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Water had already lapped the woman’s shoulders as the whole car sank sluggardly into the murky water between island and mainland.
“Can you undo your seat belt?”
“I don’t know…it’s…” Her head was barely above the water as she trailed off.
Ignoring the fear in her voice, Ian leaned over her, dipped his face into the water as he felt around for the release button. The woman gripped him in order to stay above the water line. His hat, now free, floated above him.
He found the latch and clicked it. It smacked back into his face as he lifted his head, and the car door pressed its weight against him. But the woman was free.
He pushed it open farther to allow the woman to swim out. By the time she stood on the door frame, the water had already filled the interior and was now close to their necks. The car sank deeper into the muck.
“I’m okay,” she whispered breathily. “You can let go of the door now.”
He did, and it splashed into the water. Finally, the whole car plunged deep down. The accident had stirred up muck and mire, obscuring any evidence of a vehicle, except for the lines of bubbles. Grabbing his hat before it floated away, Ian swam behind the woman as she dog-paddled to the rocks nearby.
She collapsed, half in and half out of the warm water, her arms splayed out and her eyes closed. Ian swam up beside her. Soaking wet curls, dark and shiny, covered her face. Ian could see her lips moving but heard nothing.
Finally, she lifted her head, with a weak lift of her hand, threw back her sopping hair. “Thank you,” she sputtered out.
“Auntie Liz!”
Ian’s head snapped up. Charlie was standing on the partially finished road above them, peering down at the woman with great excitement.
He’d said something!
The boy turned his attention to Ian. “That’s my auntie Liz. She’s come for me, just like she promised!”
TWO
“Charlie!”
With strength she didn’t think she had, Liz scrambled over the rocks and up to the road. Though soaked through and still panting, she grabbed Charlie into a tight embrace.
Then, after a long moment of holding Charlie, one full of prayer and the pain of thinking how close she’d come to never seeing him again, Liz set him slightly away from her.
His front wet, he blinked up at her. “Auntie Liz! I didn’t think you were ever coming! I thought you didn’t love me anymore! When I called, you promised me you’d come!”
She tried in vain to contain the choke of emotion. It had been only two days since he called, but even to her, it felt like a lifetime. “Oh, Charlie! I’m here! I’m here, and I do love you very much!” Crying, she swung him up into her arms again. “I’m so sorry about your dad. It took me forever to get a flight down here. And I wasn’t even sure where to go. But I found you, sweetie! I’m here to take you home now.”
As she spoke, she fingered his short hair. Jerry never bothered with barbers, and the last time she’d visited, Charlie’s curls had been tightening into horrible dreadlocks. But she’d held back her complaints on many an occasion, not wanting to jeopardize the tenuous hold she had on visiting the boy.
Now, his hair was barely an inch and a half in length, and dark blond, with messy streaks that mimicked the sun’s effects. Gone were the gorgeous black curls of his babyhood.
She peered hard at him. And glasses? Charlie’s eyesight was fine, she was sure of it. So why was he wearing glasses now?
Only then did she sense the other person on the unfinished causeway. Yes, the man who’d saved her life. She turned, slowly, feeling his presence rolling over her soaking frame.
He was tall, as wet as her, and though she knew she’d had a good look at his face as he’d rescued her, she looked at it now as if for the first time. He’d shoved back his hat, one of those soft, wide-brimmed, beige things, and because of that she got a clear view of his face.
He was handsome, but his features were tightened into a hard frown. His lips were now a thin line.
And he pointed a gun at her.
She gasped and pushed Charlie behind her, blocking the boy from the gun. She knew her bravado wouldn’t last, but she ground out, anyway, “I don’t know who you are or who you work for or even what your reasons are, but I can tell you that you’ll be charged with kidnapping so quick it’ll snap your head back! And don’t think that gun is going to scare me off because it won’t!”
“Who are you?”
“Liz Tate. Who are you?”
“Ian MacNeal. How do you know this boy?”
Liz felt Charlie peer around her waist. She shoved his head back. “I’m his aunt. And I’m here to take him home with me to Maine. Now, we can do this without anyone getting hurt, or we can do something stupid like you appear to be doing. It’s your call.”
Oh, yes, her bravado was just an act. Inside of her, Liz felt her breath stop in her throat and her fear pour ice into her heart and her whole body quiver. The wildlife refuge where she worked owned a rifle for emergencies, but no one had any need to use it. Until this minute, she’d never been close to a firearm.
Still, she refused to fail Charlie again. He didn’t deserve it.
“Wait a minute.” Liz straightened. “You went swimming with that gun. I doubt it will fire anymore.” She tipped her head to one side and frowned. “Besides, if you wanted to kill me, you could have not rescued me. So, why don’t you just put that gun away and let us leave quietly?”
The man in front of her lowered his gun and shoved it into the back of his jeans’ waistband. She wasn’t completely sure if he had carried that gun into the water with him, but she’d let her courage speak in case he had.
“Your car is at the bottom of the inlet, and it’s a long, hot walk back to Northglade. That’s the nearest town.” He shoved his hand onto his hips. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She nodded, grateful to see the gun disappear behind the man’s back. She still wasn’t sure of the man’s intentions, but logic and common sense were winning and aggravating this man would be foolish. It would be better if she stayed calm. A prayer or two wouldn’t hurt, either. Help me, Lord. “Um, well, thank you for helping me out of there. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“You’re welcome.” He squinted against the sun as he scanned the shore of the mainland. His gaze returned to Liz’s waist, his head tipping to one side to catch sight of Charlie. “We shouldn’t stand out here. We can talk in the rec center. It’s air-conditioned, and I should be able to find a few towels for us.” He leaned to his left to catch Charlie’s shy stare. “And you can tell me where my cell phone is, because I know you took it to call your aunt.”
Liz opened her mouth to protest but shut it immediately. She peered down at the boy, whose watery, kicked-puppy look blinked back up at them. “Charlie, did you take his phone? Was that the cell phone you used to talk to me?”
“Yes. It’s under my mattress,” Charlie answered quietly. “But the battery’s dead.”
Ian lifted his eyebrows. “How long did you talk on it?”
The boy peeked up at him. “Couple of minutes,” he answered in words barely above a whisper. “I just played all your games after I called Auntie Liz.”
“When was that?” Ian asked.
He shrugged. “I dunno. When I first got here. I was scared.”
Tears stung Liz’s eyes as she fought back the urge to grab Charlie, to hold him until the fear in his voice was gone forever. She threw the man a cool look. “Don’t you think you’ve scared the boy enough? You’ve stolen him from me, after all that’s happened to him, and then you try to shoot me. Think about how that’s affected him!” Liz shook her head quickly. “I’m surprised that he talked to you with that gun you keep waving around.”
The man turned his attention back to her. “He hasn’t talked at all, I’m afraid. Charlie hasn’t said a word since he arrived, Ms. Tate.”
He took off his hat and wrung it out. “Look, we’re both soaking wet and standing in the hot sun. Why don’t we walk down to the rec center? We can finish our conversation in there. The police and ambulance won’t be here for another fifteen minutes at least.”
“Just a minute, Mr. MacNeal—”
“Pastor Ian MacNeal.”
Pastor? She gaped at him. No pastor she knew of would point a gun at a woman he’d just fished out of the water. In fact, no pastor she knew even owned a gun.
Seeing her hesitate, he added, “We’re both wet, and if you don’t mind, I don’t want to be out here talking. I had told Charlie to stay put by the trees while I helped—”
He cut off his words. Liz watched him frown at the edge of the trees and then followed his gaze down to the end of the causeway, where beside a beaten sign saying Moss Point, stood a woman. She held one hand to her mouth.
The man in front of Liz cleared his throat. “Let’s go to the rec center. I promise you, you’ll come to no harm. If nothing else, let’s go there just to get out of this sun.”
True, Liz thought. The sun was brilliant today. She’d lost her sunglasses the first moment she’d been bumped by that other car. Liz stared at the murky water. Had it sunk that quickly? Was the water that deep? She quickly glanced around for the other car.
Nowhere. Maybe they should get off this death trap of a causeway, before whomever it was that ran her off the road came back. Which way had he gone? Onto the island, or had he turned around and sped back to the mainland? She couldn’t remember. Nor was she completely sure she should tell this gun-toting pastor a thing.
With that, she grabbed Charlie’s hand, putting him on the side farthest away from the man. “Lead the way.”
The atypical pastor who’d rescued her led her off the causeway. Beside her, gripping her hand tightly, Charlie piped up, “Auntie Liz, isn’t it hot here? Even hotter than the sun!”
“Yes, dear. Let’s get inside, okay? Show me where this rec center is.”
Charlie clung to her hand as they approached the young woman who stood in front of the sign at the end of the causeway. The woman clasped her hands in front of her. Tightly, Liz noticed.
“Are you all right?” the woman asked, not to anyone in particular, Liz thought.
“We’re fine,” Ian answered tersely.
Liz glanced up at him, surprised to see the man frowning hard at the other woman. Then she looked back at the woman. She was about Liz’s age, maybe, and dressed in a cheap, plain shift dress much more suitable for the weather than Liz’s dripping pants and blouse. Liz had been wearing this outfit since the day after Charlie called, the day she’d driven to the airport to catch the series of delayed flights that finally brought her down here to the southwest end of Florida.
Ian struck off ahead of Liz. For a flash, she wanted to grip Charlie’s hand even tighter and charge back over the causeway again. But as Ian had said, that small town of Northglade was too far away from the forested island, and the sun was too strong. Not a good idea. Instead, Liz pulled Charlie closer and followed Ian. He was soaked, like her, and his gun stuck out of the back of his waistband.
Beside her, Charlie twisted around to peer at the woman following them along the shaded road. Liz stole her own glance, finding the woman looking curiously back at the signpost, or maybe even the water that had swallowed up Liz’s rental. She didn’t know and didn’t care.
Around the next bend, Liz slowed her plodding walk. The closest building bore a faded sign that read Moss Point Rec Center. A small poster on the front door indicated that this past week had been Vacation Bible School. A battered bicycle had been dropped at the corner of the building. Liz stepped into the sunshine again and instantly blinked. Despite a breeze that had picked up, the humid air weighed on her like a wet cloak in a sauna.
All of what had happened lurched over her, and she stumbled over a small rock.
Quickly, Ian was there beside her, taking her free arm. “Let’s get inside. There’s a clinic in the back where you can lie down. I’d say shock is setting in.”
It was, Liz agreed silently. Because everything was wobbling in front of her.
Ian quickly steered her inside where the cool air blasted them. The heat was oppressive today, the worst so far, the forecast had warned. The heat index pushed it up farther. The hot wind from the gulf lingered barely above a breeze. Ian had grown up in the northern part of Virginia where the summers got humid enough to kill. But this weather was nearly unbearable.
“Is there a doctor here?” Liz asked.
Ian shook his head as he let the front door slam behind the four of them. Cool air drenched them. “Just a nurse, who happens to be away this week attending some training seminar. You’re looking at the interim nurse, and I’d say you’re about to faint.”
Now inside, he knew the cool air could easily get Liz Tate shivering. Quickly, with Charlie’s help, he noted, Ian got Liz to the back where the clinic was. He turned when he reached the locked door and noticed Monica hurrying into his office. In the excitement, had he left his door unlocked?
A moment later, Monica raced down with the clinic’s key and let them inside. Ian guided Liz to the plastic-covered exam bed at the far back, and she gratefully lay down and shut her eyes. Charlie stayed at her side.
It took Ian a moment to find where the nurse kept the towels. But when he did, he set one under Liz’s wet hair and another larger one along her frame.
After lying there a moment, Liz sat up and quickly toweled herself off. For all the pale wobbliness of before, she had recovered quickly.
Then he opened the small refrigerator beside the desk and pulled out some bottles. “Orange juice. I think we could all use some. Charlie needs more fluids than the other boys around here because he’s been sweating more, not that he’s asked for any.” He offered a bottle to her and was glad to see her take it with a quiet thank-you. “But then again, he hasn’t refused any liquids, either.”
She frowned at him. “Why would he ask you for anything? You kidnapped him.”
He looked down at Charlie, who’d accepted his own bottle of juice. Ignoring his aunt’s accusation, the boy drank deeply. Patience, Ian told himself. She obviously doesn’t have all the facts.
He opened his bottle and took a long swallow. Liz had finished a third of hers before setting the bottle down on the table beside her.
“I didn’t kidnap him. But before I tell you anything, I need to know one thing. How did you find Charlie? I didn’t tell him where he was.”
With her left arm, Liz pulled the boy close. Charlie returned the hug, setting his head down on her wet lap. “Why should I tell you anything? You say you didn’t kidnap Charlie, but here he is, and when he talked to me, he sure sounded like he didn’t want to be here.”
Ian pulled the chair out from the desk and sat down. “Tell me how you found out he was missing.”
Immediately, Liz glanced down at the boy, all the while pulling him closer.
Then she met Ian’s calm stare with a direct one of her own. “I’d rather not discuss that right now.”
Of course. Ian knew some of the details and guessed the boy wouldn’t want to hear them all again. They did include his father’s death.
He turned to his assistant. She still stood there, hands clasped in front of her. “Monica, please take Charlie down to the kitchen and make us all a snack. Liz and I need to talk.”
Charlie looked up at his aunt, his expression stricken.
“He needs to stay near me,” Liz stated.
“The kitchen is twenty feet away. We’ll leave the door open,” Ian answered. “Charlie, your aunt and I need to talk in private. It’s important, okay? You know why, don’t you?”
Charlie’s gaze dropped, and he nodded. Again, Ian was amazed at how the boy acted. So calmly, as if he’d been simply waiting for his aunt to arrive.
“I won’t leave, I promise. But—” Liz shot Ian a sharp glance “—if it’s important then we need to talk. I’ll be down to the kitchen in a minute, okay?”
Monica held out one hand and took Charlie away. Ian watched them leave. At the middle of the building, the rec center’s kitchen was still well stocked with fruit, raw vegetables, granola bars and juice, all left over from the Vacation Bible School they’d just completed. Having a snack would ease the boy’s uncertainty, he was sure.
Despite Ian’s promise, the door to the clinic clicked shut behind the pair. Ian turned back to face Liz.
“Tell me how you found Charlie.”
She leaned forward. “Tell me why you need to know and why it’s so important.”
Ian glared at Liz, only to receive an equal glare in return. “Because it is, and that’s all I can say.”
Liz straightened. “Then why should I tell you anything? You brought Charlie here against his will, you have someone out there acting like a sentry, ready to shove cars off the road, and then you pull a gun on me after you rescue me. So, explain to me why I should tell you anything at all. And why I shouldn’t be calling the police!”
Ian leaned forward. “First up, your phone, if you had one, is sitting at the bottom of the inlet, so calling anyone will be difficult. Second, I have not authorized anyone to use force to prevent people from coming here. I would never condone that dangerous behavior. Third, Charlie was given into my custody by the police.”
Liz shook her head in confusion. “Do you know what you’ve done to Charlie, bringing him all the way down here without someone he knows? And what right do the police have handing him over to you, some stranger? Just because you’re a pastor doesn’t mean you know what’s best for Charlie. And while I’m at it, what kind of a pastor walks around pointing a gun at people?” She leaned forward. “So why don’t you start talking first? Because as far as I’m concerned, I’m the one who should have custody of Charlie, not you. And be asking all the questions.”
