by T. L. Haddix
“I – I guess so. What about Ethan?”
“He’s here with me. You just take care of Beth.” He handed the handset back to the dispatcher, and moved to stand beside Ethan, who looked up as he approached. Wyatt placed his hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Come on, son. Let’s walk.”
Ethan stood, dazed, and Wyatt guided him down the hall toward the parking lot. As they neared the door, he shook himself. “I need to get out there. Beth needs me.”
“No, sir, you’re not going out there. Your presence is the very last thing she needs right now.”
Ethan pushed around Wyatt and would have headed out the door to his truck, but Wyatt grabbed one of his arms and twisted it up behind his back. When Ethan fought, Wyatt carefully threw his weight against the detective and pushed him into the wall. He shook his head with grief as Ethan struggled, causing Wyatt’s grip on his arm to tighten.
When Ethan finally stopped moving, Wyatt’s tone left no room for argument. “You’re going to stay right here. If you want to go to the hospital when she’s brought in, that’s up to you, but if you set foot at that scene, I’ll throw you in jail so fast your head will spin.”
“Damn you, Wyatt! Let me go to her.” His voice muffled, Wyatt was shocked to see that Ethan had tears streaming down his face. Wyatt backed up and steered him into one of the department’s conference rooms, then closed the door to give them some privacy. “Look, son, I know this has to be hard for you, but you have to do what’s best for Beth right now, and that’s stay here, out of everyone’s way. You know I’m right about this.”
Finally, Ethan nodded and Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief. “I have to get out to the farm and tell her family before someone else does. Stay here or go to the hospital, okay?”
His posture that of a man who was utterly defeated, Ethan nodded.
“I mean it, Ethan – I’ll have your badge if you go out there.”
Ethan’s response was bitter. “I won’t leave town, Sheriff. You have my word.”
After one last glance to make sure Ethan wasn’t just telling him what he wanted to hear, Wyatt turned and headed down the steps to his county-issued SUV. As soon as he was inside, he grabbed his radio. “Carrie, where is Robbie Bailey? Is he still here at the courthouse?”
“He is, Sheriff.”
“Good. Ethan’s in the small conference room. Get Robbie in there with him ASAP, and make sure Robbie stays with him. If Ethan wants to go to the hospital when they bring Beth in, Robbie can escort him. Otherwise, he stays in, even if it means he gets cuffed to a table. Copy?”
“Ten-four, Sheriff.”
Wyatt hated to do it, but he didn’t believe Ethan would stay put any more than he believed he could fly to the moon and back. Wyatt no longer believed Ethan had anything to do with Beth’s disappearance, but he wasn’t willing to take any chances.
Chapter Thirty Three
Following the directions Cullen Jarvis had given dispatch, Jason was able to find the overgrown gravel road with little difficulty. As he reached the crest of a hill, he stopped to avoid hitting the white van that was parked on the road. To his surprise, Ruby was handcuffed to one of the doors. Jason notified dispatch of his arrival as he grabbed the first aid kid from the trunk of the vehicle, then moved to stand behind the van.
“Where is my sister?”
Ruby, who had perked up when Jason pulled up in front of her, started crying. Jason didn’t buy it. “Thank God you’re here! Jason, he has Beth. You have to hurry.”
He ignored the tears. “Where is she?”
She nodded back down the way he’d come in. “She went that way. He has a gun! Be careful!” she shouted as Jason turned and hurried in the direction she’d indicated. He searched the tall grass for any sign of Beth or Cullen. A path had been beaten into the dry grass, and shouting their names, he started down the slope of the hill, following the broken grass. Halfway down the hill, he heard Cullen.
“Here, Jason!”
Jason sped up, and soon he could reached the spot where Beth had fallen. He stopped short when he saw Chad Ormsby, who was lying on the ground a few feet away from Beth, his shirt soaked with blood on the left side. When Ormsby saw Jason, he tried to get up and crawl away. Before Jason could move to stop him, a shot rang out and the doctor froze, whimpering. Ears ringing, Jason jerked around to see Cullen holster a pistol.
“I told you to keep your sorry ass where it was, Doctor. Jason, get over here with that kit.”
Jason immediately complied, dismissing the doctor as he hurried to Beth’s side. Her eyes were closed, and the front of her shirt was soaked with blood. He knelt on the grass opposite Cullen. “Beth, can you hear me? Beth? It’s Jason. Talk to me.”
“She’s unconscious.” Cullen’s voice was calm as he kept his hands pressed firmly over her abdomen. “She’s been in and out since I got here. Get that kit open. Do you have anything I can use to put pressure on this wound with?”
Jason pulled out several large compresses. “These. Will they work?”
“Open them.” As soon as they were out of the package, Cullen grabbed them with one hand and quickly pressed down over the wound in Beth’s abdomen. “Do you have a blanket in that kit?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Cover her with it. We’ve got to try to keep her from going into shock.”
Feeling lightheaded, Jason shook the thin, foil-like blanket out and tucked it around Beth’s shoulders and chest. He wrapped her abdomen as best he could with Cullen’s hands still holding the compresses. Beth moaned, and Jason’s attention jerked to her face.
“Beth? It’s me, sis. Come on,” he pled. He reached out and placed a hand on her forehead. She turned her head toward him, but didn’t open her eyes. When his radio crackled to life from the unit on his shoulder, he jumped. As he moved to answer the call, he realized his hands were trembling.
“Jason, the ambulance is having a little trouble finding where the road is they need to turn onto,” Carrie told him.
Cullen jerked his chin toward Beth’s wound. “You take these and I’ll go lead ‘em in.”
Relaying the message, Jason placed his hands over the wound. Cullen showed him just how much pressure to apply and where, and stood. He stopped to tell Ormsby something in a low voice, and then, moving faster than Jason thought the older man could, hurried to his ATV and roared off in the direction of the road.
Taking a deep breath, Jason swallowed as he kept his eyes on his hands, praying like he never had done before. The few minutes it took Cullen to lead the ambulance in seemed to stretch on forever, and as the EMTs reached Beth, one of them gently eased Jason out of the way.
Standing back to let them work, he glanced down at his hands and saw that they were covered in his sister’s blood. He swallowed convulsively and hoped he wasn’t going to be sick, taking a few steps away from her. After a moment, his stomach settled and he moved back to take a bottle of sterile water from the first aid kit. Using it to rinse his hands off, he watched the EMTs working on Beth as he did so. The senior tech, Dan, raised his head and caught Jason’s eye.
“How is she?”
Dan nodded. “She’s holding her own.”
Jason looked over at Ormsby, who hadn’t moved since Cullen had fired the shot. Hand slowly moving to his shoulder unit, he called in to dispatch.
“Dispatch, unit sixteen here. Can you let Sheriff Dixon know that EMT has arrived and they’re working on Beth? Chad Ormsby and Ruby Sloane are here. Ormsby’s been shot, and apparently he’s the one who shot my sister.”
“Affirmative, unit sixteen. Do you need another ambulance out there?”
Jason looked to Dan, who stood up and hurried over to where Ormsby was slouched. He glanced at the injured man’s shoulder briefly, evaluating his blood loss and affect.
“Tell them to go ahead and send one out. He’s okay for now, but it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.” He wrapped a compression bandage around the man’s wound and moved back to Beth, donning fresh glove
s.
As he relayed the message, Jason stared at Ormsby. Almost unconsciously, he realized his hand was hovering over his sidearm. The temptation was strong to pull it from its holster and empty the magazine into Ormsby, but a thread of rationale managed to assert itself.
Dan spoke quietly, and Jason saw from the look on the man’s face that he realized Jason was struggling. “Why don’t you come over here, help us with Beth?”
With just a little reluctance, Jason moved to her side. He was relieved to see that Beth’s eyes were open, and she seemed to be more aware than she had been. The EMTs had placed a support collar around her neck as a precaution, unable to rule out possible spinal cord injury just yet.
Farik, the other EMT, spoke. “Are you going to ride back in with us?”
“Yeah. Someone will have to take care of my car.” When Beth turned her head to face him, he smiled. “Hey. You’re okay, sis.” She raised the arm that didn’t have an IV in it, and he clasped her hand tightly.
“We’re ready to lift her onto the board,” Dan told them. “It’s going to hurt.” He waited until Beth nodded her understanding before placing the bag of IV fluids on her chest. “Jason, when we lift her, you slide the board underneath her. Okay?”
“Okay.” They lifted her on the count of three, and Jason moved the board. When Beth cried out in pain, he cursed under his breath, feeling wetness prick his eyes.
Dan touched him on the shoulder briefly. “Hold her hand, Jason. Try to keep her calm. Can you hold this IV bag up as we walk?”
Jason nodded and took the bag with his free hand, never loosening his grip on Beth’s hand as the EMTs stood and lifted the board. As they started up the slope, Jason saw Stacy Kirchner leading a couple of state troopers down toward them. Cullen was following behind them, his face grim. They all moved aside to let the EMTs pass.
“I’m riding back to town with Beth. Ormsby’s back there. Second ambulance is on its way for him,” Jason told Stacy. She turned and came back to walk beside him.
“We’ll take care of the doctor, and Ruby.”
When they reached the ambulance, the EMTs carefully sat the board down on the gurney they had readied earlier. Dan took the IV bag, and Jason let go of Beth’s hand, standing back so they could load her into the ambulance.
“Did you cuff Ruby to the van?” Stacy asked.
He shook his head. “No, she was like that when I pulled up. I didn’t stop to ask why. I had other priorities. What’d you find at her apartment?”
The detective’s eyebrows rose. “Looks like she was in on whatever this mess is up to her eyeballs.” She fell silent as Dan walked up.
“We’re ready to head in, Jason. You coming along?”
“Yes.” He looked at Stacy. “Are we finished here?”
“Can I have one minute with him first, Dan? It’s important.”
“Make it fast.” As Dan moved back toward the ambulance, Stacy spoke in a voice so low, Jason had to lean closer to her to hear.
“I wasn’t able to tell one way or another from what we found in her apartment, but I can’t rule out the possibility that Ethan’s involved in this. I’m sorry.”
Jason felt his face tighten at her words, but he knew it was something they had to consider. “I understand. Can you call Wyatt, let him know? He’s supposed to have kept Ethan at the courthouse, but if he decides to go to the hospital… That’s the last thing we need right now.”
“Of course. Good luck,” she told him.
With a quick salute, Jason hurried to the back of the ambulance and climbed in. As the ambulance started moving down the hill, Farik began questioning Beth about her medical history. She was drifting in and out of consciousness, and Jason had to help with the answers.
“Is there any chance you’re pregnant, Ms. Hudson?”
Beth looked at Farik with a blank stare for a moment, then closed her eyes. The EMT looked to Jason for the answer, but he shrugged, unsure. Before he could speak, however, Beth opened her eyes.
“I don’t know. I guess there is a chance.”
“How far along would you be? Any idea?”
“About two weeks. Too soon to tell.” Her eyes closed again, a tear leaking out from between her lashes.
Jason swore under his breath. Ethan was going to have a lot to answer for, even if he wasn’t involved in the kidnapping.
Farik quickly finished with the questions, and did a quick check of her vital signs. The ambulance had reached the outskirts of Leroy, and would be at the hospital in a matter of minutes.
Leaning over Beth, Jason started to ask a question, but stopped when he overheard Dan radio the emergency room about calling the helicopter in.
“What helicopter?” Jason asked Farik, afraid there was something they hadn’t mentioned about Beth’s condition.
“They’re going to want to fly her out to either Cincinnati or Louisville. Her vitals are stable, but we don’t have a trauma unit, and that’s what she needs. It’s standard procedure for gunshot wounds, I promise.”
As a deputy, Jason was familiar with the process, just not from this side of the equation. He relaxed a little as he realized the precaution made sense. Looking back at Beth, he gently squeezed her hand. “Hey, I need to ask you some questions.”
With a small groan, she opened her eyes and met his gaze. “Okay. Ask.”
“Tell me what happened, sis.”
She started talking, her voice weak. “Don’t really know. Came back from my run, and he was in the apartment. Didn’t know he was there. He put something over my mouth, and that’s all I remember ‘til I woke up in the van.” She swallowed. “I heard Ormsby and Ruby laughing. I thought he was Ethan. Then she came back and talked to me. She cut my hair, Jason.” When she started to cry, he felt tears form in his eyes, as well. Her long blonde hair practically a trademark, its violent removal was a very personal attack. He cupped her head with his free hand, pushing the now-ragged strands back off her cheeks.
“I know, honey, I know. Shhh,” he said as she cried weakly. “It’ll grow back, Beth. Besides, you know you’ve always secretly wanted to go punk. Just think how happy that’ll make Joely.” She laughed a little at the thought and her tears slowed down. Farik handed him some tissues, and he wiped his sister’s eyes and nose.
“What else, sis? Did they say anything else?”
She turned her head as much as she could and stared at him. “What are you asking me? Just spit it out. I know that look.”
“Did they say anything about Ethan?”
She kept her gaze on his for another minute before she closed her eyes. When she spoke, her voice was flat. “Ruby said a few things about her relationship with Ethan, yes. About how he feels about me, my interference in his life.”
His anger at Ethan building, Jason pressed her. “Did anything she said make you think he might be involved in this?”
“No, not really. But she didn’t say anything that convinced me he wasn’t, either.”
The ambulance slowed as it turned in to the hospital’s emergency room lane. “We’re here,” Dan announced as he pulled up under the covered entrance. Jason sat back as Farik started getting the gurney ready to unload and, as Dan opened the doors from the outside and personnel from inside the ER came out, Beth looked at Jason.
“I don’t want to see him,” she said as they pulled the gurney out. “Promise me I won’t have to see him?” She reached out her hand to grasp Jason’s and clung tightly as he walked alongside her as they went through the sliding doors.
“You mean Ethan?” She nodded, and his mouth tightened. “I promise.”
They’d reached the double doors that led inside the emergency department, and Jason had to let go. As their parents, along with Chase and Sampson, rushed up, the ER doctor turned and spoke to Richard and Jackie. “Let us get her stabilized, and then you’ll be able to see her, okay?”
Richard nodded and pulled Jackie back. They all moved into the waiting room, and as everyone filed in, Jason saw tha
t Wyatt was there. The sheriff hurried over, and everyone looked to Jason for news about Beth’s condition and what had happened.
“They’re going to airlift her out.” He felt a little better about that when he saw his father nod. “She was hit twice - one was just a graze on her shoulder, but the other was in the abdomen, down low. If Cullen hadn’t been there, she’d be dead.”
“Who did this?” Jackie swiped angrily at the tears that kept falling, but her voice was strong.
“Chad Ormsby.” He watched their faces as the shock spread. “Cullen shot him, but Ormsby’s injury didn’t look too serious. I don’t know how that’s going to affect Cullen.” He directed the last comment toward Wyatt, who nodded.
“I’ll head out in a little bit and make sure he’s okay.”
Jason shook his head. “I need to talk to you about something else first. Where’s Ethan?”
“What does Ethan have to do with this?” Chase’s tension was reflected in his quiet tone. “Wyatt told us that Ruby was involved. Surely Ethan isn’t mixed up in it, too?”
“I don’t know. Beth wasn’t sure whether he was part of this or not, but she doesn’t want him anywhere near her right now. Ruby said some nasty things to her, and it’s left a pretty bad taste in Beth’s mouth.” He looked at Wyatt and shook his head. “I hate to even think it, but there’s a chance Ethan is involved. He’s certainly played a role in Ruby’s life lately.”
There was stunned silence all around, and then Jackie spoke up. “No, I don’t believe it. As stupid as he’s been acting lately, Ethan’s a member of this family. I can’t believe he would… No.” As she finished speaking, the door opened on the other side of the waiting room and the very person they had been discussing walked in. He stopped when he saw them all looking at him.
“Beth? How is she?”
With a low growl, Chase launched himself at Ethan, his weight carrying them back into the door with a crash. “What the hell did you do to my sister, you bastard?” He didn’t let him answer, slamming his fist into his friend’s shocked face. Pinning Ethan to the wall with an arm across his throat, he growled, “Answer me, damn you! How far did this thing go with Ruby? Were you in on it?” He eased up the pressure just enough to slam Ethan’s head back into the wall once again.