Expired Cache - Lisa Phillips Page 0,84
winch.” She thought back to that night. The hood over his face and the shadows. The more she tried to remember, the surer she became. “It was dark as well then, but I think it was him. I remembered the sound of his voice.”
“We can tell Jess when she gets here.”
Ellie groaned. “She’s going to ream me one good for putting my life on the line while she was at work.”
“She knew you were up here.”
“That doesn’t mean she won’t remind me that she told me so.” Ellie blew out a long breath and looked around at the trees and mountains, since Dean didn’t seem to be in a real hurry. He probably wanted to wait for Conroy.
She would rather have started walking. Aim for the car parked at the bottom of the trail. Anything that would get her life back on track and back to normal for the first time since her grandfather died. She was ready to feel like her old self again.
Except what had Dean said? She shouldn’t expect normal. That was an illusion, maybe even a place of safety. Like the comfort zone everyone was supposed to be so eager to break free of. She liked her comfort zone. It was…you know, comfortable and stuff. Especially when she had a lot of reading to do. Sure, it was work reading. But her TBR pile was still out of control.
He’d been right about one thing, though. She was learning how strong she was. And her brain was having trouble keeping up with it all. Ellie needed about a week of nothing to get a handle on all she’d been through. And how she felt about it.
Dean shifted. She heard deep in his throat, the pain from the movement.
Ellie realized then what Dean was reacting to, so she snatched up the gun that’d been discarded on the grass, and pointed it at the man coming toward them. He was still nearly fifty feet away, but he saw what she held.
Doctor Gilane raised both hands. “Are you both okay?” He had a bag over one shoulder, a leather satchel, and a concerned look on his face. “I heard the call come over the police scanner in my car, and I was close.”
Dean lifted the side of his shirt. He coughed, then moaned.
Ellie glanced at him. He hadn’t coughed before. Was there something more serious wrong with him?
Dean reached over and squeezed her knee. He whispered, “Keep ahold on the gun.”
Ellie said, “Okay.” But she lowered it, easing off on the tension. At least, that was the plan. Just so the doctor would continue his slow walk toward them and check on Dean. Make sure he wasn’t in worse medical danger.
She held the gun flush against her leg while Doctor Gilane crouched beside Dean. He reached into his duffel. Both of them flinched, but the doctor pulled out only a stethoscope. He checked Dean’s vitals.
“Everything okay with you, Eleanor?”
“I’m not hurt.” That was the only thing she could think to say. She had to swallow down the lump in her throat. The slow creep of fear that threatened to choke her. Cut off her airway, as Mark had done with his thick fingers. Squeezing her neck and—
“Ellie.”
She flinched and her gaze settled on Dean’s strong features.
“Easy.” He said, “You okay?”
Tears gathered. Ugh, if this was supposed to be some kind of new “normal,” she did not like it. Please, let more adrenaline leave my body. Ellie recalled then that she’d prayed to God. In the thick of it, with a gun pointed at her head, she had asked for help.
And Dean had come.
They were both safe.
“I’m okay.” She grasped his hand with the one not holding the gun.
“That’s good, Ellie.” The doctor said, “I’m sure I have a granola bar or a protein bar in my medical bag.”
“I’m so glad you were close. We have to wait for the police to get here.”
“They should be on their way now.” Doctor Gilane nodded. “I’m sure they’ll bring help with them.”
“And a forensics team.”
The doctor’s eyebrows rose. “Is there…something to investigate?”
Ellie nodded. “A young man who works at the gym. He came here. He’s the one who tried to abduct me.” She tilted her chin to indicate the bruises on her neck. “Dean had to kill him.”
“How terrible.”
She didn’t mention the dead Amerasian boy, and Dean said nothing about the hand. Nor did the doctor ask. But she did see something flash across his eyes.
“Yes,” Ellie said. “When anyone takes a life