I smiled. “Then where are your flyers?” I asked, eyeing her empty hands.
Bridget smiled sheepishly and whispered, “I tossed them in the nearest dumpster.” A small laugh escaped her mouth and she immediately covered it and composed herself although I could see how proud she was of her defiance.
I was proud of her too.
“You’re right. Maybe I’m not the only rebel to come out of the church.” I commented. “But as happy as I am to see you again, Bridget, why are you here?”
“I…came to find you. I overheard some of the elders, including your father, talking about you. He told us all you were dead but I heard him correct himself to Pastor Dimitri. He told him that you were dead to him. Not like DEAD dead. Then he said you were nearby and that…”
Dread. Pure dread filled my body. I felt chills and sweats at the same time as my entire being registered the fear mounting in my heart and mind.
“And that what?” I said, egging her on, trying to remain impassive.
“And that we would all see you again real soon,” she whispered to the ground.
Finn stiffened, but made no move to come forward. “What…what else did he say?” I asked, trying to come off as calm as possible.
Bridget shifted from one foot to the other. “I…”
An unfamiliar male voice called to her from just outside the window. “Bridget, where did you go? Bridget, where are you? We’ve got work to do!”
“I have to go,” she said, scurrying toward the door. She placed her hand on the handle. “That’s my husband.”
“Husband? Bridget, what husband?” I asked. “You don’t have to go. I can help you. You can stay. I’ll protect you if you want to stay.”
“You were always foolish, Sawyer. You of all people should know better.” Bridget shook her head and scurried over to the door, not giving Finn so much as a second glance as she passed him on the way. Her shoulders were now hunched, her eyes downcast. The God’s Light traditional uniform for women. “No one can protect me.”
“Wait! Don’t leave. What else did you have to tell me?” I asked, feeling the panic in my chest growing.
Bridget glanced up at me with sympathy in her weary eyes. “Sandy Bennett. Remember Sandy Bennett.”
“Bridget where are you!” the voice outside grew louder and angrier. She opened the door and the outside light temporarily blinded me.
"Wait, Bridget!!" I called again. But I was too late.
She was already gone.
Chapter 13
Finn
I left Sawyer with Josh at the bar because Critter insisted that we needed to talk. Maddy, the nurse was with Sawyer’s mother and when I asked if she was enough security Critter informed me that she was more security than actual nurse and that he and I quote ‘wouldn’t fuck with her.’
“Where are we going?” I asked Critter who pulled up the airboat behind my shack and barely slowed down so I could jump on board. “I thought you wanted to talk?”
“I’m moving my lips and sounds coming out, right? Ain’t that talking?” Critter spat, turning the boat and heading into the swamp at speeds that anyone who hadn’t grown up here wouldn’t dare try.
“That girl who came in. Bridget. She gave us a name. Josh is running it and looking into it. Let’s see where that takes us before we do something that is gonna keep you separated from your family for another twenty-two years.”
Critter’s glare burned a hole in my skull. “I’ve been waiting twenty-two fucking years for this bastard to roll on back into my swamp and you best believe I’m gonna make sure he ain’t ever leaving.”
“What exactly is your plan then?”
“Good old fashioned southern hospitality,” Critter answered gruffly.
Shit.
“And that means what?”
“That means I’m gonna shoot his head off his shoulders and then I’m gonna light a cigar. Maybe later, I’ll celebrate with some pie.”
“Alright. Go in. Blow his head off. Got it. Sounds like a hell of a plan.”
“No. You weren’t listening. There was also that bit about a cigar and pie.”
I rested my head in my hands. “Critter. I want this asshole gone as much as the next guy. But you just got Caroline back. If we get caught we’re right back where you started and it’ll be you paying the price for Richard’s crimes. AGAIN. Don’t let him win. Not this time. Don’t you want to see her when she gets better? Talk to her? Then we must be smart about this. I’m not saying that southern hospitality is off the table. I’m just saying that maybe we don’t want to rush into a church and blow the pastor away why he’s preaching at the pulpit like some dumb ass redneck militia of two.”
Critter rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic, Karen.” He scoffed. “Ain’t you ever killed a man before? I’ve served in two tours and I tell ya. It takes a little more finesse than just popping a cap in his ass or whatever you kids say nowadays.”
“I don’t know a single person who says that,” I groaned. “Except maybe Miller.”
Critter looked out into the dark waters before us. “I’ve known men like him before. He’s not going to be stop until they are back under his control or dead. And since we know he’s not going to get his control…he’s gotta go.” Critter said with a mixture of both anger and sadness. “He’s lucky he isn’t already dead, but he was a hard man to find. Covered his tracks well, hiding behind that church of his. I had several PI’s look into him over the years. They couldn’t come up with shit until the last one came back and told me Richard and Caroline were both dead. Car accident.” Critter closed his eyes briefly like he was remembering a pain that was too much to bare. “I thought she was dead. I thought my world was dead.” His hands tightened on the wheel. “Now I realize that my PI must have found Richard and that fucker paid him off to feed me false information. That son of a bitch PI better hope he never crosses paths with me again.”
We moved over a patch of ground like it was water. But when I saw the next patch in the distance I stood and squinted like I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“Shit,” I swore. There was something lying right in front of the boat. “Stop, Critter!” I screamed directing his attention at the clump of hair and fabric.
Critter swerved sharply and knocked me into the water. I waded over to the grass and pulled myself up only to see that the thing we were about to hit wasn’t a thing at all.
It was a person. Someone I’d seen just hours before. The same person who’d delivered the warning that Richard was here.
Bridget.
Sawyer
Angry. I was so beyond angry.
All I saw was red. Bright blood red.
On the inside, I was a car skidding to a screeching halt on a wet road. On the outside, I was a fake soft smile and elevator music.
“Who did this to you?” Josh asked, gently. There was a lot of sympathy in her voice as she patiently waited for a banged up and bruised Bridget to answer the questions she’d asked several times already without a single muttered response. “We’re trying to help you.” Josh continued. She was in full cop mode, but her compassion for the woman in the hospital bed between us surprised me.
“Bridget, I told you. We can help you. We can protect you. Look at me. I’m here aren’t I? They are keeping me safe. They can keep you safe too,” I reassured her, placing my hand on her arm that wasn’t in a sling. Bridget stared at my hand as if I was burning her. I jerked it back and rubbed it like I was dousing the flame.
“Not for long,” she groaned, her one eye purple and swollen shut. She was banged up bad, and we had no idea how she’d gotten to be lying in the middle of the swamp but she’d live.
For now.