Chapter 7 - THE PRICE OF RESCUE
The bullet struck Marcus in the shoulder. He crashed against the concrete edge as police fired a stun round into Voss's chest. Voss fell backward, the gun sliding from his hand.
Sarah ran past everyone.
Lily was crying, alive, cold but unharmed. Sarah pressed the baby against her body and sobbed until she could no longer stand. Margaret wrapped both of them in her coat.
Marcus was rushed into surgery. The bullet had missed the artery by less than an inch.
Voss survived and was charged with kidnapping, attempted murder, fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction. Lieutenant Ward was arrested at the county courthouse while trying to destroy archived crash records. Owen Pike surrendered two days later after seeing the news. He admitted that Robert had paid him to damage Michael's brake line and that Ward instructed him to disappear.
The arrests made national headlines.
Sarah hated the cameras. Reporters camped outside Margaret's estate and her apartment. Strangers debated whether Patricia was a monster or a manipulated daughter. Robert's lawyers claimed Michael's crash had been an accident caused by Owen's incompetence.
Sarah visited Marcus in the hospital every day.
"You could have died," she told him.
"Lily could have died."
"That doesn't make yours smaller."
He looked at her carefully. "I'm not trying to replace Michael."
Sarah had known that. But grief had made every kindness feel like a betrayal. She finally took his hand.
"I know."
Margaret moved Sarah and Lily into a private cottage on the estate, but Sarah insisted it be temporary. She did not want rescue to become another form of control.
Margaret surprised her by agreeing.
Then came the most painful revelation. Lydia traced the original one hundred eighty thousand dollars and recovered only forty-six thousand. The rest had been spent or hidden offshore. Margaret offered to replace it immediately.
Sarah refused.
"It was yours," Margaret said.
"Then put it in a protected trust for Lily. I need work, not charity."
Margaret studied her with something close to pride.
Sarah returned to nursing school, which she had abandoned after Michael's death. Margaret paid tuition through a scholarship fund available to other widowed parents as well, so Sarah would not be singled out.
Patricia asked to see Sarah from jail.
For weeks, Sarah refused.
Then prosecutors revealed that Patricia was considering cooperation against Robert, Ward, and Voss. Her testimony could prove intent in Michael's death.
Sarah agreed to one meeting.
Patricia sat behind glass in county detention, stripped of jewelry and performance.
"I loved Michael," she said.
Sarah picked up the phone. "You loved your comfort more."
Patricia began to cry.
"Will you ever forgive me?"
Sarah looked at the woman who had watched her sell her wedding ring while driving a car purchased with stolen money.
"Tell the truth in court," Sarah said. "Then live with it."
As she stood to leave, Patricia pressed a hand to the glass.
May you like
"There is something else," she whispered. "Michael wasn't on Blackwater Bridge by accident. Someone called him there."
Sarah slowly sat back down.
