Roxie was in the front yard at the Youngblood property, pulling weeds in the flower beds while the twins took turns watering the beds behind her. Louise honked and waved as she drove away. She wondered how Katie was going to fit in to Borden’s Gap, then let it go. That was Katie McGrath’s path to walk, and not for Louise to meddle.
***
Katie stopped for fuel at the Arkansas-Tennessee border. It was a little before noon, and it felt like forever since she’d had breakfast. So she fueled up, then went through a fast-food drive-through and got lunch to go.
She was eating a burger as she drove over the Arkansas border, and she kept right on driving when she went through Memphis on her way to Jackson, Tennessee. From there, she would take State Highway 45 south, and from that point on, the GPS in her car would do the navigating.
Borden’s Gap was becoming a reality.
***
It was just before noon at the police station. The prisoner had been transferred, and one of Sam’s officers had dealt with a fender bender on Main Street while another had hauled a ten-year-old shoplifter from the local supermarket into the station.
At that point, Sam was in his office with the ten-year-old, who was bawling his head off and scared he was going to jail, but the kid’s parents were there, too.
By the time Sam had all that sorted out, the shoplifter and his parents were gone. He was finishing up the report when his cell phone rang. The moment he noticed it was Roxie, his heart skipped. She never called him at work unless there were problems, so he quickly picked it up.
“Hello?”
“It’s me,” Roxie said, trying to talk over the crying in the background. “Beth fell outside and cut her arm on something. It looks like it’s gonna need a stitch or two, and of course, Evie is crying with her in sympathy. Do I need to take them down to the ER, or do you have time?”
“I’m on the way,” Sam said and headed up the hall to the front desk to tell the clerk where he was going. “Charlie, one of the girls got hurt. I’m going home to get her. Call if you need me.”
“Got it, Chief. Give her a hug from me.”
Sam gave him a thumbs-up and headed down the hall and out the back door to his cruiser. It wasn’t the first time he’d been to the ER with the girls and likely wouldn’t be the last, but seeing them hurt made him sick to his stomach. They were his babies.
He pulled up in the drive in record time and got out on the run. He could still hear the crying as he entered the house and headed for the kitchen.
Beth was sitting on the kitchen counter near the sink, and Roxie was holding a cold compress on the cut when he walked in. When both girls saw him, they upped the volume on the tears.
Sam went straight to where Beth was sitting and patted Roxie on the back, then reached for the compress.
“Let me see,” he said.
Beth screeched. “It’s bleeding, Daddy!”
“I’m so sorry, baby, but I still need to see,” he said, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Now take a deep breath and try not to cry for me while I look, okay?”
“Okay,” she said, and ended on a shuddering sob.
Evie was still crying.
Sam looked at her. “Are you hurt, too, honey?”
She shook her head.
“Then you need to stop crying.”
“Okay,” she said, and turned it off so fast, the tears dangling at the ends of her eyelashes had yet to fall.
“Now,” Sam said, and lifted the compress, then frowned. There was a rather sizable cut near her shoulder. “Okay, Roxie, you were right. I’m taking her to the doctor. You and Evie stay here.”
“Noooo!” Beth wailed. “I don’t want to go to the doctor.”
“Sorry, honey,” he said, and scooped her up in his arms, grabbing the compress. “Evie, I want you to help Miss Roxie clean up in here, and then both of you go out in the yard and see if you can find what Beth fell on. We don’t want anything sharp lying out in our grass.”
Then he headed up the hall and out the door with Beth, as Roxie and Evie began cleaning up the blood trail from the back door to the sink.
Sam buckled Beth into the passenger seat, then handed her the compress.
“Hold this tight on your arm, baby girl, and we’ll have you fixed up in no time,” he said, and then got in.
“Are you gonna turn on the siren?” Beth asked.
Sam grinned. “Do we need to?”
“Sirens are for ’mergencies. Am I a ’mergency?”
“Yes, you are,” Sam said, then backed out of the drive, hit the siren and lights, and flew through the streets on the way to the ER.
***
It was half past three when Katie’s GPS directed her to turn east off Highway 45. She was already fascinated with the forests she’d seen and the thick growths of trees. This was not the land of broad vistas of sand and cactus surrounded by distant mountains.
This was where secrets dwelled.
Hidden in green valleys.
Walled up behind dense forests and always hiding the answers just around the next curve.
She glanced at her GPS. Only eleven more miles to go.
“Please don’t let me regret this,” Katie said as she eyed yet another mailbox along the highway and the narrow road beyond it that led up into the trees.
She was headed east now, still driving mile after mile with the sun behind her as she slowed down for the upcoming curve. The radio station she’d been listening to was nothing but static now, but instead of searching for another station, she just turned it off.
All of a sudden, she was passing the city limits sign of Borden’s Gap, which listed the population as just shy of 4,000 people. Then she topped a hill and saw the town below, nestled against the foothills and spread out across the land before her.
“There you are,” Katie whispered, wondering what the future would bring to her here.
Louise had sent not only the address, but also directions on how to find it, and the starting point was the first stoplight.
Flags were flying from almost every business on Main Street, and then Katie remembered tomorrow was the Fourth of July. That meant fireworks. Her stomach was in knots as she turned left, followed the directions to go five blocks down, then took a right and drove two more blocks.
She recognized the house on sight. It was the blue door, and then the porch and flower beds, that gave it away. She sighed as she pulled up the drive and parked beneath the portico.
She was here. It wasn’t home yet, but it was hers. She killed the engine and then grabbed her purse and walked up the side steps to the porch, picked up the corner of the welcome mat and claimed the key.