Page 3 of Save Me
“Who knew that a bunch of eighty-year-olds could party that hard.” Beth laughed.
“Hey, when I’m that old, I want to have friends like that I can party with,” Crissy joked.
“Ditto.” Beth smiled as she wiped her son’s face. “I can watch her longer today, if you want to take some time?”
Crissy started to deny Beth, but then shrugged. “I have been meaning to walk to the store. We’re low on a few things.” Her eyes moved to Emma, who hadn’t even acknowledged her presence yet. “If you’re sure?”
“Totally. Besides, they’re really into the cartoons.” Beth motioned towards the two girls.
Standing up, Crissy nodded. “I’ll be back in half an hour.”
“Take your time,” Beth said, waving her away.
She stepped back through the gate into her own yard and grabbed the little red wagon she and Emma used to wheel groceries from the little store two blocks away.
The two-block walk to the store was one of her small joys in life. Just knowing she could walk anywhere on her own without fear thrilled her. Her body had almost returned to normal and as she waved to all of the locals along the path, she felt safe.
The part of town the house was in wasn’t full of rentals like a lot of areas in the Keys. Most of the homes around it were smaller and older and owned by longtime locals. The pool house was actually the original residence on the land and sat at the front of a small cul-de-sac street. The lot filled the space between two streets and the newer, larger home sat at the front of the property along a main thoroughfare. The pool was directly in the middle of the two structures. The bigger place and the pool had been built fewer than five years ago.
Leaving her cart outside, Crissy stepped into the store and started gathering the needed items in a basket. She was in the bread aisle when she heard the news report from the television that sat over the cashier.
“Today marks the two-year anniversary since the second of the Miami serial-killer brothers was unmasked. Days after Scott Alcott’s body was discovered in a car at the bottom of a lake, Alcott’s half-brother Daryl Collins, a Miami police officer and Alcott’s partner in crime, was shot and killed during a kidnapping gone wrong. Collins’s last victim…”
A loud ringing blocked the rest of the news report. How had she forgotten today was the anniversary? How had she missed such an important date?
The panic attack had her doubled over. Her fingers dug into the loaf of bread that she’d just grabbed off the shelf to place in her basket.
Breathe, she told herself several times. But the report continued to circle in her head. Two years. It had been two years since she’d been rescued from hell.
This was the reason she didn’t own a television. This was why Emma had to go next door to watch cartoons. She wanted to forget. To let those anniversaries go by without remembering…
Breathe-one, breathe-two, breathe-three. She counted until the buzzing in her head stopped and her vision corrected.
She set down her basket of items and rushed towards the door. She stood outside gulping fresh sea air until she felt sure the report had ended. When she stepped back inside, the owner of the store looked at her funny as she walked over and picked up her basket.
Not giving the woman any reasons for her behavior, she continued shopping and even added a fake smile on her lips as she moved around the store.
“Are you okay, miss?” the woman asked when she rang up her items.
“Yes, I suppose I just got overheated on the walk here.” She quickly changed the subject.
The walk home wasn’t as enjoyable as the walk there, but still, it gave her plenty of time to settle herself before seeing her daughter.
She even took the extra time to put all of the groceries away before collecting Emma. The large family was out enjoying the pool when she and Emma stepped back into the yard.
She held Emma in her arms, her daughter instantly happy upon seeing the kids splashing in the pool.
“Pool, Mama.” Emma clapped.
“Not right now, honey. Lunch and nap first.” She shifted to open the door just as the phone rang again.
Putting her daughter down, she answered the call with her standard greeting, smiling and ready to answer any questions about the rental.
“You think you got off scot-free?” the deep voice hissed. “You’ll pay for escaping us.”
Shortly after the phone clicked, Crissy’s vision grayed, and she slid to the floor and landed on the tile with a thud.
CHAPTER TWO
