Oliver listened, still praying quietly that Tess would come to the door with good news, that it was all a misunderstanding and Tami was safe. He left to go to his office when several other members of the prayer team arrived, and he knew Rosita was in good hands.

–––

Fifteen minutes later Steve called Tess back. He talked in a low voice, and from the sounds on the phone, Tess could tell he was in the hospital.

“You won’t believe this. It is Tami, and she’s still hanging on.”

“What?” Tess froze. This was wonderful news—would it stay that way?

“Yeah, and get this—the doctors were about to notify us. She’s been shot at least twice.”

“What?”

“Besides that insult, she’s severely hypothermic. I barely recognized her. She’s beat up from being in the water, her lips are blue . . . One of the doctors thinks that being in the cold water may have slowed her blood loss. She’s listed as critical.” Steve sighed. “It’ll be amazing if she pulls through.”

“Yes, it would be. Please keep me up to speed. I’ll go tell Oliver.”

Tess hung up, energized and angry at the same time. She rubbed her hands together, praying for Tami to pull through and for the break she needed to catch a bad guy.

–––

Oliver was going to text Tess when he saw her SUV pull into the lot. He perked up as soon as she stepped out of the car. She had news, and it didn’t look as if it would be bad. He met her in the parking lot.

“Tami?”

“Tami is alive. Deputies found her in the river down by the Shady Cove boat launch.”

“In the river?” Horrified, Oliver felt his body go numb, thoughts swirling about what this meant. He doubted with every fiber of his soul that Tami went into the river voluntarily.

Tess nodded. “It looks as if she was shot and shoved into the river. Steve said she’s listed as critical.”

“Shot?” Anger coursed through Oliver and pushed away the horror. “Could she tell Steve who did it? And how on earth is she still alive?”

Tess shook her head. “I don’t know. All I know is what Steve told me. Deputies responded to a Jane Doe. Tami had no identification on her, but Steve went to the hospital to check on her personally. According to Steve, she’s in bad shape but alive.”

“A miracle,” Oliver said, hope and amazement mixing. “Rosita prayed for a miracle.”

Tess didn’t disagree. For Tami to have survived from somewhere around 6 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. in the frigid river with a bullet wound, it would have to be a miracle.

“Rosita is in the prayer room. I’ll let her know and take her to the hospital.”