Thirty-One and a Half Regrets (33 page)

Mason grabbed my hand. “Rose, listen to me. You need to keep going without me.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “No.”

“We’re so close,” he said. “If you just keep going in this direction, I think you’ll end up on Moore County Road HH. You can flag down someone who can help us both.”

“No.” I shook my head, getting angry. “I’m not leaving you, Mason.”

He paused. “I don’t think I can walk.”

“Then I’ll help you.”

His grip on my hand tightened and he winced at the movement. “Rose, you have to go. If you stay with me, there’s a good chance your vision will come true. I won’t be able to walk fast enough to keep us away from Crocker and his men. But if you go, you can get help.”

I started to cry harder, panic swamping my head. “I can’t, Mason. What if I get lost? What if I forget where you are? What if Crocker finds you first?” There was no way I could walk away and leave him here. I sat down next to him and crossed my legs.

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you to try to get up.”

“I told you that I can’t walk.”

“You haven’t even tried, Mason. We agreed we were in this together. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Rose.”

I just stared at him in silence. We stayed that way for several moments before he groaned. “Where’s my rifle and the bag?” he asked, looking back at the hill.

I leaned away from the tree and scanned the area. The bag must have fallen off during his tumble and continued on its own path. It lay at the bottom of the hill about twenty feet away. The gun was halfway up the hill. “There.”

“Bring them over here.”

I climbed partway up the hill to retrieve the gun and then made my way over to the bag. When I reached down to pick it up, it required more effort than I’d expected. My body tilted sideways from the weight and when I reached Mason, I dropped it next to him. “How on earth have you been carrying that thing this whole time?”

“It’s not that heavy.”

“Braggart.”

He laughed but then cringed from pain.

When I saw him fumbling with the bag’s zipper, I brushed his fingers out of the way. “What do you want?”

“Pull out the ammo and let’s see what I have the most of.”

“Why?”

His face was taut from pain. “To figure out which guns to bring.”

I smiled as tears filled my eyes. “Thank you.”

“You can’t carry this thing and I sure can’t. We’ll bring the handguns and a shotgun with some ammo and some water. We’ll leave the rest behind.”

“But…Crocker and his men could find it.”

He continued to watch me. “That’s why you need to go on without me.”

“So then they’d find you
and
the bag.”

“Rose, either way, I’m not going to move very far or fast.”

“Then we’ve wasted too much time. Figure out which guns we’re taking and let’s go.”

He exhaled and gave a slight shake to his head.

After I stacked the ammo boxes in piles next to him, he decided I’d carry the rifle and a much lighter version of the bag. He took out the blankets and put in several boxes of ammunition, leaving the rest on the ground.

“We might need to lighten it more,” Mason said, grabbing the stouter shotgun. He cocked it open and removed all the bullets, handing them to me. “Put those in the bag too.”

When I was ready, he reached a hand out to me, resting the butt of his gun on the ground. “Let’s try this.”

I squatted on his right side and slung his arm around my shoulder. Balancing his weight on his left leg, Mason used the barrel of the gun to help hoist himself up. He cried out in pain and nearly fell back down, but I bent my knees to absorb his weight and lift him upright.

He stood on his left leg, panting and cursing under his breath.

“Are you okay?”

“Give me a minute,” he said through gritted teeth.

I stood next to him, at least half of his weight pressing into my shoulders. I wasn’t sure how we were going to walk out of here, let alone how I would support him, the rifle,
and
the bag, but we’d find a way. We didn’t have a choice.

We traveled for at least an hour without covering much distance. Mason kept getting weaker, his face paler. I was beginning to wonder if our only option was for me to leave him to get help when I spotted a building through the trees.

“Mason, look.” I pointed.

He exhaled in relief. “Leave me here, but take the rifle with you to the door.”

“I’m not gonna look very friendly toting a rifle to their front door.”

He shook his head, already lowering himself to the ground. I struggled to keep him from landing too quickly. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But I’m worried about how they’ll react to a complete stranger showing up on their doorstep in the middle of nowhere. Some of these people live in the middle of nowhere for a reason.”

I handed him the gun. “I’m not getting into a shootout, at least not if I can avoid it. I’ll look less suspicious if I’m not carrying a weapon.” I turned to leave and he grabbed my hand, flinching with pain from the sudden movement.

“Be careful, Rose.”

I leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I will.”

The one-story ranch house was old and worn, but it didn’t look abandoned like the last house, which gave me hope. I knocked on the storm door and stepped back onto the gravel path. While I waited, I glanced down at my clothes, suddenly worried about how I would look to anyone in the house. I was a sight. Most of my clothes were covered in mud and my jacket sleeve was bloody from the cut on Mason’s forehead.

After ten seconds, I knocked again, louder this time. When no one answered, I banged on the door and shouted, “Is anyone home?”

Several seconds later, Mason called out, “See if the door’s unlocked.”

My jaw dropped. “The other place was obviously abandoned, but someone lives here. I can’t just walk into someone’s house!”

“Rose, this is an emergency. I’m the Fenton County Assistant DA and I’m sure as hell not pressing charges. Do whatever it takes to get inside.”

Taking a deep breath, I opened the storm door and tried the door knob. “Locked.”

“Go around back and see if there’s a door open somewhere else. If not, we’ll have to break a window.”

I would hate for us to resort to literally breaking in, but a quick examination revealed that the back door was locked, so it didn’t seem like there were a lot of options.

I walked over to Mason and found him slumped against a tree trunk, his eyes clenched shut. Squatting next to him, I placed the back of my hand against his forehead where he wasn’t cut. His eyelids blinked open and he gave me a startled look.

“It’s okay,” I said, moving my hand down to his cheek. “The doors are locked, but the back door has lots of window panes. I’m going break one of the panes and reach in to open the door.”

“Be careful,” he groaned. “Bust out all the glass and then pull your hand into your sleeve before you put it through the hole.”

“You sound like an experienced felon,” I teased.

A hint of an ornery smile cracked his lips. “Guilty by association.”

“I’ll be right back.”

I didn’t find a rock that was big enough, but I found a broken tree branch that did the trick. The sound of the shattering glass echoed loudly and I expected someone to jump out of the woods and attack us. But no one did, and I managed to get in without cutting my hand.

The door opened onto a dated kitchen and I nearly cried from relief when I saw a phone on the wall. As I lifted the receiver, I was struck with the fear that the phone wouldn’t work, but the dial tone filled my ear. I suddenly wondered whom to call. I couldn’t call 911 because the call would most likely go to the sheriff’s department, and I didn’t know the number of the state police. But I
did
know the number of a state policeman.

I punched in Joe’s phone number, thanking my lucky stars that I’d memorized it and hadn’t become reliant on speed dial. His phone rang three times and I was sure it was about to go to voice mail when a man answered, sounding groggy. “Who is this?”

“Joe?” I asked, worried I’d called the wrong number.

“
Rose?
”

He had actually answered. I started crying out of relief. “Joe, I need help. Crocker found us and Mason got hurt…” My last words were nearly incomprehensible.

“Rose, slow down.”

I was grateful that he sounded more like my Joe. I tried to catch my breath. “Okay.”

“Take it slow. What happened?”

“Daniel Crocker broke into my house while I was sleeping and left a threatening note. So the sheriff’s department had Mason and me go out to my birth mother’s farm to hide until they caught him. They even gave us a guard. Only the sheriff’s department has a leak and at least one of the deputies told Crocker where we were. Then he showed up.”

“Oh God, Rose.” I heard the shock in his voice. “Are you okay?”

I started to cry again. “No. We’ve been running from Crocker for the past day and a half in the hills of northern Fenton County. He’s closing in on us, but Mason fell down a hill and broke his leg.”

“Did you call 9-1-1?”

“No, I don’t know who’s working for Crocker in the sheriff’s office. Mason thinks the sheriff himself might be involved. At this point he only trusts the chief deputy.”

“Where are you? How are you calling me?”

“We found a house, but no one was home. Mason told me to break in. He thinks we’re a couple of miles from the Moore County border and that we’d intercept Highway HH if we kept moving.”

“What’s the terrain like where you are?”

“It’s all pine trees and hills.”

“It’s a house? Look around for an address. Maybe there’s something inside that will give us a clue about where you are.”

I scanned the kitchen counter and found several pieces of mail. My fumbling fingers sorted through the stack. “There’s an address! 524 Ever Pine Road, Sweet Knob, Arkansas.”

“Good! Stay where you are, Rose. I’m coming.”

“Should I call the state police?”

“No, I’ll take care of it.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, then something hit me. “You seemed surprised to hear that Crocker was after me. I called you yesterday and left a message. You didn’t get it?”

He paused. “You did
what?
”

“I called you and left a voice message begging you to call me back, but the phone died and we left it at the farmhouse, so I wasn’t sure if you got the call.”

“I didn’t get it, Rose.” He sounded horrified. “I would have had the state police looking for you yesterday if I did.”

I wanted to tell him it was okay, but it wasn’t. Someone was to blame. “It was Hilary, wasn’t it?” I asked, my anger rising. “She intercepted the call and deleted the voice mail.”

“Rose you don’t know—”

“
You’re still defending her?
” I shouted. “Even now? Even in this?” It was just one more betrayal. “My life is in danger, Joe, and she deleted my voice mail out of petty jealousy.”

“No. She wouldn’t do that. She has too much to lose.” But while his tone was hard, I heard a waver of uncertainty. “I told her that if she ever interferes with another one of my calls, we’ll be done for good. She wouldn’t risk it.”

“
Do you even hear yourself right now?
How many times have you told her that, yet look where you are right now?”

He didn’t answer, which was answer enough.

I steeled my back. “Give me the number for the state police.”

“
What?
”

“I want the state police to come save me. How can I rely on you? Hilary might ask you stay home to pick out a china pattern.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Rose!”

All the fight fled from me, leaving only disappointment. “I’m not the one being ridiculous. Now give me the number.”

To his credit, he rattled it off and I scratched the digits down on the envelope.

“Thank you for your help. I need to hang up and call the state police.”

“Rose—” But I hung up before he could say anything else.

I held onto the telephone receiver, which was resting in the cradle, and leaned my forehead on it. Why was I so disappointed in him? I already knew Joe and Hilary were back together—our meeting at the nursery had been proof enough of that. Joe would
always
go back to Hilary. He was like a carrier pigeon and she was his home base. I couldn’t be with someone like that, someone who was captive to his past.

I needed Mason.

With a huge sigh, I straightened and picked up the receiver to call the state police. I punched in the number, but the phone call didn’t go through. I hung up and put the receiver to my ear, but this time there was no dial tone. I hung up and tried again. Still nothing.

Panic raced up my spine and I dropped the phone, running out the still-open back door toward the spot where I’d left Mason. On the other side of the house, Deputy Gyer stepped away from the building, holding a large pocketknife in his hand. A severed utility line dangled behind him. He turned to me with a wicked smile.

“Rose, long time no see,” he laughed. “You’re a hard woman to find.”

Deputy Gyer was in on it too.

Recovering from the shock, I turned and ran for the trees behind the house, but he quickly caught up and snaked an arm around my waist, hauling me up to his chest.

“I think you’ve done enough running, little Rose.” He reached between us and pulled the handgun out of the waistband of my pants. “Crocker warned me you liked to hide guns on you. Looks like he was right.”

He dragged me toward the house and I kicked and squirmed, trying to break free. After I landed a solid kick to his shin, he grunted and grabbed a fistful of my hair, jerking his hand back.

I released a cry of pain and he growled in my ear. “You’ve caused me nothing but trouble since I showed up at your farm yesterday morning. Crocker wasn’t happy that we let you get away. While he told us to keep you alive, he didn’t say anything about what shape he wants you in. Don’t think I won’t beat the shit out of you to get you to cooperate.”

He practically carried me into the house and I craned my neck, desperate to see whether Mason was still in the woods. There wasn’t any sign of him. Deputy Gyer dragged me into a bedroom and my fear escalated, especially when I saw that another man was already in the room. He looked like a teenager and he was sporting a busted lip.