Thirty-two

SOMEONE slapped the side of my face.

“Stop that. It hurts.”

“She’s coming around now.” I recognized Antonia’s voice and opened my eyes.

I was in the same chair I’d passed out in. Antonia held a cloth to the back of my neck, and Connor spoke with Chief Harding on the other side of the car. I turned my head slowly to one side and looked down. Jim was under a sheet.

Connor saw me move and was by my side in three long strides. “The police want to talk to you. No passing out, okay?” There was a smile in his voice, but his brows were drawn together. When he took my hands, his pulse was racing.

“Good thing you got here when you did,” I said through dry lips.

“Oh, we were here for a while before.”

“What?” That sounded a little stronger, and I struggled up in the chair. “When did you get here?”

“I arrived with Antonia right after I found her and made her tell me what you were up to.”

I swiveled in the chair toward Antonia. “Why didn’t you call him like I asked?”

“I couldn’t. The wind was playing complete havoc with both the cell and landlines. No calls.”

“Then how did the police know to come here?”

Connor pointed to Big Dave, outside the car, looking in through a window. Big Dave had a grin on his face as he waved through the glass. “He went to the police to report a note he received at the hotel.”

I avoided looking at Connor. “A note?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

I squirmed a bit and Antonia held up the cloth. “I need to get some more cold water for this.”

“You’re as bad as she is,” he said to her as she retreated. “Anyway, Big Dave thought the note was worth reporting. He convinced Harding to come here tonight to see what was going on. We met them in the parking lot.”

“How long ago?”

“Long enough to hear what Jim had to say. Bill too. Harding decided to come in when Jim went after you.”

“Pushed it a little close, didn’t he?”

Connor’s face was white. “Believe me, if he hadn’t come in when he did, I would have gone right through him.”

“What happened to Bill?”

“He was just standing over Jim, mumbling something about the train.”

“Bloodstains. He didn’t want to get bloodstains on his train.”