Now Stella knew what people meant by time standing still. As Eric burst from his truck, she sucked in a breath and Eric whipped around at the sound. She saw him blink in surprise as he took in her presence. Saw understanding cross his face as he took in the pistol in her hand. Heard Steel yelling. Saw Eric raise his weapon and point it at her heart.
And in that split second before she could pull the trigger, while she already knew she’d be too late to fire before Eric did, Eric’s body jolted forward suddenly, his eyes wide. His mouth dropped open in an O of surprise. Then he fell—
Time sped up again. Blood spattered the hood of the truck. Stella fell back, a cry of surprise dying in her throat as Eric’s lifeless body crashed to the ground out of sight.
Steel reached her, darting around the vehicle, just as the world went funny and the sky tilted.
“You all right?”
Yes. She was. She had to be. Stella blinked back the faintness, caught her breath, straightened. “Liz!” she cried. Steel half supported, half dragged her where she wanted to go. They opened the extended cab’s back door together, and Stella cried out again in joy to see Liz’s eyes open, body wriggling against the duct tape that pinioned her.
Steel made quick work of freeing the girl, and Liz scrambled to launch herself into Stella’s embrace. Her words and tears made understanding her difficult, but Stella didn’t care. She had forever to listen. Liz was safe. Eric was dead.
It was all over.
Rain began to fall as sirens blared and cruisers and ambulances pulled up, disgorging deputies and EMTs. Stella rocked Liz in her arms, crooning a litany of assurances to her. Steel stood watch, helped them into an ambulance when it was time and rode with her and Liz, while Virginia went with Jed and Lily in a second one.
Stella, Liz still in her arms, watched raindrops slide down the windows, shivering in spite of the warm weather and the blanket an EMT had put around her shoulders.
“Shock,” Steel said, but he sounded far away. He gripped her hand, his solid body next to hers assuring her this wasn’t a dream, no matter how strange she felt.
“Water’s rising,” she heard one of the EMTs saying. “We need to get across that bridge now before we’re stuck on this side.”
The other one whistled as the ambulance bumped over what she could only suspect was the bridge over Chance Creek. Out the small back windows she got a glimpse of the fast-moving water. That brought her out of her reverie. “I’ve never seen it that high,” she said to Steel.
He shook his head. “There’s going to be flooding,” he agreed.
The next few hours passed in a blur. Jed was whisked into surgery to remove the bullet that had entered his chest just below his left shoulder. Liz was taken to a private room, and the rest of them accompanied her. She was tucked into bed and checked over. Virginia brushed off all suggestions that she should be looked at, too.
“There’s nothing wrong with me except too many years of this kind of crap,” she snapped at an orderly. “I’ve been run off my feet today, and now I’m tired. I’m going to sit down right here. You’re going to bring me a nice cup of tea and then get lost.”
Mary and Maya arrived soon afterward, making it across the bridge to Chance Creek before the water got too high. They fussed around Virginia until she shooed them away, too, but she allowed herself to be ensconced in the best chair in the room with a blanket wrapped around her. Some minutes later, the orderly arrived with her tea and just as swiftly withdrew again.
Lily hunched in a straight-backed chair in the corner. Stella settled into one closer to Liz. She’d rest awhile and be right as rain. When Maya went out and returned with a strong chocolate mocha, Stella blessed her. Every sip of the sugary drink brought her back to herself.
“I’ve called Lily’s parents,” she said. “They’re moving her grandparents out of their house—it’s taking on water—so they’ll get here as soon as they can. I told them she’s doing fine.”
“I should have done that.”
“Drink up—I think you’re still in shock,” Maya said. “That was a brave thing you did saving Liz.” Maya gave her a hug, careful not to spill her drink.
Once Virginia was set, Mary sat on the edge of the hospital bed with Liz, the girl tucked under her arm, stroking her hair and murmuring to her. Liz’s tears slowed, although she gave a shuddering sob now and then.
Cab came in and questioned each of them in turn, taking copious notes about the sequence of events, especially when he talked to Lily, who cried through her explanation of how she, Lara and Sue had all been competing for Eric’s attention—until Sue died and Lily realized Eric had to be at fault. “He would have killed me, too, if I’d said anything,” she kept repeating. “He was a deputy. He said no one would believe me over him.”
“Can’t believe he was operating in plain sight,” Cab said at one point. “I helped take down another serial killer a few years back. Totally different MO. I remember talking to Eric about it. The fucker was probably taking notes.”
“You can’t blame yourself,” Stella said.
“Like hell I can’t,” Cab said, rubbed his chin and went on. “Sorry. I do blame myself, though. Feel like I’m getting something pretty wrong when one of my own men is the bad guy.”
From the look of things, Steel was just as disgusted with himself. Stella wished she could make it easier on both of them, but she supposed they would all have demons to wrestle with after this.
“Listen to that rain,” Mary said. “I guess the water Olympics would have broken up early one way or the other.”
For the first time Stella remembered
