Page 40

CHAPTER FORTY

A s Aspen emerged from the forest, she heard the growl of an approaching engine. She stepped onto the road, and a police cruiser stopped beside her.

Chief Cote stepped out. The way he took in her appearance, his eyes wide and filled with worry, she wondered what she must look like.

“Where are you hurt?”

It was all starting to register.

She’d been hit hard. Abducted. Nearly killed. Rescued.

Cote gripped her arm, maybe to keep her from falling. His face was inches from hers as he studied her. “What happened?”

“Garrett saved me. They’re in there.” She pointed into the trees behind her.

Other police cars came. Uniformed officers streamed that direction.

How had they all gotten there so quickly?

Someone wrapped a blanket around Aspen’s shoulders and told her to sit in Cote’s police car. She did, staring toward where she’d left Garrett.

A moment later, he emerged from the woods.

Aspen stood to get a better look at him.

He closed the distance between them and wrapped her in his arms. “Thank God you’re all right.”

She pressed her cheek into his soft sweatshirt. How was it this man never wore a coat?

She still wore Brent Salcito’s. The man had tried to kill her, had blackmailed her father after watching her mother die. But his coat was warm, at least. “How did you know?” Aspen felt as confused as she was relieved when she looked up into Garrett’s face. He was really there. Part of her still worried it was all a hallucination brought on by lack of oxygen and insanity. “How did you find us?”

“We were at your house. I saw the tracks in the snow that led up here and followed.”

“Oh.” She remembered Dean, and her stomach dropped to the snowy pavement. “Dean. We have to call an?—”

“He’s already on his way to the hospital.”

“He’s alive?”

“He was.” Garrett looked over her head. “I pray he still is.”

Aspen stepped back. “They’re going to find my fingerprints on the knife, but I didn’t do it. I would never?—”

“I know, sweetheart. I know.” He set her at arms’ length and studied her. “What hurts?”

She considered his question and did a little survey. “My head. He hit me with… I’m not sure what. Something hard.” She touched the spot. Her fingers didn’t come away with fresh blood. She had some aches and pains, but they were nothing compared to what could have happened. “Thank you, Garrett. For coming after me. For believing me. I’m so sorry I didn’t trust you.”

He pulled her against his chest again. “It’s all right. It’s over now.”

She leaned back to face him. “Why didn’t you go to the hospital with Dean?”

He squinted in confusion. “I had to find you.”

“Salcito meant for everybody to believe I’d stabbed your uncle and then taken off.”

“Even if we hadn’t shown up when we did. Even if we’d never found you, I would never have believed that. Never.”

“Truly?”

He kissed her forehead and held her against his chest again. “You could never hurt anybody. I know that. One of these days, you’re going to figure out how much you mean to me. One of these days, you’re going to see yourself as I see you.”

He’d believed in her, even after everything. She didn’t remove her cheek from the soft fabric of his sweatshirt but needed to ask the question. “How do you see me?”

He held her a little tighter. “As the woman I love.”