Page 59 of Dark Roads
“She sounds great.”
“She wasn’t afraid of anything.” He said it with so much admiration that Beth felt even sadder for him. In the end, being brave hadn’t been enough, had it? He realized that hard truth at the same moment she did, his smile fading. “Anyway, she really liked Amber. Vaughn saw them together. He flipped out.”
“Is he homophobic?”
He shrugged. “I think he just didn’t like Hailey having fun.”
Beth turned over all this new information in her mind like stones at the beach, searching for something to scuttle out. Who else might have seen them together?
“I was thinking about how most of the girls had been at the lake at some point. Like that’s whereeveryonegoes. I wondered if the killer has been watching them there.”
“How do you mean?”
“What if he’s in the woods? Vaughn said there’s lots of illegal camping. That’s what I was looking for. Signs of someone living out there. Maybe by the river.”
“Whoa. Your brain is moving too fast for me.” Jonny shook his head. “If someone was living out there, then a hunter or dirt biker would have seen him by now.”
“I don’t know. When I woke up at the bottom of the cliff, that dog was licking my face and barking. He led me back to the campsite. If he was really a stray, would he do that?”
“Okay, what kind of drugs are they giving you?”
“I’m serious. He has to belong to someone.”
“No one could live in those mountains. Not even an experienced guide.” Beth was surprised to see a shimmer in Jonny’s eyes. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat. Then tossed his coffee in the garbage with a thump.
“Hey—I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s okay, but I should let you rest.” He got to his feet.
“You don’t have to go.” She blinked, her eyelids drifting closed. She was so tired. The weight of all this. The ghosts of Amber and Hailey crowding the room.
She felt him squeeze her hand. “Hang in there.”
When she opened her eyes to say goodbye, he was already gone.
CHAPTER 23
They kept her in for another night and her duffel bag was in the room when she woke. The nurse told her that a young man had dropped it off, along with her keys. Her car was in the parking lot. She didn’t ask for a description. She knew it was Jonny. She looked at the items he’d packed: shorts, tops, toiletries, underwear, and bras. Strangely, she wasn’t embarrassed. She felt comforted. Maybe that was how people with boyfriends felt. Like they had someone looking out for them.
She’d gone through her backpack the day before, pulling out the damp items to dry on the hospital room heater, and was relieved that the gun was still wrapped in a shirt at the bottom.
Now she put everything back inside and thought about how none of it had helped her in the end. She smiled when she saw a few teeth marks in the nylon fabric. Her dog angel.
A noise at the door, someone clearing their throat. She closed the flap on her pack and looked over her shoulder. Vaughn. Her body stiffened.
He came farther into the room. “Glad to see you are up and about. I checked on you last night, but you were asleep.”
A spider of fear skittered across her shoulders. He had been in her room while she’d beensleeping. The nurses had given her drugs. She remembered nightmares, dark shapes, falling.
She moved around to the side of the bed. “I didn’t know.”
He sprawled, uninvited, in the chair beside the window, and set down a couple of magazines. Fashion magazines. “Wasn’t sure what you like to read.” His legs were stretched wide, blackboots with a thick tread, his arms crossed over his chest so that his biceps bulged. It would look casual to most people, but somehow it felt aggressive. Like he wanted her to see how large he was, how unhurried. He had all the time in the world—and it was focused on her.
“I’m leaving today, but thanks.”
“You need a ride?”
“I have my car.”
