Hide & Seek - James Patterson [73]
Perhaps he had tricked me. Gone back to Jennie. I didn’t know what to do.
I stood uncertainly, squinting my eyes and looking around, trying to penetrate the darkness. I remembered hiding in the crawl space beneath the house near West Point. My nightmare had completed a full circle.
Silence.
Darkness.
The cold. I was shaking all over again.
“You stupid, prying bitch! You betrayed me.”
With a roar, Will attacked from behind. His strong hands struggled to grasp my throat. I fought free from the stranglehold. He struck my face, a glancing but jolting blow. It brought me to my knees. I fought to get up. Couldn’t. Not even close.
Will swung his leg. With a powerful kick, he broke my rib, maybe several ribs. The pain was sharp, and unimaginable. The shock, the terror of that moment, was beyond belief.
I fell toward the hard, cold ground.
The rifle went off with a roar louder than any of my screams, louder than a clap of thunder. I rolled onto my stomach, then everything went black and I fell unconscious into the cold, wet leaves.
CHAPTER 86
I DON’T KNOW.
I don’t know.
I honestly don’t know what happened on that fateful night of December 17. Did I shoot Will? Did I lure him outside and then blow him away? They say I did. Am I guilty of murder? Two murders? And if two murders, why not three?
Are they right when they call me a killer? The black widow of Bedford?
Maybe I’ve finally gone crazy. It feels that way. It feels so awful, so unfair. But life isn’t always fair.
I woke in my own bed with my face buried in my pillow and an agonizing pain throbbing across my left side. I felt as though I’d been beaten with a work shovel. Everything was crashing loudly inside my head.
In my mind I tumbled and tumbled but couldn’t stop the images of violence and horror from coming at me.
Who had fired the rifle?
Jennie, I thought. I’ve got to get to Jennie. And Allie. I was conscious of a great buzzing noise. At first I thought it was in my head, but then realized it came from outside.
Why were there voices outside my house? What in the world was going on?
My eyelids felt unnaturally heavy. Pain, like a razor cut, was behind them. Another kind of pain, particularly sharp, knifed into my ribs.
I forced my eyes open, then quickly closed them. The light was too bright. Who had turned the lamp on?
I heard footsteps on the stairs. Will!
I tried to sit up but couldn’t. A flaming yellow bolt crossed my vision like heat lightning, like a bold graphic on MTV.
Again I opened my eyes.
I could barely see the heavyset black man in a dark suit, white shirt, and tie. He was standing by the side of the bed, looking down at me. He seemed seven feet tall. His horn-rimmed glasses appeared too small for his giant head.
He was staring at me. An odd look on his face. What was he doing in my bedroom? Or was I in a hospital? This felt more like a hospital actually.
“You’re Maggie Bradford?”
I tried to nod, tried to understand what could possibly be going on, wherever I was. Maybe I was having a flashback.
“We found you outside, carried you up here,” the man said. He passed some sort of badge before my face. A gold and blue insignia.
“I’m Emmett Harmon, Chief of the Bedford Police.” His solemn voice boomed inside my head. The Chief of the Bedford Police?
Oh, dear God. What’s happened? Jennie? Allie?
“What are you doing here? Please, where are my children?” I whispered. My throat was raw and ached when I talked.
“Maggie Bradford, you’re under arrest for the murder of your husband, Will Shepherd. You have the right to remain silent.”
BOOK FIVE
Trial & Error
CHAPTER 87
“MS. NORMA BREEN?”
“Yes. Who is this I’m speaking to?”
“My name’s Barry Kahn.”
“You don’t say. My, my. The singer Barry Kahn?”
“The same.”
“I think you’re terrific! Your songs are anyway. What can I help you with?”
“It’s not for me that I’m calling. We need your help.”
“We?”
“Nathan Bailford and I.”
“Nathan! How the hell is Nathan?”
“Up to his ears in the Maggie Bradford defense.”
“Yes. I’d heard he took it on. Tough