Page 112 of A Deeper Darkness
Well, that went well.
Fletcher waved to the forest service kid, motioned for him to come over.
“Yes, sir?”
“Call an ambulance. We need to get him to a hospital.”
“Can’t get an ambulance up here. We’ll have to Medevac him. I already radioed. The Search and Rescue guys are sending a chopper up.” He headed back down the drive to the Jeep.
People moved around slowly now that the threat was over. Fletcher felt strangely let down. He always did when a case was done. Honestly it was just beginning—there was so much that needed to be handled, so many loose ends that needed to be tied up. But for now, he could go to sleep tonight knowing he’d taken a killer off the streets.
But could his heart recover from the blow of seeing Sam and Xander standing together, talking together, so obviously connected? He didn’t know.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Savage River
Dr. Samantha Owens
Sam walked Xander out to the hammock and sat him down. He was flushed, furious and about to cry. Sam could see the tears welling up in his eyes. She turned her back for a moment to let him compose himself. She knew what it was like to be frustrated to the point of tears. To feel betrayed.
Maggie came out then, sat next to her. She was vibrating, probably from leftover adrenaline.
“Kids are with a forest ranger, learning knots. Sam, thank you. I owe you.”
“Don’t worry about it, Maggie. I wasn’t going to let anything hurt them.”
Maggie gave her a quick hug. “I owe you,” she said again. “Man, I hope he rots. Why can’t we just drop him off a cliff?”
Xander half laughed. “Trust me. If that fucking cop wasn’t standing over him like a hawk, I’d have done just that.”
She was quiet for a minute. “I lied back there. I did tell someone everything about that night.”
“About the rape? Who?”
“Perry. We had a terrible fight. He wanted me to report it, said it was high time some of these jerks get court-martialed for their actions. He didn’t think it through, what that could mean for me. Not only was I raped, but if I went after a colonel for it? My career would be finished. Hell, it was finished, anyway, and that was before I found out I was pregnant. After that son of a bitch forced me, I went to the docs and filed a restricted report. They took a rape kit and everything. I thought that would be enough. He would be informed that an assault had happened within his unit. He’d know it was him. I thought that knowing I’d told someone would scare him into staying away from me. I had no idea that he’d go after Perry instead. Oh, God, poor Donovan. All these years, thinking he was the one who shot Perry.”
“But that’s good news,” Sam said. “Now he can be prosecuted for your rape.”
Xander shook his head. “No, he can’t. Since she didn’t follow through, the evidence would have been destroyed. They only hold rape kits for a year or two. It’s just not something the military wants to be accountable for.”
“But if we—” Sam started, but was interrupted by a flurry of activity from the road. Vehicles were pulling up, more forest rangers, it looked like.
Fletcher came out of the house. Sam watched him search the crowd until he found her. He smiled a bit, and she realized that in another world, another life, she could really like Darren Fletcher. Maybe even more than like him. But it wasn’t meant to be. He knew that, too, she could tell he did. Somehow, she’d made some sort of choice. She was outside with Xander and Maggie instead of inside with him. And he knew it.
He walked over to them. “Chopper’s coming.”
Moments later, thewhump, whump, whumpof the helicopter was plainly heard. The rotors from the chopper blew all sorts of debris around, little twigs and leaves and the tarp on top of Xander’s woodpile. A forest ranger had dropped glow sticks around the clearing, creating a temporary landing pad. The space was just big enough for the helicopter to touch down. There were several people on board. Two men hopped off with a stretcher, went inside the house without a word. A few minutes later, they wheeled Culpepper out. He was white and gasping, obviously in pain. As he passed by them, he caught Xander’s eye.
“Son. You’ve got to believe me. I didn’t do it. I swear.” He raised his arm in an attempt to point, face ashen. His voice was filled with horror. “It was her.”
Sam looked over to where Culpepper pointed.
There was a dark-haired woman five feet from them. She had almost magically appeared, though logic told Sam she must have gotten a ride on the helicopter, claimed she was family. In all the mayhem, she’d been able to slip up to the house, with no one noticing. Blood leaked down the side of her face and her arm was outstretched, holding a small silver gun.
“He took my Perry from me,” she ranted, shaking. “And all of you wanted to hide that fact. All of you. I killed them. I killed them all because they were more interested in protecting their reputations, protecting a killer, instead of finding justice for one of your own. How could you?”
She turned to Culpepper. “How could you?” she screamed.
