Page 60 of Still Afraid

She asked, “Is there a count on anyone else who’s missing? Do we need to be searching?”

Dad put his hand on her shoulder. “You need to rest. If you insist, you can come out here tomorrow and join the efforts, but you’ve been through a lot.”

She nodded. Her head swam with it all, but doing something gave the noise a direction. She didn’t want to fall into self-pity over all that had happened. And it was so much heavier than the tornado.

She hadn’t told anyone about the confrontation she’d had before the storm hit. No one knew to look for that person, but he … or she—Chloe’s memory was too fuzzy to decide—had been standing where she was now when that twister dropped from the sky. Had her attacker found shelter and safety?

Chapter Twenty-Three

Josh gripped Chloe’s hand. She’d become sullen after her father told her to rest. Chloe was the type of person who wanted to do what needed to be done regardless of her own state. That’s why she was so good at search and rescue despite her fears. Telling her to sit on the bench would make her stir-crazy. Not that Josh didn’t agree with Troy. She needed rest. But rest was difficult.

Chloe broke into the conversation that floated around them. “There is at least one person that could be dead. I don’t know what happened to him—in the generic sense of the pronoun. I don’t know for sure if it was a man or a woman. It was too chaotic an interaction. His face was covered and he wore a baggy, black sweatshirt, one of those zip-up ones, zipped all the way to the top. He had a bandana across his or her nose and mouth and dark sunglasses, even though the sun wasn’t out.” She closed her eyes. “I didn’t pay enough attention to shoes and pants.”

“What are you talking about?” Gabe tilted his head.

She inhaled as if to steady herself. “When I got home with the groceries, I came around the back of the SUV—wait, where’s my car?”

Gabe pointed down the damage path. “A mile or so that way, but continue.”

Her eyes widened. “I’ll have to process that later. Anyway, someone approached me. Scared me … that’s why I dropped my keys.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “He—or she—wanted to know where something was, but I don’t know what.”

“Continue,” her dad prodded.

“It all happened so fast. Oh, the person was trying to lower their voice but slipped when we saw the tornado. I pushed them away and ran. I don’t know what happened to them. If my car got flung that far, they could have been too. We have to find him.”

Josh’s mind did not want to acknowledge that Chloe had been in danger before the tornado, but his heart did and sucker punched his gut. “I wonder if it was it the same person who broke into your car and house.”

“I can only assume so. I don’t understand why though. I don’t have anything worthwhile. I don’t know what ‘it’ is. I looked up and saw the funnel and couldn’t get any answers.”

Josh placed a hand on her back. “It’s okay. At least he didn’t hurt you.”

She lifted the sleeve of her t-shirt. “I might have a bruise.” A slight discoloration marred her skin from where the attacker had gripped her arm. “But it’s fine.”

Heat flooded his body. If he got his hands on the jerk who scared his girl … Josh was too mad to let that thought finish.

Gabe and another officer took an official statement from Chloe, and the other officer put out a BOLO for the individual Chloe described as thin and athletic in build and around five foot nine.

When they were done, Josh took Chloe’s shoulders in his hands. “I need to get you some dinner and a bed. You’re fading.”

She didn’t protest, which was the biggest sign she was truly exhausted.

With Poirot by their side, Josh led Chloe to his vehicle. Her dad said Bonnie had food ready back at the farm. They would swing by Josh’s house and the store to get anything they would need for overnight. Josh wasn’t leaving her side. They would stay above reproach, and she wouldn’t sleep at his house premaritally. If she was sleeping at her parents, though, so was he. Troy had all but insisted he stay there too.

As they rode along, Chloe leaned her seat back and closed her eyes.

Josh prayed as he drove, lifting Chloe up to the Lord. He prayed things would resolve regarding whatever this person wanted from Chloe. If they’d died in the tornado, there would no longer be a threat. But Josh hated even thinking that. He prayed no one died.

Chloe stood from the table where she and Josh had been sitting with her parents since supper ended over half an hour ago. The world felt like it was closing in on her, even though she was happy and safe. Maybe she needed a little space.

She went to the half bath down the hall. After closing and locking the door behind her, she leaned up against it and shut her eyes.

Air wouldn’t come into her lungs. Dizziness made her head swim. She sank to the floor and forced air in as best she could, but she couldn’t get a deep enough breath. If she didn’t soon, she was going to pass out.

Jesus, help!

Chloe tilted her head back and attempted to slow her racing heart. As she pleaded with the Lord for help, her heart and breathing slowed back to normal.

Where had that panic attack come from?