Chill Factor (52 page)

Begley asked for directions. Tierney told them where they
could find
his car. "They're about a hundred fifty yards north-northeast from
where it's parked. It's a rugged climb, but obviously doable, even for
a man carrying a body."

"The ribbon?" Lilly asked. It was still lying on the floor at
their
feet, stained with his blood as well as William Ritt's.

"Just as I told you. I saw it fluttering on a branch. Ritt
must've
dropped it when he was digging the grave. I took it because I was
afraid a valuable piece of evidence would blow away before I could lead
somebody back up there."

To Begley he said, "I used latex gloves when handling the
shovel.
It's in the trunk of my car. Hopefully you'll lift Ritt's fingerprints
off it." Lilly saw that tears had glossed his eyes. "You'll at least
find my daughter's remains."

His voice had grown even more thready with the telling of his
story.
Considering how much blood he'd lost, Lilly didn't know how he was
remaining upright. She slid her arm around his waist. "Why don't you
sit down at least?"

He smiled down at her. "I'm okay."

"It was Dutch who shot you, wasn't it?"

He looked into her face for a moment, then turned to Begley.
"What
about him and Wes Hamer?"

"Collier, one of the tactical team, stayed behind with them."
Begley
glanced at her uneasily, then asked Tierney, "Is it as Ms. Martin says?
Chief Burton shot you?"

"I threw down my pistol," he said bitterly. "It didn't matter."

"He shot you, knowing you were unarmed?"

"That's partially my fault, Ms. Martin," Begley said in
response to
her dismay. "Chief Burton considered Mr. Tierney a dangerous criminal."

"I knew that." Tierney explained how he'd heard over her car
radio
that he was wanted for questioning. "When I saw Dutch and Wes Hamer, I
figured they were a hunting party out to capture me
,
dead or alive."

"He was also angry over the two of you being up here
together,"
Begley said. "A bad combination of vigilantism and jealousy."

"That's why I took off running when I saw them," Tierney said.
"I
hoped to contact you—the FBI—before they got to me.
I figured I would
have a better chance of explaining myself to you. I doubted I'd have
the same luck with them, and I was right."

He paused for breath. "But I couldn't outrun them. They caught
up
with me, shot me. Seconds later I heard Ritt over the radio transmitter
telling them he'd found Lilly here in the cabin, dead. I knew then that
something was terribly wrong. I think you can piece together the rest."
He slumped against the wall.

Handling him gently, Lilly guided him down until he was
sitting on
the floor, his back against the wall. "I can't believe Dutch did this
to you." Looking up at Begley, she said, "He'll have to face criminal
charges, won't he?"

"No, ma'am, he won't."

She was about to ask why not when suddenly she knew. She could
see
the answer in Begley's sympathetic eyes, and sense it in Agent Wise's
averted gaze, and hear it in Tierney's muttered curse.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Martin," Begley said gently. "He gave us no
choice.
He shot one of my men. It would have been fatal except for his vest.
Chief Burton tried to shoot Mr. Tierney in the back, and would have
shot me. We gave him repeated warnings. He persisted. In order to save
our own lives—"

"You don't have to explain," she said, her voice soft and
sorrowful.

Tierney reached for her hand and clasped it.

A cell phone rang. Agent Wise turned his back on them and
answered
the call as unobtrusively as possible.

There was increased noise and a flurry of motion outside.
Begley
stepped onto the porch, then returned almost immediately. "Care-Flight
chopper is here, Mr. Tierney."

"Will I be able to go with him?"

"I'm afraid not, Ms. Martin," he said. "We'll need you in
Cleary."

She nodded, but reluctantly.

"I'll go back with the first group and oversee Ritt's
incarceration.
You'll stay here under Agent Wise's watch until the chopper can return
for you. Today Hoot has proved himself to be most capable," he said,
almost tongue in cheek. "Shouldn't be more than half an hour."

"I'm sure I'll be fine."

A
team of paramedics rushed inside
pushing a gurney. In a
matter of minutes Tierney had been strapped to it, hooked up to an IV,
into which several bottles of solution were being dripped, and fitted
with a nose cannula supplying him with oxygen. Despite the activity
around him, he didn't let go of Lilly's hand and never took his eyes
off hers, nor did hers stray from his.

She followed the gurney as far as the porch, where she was
forced to
release his hand. The sun had sunk below the tree line to the west,
creating a false twilight. Already the absence of sunlight had caused
the temperature to drop dramatically. Hugging herself for warmth, she
remained there, staring after Tierney, until the helicopter lifted off.

"Where's he being taken?" she asked Begley, who was ushering
her
back inside.

"Asheville."

"He's lost so much blood."

"He seems tough enough. He'll be all right." He touched her
arm for
reassurance. She smiled at him. He smiled back.

"Sir?" They turned in unison to face Agent Wise.

"What is it
,
Hoot?"

"They found Scott Hamer."

When word reached Dora, she was still with Marilee.

They'd remained together all day, bolstering each other
through the
hours that Scott was unaccounted for. Dora had cellphone numbers for
only a few of Scott's friends, but word quickly spread that his mother
was anxious to speak to him. None of the friends Dora reached had heard
from him.

Her attempts to reach Wes on his cell phone met with no
success.
Either his service hadn't yet been restored or he was ignoring her
calls.

The two women waited, their distress mounting.

It was Officer Harris who finally found Scott. "He's on his
way to
the hospital." He refused to tell Dora any more than that over the
telephone.

When she and Marilee reached the emergency room, they were
almost
afraid to hear what the admitting nurse had to tell them. Well
acquainted with the Hamer family, the nurse was reluctant to be the
messenger of bad news. "The doctor wanted to speak with you directly,
Mrs. Hamer. I'll get him," she said and disappeared through a set of
double doors.

It was a full ten minutes before a young man in a lab coat
emerged.
To Dora he looked very young. He divided a look between them. "Mrs.
Hamer?"

"I'm Mrs. Hamer."

"Dr. Davison." He shook her hand, which felt cold and clammy
in his.
"Apparently Scott was climbing the rope in the high school gymnasium,
lost his grip, and fell. He was alone. No one there to spot him. He
hadn't put a mat under him either
,
so he
landed hard.
We're trying to get him stabilized so he can be transported to a major
hospital."

Dora would have collapsed with relief had not Marilee been
supporting her. "But he's alive?"

"Oh, yes. Forgive me, I thought you knew that much. His
injuries
aren't life threatening. His vitals are good. But I don't want to
minimize the extent of the damage. Both his legs are broken in several
places. He's being X-rayed now to check for internal injuries. I don't
think we'll find any, but that's routine when the pelvic bones are
involved. There appears to be no spinal or head injury. That kind of
drop, he was lucky." He paused to let all that sink in before
continuing.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Hamer, but I need to ask. Has he been taking
steroids?"

"He's been
given
steroids."

"They may have contributed to his injuries, and will make his
recovery harder. Steroids strengthen muscles, but not the tendons and
ligaments that connect them. They actually become weaker from the
additional stress placed on them. I'm afraid Scott's in for a rough
time."

"But he's alive."

"Yeah, he's alive. But we need to get him to a hospital that
has a
trauma unit. Unfortunately, the roads are still icy, and another
patient who's had a major blood loss got first dibs on the CareFlight."

"Did they capture Mr. Tierney?"

"I don't know his name," the doctor replied to Marilee's
question.
"All I know is that they captured Blue, and it was bloody. So it may be
a couple hours before Scott can be transferred. In the meantime we'll
keep him as comfortable as possible and monitor him closely."

"Can we see him?"

"As soon as he's out of X-ray." He hesitated, then said, "I
saw him
play football last season. He had a lot of talent. You may want to
start preparing him for a disappointment."

A half hour later, the nurse came to usher Dora into the ICU.

Dora extended her hand to Marilee. "Come with me."

"I can't," she said, her voice husky with emotion.

"He'll need you."

"No, he won't." She smiled through her tears. "He did, but he
won't
anymore. Tell him…" She paused, then shook her head sadly.
"Never mind.
I think it's best if you don't tell him anything."

Dora searched the other woman's eyes, then gave a slow nod.
"You're
a remarkably unselfish person. And an incredibly brave woman." She
hugged Marilee quickly, then rushed through the double doors.

He'd been given painkillers intravenously, so he was groggy,
but he
knew where he was. As she approached the bed, he smiled wanly and
whispered, "Hi, Mom."

Dora clasped his hand and didn't even try to stem her tears.
"Hi."

"My legs are fucked up really bad, aren't they?"

"Yes. Really bad."

Scott closed his eyes and expelled a deep sigh through a faint
smile. "Thank God."

EPILOGUE

Ms. Martin, Mr. Tierney is here." Lilly's assistant knew who
Ben
Tierney was from all the media coverage of the events that had taken
place in North Carolina three months ago. Although William Ritt's
capture had been the focus of the stories, there had been a lot of
speculation around the
Smart
watercooler about
what had
transpired inside that cabin for the two days that she and Tierney had
been isolated.

No one on staff had had the temerity to ask, especially since
there
had been no further contact between her and Tierney. Until yesterday.
He had called and asked for an appointment this morning.

Lilly knew that word of the upcoming meeting had spread
through the
offices like wildfire. This morning everyone was on red alert and vying
to catch the first glimpse of him.

Her assistant's nonchalance was faked.

It was impossible for Lilly to fake it.

Her voice sounded nothing like her own when she said, "Please
send
him in."

Heart thumping, she stared at the door. He opened it and
walked in,
closing it behind him. He was dressed in slacks and a sports jacket.
She'd never seen him in anything other than kayaking shorts and the
jeans, sweater, and coat he'd been wearing in the cabin.

Well, and nothing.

"Hello, Lilly."

"Hello."

"I'm glad you had the time available today."

"I make it a point to have a follow-up visit with every man
with
whom I'm trapped in a mountain cabin for forty-eight hours during a
blizzard."

He was a little thinner, a little paler, but the smile was
endearingly familiar as he took the chair facing her desk and gave her
an unhurried once-over. When his eyes reconnected with hers, he said,
"You look great."

Then why did you let ninety-four days go by before
contacting me
?
That was what her mind was screaming. What she said was "How's your
shoulder?"

"Brand-new. They had to replace the old with a plastic one,
reputably durable, virtually indestructible."

"Does it bother you?"

"Not too bad."

"You say that about every injury."

He held her gaze for a moment, then said quietly
,
"Some hurt more than others."

She turned her head aside to avoid the magnetism of his blue
gaze.
Countless times she had asked herself what she would say and do when
she saw him again—
if she
did.

Well, she knew she would see him at least once more. She had
to. But
after that, she didn't know what to expect.

She had scripted several ways she would play this scene,
ranging
from cool detachment to passionate abandon. Now she couldn't remember a
single clever line from any of the imagined scenarios.

"I suppose you had to have physical therapy for it."

"I was in a rehab hospital for several weeks."

"The inactivity must have been maddening for you."

"It was. But I was so much better off than most of the
patients
there. Scott Hamer for one."

"Yes, I heard about his accident."

"It wasn't an accident." Her surprise must have shown. "He and
I had
some heart-to-heart talks in the hospital. He told me he let go of the
rope on purpose."

"Why?"

She listened with increasing dismay as he told her about the
steroids Wes had been giving Scott. "That in addition to sleeping with
his girlfriend," she remarked, shaking her head. "Wes Hamer is a
despicable human being."

"I agree. They're keeping the scandal with Millicent under
wraps.
Not to protect Wes but to spare her parents. Why add to their pain?"

"He deserves public censure, but I understand that reasoning."

"The scuttlebutt is that he's been humbled, not only by
Scott's
accident but also by what happened on the mountain."

"He was only following Dutch's lead."

"Not exactly, Lilly. According to Scott, Wes admitted to
egging
Dutch on to come after me."