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“No blackmailing you,” I said.

“No. I know you suspected she was involved, but it was not in the way you thought.”

“Then why didn’t you say that?”

“Because the only thing she wanted was for me to keep her secret. She saved my kid for crying out loud. It was the least I could do. As it is… I guess you know it now.”

“Yeah…” I also knew the chief wasn’t going to want to arrest Evans for what had happened here. I shook my head at my own thoughts. I was starting to think like the Community members now. Distrusting the police. What the hell?

“What happened here?” Mulligan asked for the second time. She didn’t need to mention Evans to make it clear that was who she wanted to know about.

“The dead man’s name is Thomás. That’s all I know, really. Except that he’s one of Ms. Kirby’s kidnappers. He got Evans and forced her with him. I don’t know exactly what happened, but some sort of altercation occurred between them to cause this.” I had been at a loss as to what to do. Seeing the wreck of a car disappear from the hospice. Then it had dawned on me. Why had they not taken the Beetle? It was right there. She had the key. The only reason was she didn’t want him to. Didn’t want to help him. Hotwiring the thing would have taken ages. You didn’t do that to new cars unless you were an expert. No, the thirty-year-old station wagon was a better choice in that regard. It hadn’t taken me long to find the key. She’d chucked it right under the front of the Beetle. By that time, though, I’d had trouble finding Evans and Thomás. Luckily, the rusty and dented car they were in made enough noise to be noticed. I’d asked a few pedestrians on my way who’d pointed me in the right direction. By the time I got outside town, it had been too late, though. They had already crashed.

“One of the kidnappers?” Mulligan repeated. She looked disappointed. With him being dead there was little he could tell us about Andrea. “So where is Ms. Evans?”

I shrugged. “Don’t know. She was gone when I got here. Judging by her tracks she might have been somewhat unbalanced as she fled the scene.”

“Shit,” Mulligan said, drawing air in between her teeth. “Do you think she got some information from him?”

“I can only guess. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried.”

“She might be in shock after this,” Mulligan said waving her hand, indicating the car below.

She could be. I had been the first person to arrive. I had seen the passenger door open. Followed her tracks a little, seeing the unevenness at first before she had gotten her bearings and kept a steadier pace. Hopefully, she wasn’t hurt. There was no blood in the car. At least not from her. Thomás had smashed his head on the steering wheel, blood seeping down onto his right knee. No airbags in the old car. And he had already been in a poor state, as he’d been beaten and drowned not long before this happened. I winced at the pain in my left side from the punches he’d dealt me as I’d gotten him away from Eloise. In the grand scheme of things, those bruises were not too bad.

“The problem right now is finding her,” I said. “She could have gone anywhere.”

“And she might be the only one who knows anything about where they’re keeping Ms. Kirby.” Mulligan folded her arms again. “Can this be traced to her in any way?” she asked, looking sideways at me. I could hardly believe I heard her ask that. But I knew from what she’d told me about her kid and how Evans had helped, that she was dead serious.

I sighed. I had covered the tracks, wiped the car for prints on the passenger side before closing the door. Holy hell, this was becoming bad fast.

“I don’t think so,” I said finally, seeing my boss nod.

“Then you should try and find her. I’ll take over here.”

“Are you sure? The report might become…tricky on this one.”

She smiled ruefully. “I’m sure we can manage.”

“Okay,” I simply said. I had been wrong. Hiding things like this was bad enough. Even if we were trying to help save someone. The fact that we were now two people doing this, did not make me feel any less like a fraud.

Four

Time becamea confusing concept for me as I moved as fast as I could on my shaky legs. It got better with each step, like my body wanted to move to avoid stiffening. Still, I had no idea I’d walked down toward the water until I heard it lapping in over the beach. The smell of salt water and seaweed was the next clue.

I stopped then, standing unsteadily on the rocky beach, the cold wind making me shiver.

“Come on Margaret. Focus. Get it together.”

I drew deep breaths for a while, getting my head back in the game. A head that hurt. Then I heard the sirens. Far behind me, it seemed.

Car crash. Dead guy. Cops. No thanks.

That got me going. I needed to get the hell away from there.

As I looked ahead, though, I could see the outskirts of Ashport. The way before me was unfortunately a rocky shoreline interspersed with a few cleared out beaches, ground covered in rocks.

Peachy.

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