15 Seconds

Had Martinez been a part of it too, and…? As I racked my brain searching for answers, I suddenly heard those two loud pops all over again and saw him slumped over the wheel.

Had this whole thing been set up to have him stop me and then kill him-and then have his murder pinned on me?

Light-headed, I pushed myself back against the banquette. “Who could hate me so much to want to cause me this kind of pain? You’re right, he could have killed me. He could have done it a dozen times. But he’s not trying to kill me. He’s-” He’s trying to torture me, I wanted to say. He’s stolen my daughter! “How does it feel to have everything you value taken from you? Everything you hold dear. …” “He’s trying to pay me back. For something I did to him. It’s like he’s got me trapped and he’s just toying with me before he comes in for the kill. And it’s incredible how my life has somehow managed to fit into their plan…”

“Toying with you…?”

I looked at her, drew in a breath, and sat back. I realized how crazy it all sounded and started to make a joke out of it. “Sorry. It’s a hell of a lot to go through if someone simply didn’t like how their boobs came out.”

Carrie’s eyes twinkled with an awkward smile.

“I’d have gladly redone them-gratis…” I shook my head and smiled. “Anyway, I just want to say, you’re very brave. Hell, I know how I felt just driving out to that godforsaken place… They obviously breed those community outreach gals pretty tough.”

She put her glasses back on and smiled at me. “You’re proving to be pretty self-reliant yourself. Given your occupation.”

Nanci came up again. “Everyone doin’ okay? Seems you’re liking…” We both nodded. She asked if we needed anything else, and we shook our heads no. “Then I’ll be right back.”

I looked at Carrie and something came to mind. From the first time I called her. “So what was it?” I asked. “The first time I spoke with you, you said you were just coming back…?”

“Sorry?”

“The first time we spoke. You said it was your first day back. From being out for a while…” I noticed a wedding ring. “Honeymoon? Maternity leave…?”

“No…” She tilted her head and shrugged, her expression shifting, lips pressing together in a tight smile. “It was nothing.”

“Nothing…?” It occurred to me that maybe she’d been sick, and I shouldn’t have pried. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get personal.”

“Dr. Steadman, we really have to figure out what the next step is here.” Her gaze returned to business now. “You just can’t keep on running.”

She was right, of course. But she didn’t know the truth. All my hopes had been based on tracking the killer through the license plates, and now we had found the source, and that hope was gone. Now there was no place left for me to go, except to keep running.

I tried to convey with my eyes that there was more going on than I could possibly explain. “I have no choice, Carrie.”

“There is a choice. Look, I know I haven’t slept in a night and my thinking might well be off, but we have things now… We have the video of that car at both crime scenes. We have you in your office, operating, the day that gun was bought. That’s all something. We have Fellows-somewhere, somehow he connects to whoever’s doing this. This isn’t like before. They’ll have to check these things out.”

“No, you just don’t understand…”

“You have me.” Her gaze was powerful and resolute, but then she allowed a self- deprecating smile. “I know that’s not exactly like having the attorney general on your side… But I can guarantee that these things will get looked into. And your safety. You can even do it from up here, if you like. There won’t be any guns blazing.”

“You’re suggesting I turn myself in?”

“What other way is there? We’ve both done what we can. Let’s let the professionals put it together now. Look…” she said. “I think you deserve a real detective working for you, don’t you agree…?”

“I think you’ve done just fine,” I said. “But I just can’t… There’s stuff I can’t tell you.”

“You have to, Dr. Steadman. We’re done. I don’t see any other way.”

If I told her the whole story, that the person who was trying to destroy my life also had my daughter, and it got back to the police, and they looked into locating Hallie… I couldn’t take the risk.

“I wish I could,” I said, and looked at her. “Turn myself in. But that’s not an option anymore.”

I shook my head, tears of frustration burning in my eyes. Frustration that I couldn’t tell her what I knew.

“Then don’t you see-then I can’t help you anymore, Dr. Steadman. I’m totally in over my head as it is. I can’t go on with you.” She shook her head. “I shouldn’t even be here with you now… What I should do is…”

“What? Arrest me? You’re not even a cop, Carrie. You’re in community outreach!”

“What if I screamed, then? I could yell out who you are. I doubt you’d even make it out of this diner. You definitely wouldn’t make it to the next town.”

I looked behind us, and saw there was a group of good ol’ boys standing around near the entrance who, I could imagine, would just love to raise a beer one day about how they had tackled the Jacksonville killer.

“Then scream… Go ahead. I’m in your hands. There’s your posse over there. I can see them all on the Today show tomorrow …”

Carrie gave me a pleading, no-nonsense smile. “What? What is it you can’t tell me? Look at what I put on the line for you.”

“I hope to think it over. In the morning. Just put in a little more-”

“So if it’s a yes, you’ll be at breakfast. And if it’s a no-you’ll be outta here.”

I shook my head. “I won’t be ‘outta here’… You put a lot of faith in me to do what you did. I’ll do the same for you. I promise.” I put up two fingers. “You have my word. I just need to run it all through one more time. Scout’s honor…”

“Right, like you were ever a scout.” She rolled her eyes.

“Accused murderer pack. Tiny chapter.” I smiled. “Never meet in this same place…”

She looked at me, as if she was trying to read something on my face. How much she could trust me, how much faith to put in me.

“What was it that made you believe me?” I asked her. I moved my hands close to hers. “You had no reason to look for that car. I’m damn sure no one else there would have. What was it?”

“Something you said.” She cleared her throat. “Seems kind of stupid now. In light of everything.”

“Try me.”

She shook her head. “I’ll tell you,” she said, the twinkling disappearing in her eye, “after we turn you in and they dismiss your case. Deal?”

“I guess trust is a two-way street. Takes more than a single bowl of turkey okra, huh?”

“Guess so.”

I stood up and left some bills. I smiled and put up the same two fingers. “See you in the morning. Either way.”

“Are you in the motel?” she asked me.

I shook my head. “No. Lexus.”

Chapter Forty-Six

James Fellows sat in his padded chair, smoking, long after his wife, Ida, had gone up to bed. And long after he normally would have gone up as well.

He was thinking about the two visits he’d gotten today. One, from that pretty gal who worked for the Jacksonville police. The other… he didn’t know who the other one really was. Just that he wasn’t no claims adjuster. Of that much, he was sure.