Karen Rose - Scream For Me

“Journals?”

“Chase found them with Mack’s things. Everything Annette said was right. Mack had been following Garth and Rob Davis and Mansfield for a month. I think he wasn’t sure who the seventh guy was either, because he had pictures of a lot of the men in town at the beginning. But then he saw Granville standing outside the bunker and from then on, all the pictures were only of Toby, Garth, Randy, and Rob Davis. Rob was having an affair with Delia, so I guess Mack figured killing her was a double bonus. He got revenge on Delia for maligning his mother and hurt Rob Davis even more.

“Mack had pictures of Mansfield killing Rhett Porter.” She hesitated. “And he had pictures of me and of us.” Her face heated. “He was outside your house Thursday night in his van. He took pictures of us, through your window. It doesn’t appear that he uploaded them. Or anything.” She shrugged. “He wanted me to close the circle.”

She said it so matter-of-factly, while Daniel’s temper boiled. “Sonofabitch,” he said through clenched teeth, and she rubbed his hand. “Safe-deposit box?”

“If Rob Davis knows, he’s not saying. Garth has lawyered up. Eventually they may give some answers, but it’ll be in exchange for favor with the SA’s office.”

“Hatton?”

She smiled. “He’s going to be okay. He might not come back as a field agent any time soon, but he’ll live. He said he was close enough to retirement anyway.”

“Crighton?” he asked, and her smile faded.

“They found his bloody prints in Sister Anne’s room, in her blood, so they have enough to arrest him for her murder. Chase has told me that if Craig doesn’t confess, we can’t get him for killing my mother or for conspiring to hide a crime with Wade.”

“The pills you took?”

“I may never know. I don’t plan to beg him for an answer.”

“Have you seen him?”

She tensed. “No.”

“I’ll go with you,” he said. She relaxed, and he knew she’d been afraid to go alone.

“Bailey thinks he and Wade forced me to take the pills, based on some things Wade said back then, but we have nothing definitive.”

“Bailey’s awake?”

She nodded. “I’ve been hospital-room-hopping,” she said with a little smile. “You and Bailey and Beardsley and Hatton and the girl Bailey saved. Bailey said that the one thing she did remember about the night Alicia died is that Alicia put something in my soup at lunch to make me sick. She knew she was going to a party that night and she didn’t want me tagging along. She was still mad at me about the tattoo and telling the teachers about our switching for tests. Her being pissed probably saved my life.”

He tightened his hold on her hand. “Hope?”

“She knows Bailey is alive, but hasn’t seen her yet. Bailey still looks bad. Daniel, Granville injected Bailey with heroin to get her to talk.” Alex’s voice trembled. “She’d been clean for five years. Now she has to go through all that again. He was a doctor.”

“He was a cruel bastard.” Daniel forced out the words.

She sighed. “That, too. Bailey was having an affair with Garth, but it’s not clear if he knew Manfield and Granville had kidnapped her or not. Like I said, Garth has lawyered up. Luke’s been trying to question him, but so far Garth’s not talking. That’s pretty much it.”

“Suze?”

“She’s still here. She’s been sitting with you and Jane Doe.” When he lifted a brow, she added, “The girl Bailey helped. We don’t know her name. Daniel, I’ve been thinking.”

A wave of dread filled him. Then he brushed it away. She might leave eventually, but she wouldn’t leave him now. Of that he was confident. “About?”

“You. Me. Bailey and Hope. You’re going to be fine when you get out, but Bailey… she’s got a long road to walk. She’ll need help with Hope.”

“Where?” he asked.

“Here. Her friends are here. I’m not going to take her away from all that. I’m going to stay here. I’ll need to find a house for me and Bailey and Hope, but-”

“No,” he rasped. “You stay with me.”

“But I’ll need to watch Hope while Bailey goes into rehab.”

“You stay with me,” he repeated. “Hope stays with us. Bailey can live with us as long as she needs to.” He started to cough and she put a cup of water to his lips.

“Slow,” she ordered when he would have gulped. “Just a little sip.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He lay back and met her eyes. “You stay with me.”

She smiled. “Yes, sir.”

He didn’t drop his gaze. “I meant what I said, back there.”

She didn’t falter. “So did I.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief. “Good.”

She pressed her lips to his forehead. “Now you know everything you need to know. Stop talking and go to sleep. I’ll be back later.”

Atlanta, Saturday, February 3, 12:30 p.m.

“Bailey.”

Her eyelids fluttered at the familiar voice and her heart sank. She was back there . Getting away had been just a dream. Then she felt the softness of the bed beneath her back and knew the nightmare was over. One of them anyway. Her addiction nightmare had started up all over again.

“Bailey.”

She forced her eyes open and her heart stuttered. “Beardsley.” He sat in a wheelchair next to her bed. He was clean now. Bruised, with a big gash on the side of his face, but clean. His hair was sandy brown, cut army-short. He had strong cheekbones and a sturdy jaw. His eyes were brown and warm, like she remembered. His lips were cracked, but firm and proportioned. Everything about him was firm and proportioned. “I thought you died,” she whispered.

He smiled. “No. I’m a little tougher than that.”

She could believe that. He was truly wider than three of her. “I saw Alex.”

“Me, too. She’s been making the rounds, checking on us. You have a very strong stepsister, Bailey. And she has a strong stepsister, too.”

His compliment warmed her. “You saved my life. How can I thank you?”

He lifted his sandy brows. “We’ll come back to that later. How do you feel?”

“Like I’ve been held prisoner for a week.”

Again he smiled. “You did good, Bailey. You should be proud of yourself.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know what I’ve done.”

“I know what I’ve seen you do.”

She swallowed. “I’ve done terrible things.”

“You mean the drugs?”

“And other things.” Her lips curved sadly. “I am not a girl you’d take home to Mother.”

“You mean because you were a prostitute and had affairs?”

She opened her eyes, stunned. “You knew?”

“Yes. Wade told me about you before he died. He was so proud that you’d turned your life around.”

“Thank you.”

“Bailey, you aren’t understanding me. I know. I just don’t care.”

She met his warm eyes, nervous again. “What do you want from me?”

“I don’t know yet. But I want to find out. We weren’t thrown together for no reason and I want you to know that I’m not going to walk away now that that phase is done.”

She didn’t know what to say. “I have to go back into rehab.”

His brown eyes flashed anger. “And for that I’d gladly kill him again.”

“Beardsley, he…” The word stuck in her throat.

He clenched his jaw, but when he spoke, his voice was gentle. “I know that, too. Bailey, you walked through that door today on your own two feet. Don’t look back.”

She closed her eyes and felt the tears seep down her face. “I don’t even know your first name.”

He covered her hand with his. “Ryan. Captain Ryan Beardsley, U.S. Army. Ma’am.”

Her lips quivered up into a smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Ryan. Is this where we say it’s the start of a beautiful friendship?”