Page 63 of Refuge for Ailsa

“And don’t ye forget to eat. Ye’ll need yer strength when you find her.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Night.”

“Beannaich an Tighearna do fheasgar,” Maeve said. “Caidil gu math.”He had no idea what she’d just said, but he was pretty sure it was a blessing of some kind.

Tavish wandered out onto the boat’s deck, pulled off his shoes and socks, sat down, and dangled his feet in the water. Being the middle of July, the weather was such that the water was almost as warm as a bath. He’d been sitting there for a few minutes when he heard a voice say, “May I join you?”

“Sure.”

Conor pulled off his shoes and socks and sat down, his even longer legs dropping his feet down an extra three inches past the level where Tavish’s had landed.

It was silent. Conor’s voice was quiet when he finally asked, “Did Morris tell you about my girl?”

Tavish couldn’t even look at him. “No.”

“Then I will, because I think I need to tell you her story. So we were supposed to be going camping and?”

“What’s her name?”

“Erin. So, like I said, camping. She went earlier and I came when I got finished with a case I was testifying in. Animal hoarder. Anyway, I drove to the campsite and our stuff was there, but no Erin. She’d started dinner, and it was burnt. It was weird. There wasn’t a sound except birds and leaves, and it totally freaked me out. I had no idea where she was, but I found footprints and knew somebody had taken her.”

“Oh my god.”

“Yeah. I was terrified. Started looking for her. Called in every chip I had?FBI, Texas Rangers, firefighters, SARs, everybody. We looked all night. Found nothing. A friend who was a techie had no luck locating her phone. Then the friend did some digging and found out there had been murders at campgrounds all over the country, all ages of people, kids to grandmas, and they’d been hunted down like animals. I knew he had Erin. Knew it. Then they said there was a fire, and I knew that was her. She’d set it to create a diversion and help us find her. The firefighters went out to fight the fire and make a fire break, but the fire caught up to us. But guess what? It caught up to the guy too. So we kept looking for Erin and we finally found her. Wait?a donkey found her.”

“What? A donkey?”

“Long story. Anyway, she’d dug down in some mud under a fallen tree in a stream. She’d escaped the fire but not the fire ants in the mud, and she was allergic. Damn near died. She would’ve if the firefighters hadn’t had epinephrine pens to get her breathing. They airlifted her out to SanAntonio and she made a full recovery.”

“Do you know how amazing that sounds?”

Conor laughed. “Yeah. I do. But it wasn’t amazing at the time. It was terrifying. But here’s what I’m trying to tell you, Tav. Your girl, she’s strong. She’s fighting to get back to you right now. Don’t doubt it. Just keep going.”

“But tomorrow morning will be forty-eight hours. You know what they say…”

“Fuck what they say. Have faith.”

That was the problem. Have faith? Easier said than done.

* * *

She didn’t knowhow long it had been, but everything had cooled off, and then started to get hot again. And then cool again. That meant she’d been there for two nights at least. Now it was getting warm again. That meant daylight. Somehow or other, she’d managed to get the blindfold down around her neck, but it didn’t matter. It was black as coal inside the enclosure. She couldn’t see one single thing except a little bit of greenish light way down at the bottom, and she didn’t understand what that was about. Didn’t matter. She couldn’t swim, so she couldn’t get in the water. She’d chewed and chewed at the duct tape around her wrists, but it was so thick that there was no getting it off.

And so she sat, waiting. For what, she wasn’t sure, but she’d already figured out that the person who’d brought her there had no intention of coming back to get her, not even to bring her food. Probably thought she didn’t know who they were, but she did. Didn’t matter. At some time in the future, something would happen, that enclosure would reach fresh air and daylight, and her remains would be found. When they were, and they were identified, she knew what would happen.

Tavish would kill them. There was no doubt in her mind.

But she had to tell him who it was somehow. She thought and thought. There was nothing to scratch with. How would she let him know? She screamed the name of her captor over and over, but there was no use. Walls couldn’t talk, so they couldn’t tell her story. She was managing to get a tiny little bit of water, and she’d hoped there’d be some kind of algae in it that would give her a little nourishment, but the water and the heat were wearing her down. She wouldn’t last a lot longer.

Would Tavish just forget about her at some time in the future? Move on with someone else? Think about her from time to time as that woman he’d loved who’d just disappeared? Would they eventually put down a headstone for her, even if they didn’t find her body? She let out a bitter chuckle. Did it matter? It wouldn’t to her. She’d be gone.

Thoughts of Eric and how badly his loss had hurt her cycled through her brain. Would Tavish feel that kind of anguish? She hadn’t known him that long, but she’d seen into his heart, a good, strong heart, one she was sure loved her. Yes, he’d feel that kind of anguish, and she never wanted that for him. If he thought she’d gotten mad about something and just run off, that would be best. That would leave him angry, not sad, and angry was better than sad. Or was it? She didn’t know.

All she knew was that she’d never get to live in that beautiful house he’d bought, the one she’d hoped to put some sweat equity into and whip into shape to be their beautiful country home. She’d let herself fantasize earlier in the week that she’d walk down that staircase in a pretty summer dress and out the front door, where friends and family waited, to join the man she loved at an arbor of roses, and she’d pledge the rest of her life to loving and living with him. They would’ve been so happy.

She’d done all she could do to escape, and it wasn’t enough. Weakness was pulling at her, and she closed her eyes. A few minutes later, she slipped off the ledge and she knew she was a goner, but the band of her bra caught on something on the wall of whatever it was and held her there, hanging in the water. Good. Maybe it would hold long enough for her to become unconscious so she wasn’t awake and aware when she drew her last breath.

A bit later, she wasn’t sure if it was a dream or if she was hallucinating. It seemed real enough. It was the same daydream she’d had earlier, herself walking down the staircase of the farmhouse in a pretty floral dress, and she realized that the picture in her mind was very similar to the photo they had of her mother descending the stairs in the courthouse with a bouquet of wildflowers and wearing a pretty flower-print dress. She’d always loved that photo. Something about it had always made her want to emulate it, and she thought she had a good chance of that with Tavish. But it had turned out differently, and she’d come to terms with that.

---