Gone From Me: Hearts of the South, Book 10 Page 18

  Silence descended, broken only by the quiet hum of cicadas and the murmur of voices from Jenkins’s truck.

  Blake looked away, his throat moving in a hard swallow. “Am I free to go or are you going to pull that crap about obstructing an investigation?”

  Rob gestured toward the search group. “You’ve been free to go at any time.”

  With a sharp nod, Blake started to turn away. He glanced at Calvert, opened his mouth, closed it. His brows lowered in a frown. “Don’t look at me like that, Uncle Tick. You can’t have it both ways.”

  He stalked away, and Calvert blew out a long breath. “Well, that was helpful.”

  “Actually, it was.” Rob squinted. “There’s something going on that we don’t know. He all but admitted it. That makes it more likely that Zeke’s disappearance is tied to someone he knows. I simply have to keep running down those angles.”

  Troy Lee’s silver-gray Charger pulled to a stop behind Calvert’s unit, and Troy Lee unfolded from the driver’s side.

  “We’ve got to head in.” Troy Lee approached, expression harried for once. “The dam at Cordele broke a little while ago. Sheriff just sent out a call for an emergency-management briefing in fifteen minutes.”

  In the car and headed back to town with Calvert in front of them, Rob bounced his thumb off the door rest and tried not to let the frustration of not being able to put this case together eat him alive. The deep countryside faded, and soon they turned onto Highway 19 headed north. “Other than a few double shifts, what does this kind of thing usually involve for us?”

  “We’ve not had a five-hundred-year flood in the time I’ve been here.” Troy Lee glanced back to check the blind spot and shifted lanes. “We had a hundred-year flood a couple of years ago. If it’s anything like that, prepare yourself for the excitement of a ton of road checks and listening to people try to argue over evacuation orders.”

  The parking lot at the county emergency center overflowed with vehicles from multiple departments and municipalities. Troy Lee parked in the unit’s numbered spot at the sheriff’s department and grinned. “Perks of assigned parking. We can walk over.”

  Officers and emergency personnel from multiple agencies packed the center’s briefing room. As he and Troy Lee filed into the line of officers standing at the rear of the room, he caught a glimpse of Jake, seated about halfway up. Rob paused a moment then glanced away. His lack of anger, or of any reaction at all, surprised him. With a surge of gratitude, he recognized that the lack of emotion didn’t signal the same old numbness. Instead, he was simply secure that Jake posed no threat to his relationship with Amy. He grinned and pulled his notebook from his pocket.

  The county’s emergency-management director outlined mandatory evacuation areas and procedures. Rob jotted notes, grateful he had Troy Lee as a partner and that he didn’t have to know all the geography by rote yet. Having an experienced partner had its benefits.

  The meeting broke up, officers, firefighters and EMTs spilling from the building and into the parking lot. Troy Lee jingled the keys at him. “So how excited are you about a dozen more road checks?”

  “About as thrilled as you are about looking at phone records—”

  “You know, Rob, we never did have that talk.” An arrogant taunt colored Jake’s voice.

  Rob released a long breath and turned to face his former friend. Behind him, he could sense the tension radiating off Troy Lee, and irritation simmered under his skin. Didn’t his partner realize he wasn’t the same desperate guy he’d been only seven short days ago? He didn’t need to take a swing at Jake.

  With a shrug, Rob tucked his thumbs in his belt. “There’s nothing to talk about, Jake. Let it go and move on.”

  “So you’re going to sacrifice her like that? You know some other guy, someone like me, can give her what she wants—”

  “What? Do you hear yourself? You don’t even know her, the way you’re talking.” Rob took one step forward, simply to keep their interaction more private. He didn’t need every cop in town in on his personal life. Hell, he couldn’t even dredge up any anger at this insanity of Jake’s, only disgust and maybe a modicum of pity. “You’re suggesting that she’d leave me over the infertility, that all she sees in me is a fucking sperm count. Do you get how insulting that is to her?”

  And hell, he owed his wife an apology. Hadn’t he worried about that very thing?

  Uncertainty flickered across Jake’s face. Rob wasn’t going to give him the opportunity to open his mouth to spew any more stupidity.

  “Jake, man, you can’t ever give her what she wants or needs.” He leaned in, holding the other man’s gaze. “Because that’s me. I’m what she wants and needs. She loves me, she’s committed to me, and she’s never going to leave me. Do yourself a favor—realize that and move on.”

  He spun on his heel and walked away. Troy Lee greeted him with a trademark smile. “Does it make me an ass if I applaud?”

  “Yes.” Rob chuckled and fished his cell out of his pocket. “Get in the car and let’s go.”

  “Dude, that was epic.”

  “Dude, you’re easily entertained.” In the passenger seat, Rob selected Amy from his favorites list and lifted the phone to his ear.

  She answered on the third ring. “Hey, handsome.”

  “Hey, yourself. Listen, I’m going to be late. The dam broke at Cordele, and we’re on doubles. My shift won’t end until at least eleven.”

  “I figured when I heard about the dam. They’re talking about activating us for body recovery if needed.”

  “I’ll call you if anything changes.” He glanced sideways at Troy Lee, who was navigating the long line of cars jockeying to exit the department’s parking lot. Fuck it. Troy Lee already knew everything anyway. “Babe, I owe you an apology.”

  “What?” A small laugh warmed his ear. Troy Lee glanced at him from the corner of his eye and grinned.

  Rob rubbed his thumb along the door handle. “I doubted you, how you felt about me, and your commitment to me, when it was never about you. It was about my own stupid insecurities, and I let that pull me away from you. I’m sorry for that.”

  “You cannot say things like that to me when I’m trying to work.” She laughed again, but this time, the pretty sound held a hint of tears.

  He blinked hard. “I love you, babe.”

  “I love you too.” She cleared her throat. “Maybe I’ll text you later.”

  He laughed. “I’ll see you.”

  Troy Lee, still grinning, turned right onto Highway 37. “I was wrong earlier. That was epic, Bennett.”

  *

  By ten o’clock, Rob swore they’d checked every back road in the county. They were well beyond Coney’s city limits, with the deep pine forests of a hunting plantation rising on one side of them and acres of planted fields on the other. Troy Lee spun the wheel to turn right on Big Slough Road and winced as the low-slung vehicle hit a pothole.

  Rob muffled a yawn behind his fist. “I’m beginning to think listening to people argue over evacuation is preferable to this.”

  “But this is preferable to going through those phone records of yours.”

  “No, it’s not.” He attempted to stretch his legs in the confines of the floorboard.

  They swooped around a curve, and Troy Lee braked before a low concrete bridge. In the glare of their headlights, the bridge remained clear, but water trickled over the road before the bridge in the barest of streams. Troy Lee let the car idle forward a few feet and reached for the mike.

  As Troy Lee called in the road conditions, Rob lowered his window. Beneath the buzz of cicadas, the low rush of water whispered and muttered. Branches creaked and moaned, and he frowned.

  “…think we can cross and check the second bridge, then circle around back to town.” The car shifted forward another yard. The water grew louder. That wasn’t coming from under the bridge. Rob grabbed his flashlight and bounced the stream of light across the ditch and into the woods.

  “Tro
y Lee.” He made a grab for his partner’s arm as Troy Lee replaced the mike and let his foot off the brake. “Man, back up.”

  “What?” He was already jerking the car into reverse.

  “Back up!” It was too late. The sickening knowledge hit him with the same force as the water suddenly rushing over the road and beneath the car. The front end slid sideways. Hell, they had to get out of the car while time remained. The low-slung car would sink fast. He unsnapped his seat belt. “Fuck.”

  “Roof. Now.” Troy Lee had one hand on the window button while the other snagged the handheld from the charger.

  Rob pushed out of the window and up toward the roof. The vehicle spun in a dizzying circle, headlights illuminating the woods and the now-flooded road behind them. Flashlight clutched in his hand, he hooked his other arm around the light bar and leveraged himself to the roof. Troy Lee scrambled onto his side of the roof and crouched with the radio to his mouth.

  “C-13 to Chandler, C-13 to Chandler.”

  “Go ahead, C-13.” Water shoved the car along, twisting it in a wild circle at the same time. The front end tilted forward with the weight of the engine. Rob flashed the beam along the side of the car. Debris swirled in the current and smacked against the metal with dull thuds. The water level rose up the car with each second.

  “Chandler, we are in the water off the south side of the Big Slough Bridge—”

  “Repeat, C-13?”

  “We’re in the water. South side of the Big Slough Bridge. Send rescue. The car’s going to be under in a couple of minutes.”

  Less than that. Under the flashlight beam, water reached the open windows and washed inside. He would not panic. Panic meant he was done. “Give me your gun belt.”

  “What?”

  “Your gun belt. Put your gun in your shirt pocket and give me your gun belt.” He sensed Troy Lee’s hesitation. “Come on, man! Trust me.”

  The sound of leather creaking barely cleared the angry grumble of the water. The car pitched beneath them, the front end heading farther down, and the handheld radio clattered across the roof and into the water. Troy Lee cursed. “Here.”

  With the flashlight tucked under his chin, he threaded the belt through his own. “You can swim, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” Chilly water lapped at his ankle. He bounced the beam in the distance. “We’re about to have to go in. When we do, go to your right and stay with me. Now.”

  He pushed off the rapidly sinking car. Cold slammed him and stole his breath. The current, stronger than he expected, heaved him forward. He fought to tread water and find Troy Lee in the dark. The light flashed off his head, yards away.

  “Troy Lee.” The growling water threatened to bury his voice, and he called out again. Troy Lee, struggling against the strength of the water, glanced his way, and Rob pointed toward the dim shadow of a tree to their left. “There.”

  He’d hoped that swimming parallel to the current would be like escaping a riptide. Instead, the running water wrapped an invisible rope and anchor around him, trying to pull him along. He imagined the rope, imagined dragging the invisible weight in his direction. Debris battered him, a pummeling of branches and heaven knew what else.

  He reached the tree moments after Troy Lee. A massive weight smashed his arm and shoulder into the tree. Numbness rolled up his forearm, followed by a sharp wave of pain. The flashlight, which had accompanied his father through decades of law enforcement duty, was gone. “Damn it.”

  “What now?” Troy Lee yelled over the noise.

  He couldn’t clutch the tree and wrestle the belts. “Grab my belt with your free arm and hold on. Don’t let me go.”

  A strong grasp tugged at his waist. As quickly as possible, he unbuckled the gun belt, threaded it through Troy Lee’s belt, and wrapped it around the tree. It cinched with a scant three inches to spare. “Brace your feet on the tree.”

  The water pounded them, but with the tree at his back, he could catch his breath. Agony pulsed in his arm, matching the burn in his lungs. Already, his legs screamed at the work required to keep him upright against the tree.

  He turned his head toward Troy Lee. The moonless night held little light, and he couldn’t see his partner’s face, let alone the road and bridge. They could be beyond a visual of it, for all he knew. “How far from the bridge are we?”

  “As fast as we were moving? Hell if I know.” Stress and pain colored Troy Lee’s voice. “All right, boy scout, what do we do next?”

  “We wait.”

  *

  “Stop checking your phone. You’re obsessive about it, and it’s annoying.”

  Amy startled and dropped the offending object in her lap. Relaxed on the couch next to her, Savannah arched an eyebrow and popped a few pieces of popcorn in her mouth. Amy rubbed her palm over her thigh. “He’s late. He said he’d call if he was going to be any later than eleven.”

  “Amy, he’s been late before.”

  “I know.” All evening, she’d tried to focus on the adventure flick Savannah had rented for them, but as eleven grew closer and ticked away, her apprehension had grown. He’d said he felt better and he was better, but she still couldn’t shake the ugly statistics and the worry they aroused.

  It didn’t help that his phone rang straight to voice mail, her texts to him didn’t show up as delivered, and the GPS app couldn’t pick up his phone.

  Savannah dropped a comforting hand on her knee. “And if something was wrong, the department would—”

  Her words strangled on the peal of the doorbell. Amy froze, then shoved her sister’s hand aside and ran for the door. She didn’t bother with the peephole, but flung the door open to find Madeline standing on the stoop.

  Madeline’s pinched expression spoke of intense discomfort. “So, um, Calvert wanted me to come and stay with you… They didn’t want to send someone you didn’t know—”

  “Where is he?” Her voice pitched on a note of panic and despair. Savannah’s warm hands closed on her shoulders. “What’s happened?”

  “Floodwaters took his and Troy Lee’s car off the road about an hour ago.” Madeline lifted a hand and let it fall against her thigh. “They’re looking for them.”

  “You know how to get there, right?” Amy hurried to the couch to grab her phone and tug on her shoes.

  “Yes, but—”

  “No buts.” Savannah closed the door behind them. “Take us there.”

  “There” turned out to be deep in the southern end of the county, and getting there took forever. Red and blue lights from emergency vehicles and patrol cars sparked in the night, casting weird shadows on the surrounding trees. Madeline parked her SUV on the shoulder, and Amy scrambled out. The scene stole her breath. Spotlights shone on vicious brown water rushing through the broken roadway.

  He was gone in that.

  How could anyone survive in that? Debris—branches, logs, and a flash of white metal—clogged the rolling water. Bile crowded her throat, and her knees weakened. “Oh God.”

  “Stop it.” Savannah held her up, but Amy sensed the tremors in her sister’s supporting arms. “You can do this. Come on.”

  She’d expected a fight at the roadblock, but the second deputy who sometimes ran with Rob and Troy Lee was there, just inside the barrier. He met them there and waved another officer’s objections away. “She’s GBI and she’s Bennett’s wife.”

  “What do you know?” Amy scanned the small groups standing along the roadway. The set, solemn faces sent foreboding through her in a shiver of revulsion.

  “Troy Lee called in water over the roadway, but he called it a trickle. His next transmission was that they were caught in the water.”

  “And that was an hour ago.” She gripped Savannah’s hand. She would not panic. Panic didn’t help anyone and would get her kicked out. She was damned if that was going to happen. She would be right here when he came back to her.

  “The two department boats are in the water, and the DNR boat is on the w
ay.” He jerked his chin toward the sky, where a helicopter made wide circles, spotlight flashing. “And the GSP chopper just got here.”

  “Who’s manning the boats?” Madeline asked.

  “Calvert and Cook in one, Reed and Wilson in the other. They’re certified in water life-saving. The county volunteer fire departments haven’t completed the certification process yet.”

  Memories sparked in Amy’s brain, those long hours next to the lake while the boats crisscrossed the water, spotters looking for Rob’s dad. That water had been sun-warmed and tranquil, nothing like the rushing monster before her, and even when they’d found him, it had been too late.

  “Amy, please don’t think about that.” Savannah whispered the plea next to her ear. “Please.”

  “I won’t,” she breathed. She would think about his eyes that night on the couch, when he decided to finally fight for her. She would think about his voice swearing she would always be what he wanted. She would think about the future they were planning.

  And she’d wait for him to fight his way back to her.

  *

  The water lapped at his collarbone. He shivered, his teeth chattering so hard his jaw hurt. At least the cold unique to moving water had numbed the pain in his arm. Too bad it couldn’t do anything for his burning legs. They’d started huddling a while back to retain warmth, and being able to lean into one another took off some of the muscle strain, but every muscle still trembled and ached.

  He nudged Troy Lee with his elbow. “We gotta go up.”

  “Shit.” Agonized weariness lurked in the single syllable. Troy Lee exhaled hard, a hand over his mouth to preserve body heat. “All right, let’s go.”

  As they’d done twice earlier, they shoved up the tree, taking the belt with them, pine bark scraping at any inch of exposed skin. The water pulled and tugged at them, waiting them out, waiting for exhaustion to make taking them easy.

  A helicopter made another broad sweep, and this time, they didn’t bother to yell. Sometimes they could barely hear each other, and shouting themselves hoarse at a pilot who couldn’t hear them seemed the height of fancy. The helicopter brought hope with each pass, though. If the chopper was up, that meant the boats were out.