t know.”

             
“
You’re
lying to me
!”

             
She flinched at his
tone
.
With a shaky hand, she ran her fingers though her hair.
Her head was starting to pound again.  All of this was too much for her.
             

             
His
cell phone
started to ring.
 

             
“Your phone is ringing.” 

             
“I don’t care.  Let’s talk about it
,
Alex
.
” It bothered him that her voice was c
ompletely devoid of any emotion.  All tears stopped
as
she crawled
deep
within
herself.
 

             
Silence hung heavy in the
room
as they
stared at each other
-
b
oth refusing to back down.  The sound of his cell phone ringing again echoed through the house.

             
“I think you really need to get that
,
s
eems important.”

             
“Don’t move.” 
Seth jabbed a finger in the air at her before walking to the
counter
.  Flipping
the phone over, he saw Tommy’s number. 
Alex walked back to the living room
,
sinking onto the
co
u
ch
.  She felt like she was going to throw up.  She heard his voice
coming
from the
kitchen.

“Tommy, this better be fucking important
‘cause I am in the middle of something
.  What?
!?!
 
Are you kidding me? 
Ok.  I will be there as soon as I can.
  Dammit, I
AM in
Malden
, I will
get
there when I can.
”
 

             
“Alex,
b
aby, I have to go to work for a little while.”  Kneeling in front of her on the couch
,
he took her cold hands in his
while
soften
ing
his voice
. “You promised a short time ago that you would trust me.  When I get
back,
we need to talk.  Okay
?”

             
“O
kay
.
”

             
She
felt
him pressing something in her hand and she looked down, surprised at seeing a key there.  She looked at him
confused
.
“It’s a key to my house.
If you get scared or need a change of scenery, let yourself in
.
”

             
He
stood.  “I will call you
if I can to check on you.”

             
Turning the door handle, he looked back at her.  He hated how pale she was.  Her whole body still.  “Alex, call Charles
,
ok
ay
? 
Ask
him
to
come and hang out with you?”

             
Alex nodded, knowing that was what Seth wanted.  She did not intend to call anyone after he left.  She just wanted to curl up and have a good cry.

             
Seth swore as he jumped in his truck.  He fought the urge to go back in and force her to talk to him.  He wanted details.  It was time she stopped running.
Unfortunately,
Tommy needed him. 
He could not believe that s
omeone found another body, this time at the Fells Reservation.  Frowning
,
he turned on his wipers.  He knew Tommy’s urgency had to do with the rain.  Clues would be lost if it rained harder.  He wished he had listened to the news
,
unsure of what
the weather was going to be. 
Driving quickly
,
he was at the
Crystal
Springs
parking area on the Lynn Fells Parkway in less than 10 minutes.  Hiking up the trail, he wondered at this killer.  It could be no coincidence that all three bodies found were on
local
reservation
s
.  Flashing his
ID
at each checkpoint up the trail
,
the rain started coming down harder, dripping
off
his hat.

             
R
eaching
the orange stake
set as a temporary
marker
,
he
turned
off
the main trail.
Hiking
another quarter
mile, he could see the bright yel
low caution tape
. 
Tommy was standing with a group
of other office
r
s
,
waving
when he saw Seth
approach
.

             
Breaking from the group, he walked towards Seth, notebook in hand, relief written all over his face at seeing him.

             
“Thanks for taking your time asshole.  It is miserable up here
,
and this rain is not helping.”

             
Seth ignored him as he
stared
intently
at the body while h
is eyes quickly scan
ned
the area
.
S
omething was wrong
,
but
he could not quite put
his finger on it yet.  Her body was
definitely
staged, just like the others
.  That h
e knew for sure.  He noted the white lilies resting on her midriff clutched in one hand, the other hand stretched out palm up.  He could see the bruises around her neck, even from this distance.  Her hair was brown and meticulously arranged to fan out around her face.  He frowned.
 
There it was.  Her eyes were closed
.

             
“What?”  Tommy looked at the body.  “What do you see
,
Walton
?
”

             
“Son of a bitch!”  Seth bolted through the cautio
n tape to her, kneeling down,
pressing his fingers to her neck
.

             
“What the hell are you
doing?
  You are destroying evidence.”

             
“She is alive
,
dammit!  Call an ambulance!”

             
At his words, the whole area jumped into action, everyone in disbelief.  Tossing the lilies to one
side,
he took her outstretched arm and gently moved it to place on her stomach
in an attempt to make her as comfortable as possible
.  He could not believe she was alive.
Brushing her hair back
,
she moaned at his touch.  He thought of Alex.  “You’re safe now.”  Seth watched her eye
lids
flutter
.  S
he did not have the strength to open them.  She was trying to see who was there
. 
He knew s
he was
terrified
. 

             
“My name is Seth, I am a State Trooper,
and we
are getting some
people
here to help you.  You are safe now
.  Do you hear me?  You are safe
.”  His heart constricted as he watched a single tear fall.  Someone handed him a blanket, and he immediately covered her.  Several other officers unrolled some plastic
while
four of them stood
,
holding it over her
in a desperate attempt to keep her dry.   It seemed like an eternity to everyone at the site for the
paramedics
to
arrive.
Seth never left her side as they administered to her
.  He continued to hold
her hand, ta
lking
her through the process
, always letting
her know what they were doing and why. 
Seth
knew that she floated in and out of consciousness
,
and he wanted to make sure that it was his voice she heard each time she came to.
When they loaded her into the ambulance
, her eyes finally opened and made contact with his
before closing again
.  Squeezing her hand in reassurance, she weakly squeezed back.  Seth
stood as the rain pounded him
,
not turn
ing away
until he no longer heard the sire
n
s.

             
Tommy stood, watching him
,
a little afraid.
  He could tell Walton was pissed.
“
We
didn’t know.”

             
“Not one person thought to check her pulse?  I
do not
even wa
n
t to know
how long you all were
here
before I
arrived
.”
  He strode back up to the spot
l
ooking at the group of officers that were staring at him
.
“Let’s move forward, see if there is anything new,
and then
head back to the office.  I want to go over everything with fresh eyes.” 

             
Seth’s jaw clenched.  “He is fucking up and making mistakes
.  If she makes it, we now have a witness
.  I want this son of a bitch
.
”