NEBRASKA
Maggie changed into shorts, a sweatshirt, and running shoes despite the setting sun and the beginning chill. She wanted to clear her head, drain some of the tension building into a knot between her shoulder blades.
She left a note for Lucy on the kitchen table, then she and Jake headed out on the road. By now the German shepherd understood this was for fun and not a flight from danger.
She had called Donny but got switched almost immediately to his voice mail. She wanted to tell him about Amanda and what she knew about Sheriff Skylar holding back evidence in the Taylor Cole case.
Through Maggie’s limited resources she had learned that Taylor Cole had graduated last spring from the same county high school as the other teenagers and was planning to attend the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Her parents and friends all said she was the happiest they had ever seen her, excited and looking forward to embarking on her new adventure. No one would have predicted that she would choose to end her life by jumping off the Highway 83 Bridge and falling a hundred and fifty feet to her death, plunging into the fast and wild Middle Loup River below.
Of course, it had to be an accident. Though no one had an explanation for that, either. There were no eyewitness accounts. And no further investigation, as far as Maggie could tell. Kids tripping out on drugs was still only a rumor. Unfortunately, rumors usually had a grain of truth to them. And today Amanda confirmed those rumors were true.
Maggie understood a sheriff wanting to protect the reputation of a dead victim, maybe trying to protect the victim’s loved ones. What was it that Lucy had said, that it could be devastating for parents to find out things about their dead child? Skylar may have thought, why put Taylor Cole’s parents through that? They were already grieving the loss of their daughter. But in doing so, Skylar had let all the other teenagers involved off the hook.
Maggie saw Jake pin back his ears. He started herding her to the edge of the dirt road before she heard the faint rumble of an engine over the hill behind them. This time she listened to the dog and moved left to the crumbling edge. If the driver didn’t see her until he came zooming down the hill, she would still be far enough to the left side that she would be safe. She had even worn a white T-shirt to be more visible in the fading daylight. But none of this calmed Jake.
She heard the engine getting closer, slowing down as it reached the top of the hill. She glanced back. The headlights prevented her from seeing beyond the windshield. It was a pickup truck or SUV, something riding high. Perhaps the same young man who had almost run her over the other day. It had slowed to a crawl. Overly cautious. Without looking back again, she waved her hand for the vehicle to go on by. She didn’t break her pace and ignored Jake nudging her. But then she heard the dog growl.
She felt a sharp pain in the middle of her back before she realized that she had been hit. She fell to her knees. A jolt of electricity surged all the way through her. She tried to reach around to grab what had stabbed into her back, only her hands wouldn’t move.
Couldn’t move.
Why couldn’t she move her arms, her hands, her fingers?
They didn’t even brace her for the fall and her cheek slammed into the crusty sand. Her muscles started to spasm. Her body jerked beyond her control. Sand and gravel bit into her skin. Then her muscles locked up. Her head began to spin. But that was the only motion. She still couldn’t move. She was paralyzed.
She heard Jake whimper and opened her mouth to tell him to run. Get out. Go home. But what came out was a babble of gibberish in a weak, tinny voice that she didn’t recognize.
The boots appeared before her eyes. She hadn’t heard their approach. Could no longer hear anything except her own heartbeat, the thumps inside a wind tunnel. She tasted sand and realized her mouth was open. She couldn’t close it. Couldn’t even look up. The world was spinning, tilted sideways. All she could see were the boots standing in front of her, mud-caked boots that smelled like river sludge.