“Sounds like a good idea to me. You ready now?”
“Sure.”
“Which car are you planning on taking?”
“I don’t know. Which one do you want to go in?”
“The Viper. And toss me the keys. I’m driving.”
“Uh – just one thing. I have to stop by my father’s offices first.”
Brody eyed him suspiciously. “What for?”
“Well, there’s a board meeting for The Lewellen Group, and I sort of promised Dad that I’d attend.”
“Okay. I just loaded a new app onto my phone. A new game that looks promising. I’ll play around with that while you’re in the board meeting.”
Ty looked over at Brody speculatively.
“You know, Brody, I’m thinking that you need to broaden your horizons a little. Get some more experience in other areas of your life.”
“Ya think so?”
“Sure. For example, have you ever sat in on a board meeting of a major conglomerate? That would sure broaden your horizons.”
“Nice try, Lew. No way that I’m going into that board meeting with you.”
“C’mon, Brody. It won’t take nearly as long if you’re there.”
“How do you figure that?”
“If one of the members gets too long-winded, you could just sort of fold your arms, look intimidating and glare at him. Scare him into silence.”
“Oh, yeah. Sloan would love that.”
Giving up, Ty tossed the car keys to Brody and headed out. In his head, he was already turning over ideas on how he could make Dawn’s idea of calling him out of the meeting with a fake emergency work. It was worth a shot, he decided.
*****
Dawn and Rafe’s intention that morning to continue canvassing the rest areas on I-25 was destined to be derailed. As they approached the entrance ramp to the Interstate, Dawn noticed that Rafe, who was looking decidedly unwell, was showing more and more signs of distress – wincing occasionally and rubbing his abdomen.
Dawn pulled the car over abruptly.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Rafe snapped.
“You’re rubbing your right side.”
“So what?”
“Your appendix is on your right side. I think you should go to the Emergency Room and have it checked out.”
“No way. I’m not going to the hospital. Not for a little stomach cramp.”
“Little? You’re usually the poster man for stoicism, Rafe. I know you. If you’re rubbing your side constantly, it’s not a little pain – it’s a big pain. How about other symptoms? Loss of appetite? Nausea?”
“You’re nagging again, Dawn. It’s nothing, I tell you. Just a virus.”
Dawn started the car up again and put it into gear. The two-lane road they had been traveling on was not very busy that morning, so it was relatively easy for her to swing the wheel around, make a U-turn, and head in the opposite direction.
“I’m not taking any chances. We’re going to the hospital.”
“The hell we are, Dawn. We’re going to stick with our plan and check out the video feed at each of the rest stops. Turn the car around and head back for I-25 right now.”
“No.”
“Fine. There’s a red light coming up. When you stop for it, I’m getting out.”
Dawn responded by turning her siren on. The other cars pulled over to the side, and she breezed right through the stop light.
“If you don’t stop this car and let me out I’m going to – ouch!” He doubled over in pain.
Dawn pulled up at the emergency entrance to the hospital ten minutes later. She hurried over to Rafe’s side and tugged on his shoulder. “Out,” she said.
Rafe straightened up, his face white. “Okay. Maybe coming here isn’t such a bad idea after all.”
She took his arm and simultaneously felt his forehead. Alarm sizzled through her. He was burning up with fever.
When they got inside, Dawn had no compunction about flashing her badge and taking Rafe to the front of the line at the check-in desk. A harried-looking nurse at the desk looked annoyed and opened her mouth to protest. Before she could do so, Dawn snapped, “This man needs attention now.”
“There are other people in line who also need attention. You’ll have to wait your turn.”
“Any of those others a decorated police officer in danger of dying from a ruptured appendix?”
The nurse’s eyebrows scrunched together.
“Who do you think you are?” she demanded. “Are you a doctor? Because only a doctor can diagnose a ruptured appendix.”
“I’m Detective Cimarron. This is my partner, Sergeant Melbourne. He’s presenting the following symptoms: Intense abdominal pain. Loss of appetite. Nausea. High fever. Get a doctor here to look at him. Now.”
“Very well. We’ll have to fill these forms out first.”
“Doctor. Now,” Dawn repeated. “We’ll fill the forms out as he’s looking the sergeant over.”
The nurse opened her mouth as if to protest again. But another nurse, who had been studying Dawn intently, nudged her and whispered something to her. Dawn saw her forming the words Sloan Lewellen. The first nurse swung around to look back at Dawn and decided to throw in the towel.
“Okay – we’ll get a doctor in here right away,” she conceded.
*****
Ty looked around him down the long table, wondering if was possible to die of boredom. The board meeting had dragged on interminably, and he’d long ago lost track of what the various charts and numbers indicated. Only his sincere love and respect for his father kept him in his seat.
Finally, it was over. After the last board member had exited from the room, Ty jumped out of his chair and said, “Hate to rush away, Dad, but Brody’s waiting, and I have a new jet plane to test.” He made a quick beeline for the exit, but his father was right behind him.
“Not so fast, son,” Sloan Lewellen said. He opened his mouth to say more, but just then he got a call on his cell phone. Catching hold of Ty’s arm, he said, “Hold on for a minute while I take this call.”
Everything in him urged Ty to shake off his father’s hand and beat a quick retreat, but he couldn’t do that to his father, he decided regretfully. He listened with only half an ear to Sloan’s cell phone conversation.
When his father disconnected the call, Ty said, “Look, Dad, I really do have to get going. And I’m sure that you have some urgent business to attend to, right?”
Sloan shook his head. “That wasn’t a business call. It was Lotti.”
Lotti was Ty’s cousin. Sloan had hired her to be a nanny to Ty’s half-sister, Echo, shortly after the baby had been born. At that time, Lotti had been recuperating from the marriage and divorce from hell, so she had eagerly accepted Sloan’s job offer.
“Lotti?” Ty said. “What’s up? Is something wrong with Echo?”
“No. It has nothing to do with Echo. Lotti called me to give me some news about her ex-husband. She just got word from her former in-laws that he was involved in a boating accident. According to them, Riley Nordgram is missing, presumed drowned.”
Ty whistled softly. “Well, well, well,” he said softly. “How did Lotti react to the good news?”
“She’s pretty confused, actually. She’s hoping against hope that he’s actually dead and gone, but she’s feeling guilty about it.”
Ty shook his head. “Women never cease to amaze me,” he said. “The guy beat the crap out of her, isolated her from her family, and practically kept her prisoner in her own house for years. She should be turning cartwheels for joy.”
He pulled his own cell phone out of his pocket. “I’ll tell you what, Dad: I’m going to give Lotti a call and try to guide her thoughts into a more positive direction. Guilt is for the guilty, and she has no call to be feeling that way. I’ll follow it up by telling her to let me know when they find the body. After the funeral, we can make a date to dance together on the S.O.B.’s grave.”
He would have said more
, but the cell phone in his hand signaled an incoming call just then. Ty took the call, and Sloan, who was observing him keenly, saw a look of concern creeping over his son’s face.
After Ty had ended the call, Sloan asked, “What was that all about? Is something wrong?”
“Yeah, something’s wrong all right, Dad. That was Dawn. She called to tell me that Rafe is in the hospital.”
Chapter 11
The worst thing about hospitals, Dawn decided, was the waiting. Waiting for doctors, waiting for test results, waiting for decisions to be made.
The hours had ticked by, but at least they had a diagnosis. Appendicitis it was. Once that had been determined, the doctor had immediately scheduled Rafe for surgery. The surgical team had taken him in about an hour ago. Meanwhile, all she could do was wait.
She’d notified headquarters shortly after they’d taken Rafe back for his first test. Lt. Westbrooke had hurried over to join her at the hospital as soon as she had been notified that Rafe was going to have to undergo surgery and have his appendix removed. She’d told Dawn not to worry – the rest of the team would keep working on the case. The lieutenant had stayed for about half an hour, but then she returned to headquarters.
Dawn looked up as the door to the waiting room flew open, and Detectives Prentiss and Noritaki hurried in.
“How is he?” Prentiss asked.
“They just took him into surgery. It’ll be a while before we get any news, I guess.”
“Good thing you made him come to the hospital. If his appendix had burst…”
“I don’t even want to think about it. While we’re waiting, can you update me on the investigation?”
Prentiss passed his hand through his hair and nodded.
“We held a lineup. Jordan came in and confirmed that Lucky Wakely was not the man who shot him. We also heard back from the police in Pueblo. They canvassed the neighborhood where Lucky’s parents live, trying to get a lead on who might have stolen their car out of their garage. Eventually they talked to a neighbor named Mary Smith. When the officers asked her if she’d noticed anyone in the neighborhood in the last few months whom she didn’t normally see, she told them about a nice young man who came to her door with a petition. During the conversation, she thinks that she may have mentioned that her neighbors were away in Florida.”
“And it never occurred to her that the ‘nice young man’ might have been casing the neighborhood? Oh, please. At least tell me she was able to give the police a description.”
“No such luck. She was really vague on the details. As a witness, she’s pretty much a bust.”
“Any luck with identifying the victims?”
“Yeah, we’ve made some progress there. Rawley, the detective I spoke with from the Pueblo police, thinks there may be a connection with a missing persons report filed by a couple in Iowa. Their daughter, Zoe, and her friend, Kit, went missing down in that area a few days ago. After we talked on the phone, Detective Rawley contacted Zoe’s parents. According to them, even though both women’s faces were beaten beyond recognition, they can help establish if one is Zoe. It turns out that Zoe broke her arm badly when she was in grade school. Her parents are having the x-rays sent. Once we get them, we can see if there’s a match.”
“Tell me more about these missing girls,” Dawn asked.
Prentiss consulted his notes. “Kit Blakewood and Zoe Ballentine are college students, both nineteen years old,” he began. “They’re both from Iowa, near Des Moines. According to Zoe’s mother, the two of them were on their way to California to visit a friend of theirs over Spring Break. They took Route 35 south to Kansas City. Then they jumped on I-70 West. They got off on State Route 24 and headed toward Colorado Springs. From there, they took I-25 south to Colorado City, stopping at Pueblo along the way. That’s where their families lost track of them.”
“It’s possible that our deceased victim might be Zoe Ballentine,” Dawn said thoughtfully. “The age is about right. But the other woman, the one in the hospital? Her doctor estimated that she is in her mid-thirties. That rules her out as either Kit Blakewood or Zoe Ballentine. However, if we can identify even one of the victims, that would be a big break. Meanwhile, what’s the latest word from SWAT?”
“Not good,” Prentiss replied. The dogs were not able to pick up the scent again this morning. The perp is still out there. And the odds are that he’ll have no problem with harming someone else.”
Prentiss looked up and broke off as Tyrell Lewellen entered the waiting room. He immediately walked up to Dawn and put his arms around Dawn.
“How are you holding up?” Ty asked.
“I’m all right. He’s in surgery, but his prognosis is good. The doctor said that he had a tiny tear in the appendix, and it was leaking a little, but it hadn’t burst. That was the key thing. If it had – that’s a whole different ball game.”
The door opened again, and Sloan and Maeve Lewellen appeared in the doorway. Maeve, her deep blue eyes filled with concern, hurried over to embrace Dawn. At five foot five, she was a few inches shorter than Dawn. She wore a blue dress in the exact same shade as her eye color, and her honey-blonde hair was perfectly coiffed as usual.
“I insisted that Sloan bring me over here as soon as he told me what was going on,” Maeve said. “How are you managing, Dawn?”
“I’m okay, I guess. Rafe’s still in surgery, so right now, it’s a waiting game.”
Maeve patted her hand and led Dawn to a seat as Sloan asked her, “What’s your case load like, Dawn?”
“We just caught a new case yesterday morning. I wish I could still be working on it, but Rafe comes first. There are other detectives currently working on it.” She nodded toward Prentiss and Noritaki, who had retreated discreetly into the background. Now they came forward again.
“We need to get back to headquarters.” Prentiss said.
“Call us when Rafe’s out of surgery,” Noritaki added.
“I will. Keep me in the loop about the case,” Dawn responded. “Especially if the connection with the missing persons case pans out.”
“We should have some information about that shortly,” Prentiss informed her. “Sokoto and Vettakor are attending the autopsy. As soon as they get the X-rays, they’ll pass them on to the coroner. He’ll be able to determine right away if our deceased victim is Zoe Ballentine.”
“What about Kit Blakewood?”
“We’re working on getting dental records on her,” Noritaki said. “Her dentist recently retired, and getting access to his records requires a lot of red tape. We’re hoping to cut through it and obtain the records by the end of the day.”
Dawn walked Prentiss and Noritaki to the door and out into the hallway, parting with them when they reached the elevator.
When she returned to the waiting room, Dawn saw that a new couple had arrived, a gangling young man and a woman who couldn’t seem to stop sobbing. Not to her surprise, Maeve was with them, patting the woman’s hand and uttering soothing noises.
When Dawn approached them, Maeve looked up and said, “Hi, Dawn. Say hello to Camilla and Christopher. They’re pretty worried about Camilla’s younger brother. He had a bike-riding accident and damaged one of the vertebrae in his neck. He’s in surgery right now.”
A tide of irritation swept over Dawn. The last thing she wanted to do right now was commiserate with a couple of strangers. But something in Maeve’s eyes caused her to push the irritation down, tap the reservoir of compassion deep within herself, and say, “Hi. I’m Dawn. Sorry to hear about your brother. He’s younger than you? How old is he?”
“Tommy’s only fourteen,” Camilla replied. “I’m terrified that there’s going to be permanent damage. What if something goes wrong? What if he ends up paralyzed? I don’t know if I can handle that. And we have only the most basic health insurance coverage. I can’t even imagine how we’re going to pay all the bills.”
“What about your parents? Isn’t he covered under their insurance?” Dawn asked, surprise
d.
“No. We lost our parents when Tommy was only ten years old. They were killed in a car accident. Tommy has lived with Chris and me ever since.”
Dawn didn’t know how to respond to that, so it was fortunate that Maeve stepped in, saying smoothly, “I was just telling Camilla that Sloan may have some ideas about covering the hospital bills. He’s always pretty good at coming up with fund-raising ideas.”
Christopher spoke up for the first time. “We’d sure appreciate it. We can use any help we can get. Tommy means the world to us. Both of us.”
Dawn was touched. “It must have been difficult, stepping in and taking over the role of parents. How long had you been married when it happened?”
“Only about a year,” Chris answered. “We got married right after we graduated from high school. I know that’s kind of young, but it’s what we wanted to do. I’m a mechanic at a car dealership, and Camilla works in the accounting department there. Only part time, though. We have two kids, a boy and a girl.”
“Wow. You have a lot on your plate. Who’s watching your children now?”
“My mother,” Chris replied. “She helps us out a lot.”
“She sure does,” Camilla chimed in. “I don’t know what we’d do without her. She’s the best mother-in-law in the world.”
Dawn met Maeve’s eyes. “I know the feeling,” Dawn said. “And doing a fund-raiser is a good idea, if the bills are way over what your insurance will pay. But Sloan is the one to talk to about that.”
Turning to Maeve once again, Dawn asked, “By the way, where are Sloan and Ty?”
“They went for a walk. Couldn’t stand being cooped up in here any longer. But I’m sure they’ll be back soon.”
Sure enough, the door to the waiting room opened just minutes later, and Sloan and Ty walked back into the room. Maeve signaled them over and introduced them to Chris and Camilla. Just as Maeve had predicted, Sloan was soon advancing ideas and offering to set up a fund-raising campaign in order to cover Tommy’s hospital expenses. As he spoke, some of the anxiety faded out of Camilla’s eyes.
When the Wolf Prowls: A Cimarron/Melbourne Thriller - Book Three Page 7