Page 26 of Chasing Creed

Now, Creed and Jason slowed down to glance back at her. Both men stopped in their tracks.

She didn’t need to say anything more. Creed saw the red splotches blossoming all over her T-shirt and cargo pants before she added, “I’m bleeding.”

16

Nebraska

Sara pulled her dirty clothes out of the backpack. She’d only just returned a few days ago, barely time enough to exchange the Wyoming Cowboys sweatshirt for a Husker hoodie. She added her blood-stained clothes along with Shadow’s blankets and all the bloody hand towels to the washer.

The poor girl had wet herself, but this time she allowed Sara to clean her without a fight. Sara didn’t mind. She’d already decided she’d take her out only as far as the covered porch. The rain had turned to sleet, ice slashing at the windows. The temperature was still dropping. In another hour or so, it would be snow.

She fixed herself a cup of tea while Shadow ate another small meal. The dog still wanted to devour the food, but Sara had spread the ground beef and rice across the entire dinner plate.

“Believe me,” she told the dog. “It’s better if you lick up small amounts at a time and not gobble it all at once.”

Sara remembered all too well what it felt like to be starving, truly starved by Iris for days. Then the woman would put down a huge bowl of food. It didn’t matter what it was. Sara wolfed it down in seconds, only to vomit it all up. She wouldn’t let that happen to Shadow. Instead, she set the timer on her watch for another small meal and more water in several hours when another dose of the pain medication was due.

That was the other lesson she’d learned. After a childhood of pain, Sara developed a deep respect for the medications she’d collected. Iris had withheld pain relief drugs as punishment. She wanted Sara to feel the pain of the broken bones, the dislocated shoulder.

How else will you learn? Iris’ calm, authoritative voice still echoed in Sara’s mind.

The woman had withheld or used drugs as a way to manipulate and control. Sara was an adult by the time she realized there were medications to ease and relieve pain.

Her collection of pharmaceuticals became an investment, even a sort of security blanket for if and when she needed them. Never once had she abused them. When she meticulously searched online, she was pleased to see that not only did she have an antibiotic ointment, but also a pain medicine, approved for dogs.

Now, Shadow curled up on a fresh, soft blanket and fell fast asleep. There was something satisfying about having the dog here with her. But it was the worst time for anything that wasn’t part of her original plan. Sara couldn’t afford the distraction.

Already, she felt herself slipping and getting too comfortable. Being in Granny El’s house was the closest she’d ever felt to having a home. Despite the woman’s absence, Sara worked to preserve her memory. Even making tea with her kettle and choosing from Granny’s special canister. It was filled with a variety of foil-wrapped tea bags. Granny’s “teatime” ritual was something Sara fondly remembered.

“Let’s enjoy the jams we made,” Granny would tell her as she filled the kettle and lined a porcelain plate with an assortment of crackers and biscuits. She’d use porcelain teacups with little plates underneath, paper lace doilies in-between. Then she’d hold out the canister and allow Sara to choose her own flavor of tea.

Usually, Sara stopped the memories. It hurt too much. She missed the old woman terribly. But now, maybe just this once, the memories would soften the task at hand. Although the things she had to do were things she’d never want Granny to know about.

This latest assignment from Iris wasn’t just a regular one. It could determine whether Iris spent the rest of her life in prison. She’d provided a list to Sara. A list to Orlando. And of course, the list came with all kinds of instructions she’d manage to get to them despite all the prison protocols. Iris had thought of everything. And it seemed as though she still had just as much power from behind bars.

But Iris had no idea that Sara had discovered this. Her original ledger.

Iris had kept it hidden. When Sara was cleaning and preparing both houses, she found the leather-bound book tucked in a drawer under table linens that were rarely used.

Now, Sara laid out the illicit ledger on Granny’s glass-topped coffee table. Sitting back on the sofa, she stared at it as she sipped tea and kept watch over Shadow. The wind and sleet pelted the windows, but the sound didn’t disturb the dog.

Inside the book were pages with lines and columns. All were filled with Iris’ handwriting: numbers, names, addresses, and a variety of notes. There were interstate rest areas, mileage markers, truck stops, junctions, and hotels from states across the country.

Most of the information Sara couldn’t decipher. But amongst the columns of names, she recognized several. They were on her list. She guessed the other half were on Orlando’s. But to keep them on their toes, Iris must have included some names on both their lists. Why else would Orlando beat her to the house this morning?

She shouldn’t be surprised at anything Iris did.

Sara glanced over the names in the ledger, catching on the checkmarks, some of them her own additions. She found Teresa Graf, Cheyenne, Wyoming. She drew a careful black checkmark alongside the name. Then she searched for #8 in a different column. Found it and put another checkmark, only this time using a red pen.

Sara sat back and sipped her tea. She tried not to think about how many pages of names were in that book.

17

Mississippi

“It’s just a bunch of thorns,” Brodie told Jason.

“You don’t want them to get lost under your skin.”