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After a quick text to Ethan, telling him where she could be located, Lydia pulled into Kat’s driveway. Ditching her car, in plain view at Kat’s, might detour the news crew for a little while. If they were still searching for her, backtracking to Flora’s house, in Kat’s van, would keep them away even longer.
Kat had loved her wild idea. She’d hooted, hustled her two kids with all their homeschool equipment into the van, and drove them all to Flora’s. Penny sat in the far back seat, still unsure of Kat’s fairweather moods.
Once inside Flora’s, Lydia greeted Ivy and Scout. She introduced them to Penny. Then the moms retreated to the dining room table for shop talk. Penny sat, ill at ease, in the only recliner and stared at the children as they played.
“I’m so glad you called,” Ivy said. “I mean, I don’t want to miss anything. But really, I don’t want to listen to endless door knocking. I’m surprised they haven’t tried to come by already.”
Lydia patted Ivy’s hand. “Ethan probably headed them off at the pass.”
“Sounds like him,” Kat said.
Flora heaved up her gigantic scrapbook and flipped to the next empty facing pages. “Where are we beginning?” Her eyes sparkled.
“Honestly,” Lydia frowned, “I don’t know where to begin. I guess, start with my attack. Then with what we know of Serene’s. They’ve got to be linked. Ethan all but said so in his interview.”
“I didn’t hear that,” Kat spouted as she passed around a bowl of dark chocolate.
“He didn’t actually say it,” Lydia explained. “Not with words. But I know my husband and his telling looks. He said it.”
Flora clicked a pen and began writing on the thick white paper. One page for Lydia. One page for Serene. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Kat sat beside Flora. She lifted her laptop from its bag and booted it up. “We need to see how Serene died. Do you think that will be online yet?”
Lydia shrugged. “I’m sure there’s not a formal report. But if anyone spotted her, before the police came, there might be something floating around out there.”
“I’ll start searching.” Kat clicked away at her keyboard.
Flora looked at Lydia. “You sure you’re okay doing this?”
Lydia was sure she was not okay. But she rallied, anyway. The lisping voice of the driver rattled around in her mind, “Not again, Mac.”
She shuttered and said, “I’m sure!”
Ivy wrapped an arm around her adoptive mother’s shoulder and squeezed. “It’s nice to have you back,” Ivy whispered.
Lydia smiled, in spite of the trepidation that encircled her every thought. “Let’s start with the bridges,” she said to Flora. “I was found near LittleLove Bridge, and Serene was found near Willis Bridge.”
“Do you think bridges have anything to do with it? I mean, were they taking you under the bridge to harm you? Was that their plan?” Kat asked, without looking away from her computer screen.
Lydia’s self-assurance curdled. Kat noticed her friend wilting. “Sorry,” Kat said. “I didn’t mean to be so cold about it.”
“I know.” Lydia choked back her feelings. “I’m the starting point. So, I’m going to need to start talking.”
“Take your time,” Flora encouraged.
“It might not be my time we take,” Lydia said. “If someone else gets hurt while I’m taking my time, then...”
“That’s enough of that,” Kat said, sounding like her mentor and challenger Miss Jacqui, the quilting queen of Honey Pot. “Pity parties and what-ifs are luxuries we’re going to forego. Keep going but take it slow.”
Lydia prayed softly and swallowed back her fear. “No, I don’t think the bridges are the point. I think they’re coincidences.”
“What do you mean,” Ivy asked.
“They’re on the way to wherever we were headed.”
Kat pulled up maps of Honey Pot and the surrounding areas between Lewiston and Ashton. She spun her laptop around to display the screen. “Here they are,” she pointed out. “And I'm guessing here’s the route they took from 3 Alarm.”
Reluctantly, Penny joined the table. She didn’t sit but paced at a conversational distance.
Lydia turned toward her. Trembling, Penny pointed to the monitor, slightly south of LittleLove Bridge. “This is where Ethan found you,” she said.
“How do you know that?” Ivy asked.
“I was with him.”
The table starred at the flame-haired coffee slinger. Penny’s eyes filled with tears. Her nerves visibly shaken, she shoved her hand in the pocket of her barista apron and avoided the obvious. Every face was asking her how. A question she didn’t know the answer to, not really. A question she avoided at all costs.
“Here?” Lydia pointed at the map. Penny nodded. “Kat, where did they find Serene?”
Mrs. Miller spun her laptop to face her, punched a few keys, and spun it back around. “Less than a mile from Willis Bridge. On the other side of the bee sanctuary and lavender fields.”
Flora drew descriptive details into her scrapbook. One bridge for each page. “Then, they must’ve been headed to the other side of the bee sanctuary,” she said.
“What’s out there?” Ivy asked, squinting at the screen.
“A few farms and small ranches. Then the mountains,” Kat told her, circling each area as she described it. “Was he taking you to the mountains? Easy dumping ground up there.”
“Kat,” Flora squealed and swatted her friend with a sheet of stickers from her scrapbooking kit.
“What? It makes sense,” Kat defended herself.
Lydia gently cleared her throat. She raised a clammy hand up to her neck and traced the angry outline. “More than likely,” she said. “He has a ranch or farm up there. Someplace to hide-out. With me, he probably took the direct route. Not expecting any issues.”
Ivy looked into Lydia’s sad eyes. “Then, when you escaped, he opted for the long way. Thinking Ethan would be on the lookout at LittleLove.”
Lydia nodded and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She pushed out her chair and excused herself.
On her trek to the bathroom, Eden Brandes, Floras’ youngest daughter, accidentally stepped into her path. She cast big worried eyes up at her “auntie” Lydia. The dam within Lydia splintered. Eden tossed her short arms around Lydia and hugged her tight.
“I knew nothing could stop my Auntie Lydia,” she whispered. “Momma was scared. I knew better. But I prayed hard anyway.”
“Thank you, Eden,” Lydia said, lingering in the young one’s innocent embrace before the little girl charged off to play.
In the bathroom, Lydia stared at her reflection. She’d been through so much, recently. Danger, trouble, and trauma. “How much more can I take?” she asked herself, splashing cold water on her face. When she looked up from the sink basin, she saw something different behind her eyes. Determination. Kingdom fire. And hope. “Okay,” she sighed, letting the trauma ooze out of her breath if only for the moment. “Let’s do this thing.”