her side so she could stare at the fire. Her mind was filled with
questions. Cole had sounded so certain Rebecca was the witness, and
she couldn't figure out why.
"Cole? " "Now what? " "I saw the man on the roof of the building in
Rockford Falls. . . . He killed Mr. York, and I tried to shoot him,
but I dropped the gun."
"I remember. What about him? " "I've seen him before, and I
recognized him." He let out a weary sigh. "Where'd you see him? "
"In the bank. His name is Johnson. Mr. Johnson. I watched him kill
those innocent people." CJ he told him everything.
She remembered every word that was spoken, every laugh, every scream.
As she related the sequence of events to him, beginning with her untied
shoelace, she remained dry-eyed and calm. Too calm, Cole thought, for
her voice was completely devoid of emotion. He didn't ask her any
questions, and when she was finished, she got up and walked to the
lake.
He didn't know if she wanted to be alone or not, but it didn't matter
to him because he was compelled to go to her. She stood with her arms
folded at her waist, her stance was rigid, and when he tried to put his
arm around her, she jerked away.
"Don't." Ignoring her protest, he moved in front of her, blocking her
view of the lake, and forcefully pulled her into his arms.
"I don't need you to comfort me, " she said angrily, and it was the
first show of emotion he'd heard since she'd told him the truth. He
was glad of it and continued to hug her tightly.
"But I need to, " he said softly.
She struggled to get away, and Cole finally let go.
"You don't understand. I was such a coward. I should have done
something, but I didn't do anything. I let it happen. I watched. "
She took a deep breath in an attempt to control herself and put her
hand out to ward him off when he took a step toward her.
"Okay, I'll agree with you if you want me to, " he said. "You should
have done something to prevent it. Now, tell me, what should you have
done? " She shook her head. "I don't know. I was so scared I
couldn't think. My God, when they first rushed into the bank, I was
worried about my stupid money. I should have . . . " "What? " he
persisted. "What could you have done? You could have died with
Franklin and the others. Is that what you feel guilty about? That you
survived and they didn't? Do you think you should have crawled out
from your hiding place and knelt down with the others and let them kill
you too? " "No, but maybe . . . if I had screamed, someone outside
might have heard . . . " "Enough." He roughly pulled her into his
arms again and was pleased because she didn't fight him this time.
"You couldn't have done anything."
"You would have, " she whispered against his chest.
"Yeah, maybe I would have, " he allowed. "If I had had a gun, but I
would have died. I couldn't have gotten all of them."
"But you would have tried. I didn't."
"Did you have a weapon to use against all of them? " "No, butţ" "There