Chapter Fifteen
Saturday
ANNIE PUT OUT more hay for the llamas and the donkey the following morning, but her mind wasn’t on what her hands were doing. She’d stopped by the post office on her way over from Hope Hill and run into one of Joey’s uncles, a burly guy who reminded her of Big Jim. They all had that big-boned look in the family. Which made her think . . . what if it’d been Big Jim in her house the other night?
Joey wouldn’t have sent his cousin to scare her, but this was just the kind of thing Big Jim would come up with on his own, if Joey had complained to him about Annie. Big Jim might have figured if he scared Annie good, she wouldn’t want to be in the house all by herself and she’d ask Joey to stay with her.
She dropped the last of the hay and reached into her pocket for her phone, but then she left it there. For one, she hadn’t spent enough time with Big Jim to recognize him by shape alone, and she’d caught only a few glimpses of the man in her dark kitchen. She just wasn’t sure.
And if she told Harper about her suspicions, he’d go and talk to Big Jim. And Big Jim wasn’t as nice as Joey. He’d come over to Annie’s and throw a fit.
If it’d been Big Jim trying to scare her the other night, then most likely, if she left things alone, he wouldn’t come by again. He didn’t have that kind of attention span.
Had he really had a gun? She had seen a glint of black metal. But she couldn’t imagine Big Jim trying to shoot her. What would be the point? What she’d seen was probably a flashlight. She’d been so scared, her brain must have jumped to the darkest conclusion.
Annie filled the bucket with water and filled the troughs, then stilled when the prickly sensation of being watched crept up her spine. She glanced toward the house. Right. She wasn’t alone.
Ed had sent the cleanup crew: two of his nephews. They were dragging a four-by-four out the back. They weren’t part of Ed’s regular crew. His regular crew was putting siding on half a dozen houses in the new development down the road, on Victoria Circle. They couldn’t take time off, not with all the rain from Rupert in the forecast. Hence the nephews. The boys didn’t have a ton of construction experience, but they had all the muscles of eighteen-year-old high school athletes, which was all the cleanup required.
And then David Durenne showed up again. The producer didn’t have to go into work at the TV station until noon, and his son, Tyler, was at a birthday party.
Annie was grateful for the help. Grateful enough to invite Kelly over for coffee, but Kelly was closing on a home for a client and couldn’t leave. So much for playing Cupid.
Annie finished her chores, then left the men to their work and drove back to Hope Hill, listening to the weather report on the way. Hurricane Rupert was sweeping through the Bahamas. It had spent most of its strength in Cuba, so it’d been downgraded to a category 1 hurricane.
She didn’t see Cole again for the rest of the day, although she kept catching herself looking for him. She hadn’t seen him since that morning when she’d run into him crossing the courtyard, and he’d offered to blow off a couple of his sessions so he could go with her to her feedings. She had thanked him, but declined, reassuring him that she wouldn’t be alone since Ed was sending over people. He had promised to go with her at midnight.
Annie completed her afternoon sessions, then she grabbed a quick dinner in the cafeteria with a handful of her patients. After dinner, she drove back to the house for the evening feeding.
David was gone, but Ed’s nephews were still there, as promised. They had an away game the next day, so tonight they were going to keep going with the cleanup until they finished.
They were sweeping up the last of the rubble when Annie left to drive back to Hope Hill at seven. She had to give it to them, they were hardworking kids.
She took Reservoir Road as usual, the fastest way to work. At this time of the evening, with the sun setting, the drive offered a spectacular view. The soft light of the setting autumn sun gilded the water with a golden glow. The breathtaking serenity was so awe-inspiring she decided to bring a Hope Hill group here for a meditation walk next week, if not sooner.
Screech. Crash.
A dark SUV hit her from behind.
Adrenaline slammed into her. She gripped the wheel. Ohmygod. People, pay attention!
She couldn’t see the driver, not with the last rays of the sun turning his windshield into a mirror.
Her instinct was to brake, and she had her foot on the brake pedal before she changed her mind. At any other time, she would have put that bump down to an accident, but she’d just had an intruder at home. Instead of pulling over to exchange insurance information, she kept going. They could both pull over a few miles down the road at the gas station.
Bam. The SUV hit her again.
OK. That couldn’t be by accident. Her heart raced. Don’t panic.
Annie sped up to get away from whoever was behind her, but that meant she had to keep both hands on the steering wheel. She couldn’t call for help. Her phone was in her purse on the passenger seat.
The SUV caught up. This time, it hit her little Prius harder, with intent, pushing her toward the shoulder.
Her breath caught. Less than five feet of grass stood between the road and the water. She was not a good swimmer. Not even in a pool—forget the giant reservoir. In the dark.
She pulled to the left so far that she was in the opposite lane. But the SUV kept bumping her, kept herding her to the right. No other cars in sight. Where was everybody? She was on a back road, but still.
Cold fear rode her.
She drove as fast as she dared, but not nearly as fast as she wanted. If she went too fast and the idiot hit her again, she might lose control, spin out, and end up in the water. She held the steering wheel in a death grip.
She didn’t dare take her eyes off the road to look in the rearview mirror.
Joey?
Or was it someone else? This didn’t feel like Joey. Joey drove an old camo-painted pickup.
Except . . . he did have access to a bunch of cars. The gas station had a repair shop in the back.
Focus on the road. She would think about the who and the why after she survived. Go, go, go.
She had maybe five hundred feet left before she’d pass the end of the reservoir and be surrounded by dry land. The SUV’s driver knew it, too, and rammed her again, harder. Her teeth snapped together so fast, she nearly bit off her tongue. That her airbag hadn’t gone off yet was a miracle.
Four hundred feet to go.
Bam.
Three hundred feet to go.
Bam.
She skidded onto the shoulder, fought hard, and veered back onto the road as her heart threatened to burst with panic. She had to stay on the pavement.
Two hundred feet.
The sun dipped below the horizon.
Bam.
One hundred feet.
BAM!
Annie’s Prius flew off the road.
The car rolled. Her purse slammed into her temple a split second before the airbag slammed into her face. Then the side airbag slammed into her shoulder.
She was still screaming when suddenly everything stopped.
For a moment, she was too stunned and shocked to move. Then a whole new wave of panic hit. Oh God, the water. Was she in water? She scrambled to see.
Dark sky. A stand of trees up ahead. The car was right side up, having done a full roll. But she was still on solid ground. An overwhelming sense of gratitude filled her even as her heart still madly pounded.
She beat the airbags back and scanned the twilight as she sobbed for breath, desperate to see who was out there.
What did he want?
Would he come now to finish her?