For Haley. Gina gathered her strength to try. She tried to dig into the rocky ground with her good hand, feeling fingernails break. She had to gain some kind of purchase. She pulled her good leg into position and pushed off, shoving herself forward.

She expected to feel pain, terrible, blinding pain. She felt nothing. It was as if her brain had become unplugged from her body. She was so weak, so very weak, but she was free of the pain.

Marissa grabbed her arm again and pulled. Gina moved her good leg and pushed. She gained maybe a foot.

How far is the fire road?

Not far. Keep going. Keep pushing.

The process was repeated again and again with rest breaks in between. With each effort she felt weaker and weaker until she couldn’t pull her good leg up more than a few inches, and she couldn’t move herself any farther than that.

I can’t, Marissa. It’s too far. It’s too late.

What else have you got to do with your time? You might as well go until you die.

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.

She didn’t want to die. She couldn’t die. She was the only one who knew the story.

Chapter 66

66

“I don’t know what more I can tell you guys,” Mark Foster said, following Mendez and Hicks back to the interview rooms. “I don’t feel like I can be that much of a help.”

“It’s like I told you over the phone, Mr. Foster,” Hicks said. “We’re trying to establish a really detailed outline of Ms. Fordham’s life in the week or so leading up to her murder.”

“Things that might seem insignificant to you could fill in the puzzle for us,” Mendez said. He opened the door to room two and motioned Foster in.

Everyone took a seat at the small table. Foster looked around, seeming a little uneasy.

“I’ve never been in this situation,” he admitted. “All I know is what I’ve seen on television.”

“We’re not going to shine a light in your face or bring in a big dude with brass knuckles,” Mendez assured him. “Unless we don’t like your answers.”

They all laughed politely.

Foster was in his uniform of khaki pants and blue oxford shirt, but had added a sweater vest to the ensemble, and a blue blazer to ward off the chill of the day. He looked too warm now.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” Mendez asked. “It’s a rotten day out there.”

“No, I’m fine, thanks,” Foster said, drying the raindrops off his wire-rimmed glasses with a handkerchief. “I saw on the news you’re looking for Gina Kemmer. Have you found her yet?”

“No. Nothing yet. You were friends with her, right?”

“Yes.”

“You spoke with her the day she went missing,” Hicks said.