Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(24)

Hurriedly, he pulled his cell phone out of his jeans pocket and brought up the pictures he’d taken at the scene, thankful for the reprieve. “Yes, ma’am. I can show you that. Somehow, the guy must’ve hit your car hard enough to deploy the airbag. See the airbag and the seatbelt? See how they’re cut? Unless you’re packing a sharp knife, the evidence speaks for itself.”

Wait a minute. Gabe snapped his mouth shut, rethinking what he’d just said. It didn’t fit with her version. “Do you remember the airbag inflating?”

“No. It didn’t. I kept expecting it to, the way he rammed into me with his SUV, but it never did.”

And yet it had. Anger clenched Gabe’s shoulder muscles. The bastard. Was that why he’d broken Kelsey’s window and shoved a metal bar at her? Was he crazy enough to try to activate the airbag after the fact, thinking it would inflate and keep her or her body trapped? How dumb was this guy? And yet it had worked. The bastard had walked right into the river to make sure she died. So what had stopped him?

Gabe stowed his internal rant. Kelsey didn’t need to hear what he was thinking, not until he had solid facts. “The bottom line is that someone got to you in time. Whoever that person was, he cut the airbag and sliced the seat belt to get you out.”

“Oh,” she said, blowing out a deep sigh. “I’m glad you have pictures. That helps.”

“Why?”

Kelsey studied him for a moment before she answered. “It really was Alex,” she whispered furtively. “I know it was. I saw him. At least, I think I did.”

Gabe didn’t know how to respond. She’d said this same thing when he’d found her in Olsen’s home.

Mark thought Kelsey was simply overcome with grief and doing everything she could to avoid reality. Gabe just didn’t see the eyes of a crazy woman staring back at him. If anything, she looked hopeful, as if entreating him to accept the unimaginable fact that Alex still walked the earth and arrived just in time.

God, if it were that simple. Gabe of all people wanted to believe the man whose life he’d tried desperately to save was still alive. Maybe then he could draw a deep breath without feeling guilty for it. Maybe then he could sleep without waking up in a cold sweat, scared that the life-saving compressions he’d performed had only worked the bullets deeper into his boss’s chest. Scared he was the one who’d really killed Alex.

“Let’s go back to the river for a second,” he said quietly. “Do you remember anything after you... drowned?” Smart move, Cartwright. He wanted to bite his tongue off for asking such a stupid question, but speaking with Kelsey was a walk through a minefield. “I mean, tell me why you think you saw Alex. What did you see?”

She closed her eyes. “Nothing. It’s more like a feeling, like when he held me when I was sick. Like he was mad and sad all at once.” Kelsey clutched his hand tighter in her pick-up-sticks fingers before she opened her eyes and whispered, “I’m sure, Gabe. Alex was there in that home with me. He is alive.”

“Then he’s got some explaining to do, doesn’t he?”

She let go of his hand, and damn it, guilt crawled up inside of him. He hadn’t answered as she’d hoped. He could tell by the way she bit her lip and studied him.

He pulled her car keys out of his pocket. “Oh, yeah, here. These are yours. Your car’s still at the sheriff’s impound lot. As soon as Mark can, he’ll have it towed to The TEAM’s garage so the guys can check it over themselves.”

She took one look at Alex’s picture and held it to her heart. “Thanks.”

He changed the subject yet again—anything to keep her from breaking down. “Can you tell me anything about those three days you were missing? What do you remember?”


“Nothing. All of a sudden, you and Zack pounded on the door, and I woke up in someone else’s house. Whose was it, anyway?”

“An older couple named Olsen. Mark contacted them. They weren’t too happy you were in there, but they’re not pressing charges.”

“But Gabe.” Her eyes narrowed. “I just thought of something else. When you found me, I was in my own clothes, but they were clean, weren’t they? Someone washed them for me.”

Say what?

“Are you sure?” That didn’t make sense. “I mean, look at you. You’re all banged up. You’re sick with pneumonia. Are you sure they were clean and not—”

“Not what, Gabe? Dirty and grungy and still wet?” she asked, a bit of a snap to her voice.

Kelsey seemed to be drifting between victim and survivor mode right now, one minute ready to cry, the next sounding a little like—Alex. “I know what I was wearing that morning. Someone cleaned and changed my clothes. Ask Shelby. She’ll tell you what I had on that morning. It was the same thing I was wearing when you found me. Only clean. Alex must have done that for me. Who else would have? It’s a clue, Gabe. He wants you to know he was there. Please believe me.”

“I do,” he insisted. “The police will want to hear what you just told me and I’ll chat with Sullivan as soon as she comes back. Don’t worry. We’ll get to the bottom of this. You should rest now.”

Kelsey leaned back onto her pillow, her face drawn and pale. “I’m tired of resting. I’m tired of everything, but most of all, I’m tired of no one believing me.”