Save Your Breath (Morgan Dane #6)(89)

“I’ll take it.” Morgan lowered her shirt.

Lance rolled Kim to her back. Blood bloomed from her shoulder. Morgan hadn’t missed. They’d hit each other, but Morgan had been wearing a vest and Kim had not.

Wounded, Kim had run on sheer adrenaline. Lance patted her down for more weapons and found a folding knife in her jacket pocket. Taking it, he glanced back at Sharp, who had secured Stephen’s hands. Stephen didn’t look like he was going to do anything except maybe vomit. But Sharp checked his pockets and zip-tied his ankles together anyway, then returned to Olivia.

Lance hauled Kim to her feet and marched her back to the clearing. He sat her down.

“I’m bleeding,” she complained.

With a sigh, Lance took the scarf Morgan wore to camouflage her pale face and tied it around Kim’s shoulder.

“The police are on their way,” Morgan said. “How is Olivia?”

“Not good.” Sharp turned to her. Olivia’s breathing was strained. She wheezed and whistled with each breath. He touched her face, and she opened her eyes. Olivia lifted a hand and reached for Sharp. He closed his fingers around hers as the sound of approaching sirens filled the woods.

Soon, four Redhaven police cars, a paramedic unit, and an ambulance were parked in the clearing next to the lake. Sharp climbed into the ambulance with Olivia. The paramedic had started treating her immediately with inhaled and IV medications and oxygen. Her color had already improved.

Lance put an arm around Morgan’s shoulders. She leaned her head on his shoulder. They didn’t speak at first. The physical contact was reassuring enough. The crisis had passed. No one had died—not even the Holgersens. Weariness seeped into Lance’s bones. He was wet, cold, hungry, and utterly exhausted.

But his heart was light with elation and disbelief that they had found Olivia alive. Or maybe he was light-headed.

“I want to go home and sleep for a week,” Morgan finally said.

“I hear you.” Lance squeezed her arm. They hadn’t slept much since the previous Thursday. “It’s been a long four days.”

“We’re not going to get any sleep tonight, are we?” Morgan asked.

“Probably not.” They had a long night of questioning ahead of them, but Lance didn’t care. Everyone he cared about was alive, and that was all that mattered.





Chapter Forty-Six

Olivia reached for the water cup on her rolling bed tray.

Detective Stella Dane sat in the bedside chair, taking notes on a small notepad. “I can come back if you need a break.”

“No.” Olivia sipped. “I’m almost done. I want to finish.” She wanted to put the whole incident behind her, but realistically, she knew that would never happen. She would carry the scars of her kidnapping forever.

Would she ever be able to be alone again? Sleep without nightmares?

She shuddered, wishing Lincoln were there. This was the first time he’d left her side since he’d found her the night before. He had been gone for twenty minutes, and she was missing him. She’d gone from being super independent to super dependent in five days.

Olivia had already detailed the events spanning from the night she was kidnapped to her escape and rescue. “I still can’t believe my agent arranged my kidnapping as a publicity stunt. I knew she was having a tough time with her separation, and she’d been getting irritable about the book proposal I owed her, but still . . .”

“It is bizarre,” Stella agreed. “You never had any clue as to how desperate she was?”

“No.” Olivia thought about her last few conversations with Kim. “She did mention she was afraid she’d lose her condo, but we’d only worked together for a short time. I really don’t know her that well.”

Olivia thought she would eventually feel betrayed, but for now, she was grateful to be alive and afraid to be alone. Maybe after she’d processed the ordeal and spent a few hundred hours in therapy, she’d get around to being angry.

“We thought one of the killers you were investigating was innocent and the real guilty party didn’t want his case reopened,” Stella said.

“Will Cliff Franklin get a new trial?” Olivia asked.

“I doubt it. Joe has given us all kinds of details on the deaths of Cliff’s five other victims. If the search teams find the bodies, we’ll have evidence to back up his story. Joe didn’t want to testify against his brother until his own neck was on the line. Now he won’t shut up. Even if Cliff gets an appeal on the conviction for Brandi’s death, he’ll be facing five additional murder charges.”

“That’s a relief,” Olivia said. “I knew I had to come forward with the information about the chain of evidence and let the legal system handle the fallout. I had already finished the book proposal, but something inside me just didn’t want to submit it. Maybe I shouldn’t be a journalist anymore.”

“You’re being too hard on yourself.”

“It’s not my job to form opinions or assume the roles of judge and jury. I’m supposed to report the truth.”

“It’s OK to be human and not want a killer set free to hurt other people.” Stella tilted her head. “Did you ever think Erik Olander was innocent?”

“Only briefly in the beginning. His case was interesting, though. I suspected his parents helped him invent the intruder scenario to cover up his wife’s murder.”