Missing Pieces(70)

“I heard about that,” Sarah said softly. “Is there anything else?”

Gabe didn’t answer. “There’s more, but I think you should probably just read Burt’s notes.”

“Gabe,” Sarah said impatiently, “just tell me.”

Gabe expelled a long breath. “Burt had a source that said Jack threatened to kill his parents. Over some girl. Said if they didn’t leave them alone, he was going to kill them.”

“Who? Who said that?” Sarah demanded.

“It was Jack’s aunt. Julia Quinlan.”

“I’m having a hard time believing Julia would say that about Jack,” Sarah said as she left Penny Gate and turned onto the quiet rural highway. “Why would she take him into her home, if she thought he was capable of violence, of hitting his own mother, let alone murdering her?”

“She never actually said she thought Jack was the murderer,” Gabe pointed out. “Just that he had a temper, that she had seen it a time or two.”

“Still, why would she bring this up to a reporter of all people? I didn’t see anything about this in any of the police reports I looked through.”

“She made Burt promise to keep everything she said about Jack off the record. That the boy had been through too much, but she wanted someone to know what had happened just in case.”

“In case what?” Sarah asked. She tried to keep her eyes focused on the road in front of her, but something caught her eye in the rearview window. “That makes no sense whatsoever,” Sarah finally said. “Unless Julia thought there might be some other evidence to show that Jack could have...” She couldn’t bring herself to say the words.

“Sarah, I’m so sorry. I thought I was helping. I didn’t mean to upset you or suggest that I think Jack had anything to do with his mother’s death. I just thought you would want all the information.”

“Thank you,” she said, her eyes still flicking back and forth from the quiet country road to the rearview mirror. “I’m the one who called you. I asked for your help and I appreciate it. I just can’t believe Julia would ever have allowed him to move into her home if she thought he was a murderer.”

“You could be right. Besides, whoever wanted Lydia Tierney dead had been planning it for quite a while,” Gabe said. “It wasn’t just a heat-of-the-moment murder.”

“What do you mean?” Sarah asked. All along she had thought that Lydia’s murder was due to an angry interaction that ended violently, and now Gabe was telling her otherwise.

Suddenly, from behind her, a vehicle appeared. Its headlights shone brightly through the rear window, causing her to squint against the light. “Gabe, I’ve got to go.”

“What’s wrong?” Sarah could hear the worry in his voice.

“There’s a pickup truck behind me driving really close,” Sarah said, twisting in her seat to get a better look. The headlights were blinding. “Gabe.” Sarah’s voice rose in alarm.

“Just let him pass you,” Gabe urged. “Pull over to the side and let him pass.”

“I can’t,” Sarah said, gripping the steering wheel more tightly. “There’s nowhere to pull over, and if I go any slower, he’s going to ram into me. I’m hanging up.” Sarah disconnected.

The vehicle crept closer and Sarah revved the engine and the car leaped forward with a roar. The truck followed suit, tapping the back bumper. Sarah screamed and overcorrected, causing the car to veer across the centerline. Her phone began buzzing incessantly. Gabe, she knew, calling her back. She struggled to get control and managed to pull back to the right side of the road. Again, the truck surged forward, this time crashing into her bumper, and then tore past her. Sarah screamed again, losing control of the steering, and the car careened off the road and bucked down a small embankment, plunging into a cornfield that had yet to be harvested. The sky above her disappeared and all Sarah could see were cornstalks whipping wildly against the windshield with a rapid thunk, thunk. She frantically pressed her foot down and the screech of the brakes filled her ears and her body strained against her seat belt as the car came to an abrupt stop.

Then all was still. Stunned, Sarah mentally checked her body for injuries. She was numb. Slowly she moved her neck, looking side to side. Sarah then tried to lift her arms. Pain pulsed through her right shoulder and she groaned, clenching her teeth against the pain. What the hell just happened? she asked herself. Someone just ran me off the goddamn road, she thought. But who? Why? Why would anyone want to hurt her?

She felt the passenger seat for her phone but couldn’t find it. Was it safe to get out of the car? The truck had flown past her as she left the road but that didn’t mean whoever was driving wasn’t waiting for her up there somewhere. Sarah unclicked her seat belt and, with effort, pushed open the car door. Sarah winced at the pain in her shoulder as she stepped out onto the even soil.

Sarah reached back into the car and rooted around until she found her cell. She steadied herself against the open car door and dialed 9-1-1. A man’s voice answered and with a trembling voice she explained that her car had been run off Highway 32 somewhere south of Penny Gate, and no, she didn’t need an ambulance but a police officer would be helpful.

“Jesus, Sarah,” Gabe said when she called him back. “Are you okay?”