Page 25 of Two Hearts
Jack’s mouth pulled into a crooked smile.“I had a gun.”
“Oh.”She looked at her hands in her lap, trying not to envision the scene.It was basically just the way her father had described it, except for Jack’s gun.“What the hell was he doing in a neighborhood like that?”
Jack glanced at her.“He never did tell me that.”
“He’ll tell me.”
“Don’t be angry with him, Grace.”Jack’s hand covered hers.“If he hadn’t been there…we might never have met.And…hell, no matter what happens now…I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it.”
“Jack,” she said, then the lights caught her eye and she turned fast.“Jack, look out!”
He saw it at the same instant she did—a shiny wet car, tipped onto its side.Vehicles with flashing lights.Flares in the road and yellow slickers with men underneath.
Jack hit the breaks and jerked the wheel, and the car skidded to a sideways stop in the road.He gave his head a shake.“You all right?”he asked.
“Yeah.”She gave her seat belt a tug and a grateful look.“What the hell is this?”
Jack glanced again at the car, lying just off the edge of the road, tipped onto its side.She followed his gaze but didn’t feel the cold breath of fear whisper over her nape until she heard Jack murmur, “Oh, no.”
She blinked, looked at Jack, looked at the car again.It was deep blue.She’d thought black at first, but she saw now that it was dark blue.Four-door.She couldn’t tell the make without seeing the little nameplate tacked on the tail end by the manufacturer, but she was betting Jack could.She was betting it was a Ford Fairlane.And she was betting the plates matched the numbers and letters Jack had scrawled down on his notepad.Grace strained to remember that plate number as she squinted through the rain at the rectangle on the front of that car.Blue letters and numbers on a white background.Lady Liberty outlined in red, standing to the left.D-R-N-7-6-9.
“Jack…?Is that…?”
“Stay here.”His voice was taut, tense.He opened the door and was halfway out of the car before she could move again.She got her seat belt off, opened her own door and started to follow.
One of the troopers in his yellow slicker, with a matching plastic rain cover stretched over his wide-brimmed hat, stepped in front of Jack and held up a hand.But Jack already had his badge out of his pocket, and he held it up in front of him now.The trooper nodded and stepped aside, and Jack hurried closer.
Grace tried to follow.The rain was coming down so hard by now that her hair was plastered to her head and streams kept flooding her eyes.The trooper caught her shoulders and said, “Ma’am, it would be best if you stayed away.”
She shook her head.“You don’t understand.Mysisterwas in that car!”She pulled free of him, but he didn’t let her pass.He just calmly blocked her path again.
They were pulling someone out of the wreckage now: through the smashed windshield, all trussed up in a neck brace, coming out stiff as a board.Grace strained to see as they moved the victim onto a waiting stretcher and began moving toward the ambulance.Grace pushed against the trooper’s arm, which had lowered like a railroad crossing barricade, but it didn’t give.She could have forced the issue, but thought better of that.“Jack!”she yelled instead.
Jack turned, caught her eye then nodded at the cop.“It’s all right.Let her through.”
The trooper nodded and let his arm fall to his side, and Grace rushed forward just as the men paused near the back of the waiting ambulance.
But it wasn’t Hope lying there.It was Charlie.And she was trembling, and soaking wet.
Grace leaned over her, gently moving the hair off her forehead, careful not to move her.“Charlie?Honey, are you okay?”
Wet eyes blinked open.“Hope,” she whispered.“That bastard…took Hope.”She swallowed, licked her lips, and it was plain that speaking was an effort.“He got out of the car…he took Hope.”
Blinking in confusion, Grace looked up when a strong presence warmed her, just by standing close.Jack nodded to the men, who lifted the gurney into the ambulance.Then he reached past them to yank a blanket off a shelf, and shoved it at one of them.“Cover her up, for crying out loud.She’s freezing.”
The guy nodded, even as Grace searched Jack’s face.“Charlie’s right,” he said.“Hope isn’t in the car, and neither is Paulo Darius.”
“What about the other one?”Grace asked.“There were three men in that cabin…two of whom left on that boat with Hope and Charlie.So what happened to the other…” She stopped there, because she saw her answer.Another gurney was being carried from the overturned car even now.But the person on this one was covered in a white sheet, with dark stains already spreading.Grace looked away quickly.
“Gracie?”Charlie called, her voice raspy.
Grace stiffened her spine and climbed up into the ambulance.She crouched beside Charlie, reaching down to hold her hand.“You’re going to the hospital now, Charlie, and you’re going to be fine.I don’t want you to worry.We’ll get Hope back.”
“Gracie…” Charlie licked her lips.“Hope…”
“Hope what?”
“She’s hurt,” Charlie blurted.“I don’t know how badly, but she…she was hurt.”
