The Overnight Guest(39)

At the ambulance, Matthew kissed Josie’s forehead. “Be good. Listen to the doctors,” Matthew said, wiping his eyes, his voice raw. “Your grandma will be there soon.”

“Hey,” came a shout from the edge of the cornfield. “We found something!”

All eyes swung toward the cornfield. Matthew didn’t know whether to be hopeful or terrified. He found he was both. Before anyone could move a breathless voice came from behind them. “What happened? What’s going on?” Matthew stepped aside and a woman came into view.

“Ma’am, you can’t be here,” Sheriff Butler said.

“Is my daughter here? Becky Allen?” Margo reached for Butler’s arm.

“You’re Becky’s mother?” Butler faltered. “Why don’t you step over here and we’ll talk?”

“Sheriff, we need you,” a deputy called again. “We found something.” Butler was torn. He needed to find out what was found in the field but couldn’t abandon the missing girl’s mother.

“Where is she? I heard something happened.” Margo looked around, bewildered. Lost. “Where is she?”

Josie lifted herself onto her elbows, the blanket covering her slid to the ambulance floor. No one spoke.

Margo looked from face-to-face. A cold knot formed in her chest, spread through her limbs. “Please,” she said weakly, “you have to tell me what happened.”

She set her gaze on Josie. She took in Josie’s bloody arm and clothing. “Oh, my God,” she breathed. “What happened? Where’s Becky?”

Sheriff Butler laid a hand on her elbow, but she shook it away. Josie stared up at her wide-eyed. “Where’s Becky!” she shouted.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Josie whimpered. The words came out in short gasps.

“Josie, where’s your mother?” Margo asked. She looked around as if Lynne Doyle would suddenly materialize. “You tell me where she is. I want to talk to her right now.”

“Come along now, ma’am,” Butler said, reaching for her arm again.

“No,” Margo said, clutching the side of the ambulance for support. “Josie, where is your mother?”

The rumble of tires on gravel caused everyone’s eyes to shift. A black SUV with the words Blake County Medical Examiner stenciled in white across its side bounced down the lane.

“Oh, God,” Margo’s legs buckled beneath her and she nearly dropped to her knees before Sheriff Butler steadied her. “No, no, no, no,” she said over and over again.

“We’re not sure what happened here just yet,” Sheriff Butler murmured and guided Margo away from the ambulance as the paramedics closed the doors.

“Try not to think about it, Josie,” Lowell said soothingly. “They’ll take care of her. Everything is going to be okay. Right now, we’re going to start an IV and get some fluids in you. You’re going to feel a little pinch, okay?” Josie closed her eyes as Lowell slid the needle into her arm. The whoop-whoop of the siren intermingled with Margo Allen’s cries as they pulled from the lane.

It was a thirty-minute drive to the hospital in Algona and Josie knew these roads with her eyes closed. Knew every curve, turn, pothole, and dip of the road. But riding in the back of an ambulance was different than riding in her dad’s truck or mom’s van. She became disoriented and kept asking where they were going.

“The hospital,” Lowell said. “The docs are going to check you out there.”

“Will they bring my mom and dad there too?” Josie asked. If they got them to the hospital, then the doctors could fix them, she thought. That’s what doctors did. Put people back together again. She tried to push away the bloody, broken images of her parents that kept flashing behind her eyes.

“Everyone is going to do all that they can to help your parents,” he assured her.

“Will my grandma be there?” Josie locked on to Lowell’s bright brown eyes for reassurance. “Do you think they found Ethan and Becky?”

“Shhh,” he soothed. “Don’t worry about those things right now. Your grandma is going to meet us at the hospital. I promise, Josie. You’re safe now.”

Josie floated away on his words and thought of the night sky filled with white gold orbs, thought of her and Becky leaping toward them trying to snatch them up.

Before she knew it they arrived at the hospital. The back doors of the ambulance opened and the gurney that she was lying upon was lifted. Above her, Josie briefly saw a shard of hard blue sky and heard Lowell say, “GSW to the left arm. Cuts and contusions to her feet and arms. Blood pressure and heart rate are below normal. Watch for possible shock.”

“This the girl from the farm out near Burden?” a woman wearing yellow scrubs asked.

“Yes,” Lowell said, squeezing Josie’s hand. “Her grandmother should be here any minute.”

“Any other incoming from the scene?” the woman asked.

The air was cold and a sharp antiseptic smell bit at Josie’s nose as they moved down the hallway.

Josie looked hopefully to Lowell; a small spark of hope fluttered in her chest.

“Not sure,” he said shortly.

“I’m Dr. Lopez,” the woman said, leaning over Josie. “I’m going to take care of you. Can you tell me what happened?”