Danger in a Small Town. Ginny Aiken

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      Taking a deep breath for courage, she stepped over the ground cover and parted the tall weeds, then made her way toward what sounded like a whimpering pup.

      But as Tess rounded a massive tree trunk, she stopped. “Oh, no!”

      A woman lay sprawled against a fallen tree, her too-thin face shiny with perspiration. As Tess watched, the slender body went into a spasm, her arms and legs twitched and sweat poured off her face.

      “What’s wrong—”

      Tess cut off her question when a major seizure seemed to grip the stranger on the ground. She tried to remember anything and everything she’d heard about helping someone through a seizure. From the hazy, cobwebby depths of her memory, details of a college first-aid class floated up. The most important thing was to try and keep breathing passages unblocked.

      Her heart pounded. Lord, help! I need you here…now.

      Tess hurried over. “Easy,” she murmured. “Let me help you.”

      When Tess went to roll the quaking body onto its side, another convulsion hit, and she had to dodge the flailing limbs. Determined to help, Tess grasped a shoulder and pushed, but as thin as the woman was, she proved to be unbelievably strong.

      Tess wrestled to get her on her side, but between the convulsions and the superhuman strength, she came close to calling it quits. Sweating, her breath coming in short, frightened spurts, Tess wedged herself between the stranger’s back and the soggy ground to keep her from flopping onto her back again.

      And then the woman quit her fight.

      Tess slumped, panting, and ran the back of her hand across her eyes to clear away the sweat. Silence. She glanced at the still body propped up against her arm and leg.

      “Oh, no…” She was still, completely still.

      “No…no, no, no!”

      Tess scrambled onto her knees to check for a pulse. But before she took hold of her thin wrist, the woman’s body rolled onto its back, and she knew there was nothing to check. The chest didn’t move.

      A scream ripped from Tess’s lips. Bile rushed up her throat. She froze for a moment, but the horror propelled her to her feet. She grasped at a branch to get her balance, glanced at the corpse, then put a hand over her mouth to stop the next scream.

      Stepping back on trembling legs, she couldn’t look away from the woman on the ground. Abstractly she noticed how her pretty hairdo hid her face.

      Life ground to slow motion. Fear rushed through Tess’s limbs. Her pulse pounded in her ears, and her head spun. She realized she’d been holding her breath. Somewhere behind her, a car drove past.

      A shudder racked her, followed by wave after wave of tremors. The urge to run, to hide overwhelmed her.

      Despite the urgency of her instincts, Tess knew she couldn’t leave. Not yet.

      With a brief prayer for strength, she clutched her cell phone, forced her fingers to work and dialed 911. Her hands shook so hard she could barely hold the device to her ear. Relief flooded her when the dispatcher answered.

      “Help!” she croaked.

      The man on the other end asked for directions in a calm, measured voice.

      “Don’t know exactly,” she said. “She’s…I think she’s dead. In the woods off Ratner Road, just a little past the old Wilder Barn. Hurry, please!”

      The dispatcher’s voice had given her something to hang on to for a couple of seconds, enough to make her realize she should wait by the road. She could flag down the cruisers as they came.

      On her way out of the woods, she prayed for help to arrive soon; for God’s comfort; for His wisdom for all involved.

      Most of all, she prayed for more of the peace she’d felt so keenly just a few brief minutes earlier.

      Ethan Rogers wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “It’s way too hot for late May. And you’re a slave driver, Art Reams.”

      The tall, thin pastor of Loganton Bible Church leaned against his shovel and sent Ethan a look of mock sorrow. “You wound me! I’m just doing my best to serve the Lord, and with the groundbreaking just two weeks away, we don’t have the funds to hire someone to clear these weeds.”

      Ethan dropped the joking tone. “You are a servant, and I’m glad to help wherever I can. The new fellowship building’s going to be great—especially the gym. Kids need that kind of space.” He wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. “But you and I need a break. How about some of that iced tea you stash in the church fridge?”

      Art dropped the shovel and held out a hand. They shook on it. As they crossed the parking lot, Ethan’s phone rang. He glanced at the LCD display.

      “Hey, peanut,” he said to his youngest cousin.

      “What’s up?”

      “Would you stop with that peanut stuff?” He grinned when he heard her effort to muffle her response—she wasn’t alone. “No one’s going to listen to me if they hear you.”

      “What? You want me to call you Officer Lowe? Dunno if I can do that, kiddo.”

      “Well, you’re going to have to.” Her voice turned crisp, official. “I need your help. I’m out on a call, and it sounds like your specialty to me.”

      The disgust that had hovered in the back of his mind since the last drug bust he’d worked rushed to the fore-front. His muscles tensed, his stomach turned and his head began to pound. “Maggie…”

      “I know, I know. You left all that behind when you moved here, but Ethan, it’s a death. We’re a small-town department. We don’t have much experience with stuff like this. You, though…all those years—I need you.”

      Ethan ran a hand over his face. He loved his youngest cousin like the sister he’d never had. They’d grown up close, living only two blocks apart. Over the years, he’d defended her against a bully, taught her to drive and convinced his aunt and uncle to let her go into law enforcement in spite of the danger.

      He’d never been able to refuse her anything, but this came close.

      Even though every fiber of his being screamed no, he said, “Where are you?”

      Her sigh of relief told him she hadn’t been as sure of his response as she probably should have been. “Come out west on Ratner Road. You can’t miss the cruisers and the ambulance. We’re in the woods, not fifty feet in.”

      Ethan slipped his phone into his pocket, fighting the urge to call her back and tell her no. It took all his determination to move toward his SUV.

      Art placed an arm over Ethan’s shoulders. “A call from Maggie that does this to you means bad news.”

      Ethan chuckled without humor. “My past doesn’t seem ready to let me go. She’s on a call, a woman’s dead and she thinks it’s drug related.”

      “It’ll СКАЧАТЬ