“You’re sure?” I said as I jumped up and started to run toward the front door to see if I could see someone walking away.
“Positive,” Mika said as she snagged my arms. “You heard, Santiago. Stay out of sight. I’ll look.”
I groaned and stopped. “Okay,” I said as I walked back to the nook and took out my phone to text Santi. “Someone heard me telling Mika. We may have a problem.”
Santi’s text was short but clear. A swear word followed by “Be right there.”
Mika joined me again in the sewing circle and said, “I couldn’t tell who it was. It’s pretty busy out there. Sorry.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t even hear anyone come in.”
“Me neither,” she said as her forehead wrinkled. “That’s weird. I mean I guess they could have been in here a while and I forgot.”
I looked at my best friend. “No offense, but this place isn’t exactly the Palace at Versailles.”
This time, she rolled her eyes at me. “I know, but it’s amazing where people stay out of sight in here. I’ve been startled by a fair number of shoppers tucked into the nooks and crannies behind the yarn.”
“So you think someone was hiding in here?” I said.
“Maybe. Or maybe I just lost track of them, they decided not to make a purchase and left.”
I sighed and let a tiny spark of hope stay alive with that prospect.
Santiago was not happy when he picked me up, but Mika and I told him everything we knew, which was basically nothing, and explained what we’d been talking about.
“So this person overheard that we’re about to arrest Lloyd Keller?” He let out a long hard breath through his nose. “I need to talk to Savannah.”
“Maybe she’s already arrested him?”
“We can hope,” he said as he put the phone to his ear.
There was a lot of small hope floating around here at the moment.
Fortunately, a second later, a smile flashed across Santi’s face as he listened to Savannah on the other end of the line. A moment later, he hung up and looked from me to Mika. “We got him.”
Within hours, not only Lloyd Keller but Renee and Barbara Keller too had been picked up and charged with trafficking human organs. After Lloyd’s office was raided, the police found evidence implicating Renee and her daughter in the operation, too, and soon, everyone related to the crimes was in custody, including the doctors who had performed the surgeries. The business was officially shut down.
The Kellers and Michael Collins were all charged with organ trafficking and Collins was charged with Esther Glavender’s murder. None of them said anything once they were Mirandized, and their lawyer was some hot shot from Richmond. Santiago figured they’d post bond and mount a massive defense when the cases came to trial. But with the evidence he had, he was sure they’d be put away for a long, long time.
I was thrilled for him, but as I lay beside Sawyer that night, I was still bothered by Katherine Foster’s kidnapping – Collins and Keller had refused to tell Santi or Savannah her location – and Paul Fletcher’s murder. I knew they were related to each other and therefore to the Keller family, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how. I lay awake long after midnight trying to watch the pieces slide into place, but they just wouldn’t.
Still, the next day, I had work to do. Santiago had given us the go-ahead to take down the O’Malley cabin, and Saul and his crew were ready to do the work. The house at the lot was basically finished as far as they were concerned, so now it was my job to take over with decor and furniture. But that would have to wait until we finished the job that had started this whole fiasco.
Bright and early that morning, I dropped Sawyer off at school and headed up the mountain to the cabin. When I arrived, Saul and his team were already lifting off the roof. The rafters were in good shape, and I hoped that meant the rest of the logs would be, too. It would be a huge gift financially to be able to sell a full cabin to someone who wanted to rebuild it or use it for part of a larger build.
As we moved down the levels of the cabin, we found a few logs that had succumbed to rot or termites, and one wall was worse than the others because it had been on the north side of the cabin. By and large, though, we had an entire cabin disassembled by the end of the day and I was fairly sure any logs we couldn’t use could be replaced with ones we already had on the lot.
Saul drove the truck of logs down the mountain, and the rest of his crew followed with the other trucks and trailers loaded with the equipment from the job. I stayed up on the mountain to do my usual perusal of the ground to be sure that not only had we not missed anything worth salvaging but also that we left the site as pristine as possible.
I did my walk around, didn’t find anything that needed tending, and got into my car. But when I got out to the logging road, something pushed me to go up the hill instead of down. I wanted to see Katherine’s campsite just one more time. I was still struggling mightily with my guilt over the fact that I hadn’t been able to rescue her that day, and somehow, I thought seeing her campsite might help me.
My Outback was really good on rough roads, and since I’d been up and down this one a few times now, I knew it was wide enough to accommodate her. Still, I took it slow, not wanting to drop a tire into a deep hole that my girl couldn’t get us out of. I kept looking around as I drove, hoping I’d see something that we’d all missed. But nothing stood out, no big neon signs that said, “Paisley Sutton, look here and you will find the missing woman.”
By the time I got to the campsite, I was pretty discouraged with myself and the entire situation. Despite a great day on the job site, I was still haunted by the image of Paul Fletcher’s body and the smoke of Katherine’s campfire. I parked my car and took a walk around the tents and tarps again.
Like Santiago said, most of the personal effects had been taken by her parents. I stared for a long time at the little trashcan that sat near Katherine’s cot. I couldn’t believe her parents would take her trash, too, but then, maybe they thought she’d implicate them in some crime. Who knew what people that horrible thought? If they could beat up a little girl I supposed they were capable of anything.
Out of frustration, I pushed a few of the remaining items – the cot, a milk crate, a little table – around with my foot. I was being a bit like Sawyer when he lost his temper, but at least I wasn’t modeling bad behavior. When I tipped over a wooden apple crate that Katherine had obviously been using as a bedside table, a tumble of photographs poured out.
I bent over and gathered up the photos. Right on top, in black and white, was Paul Fletcher standing right outside the cabin Saul and I had just completely dismantled. I flipped through more images – all of him around the cabin. Apparently he had been spending time there, which I thought was a little strange but given how much the place had meant to him and Patrick O’Malley, maybe it wasn’t that surprising. Goodness knew I’d been back to sentimental places that I’d shared with exes when I was in a low mood.
The stack of images was a couple inches thick, so I started to just flip through them. I watched Paul Fletcher move around the outside of the cabin like he was one of those characters in a child’s flip book. I was almost to the end of the stack when another figure entered the frame.
I moved back through the images, each one bringing the second person’s face more and more into view. I stared hard at the image of Paul and Patrick O’Malley standing with their hands on each other’s shoulders. The men had been meeting at the cabin again, and Patrick had neglected to mention that information. My heart started to race, and my mind wasn’t far behind.
I took out my phone to call Santi, but just then, I heard the distinctive sound of a heavy footfall breaking a stick. Everything in me said to run, but I resisted. I stood no chance in a footrace through the woods. Instead, I sprinted for my car, jumped in, and locked the doors. I figured I could call Santi while I drove, and so I shouted for my phone to dial his number.
Then, I threw the car into reverse and quickly realized I could not, by any means, back down this bumpy road without getting stuck. I took a split second to look around and see if I could turn around, but there was no room for my SUV to make it. So I threw the transmission into drive and floored it just as I saw a large shadow jump out of the woods toward my passenger’s side window.
My car bounced and lurched up the hill, and I thought I was going to make it until I got to the gate at the top. It was locked tight – I could see the chain wrapped around the post and the gate itself, and the padlock was firmly closed. I was trapped, and behind me, I could hear the distinctive sound of a UTV getting closer.
Once again, I briefly considered running, but I stood no chance on the Parkway on foot. And if I ran off into the woods, I’d be easily overtaken. I paused, took a deep breath, dropped the car into low gear and gunned her right into the gate.
I had been on enough construction sites by now to know that anyone who wanted a post to stay in the ground sunk it into a couple feet of concrete, but I also knew my car had never failed me. So when she bounced off the gate like Sawyer on his trampoline, I backed up a few feet and rammed the gate again.
She still didn’t move, but I could hear the UTV getting closer and my phone wasn’t able to get enough signal to connect a call. I had to save myself. This time, I could see the UTV speeding up the trail behind when I looked in the back-up camera, so I got bold and charged backward into the UTV. The smaller machine stopped short, and a large male figure bounced around the seat. But then, he jumped out and ran toward me.
I prayed that my car was up to the challenge and charged toward the gate again. This time, the post tugged free from the ground, leaving me just enough room to squeeze around it on the right and leave my own white blazes on the tree. Then, I was up and flinging my car right onto the Parkway.
In my side mirror, I saw the UTV pull up onto the Parkway, but when another car came toward me on the other side of the road, the green machine backed up onto the logging road and didn’t come back onto the asphalt. I picked up as much speed as I dared on the twisty road, and just about the time I got to the exit back down to Octonia, my call finally connected.
“It’s Patrick O’Malley,” I said to Santi. “He just chased me off the mountain.”
“Where are you?” Santi shouted.
“On 33, headed your way.” I could hear the fear in my voice and tried to take a few deep breaths. “Station?”
“No, my house. We need to get you secure. I’ll meet you there, and I’m calling your dad to pick up Sawyer and bring him over.” He let out a long breath. “Are you okay?”
“Terrified, but yes, and my car might need a little body work.”
It took all my concentration to keep my hands steady and focus on driving the few minutes to Santiago’s house. When I reached his driveway and saw him waiting there for me, I started to shake so hard I couldn’t even open the car door. Santi was there, though, getting me out and into the house, and when he had me settled into the couch, he put me on the phone with Lucille, who was with Dad at Sawyer’s school. They were on their way.
I was safe and Sawyer was too, and now, I had to push through and explain to Santiago what I’d found. I just hoped that O’Malley hadn’t gone back and found the photos. When I’d heard the footfall, I’d just run. I wasn’t even sure where the photos were, but I was sure I hadn’t hidden them again.
Santiago sat down next to me, and I told him about stopping at Katherine’s campsite when I left the cabin, about finding the photographs of Fletcher and O’Malley, and about how I hadn’t been able to get a good look at my attacker’s face on the mountain but that it was definitely a man, a big man.
“A man the size of Patrick O’Malley?” Santiago said.
Of course, I had already assumed that Patrick was my assailant, but I couldn’t be sure. And I knew that it would be harder for Santiago if I gave him more confidence in that fact than I felt. “I don’t know. Definitely a man. Definitely a tall, broad-shouldered man. That is all I can tell you because I couldn’t see any features and only got the sense of it being a male because of the way he moved. I’m sorry.”
Santiago pulled me to his chest. “Gracious, Paisley. Don’t apologize. You were being chased in the woods. You’ve done nothing wrong. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
I let myself rest in his arms until I heard the front door open and little footsteps running toward me. “Mommy, I got to leave school early. Boppy said we could have ice cream.”
With a smile toward my dad and Lucille, I said, “I think Boppy had a great idea. Santi, can you oblige us?”
“Chocolate or chocolate chip mint, Little Man?” Santiago said with a wink at me.
“Chocolate, please,” Saw said. “I’ll help you get it.”
The two of them wandered into the kitchen behind us, and Dad sat down next to me and pulled me into his chest. “Paisley, you are going to be the death of me,” he said as he squeezed me.
Lucille sat across from me, and in hushed tones so I didn’t scare Sawyer, I explained what had happened. “And you don’t know who it was?” she said.
I shook my head. “I just wish I’d grabbed the photos before I ran.” Again, I had failed Katherine Forester when I got scared.
Saw and Santi returned from the kitchen with five bowls of ice cream. “Mommy, can I have some apple juice in my blue cup?”
I looked at Santi, who nodded. He had apple juice. “Your blue cup is in the car. Maybe you can get it for me, Lucille?”
“Absolutely,” she said as she stood up. “Be right back.”
The ice cream tasted wonderful, even though I didn’t have much appetite. I tried to put on a good face for Sawyer, but all I wanted to do was sleep. I was exhausted.
Lucille came back in with Saw’s cup a few moments later, and as she passed me, she said, “Maybe these will help.” She dropped a pile of something onto the couch beside me.
I looked down, and there were the photos from Katherine’s tent. “What?!” I said as I picked up the images.
“They were on your passenger’s seat,” Lucille said as she came back in the room with Saw’s apple juice. “You must have dropped them there when you got into the car.”
I stared at the photos as if they had come from the sky like manna, which they kind of had, and then looked over at Santiago. “Well, there you go.” Suddenly, everything felt really funny, and I started to giggle.
Sawyer looked at me and said, “Mom, what in the world are you doing?”
I shook my head because I couldn’t get enough air to form words, and apparently, I looked pretty silly because Sawyer started laughing, too. Soon, he and I were snorting and holding our bellies, and trying to catch our breath. It was just the release I needed, and when we both calmed down, everyone around us was smiling and shaking their heads.
Dad said, “The two of you okay now?”
I looked at Sawyer, who looked at me and started giggling again. I restrained myself and nodded to my father. “Yeah, yeah, I am.”
“Okay good,” Dad said. “Let’s go play ball out back, Saw-Guy.”
Sawyer jumped up, pumped his fist, and said, “Yes!” Dad picked up the baseball gloves and wiffle ball he’d brought over with him and followed his grandson outside.
As soon as they were outside, Santiago picked up the photos and began to flip through them one by one. He face mirrored what I had felt as I looked at the same images earlier. He went from puzzled to intrigued to outright surprised when he got to the images that included Patrick O’Malley.
“It seems Patrick has a bit of a memory problem,” I said when he set the stack aside and met my eyes.
“That’s one possibility,” he said.
“More like a lying problem,” Lucille said as she skimmed the photos herself. “Katherine Forester took these?”
I shrugged. “I’m guessing so since they were in her tent, but they were tucked under a crate. I’m guessing that’s why her parents didn’t take them.”
Santiago nodded. “I did see a camera in her tent when we first looked. A pretty good one if I recall. I’ll have to ask Frank and Nancy if she took a lot of pictures.” He glanced at the stack of pictures in Lucille’s hands. “Unfortunately, those aren’t really something we can use as evidence given that you basically stole from a crime scene.”
The air left my lungs. “Oh no. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to take them. I was just so scared—”
“Pais, you don’t need to apologize. This is good information to have, and we have other ways to pursue the direction those give us.” He got up and sat next to me. “I’m just glad you’re okay, and honestly, if you hadn’t taken the photos, whoever chased you might have. Then, we’d have no leverage.”
“Leverage?” I asked as I felt the exhaustion settle into my bones like lead.
“Well, we can’t use the photos as evidence, but Patrick O’Malley doesn’t need to know that.” Santi winked at me and then stood up, took the blanket off the back of the couch, and draped it over my legs. “Baby Yoda anyone?” he said as he picked up the remote.
I smiled. “Yes, please.” I looked over at my stepmother. “Dad okay with Saw for a bit?”
“Are you kidding? Time with his grandson and a chance for his daughter to rest. He wouldn’t have it any other way.” She slid onto the couch next to me and shared my blanket. “Besides, I haven’t seen Baby Yoda yet, and I’m eager to see what all the fuss is about.”
Santi turned on The Mandalorian and then left us to the show while he, I assumed, did some policing from his home office.
I woke up to the sound of a knock on the door. A few seconds later, Mika came in the door with her arms piled high with takeout containers. Behind her Saul followed with a cooler, and finally, Savannah came in carrying what looked like an enormous hat box. I stared at the parade of food for a minute while I came out of my impromptu nap stupor, and then I looked at my watch. It was after 6 p.m. I had slept for more than two hours.
Given that I had been sitting with my head thrown back on the couch, I imagined I had not only been snoring but probably also drooling. Given that I felt much better than I had earlier, I decided to take the minor embarrassment as a gift.
I extricated myself from the blanket and followed everyone to the kitchen, where Sawyer said, “Mom, you were snoring,” and confirmed that I had indeed made an exhausted fool of myself. Still, the fact that he had let me sleep that long was testament to how much Santi and my parents had convinced him I needed the rest, and the fact that he’d actually let me rest showed he was really growing up. I was grateful.
At that moment, though, I was most grateful for the assortment of Chinese food that Mika had brought with her. I fell into line around Santi’s peninsula and fixed myself a plate of cashew chicken, beef and broccoli, and two egg rolls. There weren’t enough egg rolls for everyone to have two, but given that I’d almost died and almost totaled my car that day, I gave myself permission to be greedy. When Mika slipped her roll onto my plate as she sat down, I took that as confirmation that my selfishness was acceptable today.
Conversation around the table was light while we all ate and drank from the impressive assortment of beers and sodas Saul had contributed. But the highlight of the meal was definitely the massive Boston Cream Pie that Savannah brought out for dessert. It was four layers high and full of cream, but the best part was the dark chocolate ganache dripping down the sides. I had thought I was pretty full until that beauty made an appearance. Then, I decided I could make a bit of room.
“Brava,” Lucille said as she sliced dessert. “Where did you get this masterpiece?”
“Oh, I made it,” Savannah said as Lucille stopped cutting to stare at her. “I took some classes to be a pastry chef back in the day.” Her cheeks flushed a deep red.
“The things we learn about our friends,” Lucille said. “Well, I will need this recipe, if you’re willing to share. And you have to tell me how you get your custard to stand up in this heat.”
The two women took their plates into the living room and continued their culinary conversation while the rest of us stuffed our faces at the table. Sawyer, the king of leaving two-thirds of everything on his place, even ate his entire piece. It was delicious.
Someone must have explained to Sawyer that we were having a slumber party at Santi’s house because when his bedtime rolled around, he led the way back to Santi’s bedroom, where he climbed into the middle of my boyfriend’s bed and said, “Guess you’ll just have to tell me a story tonight, Mama?”
I grinned. “I guess I will, Love Bug. So do you want a story about a dragon or about a fairy?”
His choice for the night was a dragon, and after long, winding tale about the dragon who had lost his spark, Sawyer rolled over and drifted off to sleep like he was at home in our own bed. I lay there watching him sleep for quite a while, but when it felt like I might drift off myself, I got out of bed and joined the other adults in the living room.
The conversation didn’t come to a screeching halt when I walked in, but I could definitely smell the metaphorical burning brakes as I sat down. “Please, don’t stop what you were discussing because I’m here. My ears were practically burning off back there.” I smiled and tried to reassure everyone it was fine if they were talking about me. “If you weren’t discussing the day I’ve had, I’d be worried that you didn’t care.”
Santi looked at Dad, who gave a slight nod and said, “We have a crazy idea, and before you ask, everyone here thinks it’s both insane and necessary. So no need to worry about other people’s feelings.”
I took a deep breath. “Crazy but necessary. Got it. What’s this idea?”
“We want you to go talk to Patrick O’Malley tomorrow. Confront him. Show him the pictures. See what he’ll tell you,” Savannah said as she winced slightly.
As I looked at each person in the room, I knew that they had already pushed and poked at all the weaknesses and dangers in this plan, and I also knew that I was far too tired to do that kind of analysis myself that night. “Okay. Tell me what we’re doing.”
Mika looked at Santi who looked at my dad and then at Saul. Then, as if they were choreographed, they all shrugged and Santi said, “I’ll wire you up in the morning. Then, you can take the pictures over to O’Malley’s place and ask him about why he didn’t tell us that he and Paul had met up.”
I nodded. “Okay, and what am I trying to get him to confess to? Murdering Paul? Trying to kill me? What?”
“Anything. But the top priority is to figure out where Katherine Forester is,” Savannah added.
I looked at her carefully. “She was kidnapped by Collins and Keller. We know that for sure.” I was very confused.
“We do,” Santi said. “But given the photos you found and the fact that the person who chased you really didn’t want you near her campsite, we’re betting Patrick O’Malley is somehow involved with her kidnapping, too.”
“We just aren’t sure how,” Savannah said, “but maybe you can find out.”
I sighed. “I can try.” Suddenly, the heaviness of all this was pushing me down into deep exhaustion again. “Maybe someone can write a loose script for me. Right now, I need to go to bed.” I stood up and almost toppled right back over.
“Good, you do that,” Mika said as Santi got an arm around my waist and held me up. “We’ll get the script ready, and I’ll plan to go with you tomorrow. Moral support won’t seem odd, right?”
“I like that idea,” Saul said. “And the guys and I will help the police out keeping an eye on things at your house and here, Paisley Girl. You just rest.”
“Thank you, everyone,” I said with as much sincerity as my tired body could manage. See you in the morning.”
As Santiago walked with me down the hall, I said, “I suppose everyone is staying overnight.”
He smiled. “Of course. Your dad and Lucille will get the guest room. Mika and Savannah are sharing the sleeper sofa, and one of Saul’s friends dropped off a camper in the driveway while you were napping today. You’ll be surrounded by your people tonight, Pais.”
“Thank you,” I said as I stripped off my jeans and climbed into bed in my t-shirt. “Really.”
“Of course,” he whispered into my ear. “Anything for the woman I love.”
I smiled at his words, and they were the last things I heard before sleep overtook me again.