Lost & Found - Jacqueline Sheehan [97]
“How did you know I had him?” she started. She didn’t care what the answer was; she only wanted him to talk.
“Are you kidding? I knew the day I talked with you. You were just like Liz. You thought I was stupid, didn’t you? I saw it in your eyes. You were going to say anything to get rid of me. Didn’t turn out so well for Liz either.”
He stepped closer to her and kicked the bow to the edge of the trail. Rocky chanced a look at the dog. He was still. She prayed that Peter had not overdosed Cooper.
“He’s alive. I want him alive. You and Liz aren’t the only ones with silent weapons; a Taser gun is such a nice weapon. Do you know how it works? It shoots two little darts that deliver a wonderful bolt of electricity. I think it will work nicely on Cooper. This is one dog that needs to be trained. Liz wouldn’t let me train him. If it wasn’t for him, I’d still be with Liz.”
Rocky had not moved, but she willed her body to relax; she and Cooper could not afford for her to freeze into fear. “She loved you. What happened?” she asked.
Come on, she thought, I know you can’t think of anything else but Liz, talk to me.
“She was never going to find someone better than me, I told her that. And I had gotten her completely off that medicine she was taking. I was taking care of her. She was off all that junk for six months.”
Rocky pictured Liz without her medication for six months: moods skyrocketing and plummeting, hallucinating if she had spiraled out far enough. An angry bile rose in her throat. She saw Cooper’s front feet begin to twitch. She didn’t have as much time as she had hoped.
“But she died from an overdose of meds. I thought you took all her medications away,” she said.
Peter grabbed her arm securely and pulled her to the far edge of the small clearing. She judged his strength from the sharp points of pain where his fingers pressed flesh against bone. He tossed her a roll of duck tape.
“Here, take this and bind up his feet. Tight. I don’t want anymore trouble from him.”
“Where are you taking him?” Rocky knew if she kept him talking long enough, the island fire truck would arrive and Hill would tell them that she was in trouble. Then what? What would a crew of volunteer medics do?
“You think I’m leaving here on the ferry? I told you, I’m way ahead of you. Start wrapping his legs.”
Rocky took the roll of tape and pulled out a two foot long strip. She held it up for Peter to cut it with the pocket knife that he took out of his jacket. She prayed for Cooper to stay dazed a bit longer. She wrapped his front legs together just above his feet.
“But how did she overdose?” Rocky asked again.
Peter snapped open what looked like a boat bag, the kind that kayakers use to keep their gear dry. He held the stun gun beneath one arm. “I had saved all of her medicine, kept it locked up in my truck. After she went nuts on me, after I brought her back from this island…that’s when I said, ‘Here, take all this shit. You want it, then take it!’ And I dumped all her medicine at her house. We all make choices and Liz made hers.”
Rocky wrapped Cooper’s legs with as much care as she dared. Peter had not noticed the quiver that she carried. She let it fall quietly beside her. With one hand, she slipped out one of the arrows.
“She was in a manic phase and you gave her six months’ worth of meds and then left her? Did you give up on her? No, wait, did she give up on you?” she asked.
Peter stood over her. “I’m telling you, if she had done everything I told her to do, she’d be here right now. ‘Get rid of the damn dog,’ I told her. No, she keeps the dog, treats him better than she treats me. When I found her on this island, she was fucking crazy, she thought I was the devil. She ran from me. Me! I ran after her and she had her archery stuff, pointing at me. I told her, ‘Liz, it’s me for Christ’s sake!’ Then I hear the dog coming at me. The dog leaps at me. She shoots and hits the dog instead of me. Suppose I should be grateful to