Hidden Falls (56 page)

Lauren stumbled.

Cooper’s pace was too rapid to resist the interruption to their grip on each other. Lauren’s hand slid out of his as her knees and then her face slammed into the ground.

The last thing Lauren saw was Cooper’s startled grasping at the empty air where she had been.

The last thing she heard was a break in the siren and the groaning split of an oak.

Sunday
6:03 a.m.

W
here was the nurse?

It was time for someone to wake Lauren, to check her pupils, to see if her speech was slurred, to ask what she remembered.

Someone was supposed to make sure the stillness of her sleep didn’t mean she had slipped away into a coma.

Sylvia stared at the clock on the hospital wall, as she had all through the night in dim light while the hours crawled. Outside the window now, the sky began to pink up and coax another day to life. In an hour, Sylvia’s mother would dial her home phone number, and Sylvia wouldn’t be there to answer. Instead, she would have to call Emma and calm anxiety before it stirred. They had spoken last night when everything was over.

After the storm.

After the sirens.

After the oak tree shuddered and split.

After the ambulance.

Emma was fine. She went to her basement when the tornado warning siren sounded and stayed there until the wind subsided. Sammie Dunavant was already at the house checking on her when Sylvia phoned. Emma seemed to understand Sylvia’s explanation of what happened to Lauren, though whether she would remember this morning was uncertain. Emma might look out the window at the sunrise, predict a beautiful day, and not remember yesterday’s storm.

The funnel hadn’t actually touched down in Hidden Falls, but the wind had scattered aimless debris. Sylvia had seen enough television news at the hospital to know that the storm cut a swath across central Illinois that left every town in its path in cleanup mode. Downed power lines, tree limbs—like the one that nearly landed on Lauren—strewn trash bins, twisted street signs, dangling traffic lights, broken storefront windows.

At some point, Mayor Sylvia Alexander would have to emerge from the hospital and get a full assessment of what the whirlwind storm had done to Hidden Falls. Right now she only wanted to be aunt to the young woman lying in the hospital bed.

Where was the nurse?

Sylvia had emerged from the basement of Our Savior Community Church to find Cooper Elliott shielding Lauren with his body and making sure she didn’t try to untangle herself from the web of small branches that camouflaged them. The tree limb itself had just missed them. A gash on the side of Lauren’s head marked her impact with the sidewalk. Though she regained consciousness after only a few minutes, Lauren was confused about what happened.

Ethan was there, and the ambulance responded in record time. The ER doctor quickly concurred with Ethan’s opinion that Lauren was severely concussed but otherwise unharmed. Lauren was well cared for. Still, she looked frail asleep in the bed. Sylvia had helped to keep her niece awake through the elongated afternoon and evening. Finally, Lauren had been allowed to sleep for two hours at a time.

It was time for a nurse to come in and wake her.

Sylvia’s cell phone jangled, and the noise made her jump. As she reached to answer it, she glanced at Lauren, who gave no indication that she’d heard the sound. Sylvia decided to take the call in the hall where she could also track down the nurse.

“Hi, Larry,” she said to her brother-in-law, Lauren’s father.

“Janet just listened to your message,” Larry said. “There aren’t a lot of cell phone towers in this part of Alaska. Is Lauren all right?”

“They say she’s doing well.” Sylvia relayed as much medical information as she knew. “I know you’re in the middle of the vacation of a lifetime, but I thought you would want to know.”

“Of course we do. The fishing here is great, but there’s only one little plane out every two days, and then it’s another whole day to get home.”

“Stay. They’re only keeping her for observation. She’ll be home before you get here, anyway. I’ll look after her.” Sylvia took comfort in her own composed tone. Millions of people suffered concussions every year, she told herself. If she set aside the dramatic circumstances of Lauren’s injury and believed Ethan, Lauren could be released later that day. She would just need rest.

Sylvia finished the call and caught the eye of a nurse.

“Go ahead and wake her,” the nurse said. “I’ll be in soon. If her stomach has settled, we’ll see about breakfast.”

Sylvia returned to Lauren’s room and gently nudged her shoulder. When Lauren didn’t wake, Sylvia stroked her face and called her name. After Sylvia raised her voice a couple of notches, Lauren’s head turned and her eyes opened. Sylvia wished Ethan were there to determine whether Lauren’s eyes looked right. Ethan had left two hours ago, headed for Columbus to see if he could salvage his residency.

“Hi.” Lauren’s voice was breathy and soft, but she seemed to focus on Sylvia’s face.

“How do you feel?” Sylvia asked.

“My head hurts.” Lauren’s eyes moved from side to side. “I don’t remember….”

“Would you like to sit up?” Sylvia found the remote control and pushed the appropriate button. The head of the bed rose slowly.

“Did someone find Christopher?” Lauren rubbed her eyes.

“You did,” Sylvia said. They’d had this conversation several times already.

“He was in the tree. I was running.”

“I know. You got there. Cooper got Christopher out of the tree.”

“Cooper did?” Lauren leaned forward a few inches.

“You both did.”

“So Christopher is safe?”

“Yes.”

“And Molly?”

“Also safe.”

“That’s a relief.” Lauren sank back against the bed. “Was that today?”

“Yesterday.”

“So today is Sunday?”

“That’s right.”

“I should go to church.”

Sylvia picked up Lauren’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m sure everyone understands that you can’t be there.”

She wasn’t sure what was happening at Our Savior or any of the other churches in Hidden Falls. What happened in this room is what mattered.

“I can’t see without my glasses,” Lauren said.

“They broke when you fell.” During the night, Sylvia had offered to fetch Lauren’s spare glasses from her apartment, but Lauren said they were broken as well.

“Did someone find Christopher? Is he all right?” Lauren’s face filled with anxiety.

“Yes, he’s fine.” Sylvia would reassure Lauren as many times as it took. Eventually Lauren would remember the answer to the question, even if she never remembered racing against a tornado to find a little boy who climbed a tree and couldn’t get down.

“I’m thirsty,” Lauren said.

Sylvia picked up the water pitcher and took it to the sink to freshen it before filling Lauren’s cup.

Lauren sipped through the straw and swallowed. “What time is it?”

Sylvia pointed to the clock. “The sun’s just up.”

“It’s Sunday morning, right?”

“Right.”

“You should go home,” Lauren said. “I bet you’ve been here all night.”

She had been.

“There’s a whole hospital to take care of me,” Lauren said. “Make sure Nana’s all right.”

“She is.” Sylvia kissed Lauren’s forehead. She wasn’t going anywhere.

6:24 a.m.

The ER had treated and released Cooper ten hours ago. His arms and face were a patchwork of bandages and minor scrapes, but the injuries weren’t serious.

So why, Liam wondered, had they sat together in a hospital waiting room all night, periodically changing places with their cousin Dani or Nicole Sandquist? At first, others from the church had come to the hospital, anxious to know the latest about Lauren’s condition. By suppertime, though, the crowd thinned, and by bedtime, only Liam, Cooper, Nicole, Ethan, and Dani remained. Every now and then, one of them left for the restroom or the coffee machine outside the cafeteria. At two in the morning, Dani scrounged up some doughnuts, probably abandoned at the nurses’ station. Around three, Ethan got a phone call, and by four he said good-bye.

For a week, Liam had avoided looking his brother in the eye. Now he’d spent an entire night within six feet of Cooper. If the oak limb had crashed eighteen inches to the left of where it landed, it could have smashed Cooper’s skull or broken his back. Picturing a very different scenario, Liam was unable to simply say good-bye to his brother and walk out of the hospital.

He wouldn’t have slept anyway.

Liam didn’t have the second envelope. He didn’t know what became of the box of brochures he’d found it in and into which he dropped it without reading it. Had someone carried it to safety? Where? Had the contents scattered in the gale-force wind? Had the sudden afternoon rain drenched the envelope in a ditch?

He would never know what the note said. And it didn’t matter, because Liam had made a decision while sitting under a blue-and-white-striped canopy at the health fair, watching Jessica behave in a cool, telling manner devoid of distress—while his own heart shattered like Dani’s boat smashing against the rocks of the falls. If Liam had needed any confirmation of his disturbing suspicions, he found it in Jessica’s unflapped demeanor.

Nicole was stretched out on a sofa, her fingers winding under the latches of her boot cast to scratch her leg. She had refused to let Ethan take her somewhere more comfortable before he left town. Liam understood why she remained. Nicole was enough younger than he was that she would have known Lauren Nock in high school. Liam had seen them sitting together at Quinn’s banquet last weekend, and they seemed friendly. Dani’s presence was more puzzling. Liam had expected her to leave hours ago, with the pronouncement that none of them could do anything for Lauren, so they might as well go home and sleep. But perhaps she stayed for the same reason Liam did.

Because they could have lost Cooper in one unpredictable moment.

And because Cooper wouldn’t leave, not while Lauren was lying in a room down the hall and he wasn’t permitted to visit. Liam hadn’t realized until the yawning hours of the night how attached his brother had become in the last few days. If only one of them could be happy in love, Cooper deserved it.

A nurse stepped into the waiting room, and all four vigil keepers braced for news. Cooper immediately stood up. Nicole gripped the back of the sofa.

“She’s awake and talking.” The nurse tipped her head forward and looked at them over the tops of the half-size frames of her reading glasses. “I can’t give you any more information than that, and Dr. Glass doesn’t want a room full of visitors. I’m sure Lauren would want you all to go home and get some rest and a decent meal.”

She turned on one heel and departed. Postures around the room went slack.

“Maybe she’s right,” Liam said. “In a few hours, they might let Lauren have visitors.”

“I’m not going anywhere just yet.” Cooper sat down and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

“The mayor’s with her,” Liam said. “She won’t be alone.”

“Don’t feel you have to stay.”

Liam leaned back in his chair. He couldn’t leave if Cooper wouldn’t.

“The cafeteria will be open by now.” Dani stood up and dug in her pants pocket for money. “I’ll get us some breakfast.”

Nicole reached for her crutches. “If you don’t mind my pace, I’d like to come along.”

Dani nodded and waited for Nicole to get herself organized for ambulation. Liam watched the unlikely duo move slowly into the hall.

“I don’t want to hurt Dani’s feelings,” Cooper said, “but I don’t feel much like eating.”

Liam didn’t either. “I have to talk to you about something. It’s important.”

Cooper glanced up at Liam. “More important than what Lauren’s going through?”

“A different kind of important.”

“It can’t wait?”

After avoiding this conversation for so long, now that they were alone in the waiting room, Liam didn’t think he could stifle himself.

“I’m in trouble, Cooper,” Liam said. “I need your help.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Big trouble. Legal trouble.”

Cooper took in a slow breath. “I’m a sheriff’s deputy. You can’t tell me you’re in that kind of trouble and not expect me to think like a cop. Maybe you should talk to Jack Parker before you say anything else.”

“You’re my brother,” Liam said. “You’re the one I need.”

“Be careful, Liam. There won’t be any way to back out. If you put me in a compromising position, I will be obligated to do the right thing.”

“That’s what I’m counting on.” Liam chose a path and began to pace back and forth.

He started with the day he realized something was amiss with one account, and then another, and another. He moved on to how he arrived at the total of seventy-three thousand dollars and the panic that surged through him by the night of the banquet. Liam skipped over breaking into the marketing coordinator’s office at the banquet hall and taking an envelope from a bank. If he had to, he would confess later. Right now he didn’t want Cooper to trip over that technicality. He had put the envelope back, and he’d done nothing with the information it contained. Cooper—so far—had overlooked a litany of infractions by Ethan, Nicole, Dani, and even Lauren in the search for Quinn, but Liam knew that when it came to his own brother, Cooper wouldn’t risk being thought complicit in a crime. It could destroy his career.

Liam watched the clock, unsure how long it would take Nicole to gimp to the cafeteria and back. He moved on to the first note, the missed breakfast meeting, his suspicions about Jessica’s newfound money, the breakup, the scratched setting of her ring.

Stone by stone, weight lifted off Liam’s chest.

“You have to help me,” he said. “I did
not
take that money, but I don’t know how to prove it.”

“And you think Jessica has it,” Cooper said.

“I don’t know how to prove that, either.” Liam peered into his brother’s face, aching for a glimmer of belief. Liam was always the gullible Elliott brother and Cooper the one whose face gave away nothing. It had always been that way. “Cooper, I’m telling the truth.”