The Courage Tree - Diane Chamberlain [67]
Lucas Trowell joined them at that moment, coming to stand next to Janine.
“It’s a Honda,” Janine said in a low voice, as though it was a secret. “They know that much. And there’s only one Honda missing around here.”
Lucas shifted closer to her, and although Joe couldn’t see for sure, he was fairly certain Lucas had his arm around her back.
“This is rough,” Lucas said to Joe and Paula, as if they didn’t know. Joe wanted to smack him. It was unnerving to see the Ayr Creek gardener touching Janine. To have him wear that stunned and solemn mask on his face, as though Sophie were his own child, was infuriating.
“Don’t you know of any herbs that can fix up a kid who’s been in a car wreck?” Joe said, and he heard the ugliness in his voice.
“Hey.” Paula punched him lightly on the arm.
Joe shook his head. “Sorry,” he said.
“It’s all right,” Lucas said.
Paula, ever the diplomat, reached her hand toward Lucas. “I’m Paula,” she said. “A friend of Joe’s.”
Lucas shook her hand. “Lucas Trowell,” he said.
Joe followed Janine’s gaze toward the rescuers, who were just beginning their descent over the side of the cliff.
“I need to see what’s happening,” she said, moving away from the group toward the cliff’s edge.
She had more guts than he did, Joe thought. He did not want to see what was at the bottom of the cliff. But Paula and Lucas began following Janine, and he walked alongside them reluctantly, as though he had no choice.
“Where are the other girl’s parents?” Joe asked Lucas, as they walked.
“They’re on their way,” Lucas said. “The police couldn’t reach them until an hour or so ago.”
“Stay back, folks,” one of the firemen said. He looked hot in his heavy uniform, and he held his arm out to block Janine from getting any closer to the edge of the cliff.
“How far down is it?” Joe asked Lucas.
“Not far at all,” Lucas said. “Ten or twelve feet, at the most. But it’s steep. A lot of rocks and brush.”
“They still don’t know for sure if it’s Alison’s car?” Paula asked.
Lucas nodded slightly, his mouth set in a grim line. “They know,” he said. “They checked the license plate number. It’s hers. But I don’t think Janine realizes that yet. I just wanted to let her hang on to hope a little bit longer.”
Well, what a kind fellow you are, Joe thought to himself. “Why the hell were they on this road?” Joe asked. “It goes nowhere.”
“It actually comes out on a road that eventually leads to Route 55, so there was a method to her madness,” Lucas said. “She liked shortcuts, apparently.”
Janine was arguing with the fireman.
“Let me just stand here,” she said to him. “I won’t go any closer to the edge, I promise.”
The fireman motioned to Lucas to come stand next to her. He said a few words to both of them once Lucas was near her, probably telling him to keep an eye on Janine, because Lucas locked his hand around her elbow. Joe wished he’d been the one called to Janine’s side, but the truth was, he wouldn’t have been able to stand that close to the edge.
“What’s taking them so long?” he heard Janine ask, and she broke away from Lucas to take another step toward the cliff. Lucas grabbed her arm to hold her back.
A couple of people in uniform—firemen and sheriff’s deputies, Joe figured—squatted at the edge of the cliff, talking with the rescuers down below. Joe strained his ears to listen, but could make out little of what they were saying.
“Do you want to get any closer?” Paula asked him. “Do you want to see the car?”
He shook his head, feeling sick and stunned. “I just can’t believe this is happening,” he said. “I refuse to believe Sophie’s been killed in a car wreck. After all her near misses with her kidney problems, and now this.”
Paula rested her hand on his arm, much the way Lucas was touching Janine. “Maybe she’s alive in there,” she said, and Joe could hear tears in her voice. “Let’s pray that she is.”
He wasn’t good at prayer, but he tried now. Paula spoke her prayer out loud, pleading with God to save Sophie, and he repeated the words to himself.
A van came around