Key Lime Pie (40 page)

They had almost reached the area of active construction. Sadie could make out a couple of men working against the far left-side rail, not paying any attention to the cars that drove by. The huge lamps lit up the area around the construction crew until it almost looked like daylight. Sadie had to squint in order for her eyes to adjust to the artificial brightness.

Sadie was just getting used to the lighting when they began moving away from it. No one had looked twice at them. There was no salvation here, and she had resigned herself to the fact that there would be no rescue when a flash of blue out of the corner of her left eye caught her attention.

She instinctually pulled toward the door and turned her head to see what the blue was, only to see Megan’s jacket loop over Monty’s face and pull his head against the headrest. Megan yanked back on the sleeves of her jacket while Monty yelled and grabbed at the fabric covering his face—letting go of the steering wheel in the process.

Sadie’s heart leapt into her throat as the car hit a construction barrier. She flinched, but then caught Megan’s frantic eyes as Megan attempted to tie the sleeves of the jacket in a knot behind the headrest. Sadie jumped into action, and she lunged forward, grabbing the emergency brake with both hands and pulling up as hard as she could. The car struck another cone.

“Hold on!” she screamed as the wheels locked. Monty yelled again, and the car went into a spin. Still holding onto the emergency brake, Sadie tried to brace herself as best she could as the car went around and around, disorienting her completely.

An orange barrel bounced off the hood and then the windshield. Megan screamed, and Sadie prepared herself for the next thing she needed to do as the car continued to slide before coming to a stop at an angle, hood down. Assuming they were on the shoulder of the road, Sadie pushed herself across Monty, who was still frantically pulling at the jacket over his face, and pushed the unlock button on the driver’s door—the only unlock button in the car that worked.

“Get out!” Sadie yelled just before Monty pulled up his knee, catching her in the throat as she tried to get out of his way. “Run,” she said with a cough. She felt a hand grab her hair. Then she heard the back door whoosh open.

She pulled away and Monty’s hand slid off her icky hair; the gooey hair product and talcum powder making it impossible for him to keep his grip. She scrambled toward the passenger door, gravity pulling her toward the dashboard as her feet were suddenly immersed in cold water.

She grabbed for the door release with her conjoined hands.
Oh please, oh please, oh please.

She’d managed to grab the handle when she heard the door locks click again. She looked over her shoulder in time to see Monty lunge across the seat at her, the jacket held in one balled fist. She managed to turn toward him and lifted a knee, hitting him squarely in the face. Looking past him, she could see that Megan’s door was open. She was gone.

The only way out of the car was through that door, but as soon as she moved toward the space between the two front seats, Monty was on her again, this time throwing his whole body weight on her, pressing her against the corner between the dashboard and passenger door.

She grunted, feeling the air knocked from her lungs. She started kicking and used her taped-together hands as a weapon, swinging them back and forth wildly, trying to protect her neck and face as best she could. She caught his face with one of her backhand swings, and managed to knee him in the thigh, but it didn’t stop him, and within seconds, he had one hand on her neck and his full body weight pressing against her chest. The chill on her back told her the water level was rising.

Monty’s eyes were on fire, his too-white teeth looking ferocious as he snarled at her. “You . . . are a . . . very foolish . . . woman,” he said between clenched teeth, tightening his grip on her neck. There was no warning in the strength of his hand; he’d like nothing more than to snap her neck in two. Her hands were pinned against her chest so she could barely move.

She heard voices, and tried to yell, but it was beyond her as pressure began building in her head. She could feel her eyes bulging even as the water level continued to rise past her waist, traveling inch by inch up her chest. If Monty didn’t kill her soon, she’d drown. Light began popping in her peripheral vision, and she realized she’d stopped fighting.

“Was she really worth saving?” Monty hissed, his eye taking on a glint of excitement. “She’ll die anyway, you know. I’ll make sure of it now.”

His threat brought on a renewed burst of energy. Despite Sadie’s vision beginning to swirl, she tried to kick, tried to raise her hands, but she was losing strength almost as quickly as she could feel her consciousness slipping. There was no fight left, no oxygen to rejuvenate her muscles. She closed her eyes as darkness began to take over. She didn’t want Monty’s face to be the last thing she saw and felt tears leak out of her eyes. She wasn’t going to get out of this one. He was going to win.

Her thoughts began to spin with thoughts of Monty, Eric, the key lime pie she hadn’t had, and Megan’s bracelet. Her children. Pete. Her throat was on fire, her eyes feeling as though they were about to pop out of her head, when suddenly the voices she’d heard got louder.

The pressure around her neck suddenly lessened, but it took a few moments for her to comprehend what that meant. She looked up to see Monty being pulled away from her. He clawed toward her face, swearing and cursing, but it made no difference. One minute he was crushing her, the next he was moving backward, and in the next instant she was looking up into another dark face, this one staring back at her in horror. “Are you okay, lady?” he said in a voice so similar to Monty’s Jamaican accent that Sadie felt a rush of fear overcome her before realizing this man had saved her.

She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a raspy cough. Water filled her ears, but she lacked the strength to pull herself up. The man yelled for help as he reached for her, grabbing her arm awkwardly due to the angle of the car. Brackish water splashed into her mouth before more hands grabbed her other arm and pulled her up, across the seats, and out of the car before laying her on the ground. The first face she’d seen hovered over her again, his dark eyes frantic with concern. She took deep breaths, trying to recover from the lack of oxygen as she looked around. She could see two workers lying on top of someone putting up a fight—Monty. Craning her neck around, she looked for Megan and tried to say her name, but the words still wouldn’t come.

“She be okay, lady,” the man said, smoothing Sadie’s wet, slimy hair back from her face.

She looked up at her rescuer, and tears began to rise as she reached up with her taped hands and grabbed his shirt. “Thank you,” she mouthed, unable to speak.

He smiled, though he still looked scared. “An ambulance be comin’ from Key Largo,” he said. “Jus’ ’old on, okay? You be alright.”

Sadie could feel her whole body begin to shake as shock set in. She forced herself to relax her head back and close her eyes, tears streaming down her face and pooling in her ears.

“You be alright,” the man said again as he began pulling at the duct tape holding her hands together. “I promise, you both be alright.”

You’re sure you’re okay?” the emergency room nurse asked as he helped Sadie stand. He was Hispanic, about six-two, and totally ripped—as Breanna would say.

Sadie nodded. Her throat was still raw and hurt like the dickens, so she didn’t dare talk much. She was exhausted and ready to go home, but then she thought of the report she needed to make to Mathews and the phone call she owed Pete—both a little hard to do when she couldn’t talk. And then there was Megan.

“Megan!”

Startled to have her thoughts repeated out loud, she looked up in time to see the curtain surrounding her gurney-bed-thing be yanked to the side. Behind the curtains stood Eric, his eyebrows up, a black eye swollen shut. He looked at Sadie and froze for a moment, then he moved forward, coming to a stop a foot or so from where Sadie stood beside her bed.

“Sadie?” he whispered, raising his hand to her neck. She’d seen the bruises; it wasn’t pretty. She grabbed his hand before he touched her and shook her head.

“Can I help you, sir?” the ER nurse cut in, taking a step toward them as though planning to come between them if necessary.

Sadie gave him a look and smiled. “It’s okay,” she said in a horrible whisper. She lowered her hand still holding Eric’s wrist and let go.

The nurse looked between the two of them and nodded. “I’ll be right out there,” he said, pointing through the curtains before stepping through the gap Eric had made. He didn’t pull the curtains closed, and Sadie could see his shoes stop to the side of the opening; he was waiting to make sure Eric didn’t try anything, she assumed.

She looked from the shoes to Eric’s face. “You haven’t seen Megan yet?” she whispered, trying not to cringe at the pain speaking caused.

“I just got here,” Eric said, still looking at her neck with sympathy in his expression. “They said she was brought to the emergency room. Mathews brought me.” No sooner had he said Mathews’s name than the police sergeant appeared in the opening of the curtains. He caught Sadie’s eye, then nodded and stepped out of view. But she could see his shoes too.

Sadie turned her attention to Eric and shrugged to show she didn’t know where Megan was. They hadn’t transported her and Megan in the same car, and no one had come to talk to her about anything yet. “Labor and delivery?” she whispered.

Eric nodded and finally met her eyes. “What happened?”

Sadie shook her head; it didn’t matter right now. “Let’s find Megan,” she said. She moved her hand to his forearm. He surprised her by pulling back, and she turned to face him.

“Sadie,” he said. “About the things Larry said back at the apartment, I—”

Sadie shook her head quickly. She really didn’t want to discuss that right now. How could she explain that she’d had reservations about a future with Eric before she’d heard any of that? Certainly what Larry had said made an impact, but it wasn’t the reason for her change of heart. There was something thrilling about Eric, and he certainly wasn’t a bad guy by any stretch, but she also couldn’t see herself snuggled up in front of a fire with him, or opening presents with grandchildren on Christmas Day. There had been chemistry, but chemistry wasn’t enough.

“We’ll talk later,” she whispered and began walking again, pulling him with her.

Sergeant Mathews and the nurse, as well as the female police officer who’d brought Sadie in, were waiting for them. Eric explained the situation, the officer called someone on her walkie-talkie, and a minute later they were in an elevator Sadie had already used twice that day.

When they reached the doorway to Megan’s room, Eric paused and took a breath. A curtain was drawn around the bed, blocking most of the room from view. Eric turned to look at Sadie, and she gave him a reassuring smile and nod. He stepped into the room. Sadie had every intention of following him, but her feet wouldn’t move. Despite all her involvement, she realized that this moment didn’t belong to her.

“Sweetie Pie?” she heard Eric say in a nervous voice.

She felt tears in her eyes and winced as she tried to swallow the emotion that came with it.

“Daddy?” came a voice that at that moment sounded like a very scared little girl. “I’m so sorry.”

It was two o’clock Sunday afternoon when Sadie’s plane began its descent into Denver. Her ears popped, and Sadie braced herself for the moment the wheels touched down. A few minutes later the plane came to a stop, but the butterflies were just getting started. What would she say when she faced Pete? How would she explain the bruises? They’d texted back and forth, and Sadie knew he’d talked to Mathews, but the anxiety of having an actual discussion about what had happened was eating her up.

The pilot thanked them for their patronage, and Sadie tucked her hair behind her ears. She’d spent all day Saturday giving her statement and answering questions. Last night she’d met Eric for dinner and tried to let him down easy. He was still convinced it was the things Larry had said that had made her change her mind; she finally gave up trying to convince him otherwise and just wished him well. Eric was staying in Miami to be close to Megan, and Sadie was glad for that on many levels. He and Megan needed to create a new relationship, and Sadie was relieved that Eric wouldn’t be in Garrison for a little while.