Page 156 of Another Girl Lost

Dawson reached for his phone and called for an ambulance. He knelt beside her, and I handed him a clean cloth from my workbench. He pressed the fabric to her neck.

“Don’t try so hard,” Lynn whispered. “Let me go.”

“No.”

She smiled.

Her face had paled to the color of porcelain, and her skin had cooled to the touch. She began to convulse, and her eyes rolled back in her head before they closed.

The rescue squad arrived and pushed Dawson aside. They checked for vitals, and as one began chest compressions, the other readied a defibrillator. Her shirt open, the paddles were pressed against her chest. They shocked her once, twice, and three times. They worked on her for about ten minutes before they declared her barely stable. Minutes later she was wheeled out on a stretcher.

“Scarlett, are you all right?” Dawson said. “Did she stick you?”

I brushed my hand over the scratch on my arm. “No. I’m fine. Did you hear what she said?”

“Yes. Every word.” He shook his head.

Luke had brokered a deal with Dawson. I would act as bait to get a confession from Lynn. All I had known was to expect her to make a move. “You sent her the text?”

“That was Margo’s idea.”

I shoved out a sigh, not sure whether I was grateful or angry to be set up as bait. I’d bet money Margo had sent me the text that lured me to Lynn’s town house to buy time to bring Lynn here. Was this all about coaxing a confession out of Lynn? “Did Margo admit she’s Della?”

“No,” he said.

As other uniforms arrived, Margo eased through the crowd and came toward me. “You look no worse for wear.” She was so easygoing, as if she already knew the ending to this story.

“You knew Lynn was aware of Tanner’s secrets, didn’t you?”

“I had a good idea,” Margo said. “She was obsessed with Tanner, and I suspect still blames you and Dawson for his death. But she’d have blamed anyone for Tanner’s demise other than Tanner. The world is a better place without them.”

“Who called 9-1-1 with the location of Sandra’s body?”

“I don’t know,” Margo said.

“Who kidnapped Lynn and left her here?” I knew before she spoke that she wouldn’t give me a straight answer. Della never played all her cards.

Margo arched a brow. “That’s another question I can’t answer. Maybe Lynn made the call and tried to frame you for Tiffany’s murder.”

Lynn’s panic had been real when I pulled the plastic from her face. She’d not set that scene up. But it was a Margo kind of move. “I stabbed you.”

Margo waved her hand. “Bygones. You were understandably upset. I won’t be testifying against you, and I’ll insist my wound was caused by an accident.”

“Why? I stabbed you. I could have killed you.”

“But you didn’t, did you? And you did find yourself in a very confusing and stressful situation.”

“Did you set it all up?”

Before she could answer, Luke pushed through the front door, his face tight with worry. Relief flooded my body. “Who called him?”

“Me,” Margo said. “He wanted to know the moment Lynn appeared here.”

“So that’s it?” I asked. “I’m off the hook. Case closed?” My hands trembled as the adrenaline raced through my system. All this time, and now it was over?

“As far as I’m concerned, yes. Time we both moved on, don’t you think?”

Six hours later, I stood in Luke’s shower, hot water pelting my chilled skin and the red scrapes from Lynn’s needle trailing up my arm. Old images of Tanner flashed. He’d come as close to killing me a decade ago as Lynn had today. I’d escaped them, but Sandra and Tiffany had not.

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