Page 34 of Just Right

"McCallum," Connor said more loudly, breaking into a run.

Cami's heart was racing as she rushed behind him. She had a horrible feeling that they were too late. James was going to jump. And he was going to do it now. And as Connor reached him, he did just that.

He clambered over the rail, causing Cami's heart to accelerate wildly. He stood staring out over the gray waters.

And then he let go of the rail that he was holding with his right hand. He leaned out over the water, and Cami heard a terrified, "No!" burst from her mouth.

But at that moment, Connor reached him. He grabbed the man's arm with both of his own, even as James's feet slipped off the narrow concrete shelf beyond the rail. Now James was crying out, but Cami couldn't tell if it was in terror or regret. His feet were flailing. Connor's grasp was literally the only thing between him and the fifty-foot drop to the waters below.

Cami rushed up, feeling absolutely terrified but determined to help. Now, she could see, James regretted his decision to jump. He was grabbing with his hands, desperately trying to get a hold of the rail again as Connor's iron grip kept him from the lethal fall.

But James's jacket was slipping, he dropped lower as Cami rushed up. He let out a shout that was filled with purest terror.

"I can't hold on," he gasped.

His voice was trembling. His legs made frantic, desperate movements as if he was trying to find a foothold on the smooth concrete of the bridge. Cami had to do something! She had to try to help.

Even though it filled her with a dizzying fear, and she worried she'd be dragged right over the rail herself, she leaned over, grasping James's belt. Connor got a better hold on his arm. James writhed around, this time grasping the rail tightly, and keeping the hold on his arm, Connor helped to lift the now shaking man back over the rail.

"I've got you," Connor said, his voice tight with tension. "I've got you."

With a flailing of limbs, James landed in a heap on the paved pedestrian walkway, breathing fast. Now, suddenly, he seemed to realize that he'd gone straight from one predicament into another that was potentially more serious. He stared at Connor and now there was shock and betrayal in his gaze.

"You're police! What are you trying to do? I've done nothing illegal. I'm not going back to prison!"

"Is there a reason you're scared of that?" Connor countered.

James's eyes narrowed. "I'm not scared of anything," he said, sitting up, and wiping the sweat from his brow. He looked absolutely terrified. "Except for falling," he said in a low voice.

"Might be a good thing to be a little frightened of the police," Connor said, his voice steady and even."Especially if you've been breaking the law."

"I haven't been. I was here because I always come here. I feel drawn to this place. To the horror of these deaths. You know about it, right? Everyone here knows about it. How the family fell. They made me do the report on it even though I didn't want to. I felt unprepared for digging into that story. And the footage—that was shocking."

"The footage? Of the accident?"

Cami glanced at Connor. There had been footage? That could be important to watch. But James was shaking his head.

"I can't show you. It was sent to me in private when I was assigned to do the story. Someone filmed it and . . . and I watched it twice, but then I deleted it off my phone."

"You did?" Cami asked.

"It was too horrible. Too traumatic."

"Can I see your phone?"

James reached into his pocket with shaking hands and took the phone out. He looked surprised to see that it was even still there, Cami thought. And so was she. It could have easily fallen out and tumbled down to the waters below.

But she still felt confident that even without the phone, she could trace the footage. This kind of footage always lurked online. It was very hard to truly erase something from the archives.

"I don't know if I want to give my phone to you," James said uneasily. Cami wondered if that was his guilt talking. Was there evidence on this phone of what he'd done and where he'd been?

"In fact, I'm not going to!" Instead of handing the phone to her, James half-turned, and in a swift, awkward motion, he flung it over the edge of the rail.

It went tumbling down. The waters below were so distant that they barely heard the splash as it disappeared from sight forever.

Cami stared in consternation at the traumatized journalist. That was destroying evidence, clear and undoubtedly. And Connor thought so too.

"You're under arrest," he said. "Failure to obey and destroying potential evidence. We're bringing you in."

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