Page 48 of Everyone Loved Her

My eyes were locked onto a cell phone, screen pointed upward. It was halfway covered with dirt, as if it had hit the ground with some impact. The screen was shattered, but the outside case—pink leopard print—made my hands go numb.

“What did you find?” Garrett asked, his voice full of confusion.

“How did they miss this?” I mumbled to myself, stopping before I leaned over to pick it up. I knew better than to do that. “This is insane.”

“Where are you, Beth?” His intense tone caught my attention.

“I did exactly as you said. Came to this bridge and found the phone.”

He blew out a breath. “Don’t touch it. Just… Just call Blaze. Tell him what you found, I guess. Or don’t. It’s probably better if you don’t. He already took the gun from you. It’ll look bad.”

“Only if that gun did the job.”

“Ballistics aren’t reliable and can be manipulated. You should know that.”

“Sometimes, but that’s rare.”

“I’ll come down there. I was the one who found it in the first place. Just go home. I’ll be there in five minutes. I’m leaving now.”

Suddenly, the hair on the back of my neck rose, a shudder running down my spine as the silence surrounded me. I satstill, listening as the crickets ceased to chirp and the night went still.

“Elizabeth?” Garrett sounded worried. “Go home.”

“Something is wrong. I think someone is coming,” I said, my voice quiet as I glanced around. I backed up slowly from the phone, peering both ways down the gravel road.

“You have a vehicle,get in it.” Garrett’s trucks engine roared over the other end of the phone.

Just then, I saw headlights appear in the distance—coming from thedead-endside of the bridge. “I don’t have time.”

“Then conceal yourself.”

He didn’t have to say that for me to already be in motion, heading right back for the fence where the phone was. Using my boot to push down the barbed wire, I slipped through, edging deeper into the trees.

“Are you out of sight?” His voice had an air of warning.

“Yes,” I whispered, my eyes focused on the headlights, now approaching at a distance they would’ve been able to make me out from. I sunk deeper into the woods, hiding behind an old Oak trunk. Thankfully, the brush was still thick, and my dark sweatshirt allowed for me to be mostly concealed.

“I’m just a few minutes out,” Garrett said into my ear.

I kept my eyes focused on the headlights, appearing to slow down as the truck grew closer. My skin prickled with anticipation as the dark colored SUV inched past where I was in the woods, the lights switching from low-beam to hi-beam, illuminating my old truck.

And then the vehicle came to a complete stop.

I held my breath, my heart pounding in my chest as the driver’s side door slung open. I couldn’t tell who it was, them being on the other side of their car.

“Did they pass by?” Garrett sounded almost panicked.

“No,” I breathed out, trying not to move or make a single sound.

“They stopped?”

“Yes.” My voice was barely audible.

“I should’venevertold you to go down there. I’m so sorry, honey. I’m coming. I swear to you. I’m almost to the turn-off.”

I didn’t say anything as whoever it was that had climbed out, climbed back in, slamming the door. They smashed the gas so hard it sent rocks flying and left nothing but a cloud of dust. I closed my eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief, edging my way out of the woods.

“They left.”

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