Truths Unveiled - By Kimberly Alan Page 0,43
obvious?”
Gently, he traced random designs on her forearm with his finger. “Scared?”
“A bit,” she answered, matter-of-factly.
“Happy?”
“Oh, definitely! How about you?”
“Amazingly. But I want you to know that if you begin to feel awkward, or troubled about anything, please let me know. This is a big step.”
Pam’s stomach tightened. Oh, no. Did that mean he was having second thoughts already?
“You mean about getting married?”
He shook her shoulder. “No way, Woman. I mean about living in Middleton. I’ve got to tell you, it’s going to be a big change of lifestyle for you. Our idea of a good time means going to the annual county fair. And then there’s the bowling league we’ll join. The nearest kind of mall, like you’re used to, is over an hour away, and we only have one cinema. It shows two movies. Max. And sometimes, it’s the same movie. Not like that palace place with twenty-five screens I found yesterday when I went out exploring. Man. That was amazing!”
“Oh, how I remember,” Pam laughed. “I went through the culture shock years ago when we first moved there. And when you rejected my application for the rescue squad.” She shook her head. “I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself.”
Tom leaned over and pecked her on the cheek. “Got a secret to tell you.”
“Okay.”
“My refusing to hire you was probably illegal. At that time, sixteen was the legal age. With your experience, you could have sued me and won.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m serious,” Tom said. “I think they call it gender discrimination. You were so cute. I knew I’d be in trouble if I hired you.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” she teased, amazed that two people could be so in sync. Are we really meant for each other? she asked God. Is that why You had Dad transferred there? So we would meet?
Tom ran his hand through her hair. “The deputy police chief and I are meeting tomorrow morning about that other thing.”
Pam felt the knot tighten in her stomach, but she refused to focus on it. “Thank you.”
“As a precaution, we agreed that you’ll sleep at my parents’ house this weekend. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“And when I can’t be around, you won’t go wandering any place alone. Unless, of course, we decide to set a trap. But then we’d plan it all out in advance.”
Pam wrinkled her forehead. “A trap?”
“If not now, then later. When we move you down permanently. I’d like to nail this guy quick so we can put it behind us.”
In her mind, Pam pictured all the people she loved and surrounded them with pink and white light. “Thank you,” she whispered. “And I believe God will protect us. But it’s funny.”
“What’s funny?”
“Now that I have a fairly clear picture of how the accident occurred, I’m curious about who’s behind trying to dredge it up. Do they consider it a joke? Or does someone still grieve over what happened? That would be horrible.”
“Like it’s horrible for you?”
Driving, Pam stared out into the velvet night. They’d turned off the highway ten miles ago, onto the unlit, two-lane road leading into Middleton. “I still feel responsible. Maybe it’s out of habit. Survivor’s guilt and all. But since the hypnosis, I don’t feel so paralyzed by it. If someone is still tormented like that, I hope we can help them resolve it. Even if it means that they need to confront me.”
“So long as I’m around when they do it,” Tom insisted.
Pam relished his hand kneading the tight muscles in the back of her neck. My entire professional life involves human touch, she realized. But it is my touch. My hands on my patients, fighting to save their lives. How have I managed, she wondered, for so long without someone touching me like this?
Truths Unveiled
Truths Unveiled
Chapter Twenty-Six
Deputy police chief, Bill Houser, held up a police file in the air. “Here it is.”
Determined to clear up the accident matter, Tom had spent three hours with him in the basement of the police department, plowing through box after box of old cases.
“Looks a little thin to be a double death. Doesn’t it?” Tom asked.
Nodding, Bill carried the aged, manila folder over to a dusty card table. “Let’s take a look.”
Ten minutes later, Tom leaned back in the rickety chair and chewed on the end of a pen cap. “All it says is that Ryan Collins was dangerously intoxicated and probably passed out at the wheel. The heavy rains that night washed away most of the evidence. Only skid