Last Resort Page 10

  Although she had reassured Carissa over and over that she would be safe in the company of several family members, especially with the doctors in attendance, Noelle still felt an aching need to go with her young cousin. But she couldn’t. Not now. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if this whole ordeal could be connected in some way to the sawmill and possibly to the ledger that Carissa had been carrying last night. Whatever was behind it all would have to be discovered before Carissa could be safe—maybe before any of the Coopers could be safe.

  Cecil opened the back door of the Jeep and leaned out, holding up a hand to shield his face from the downpour. “Justin!”

  The teenager stepped out through the screen door onto the porch. “Yeah, Dad?”

  “You follow us in my car, you hear? No side trips. Come straight to the hospital.”

  “I will, Dad.” Resentment conveyed itself well in those three words.

  “I mean it,” Cecil called sternly. “Be there within ten minutes of the time we get there. Noelle, you didn’t drive down, did you?”

  “No, I rode with Nathan.”

  “You can drive Melva’s old beater, if you need to. The keys are on the kitchen counter by the sink.”

  “Thanks.”

  Justin shook his head as the Jeep took off. He glanced at Nathan. “If there’d been room, he’d’ve dragged me with them.”

  “Give him time to come to grips with everything,” Nathan said quietly.

  “How much time does he have to have? He’s like a prison guard.”

  Noelle raised a brow at this exchange, but neither Nathan nor Justin seemed interested in explaining anything to her.

  Justin glanced at her briefly. “Looks like you’ll want to clean up and change before you come into town.”

  “I’ve got some clothes in Nathan’s truck,” Noelle said.

  “Nathan, you can put on some of my things until you can get home to change,” Justin offered. “You’re a mess.”

  At that moment, a loudly outraged gander heralded the even louder rattle of a tailgate as Pearl drove her ancient rattling Chevy pickup through a flock of geese on the road. She stopped in front of the house with a squeal of brakes. “I’m goin’ on in. Anybody want to ride with me?”

  Jill stepped out of the house with her purse on her shoulder. “Thanks, Pearl, but I’ll drive myself. Everybody’s welcome to stay at my house in town tonight, if Carissa has to stay at the clinic, which it looks like she will. I daresay the creek will be rising in the next few hours, and no cars might be able to get back over the bridge, anyway.”

  “Not enough rain yet for that,” Pearl said. “Besides, I reckon this old truck’ll make it. Never failed me yet.” With a wave, she disappeared down the misty, tree-lined lane, splashing mud in every direction.

  “I’d better get going,” Jill said. “Melva’ll be a nervous wreck at the clinic.” She put her arms around Noelle and held her tight for a moment, then kissed her on the cheek. “I’m sorry, honey, I was wrong. I should have called you sooner.” She drew back and searched her sister’s face. “I was just worried about you.”

  “I understand that, but it’s time to stop trying to shelter me.”

  Jill nodded, wearily rubbing her eyes. “I’ll try. That’s about the best I can do.”

  Noelle watched her leave in her big, black Chevy Suburban. Several others left as well, sliding over the increasingly muddy track until it resembled a hog wallow.

  Justin stepped into the house, then reappeared on the porch with a set of keys in his hand. “Nathan, we got a call from the sheriff’s office a little bit before you came in with Carissa. That was human blood they found in the sawmill, all right. Guess it was Carissa’s, huh?”

  “Looks that way,” Nathan said.

  “Melva fainted when they told us. Did Carissa say why she fell?”

  “She tripped over something,” Noelle said.

  Justin’s heavy brows lowered over his blue eyes, as cloudy now as the stormy sky. “You’re saying she hit her head so hard she just wandered away and got lost after she came to?”

  Noelle squirmed inwardly at the doubtful tone of his voice. “We’re not sure exactly what happened yet. Carissa doesn’t know, and we don’t want to jump to any conclusions.” She hated lying to family. For now, however, she didn’t know whom she could trust.

  Justin headed for the steps of the porch. “Guess I’d better get or Dad’ll have my hide. I’ll take you to the sawmill so you can get your truck, Nathan.”

  “Don’t worry, son,” Nathan said, joining Justin to walk to the garage, “your sister’s okay now.” He put a hand on the boy’s arm. “It’ll be okay.”

  Justin went down the steps in silence, then just as thunder rumbled, he said something softly to Nathan. Noelle didn’t catch his words, but she read frustration in the slump of his broad shoulders and his downcast eyes.

  Nathan patted him on the arm again, and the two of them quick-stepped through the rain and entered the garage together.

  Noelle watched them drive away. She waved at the remainder of searchers as they drove from the field where they had parked.

  She pulled her cell phone from the side pocket of her backpack and hit speed dial for Hideaway Clinic. On any other day, Jill would be manning the telephones between patients—the clinic was woefully understaffed, and they’d been searching for quality help since early summer.

  The harried voice of Dr. Karah Lee Fletcher answered at last, and Noelle relaxed. Of course, Jill hadn’t had time to reach town yet. Still, Noelle felt like a traitor to her family. How could they ever forgive her if they found out she was micromanaging behind their backs to keep them away from Carissa?

  And yet, how could she take a chance with Carissa’s life?

  “Karah Lee, this is Noelle Cooper.”

  “All right!” came the warm, rich tones of Karah Lee’s voice. “The rescuing heroine. I heard you and Nathan found her.”

  “That’s right, but I’m afraid it isn’t over yet,” Noelle said. She braced herself. How much could she say without sounding like an alarmist?

  There was silence at the other end, and Noelle could picture the tall redhead holding the phone, frowning in confusion.

  “Carissa needs your constant supervision at the clinic, and not just to watch for pneumonia,” Noelle said. “I know this could get sticky, but please don’t leave Carissa alone with anyone, even family members. If you and Cheyenne could keep an eye on her until Nathan and I get there—”

  “Okay, Noelle,” Karah Lee said with a cautious drawl, “what’re you trying to tell me? Are we going to have to call Social Services? Because if someone attacked—”

  “The only injury Carissa received was the bump on the back of her head, which apparently happened when she tripped and fell in the sawmill, though I can’t say that for sure. We can’t prove that anyone attacked her. Please don’t say anything to the family about this yet, because by all appearances, Carissa became disoriented, wandered from the road and got lost.”

  “What do you mean, ‘by all appearances’?” Karah Lee asked. “Is something going on we don’t know about?”

  Noelle repeated what Carissa had told them about the whisperer.

  “So she really was abducted!” Karah Lee exclaimed.

  “It looks that way. Someone also removed the rope we used to climb down into the cave when we were searching for her. Nathan took some creative measures to get us out. We’re going to call the sheriff and tell him about it, but we think it would be best if we didn’t alert the rest of the family to the situation just yet.”

  “Okay.” Still that hint of caution in Karah Lee’s voice, as if she were trying to decide whether she really was talking to Noelle or if this was a crank call.

  “If you can just tell Cheyenne what I’m telling you,” Noelle said, “and then make sure Carissa isn’t left alone with anyone, including any family members, until we can get this thing sorted out, Nathan and I would appreciate it. I wish I co
uld tell you more, but right now we don’t have all the facts, and we don’t want to go around accusing innocent people. Everyone’s been through enough.”

  “Hold it. You said any family member?” Karah Lee said. “But Jill’s a family member.”

  Noelle swallowed and offered a silent apology to her sister. “I know,” she said softly. “Even Jill.”

  “You’re right. This could get sticky.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll try to explain the whole thing later, if I can. Look, Karah Lee, I understand that you don’t know me very well, but you do know Nathan, and you must realize that he can be trusted. He’ll tell you the same thing I’m telling you.”

  “But to suspect Jill—”

  “I know you’re friends, and I’m sorry. I’m hoping all this can be cleared up quickly, and Jill won’t even have to know about it. I’m sorry to put you in this position.”

  “I’ll talk to Cheyenne about it when she gets here,” Karah Lee said. “I could call Bertie Meyer to come across the street and sit a spell with Carissa. And Blaze threatened to skip school today and come in. He always keeps a close eye on things.”

  “Blaze?”

  “You know Blaze Farmer, our tech? He lives across the lake at the boys’ ranch—though really, he spends most of his time here. Great kid, though don’t you dare tell him I said so.” Obviously, Karah Lee was warming to the idea of subterfuge. “No, wait, hold everything. Why didn’t I think about this? Fawn can be on standby if I get busy with patients.”

  Noelle had met Fawn Morrison in September, at Cheyenne and Dane’s wedding. Earlier in the summer, Fawn had been a homeless, streetwise seventeen-year-old who had somehow managed to attract the attention of an organized crime syndicate and had successfully fought back, with the help of her new friends in Hideaway. Now she was no longer homeless. She lived with Karah Lee at the Lakeside Bed and Breakfast, down the block from the clinic.

  “Thank you,” Noelle said. “From what I know of Fawn, she’d make a good bodyguard.”

  “You’ll let me know as soon as you find out something? Jill’s going to be suspicious, you know.”

  “I know.”

  “And I don’t like crossing her.”

  “Believe me, neither do I.” Worse, this would hurt Jill, when all she’d ever done was take care of other people. “Nathan and I will be there as soon as we can figure a few things out here at the house.”

  Oh, how she prayed they would figure it out soon.

  Chapter Twelve

  Nathan pulled his truck up to the front gate of Cecil’s house and slid to a stop in the mud. Hypothermia was setting in, and he shivered, still chilled to the core. It would be a relief to change into dry clothes.

  Noelle was standing on the porch where he’d left her, cell phone in hand, staring into the distance toward the sawmill. He knew this whole ordeal was hurting her deeply. It hurt him, too. He’d known the Coopers all his life, and he hated to see how the fabric of their family had been torn apart throughout the years. And now this. Oh, Lord, protect this family and bring healing to this hollow.

  He strolled up the sidewalk to the porch and held up Noelle’s overnight case. “I’ll carry this inside so you can change before we leave.”

  “Thanks.” She followed him through the screen door into the house. “Nathan, did you notice who was here when you came back for the rope?”

  “I didn’t come back here, I went to the truck. Did you get any sense of who Carissa might have seen?”

  “None.”

  “You’ve been on the telephone?”

  “I called the clinic and asked Karah Lee not to leave Carissa alone with anyone, including family.”

  He grimaced. “What was her reaction?”

  “I think, at first, she thought I was wacko, but she’s going to call in reinforcements.”

  He nodded. Karah Lee Fletcher wouldn’t back down from anyone if it involved the safety of a patient, as she had proven this summer when she’d confronted a killer, an amazing story that everyone in Hideaway was still talking about. With her size and voice of authority, Karah Lee could be intimidating. Nathan just hoped it didn’t become necessary for her to display it again. “They’ll be checking Carissa out for a while. Cecil will be livid if he discovers there’s a conspiracy going on to keep him from his daughter.”

  “I know,” Noelle said. “And Jill’s going to wonder why she isn’t allowed to attend Carissa. We’ll need to explain everything to everyone, but first, can we search around the sawmill before we go into town?”

  “Don’t you think we should talk to the authorities before we do anything else?”

  “This may be our only chance to check it out with everyone gone.” She handed him her cell phone. “You know, you might want to get one of these. They come in handy.”

  “I have one, I just allowed the battery to run down and haven’t taken time to recharge.”

  “Who’re you going to report this to?” she asked. “The sheriff?”

  “No, I think the rangers are the right authority for this. I’ll talk to Taylor Jackson. The abduction took place on land bordering national forest, so he’ll need to be on the lookout for anything unusual. He can tell the sheriff’s office. I trust him to be discreet.”

  “Okay, you call while I change.”

  He glanced down at the extra backpack that Noelle had carried with her from the cave and deposited in this room. In all the excitement of Carissa’s rescue, no one else had noticed it, but Nathan had recognized it the instant he saw it emerge from the mouth of the sinkhole on the end of the rope—Noelle had sent it up before she came out herself.

  “I see you found your mother’s backpack,” he said.

  She nodded. “I wondered if you would remember. We were planning a surprise birthday party for you in the cave, because we knew you loved that place. My Mom and I packed it with food and presents.”

  He did remember. Noelle’s mom had died on his eighth birthday.

  “I baked the cupcakes myself,” she said. “It was all my idea. We were going to have the picnic and the gifts all set out and waiting. It was going to be so much…fun.” Her voice quivered, and her eyes glazed with tears.

  For a moment, Nathan recalled the shock of that day, when he’d entered the cave to find all those rocks and boulders scattered where they shouldn’t have been, the unexpected, heavy smell of freshly disturbed earth, and the air thick with dust. “I almost left before I found you, but then I remembered that you’d told me you and your mother were going to be there. So I wondered if you were somehow playing a joke on me.” Even at that age, she’d been a tease. “You still don’t remember, do you?”

  Noelle’s lids fluttered downward; she shook her head.

  “I found you under your mother’s body. You were both half concealed by a rockslide. At first, I thought both of you were dead.” How many times had he relived that day? “But when I touched you, you started screaming.” He swallowed hard. “I tried to pull you out, but I couldn’t. I had to run back to Cecil’s house, to get help, and as I ran from the cave your screams followed me. Later, when it was over and you were back in your house with your dad, you were silent and in shock. You didn’t talk for three days. I never forgot those screams.”

  Noelle pressed her lips together, obviously fighting tears. “I hope I never remember.”

  He gestured to the pack. “Then why drag that out of the cave? It’s bound to trigger emotions.”

  “It was Mom’s,” she said simply. “The cave was sealed before I could ask to go back and get the pack. After Cecil and I found the sinkhole, we explored other parts of the cave—you know, it goes back into the hills for a couple of miles—but I could never bring myself to return to the site of the collapse.” She lifted the bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Nathan, do you mind if we keep this in your truck? I don’t want anyone messing with it until I’ve had a chance to go through it. It contains some of the last memories I have of my mother.”

  “Get changed
and we’ll take it with us. I think you’re right, it’s time we did some investigating.”

  Noelle inhaled the mingled scents of rain, moist earth, freshly sawn logs and the ancient grease that kept the gears of the sawmill running smoothly. The smells brought back memories so powerful she could almost hear the whine of metal teeth ripping into fragrant wood. She walked along the outer wall of the enormous building that hovered in oppressive silence.

  Nathan followed, then stepped past her to force open the heavy wooden door to the office, which always swelled and stuck during humid weather.

  She hesitated on the threshold, peering into the gloom. “I haven’t come in here in years. Every time I do, I think about the accident.”

  “So do I.”

  She glanced up at him. “Yeah, I guess you would.” He had returned to Hideaway to begin his young pastorate only a year before Noelle’s father and grandparents had been crushed by falling logs on the floor of the sawmill. As a clergyman close to the family, Nathan had conducted the triple funeral for Joseph and Anna Cooper and Noelle’s father, Frank.

  In one wall of the cedar-scented office was a soundproofed, sliding glass door that opened onto the cavernous operation room of the mill, where the huge machine, the shining, deadly-looking saw with teeth as long as a man’s fingers, waited in silence.

  “Have you been in here since the accident?” Noelle stepped into the workroom.

  “A few times, but like you, I’ve avoided it as much as possible.”

  “Cecil told me about the accident after the funeral. He said he was just leaving the mill for the day when he heard the crash. He ran back inside and saw the pile of logs beside the flatbed trailer. He’d searched for Dad and Grandma and Grandpa…until he caught sight of Grandma’s hand sticking out from beneath a cedar log.”