Brett Battles - Every Precious Thing

Only now…

1354 Celeste Drive.

They weren’t lies.

“Diana? Diana?”

She barely heard the voice as she tried to work out how this could possibly be another trick.

“Diana?”

But she could find no path that made sense.

“Diana!”

Her eyes refocused on the dull gray tones of the car’s dark interior. She lifted her head and saw that Logan was looking at her.

“What?” she whispered.

“We’re just trying to help her. Can’t you see that?”

“We…we don’t…need your help,” she said, though she knew there was no conviction in her voice.

Help was exactly what they needed. Since Sara had to stay hidden, Diana and Richard were the only ones who could do anything. And Richard…well, without Diana pointing him in the right direction, they would have long ago failed.

She’d always been the one in charge. That’s how they got into this in the first place, and why now Diana would do anything to protect Sara.

She’d been the one who found the ad online. She’d been the one who’d written down the number and suggested Sara call. She’d been the one who’d pushed Sara to do it, thinking it would be the way Sara could get the real start she needed.

Though there was no way Diana could have known the truth, it was still her fault, her problem to fix.

But how could she do that with just Richard and herself?

“What’s going on?” Alan asked. Alan, Sara’s husband .

Oh, my God. What a mess.

“Diana?” Logan said.

She forced herself out of her thoughts. “I’m sorry.”

There was sympathy in Logan’s eyes. “I asked if you know where Sara is.”

Before she even realized it, she nodded and said, “Yes.”

“Thank God,” Alan said. “Is she all right? Where is she? What’s going on?”

“She’s…she’s okay,” Diana said. “Just scared.”

“Why? What is she scared of? Did I do something? Is it me?”

If Diana hadn’t been so stunned by it all, she would have probably laughed. “No. She would have never left Emily with you if that were the case.”

“Then why?” Alan pleaded.

Diana looked at Logan. This was not a question she wanted to answer.

Logan seemed to sense this. He said, “She’s in trouble, we know that. Those people out in the woods, they weren’t playing around.”

“What people?” Alan asked.

“I’ll fill you in later,” Logan said, and looked back at Diana. “You need help. That’s obvious.” He nodded toward the driver. “Dev and I are pretty handy to have around.”

She didn’t know what to say. She still wasn’t completely sure she could trust them. Help would be great, but…

“I don’t…I just…”

“What’s the problem?” Alan asked. “If Sara’s in trouble, you have to let us help. For God’s sake, I’m her husband !”

Diana looked at the phone as if she could see through it. “Yeah, well, I’m her sister.”

It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the world. No one breathed. No one moved. No one said a word.

Logan looked at Diana anew, trying to discern patterns in the woman’s face that matched those in the less-than-perfect picture he had of Sara. There were definitely similarities-the cheeks, the lips, the curve of her jaw.

Alan was the first to break the silence. “How do we know you’re not lying?”

Before she could respond, Logan said, “She’s not.”

“You knew she was Sara’s sister?” Callie asked.

“No. But she’s not lying. I’m sure of it.”

More silence.

“I…didn’t know Sara had any family,” Alan said, his voice low and surprised. “She said she was an only child.”

Diana looked silently out the window.

Logan deactivated the speaker function, then moved the phone to his ear. “I think it might be better if I talk to her by myself now.”

“Wait,” Alan said. “You can’t just cut me off like that. I need to know what’s going on.”

“You will,” Logan said.

“When?”

“When I can tell you.”

“How am I supposed to live with that? Don’t you see? This is ripping me apart.”

“Alan,” Callie broke in. “Logan’s already learned more than we even got close to before. Let’s let him work. If Sara’s really in trouble, he’ll know what to do.”

Alan didn’t say anything right away, then, “I just need to know she’s safe.”

“When she is, I’ll tell you.”

Logan could hear Alan breathing on the other end.

“As soon as you can,” Alan said.

“I promise.”

Alan hung up.

“You need anything, you let me know,” Callie said before doing the same.

Logan set down Diana’s phone.

“When she is what?” Diana asked.

“I’m sorry?”

“You said, ‘when she is, I’ll tell you.’”

Logan had to think back. “Safe. Alan wanted to know that she was safe.”

“She is. For the moment.”

Logan looked at her. “Sara’s your sister.”

Diana nodded.

“Is Sara even her name?”

“Yes.”

“But everything else about her was a lie?”

Diana didn’t respond.

“You need to tell me what’s going on,” Logan said. “It’s the only way I can figure out how to help you.”

“I never said we needed your help.”

He leaned back. “Those people who took Dev and me out to the forest, they were in Braden, too. Who are they?”

She looked surprised. “They were in Braden?”

He nodded. “They’re the ones you’re really scared of, aren’t they? You thought that’s who we were, right?”

“Yes.”

“You see now that we’re not.”

The look on her face said she wanted to believe that but wasn’t sure.

“All right. Tell me this. Is there any possibility that they or others who might be working with them could find Sara tonight?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head.

He sensed no hesitation in her answer.

Dr. Paskota, though, was obviously following a similar lead to the one Logan had, so he needed to make sure. “She’s not staying someplace you used to live while you worked at the Grand Canyon, is she?”

Diana looked at him, surprised.

“It’s the next logical place the others will look,” Logan said. “If that’s where she is, she isn’t safe.”

There was a pause before Diana said, “No. That’s not where she is.”

“But it is in the same area, isn’t it?”

She said nothing.

Safe? Not safe? Until Diana trusted him more, there was just no way to know. So, how much time did they actually have? He’d have to trust she was right.

“I have a suggestion,” he said. “Why don’t we find someplace to get a little rest? It’ll give you time to think. We can figure out what to do after that.”

It was a huge gamble, but he didn’t know what else to do.

She eyed him curiously, as if she were trying to decipher some hidden agenda.

“Okay,” she finally said.

Since Diana’s car was a rental, Logan instructed Dev to return to the El Camino. While the other two climbed in, Logan popped the hood and reached down along the engine to where his spare key was hidden.

Their first stop was the car Logan had brought up from Braden. From the trunk, he removed his and Dev’s bags, and they drove off.

On the outskirts of town, they found a motel, and took a single room with two queen-sized beds. Before they went to sleep, Logan pulled an envelope out of his bag. If anything would convince Diana he was on her side, he was sure this would be it. He dropped it on the bed beside her without a word.

She gave it a casual glance, and then looked at it again, surprised.