to her neck. She tried to peel his fingers off but couldn’t. She was getting weaker. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t keep kicking him.
Julian squeezed harder, relentless.
She tried to hit him, but it didn’t help. She poked her fingers in his eyes, but he shook her off. Her hand fell uselessly back.
Allie choked. Julian grimaced with lethal effort, his face inches from hers.
She was out of air.
CHAPTER 99
Allie Garvey
Get off my wife!” Larry shouted, striking Julian on the head with a rock, from behind. Stunned, Julian released Allie’s neck.
Allie gasped and coughed for air, her chest heaving. Larry grabbed Julian from behind and yanked him off of her. Julian spun around to Larry, punching him in the face.
Larry staggered but punched back, hitting Julian in the jaw. Allie coughed and wheezed for air. She spotted something in the back of Julian’s shirt. His flashlight. Julian pulled it from his waistband and raised it to hit Larry.
“No!” Allie screamed, recovering. She lunged forward, grabbed Julian’s arm, and hung on it, while Larry started punching Julian. Julian doubled over, dropping the flashlight.
Larry swooped down, grabbed the flashlight, and swung it at Julian’s knee like a baseball bat. Bones broke loudly, and Julian howled in agony. Larry hit him under the chin with a powerful uppercut. Julian collapsed to the ground. His chest was moving, so he was breathing.
“Honey, are you okay?” Larry rushed to Allie, taking her in his arms, and she burst into tears, enveloped in the safety of his embrace.
“Is it over?” Allie heard herself ask through her tears, needing reassurance.
“Yes, unless you want me to kill him.” Larry held her closer, and Allie looked up, trying to tell if he was kidding. Her husband’s grim smile curved in the moonlight, and she felt a rush of love for him.
“You saved me.”
“And you saved me.”
“Does this mean you’re taking me back?”
“Was there any doubt?” Larry held her gently. “Okay, maybe there was. But I love you, and you really do love me.”
“I really do.” Allie nestled against him.
“Also did you see me in action? Wow.”
Allie knew he was trying to make her laugh. She’d missed him, so much. She’d missed his great heart. Maybe she had some of the Rucci luck, too. “So what do we do now? My phone’s in the car.”
“We go back and call the police. We’re in Lacey Township. Ocean County has jurisdiction.”
“What about Julian?”
“Is that his name? Who is he? And why the hell was he trying to kill you?”
“I’ll tell you later, okay?” Allie shuddered, wiping away tears.
“Is he your secret boyfriend from high school? Did you beat him for class president?”
“No.” Allie smiled through her tears.
“We leave him here. His knee’s broken. He’s not going anywhere fast, even if he comes to. We’re not far from the road. Let’s go, sweetheart.” Larry put his arm around Allie, supporting her, and they hobbled out of the woods together, holding fast to each other.
CHAPTER 100
Allie Garvey
The next few hours were a blur of activity that transformed the still, dark woods into a beehive of uniformed authorities and official vehicles with idling engines and flashing light bars. Allie and Larry had called 911, which reached the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department and referred them to the Lacey Township Police Department, who’d located them on GPS. Black-and-white Lacey Township cruisers had rushed over, followed by boxy gray ambulances. Uniformed police and EMTs escorted Allie and Larry to separate ambulances, where their vital signs were monitored. A cadre of police and paramedics raced into the woods with a litter for Julian.
Police set up klieg lights and sawhorses, cordoning off the area. CSI vans arrived, followed by a young African-American prosecutor from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. Her name was Missy Willis, and she met with Allie and Larry, then agreed to take their complete statements at the hospital, prioritizing their medical care. Allie’s ambulance was about to leave when police and EMTs emerged from the woods carrying the litter that held Julian, strapped down and in custody. He’d regained consciousness, but he looked away when he passed Allie.
Allie watched with grim satisfaction. He had tried to kill her and Larry. He had killed Sasha and probably loaded the gun. She hoped he spent his life in jail. The paramedic returned to her side, eased her down on the gurney, and closed the ambulance doors. They lurched off, out of the woods.
They were taken to the Emergency Department at Southern Ocean County Hospital in Manahawkin, New Jersey, where they were