Page 38 of Left Behind

“Loud voices. Cursing. Something about invading someone else’s territory. I heard my brother say something about the man being full of shit…then something about gunny or money, I couldn’t really tell which, and then fighting, then a gunshot. I held my breath, listening, but it had gone quiet. I went out the back door on the run, got in Billy’s car, and drove away. As I stated, I had a glimpse of the man running out of the house, but I was over a hundred yards away by that time and couldn’t identify him if I had to.”

Then she covered her face and wept. “I knew Billy was dead.”

“How did you know that?” Gardner asked.

“Because he never called me afterward. Billy was fifteen years older than me and mostly raised me. He loved me and was the only parental figure I ever had.”

Johnny gave her a handful of tissues to wipe her face and stayed silent. He’d heard the story before, but it still made him sick to his stomach, knowing how much danger she’d been in, and how alone and scared she was.

“What happened after that? Did the shooter chase you?” Gardner asked.

“I was sure he would, but I had a pretty good head start, and then I drove into a thunderstorm and took a wrong turn in the downpour, and it got dark, and I was lost and still driving.”

“Did you ever call your brother again?” Gardner asked.

“No. I called Johnny and left a message with him. He was asleep when the call came and saw it after he woke up, but by then, I’d already wrecked the car, been chased through the woods, shot in the back, and left for dead.”

At this point, Woodley picked up the questioning and identified himself on the recording before going forward.

“Did you know you were on Pope Mountain when you wrecked?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, sir. I could barely see the road in front of me, but I kept watching the rearview mirror. I thought I’d lost him, and then I caught a flash of headlights in the rearview mirror, panicked, lost control of the car, and wrecked. When I came to, I could see headlights in the distance behind me. I had hit my head in the wreck, and my chest hit the steering wheel, and then my door was jammed. I came to enough to get myself out by crawling over the console, grabbed a flashlight and my phone, and staggered into the trees, then started running.”

“When did you know you were being followed into the woods?” Woodley asked.

“Almost from the start. I saw a flashlight at the wreck, then someone carried that flashlight into the woods after me. I just kept running. I thought I’d lost him, and then I fell. Dropped my phone and flashlight. I crawled to pick up my flashlight, and as I was getting up, there was this sharp pain in the back of my shoulder like I’d been stabbed.”

“And you never saw him,” Woodley asked.

“I don’t remember anything until waking up in the ICU days later.”

“Could you identify the man?” Woodley asked.

“No, sir, I could not,” Carey said.

“Would you recognize his voice if you heard it again?” Gardner asked.

“No, sir, I don’t think I could.”

Both officers looked at each other, and then nodded.

Woodley ended the recording by stating the time, and turned it off.

At that point, Tom Wheaton stepped forward.

“Now what? When Carey gets released, is it safe for her to go home?”

Gardner knew Tom. They’d been in contact from the beginning of this case, and he could see how invested he was in his friends’ welfare.

“You know the drill,” Gardner said. “What I can say is that I will make it known that the witness could not identify anyone but that we have gathered sufficient DNA from the scene to issue an arrest warrant for an individual. That will take the heat off of her. And hopefully, by the time Carey comes home, we’ll have the shooter in custody. If not, it will serve no purpose for the killer to want her dead because she poses no threat to him.”

Tom sighed. “That’s good enough.”

Gardner nodded.

Woodley gathered up his recorder. “Thank you for your statement, and my deepest sympathies for the loss of your brother,” he said. “I hope you can get some rest now. We shouldn’t be needing to speak to you again.”

As soon as they were gone, Carey sank into the pillows.

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