Silent Witness (7 page)

Adam raised his face off the wire mesh. His head spun and the hand he held against his face came away wet with blood. It took him a moment to get his bearings.

They must have been in an accident. But he couldn’t remember any of it.

Adam ripped a piece of cloth from the tail of his shirt, and wrapped the makeshift bandanna tightly around his head to apply pressure.

“Are you okay? Adam, talk to me.”

“I’m okay.” He blinked his eyes and tried to clear his head. He stared unseeingly through the wire mesh and then his eyes widened as everything came into focus. “Liz! Are you hurt?”

She was crying…and grinning…and hanging upside down.
What had happened?

“I’m okay, Adam. Check on Jeremy.”

Immediately Adam turned his attention to the crying boy, who was also suspended from the ceiling. Expertly and slowly he moved his hands over the boy’s body to check for any major injuries or breaks. When nothing seemed wrong, he released the seat belt and lowered Jeremy to a standing position in the tiny space in front of him.

Jeremy wrapped his arms around Adam and held on like he was never going to let go.

Adam twisted his left arm behind his back and pushed down on the handle, but the car door didn’t open. Of course. The back doors in a police cruiser are automatically locked.

“Liz, are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Can you open the back door?”

He heard her grunt and watched as she struggled to move.

“Can you get your seat belt unfastened and move yourself into an upright position?”

“I don’t think so. The metal clasp on my seat belt is crushed. I can’t release it.”

“Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

“I’m stuck. Something heavy is pinning my legs. But I’m not in any pain.”

“Can you reach your radio and call for help?”

“I already did.”

No sooner had she answered than the sound of multiple sirens filled the air.

She grunted and groaned and twisted. “Try it now.”

“What?”

“The door.”

Adam pressed down on the handle. He fell out. The short fall knocked the wind out of him. Jeremy tumbled with him, amazingly never letting loose of his death grip on him. He helped the boy to a sitting position.

“We’re okay.” Adam forced Jeremy’s face around. “Look at me. I need to help Ms. Lizzie.” He pried the boy’s hands loose. “Sit here. Don’t move. Do you hear me? Don’t move.”

Adam rushed around to the driver’s side of the car. The entire front of the vehicle looked like a crushed tin can in a recycling bin.

Please, God, don’t let Lizzie’s legs be tangled in that mess.

Adam tugged on the door handle but it wouldn’t budge. He shoved his fingers between the twisted door and the bent frame and then pulled with every ounce of strength in his body. Nothing.

“Try this. It’s all I have for now.” Darlene seemed to appear out of nowhere and Adam had never been happier to see anyone. He took the crowbar from her hand.

“I’ve radioed for the Jaws of Life unit. They should be here soon. Is the sheriff okay?”

“I’m fine,” Liz yelled when she heard her deputy’s voice. “Take care of Jeremy.”

Darlene raced around the car. As she reached the child, she tripped over the teddy bear, which must have fallen out of the car when they’d exited. She sat on the ground, scooped the child up on her lap and handed him the stuffed toy.

Surprisingly, the boy’s cries had stopped and he watched the commotion in silence, his thumb tucked in his mouth, his body gently rocking back and forth.

Adam glanced over at those serious brown eyes and worried that the boy might be going into shock. But there was nothing he could do for him right now. He hoped the paramedics would arrive soon. All he could think about at the moment was getting Lizzie out of this death trap.

He placed the crowbar in the opening again and pulled with all his strength. Still nothing. Not even the slightest budge. He pulled again and again.

Adam saw Sal slide down the ridge a foot or two, fall on his butt, and then regain his footing and continue his slide until he reached them. “Here’s another crowbar. Maybe two of them will give us the leverage we need.”

“Three are better than two.” Tom Miller joined the two men.

Adam, Tom and Sal inserted the crowbars into the opening, used the force of their bodies as leverage and pushed down with all their might. On the second try they were able to pry the door open just wide enough that Sal could reach inside and cut Liz free of her seat belt. No longer bound, she was able to dislodge the computer console that had broken off and pinned her beneath the dashboard.

Once free, she slipped to the floor, which was actually the ceiling of her patrol car, and pulled her feet under her. Her face grimaced in pain and she tentatively ran a hand over her thigh. Her pant leg was torn and her hand came away wet.

The sight of red on her palm sprung Adam into action.

They needed to get Liz out of the car.

Now.

Before anyone else noticed the steady stream of gasoline slowly pooling around their feet.

“Can you climb out on your own?” Adam yelled.

“I don’t think so. My leg doesn’t seem to want to hold my weight.”

“The door’s not open enough to get you out,” Sal yelled. “If we break the window, maybe we can hoist you through.”

“Gas.” Tom kept his voice low so only the other two men could hear. “We’re standing in gasoline.”

Adam locked eyes with the man. He kept his voice low and stern. “Then we better get your sheriff out of this car before it becomes her coffin. Right?”

The man squirmed beneath Adam’s intense stare and then nodded.

Sal, with his slim, tall build, elbowed his way past Adam, flopped on the ground and shoved his arms inside the opening.

“Grab my hands, boss. We don’t have any time to lose.”

“Everybody hightail it to the road. Now!” Deputy Miller swung his hat back and forth as he ushered gathering onlookers up the embankment. As the smell of gasoline grew stronger, none of them needed a second invitation.

“That goes for you, too, Doc,” Tom ordered.

“I’m not leaving Lizzie.”

Tom grabbed Adam’s arm and stepped between Adam and the car. “Sal’s got it under control. Right now that boy up yonder needs you—and I’ll be guessing the sheriff might need a little informal counseling, too, when all of this is over. Get going, Doc.”

Adam fought the urge to push the older man out of his way. His adrenaline was pumping. He felt like a bull ready to charge anything and anyone in his path that tried to keep him from Liz. Until he saw her hands clasped tightly to Sal’s wrists and knew the detective was going to get her out.

He locked eyes with Tom. The older man nodded and released his hold on Adam’s arm. Reluctantly, Adam turned and climbed up the embankment.

From the top of the rise, Adam turned and watched Sal pull Liz into his arms. He could barely stand the feeling of failure that washed over him. It wasn’t
his
hands that had pulled her from the wreckage. It wasn’t
his
arms wrapped around her. He’d let her down—again. She’d been better off without him years ago and nothing had changed. She didn’t need him now, either.

“Put me down.” Liz wriggled and pushed against Sal’s chest. “I can walk.”

“We’re almost at the top.”

“Sal, I’m not kidding. Put me down. How do you think it looks to all those people that the sheriff can’t climb up this embankment under her own steam?”

Sal hesitated then let her slide to her feet, but he kept a steadying hand on her arm.

When they reached the crest of the hill, Liz nodded at Sal, mouthed the word
thanks
and then limped hurriedly straight toward the ambulance in search of Jeremy and Adam.

“Ma’am, better let me take a look at that leg. It might need stitches.” A paramedic intercepted her before she’d reached her destination. He gestured to the gaping wound visible through her shredded pant leg.

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, ma’am. It’s deep and nasty looking. Let me clean it up and pack it for you, at least until we can get you to a hospital.”

“I said I’m fine. How are the boy and Dr. Morgan?” Liz looked beyond the paramedic’s shoulder and saw Adam sitting on a gurney and another paramedic bandaging his forehead.

Jeremy was strangely quiet on the gurney beside him, particularly with all the uniforms milling about. But then she noticed that the boy was wrapped in the top of a scrub uniform. Adam must have requested an extra top from one of the paramedics. How creative for Adam to have eased Jeremy’s fears by dressing the boy the same as the men around him.

Adam turned his head at the sound of her voice and looked out the back of the ambulance. He appeared defeated, guilty even. What did he have to feel guilty about? She’d been the one who had lost control of the car. Before she could draw close enough to speak with him, Sal grabbed her arm and spun her around.

“I told you this was a bad idea.” Anger poured out of him like steam from a boiling teakettle.

“What are you talking about?”

“You should have put that kid in foster care, preferably in another county. We don’t have the manpower to handle this.”

“I lost control of the car. It has nothing to do with Jeremy.”

“Really? How did you lose control?” He bounced on the pads of his feet, more agitated than she could remember ever seeing him. “Have you looked at that car? Someone shot out your tires! Think maybe that would make you lose control?”

“My tires?” Liz looked at the crumpled mass below. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. Front and rear, driver’s side.”

“Leave her alone. Hasn’t she been through enough?”

Liz sensed Adam’s presence behind her. She could almost feel the brush of his breath on her neck. The temptation to turn and bury her face against his chest, feel the safe haven of his arms, was intense. But she didn’t. She didn’t need anyone’s protection. She was the protector.

Sal stormed forward, forcing Liz to step aside. He poked Adam in the chest multiple times with his index finger. “This is your fault. Ever since you showed up, she hasn’t used the brains she was born with. That kid belongs in the care of Child Protective Services. If you’re so worried about him, then here’s a suggestion for you. Why don’t
you
take him some place far, far away? Neither one of you needs to be here mucking up this investigation and making it impossible for us to do our jobs.”

“Sal, stop it.” Liz stepped between the two men and tried to keep her astonishment from showing on her face. “What’s got into you? Stop it right now.”

When Sal joined the force, they had flirted a bit with each other, tested the waters, so to speak. Once Liz realized Sal didn’t share her faith, and probably never would, the relationship ended. They’d remained friends and over the years developed a tight, successful working partnership. Nothing more—at least on her part. “What were you thinking?” Sal got in her face. He continued to have trouble keeping his temper in check. “We’re a staff of five. We can’t protect you and the boy and work the case. Keeping him here is a death warrant. I could have been pulling your corpse out of that car.”

One look at his flushed cheeks and overbright eyes turned Liz speechless. He still had feelings for her—and she’d never known.

“Hold on, son.” Tom Miller stepped up and patted Sal on the back. “I know the tires were blown out but we don’t know for sure it had anything to do with the boy. She was driving a patrol car. Someone could have been targeting our department in general or the sheriff in particular. Not everyone is in our corner when we arrest people.”

“Tom’s right.” Liz grabbed hold of the lifeline Tom had just tossed. “It might not have anything to do with Jeremy.”

Liz placed her hand gently on Sal’s arm. “I know you’re upset. But you saved me.” She smiled into his eyes. “Thank you. You are a dear friend.”

Their eyes locked and silent messages flashed between them.

An embarrassed flush, probably caused by his emotional overreaction, covered Sal’s neck. She knew he was trying to save face when he nodded and started to turn away.

Suddenly, a deafening roar filled the air. The ground shook from the force of the explosion and a fireball shot at least fifty feet into the air.

Even though Liz stood on the ridge, she could still feel the heat from the bright orange-yellow flames that were turning her patrol car into liquid metal and ash. Thick, black, acrid smoke billowed through the air, filling her lungs, burning her eyes and causing her throat to spasm with violent coughs.

Grateful that she had been pulled from the vehicle in time, she couldn’t help but wonder if her luck would hold next time. That uneasy sixth sense she’d come to rely on over the years sped along her nerve endings and twisted her gut into painful knots. Liz was certain that it wasn’t
if
there’d be a next time—but
when.

FIVE

“L
izzie.”

Strong hands spun her around and she found herself cradled against a broad, rock-solid chest. She breathed in the tantalizing mix of spicy aftershave and maleness.

“It’s going to be all right.” Adam’s voice rumbled against the top of her head and when he spoke his breath fanned through her hair like a welcome summer breeze.

For an instant, Liz allowed herself the luxury of accepting his comfort. She burrowed deeply into the warmth of his arms as if it were a restful cocoon from all harm. For just this one precious moment, she wasn’t Sheriff Bradford needing to organize a crime scene. She wasn’t a woman living with past hurts and unanswered questions. She was simply Lizzie—a woman cradled in the arms of a man who had once laughed with her, protected her and loved her.

His arms felt so good. Her cheek pressed against his chest reminded her of teenage years where a hug could last for hours and a kiss… She didn’t think she would ever be able to forget the tenderness or feel of his kiss.

Then the moment passed. Time to come back to real life.

Gently, but with determination, she pushed against his chest and stepped back. “Adam, I’d appreciate it if you’d check on Jeremy. He needs you right now.”