Page 30 of Final Escape
If Billy wasn’t lurking in Granite Falls, then who could be stalking her—and why?
* * *
WHITE-KNUCKLING THEsteering wheel of her SUV, Carrie eyed the gas gauge on the instrument panel and said another silent prayer as she drove the last two miles home after her White-water Rescue class.
Her tank had been over three-quarters full when she’d driven out to the site of the class, four miles on the other side of Granite Falls. She’d beensureof it. Yet her low-fuel light had come on when she started the vehicle afterward, and with the two gas stations in town already closed for the evening, she’d been biting her fingernails the rest of the way home.
The gauge had always been accurate.
There was no way she could’ve used that much gas.
And there couldn’t have been a leak—there’d been no pungent odor of gasoline surrounding the vehicle when she’d climbed back in. So who would come out in the middle of nowhere to siphon fuel? It wouldn’t have been difficult to pull it off, if someone was desperate or otherwise motivated, though.
The instructors and students always parked at the side of the rutted, narrow access road leading to the river, and she’d been the last one to pull in. There’d been the usual half-hour discussion before everyone traipsed down the path to the river for several hours of hands-on demonstration and practice on a stretch of white water. All the while, the vehicles were out of sight, and the noisy river would’ve masked the sound of anyone driving up the lane.
At the sign for Wolf River Rafting Company, she breathed a sigh of relief, flipped on her turn signal and turned in. Had she been targeted...or simply a random victim?
Either way, the sense of being violated made her shiver. What if she’d run out of gas somewhere between here and town? With just intermittent cell phone service thanks to the mountains, it might have been a very long and lonely walk.
A pair of headlights flashed in her rearview mirror, swung around and blinded her for a split second, then a motor gunned and the vehicle took off down the highway with a squeal of tires. Her heart lodged in her throat at the obvious implication.
A coincidence? Not likely. She’d been followed.
By someone who’d expected to find her stranded on the highway and vulnerable—though fortunately he’d misjudged the amount of fuel it would take for that to happen.
Her fear faded and her anger grew. She was tired of this. Tired of being followed, of being threatened, of not knowing for sure who was behind it all.
It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair that some unknown stranger was threatening her future and possibly even her life, when all she wanted was a chance to start over and finally be happy.
And if it turned out to be Billy, she wouldn’t give in to her old feelings and back away from pressing charges. Not this time. Not ever again. Whatever her intentions for the future were, however brave she felt at this moment with the threat now gone, it was still terrifying to be confronted with danger in the dark and all alone.
Thank You, God, for watching out for me,she murmured as she stepped on the accelerator and tried to calm her shaking nerves.
In minutes, she pulled in close to the rafting office, grateful for the security light that lit her stairway and the lamp glowing in the boathouse window.
She hesitated. Scanning the vicinity for any movement, she felt her tension ease when the boathouse door swung open and Logan appeared.
“Glad to see you,” she called out as she stepped from her SUV and hit Lock on her key ring.
He strode over to her, frowning as he pulled to a stop and searched her face. “You look so pale. Everything all right?”
“I think I may have been followed here...possibly by someone who also drained most of the fuel from my gas tank.” She gave him a quick summary. “If this was Billy, he ought to know better. And if it’s someone else—the big question iswhy?”
“I think you should call the sheriff.”
“I thought about it—but what proof do I have of anything? They probably already think I’ve cried wolf one too many times as it is.”
His expression troubled, Logan slowly shook his head. “Maybe I should start taking you to those classes.”
A warm feeling unfurled in her heart at the deep concern in his eyes. “And to school, back and forth on all of these trips? It’s sweet of you to offer, but it’s also impractical. I’ll—I’ll just be more careful.”
“And how will you do that? It’s impossible to protect yourself every minute.” He rested his large, strong hands on her shoulders. “Maybe you need a bodyguard.”
“Very funny.” She gave a short laugh. “Me. A part-time teacher, without fame or fortune. Or any real enemies, for that matter.”
“I’m serious.”
His intent gaze locked on to hers and she could no more look away than she could have stopped the moon’s orbit. His eyes were so beautiful, filled with such compassion and concern, that she felt safer than she had in a long, long time. “Thanks. But just having you here makes me feel better.”
