Chapter Forty-One
Gentle hands changed her bandages,and soft voices hovered above her, but Linx’s mind was full of cotton, not fully understanding. The pain ebbed and flowed, growing stronger at times and then receding like thetide.
She was alive, but no one told her what had happened to Minx. Had she been arrested? Or had she escaped? What if she’d been burned to death? The nurses mentioned someone else who hadn’t been aslucky.
Could Minx bedead?
The next time Grady visited, Linx asked him aboutMinx.
“She’s actually outside waiting for you,” Grady replied. “Shall I ask her to comein?”
“But, why isn’t she injail?”
“I’ll let her tell you herself,” Gradysaid.
Linx closed her eyes and waited for Grady’s footsteps to depart. Why should she see Mean Minx before she saw her father and her brothers and sisters? Maybe the sheriff had a special deal with her to let her apologize before locking her up forgood.
Moments later, the door opened and someone approached her bed. Linx tried to turn her head to the side to get a better look, but her head was held suspended and all she could see was the white pillow. She was braced in some sort of face down support foam to keep pressure off her burnedback.
“Nurse?” she asked. “Can you help me turn my head so I cansee?”
“Of course,” the nurse answered. “We’re trying to keep as much pressure off of your backside aspossible.”
The nurse adjusted the pillow and turned her head to the side as a gowned figure sat down on the chair next to her. She wore a face mask, but her eyes were sharp and sultry at the sametime.
“Your father called me, and I came as soon as I could,” she said, her voice soft and airy—not at all the rough and gravelly voice of the woman on thephone.
“Wait, why aren’t you in jail for kidnapping? How did you get Jessie into the trailer? Why am I talking to you? You tried to kill her and thepuppy.”
Her mother spread her gloved hand. “I guess Grady didn’t tell you. It wasn’t me you spoke to on the phone. I was traveling through Nevada when I got thenews.”
“Wasn’t you?” Linx’s voice was hoarse and strained. She tried to lift herself, but pain screamed through her bandages. “You told me that story about the Black Widow and the Firestarter. You said I had an evil heart like yours.You—”
“You told all of this to your friend, Salem,” Minx explained. “When Todd found her in the van, she was still talking on the phone, gloating about how she was going to get you arrested for kidnapping Jessie and setting fire to the trailer. She wanted to ruin yours and Grady’s lives because she believed you two ruinedhers.”
“Salem Pryde? But she’d dead, isn’tshe?”
“Apparently not,” her mother patted her bandaged hand. “Although she’s burned badly. Once she realized she was surrounded, she doused gasoline all over her van and lit it up. Of course, your brother had no idea Jessie and the puppy weren’t being held hostage, so they rushed in and rescued her. It turns out Jessie’s old dog was tied up to a tree outside the van, and they were able to saveher.”
“Why did she do it? She had everything going for her. Paul, does heknow?”
“Todd says she wanted to speak to Grady. It turns out she was pregnant, but lost thebaby.”
“Whose baby?” Linx tried to lift her head, and all her skin chafed withpain.
“It no longer matters,” Minx said. “She doesn’t know, and this kind of stuff only comes between you if you letit.”
“Like it did for you and Dad?” Linx had so many questions. “Salem says I’m a fake Colson. Where would she have gotten that information? Is Dad myfather?”
“Salem spoke to other people, pretending to be me. She told everyone I was a chain smoker, and since I’d been away so long, they believed her. Perhaps she spoke to your father and he talked about it…” Minx trailedoff.
“Really?” Warning prickles stabbed the back of Linx’s burned skin. “You must be lying. Dad would know your voiceanywhere.”
“How dare you call me a liar?” Her mother’s voice lowered from the saccharine sweetness she’d exhibited earlier. “I had an alibi. You can’t pin this onme.”
“Salem, or you, claim I’m not a Colson,” Linx persisted. “So tell me, who is myfather?”
“Your father is Joe Colson,” Minx said. “Salem was stirring thepot.”
