By the time she was outside, it was almost impossible to keep her eyes open.
She fumbled with the chief’s phone. Kept dropping it. What the hell?
The pills. Shit.
Sarah dropped the phone and did the only thing she could. She shoved her fingers down her throat. She gagged. Repeated the process. Then she puked.
One more time. Gag. Puke.
Hopefully she’d gotten rid of some of those damned pills.
Groggy as hell, she reached for the phone again. Couldn’t make it work. Shit! The keypad was locked. Her heart thumped. She didn’t know the right password or code.
Damn it!
Get up. Walk. Find help!
Sarah struggled to her feet. After three attempts, she managed to stand.
One foot in front of the other.
Again.
Keep going.
Her mouth felt dry. The ground kept moving. Her vision was narrowing.
“Damn.”
She fell forward in the snow. Told herself to turn her head to the side so she could breathe.
Maybe she did ... maybe she didn’t ... she couldn’t say for sure.
She thought about Kale Conner and his family ... about how it felt to be with him ... she should have been nicer to him ...
She must have turned her head, because she could see the moon reflected in the water. She could hear her heart beating. Slower and slower.
She was dying.
Don would be pissed.
Her shrink would nod and say she suspected it would happen.
Kale would be sad.
Something hot rolled over her nose and onto her cold, cold cheek where it rested against the snow.
A tear.
Shit.
Then Sarah did something she hadn’t done since she was nine years old ... she prayed.
Please, God ... let Kale come find me.
“Sarah.”
Her lids fluttered helplessly. Had someone said her name?
