A rock as big as my fist bounced off my shoulder. I sucked in a sharp breath as pain ran from my shoulder to my wrist. My fingers went numb and lost their hold on an edge of rock. My body shook, holding on with four fingers and one foot to just inches of rock. Then my free foot found an edge and I caught my balance again.
A smooth piece of stone bounced off a boulder beside me and arced out into the water. I looked over my head in time to see an arm launch another rock, about the size of a turnip, down the embankment. It hit a rock maybe a foot over my head, sending a stream of gravel into my face. Chloe had stopped climbing and was throwing rocks, trying to knock me off the rock wall. Caught in a place where the wall curved, I couldn’t see how far away the ground was. I was guessing less than three feet. I pushed away from the rocks and jumped out and back, hoping there would be something soft to land on.
My feet hit a patch of scrabbly bushes and long grass. My left ankle gave way and I landed hard on my hip. But I was down and I was safe. Staying low to the ground, I crab-walked farther down, onto the riverbank, squeezing myself into a space between a massive boulder and a patch of tall grass.
I wasn’t sure I could run to the marina. I wasn’t even sure I could walk. And I’d lost my phone.
Chloe was moving again, working her way slowly down the rocks.
Where was Marcus?
I felt around on the ground for something, anything, I could use to defend myself. I found a piece of stone about the size of my hand, edges smoothed by the water. I curled my fingers around it and slowly eased upright, grateful for the sound of falling rocks dislodged by Chloe that masked any noise I made.
She made it to the ground. I saw her look down at her feet and I realized too late that she could see my trail, marks that my hands and feet had made as I scrambled to what I’d thought was safety.
I was out of choices. I ran at her, or maybe fell at her was closer to the truth. I swung the rock, catching her on the right side of her head, just above her temple. She crumpled like a wet paper bag. I lunged for the gun, threw it in the general direction of the water and heard a reassuring splash.
Chloe was breathing but knocked out. I had no idea how long she would be unconscious or if I had hurt her. I pulled the scarf from around her neck, rolled her onto her side and tied her hands together behind her back at the wrists. Then I pushed her onto her stomach and sat on her legs. I kept the rock on my lap. If she tried to move I wouldn’t have any problem hitting her with it again.
I heard someone calling my name, up at the top of the embankment. When I opened my mouth to answer, it triggered a coughing fit. Finally I managed to take a breath and call out, “I’m down here.” My voice was raspy and raw, but whoever it was heard me.
“She’s here,” I heard him yell.
“Kathleen, are you all right?” I heard after a moment’s silence. Marcus.
“I’m okay.”
“Where’s Chloe?”
Chloe was starting to stir. I leaned sideways and dug my elbow into the middle of her back. “Don’t move,” I hissed. “Because I will hit you again.”
“She’s right here,” I yelled. “She’s not going anywhere.”
I could see movement at the top of the rock wall and after a moment someone started climbing down. Whoever it was was much better on the rocks than I’d been. It wasn’t until he was almost to the ground that I realized it was Officer Derek Craig.
He had a rope fastened around his waist and underneath his armpits. He slipped out of the loop of rope and made his way over to me.
“She had a gun,” I said. “I threw it in the water.”
He nodded. “We’ll find it.” He glanced at Chloe’s wrists, trussed by her scarf.
“That’s pretty much every knot I know,” I said.
He had the good grace not to smile.
When I stood up, my ankle buckled. “I’m not sure I can climb.”
Derek helped me step into the loop of rope and pulled it up under my arms. “You don’t have to. Hold on. They’re going to pull you up.” He looked to the top of the rocks and gave the rope a yank. “Ready,” he yelled.
And then I was moving up over the rocks, slowly but surely. I tried to help as much as I could, pulling with my hands, pushing with my good foot. And then the edge of the grass was just above me. I dug my fingers into the ground and pulled as hands reached for me. I threw myself into a pair of strong, warm arms.
Andrew’s arms.
24
The next hour was a blur of activity. Paramedics checked me out and then I was taken across the street to one of the private meeting rooms on the main floor of the hotel. The palms of both my hands were bandaged and my left ankle was wrapped. It wasn’t broken, just badly sprained.
I gave Detective Lind the bare bones of what had happened. She narrowed her eyes at Marcus. “Remind me to say no next time you come to me with some harebrained scheme,” she said.
It had taken all of Marcus’s persuasive powers to convince the detective to go along with my plan to get Chloe to confess. None of us had realized how deep her mental illness went. When Chloe and I had disappeared from the bar, both detectives had come in. What they didn’t know was that Chloe had told Charlie, the bartender, that she was helping me plan a “romantic” surprise for Marcus. She’d asked him to stall as long as he could.
By the time they found out we’d left the hotel, I was already over the embankment. The only reason Marcus and Detective Lind knew which way we’d gone was that Andrew had seen us headed in the direction of the Riverwalk.
“Here,” Andrew said. He handed me a cup of coffee.
“Thank you,” I said.
He hadn’t left my side since he’d helped Marcus pull me up over the rocks. I hadn’t seen Marcus since. I kept eyeing the door, hoping he would walk in. Detective Lind had sent someone up to get my mom. The first thing I was going to do when she showed up was send her to find Marcus.
Andrew pulled out a chair and sat beside me. There were tight lines around his eyes and concern was written all over his face. “You have to come home, Kathleen,” he said. “You can see that now, can’t you?”
I shook my head. “Andrew, this isn’t the time.”
Anger flashed across his face. “It’s exactly the time. You almost got killed tonight. That crazy b—woman had a gun!”
I took a breath, struggling to keep my emotions in check. “I’m fine, Andrew,” I said.
He shook his head. “You’re fine? Take a look at yourself. You’ve got bandages on your hands. You can hardly walk. This isn’t fine.”
“Stop,” I said. If he heard me, it didn’t make an impression. I didn’t want to deal with any of this now. All I wanted was to see Marcus.
He exhaled loudly. “I get that you have friends here. I get that. We’ll come back for visits. They can come see us in Boston. We can work it out.”
“No,” I said, a lot louder this time. “No.”
That got his attention. “Kathleen, you’re not thinking straight,” he began.
“Yes, I am.” I set my coffee on the table. “We can’t work it out, Andrew. I’m sorry, but we can’t. I do care about you, but we’re not getting back together and I’m not coming back to Boston, because I already am home. Here.”
“You’re picking him.” There were tight lines around his mouth.
I nodded. “If you mean Marcus, yes. I am.” Maybe if I hadn’t met Marcus I could have married Andrew and been happy. But I had met him.
“You’re making a mistake.”
I looked at Andrew and shook my head. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”
Without warning he leaned over and pulled me against him, his mouth hot and hard on mine. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Marcus appear in the doorway—and immediately turn around.