The Vanishing Girls by Callie Browning (read this if txt) 📕

the fear of losing her and he knew that he’d never forgive himself if she died. He wanted the arguments, the kisses, the drives through the country, the candlelit dinners and everything else they'd shared. Tears welled in Holden's eyes at the thought of living without Eileen. He put his fingers against her pulse. A split second later, her back arched, her chest convulsed and Eileen coughed out a mouthful of water onto the bottom of the boat. With a grateful shudder, Holden put his arms around her and sighed.

Chapter 32

The Message

Salt water chafed Eileen’s throat like sandpaper as it forced its way from her lungs  and out of her mouth and nose in a spate of raspy coughs. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was a bright sickle moon and a fishing net. A scarf held her hands in place and one of her wrists was bruised and tender.

“Thank goodness you’re okay,” Holden said as he pushed himself up on one elbow and looked at her. His eyes were bloodshot and his breathing was laboured and for a moment, Eileen’s foggy brain tried to remember the bizarre circumstances that had led her here. Then she remembered it all: Lloyd dragging her into her car, driving her to the careenage, her cries when he’d let down the handbrake and pushed it toward the water. It was sunk quickly. She’d sworn she’d die until she’d seen someone floating through the cloudy waters trying to get into the car. The rear window never stayed rolled up and she knew she was taking a chance by kicking it; the force of the blow might have caused it to fall and let in water quicker, but if the person could prise it open, they might be able to get her out. The down side was that the water had rushed in faster, dragging the car to the bottom, sucking in fishes and snake-like eels. Eileen had tried to hold on, tried to stay alive but she couldn’t. The last thing she remembered was feeling someone pulling her out of the car before she lost consciousness.

Holden’s eyes never left hers as he reached over and untied the scarf on her wrists. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

She blushed. She never imagined she would see Holden again given what had happened between them and she had never expected him to be her saviour. To know that he had saved her life was surreal. “I’m good. Why?”

“Feeling strong enough to go to the police station and get that demon Lloyd arrested?”

Eileen’s eyes blazed with fury. “Yes.”

* * *

DERRICKS LOCKED DOWN THE AIRPORT, deployed patrols at major docks and dispatched almost every police car to hunt down Lloyd Greaves. He had looked Eileen and Holden up and down when they’d first walked into Central Station sopping wet and smelling like day old fish. His mouth had fallen open when he’d heard their story and he wasted no time in setting things in motion to apprehend Lloyd. Less than an hour into giving their statements to the officers, a voice crackled over the police radio announcing that Lloyd had been stopped on his way to the airport with a box containing clumps of hair and four bloody scalpels. Derricks clapped Holden on the back and shook Eileen’s hand, thanking them for their assistance before he got into a waiting police car, plopped the red siren on the roof and blazed through the night to claim the glory for bringing the Cane Slasher to justice.

Holden lifted an eyebrow and asked, “Ready to go home?” The tone of his voice was unmistakable. To him, a single night had wiped out everything, the bad memories and deal breakers scratched from the record with one act of contrition. But she knew that it wouldn’t be enough, it couldn’t erase the truth nor fix the cracks that had broken them.

“Yes,” she bit her lip nervously. “They said they’d take me home since my car is  —well you know. You were there.”

Holden grinned and waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll take you home.”

“Actually…” Eileen took a deep breath “…I’d rather if they took me home.” She bit her lip as she lowered her voice and said, “Look, I’m truly grateful that you saved me. And I’ll forever be in your debt for that reason, but I’d rather if we didn’t try to salvage something just because someone tried to kill me.”

Holden tilted his head as though he hadn't heard her properly. “But Eileen…”

She held up a trembling hand and looked down at her feet. “I don’t want us to be one of those couples who’re on, then off, always tipping the scales trying to find a balance between happiness and misery.”

“That’s never going to be us.”

In the back of her mind, she heard Lloyd’s voice: “They get their money’s worth out of the assistants.”

Eileen shook her head as a tear slipped down her cheek. “Two confirmed bachelors would never be content with driving around collecting bodies. He told me about you and Clifford.”

Confusion marred Holden’s handsome face. “What about me and Clifford?”

“That you ‘share’ the assistants,” she said making rabbit ears with her two forefingers and pumping them twice when she said the word “share”.

“What?!” He stared at her for a moment before he sank down on the wooden bench behind him and asked, “And you believed him? The man who tied you up and tried to kill you?”

Eileen’s mouth tightened. “You’re not saying it’s a lie so why shouldn’t I believe him?”

“Lloyd has always been a chronic asshole, plain and simple. I have never once been inappropriate with a single assistant and you should know this.”

She shook her head and stepped back. “I’m tired and they’re saying I have to go to the hospital for a doctor’s report —“

“I’ll come with you.”

“No,” she said a little too loudly. “Just stop.” Eileen shook her head irritably. “Thanks for saving me, but I have to go.”

Holden folded in his lips, but said