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Even in the dim light, he could see tears brimming in her eyes and their traitorous fall down her cheeks.
“He took itveryserious,” she whispered. “And now, because of me, he’s…dead.” A sob broke through as she dug her fingers into the pillow. “U.S. Marshall Evan Miller. Dedicated fam—” Her voice broke as she struggled to get the words out. “Family man,” she finally managed. “Devoted to his wife and two children.” She swiped angrily at her tears. “And completely invested in keeping me safe until I could testify.”
“How? When?” Marcus pressed.
She took a faltering breath. “He was escorting me from a safe house in Seattle to the Federal Court in Salt Lake where I’m supposed to testify in a few days. He was so thorough, so cautious, he decided to take a round-about route. Something totally unexpected, he said. So, the plan was to go through Yellowstone and down through Jackson Hole to Salt Lake, instead of the shorter, more direct route.”
She tilted her head back against the headboard and stared at the ceiling, absently toying with the wee locket attached to the delicate chain he’d seen earlier today. “Two days ago, he suspected we were being followed. Yesterday morning, he was sure of it. He pointed them out to me when we stopped at a gas-station diner, and they stopped to pretend to air-up a tire on their car. A green Camaro. No matter where we were, they were never far away. He told me if we were ever separated to run for my life. He kept repeating his instructions like a mantra.Don’t hesitate. Don’t look back. Don’t trust anyone.”
“Wise man.” Marcus interjected. “I’m guessing those men were the same two that were showing yer picture around today?”
She nodded.
“What happened tae the Marshall, Tait?”
Shoving her mass of curls from her face, she turned her gaze back to Marcus, letting her misery spill into the space between them. “Last night, we were driving down from Boseman, headed this direction. It was late, and we were trying to decide if it was wiser to stay here, in West Yellowstone, or go on to Jackson Hole.”
She squeezed her eyes closed as if trying to hold the horror back, sighed and opened them again, looking completely defeated. “We were almost here. The road we were on wound past that little lake northwest of here—Quake Lake?—that’s kind of tucked between two hillsides. And they…they just came out of nowhere! They must have had their headlights off. And they had to be traveling fast because when they hit us the impact shoved us off the road and down a steep embankment.”
Listening to the pain in Tait’s voice and witnessing the anguish in her eyes, Marcus longed to gather her close and comfort her. Instead, clenching his jaw, he held himself back and waited for her to continue.
“It all happened so fast! One minute we were sliding and fishtailing into the darkness and then…a horrible jolt! It must have knocked me out for a minute. When I came to, we weren’t moving. The dashboard lights were dim, but still on. I could see Evan slumped over the steering wheel, and…” She paused, shook her head. “He was making the most awful sound. Moaning and…and…not breathing right. Then I realized the driver’s side of the car had been crushed against a boulder. It had shattered Evan’s window and his head was—”
She shook her head, pressing her lips into a fine line as if not saying the words out loud could keep them from being real. Her whimper revealed almost as much to Marcus as her words. “Tell it all if ye can, lass.”
“There was so much blood!”she cried, her voice thick and strained. “I tried to stop it, but it was useless. I wasn’t sure he was even conscious but after a minute he managed to whisper a word. Just one.”
“Run!”
Her sobs came in long shattering waves as her tears dripped from her chin to the pillow. “And then he quit making any sound at all. He just…stopped breathing. I was so scared. When I saw the beams of two flashlights coming down the embankment, I did what he’d made me promise to do. I…ran.I left him there and ran!” she cried brokenly.
The agony on her face and in her voice was too much. Marcus moved to the edge of the bed, sat, and gathered her close, letting her spill her grief onto his shoulder.
Muttering soothing sounds, he waited several minutes before asking more of her. “I noticed yer scratches and bruises, but have ye other injuries?”
“Not really. Just a knot on my head and some sore spots. When I heard those men coming, I knew as soon as I opened the door to get out, the light would come on and I’d be spotted. I also knew I didn’t have long before they reached me. And when they did, I’d end up just like Evan. So, I rolled the window down and crawled through the opening. I guess I got banged up a little from the fall and from running in the dark.”
Marcus stroked her back as she clung to him. “How did ye find yer way?”
“Blindly, I’m afraid. I stumbled around some and hid some. Mostly, I ran when there was any sound that might muffle my movements and stopped when there wasn’t. I could hear them muttering and scouring the bushes for what seemed like hours. But I have no idea how long it really was. Finally, when I hadn’t heard them for a long time, and I was able to actually look at myself, I was horrified.” A shudder moved through her.“I was coveredin Evan’s blood.”
She shifted in his arms, taking a long breath before continuing. “So, I removed my sweatshirt and buried it. That’s why I was only wearing a camisole when you met me. I scrubbed myself at the lake. My jeans, everything. Then I kept moving. Just after dawn, I stumbled onto a campground. But I was still too scared to reveal myself. I waited, watching for the car that followed us for days and then ran us off the road. I thought they might check everything in the area, including the campground. I watched for hours, but I never saw them.”
Marcus ground his teeth at the thought of her all alone, shivering and terrified.
“Around mid-morning, I saw a young couple leaving the campground, so I flagged them down with a story about an abusive boyfriend I’d escaped from in the night. I don’t know if they believed me or not, but they were willing to give me a ride into town.”
A small whimper escaped before she continued. “I was hoping to find a bus station. All I had were the clothes on my back and what little money was in my pocket. I knew getting on a bus was a risk, but I couldn’t afford anything else. All I could think of was to get away. And when I saw those men on the street showing my picture around, I was frantic, out of my mind afraid. I needed help. Protection. And then I saw you.”
She looked at him through swollen eyes, her cheeks red and tear stained. “I don’t know what I’d have done if you’d rejected me.”
He thumbed the moisture from her cheek. “I dinnae then and I willnae now.”
She shuddered again and laid her cheek on his chest. “I can’t get the vision of Evan slumped over that steering wheel out of my head. His wife and children must be frantic,” she cried.
“Did ye notify the police? Even anonymously?”
“No. Evan warned me not to when he was going over all the ‘what if’ possibilities we might face. He said if anything ever happened to him, I was on my own. That only two men knew of the alternate route he’d planned, and both worked in WITSEC.”
