Scene of the Crime Deadman's Bluff - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,69
to the edge of the bluff a single wrong move, a simple half turn would plunge either one or both of them over the edge.
In the distance, sirens sounded. Backup was on the way, but there was no way to guess if they’d arrive in time. Tamara had yet to make a move, which meant some kind of drug still possessed her body and as a light rain began he worried that the sand around her might shift, that she would end up dead despite his greatest efforts.
“She has to be buried,” Steven screamed at the same time lightning slashed the sky and a second later thunder clapped overhead. “She spent my whole childhood with her head buried in the sand. I’m just finishing the job.”
Seth had no idea who he was talking about, but at that moment he bucked and rolled and Steven slid off the lip of the bluff, the only thing visible his fingers digging into the sand to keep him from falling.
A patrol car pulled up and light filled the area. Seth scrambled to the lip of the bluff and grabbed both of Steven’s wrists in an effort to keep him from falling.
Below where Steven hung the quad runner lay on its back, the headlights still on and steam hissing from some ruptured hose.
“Please help me. Don’t let go,” Steven said. There was nothing of a crazed killer in his eyes as he looked up at Seth. He looked like just a scared kid, afraid to fall, afraid to die.
And yet at least two women had met heinous deaths at his hands. He’d tried to kill Tamara. An emotional battle momentarily warred inside Seth’s head.
It would be so easy to just let go. If the fall didn’t kill him it would probably severely injure him. The crime scene photos from Rebecca and Vicki’s murders flashed through his head. The memory of digging Tamara out of the sand was forever etched inside his brain.
Just let go, a little voice whispered inside Seth’s head. Let him die in the dunes where he’d left two women dead.
But Seth wasn’t a murderer, and intentionally letting go would be murder. With all the strength he possessed, he attempted to pull Steven up.
As he worked, he was conscious of the sound of footsteps running toward him and a moment later Tom knelt beside him and together they got Steven onto safe ground.
Tom rolled him over to cuff him while Seth ran to Tamara. The rain had begun in earnest, but he scarcely noticed as he dug the sand away from her legs and then picked her up in his arms.
She was deadweight, the only emotion on her face radiating out from her eyes. Relief and love, they were both there. He held her tight and at that moment Raymond Michaels arrived in his car.
Seth carried Tamara there and once he and Tamara were loaded in the backseat, Michaels took off for the hospital.
“It’s over,” Seth murmured to Tamara. “It’s over and you’re safe.”
Her head gave a barely imperceptible nod as her fingers flexed outward. Seth’s heart jumped as he realized whatever drug she’d been given must be wearing off.
Raymond said nothing on the drive and Seth was grateful for his silence. Seth didn’t want to hear the deputy run his mouth. He just wanted to focus on the woman in his arms, and to listen to the slow even breathing that let him know Tamara was okay.
They were met at the hospital by orderlies and a gurney. Apparently Tom had called ahead to let the hospital staff know that they were coming.
Tamara was whisked away, Michaels left assumedly to return to the crime scene and Seth sank down in a chair in the waiting room, his heart still pounding with residual adrenaline.
She was safe and the case was over. He’d done his job and now the town of Amber Lake would never have to worry about the Sandman again.
The hardest part was yet to come. He loved Tamara, but he intended to tell her goodbye. She had to go home and figure out her life and how this experience had changed her. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that she had changed. Everyone who was touched by murder, by terror, was somehow transformed.
He loved her and he knew she believed herself to be in love with him, but her feelings for him had to be all muddied by this experience. He couldn’t trust that she knew right now if what