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Bree rose and stepped back. “He’s in a bad way. The cat nearly suffocated him.”
Michelle stirred and lifted her head. “That’s how cougars kill their prey. They strangle them from the back of the neck. Who is he?”
“Glenn Hussert,” Annie said. “He owns the Bunyan Fisheries and is running for a state senator seat.”
“I don’t know him,” Michelle said. “But he is a terrible man. He found me in the woods after my ATV accident and kept me prisoner in an old cabin even though I told him I needed a hospital.”
Bree went to tend to Michelle. “Broken leg?” She dug into her backpack and pulled out ibuprofen. She shook out four tablets and handed them to Michelle along with a bottle of water. She gave Sarah a bottle of water too.
Michelle swallowed them down, and Bree produced somepistachios for both women. Sarah’s stomach rumbled at the sight of food. When was the last time she’d eaten? It seemed an eternity ago.
She was beginning to realize she’d been saved from one predicament only to face another. What she’d done to Kylie wasn’t going to go away. Even if Annie forgave her, she’d have to face the law. She’d abducted her niece. Looking back, it was hard to believe she’d made such a stupid decision.
Her throat burned with unshed tears, and she wanted to beg Annie to forgive her, but the words wouldn’t come. Nothing could change what Sarah had done.
“Naomi, how’s Charley?” Bree called.
“He’ll be all right. The cat got him, but it’s bleeding well, and I have him patched up. I already called for help. We’ll need a litter for Michelle and Hussert. Paramedics should be here in about an hour.”
“Does Kylie hate me?” Sarah forced the question out past her tight throat.
“Of course not. She was worried about you and told me I had to find you. She’ll be relieved to hear you’re all right. Hussert didn’t hurt you?”
Annie still hadn’t made a move to embrace her or touch her, and why would she? Sarah had hurt her in the worst possible way. She’d inflicted the same kind of pain on her sister that had come to their parents, and to Annie herself. Why hadn’t Sarah thought about the consequences of her plan before acting? The bitterness and hurt had destroyed her ability to think clearly. She’d wanted to hurt Annie, and while Sarah had done just that, she’d also hurt Kylie. And herself.
“No, he didn’t hurt me,” Sarah said.
She’d give anything if she could go back a few days. She would welcome Annie’s overtures and let go of the past. But it was too late. She’d ripped apart Annie’s feelings for her and shown she wasn’t worthy of the Vitanen name.
Forty-One
The rain finally stopped, and the fresh aroma in the air felt like a new beginning to Annie. Her baby girl had survived her ordeal and so had Jon. And even her sister was alive and whole. It could have turned out much worse.
Mason was first on the scene with the rescue team. The paramedics rushed to assist Hussert and Michelle, and Annie walked over to meet the sheriff. His sharp gaze raked over Sarah, and he started that way until Annie put her hand on his arm. “What kind of penalty is she facing?”
“She committed a felony. Here in Michigan it’s punishable by imprisonment for life or any term of years, or a fine of not more than fifty thousand dollars, or both. Serious charges.”
And Sarah deserved the full extent of the law. What she’d done was unforgivable. But life imprisonment after Sarah had already been imprisoned for most of her life struck a soft chord somewhere in Annie’s heart. “What do you think will happen?”
Mason shrugged his bulky shoulders. “Hard to say. It will depend a lot on what evidence we uncover. We know she’s unstable. This could have turned out much worse.”
She winced. “That’s true enough. The trauma of her earlier life warped her somehow, Mason. Do you think she’s beyond hope?”
“I’m not in the hope business, Annie, and the law isn’t God. God is in the forgiveness business, but the law is about justice, not grace.”
Was there good left in Sarah after her experiences growing up? Annie wasn’t sure.
Mason’s gaze tracked the paramedics transporting the injured man out of the forest. “I hope Hussert is going to make it. I really want to have a chance to interrogate him.”
“Me too. He has to have been behind everything—the hacking of Jon’s car to try to kill us, the break-in at my house, Idoya following us. I think it’s likely he was trying to see if we had the incriminating evidence you found at Michelle’s campsite.”
Mason nodded. “I’ve got the state boys working on uncovering what they can about all of it.” He pulled out zip ties and went to take Sarah into custody.
She watched him arrest her sister. This was not how she’d thought finding her sister would be. Not standing by and watching her go to jail for a terrible crime like kidnapping. Kylie would be very upset about it all. She loved Sarah.
And Annie was shocked to discover even her sister’s terrible behavior hadn’t completely rooted out the love she felt for Sarah. Annie hadn’t thought it was there, had thought that the way Sarah pushed at her had ripped out any tender feelings by the roots. But real love was hard to kill, and she’d spent a lifetime loving her sister. Even when she’d thought Sarah was dead. So a tiny flutter of love still germinated deep down.
At least Mason had zip-tied Sarah’s hands together in front of her to make it easier to walk out of here. Annie moved to intercept them. “Sarah.”
