Upstate Uproar (25 page)

Wendy poked her head out of the door. “One of
these boxes was mostly random people, not much to the files. The
box we’re currently going through has a little bit thicker files,
but I’m not seeing much of interest.”

“Same here,” Pierre said, “but honestly, I
have no idea what I’m looking for.”

Vivian walked into the office and pulled the
lid off the last white box, shining the flashlight inside. The box
was nearly empty.

She flipped through a couple of files. The
names were in Grandpa’s handwriting but Vivian didn’t recognize any
of them.
Is this his heavy hitters box?
She took them over
to the briefcase. “Will these fit in there?” she asked Lucy.

Lucy popped the latches. “Yep.” She stuck
them in and closed it.

Vivian shined the flashlight around the room
for a final look. “It couldn’t hurt to take the rest of the files
in this box. If Grandpa took the time to write it down and make a
file, there could be something important.”

Pierre picked up the half-empty box and
walked toward the door to the hallway. “We’ve had lights on in here
long enough. We need to go before someone calls the cops.”

Vivian clicked off the lamp on Nicole’s desk.
They went back through the printing press area and hustled out the
back door.

“How are we going to lock the door?” Vivian
said as she walked out.

“No way to lock up without crawling through
the fan,” Pierre said.

“No way I’m doing that again,” Lucy said.

Wendy tapped the box Pierre held. “We’ve got
the important stuff here. There’s not much to steal besides the one
computer and the presses. I doubt that’ll happen. I think our only
option is to leave it unlocked.”

“It’ll be fine,” Vivian said, even though
she’d rather not. She didn’t see any other option. “Nothing bad’s
going to happen. This is a nice, quiet town.”

They walked to the car and found the engine
off and the doors all locked.

Kate had her seat laid back and a forearm
covering her eyes. She was fast asleep.

Vivian couldn’t believe it. “So much for
being our lookout!”

A
fter tapping on the
driver’s side glass and waking up Kate, the girls and Pierre loaded
into the SUV, files in the back, and headed toward Turlington
Farms. Pierre had offered to drive, but Kate insisted she was fine.
It had been a long day and not exactly the relaxing vacation Vivian
had envisioned. She leaned her head against the back passenger door
and started to nod off.

“That car is right on my butt,” Kate said,
pulling Vivian out of that sweet spot between consciousness and
unconsciousness.

They were outside Lake Placid Village on a
two-lane road lined with trees. Vivian turned to look out the back
window and had to squint from the lights, which were high enough to
shine directly into the back glass.

“What a jerk,” she said. “I think it’s a
truck, probably a short guy since that is a big truck.”

Wendy sat shotgun. “Are you going under the
speed limit, Kate? Maybe you should go faster?”

“I’m going five miles over,” Kate replied but
pressed the gas pedal harder all the same. The headlights stayed
just as bright and right behind them, keeping pace. “I wish there
was a place for me to pull off and let him pass.” She clicked on
the high beams.

The road curved to the right but Kate didn’t
slow, just kept her hands at 10 and 2. The truck tapped their
bumper, then backed off.

“Ahhh!” Kate screamed. “What the hell?”

“I’m calling 911,” Wendy said just as a
harder hit came. “Oh shit.”

“I think they’re trying to make us crash!”
Kate screamed, just as the truck pushed harder against the back of
the SUV, then backed off, revved the engine and steered slightly to
the left.

“Hang on!” Pierre yelled.

The blow sent them into a spin. Everyone
screamed. The lyrics to Josh Weathers’ “Save Yourself” ran through
Vivian’s mind.
Go on and save yourself, baby!

Kate tried to turn into it but the SUV
careened off the road, crashing through the bridge railing, which
caused the airbags to deploy.

The SUV plunged into the lake.

After the jolt of landing in the water,
Vivian felt the weightlessness of the car as it bobbed. Cold water
began gushing in through the doors, and the SUV started its descent
into the dark waters.

“Crack the windows if you can!” she
yelled.

“What?” Kate yelled.

“We need to equalize the pressure so we can
get out.”

Too late. The front of the SUV nosedived, the
engine cut off and they lost power. Pierre turned in his seat and
threw his legs up, kicking at the back driver’s side glass. The
window didn’t give, so he kicked it again as more icy water poured
in.

Kate fought with her deflating airbag, then
pulled on her door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. “Get me out of
here!” She pounded frantically on her window. “My baby!”

“Kate, the pressure has to equalize before we
can open the doors or bust out the windows,” Vivian said, trying to
sound calm, although she felt anything but calm inside. “It won’t
take much longer. We’ll make it.”
Let me be right.

Kate leaned against the door, sobbing, and
Wendy started pulling on the passenger’s side door handle.

Vivian’s panic rose as Pierre kicked at the
window again. It didn’t crack so he continued the pounding. With
the headlights out, she had a difficult time seeing anything inside
the car and couldn’t see out at all.

The water rose to Vivian’s stomach, and she
knew they’d most likely die from drowning, although exposure would
get them first if they could stay afloat that long. Pierre gave the
side window another blow, this time breaking through. He delivered
a few more swift kicks to the jagged edges.

“This is going to be tough, but as soon as
the water is in here we’ll be able to get out,” Vivian said. “I saw
it on ‘Dateline’ or something.” Her legs were already freezing from
the water. “Kate, it’s going to be okay.”

“Take a few deep breaths,” Pierre said. “I
promise, I’ll get you all out of here.”

It didn’t take long for the water to reach
the top. “Get ready!” he yelled. “I’m going to get Kate first. Then
make sure Wendy is out. Lucy, you and Vivian stay together. Here we
go!”

The water enveloped them. Pierre pushed his
door open, then opened Kate’s door. He took her hand and pulled her
out, helping her to the surface. Then he dived back down and helped
Wendy. She’d gotten her door open and was on her way to the
top.

Vivian and Lucy were holding hands when
they’d gone all the way under. After Pierre slipped out to get
Kate, they started out of the car together, Lucy first, but their
hands slipped and they lost each other in the panic.

Vivian swam out of the window and shortly
surfaced. “Lucy?” she sputtered, coughing and swallowing lake
water. “Lucy!”

“I’m here!”

“Kate?”

“I’m here with Wendy,” she yelled.

Pierre grabbed Vivian’s hand and pulled her
toward the shore. “You can swim, right?”

“Yes. I lost Lucy.” Vivian started crying. “I
thought I’d lost Lucy.” Her legs were numb from the freezing water,
but she swam with every bit of strength she had. Thankfully the SUV
hadn’t flown too far out into the lake, and it was only a few
strokes before she touched the bottom and dragged herself on
shore.

The girls huddled together, hugging and
crying on the small muddy beach, and made room for Vivian as she
joined them.

“I’m going up to the road to get help,”
Pierre said and took off.

“Kate, how are you?” Vivian asked,
drained.

Kate wiped her eyes and took a big breath
while rubbing her belly. “I don’t know. The airbag.” She
shivered.

“Help will be here soon,” Lucy said, rubbing
her hands up and down Kate’s arms.

Wendy pointed to the guardrail they had flown
through. “Thank god that was there. No telling how far we might
have gone.”

Vivian turned her attention to where the SUV
had been. A few bubbles floated to the surface, then a burst came
from the water and the chrome briefcase popped up.

“Grandpa’s notes!” Wendy yelled.

“We might have ended up dead because of
those,” Lucy said.

“There has to be something important in his
notes,” Wendy said. “And we need to find it, so we can find who ran
us off the road. Assholes!”

Vivian pumped her fist in the air. “Yeah! And
they’re going to pay for putting Little Plum in danger!”

“Yeah!” Lucy and Wendy said together.

Kate smiled a little and brought her knees up
to her chest, or as close as she could get them. “I don’t think
Nicole accidentally ate something bad. This is related. Someone’s
got a secret and they don’t want her, or us, finding it out.”

“Kate, did you see anyone at Nicole’s office
before you conked out?”

“No, I don’t remember seeing anyone.”

Pierre showed up by the demolished railing.
“Help is on the way. I ran to a house down the road and broke in to
use the phone. I’m going to come down and help get you all get up
here. It’s steep, so we’re going one at a time.”

He trudged down and took Kate up first. Then
Lucy, Wendy and Vivian last.

“I’m ready to kill whoever did this to us,”
he said as they used the trees as leverage to get up the
embankment. “I was going to leave tomorrow, but now I’m
staying.”

Vivian almost lost her balance a couple of
times; the mud didn’t want to relinquish its hold on her feet. It
was an arduous process, but they made it to the road.

The four girls sat on the side of the road
and Pierre threw a comforter over them.

“I grabbed it off a bed in their house,” he
said. “Figured I could buy them a new one.”

A cloud passed in front of the moon, and it
was quiet except for the chattering of teeth. Vivian heard a car
and then saw headlights coming around the curve. “Please let them
be a Good Samaritan and stop.”

“Amen to that,” Wendy said.

Pierre jumped up and down and waved his arms.
The car slowed and came to a stop, and the driver rolled down the
window. Pierre bent to talk to the driver and pointed toward the
lake.

“I’m so cold, I’m not sure I can take much
more.” Kate cupped her hands to her face and breathed into them.
“This is where wearing a wetsuit and peeing in it could really warm
you up.”

“I refused to do that rafting in Colorado,”
Wendy said. “But I’d give it some serious consideration right now.
I’m so cold I feel like my veins would break like glass if I
extended my arms.”

Pierre walked over. “Kate, they said you can
come sit with them to warm up if you’d like. They don’t care that
you’re wet.”

“Oh, thank you!”

He looked at the other girls. “Sorry, only
room for one. I’m going to run back down by the water and see if I
can’t get that briefcase.”

“Be careful,” Lucy called out, then looked at
Vivian. “What would Bear Grylls say to do in this situation?”

“Strip down!” she answered and laughed. “By
god, I might just do it!”

T
he wail of a siren
cut through the night and lifted Vivian’s spirits, so she decided
to not get naked. The impenetrable cold was about to be a thing of
the past.

A sheriff cruiser followed by an ambulance
stopped, and two officers followed by two paramedics got out. They
talked to the driver, who pointed toward the bridge and their group
standing just beyond it. One paramedic stayed with Kate, and the
other ran across the street toward them.

Another truck screeched to a stop coming from
the other direction. Larson got out and joined the paramedic with
the group as one of the deputies began putting flares around the
scene.

“What happened?” He leaned down and put his
arm around Vivian as Pierre appeared with the chrome briefcase.

“A truck ran us off the road. Pierre saved
the day.” She snuggled close to his warmth.

The paramedic was talking to Kate, asking her
questions. Vivian watched as he opened the door to the car and
helped her out. She walked with him to the ambulance, and he helped
her onto the bench in the back.

Larson smiled at Vivian. “You sure know how
to make a lasting impression. You’re one woman I won’t ever
forget.”

Vivian laughed and almost cried with relief
but didn’t take her eyes off Kate. “I do like to make a
splash.”

They laughed about that, and she told him
about the truck that intentionally ran them off the road.

“That’s unbelievable,” Larson said. “And
pretty damn frightening.”

“What are you doing here?” Vivian asked.

“I was on my way home and heard the call on
my scanner. I was close so thought I’d better stop.” Larson turned
his attention to Lucy and Wendy, and the other paramedic brought
them each a blanket, Pierre included.

Pierre held up the briefcase. “Can we put
this in your truck for now?”

“Sure thing, let me get this, you go get
warmed up.” Larson took the briefcase and put it in the bed of his
truck.

Lights and a siren were seen and heard and a
sheriff’s car came into view moments later. The cruiser screeched
to a stop and Deputy Stokola got out. She nodded to Larson and the
paramedics as she walked toward the group. A second sheriff’s car
came around the curve and parked behind Stokola. Deputy Young
slammed the door and bustled toward everyone.

Stokola’s uniform looked like she had tossed
it into the clothes hamper and then thrown it back on when she got
the emergency call. She took out a notebook and pen, then looked at
the girls and Pierre. “I’d say it’s nice to see you again, but not
under these circumstances.”