Second Chances(83)

"Doris?"

"Not now, Sarah."

"You don't want to do this, Doris," Julie said.

"You are right, I don't. However I will, unless you put Jason back in the chair and bring him back inside.

"Wait Doris, just listen a minute."

"This isn't a negotiation, Julie." She pointed the gun at the trio, her hands shaking a little.

Sarah looked from Jason to Julie and finally back at Doris. "Has the entire world gone insane? Doris what the hell is all this?"

"No time to explain."

"Well make some damn time." She stepped away from Jason and started up the ramp. Behind her Julie started to help Jason toward the open car door.

"Stop. Move out of the way, Sarah." Her hand continued to shake.

Sarah turned back to look at Jason and Julie.

Julie felt the wetness of the blood on her face before her mind even registered the sound of the gunshot. She let go of Jason, thankfully he was already halfway into the car and he dropped into the seat, letting out a shocked cry of pain. She looked over and saw the blood blooming in the center of Sarah's blouse.

"Oh my God," Doris screamed. "But the safety was on. The safety was on. Oh my God."

Julie could see the light going out of Sarah's eyes as the woman dropped to her knees and then crashed the rest of the way to the ground. Doris was moving towards her, the gun still shaking in her hand.

Jason was struggling to lift his legs into the car.

"Julie," he hissed.

The sound of his voice spurred her into action. She lifted his legs into the car. He was situated on the side of the seat close to the door and when Julie slammed it shut, the door handle jammed against his side and he let out a startled cry of pain.

"Wait. Don't go. You need to help Sarah. I didn't mean to. It was the safety," Doris was saying as she neared the fallen body of her coworker.

Julie ignored her and ran around to the other side of the car. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the guard from the entrance come out of the guardhouse and start to move towards them. He was too far away to have seen what had happened, but he had certainly heard the gunshot.

She started the engine and slammed the car into reverse, pulling away from the house. The wheels spun and flung bits of gravel as she put the car into drive and gunned the engine. The guard was waving his hands as she shot past him. She swerved as they neared the guardhouse, almost losing control. They slammed into the wooden bar of the gate, shattering it as the car rocketed off the property. She twisted the wheel hard and almost spun out of control, but the wheels caught at the last second and she managed to keep the car on the road.

Jason was yelling at her to slow down, but she could barely hear him. In her head all she could hear was the echo of the gunshot and all she could see was Sarah's lifeless eyes.





CHAPTER SIXTY



He watched them from behind the stacks of books. He hadn't been able to hear them, but he saw everything. The old woman had obviously given them some important piece of information. Could she have been part of all this? He didn't think so, but had snapped a picture of her with his phone just in case.

He watched it all. When they returned the books to the shelves and headed downstairs, he moved quickly over to where they had been and examined the books they had been searching. Old yearbooks. He frowned. How much did they know?

He rushed to catch up with them and almost ran into them on the stairs. He pulled up quickly, shifted to the other side and proceeding passed them. When he reached the bottom, he moved off to the right and waited. They came down and headed for the exit. They stood by the door talking for a minute. Paige leaned forward and Nathan held her close for a moment before they left.

He was just exiting the building when his phone began to ring.

"Yes."

He jerked the phone away from his ear. He tried to make out what was being said, but the voice on the other end was hysterical. He thought he heard the word dead, but couldn't be certain.

He moved off, away from the entrance of the library, far enough away that he hoped none of the students around could overhear him.

"Calm down. I can't understand a damn word you are saying. Calm down and tell me who this is."

"It's me. Doris. Doris Flanders. I shot her. She's dead. She's dead. I killed her. Ms. Murphy was taking Jason. You told me to make sure nothing happened to him. I shot her."

"Who? Who did you shoot? Julie?"

"No, Sarah. I shot Sarah. The safety wasn't on. I thought it was on."

"Jesus. You are not calling me from your phone are you?"

"I shot her. She's dead. What am I going to do? You need to help me. The police will be here any minute. What should I do?"

Cameron let loose a string of expletives. What the hell had happened? She had shot someone named Sarah? Who the hell was that? What else had she said?