Submerged

“What else could they have been? I didn’t know anything about those kids before I saw them. And nothing else explains the bizarre things I found outside my cabin.” He frowned and scratched his chin. “I was there right before that mother—you know, the one whose son went missing back then. He was kidnapped by The Fog.”

“That was a scary time for parents.”

“I know.”

“What were you going to say about the mother?”

“I read in the Edmonton Journal that she’d stayed in the same cabin I’d rented. The mother… Sadie something. I left so fast I had no time to clean up. She would have seen the needles.” He looked away. “Newspapers said she admitted she’d gone there to kill herself, but said something stopped her. I wonder…”

Leo let out a snort. “Okay, buddy, you’re starting to sound a little whacko. Either we get some food into you, or we go shopping for one of those special jackets that tie up in the back.”

“I wonder if maybe she saw them too. The ghost kids.”

Leo started the car. “Montana’s? I could go for some barbecue ribs and fries. And while we wait, you’re gonna tell me all about these ghosts, including Jane’s. I wanna know everything.”

Chapter Thirty

Hinton, AB – Saturday, June 15, 2013 – 1:20 PM

By afternoon, Rebecca was feeling a bit better. The medication they’d given her made her somewhat groggy, but she was so happy to see Ella and Colton that even drugs couldn’t keep the cheerfulness from her voice.

“I hope you’re being really good for the doctor and nurses.”

The kids sat in chairs, their oversized hospital housecoats wrapped around them to keep them warm. Dr. Monroe had allowed them to sit in her room and watch television with her for the afternoon.

The door opened, and the police officer poked his head inside. “There’s going to be a shift change in a half hour, Mrs. Kingston. I thought you should know.”

“Thank you.”

Having a guard on her door made her feel safe, but it didn’t keep her from worrying about the truck driver. Would he make another attempt? Why?

Whenever she closed her eyes, she’d see flashes of memory and her muscles would clench. She recalled the bitter coldness of the water… and her absolute certainty that she was going to die there in the dark, alone.

“And then Marcus swam into the car,” Colton was telling Ella for the one hundredth time, “and gave us scuba masks. But you were asleep, so you didn’t see anything.”

“And he rescued us,” Ella said with a firm nod.

“Mom says he used to be, like, a doctor or something.”

“A paramedic,” Rebecca corrected.

“Yeah, one of those guys.” Colton frowned. “You think he was ever in one of those STARS helicopters?”

“You’ll have to ask him next time he visits.”

The thought of Marcus Taylor coming to visit gave her butterflies. Nice ones. There was no denying they had a connection because of all that had happened.

But it’s more than that.

She wanted to know more about him. Last time she’d seen him, there had been a glimmer of vulnerability in his rugged but handsome face. While they’d talked, she watched as a wave of emotions swept over him—grief, guilt, relief, joy… and anger. When she’d admitted more about their financial state and Wesley’s gambling, she saw anger brimming in his eyes.

She was relieved, however, to hear that her husband was off the police’s radar as a suspect. He’d never do something so hideous. Marcus had said they were looking into some other leads, that maybe Wesley’s gambling was to blame. But she couldn’t deal with that thought right now. All she wanted to do was hold her children… and breathe.

“Mommy needs a gentle hug,” she said.

Colton and Ella were eager to obey. As they wrapped their arms around her, mindful of all the tubes and wires, she gathered them close and listened to their hearts beating in their chests.

Life. It was something worth fighting for. And damned if she was going to let anyone hurt her children ever again. Not Wesley. Not anyone.

She had called Kelly as soon as she was feeling up to talking. She’d tried to dissuade her sister out of immediately heading to Hinton.

“I’m okay,” she’d promised Kelly. “The doctors are looking after me, and I have a police guard on my door. The kids too.”

They’d talked about the “accident.”

“I should’ve taken the kids,” Kelly said.

“None of us knew what was going to happen, Sis. I mean, would you ever in your wildest dreams have thought some truck driver would run me off the road?”

“No. But who would want to kill you?”

Rebecca couldn’t tell her about Wesley’s gambling. Or that the police suspected someone wanted to send Wesley a message—through Rebecca’s imminent death. She didn’t want to scare her sister.

“They’ll catch him,” she’d said to Kelly.