Kidnapped (11 page)

“So did I, Caroline.”

She let herself remember that night, wanting to be back in those happier times.

* * *

A carnival was not how Caroline had expected Luke to want to bring in the new year, but she was willing to admit it was growing on her.

She laughed at the strange balloon animal he handed her. “I'm not going to ask.”

“Think giraffe meets ostrich; it's nothing but a very long neck and very thin legs.”

“I suppose it can be construed that way.”

He handed a bill to the balloon vender and then reached for her hand. “You asked for as many gifts as possible that were basically made of air, and you have to admit, I'm excelling at the challenge.”

“The cotton candy was delicious too.”

“For pure air volume, the blown glass figurine beat it in spades. Are you up to another ride?”

She studied the Ferris wheel ahead of them, the colorful lights twinkling in the dark sky. “I admit to being overwhelmed with movement. We'd better just plan to sit awhile.”

“The twirly seats did you in.”

“I think it was the spinning barrel where the floor dropped away.”

The carnival crowd had grown as midnight approached, and finding a table at one of the food spots turned out to be a challenge. Luke cleared away trays at a small table for two and created them a place. “Would you like more coffee or something to eat?”

“Get us some chips to share? Salt sounds good right now.”

“Be right back.”

Her arms had filled with packages during the evening, and she settled the sacks around her. When he returned, she shifted aside her pad of paper and helped him set down the tray. “Your idea of something to share is a meal.”

“Bigger is always the better value.”

She didn't laugh although her lips twitched. She picked up a tortilla chip and tried the salsa. She liked his taste in food. He turned her pad of paper toward him.

“It's tradition on New Year's Eve to look back at the year and try to decide how life will improve.”

“You just like lists,” Luke replied, grinning at her.

“I'm good at them.”

“
Buy new car. Take Benjamin to see a musical. Get graduate course catalog for master's program. Sleep more.
” He slid her list back around. “Those last two sound mutually exclusive.”

“Getting the course catalog is not the same as signing up for classes, Luke.”

“It's one of those long long-term goals.”

“Exactly.”

He ate a chip. “You forgot a couple important ones.”

“Such as?”

“Buy more candy sticks.”

“You liked those, did you?”

“Benjamin and I have good taste. Those old-fashioned candy jars you keep on the counter are unique; I like that.”

She wrote it down.

“Add one specifically for me:
Date Luke.
”

Her pen missed the paper. “You just got done telling me you don't date.”

“When did I say that?”

“On the log ride—which, let me point out, had water much colder than you predicted.”

“It's going to be January in a couple hours; it's supposed to be cold water. I said I don't date because of my job, as in
make a habit of it
. For you, I'll make an exception.”

She bit her lip.

“Write it down,” he offered helpfully.

She wrote it down. “I don't understand you.”

“I'm not that hard to figure out. I don't have enough free time to make elaborate what should be simple decisions.”

“You met me at the wedding over three months ago and invited me to tonight. Now you're asking about the next year.”

“If I don't ask, how are you going to say yes?”

Caroline laughed. “I suppose there is some logic to that.”

“When you have to compress a relationship into the time available, and it's agonizingly short, it gets easier to focus on the things that matter.” He ate another chip.

“You planned this evening, Luke.”

“Just the when and where. The thing that mattered most was your being here.”

“It's going to take me a while to get used to the nonwork side of you. You're not nearly as serious about life as Mark is.”

He smiled. “Mark planned Christmas Day, did he?”

“Mark wanted their first Christmas to be enjoyed by everyone. It was nice. We even went for a sleigh ride.”

“I don't get that detailed. And my job is serious enough; there's no reason to let my occasional day away stay serious.”

“My schedule is a bit of a challenge during the school year. And you live an hour away from Benton.”

“We'll figure it out. What would you like to do next?”

“We need a picture to memorialize tonight.”

“We do?”

She nodded. “For my scrapbook.”

“I'm not big into pictures.”

“Tough.”

He laughed. “I suppose I could go along with this, just as long as I get a copy of it.”

“Admit it; you keep photos around. I know you picked out a couple from the wedding photos. Sharon told me.”

“I liked how you blushed. Which you're doing again by the way.”

“Don't remind me.” She slipped from her chair. “I'm going to go find a mirror. Watch the packages?”

“I'll even save you the last chip,” he promised.

She knew he watched as she joined the crowd. Luke Falcon was not what she expected, not even close. And it made her smile.

* * *

Luke left Caroline in the rocker, knowing the sleep mattered more than the comfort of a bed. If they got the bad news he feared, she would be struggling to get that sleep in the days ahead. People who had lost loved ones often ended up working nights so they could sleep days. The hours after dark and the memories they brought were so heavy as to make sleep impossible.

Her house had floorboards that creaked, but he moved slow enough to keep the sounds to a minimum. He didn't look at a clock. He picked up the quilt he had set aside on the couch and stretched out again.

If Caroline lost her family, Luke knew he was going to lose her too. There were not enough good memories built up between them to overcome the weight of this weekend. This day would be the raw memory she could never get past. He wiped his eyes and closed them, longing to find the escape of sleep.

Chapter Eleven

L
uke woke to the sound of a phone ringing. He pushed himself up on the couch, his left arm numb, his back aching at the twisted way he had slept. He grabbed for his phone on the side table. “Luke Falcon.”

“They found Mark,” Jackie said.

So close to a nightmare, so pushed without sleep, Luke heard Jackie's words, and his first instinct was to see blood. “Where?” he choked out.

“He's alive. A country road near the home he designed, a farmer's pond. The car is wrecked and in the water. Mark extricated himself from the car and out of the water before he collapsed. The paramedics haven't even reached him yet. I'm giving you what the sheriff called into the dispatcher less than a minute ago.”

He saw the clock. 5:10 a.m. His cousin had dumped his car into water a good twelve hours ago. “Is he conscious?”

“It doesn't sound like it. An air ambulance is on the way to the scene. Hold on, dispatch is working to get me a radio link with the sheriff.” Jackie dropped off the line. Luke reached for his shoes and tugged them on with one hand. Jackie came back. “It sounds like Mark has serious chest injuries. Luke, if you want to see him before he's airlifted to the hospital, you've got to go now. You might just be able to get there in time.”

Luke pulled over the pad of paper. “Give me the directions.”

She listed country road turns. “As bad as this is, it's still good news.”

“He's alive. But it leaves a lot of confusion. If Mark simply had an accident . . .” Luke was still sorting out the implications of it. “I really hoped they were all together. Anything at all on Sharon and Ben?”

“No. We've got full media coverage ready to go with the 6 a.m. newscast. The command centers in Benton and Atlanta will be operational shortly thereafter.”

“I'll call you back from the site.”

Luke tore off the page of directions and bolted for the stairs to wake Caroline. “Caroline.”

He heard a sound to his right and turned, spotting her in Benjamin's room just stirring on the bed. She had moved to sleep in Benjamin's room. The sight broke his heart.

“What is . . . ?”

“They found Mark.”

He caught her as she fell, her feet catching in the blanket pulled from the bed with her. “Easy. Mark had a car accident. He's hurt but alive. We still don't know anything more about Sharon and Ben.”

“Where is he? How is he?”

“We're going to go see him. I've got directions to the scene. Find something warm; it's cold this morning.”

“Get the car. I'll be right behind you.”

* * *

Luke paused the car at the top of the hillside where the accident had happened so he could see the full scene. Had he been alone, he would have been tempted to swear at what he saw. Mark's car had missed a turn, slammed through a fence line, and gone down a man-made embankment to crash into the water. It was a wonder the car hadn't rolled and left his cousin dead.

“Mark would never have gone so fast on a country road as to lose control like this without cause,” Caroline said softly.

Luke reached over and squeezed her hand. “I know.” Something really bad had led to this wreck. Luke drove down the hill and parked on the roadside behind the cop cars. He opened the car door. The air ambulance in the north pasture ascended gracefully a few feet from the earth and turned south, lifting away with a loud beat of blades against the cold morning air. They were too late to see Mark.

Caroline pushed her arms into her jacket. “He's alive. If he had the strength to get through a night outside with his injuries, he'll make it from here.”

Luke swallowed against the bitter taste in his mouth and the fear that he might not see his cousin alive again. “He's a fighter.” Luke forced himself to look from the departing helicopter to the accident scene. “It could have been a blown tire,” he offered, feeling out what might make this an accident rather than foul play. So much of how they handled the search today depended on their conclusions at this scene.

Caroline handed over the jacket she pulled from the backseat for him. “Let's go see.”

The steep embankment had been torn into by the rescue equipment. Luke offered Caroline a hand, and they half slid down the steepest stretch.

“Stand back in case this winch snaps!” the man on the tow truck called to the deputies trying to shift brush debris from the pond where the car had gone in. Only the back fender of Mark's vehicle was visible, the car's nose in the water. The tow truck operator started the power winch, and metal strained against the weight of the water.

The sheriff came to meet them. He offered his hand to Luke. “I'm so sorry. I wish I had better news.”

“He's alive.”

The sheriff nodded. “His vitals are strong, and the doctor on the air flight was hopeful the chest injuries didn't result in massive internal bleeding. We think the air bag deployed before the car reached the water, saving Mark's life.”

The car began to inch out of the water, metal chains grinding. The car appeared, covered with pond moss and mud and disgorging water. The driver side rear tire had practically disappeared into the crumpled metal of the wheel frame.

“What in the world did he hit?” Luke asked.

“I doubt that damage is from hitting the water,” the sheriff said. “Not at a back tire.” As the car came to a rest, the sheriff picked his way through the mud to get a closer look.

“Mark could have hit a tree or a fence post,” Luke said, not wanting to put a second vehicle into this accident just yet. Several had been torn away during the descent, some of them still embedded in the bank of the pond.

“This tire still has good air pressure even under this crumpled frame. What about the others?” the sheriff asked.

“They look fine. He didn't blow a tire,” his deputy called.

The engine block had been shoved back from the abrupt impact with the water and ground. Luke looked at the car and turned to study the road. Had someone hit his cousin's car and sent it careening off the road? If they had, then why wasn't more of the car showing damage? The back door and the trunk area were barely dented. Another vehicle striking Mark's car at the back wheel area should have crumbled the entire area.

“If this doesn't have anything to do with Sharon and Benjamin disappearing . . . then it's one incredible coincidence in timing,” the sheriff said. “Maybe someone wanted Mark out of the way? Causing an accident is a good way to make that happen.”

“If you want him out of the way, then let him go to Atlanta as originally planned. He's over an hour away when he realizes something is wrong.” Luke walked over to the stretch of ground where Mark had managed to pull himself before he collapsed; the medical supplies used still marked the area. Dried blood stained the grass. “His thrashing to get out of the water to this spot would have occurred in the minutes immediately after the wreck. Someone simply idling their vehicle on the road would have known Mark survived. So they weren't intent on killing him. And setting out to injure him—it isn't logical.”

“You said the damage could be from the car hitting a tree or a fence post,” Caroline interjected.

Luke turned to look at Caroline. “I think it could.”

“What if Mark got a call saying Sharon and Benjamin had been grabbed, and that Mark had to withdraw the ransom money before the bank closed? Mark's attention would be caught by the horrific call and he drove off the road.”