Holding the Truth

by Calle J. Brookes

  Chapter 110

  Dr. Alvaro had stitches over his eye, opposite his scar. It just added to his rough pirate appeal, Bailey thought, as she limped into the hospital at Clay’s side. She hadn’t wanted to come to the hospital, but Clay had insisted. The instant they’d crossed into an area with a cell signal, Clay dialed Jeremy.

  She’d called Jake. He and Liam were fine. He was still trying to find his father.

  It wasn’t like Bert to not check in. Bailey tried again while waiting in the small exam room at Barratt County Gen. The hospital was obviously overrun. She hadn’t hurt herself that badly. Not so much that she couldn’t work.

  Clay was especially needed. He’d called the mayor. Fifteen minutes later, a bulletin had gone out that canceled search-and-rescue that had been called out for them. Clay’s TSP Tahoe had been found earlier that morning, at least.

  But it was reported to be a total loss.

  She didn’t care. She wanted to get back to Value and find Bert.

  And check on a few other people she’d called. She had several friends from W4HAV who had been injured. Some severely.

  Bailey was sitting on the exam table when Dr. Alvaro and Clay both walked in. “Well? What’s wrong? When can I get back to work?”

  “Under the current circumstances, I’m leaving that decision up to you and the sheriff. I know it’s every hand on deck now.” Alvaro took the stool next to the exam table and rolled closer. He indicated for her to raise her knee. He poked around on it for a minute. “You’ve done some damage. The swelling should go back down in a few weeks. Nothing is broken, but it’s more than a strain. I want you off the leg for at least a week. Use crutches. Ice and heat when necessary. Anti-inflammatories. I’m sure you know the drill. You’ve had some damage to this knee before?”

  “Yes.” When she’d been in that mine with Kyra, forced to crawl on her hands and knees in the dark and mud. She shivered. She wasn’t going to think about that now. “I’ve dealt with it before.”

  “Then you’ll know what to do. Injured anywhere else?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Then you’re free to go. We’ll get you a pair of crutches and send you on your way. Use them. Or you could be facing a few weeks of PT and more extensive treatment.”

  He nodded at her and Clay, then started out the door. Before he left, he looked back at her. “You and Dr. Netorre, you’re friends?”

  “Yes. Not close, but we’re friends.” And Nikkie Jean was one of the ones who had been hurt by the storm.

  “Have you heard from her? She’s ok?”

  Bailey shook her head. There was something in his eyes... “I don’t know. All I heard was that she was at the hospital where she works. That’s it.”

  “Thanks. I’ll go there when I get a chance.”

  Chapter 111

  Bailey was on her crutches when they made it into the Value TSP post. Clay was going to hit the shower in the basement first chance he got. After Bailey.

  But it wasn’t Veri who first greeted them. It was Deb. The night dispatcher. She sent a worried look at Clay. “Veri hasn’t checked in yet. I don’t know where she is. I came in to see if I could help, and Jeremy told me he didn’t know where she was.”

  Clay’s heart froze. Veri was special to him. And she always would be. “I’ll head over to her place now.” Veri lived closer to the northern edge of the county.

  Close to the southern side of Finley Creek.

  He hadn’t looked at the maps yet, but she would have been right in the path of destruction.

  “I’m going with you,” Bailey said. “And I need to go by the house, see if Bert’s there. He’s not answering any of the phones, and Jake’s not heard from him yet.”

  “We’ll go to Veri’s first, then take Bracker’s Mill if it’s open, down to Bert’s. See if the phones are out. Or if he’s turned up somewhere.”

  Bailey nodded. Her worry was right there on her face. “That’s probably it. Bert’s not stupid. He wouldn’t have been out in a storm like this. He’d seek shelter.”

  Clay ran a hand up her arm, just to comfort. “I have some calls to make. I’m leaving in twenty. Shower. Grab something out of the vending machines—besides M&Ms—and we’ll go.”

  Bailey hurried off as fast as she could on her crutches, worry for Bert and Veri on her face.

  Clay waited until she was out of sight. Then he made his calls. There was a reason Bert hadn’t checked in yet—or Veri—and he was afraid of what it meant.

  If they were out there hurt somewhere, he needed to know. But the first places he was checking were the local hospitals. Just in case.

  Chapter 112

  Veri shivered and rocked and hoped that someone was out there looking for them. It would be Clay, no doubt. Or Jake. No doubt Jake was getting someone out to find his father now. Never mind that they’d been trapped in her basement for the last fifteen hours.

  She tried to bite back the panic. They had food. They had plenty of water. They had blankets and even soap and toothpaste. She wasn’t a fool. She’d kept her basement well-stocked on the off chance this very event happened.

  Bert had explored a bit and been able to make them a small path around the debris. Enough to get to some of her dry supplies. Stale cheese crackers had tasted better than filet mignon after all those hours.

  They’d talked. Most of those hours had been talking.

  Veri had napped in Bert’s arms, smelling him surrounding her. Feeling his warmth around her.

  She’d heard meowing off and on throughout the day. The sounds of a hungry cat above them. Sacha was up there and mad that she hadn’t had her breakfast yet.

  It was a small miracle—but one she had needed.

  His arms had held her through the night. Veri had listened to his heartbeat. Even when the roar of the wind had come and drowned out every other sound, she had tried to focus on his heartbeat. And his arms.

  It had been a long time since she’d been held in strong arms like that.

  “Come here, Veri. We’re not getting out until someone gets us out. But they’ll be coming for us soon, I can promise you that. We just got to be patient.”

  Veri curled up in his arms again and just waited. Now all they had was each other, and the basement walls around them.

  He stood. Before she knew it, he had those arms wrapped around her again. “We can’t sit here worrying, Veri. Nothing good will come of it.”

  Veri threw herself against his chest and clung. Bert covered her lips with his own, and just held her.

  Chapter 113

  Very few things scared Clay anymore. Something happening to the few people he cared about topped the list. His deputies, the cousins he had on his father’s side, Jake and Micah and Kyra.

  Bert. Bailey.

  And Verity Smalls. She was one of the few people in the world who had ever cared about him. He’d been in her home probably dozens of times. He knew his way around every inch of it.

  And it had been directly in the path of the storm.

  Veri’s place had been on his deputies’ lists to check out, but they were making their way over the properties in the area one by one. But Clay wasn’t going to wait around, not when he and Bailey could go directly there.

  If nothing was found at Veri’s place, they’d start heading toward the other houses in her area. They’d check for those in need of help, and look for Veri along the way.

  It had taken too damned long for them to get to her house. Mostly because of the storm debris that had littered the roads. He’d finally taken an old farm-to-market road that passed within a mile of her house before connecting to the main highway.

  He saw the destruction.

  And he knew.

  “Clay!” Bailey’s fear soaked into his. “That’s Bert’s truck!”

  He knew. He’d recognized the familiar old truck easily enough.

  But it was on its side, almost blocking Veri’s drive. He yanked the squad car to the edge of the road. “Stay
in the Tahoe.”

  “But—”

  “Stay. I can move a hell of a lot faster than you can right now.” And if Bert was hurt or dead in that truck, he wanted to protect her from what they were about to see.

  Clay ran to the truck. The driver’s side was facing down. He used his flashlight—it had a special tool on the back to break in a windshield if needed—to shine inside. It wasn’t dark out. He was looking for signs of blood.

  There weren’t any.

  The driver’s door lock was still engaged.

  No keys were in the ignition. The engine wasn’t running.

  He didn’t think Bert had been in the truck when it had been hit.

  So that meant he had to be inside somewhere. Sheltered.

  And the closest place was going to be Veri’s.

  ***

  Bailey fought back the panic. Bert’s truck had just compounded the worry she’d already felt. Bert would have contacted someone by now unless something was truly wrong. It had to be.

  And Veri would have been the same way. They wouldn’t just leave her and Clay hanging.

  She gasped and covered her mouth the instant they were close enough to see Veri’s home.

  What was left of it. The entire eastern side of the house was gone, caved in. Almost like a giant foot had stepped on it after dodging to miss it.

  It was just crumbled.

  Veri’s car was in the field behind the house as if she’d parked it there. But the fence beside it was untouched. There was no way a car could have driven through there.

  “We have to find them.”

  Clay grabbed the radio. “We’re going to need help to find them.”

  Bailey knew exactly what he meant. Because if they could have gotten out safely, Veri and Bert already would have.

  But he wasn’t about to leave her in the car.

  Chapter 114

  Bert heard the calls first. He shook the woman in his arms awake. “Veri, wake up, honey. They’re here.”

  He’d known people would come for them eventually. It had just been a matter of time. He’d been sitting there hoping they’d have enough supplies and not be exposed to too much debris where they were. He had no doubt the boy had been busy elsewhere in the county. The little crank radio hadn’t been much, but it had been enough to get them updates ever so often.

  To hear Clay and Bailey had been missing for a while.

  Veri had cried like a baby when they’d heard the younger two had been found.

  Bert had been able to do nothing more than rock her and hold her close.

  She’d fallen asleep in his arms.

  He’d felt important again. To her. Bert’s life was pretty damned fulfilling. He had his kids and Bailey, and his grandson. He had his work with the halfway house—and he’d occasionally help Chief Marshall with information regarding TSP corruption in the past.

  He had a purpose-driven life.

  But holding Veri in those long hours had made it clear that he had a long time left when he could more to a woman. A woman who mattered.

  And he wanted that woman to be her.

  “Stay right here.” Under the stairs, where he was sure she’d be the safest, until he figured out what to do next. He went up the steps as far as he could go. Yelled.

  It took a moment, but he eventually got an answer back.

  Help had arrived.

  Two hours later and he was lifting Veri over the last step and into the fire-and-rescue team’s arms. Then it was Bert’s turn.

  Clay was waiting topside. Bailey was hugging Veri. She had a tiny orange cat in her hands—no doubt the one Veri had been worried about.

  His favorite blond girl was on crutches, and she had a few bruises, but Clay had kept her safe.

  He looked at her over Veri’s head. “Jake and the baby?”

  “Fine. They are at W4HAV now. Jake and Celia Lake are helping Margo coordinate relocation efforts for South Boethe Street. It took a hard hit, and they’ve asked for volunteers.”

  “And the house?”

  “Some wind damage. Everything is fine there. The storm hit the northern most part of the county before swerving northwest and taking out a quarter of Finley Creek County,” Clay answered. “Sorry we couldn’t get to you sooner, but we are damned glad we found you.”

  “Yeah. It was getting a bit hot down there.”

  “Either of you hurt?” Clay asked.

  Bert just shook his head. Now that he knew his family was safe and he could breathe in the Texas sunshine again, he was just fine. “We’re fine. You go. Do what you have to do.”

  “I will. You take Bailey home.”

  Bert nodded. They’d get a ride from one of the responders into town.

  She protested, not surprising him in the least. “Clay...”

  “Go. Get some sleep. Be back in tonight. We’re running things round the clock, remember. We’ll need to spell Jeremy and Jeff soon.”

  “Only if you will.”

  “In a few hours, I will. Go.”

  Clay turned around and walked off toward the first responders.

  With her crutches Bailey couldn’t follow.

  No doubt the boy had been counting on it.

  Chapter 115

  Bailey felt half-human when she made it back to the TSP. Veri had set up shop in the small locker room. She’d even brought her cat. She was being stubborn. Veri, not the cat.

  But the cat had taken up residence underneath the conference table Bailey had commandeered at the start of the case, and was curled up in an evidence box with one of Bailey’s spare tank tops she’d had in her locker.

  Bert had been in a tizzy ever since. Something about Veri being afraid of changes and what the night before had meant. Bailey hadn’t asked. There was so much passion in what Bert was saying she wouldn’t even know where to begin.

  Apparently, something more than a storm had happened between Bert and Veri.

  Bailey understood where the older woman was coming from. Bert wanted things to change between them—Veri wanted the chance to make the choice.

  To not have the change forced on her. And a tornado was a pretty big inciting incident.

  Equal ground. Veri wanted to meet Bert on equal ground.

  Bailey knew that better than anyone.

  Clay had arrived at the house fifteen minutes before she was to leave. To get her.

  She’d asked him why in the jeep he was driving now. It would take a while for a new service vehicle to arrive for him to drive.

  His answer hadn’t been all that clear to her. Just that he’d wanted a few minutes with her outside of the TSP. And then they’d taken the long way in to town, checking each of the bridges between the Dillon ranch and Value. Not speaking much at all.

  Now he’d assigned her to ride with Jeremy. Up and down every county road starting from the northwestern corner until they made it to the far southeastern. And catalog any damage to the roads in between. And keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

  By the time she was back in the precinct, she was beyond exhausted, her leg hurt, and all of her bruises from the day before were reminding her that she’d been in a tornado.

  But Bailey didn’t say a word.

  When she made it past the dispatcher’s desk, Veri shoved a bag of food at her. “Eat. You and Clay both.”

  “Thanks, Veri.”

  “Go. I’d join you, but I’m waiting on a call from the insurance company. And my new cell phone hasn’t charged yet.”

  That’s what she and Bert had been arguing about when Bailey had last seen them—nine hours ago. Bert had shown up with a new cell phone and some clean clothes for Veri.

  Looked like Veri had lost the argument after all.

  Bailey found him in his office, in front of his desk. “Food. Veri provided.”

  “She didn’t have to do that.”

  “I know. But...I think she’s distracting herself.”

  “Probably. I heard she and Bert had a bit of an argument this mornin
g. Then she kissed him. Right in the middle of the lobby. It got people talking.”

  “Seriously? Whatever happened in her basement had more of an impact than I realized.”

  “I think it was just a catalyst. For a lot of people.” He caught her hand when she placed his dinner in front of him. Bailey let him.

  “Clay?”

  “We’re going to talk, Bailey. Real soon.” He released her fingers and grabbed the bag instead. “Once things are back to normal again. We have a lot to talk about.”

  “Do we?” She wanted to ask more. But the man still had her confused.

  Her plans hadn’t changed. She was certain that Finley Creek was the place for her—if it was still available after what had happened to the post in the storm—but the timeline wasn’t exactly clear at this point.

  But Clay...she and Clay were as confusing as they had always been.

  Only now, she half suspected he had made up his mind. And now she was just along for the ride.

  Chapter 116

  He knew he was pushing, but Clay had come to the realization that no matter how far he ran, he would always be looking back for her. Bailey was his kryptonite.

  She most likely always would be.

  He had finally accepted that. He was no different than any other Barratt male that had come before him. He understood Houghton so much better now.

  “What’s next?” Bailey ripped open the hamburger that he knew had been donated by the diner. “With the TSP, I mean. Personal stuff aside.”

  “Rescue efforts are still underway, but I think our county was lucky. All of our missing have been accounted for. We lost two people in the entire county. That’s damned lucky.”

  “I didn’t know about the second.”

  “John Schmidt. Tree fell on him.” He thought of the man he’d met twice that he could remember. Schmidt had kept to himself, never married, and been in his sixties. Jeremy and Ralley had found him during their grid search of every property in that section of the county. Schmidt had lived in a mobile home on the back corner of his elderly mother’s property.