Her Cowboy Distraction(15)

Mary had offered to let her off an hour before, but Lizzy had insisted  Mary send Courtney home early, knowing that Courtney still had to drive  to her babysitter's house to pick up her son before settling down for  the night.

The fear and the horror connected to Candy's death had become more  distant today. It was tragic. It was horrifying, but Lizzy truly  believed the culprit was Kevin and it was just a matter of time before  Cameron had the young man behind bars.

It was just after ten when Lizzy finally stepped out of the back door of  the café to head to her little cabin. The light she'd left on earlier  served as a beacon to welcome her back to the comfort of her bed, and at  the moment that's all she was looking forward to-sleep.

There were also lights in Courtney's and Rusty's cabins. Only Candy's  was dark, and Lizzy felt that sad, piercing darkness deep inside her  soul.

Even the night around her seemed darker than usual as she began the walk  to her cabin. Candy had been so young. Death should never have been  anywhere near her.

Lizzy was halfway to her own cabin when she thought she heard something  behind her, a faint pad of a footstep, a sense of movement that was out  of place.

Before she could turn around to check it out, an arm wrapped tight  around her neck and she felt herself being pulled back against a hard,  firm body.

She had no chance to scream, no opportunity at all to even squeak in  protest. The arm smashed against her windpipe, making it impossible for  her to release a scream or draw any air in.

Panicked, she kicked backward to try to hit her attacker, tried to  somehow twist away from the killing grip he had around her neck, a grip  that was stealing the very last of her oxygen from her brain, causing a  weakness to possess her.

Who was doing this? her mind screamed. Why were they hurting her? As she  thought of Candy's murder, the terror inside her spiked to hysterical  levels.

"Leave town, bitch," he whispered against her ear.

She wanted to scream to him that leaving Grady Gulch was exactly what  she intended to do. She needed to break his grip around her neck and  explain that she had a bucket list to complete.

But, there was nothing she could do …  . Her body had taken on a  bonelessness as dark shadows began to edge in around her thoughts. Oh,  God, he was choking her to death, she thought wildly. She was going to  die here. She'd be dead, just like Candy.

The sound of a sharp female scream split the night, and for a brief  moment Lizzy thought that she was making the noise, that she had finally  found a breath of air to sound an alarm.

But, as a scream came again, she realized it was Courtney. The pressure  around Lizzy's neck eased. "This is your warning. Get out of town,  Lizzy," the attacker snarled in her ear, and then suddenly he released  his hold on her and shoved her forward.

Lizzy crashed to the ground, her knees and arms taking the brunt of the  fall. She was vaguely aware of footsteps running away from her, feet  running toward her, but she remained unable to move except for drawing  in deep gulps of sweet, desperately needed air.

"He attacked her." Courtney's voice was hysterical. "I saw it. He had her around the neck."

"Lizzy, you all right?" It was Cameron's deep voice that spoke. She  managed to move her head in an affirmative way without opening her eyes.  "Which way did he go, Courtney?"

"He ran that way," Courtney replied.

There were more running footsteps, and then Mary crouched down next to  Lizzy and placed a hand in the small of her back. Although Lizzy still  had her eyes closed, she knew it was Mary by the soft scent of her  familiar lilac-scented perfume.

"Lizzy, are you hurt? Can you get up?" Mary asked softly.

Lizzy opened her eyes and slowly moved to a sitting position, a spasm of  coughs overwhelming her for a moment. When the coughing finally  stopped, a trembling began in the center of her stomach and slowly  worked out, down her arms to her fingers, down her legs to her toes.                       
       
           



       

In the faint moonlight that splashed down and with her eyes adjusting to  the near-darkness, she could see Mary's worried face in front of her,  and standing just behind her Courtney looked on, her eyes wide in fear.

"I thought I was going to die," Lizzy finally managed to gasp. She  looked past Mary to Courtney. "Thank God you saw me. Thank God you  screamed."

"I knew you'd be getting off work, so I was going to run down to your  cabin and grab the playpen," Courtney said. "I stepped outside and saw  you … saw him. Oh, Lizzy, thank goodness I stepped out when I did."

"Did you see who it was?" Mary asked Courtney as she helped Lizzy off the ground.

Courtney shook her head. "It was too dark. I couldn't see his face. I  just saw somebody big and with his arm around her neck, and when I  screamed he ran off." Courtney's voice still rang with fear. "I've got  to go get back to Garrett. I left him in his crib in my room."

As Courtney ran back toward her cabin, Mary led Lizzy toward the café's  back door. Lizzy felt as if with each step she took she was just  beginning to awaken from a particularly horrible dream.

When they reached the back door, she turned to Mary and stared at her in  shock as the full impact of what had just happened slivered through  her. Somebody had nearly killed her, and that somebody wanted her out of  Grady Gulch.





Chapter 6

Daniel was in the process of heading upstairs to get ready for bed when  his cell phone rang. Picking it up, he was surprised to see from the  caller ID that it was Mary Mathis.

He answered the phone, his heart racing as his thoughts instantly went to Lizzy. "Mary, what's going on?"

"Everyone is fine," Mary began, these initial words instantly sending  Daniel's worry through the ceiling. He clutched the phone tighter  against his ear. "Somebody attacked Lizzy as she was leaving work and  walking to her cabin. She's shaken up, and I just thought maybe seeing  your friendly face might calm her down."

"I'm on my way." He didn't wait to hear another word. All he knew was  the driving need to get to Lizzy as soon as possible. Mary thought Lizzy  needed him, and that was all that was important.

Within ten minutes he was in his truck and headed to the café, his heart  banging painfully hard against his ribs. Attacked. Exactly what did  that mean? He should have asked Mary more questions.

Attacked could denote a number of things. Had somebody hit her over the  head? Beaten her up? Tried to rape her? As each possibility crawled  through his mind, his heart beat faster, more frantically as he pushed  on the gas pedal to get to her as quickly as possible.

Whatever had happened to Lizzy, it wasn't so bad that Mary had called  him from the hospital, and that was the only comfort Daniel had as he  raced toward the café.

When he veered into the parking lot, it was empty except for Mary's car,  Sheriff Evans's car and another patrol car. The sight of the official  vehicles once again stoked a new raging fear inside him.

As he entered the café, he saw Mary, Cameron and Lizzy seated at a  table. Obvious surprise widened Lizzy's eyes at the sight of him.

"I called him," Mary said to her. "I thought maybe you needed him here."

Lizzy's cheeks flushed a faint pink color. "You didn't have to bother him. I'm fine."

"Well, I'm here now," Daniel said as he sat next to her with a nod to  Cameron. Besides, as far as he was concerned, Lizzy didn't appear to be  fine at all. Her face was chalky pale except for her throat, which  appeared angry and red. Daniel wanted to somehow comfort her, but at the  moment he was more interested in Cameron getting the answers he needed  to apprehend the culprit.

"You didn't sense anyone in the area when you stepped out of the café back door to head to the cabins?" Cameron asked.

"No, nobody," Lizzy replied, one of her hands rising to her throat. "I  just took a couple of steps and then I thought I heard something, but  before I could turn around he wrapped his arm around my neck, pulled me  tight against him and started choking me."

For Daniel that answered his first question of what, exactly, had  happened. He tamped down a surge of impatience and reminded himself that  if he just listened he'd probably get the full story.

"And you didn't see his face at all?" Cameron asked.

Lizzy shook her head and dropped her hand back to the table. "No. He  attacked from behind. I didn't see anything but dark shadows as he  squeezed tighter and tighter."

Daniel's stomach knotted as he thought of her helpless and being choked  by somebody. Was this attack tied to Candy's murder? Was there some  killer out there preying on vulnerable women?