AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I frown. “Then how the hell did whoever did this get in?”
“Carried her?”
“That’s a hell of a carry, especially considering the rusty barbed wire fence.”
“We’ll check around for tire tracks after we get her loaded.”
I nod, but something doesn’t feel right.
Sylvia’s eyes open.
“He didn’t do this,” she whispers in a gritty voice. “Rhett didn’t do this.” Her eyes dart between the officers, panic flashing.
Officer Young lightly strokes her forehead. “Don’t you worry about that right now, sweetheart, let’s get you to the hospital and then we’ll chat. You rest, dear. Just close your eyes.”
As we carry the stretcher across the field to the ATV, I hear Officer Young doling out orders into the radio attached to her chest—
“…and lastly, we need to do a rape kit...”
My stomach sinks.
38
Rhett
Ifollow the ambulance to the hospital, trying to fit this new piece of information into a rapidly growing puzzle.
I know, in my gut, that Harris Taylor didn’t fall down his stairs. He was pushed. But by whom? His wife? Did she find out about his affair with their neighbor?
Or was it Gloria herself? Did she emotionally snap after our tussle in the woods? Did she try to kill Harris to ensure her dirty sodomizing secret would never come to light?
Or, was it Stroud? The detective (being the detective that he is) found out about Gloria and Harris’s affair and got jealous—so jealous, he tried to kill the man.
I shake my head, feeling the twinge of a headache. I force myself to refocus on the main issue at hand. Who tied Sylvia in a barn and left her for dead? And why not kill her right away? What connects all these traumas?
One name enters my brain, and to my surprise, it is not Johnny Stroud.
Jesse.
Jesse Taylor is a link that ties everything together.
1. Jesse delivered the letters to Sylvia, beginning this whole mess.
2. Jesse suggested we visit the abandoned house at the end of his neighborhood. There, Harris caught us watching him have sex with the neighbor, and then Stroud caught us sneaking out. Coincidence?
3. Jesse’s dad mysteriously falls down a staircase and is currently clinging to life on ICU.
Jesse.
I make a mental note to go back to the cave after Sylvia is taken care of. I need to spend some more time with him. See if I’m missing something.
Always follow the link, right?
* * *
Once inside the hospital, I am asked to remain in the waiting room while Sylvia is examined by a doctor and interviewed by the police. For an hour, I pace the corner of the room, listening to a baby scream for its bottle, watching a skeleton of a man suck chocolate pudding through a straw, and a young couple with matching American Flag tattoos argue about money while draining the vending machine.
Officer Young finally emerges, but offers no update on Sylvia. Instead, she pulls me into a small room just past theDo Not Enterdoors. Inside is a plastic table and matching chairs that remind me of the interview room at the police station. Here, she questions me again, this time with a small recorder on the table. This time, she asks for alibis. I tell her that the night Sylvia went missing I was sleeping in my truck at the construction site, which I am sure is in full view of the security cameras outside the liquor store, and/or any of the surrounding buildings. The crew can vouch for me the next morning. It’s more than enough, and this should make me feel good, but it doesn’t. Once you’ve been wrongly convicted you realize how messed up the justice system truly is. If someone of power wants to nail you, they will. Alibi or not.
