Chapter Forty Four

Opening her eyes in the morning, Jayme felt the stiffness in her entire body from sleeping on the cold, damp, hard ground. She could barely move and her injury was sore. As she moved her arm, she instantly remembered she was handcuffed to Scott. Her movement woke him up. Sitting up, Scott looked at her.
“I have to pee.” Jayme said.
“Ok.” Scott simply said and reached into his pocket. He pulled the key from his pocket and unlocked her handcuff.
Jayme looked at him as she rubbed her wrist. “Thank you.” She said as she stood up and walked toward the door of the tent. Unzipping the door, she opened the canvas material and stepped outside. Around the side of the tent, she pulled down her pants and squatted down, urinating on the ground. She could hear Scott inside the tent talking to Bella and Jayme knew she was awake.
Reentering the tent, Jayme went directly to Bella and sat down before her. Changing her on the stack of blankets were she had slept, Jayme dug out a diaper, wipes and a clean outfit from the diaper bag. “I’m glad you thought to pack warm and cool clothes.” Jayme said as she attached the tabs on the diaper.
Slipping the shirt over Bella’s head, Jayme was gentle while dressing and handling her. When she finished dressing her, Jayme held her against her chest and offered Bella her breast. Bella began to eat eagerly. Scott just sat with his arms and legs crossed, watching them. To him, it was the greatest view of his life.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps just outside the tent. Assuming it was a wild animal, Scott grabbed his rifle. Pushing open the canvas flap of the door with the barrel of his rifle, Scott looked outside. He saw nothing and moved to step out. Instantly, someone grabbed the barrel of his rifle and deflected it, trying to remove the gun from his hands.
Coming completely out the door, Scott saw Jim as he struggled to keep the rifle. But Jim pulled the rifle away from Scott and threw it in the woods. “Fight me like a man.” Jim said.
Jayme could hear the fight as it started between the two men. All she knew was that it was the only chance she had of getting away. As she grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Bella, Jayme saw the keys laying on the sleeping bag. She grabbed them and shoved them in her pocket before stepping out of the tent.
Seeing the two men fighting, she knew they were occupied as she took off running toward the car, carrying Bella. Just as they both saw her bolt towards the car, they continued to fight until they realized she was escaping. They both ran after her.
With shaky hands, she unlocked the door and jumped inside, locking the door again. Her hands were still shaky as she shoved the key in the ignition. Jim picked up a rock and smashed the window just as she put the car in drive and stomped on the gas. Barely having time, Jim reached inside and grabbed a handful of Jayme’s hair. But he was too late, Jayme sped away from them, continuing down the trail.
Watching in the mirror as they both got smaller with the distance she was putting between them, Jayme continued to drive while the tears rolled down her cheeks. She was happy and terrified at the same time. She didn’t know her way out of the woods and the trail seemed to go on for miles without a road or highway. But she wouldn’t stop.
Looking in the rear view mirror, Jayme could no longer see them. Then a stop sign came into view. She knew it was a road. Coming to the stop sign, she saw the pavement, along with the bright white and yellow lines. With no traffic coming, she turned left, traveling south. Within half an hour, she came across a small town.
Finding the local police department, Jayme parked and carried Bella as she went inside. “Can I help you?” She heard a woman’s voice from behind the glass window.
“I want to report a kidnapping.” Jayme said.
“Who was kidnapped? One of your children?” The female officer asked.
“No, it was me, and my child. We just escaped.” Jayme said.
“Oh.” The woman said and stood up. “Follow me around to that door.” she pointed.
Meeting the woman at the door, she let Jayme inside and led her to a small room with one big window that Jayme knew was a window to another room. “Have a seat, I’ll get someone.” the woman said and closed the door behind her.
Jayme took the time to finish feeding Bella. But she hadn’t finished before a tall, skinny man walked in wearing a business suit. “Hi, I’m detective Johnson. Would you like to tell me what happened?”
“Perhaps you’ve heard of my name, Jayme McNally, or the name Jim Taylor?”
“Yes, are you talking about the Jim Taylor from Silver creek, said to have murdered his wife and her lover?”
“Yes. I’m Jayme McNally. Scott McNally, my husband, was the man supposedly killed by Jim. Scott’s not dead. He kidnapped my daughter and I, brought us out to the middle of nowhere where there is a tent in the forest. I escaped when Jim showed up. They fought and we got away. I need you to contact the Hillman Sheriff’s department and talk with Under Sheriff Rex Adams. Let him know where I’m at and he can fill you in.”
“Under Sheriff Rex Adams? From Hillman?” Detective Johnson clarified.
“Yes.” Jayme said.
Detective Johnson picked up the in-house phone and dialed an internal number to be connected with the Hillman Sheriff’s Department. Hearing an answer, he asked specifically for Under Sheriff Adams. After a long pause, Detective Johnson began speaking with Rex, clarifying the information that Jayme gave him. Rex informed him he would be coming to get her and would be there in approximately an hour.
As Jayme waited for Rex, they offered her food and drinks, coffee. She accepted a burger and soft drink, sitting in the lobby eating it. It seemed to be the longest hour she had ever had to wait through but Rex finally walked through the door. Jayme jumped up and hugged him. After speaking with Detective Johnson, Rex and Jayme left the department.
As Rex left the parking lot, he reached over and took her hand. “What happened, Jayme? Where did you go? To that motel?”
“No, I mean yes, I was heading to that motel, but I didn’t make it. He caught me on the street before I reached the hotel. He shoved me in the trunk and just drove away.”
“I got to that motel and you were nowhere to be found. I panicked. I didn’t know what happened. I just knew you were not there. And I didn’t hear from you by the end of the night. I couldn’t sleep last night…”
“I’m sorry, Rex, you know I had to go… it was Bella.”
“I know… I know… but I’ve got to tell you, Jayme, they found another body.” Rex said.
“What!” Jayme was astounded. “Who?”
“His name was Thomas Archer. We believe he may have also been involved with Kelly Taylor. He was found only a few hundred feet from where Kelly’s body was found.”
“Oh my God… Jim?”
“It hasn’t been proven but we think so, yes. He’s been there for about four months.” Rex said. “We’re investigating to find out who he was. All we know so far, is that he was twenty three and not married. No children. His mother identified the body, they were both from Twin Rapids, about thirty minutes from Silver Creek.”
“How and when did they discover the body?” Jayme was curious.
“It was a couple hiking on a trail. One of them stepped away from the trail to go to the bathroom, that’s when they discovered the body. It was yesterday afternoon. He had been missing from Twin Rapids for about four months.”
“Oh, wow.” Jayme was at a loss for words.
“So, Jayme, how did you get away this time?” Rex asked.
“Yeah, this is a good one…” Jayme started. “It was this morning… he was handcuffed to me all night. This morning, he took them off so I could go outside and pee. We were in a tent, in the forest. But anyways, I went back into the tent and was feeding Bella when we heard noises outside the tent. Scott grabbed his rifle and went out to see what it was. But it was Jim. They started fighting and I took Bella and ran the hell out of there. I had Scott’s car keys so I got in his car and drove it to, wherever I was.”
“Wow. Jim found you in the woods?”
“Yes. I have no idea how, but yes, he found us. Scott told me that Jim was an old business partner of his who accused him of stealing a lot of money. But it was Kelly…”
“Really? I wonder why we didn’t discover that in our investigation.”
“Just like you didn’t discover that Scott was not the one having the affair with Kelly. It was someone else… perhaps the man whose body was just found?” Jayme speculated.
“Scott told you all that?” Rex asked.
“Yes. He still swears he didn’t have an affair with Kelly.”
“Do you believe him?” Rex asked.
“I don’t know.” Jayme said. “It was the police that informed me. But they didn’t know about her other lover, so…”
“If she had another lover. We never found anything in the investigation to lead us to believe she had an affair with anyone other than Scott.” Rex said.
“Then he’s lying to me.” Jayme said.
“I’m sorry, Jayme…” Rex said, feeling badly for her.