A/N: Please forgive all of my mistakes and remember that I own nothing mentioned in this story that is copyrighted.

28

Many people have eaten here, and almost all have survived. Emphasis on ALMOST.

—SIGN IN MERCEDES PORTER's KITCHEN

She didn't want to arrest Sam, but it was either arrest him and force him to go to the hospital or release the tears she'd been holding in and beg him to go to the hospital which she knew would not work and no one needed to see that. By officially arresting him, the sheriff's office would be obligated to take him to urgent care whether he wanted to go or not.

He bent down to her and whispered. "You can't be serious about arresting me, Em."

She was serious and even though she would rather turn her head and kiss him into submission as she whispered promises of an inappropriate nature if he would just go to the urgent care center, while Cedes was sure that that approach would actually work, they had a crowd of onlookers, not to mention the fact that her deputies might lose respect for her if she tried to seduce an injured victim in the middle of a criminal investigation.

Then again …

She leaned in closer to him and breathed in his aftershave, soap, and maybe a hint of cologne and whispered in his ear, "I am dead serious."

Careful not to hurt him, she slipped the cuffs over his injured hands, baseball cap and all, and tightened them just enough, so they wouldn't fall off of his wrists.

"You really don't want to do this, Em."

"You were severely injured defending a friend who was being attacked and then got hit by a truck, Sam. Just go and get a couple of X-rays and then Hunter will release you from custody."

"Me?" Hunt asked, surprised that he was taking him there instead of Cedes.

Sam, not willing to give up, insisted, "They'll probably be out of state by the time I am released."

"I doubt it. Jay called it in so every CHIPs is looking for that truck." She took him and led him toward Hunter's cruiser, surprised that he didn't resist her. "If you cooperate, I will personally go talk to Wes Fahey." Wes Fahey, the owner of the Quick-Mart, would not appreciate her late night visit, but at that point, she really didn't care.

"I am sure Fahey saw something earlier," Sam said. "He's just too much of a coward to get involved."

"Don't you fret, I know how to get information from Fahey." Sam wasn't wrong about the man he was a coward, but she could handle him.

Sam stopped walking and the look on his face told her more than any of his words could have. Whoever Mike Chang was, he meant more to Sam than most of the Menkins clan. Since he was only biologically related to two of them, she could understand that.

"I need to come with you; I have been deputized, so it would be legal."

How could she forget his so-called deputy status? "We can discuss the case more after the X-rays are back and the doctors release you." The bleeding in his eye was getting worse. The entire white was now blood red and the swelling around his orbital socket was darkening to a startling array of purples and reds and blacks.

"You should know that one of the attackers is probably already dead."

"How did he die?"

He pressed his mouth together, clearly reluctant to say anything. After a moment, he relented, "After I took his knife away, I severed his femoral artery. He will probably bleed out in minutes, so they'll have to ditch his body. They were headed north, so they'll pull off the highway and dump the body then get back on. That gives us time to find them before they leave the state."

The fact that everything he said shocked her to the core had to show on her face. She stood speechless a solid minute as Martinez and Jay moved closer, flanking Hunter. They must have overheard.

"Chang would have stabbed the man in the same place had he not been drugged. He would have stabbed them all, and they would all be dead. Not just the one I got. They'll have to burn the truck, too, to get rid of fingerprints and DNA, but that can wait until they get to Oregon."

Cedes held up a hand to slow him down, then said, "First, are you sure you got his femoral artery?" When he didn't deign to reply, she continued, "Okay, how do you know they were headed to Oregon? They could have gone either way once they got to the interstate."

"Trust me, they went north," he insisted.

"Again, how do you know that for sure?"

He only repeating himself. "They went north."

Cedes wanted to curse his stubborn ass out or arrest him for real for obstruction, which was well within her rights. "We're on the same side, Sam."

He lowered his head and studied her. "These cuffs say differently."

She didn't bother to argue with him.

"Let me go and get them before the trail gets too cold."

"Call it in, Hunt with the information that Menkins just gave us. Make sure the state troopers and CHIPs know one of them is seriously injured. We need to call all the hospitals within a hundred-mile radius."

"They won't go to a hospital. He was dead before they hit the interstate."

She opened the back door of Hunter's cruiser, but he stood his ground. "Uncuff me."

She ignored him, and asked Hunter with a wicked smile on her face, "Do you still have that tranquilizer gun?"

Hunter returned her smile and was about to answer when a familiar voice drifted toward them. "Sam?"

They all turned to see Gina in the middle of their crime scene.

"Gina, what are you doing here?" Cedes asked her daughter after running to her and seeing the abandoned bike Gina had ridden.

Gina only had eyes for Sam, her face wet with tears. "I heard what happened on the scanner."

Behind her Malcolm Jones' SUV stopped kicking up dirt and rocks and both he and his wife, got out and hurried over, their journey coming to a sudden stop thanks to the crime scene tape. They knew enough to wait on the other side of it.

"I'm sorry, Cedes," her dad said. "We heard that a male had been stabbed multiple times, and then Menkins's name came up, and she was out the door before we could stop her." He looked at Sam with a grin. "It seems the rumors of your demise have been greatly exaggerated." He gave him a once-over and corrected his statement. "Or at least just mildly exaggerated."

Sam nodded at him before giving his attention back to Gina. "I'm okay, Gee."

"I thought …" She started crying again this time in relief not grief.

He told her to come to him, and Gina ran to him and threw her arms around him.

Cedes didn't miss the wince from the impact of her body with his. Despite being in excruciating pain, he lifted his cuffed hands over her head and returned her hug.

"I'm okay Gee, I promise."

"I thought you were the one who was stabbed," she said between sobs.

Their strong connection hit Cedes in the chest. Even the fact that he was covered in the blood of, quite possibly, three men didn't convince her to separate the two of them.

Her chest tightened again, this time for a different reason. Sam Evans was even more enigmatic then he was earlier. The fact that he'd saved her daughter's life when she was seven only added to his appeal.

Cedes' parents stood watching and for some reason found the scene as touching as Cedes had. For reasons unknown to Cedes, they seemed to love and approve of Sam since he was a boy. But even after everything, there were still so many questions Cedes had about his past. Or, more to the point, her past and his possible involvement in her abduction and pregnancy.

Now, they had DNA evidence that might tie his dead uncle and an accomplice to her abduction. Sander Menkins' case was still unsolved although they had had several confessions. The first, Stacey, the second, Sam, and then one of Sam's cousins confessed, after him his plant manager, and then his barber. Hell, even Gunther, the town flasher, confessed.

So far, at least nine people had confessed to killing Sander "Uncle Sandy" Menkins.

She even had Sam's DNA to cross check it with the blood found on the deceased Menkins' clothing, but after four months she had not gotten any results. She understood why. A cold case was hardly a top priority, but she knew people. She could have rushed the job. The question was why hadn't she?

She walked over to Sam and Gina.

"Mom, why is Sam in handcuffs?" her daughter asked, then looked at Sam. "Why are you in handcuffs?"

"You have to ask your mother why."

"Mom!" She screamed and stepped toward Cedes and asked under her breath, "Why is Sam in handcuffs?"

"Because he is being arrested," Cedes whispered back.

"Why?"

"Because he refuses to go to the hospital."

"So you're arresting him?"

Cedes smiled with the knowledge that she was about to win this particular argument.

"First, he stopped an attempted murder by fighting off the three knife-wielding assaulters unarmed. And then he got hit by a truck when he tried to stop the assaulters from getting away because, apparently, he thinks he can stop a half-ton truck with his two-hundred-pound body. So now we know two things." Cedes raised an index finger. "One, he's bad at math, a skill you would think a distiller needed." Her middle finger joined the first one to form a V. "And two, he most likely has internal injuries and is bleeding to death on the inside."

Gina dropped her jaw and shifted her outrage from her mother to Sam where it rightfully belonged.

"I just want him to have some X-rays done to be safe, and Sam is not only refusing to go to the hospital, he is also insisting on going after the perps. Alone."

"You so deserved to be under arrest,"

A smile spread across Sam's face. "Traitor."

She insisted that he get inside of Hunter's SUV.

He leaned down, kissed her on the cheek, and finally did as he was told.

It was Cedes' turn to be shocked. If she'd known that was all it would take, she would have called Gina to the crime scene half an hour ago.

He climbed inside tand sat back, but Gina wasn't finished. She went to him and kissed his stubbled cheek. "Thank you."

The look he gave her, the adoration in his eyes, took Cedes' breath away.

Gina stepped down and offered her mom an apologetic hug. "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to contaminate your crime scene."

"It's okay, ladybug," she said, even though in some places she could lose her job for this. She looked at her parents. "You have my permission to use duct tape to tie her up and lock her in the basement if she ever tries this stunt again."

Her dad only laughed, but her mom was still looking on dreamily, like she was in love with Sam Evans, Cedes fought a knee-jerk reaction to stake her claim. Mostly because her mom loved her father but as she always said she wasn't blind. And because she had no claim on the man.

They'd certainly never been an item. The one time they almost hooked up, they were just kids and he was half-drunk on his family's moonshine.

But she'd been back four months and, apart from her first week on the job in which he helped with a missing persons case, she'd only seen him a few times. And most of those were from a distance. Gina visited his nephew, Stevie, but even when Stevie came over to their house, Sam was never the one to pick him up.

Cedes helped her dad put Gina's bike in the back of his SUV, then watched as her family drove off. While Hunter was talking to one of the onlookers, Cedes walked over to Sam.

Even with his eyes closed, he still sensed her presence. "You're still not forgiven," he said without opening his eyes.

"I don't think I asked to be."

She watched him for a while, then said, "I saw the wince."

"What are you talking about?"

"The wince you made when Gina hugged you."

"Wince is not what I did."

"What would you call it then?"

"Flinch."

"And how is flinch a better word than wince?"

"A wince is a facial expression. I've spent years perfecting my poker face. I never wince."

"Fine. Why'd you flinch?"

"I'm sore."

"Because you have internal injuries."

"Mm, I don't think so."

"You were hit by a truck."

"You hit harder."

That stopped her. She paused for a moment to take him in, then asked, "Do I?"

"And it hurts worse."

"If you two are finished flirting," Hunt said from behind her, "I'll get him to the urgent care center before you start making out. You know, since he could die from massive internal bleeding any second now."

Cedes took one more look at him, then stepped back. "Thanks, Hunter. I'm going to talk to Fahey. Surely, he saw something if that argument at his store was as bad as everyone said." She looked around, spotted her target, and called out to McCarthy.

McCarthy hurried over. "Yes, boss?"

"If you have everyone's names and contact info, you can let them go. The forensic team from Eureka will be here soon. Hang out and make sure they search the entire area. I want every speck of trash collected and photos of everything, no matter how small. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"You can depend on me."

"Thank you, Deputy," she said.

She headed towards Hunter as he was just climbing into the SUV.

"Make sure he stays there, Hunt! I want at least four X-rays, five blood tests, and a sonogram!"

"You got it, boss!" He closed his door and eased onto Main toward the Lima Springs Urgent Care Center.

Cedes was busy fighting the urge to glance at Sam as Hunt drove past when she heard a voice. "Sheriff," the woman said, trying to get Cedes's attention. "Sheriff Porter?"

Cedes turned to a gaudily dressed young woman, and here Cedes thought she'd had it bad for Sam Menknins.

"Sheriff, I saw the whole thing," she said.

"Did you give your statement to one of my deputies?"

"Oh, yes. Of course. Mason asked me to come in tomorrow and give an official statement. We went to school together. But you need to know that Sam Evans didn't stab that man."

"We know, Miss … ?"

"Angel. Angel Dust." When Cedes's lids rounded in surprise, she said, "I know. My parents are hilarious. Which is why I'm having it legally changed. Getting a job is a bitch. I usually go by Angie."

How could she not know there was a woman in town named Angel Dust? Cedes was starting to like the girl despite herself.

"He was trying to help his friend. He didn't do anything wrong."

"We know. He's not in any trouble."

"Oh. I just thought … I mean, you arrested him, didn't you? I just wanted you to know he didn't do it. I saw the men who did."

"Can you ID them?"

"No. Probably not. I'm sorry. I couldn't really see their faces. The one who did the stabbing wore a baseball cap and the other two wore beanies. Jeans. Dark T-shirts. The only thing I can tell you is that they were all in their late twenties, early thirties? All white with fairly dark hair."

Wondering if she should bring her in for an interview immediately before her memory faded as the alcohol evaporated from her system, Cedes looked around for Jay.

"He'd said goodbye to him, you know? The guy. And then—"

"Wait, who said goodbye to whom?"

"Sam. We were, um, talking and the guy, his friend, he came outside and said, 'Later, Sammy,' and a few seconds after that we hear a scuffle."

Sammy? She let that marinate on her tongue for a minute. Savored it. She'd never heard anyone call him that.

"We look over and these men are beating the guy to a pulp and they have him on the ground kicking him. Sam takes off like a rocket toward them, but before he can get there, one of them pulls out a knife." Her eyes glazed over. "It happened so fast. They stabbed that guy over and over in a matter of seconds."

Cedes put a hand on her arm to steady her. "What happened next?"

"Sam tackled the guy with the knife and the others joined in. I can't believe he didn't get stabbed." She focused on Cedes, pleading with her to understand. "He was so fast, Sheriff."

"The man with the knife?"

"No, Sam. So adept. Like the heroes you see in movies? I've never seen anything like it. He took them down like it was nothing even though they got in some good swings and one landed a kick to his face."

Every muscle in Cedes' body tensed at the thought of someone kicking Sam in the face. Or anywhere else for that matter.

"He disarmed two of them and got up, but they were already running for their truck. He caught one, though, and he must've really hurt him, because the guy screamed and crumpled to the ground. That's when they hit Sam with the truck." She squeezed her eyes shut as the memory washed over her. "He got to the driver's side door and tried to open it, but the guy locked it, so Sam hit the window." Her gaze drifted back to Cedes. "With his fist. He shattered it. He was just so … so determined. So angry. So …" Her gaze turned wistful. "So powerful."

Cedes understood the infatuation all too well. The fact that the girl was outside with Sam and they were, um, talking, didn't surprise her. Angie was a beauty despite her unfortunate name. Sam would be crazy not to hook up with her.

She forced the green-eyed monster back to its corner. She had no right to be jealous. With his looks, she could only imagine all the women he'd been with over the years. All the women who'd thrown themselves at him. Jealousy was such a useless emotion. Despite that fact, she was, and it irked her to no end.

"How about we sit down?"

Cedes realized the young woman was in shock. Who wouldn't be after witnessing an attack like that?

Cedes called out for Hank, the EMT. The guy was packing up. He tossed a bag into Scarlet the Great and hurried over.

"Can you get her to urgent care, Hank?"

"I'm okay," she repeated before her leg collapsed. Cedes caught her again and righted her the best that she could. It was like trying to hold up a tower of Jell-O.

When she swayed again, the EMT was there to catch her that time, Cedes insisted. "Urgent care, please, Hank."

He nodded and took the girl by the arm to lead her to the fire truck. His partner rushed over to help him.

"Wait a minute," Cedes said, stopping them.

They turned back to her.

"One of the assailants wore a baseball cap?"

The girl looked up in thought and nodded. "Yes. Blue or black, I think, with green on it? Maybe blue? It was dark, so I can't be certain."

Cedes gritted her teeth. "Oh, I can. That bastard."

"I'm sorry?" she said, but Cedes whirled around and ran toward her cruiser.

She should have known why Sam was clutching that baseball cap so tightly.

No wonder he knew they were going north. It was a Seahawks cap. The assailants were clever enough to drive a truck, probably stolen, with Ohio plates, but not clever enough to ditch the one identifying piece of evidence that could lead the authorities in their general direction?

Of course, the cap could have been planted to throw law enforcement off the trail as well, but for some reason, Sam knew it wasn't, and she wanted to know why.

She climbed into her cruiser and called Hunter.

He picked up and said only two words. "He's disappeared."

She slammed her lids closed. "Put a BOLO on his ass."

"You got it."

"He'll be heading north on the interstate."

"Okay."

"And extend an invitation to whoever finds him to use a Taser first and to not bother asking questions."

A knock sounded on her window. She lowered the phone and turned to see Deputy McCarthy. "Boss!"

She rolled down her window.

"The Nevada corrections board called," she said, handing her a note. "They were supposed to get this to you earlier today, but someone dropped the ball. Sounds important."

Cedes opened the note. Blinked. Read it again. Thought about it. And read it a third time, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

At one time, Sam Evans had four uncles. All of them, along with his father, were members of the infamous Southern Dixie Mafia. Sam's father, for all intents and purposes, died in a car accident, and his uncles splintered. One was murdered—or killed in self-defense, the jury was still out—on a mountaintop fifteen years ago. One died of cancer. And one, Cooter, was alive and well, unfortunately, and living at the Menkins compound a few miles outside of town.

The fourth one took an extended vacation courtesy of the Nevada correctional system. Specifically, Nevada State Prison Complex in Genoa, about an hour north of Reno.

It would seem that the same uncle, Bryan Ryan Menkins, wanted Cedes to come to Nevada immediately. He's dying, the note said, and has important information about your abduction.

Her abduction. Important information about her abduction. Those words were like a sucker punch to her belly. She read them three more times before looking back at the crime scene.

There was no word on the victim, Mike Chang's condition. The forensic team would be there soon, and she would only be in their way if she stayed. Martinez could go talk to Wes Fahey about the argument Chang got into that afternoon and gather any surveillance footage the man had. The state police were on the lookout for the unsubs. As was Sam himself, most likely.

Nothing was stopping her. If she left now, she could be in Genoa by morning. That familiar desire to know more about those five days made her tummy tie itself in knots.

Could Sam's Uncle Bryan really know what happened? Was Sam's uncle Sandy Menkins really her abductor or was his murder in that vicinity simply a coincidence? And what, if anything, did Sam have to do with it?

Cedes heard Hunter's voice and realized she was still on the phone. "What's going on, boss?"

She lifted the phone to her ear. "You're not going to believe this."

"I don't know about that. I'm pretty gullible, apparently."

Realizing she might need someone to take turns at the wheel of the fifteen-hour round trip, she said, "Pack your toothbrush. We're going to Genoa."

"Italy?"

"Nevada."

"One day we will take a trip that involves a passport at some point."