Deadly Escape: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (Shelby Nichols Adventures Book 11)

by Colleen Helme

  “That makes sense. If it weren’t for my kids, I’d probably stay too.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll keep an eye on Chris,” he said. “You go home and take care of your kids. I’m sure they’re worried and could use their mother at a time like this.”

  “Okay, thanks. You’ll call if he needs me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thanks, Uncle Joey.” I gave him a heart-felt hug. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

  “See you then.” He stepped inside Jackie’s room, and I hurried back to Chris’s room to check on him one more time before I left. Standing beside his bed, I took his hand, assured to find it warm and strong. Then I kissed his forehead. “I’ll be back in the morning. Sleep well, and don’t forget that I love you.”

  I found the bag with his clothes inside, and took his wallet and car keys. I’d have Ramos drop me off at the restaurant so I could take the car home. With one lingering glance over Chris’s still form, I left his room and turned down the hall toward the nurses’ station.

  I told them I was leaving, but to call me if they needed me for anything. I picked up their competence and knew they would watch over him for me.

  I found Ramos in the waiting room. As I approached, he stood. “How are they?”

  “Doing better. The doctor thinks they’re both going to make it.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. My throat closed up, and I swallowed a couple of times to keep from crying. Under control, I continued, “Uncle Joey wants to stay a little longer. Can you take me back to the restaurant? Then I can get my car and go home, and you can come back for Uncle Joey.”

  “Of course. Let me call Ricky first. He’s outside.”

  “Why?”

  “Just in case Leo tries for Manetto here.”

  “Oh, right. I didn’t even think of that.” I waited while he put the call through and, a minute later, Ricky came inside.

  “Should I wait here?”

  “Yes,” Ramos said. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Ricky nodded and settled in. Ramos followed me out of the sliding doors and motioned me toward his car. On the drive to the restaurant, I listened to his thoughts, but they were shut up tight. I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, so I decided to break the ice. “What about Leo? Do you think Gerard will find him? Or should we start looking?”

  He glanced my way, then back to the road. “Someone will find him. I just don’t know who will get to him first.” He hoped it was him.

  “You know what? I kind of hope it’s you too because, right now, I want him dead. That probably makes me a bad person, but I don’t care. He needs to die. He’s a horrible person.” My lips began to quiver, and I clenched my jaw to keep the tears away.

  Ramos sent me a cautious glance and reached over and took my hand. “Chris is going to be fine, Shelby. Concentrate on that. Let me worry about Leo.”

  He was thinking it was his job, and he was damn good at it. A nagging regret that I was involved in this rushed over him. He hated to see me hurting, and he knew from first-hand experience how the poison of revenge could take over a soul. He didn’t want me to end up like that…like him.

  I closed my eyes and let out a sigh, knowing he was right. I didn’t want it to fester inside of me and turn me into a person like Leo, but right now I didn’t know how to stop it. The anger and hurt was too raw. “Does it ever go away?”

  He turned a grim smile my way. “It helps if they’re dead.”

  A chortle escaped my lips. “You’re probably right about that. But what do I do in the meantime?”

  “You go home to your kids, you take care of your husband, and you count your lucky stars that he’s still alive and that you’re all right.”

  I nodded. “I can do that.”

  We drove the rest of the way in companionable silence. At the restaurant, we pulled up beside my car, and I opened the door. “Thanks Ramos…for everything.”

  He did that chin-lift thing and waited until I got my car started. After I pulled away from the curb, he followed behind for a few blocks and then headed back to the hospital.

  At home, I opened the back door from the garage and stepped into the kitchen. It was a few minutes past eleven, but I could hear the TV in the basement, and I knew that the kids were still awake. It sounded like Josh was playing a video game.

  “I’m home,” I called. A moment later, both kids hurried up the stairs. Savannah threw her arms around me in a hug.

  “What happened?” she asked, pulling away.

  Now was the moment of truth. Did I tell them what really happened, or stick with the food poisoning story? Both of them waited, and I picked up that they wanted to know the truth.

  Even if it wasn’t pleasant, they expected me to tell them what was going on. They were already suspicious and, if I glossed it over, they’d know.

  Glancing between them, I made my decision and began. “There’s an escaped convict on the loose, and he tried to kill Uncle Joey tonight.” Through their gasps and questions, I managed to tell them an abbreviated version of the story.

  “So is Dad going to be all right?” Josh asked.

  “Yes. He only swallowed a small amount of the dessert, and they got him the treatment he needed in time. I need to go back to the hospital in the morning, but they should discharge him soon after that, and I can bring him home.”

  As that sank in, I picked up that Josh realized it must have been a close call. Then it hit him that both of us could have died. What about the others? “Did anyone die?”

  “Not any of Uncle Joey’s people, but one of the cooks, and a waiter died.”

  “Man…this guy’s bad. It’s a good thing you have premonitions. You saved a lot of people.”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s one good thing that happened.”

  “Are you going to help them find him?” Josh was thinking of the U.S. Marshalls, then he realized I’d probably help Uncle Joey first, but what would I tell the police? Could I help them both? Whoa, that was complicated. How would I do it?

  “Yes. I’ll help them.” I almost said ‘both of them’ but caught myself in time. “And we’ll catch him and put him away for good. Now I think it’s past time for you both to go to bed.”

  “Maybe we should stay home tomorrow,” Savannah suggested, thinking it was the perfect excuse to miss the history quiz she hadn’t studied for.

  “Uh…I don’t think you need to. Once Dad gets home, he’ll either need to rest, or he’ll probably have to do some work from the office that he missed. Either way, you can see him after school.”

  With a sigh of disappointment, she agreed. After a couple of cookies and some normal conversation, I sent them off to bed. I soon followed, but it took me a long time to get to sleep. So much had happened lately that I felt a little shell-shocked. I had to keep repeating in my mind that Chris would be fine, instead of hearing the panicked voice in my head saying that he’d nearly died.

  Then there was the pure hatred that I’d picked up from Leo’s thoughts. It was like a living thing, all smoky and dark, just waiting for the right time to strike. It was the same darkness I’d felt from Cypher.

  Now Cypher was dead and, if I had my way, Leo would be too. If the police got to him first, I hoped he resisted arrest, so someone would shoot and kill him. If Ramos got to him first, I didn’t have to worry about that, and it made me feel better.

  How much I wanted Leo dead should have scared me, especially after Ramos’s thoughts about revenge. Instead, I found it easier to sleep knowing his demise was coming soon. Did that make me a bad person? I hoped not, but for tonight, I wasn’t going to worry about it.

  Chapter 12

  Early the next day, I called Dimples to find out if Leo had been caught. He didn’t know any details about the search, but he did know that they hadn’t brought him in yet. He told me they’d been out all night and he wouldn’t know more until later. He promised to give me a call if he heard anything.

  I t
ried not to swear in front of my kids, but it was hard.

  “Did they catch him?” Savannah asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “Really? That’s dumb.”

  “I know, but don’t worry, they’ll get him.”

  After I got the kids off to school, a nagging sense of unease grew in the pit of my stomach. It hit me that Leo had seen me looking at him, and he’d heard me yell my warning about the poison. I was sure he couldn’t figure that one out, but I hoped it didn’t make him curious enough to focus on me. But would he? Just thinking about that sent little shivers down my spine.

  Worse, after arriving at Chris’s door, a sudden fear that something had happened to him during the night sent my pulse racing. With an effort, I shoved it away and opened the door. Relief poured over me to find him resting peacefully without any of those awful tubes in his throat or on his face.

  His eyes blinked open at the noise, and he sent me a smile. “You’re back.” His voice sounded a little raspy, and he grimaced with pain. “That…hurt.”

  “Do you want some water?” He nodded, and I found a cup with ice water and a straw on a tray beside the bed. I brought it to him, and he took several swallows before resting his head. “Better?”

  “Yeah. Thanks.”

  “How are you feeling? Has the doctor come in?”

  “Yeah. They took out the breathing tube a few hours ago. The doc came in around seven. He said everything looks good, so I can probably go home this morning.”

  Relief washed over me, and I sank into the chair beside his bed. “I was so scared.” I glanced at his handsome face with his deep brown eyes. His lips quirked up in a sweet smile, and I couldn’t imagine losing him.

  He moved over to make room for me on the bed and patted his hand on the empty space. “Come on up here.”

  Grinning, I climbed on the bed next to him and cuddled against his side. With his arm around me, and my head resting on his shoulder, I could finally breathe in peace again.

  “I have to admit that last night was pretty intense,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “But I’m fine now. Manetto came in earlier. I think he stayed all night. He told me Jackie was doing well, and they discharged her. They’ve already gone.”

  “Oh, that was fast.”

  “Yeah. I think he wanted her in a more secure place. After what happened, I can’t blame him. Do you know if they caught him? Leo?”

  “No. Not yet.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  “Yeah. Dimples is supposed to keep me updated.”

  “Good,” he said, wondering if I was going to help Deputy Gerard find Leo, and I chuckled. His lips turned down. “What’s so funny?”

  “You don’t have to worry that Gerard will ask me to help find Leo, because Gerard thinks I’m Leo’s accomplice.”

  “What the hell?”

  “I know.” I told him Gerard’s reasoning and tried to keep my anger in check.

  “I’ll bet Manetto didn’t like that.”

  “You can say that again.” I decided not to tell him that Uncle Joey was mad enough that he wanted to kill Gerard, and changed the subject. “So…what are your instructions for the day? Are you supposed to stay home and rest?”

  “Uh…yeah. I’m supposed to take it easy today and see how I feel tomorrow. The Doc didn’t want me to push it too fast, but to use my own judgement.” He sounded tired, and I knew that the poison had drained him more than he’d let on.

  “That’s a good idea.”

  A knock sounded at the door, and a nurse came inside. I picked up her surprise to find me on the bed with Chris, but she hid it with a smile. “Looks like you’re doing better.”

  I slid off the bed. “I’m Shelby, his wife.”

  “I thought so,” she said, smiling. She couldn’t blame me for wanting to cuddle with Chris. He was one fine-looking man, and he’d nearly died, so it was nice to know he had a wife who cared about him. “I’m here to get you checked out.”

  It took a couple of hours before Chris and I were finally able to leave. They insisted on taking him out in a wheelchair. Chris hated that, but since I had to get the car, he didn’t have much choice. On the way home, I told him that the kids knew the truth about his hospital visit.

  “Well, it’s probably for the best,” Chris agreed. “I wish they didn’t have to worry about stuff like this though.”

  “Me too. But now that they know Uncle Joey’s a mob-boss, it’s logical to tell them the truth. Look at it this way, it sure makes working for a mob-boss look bad, so maybe they won’t be tempted to work for him.”

  Chris’s lips pulled into a grim smile. “You’re thinking about Josh, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. I don’t want him to get involved, and since this happened to you, he might have second thoughts if Uncle Joey ever offers him a job.”

  “I sure hope that never happens.”

  “Me too.”

  We pulled into the garage, and Chris allowed me to help him inside, although he said he didn’t need it. It was after one in the afternoon, so I made us both a sandwich. After Chris had eaten, he could barely keep his eyes open. With some gentle prodding by me, he changed into some comfy clothes and lay down on our bed.

  The doctor had warned me that Chris still had lots of drugs in his system and he wasn’t to drive for twenty-four hours. He’d also said Chris would need to sleep it off, so it didn’t alarm me that he was so tired.

  After he was settled, I put a call through to Uncle Joey. “Hi Uncle Joey. I just wanted to know how Jackie was doing.”

  “She’s doing great. Sleeping at the moment. How’s Chris?”

  “He’s sound asleep too, but it’s so good to have him home.”

  “Yeah. I stayed the night at the hospital, so I’m a little tired myself. If I knew Leo had been captured, I might be able to get some rest. Have you heard anything?”

  “Not since they said he was still at large this morning. Will you be safe? What if he comes after you again?”

  Uncle Joey snickered. “I’d sure like him to try. I think Ramos is counting on it. Don’t worry about me; if he tries anything against me, it will be the last thing he ever does.”

  “Good. Well, I hope you get some rest.”

  “Thanks. We’ll talk later.”

  We disconnected, and I shook my head. How had Leo gotten away? It didn’t make any sense when they were so close to capturing him last night. If he wasn’t in the van, then how had he escaped? And where was he hiding out?

  Maybe it was time to pay Erika Reva another visit. If I spoke to her at home, she might be more relaxed, and I’d pick something up. I called Dimples, hoping he’d be willing to go with me.

  “Hey Shelby. How’s Chris doing?”

  “He’s going to be fine. In fact, I just brought him home.”

  “That’s good news. Hey…I don’t have anything on Leo yet.”

  “That’s okay. I just wondered if we could talk to Erika again. I think there might be more I could pick up from her. Can you go to her house with me?”

  “Sure, as long as Gerard doesn’t find out.”

  “Okay. I’ll come to the station. Why don’t we meet in the parking lot?”

  “Yeah. Just text me when you get here, and I’ll come out.”

  I checked on Chris and found him sleeping peacefully, so I left a note on the table, telling him I was running a few errands, and asking him to text me when he woke up. Since there was only a little more than an hour left before the kids got home, I wasn’t too worried about leaving him home alone.

  After driving to the police station, I texted Dimples that I was there. He came right out and motioned me toward his car. We pulled out of the parking lot, and I glanced his way.

  “Thanks for doing this with me. I’m kind of surprised that Leo got away last night. Do you know what happened?”

  “By the time they figured out that he wasn’t in the van, his trail had gone cold. They’re combing the area for clues, and the restaurant owner
supplied all of the video feed from the surveillance cameras. They’re looking through all of it for clues right now.”

  “Do they even know what he looked like last night?”

  “I don’t know. But they have his picture.”

  “What if he was wearing a disguise? Wouldn’t that throw them off?”

  “Maybe you’d better describe him to me.”

  I did, and Dimples shook his head. “It sounds like the only thing that’s different are the glasses. But I’m sure they can figure it out with their face-recognition software.”

  “Okay. Good.”

  We pulled to a stop in front of Erika’s house. At her door, wind chimes hanging from the porch caught the breeze and gave out a tinkling harmony to Dimples’s knock on the door. We waited a minute before he knocked again, this time a little louder. Relieved to hear steps coming toward the door, we waited for her to open it.

  Her brows lifted in surprise to see us standing there. She wore a tank top and exercise tights with a sweat band around her head. Her lips turned down. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hi Ms. Reva,” Dimples said. “We just have a couple of questions to ask you. May we come in?”

  She hesitated before pulling the door wide enough to let us in.

  “This looks like a great neighborhood,” I said. “Do you like it here?”

  “Yeah. It’s really nice.” She motioned us toward the couch and then sat down in the chair across from us. “What’s going on?” She’d heard all about last night’s events on the news this morning and couldn’t understand why we were wasting time talking to her.

  “I’m sure you heard about last night,” I began. At her nod, I continued. “Leo tried to poison Joe Manetto, but two other people died instead, and Leo got away. Can you think of someplace he might be hiding?”

  She swore in her mind. She’d heard that two people had died and thought for sure one of them would be Manetto. Why couldn’t that man die? “I have no idea. Leo must really want that Manetto guy dead though. Maybe you should watch his place. Leo might show up there. He seems crazy enough to do that.”