Page 32 of In Her Shadow

She ended the call and helped Lily get to her feet, then guided her to the faded couch in the living room.“Let’s get you comfortable,” Jenna murmured, her hand gently on Lily’s shoulder as she eased her down onto the cushions.The environmentalist’s breaths came in short, ragged pulls, the ordeal drawing lines of strain around her eyes.

The paramedics arrived quickly, their faces set in professional masks of concern as they filed in through the open doorway.One paramedic wrapped a cuff around Lily’s arm with practiced swiftness.“Blood pressure’s looking a bit high,” he commented, “but that’s to be expected,”

“Shock can do that to you,” Jenna replied as she knelt beside Lily.“Stay with me, Lily,” Jenna said.“Can you tell me what happened?”

Lily’s gaze found Jenna’s, a silent communion passing between them.“I found evidence of bribes...large sums of money being paid to Garth for zoning changes.”Her words were brittle, threatening to shatter, but she continued her story.“When I confronted him here, he...”A shiver ran through her body.“He attacked me.He said he had to put a stop to my investigation.”

Jenna’s expression hardened at the confirmation of corruption staining her town’s integrity.“And then?”she prompted.

With a trembling hand, Lily brushed the stray strands hair from her face, her other hand tracing the reddened skin where the gag had been.“He bound and gagged me,” she whispered.

“Thank you, Lily.You’re incredibly brave,” Jenna assured her.She knew the courage it took to stare down fear and then keep going.

“Alright, we’re going to take you to the hospital, just to make sure everything’s okay,” the paramedic interjected, breaking the moment.

Jenna nodded, standing as they prepped Lily for transport.She watched as they wheeled her out, her mind churning with the implications of bribery and violence, of a threat that spread through the very foundations of Trentville.

“Jenna,” Lily called out weakly, her stretcher pausing at the threshold.“You have to stop him.”

“Stop who, Lily?Garth?”Jenna asked sharply, stepping forward.“Jake’s gone after him.”

“No, the one pulling his strings, making those bribes and kickbacks,” Lily breathed out, her eyes pleading.“And you have to stop him.He’s responsible for the murders.I’m just sure of it.”

Lily’s chest heaved as though every breath were a battle, her eyes glazing over with the memory of freshly lived horror.“He said I was getting too close,” she stammered.“That I’d end up like Clyde and Roger if I didn’t stop poking around.”

Jenna’s mind spun, thoughts darting like swallows at dusk.She leaned in, her green eyes intense, searching Lily’s face for any clue that might have been overlooked.“Did he say anything about who was behind the bribes?”she pressed.

Shaking her head, Lily winced, a grimace crinkling her features as paramedics attended to the welts and bruises marring her skin.No words came, only the silent echo of fear and pain that whispered of threats larger than Garth Fields.

At that moment, the front door burst open.Jake stood in the space, his uniform disarrayed, the lines of exertion etched into his face.A triumphant but battered air clung to him, a bruise already coloring his jawline.

“Got him,” he panted.

His gaze met Jenna’s.In his disheveled appearance, she read an entire story of pursuit and capture.“Backup’s taking him to the station now.”He broke off his story, “And I see you’ve found Lily.”

“Yes, she was a captive here.I think she’ll be all right, but she needs to be checked out at the hospital.”Jenna relayed the harrowing account of Lily’s ordeal to Jake as the paramedics worked with practiced urgency.She watched them secure Lily onto the stretcher, her heart tight with empathy for the fear that must have coursed through the poor woman, bound and gagged, alone with her terror.

“Fields kept her like some twisted trophy,” Jenna said.“She said he threatened her life if she didn’t back off the investigation.”

Jake listened intently, his attention never wavering from Jenna’s face.As the EMTs loaded Lily into the back of the ambulance, he stepped closer, the lines of his face drawn by the raw intensity of the chase and what they’d discovered.“So, do you think we’ve got our killer?”There was hope in his question, along with the fatigue of the day’s exertion.

Jenna’s watched the ambulance doors close behind Lily.When the vehicle pulled away, she turned her vibrant eyes back to him,

“Jake,” she replied with a deep frown, “I’m afraid that Garth was just a puppet, and somebody else is pulling the strings.We’re missing something—the why behind it all,”

She met his gaze squarely.“This is just the beginning.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Jenna took a deep breath, steeling herself for the upcoming confrontation in the Genesius County Jail’s interview room.It was hardly more than a box with bare walls and a cold linoleum floor, furnished with a table and several plain chairs—a stark contrast to the plush offices where lawyers typically spun their narratives.She glanced at Jake, who stood waiting with her for the public defender assigned to Garth Field to arrive after conferring with his client.

Then the door opened, and Martin Greer entered the room like a storm cloud in a rumpled suit, his wiry frame tensed for battle.His salt-and-pepper hair was a disordered crown atop his head, an unintended reflection of the urgency that had summoned them all here.

“Sheriff Graves, Deputy Hawkins,” Greer greeted them, his voice holding an edge sharpened by many hours in courtrooms.

“Mr.Greer.”Jenna’s words cut through the air, crisp and clear.She and Jake stood waiting to hear what he had to say.

The lawyer wasted no time launching into his defense.“My client, Mr.Fields, vehemently denies any involvement in Ms.Cummings’ alleged abduction,” Greer stated.He cleared his throat, continuing, “He claims Ms.Cummings came into his house voluntarily to discuss some...misunderstandings about zoning regulations.”

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