“Stop shooting, Cece. I have Carla tied up.”
“Good, then I won’t miss.” Her voice came from right behind me—as did the sound of the gun firing. Shotgun pellets hit the ground and snow flew up not three feet from Carla’s head. She screamed in fear but I couldn’t hear her. My eardrums were throbbing so hard I couldn’t hear anything.
“Dammit, Cece. I’m deaf.” I could see her lips moving in response, but I couldn’t understand a thing she was saying. I did get it when she chambered another round. I grabbed the gun barrel and pushed it away. “Stop it. Just stop it.”
Out of nowhere a burly body came crashing into Cece. The momentum knocked Cece into me and we all three—Cece, me, and Will Falcon—went sprawling in the snow. I was on the bottom of the heap, and now I was the one gasping for air and flopping around. The attacker and Cece got off me, but not soon enough.
“You’re under arrest!”
Coleman stood behind Cece and Will, and I could see his lips moving and it wasn’t too hard to read what he’d said. He had out his cuffs and snapped them on Will.
“Doc, over here!” Tinkie cried out.
My hearing was returning but I was still having trouble dragging air into my body.
“Doc, we need you right away,” Coleman called.
I’d never been so glad to hear those words, and I heaved in some oxygen. I thought maybe my lungs had been permanently crushed. Doc would help me. But instead of coming to tend to me, Doc rushed over to where Tinkie was calling for him.
“The baby is coming. There’s too much blood! Help, Doc. Cece, dammit, get over here. Sarah Booth, get off the ground and come help! I don’t know a thing about birthin’ no babies and I need help!”
Flashlights snapped on and the scene that was illuminated was so surreal I closed my eyes. I’d finally caught a good breath and knew I’d be okay, but my body was still angry at the loss of oxygen. I slowly got to my feet and stumbled toward the gathering of humans that had formed a semicircle around a woman on the ground. The snow had stopped at last, and Tinkie, some man I didn’t recognize, and Coleman had taken their coats off and created a litter for the prone woman. Cece held the young woman’s head tenderly on her lap and was doing her best to console her. I’d never seen her before but I knew her. Eve Falcon was indeed having her baby. Right at the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve. And my partner Tinkie was delivering the child with Doc at her side and Cece offering comfort. A young man dropped to his knees beside Eve and reached for her hand. “It’s almost over,” he whispered.
Eve let out a loud cry, and I thought Tinkie might faint. But she was made of sterner stuff.
“That’s it, Tinkie, get ready to support the child,” Doc coached.
Coleman handed me his flashlight. “Help Tinkie out. I need to put Carla and Will in the patrol car.”
“Sure.”
It was such a stunning scene that no one spoke. Eve was as stoic as anyone I’d ever seen. She gasped and struggled, but she never cried out.
I simply hovered as my partner and Doc brought a new life into the world. When I could finally look away, I saw that Coleman, Harold, and Oscar were all in attendance, and they were rounding up the bad guys. They wore their wise men garb, standing behind Cece, except Coleman’s beard was missing. It took me a minute to realize it was stuck to the top of Tinkie’s head. She looked like a devotee of a mad bushy squirrel cult. And best of all she had no idea she was wearing a beard on her head.
“You okay, Sarah Booth?” Coleman came up beside me, his arm snaking around my shoulders and pulling me close and easing me back from the scene of the birth.
“I am. Who is that man kneeling beside Eve?” I knew, but I wanted it confirmed.
“It’s her brother. They were separated at birth. Will Falcon is the father, but the mother was a woman from Tishomingo County.”
I knew all of this, but I didn’t have to tell Coleman that. “Who abducted Eve?”
“That I haven’t figured out yet, but we’ll have a come to Jesus gathering at the hospital and I’ll find out. You have my word. First, though, we have to get Eve and the baby to the hospital. There is a lot of blood.”
“Are they going to be okay?” I asked.
“Take that up with Doc and Tinkie.”
I walked closer and knelt beside Doc, who gave me a tired smile as he rocked back on his heels. “The delivery went off without a hitch, thanks to Tinkie. I might train her for my midwife.”
“No thanks,” Tinkie said. She had wrapped the baby in Mitch’s shirt. “This isn’t the most sanitary place to deliver a baby. We need to get to the hospital.”
My worry tamped down a little. Doc looked in control and competent, and instead of a frown of worry, he wore a bemused smile. Doc loved delivering babies.
“Where’s the ambulance?”
“En route.”
Like a miracle I heard the siren as the transport bumped toward us. In another twenty minutes, mother and child would be at the hospital.
Just as the ambulance pulled up, the squall of a baby cut the night. The EMTs came out of the ambulance at a dead run. When I glanced back at the vehicle, for just a moment, I saw Jitty sitting behind the wheel. She gave me a thumbs-up and suddenly the ambulance radio came on.
“Oh, Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.” The carol rang out over the snowy scene, clear as a bell.
“It’s a boy!” Tinkie called out. “A healthy baby boy. And Doc says Eve is going to be just fine!”
Tinkie and Cece joined hands and practically danced together. The young man jumped into the back of the ambulance with his sister and the newborn. In another few minutes, the ambulance pulled out, headed to the hospital with its precious cargo.
20
The Christmas decoration in the waiting room at the hospital was one tiny pencil tree with four ornaments remaining. The lower decorations had been picked off by bored children, waiting for good or bad news. Just like us.
As it turned out, Eve and her baby were fine. They had survived the ordeal of birth in the woods, and Doc assured all of us they’d soon be out of the hospital. The same couldn’t be said for Mitch and Dara Peterson’s little boy, Alfie. The baby was very, very sick, and Carla’s greedy scheming had put his life in jeopardy. The specialists said it was touch and go.
Mitch, who, once I had a clear view of him in the light, bore a striking resemblance to his sister Eve, sat with his wife, Dara, and her parents, Matilda and Curtis Bromley. The Petersons and Bromleys were definitely connected, by marriage. Dara Bromley had married Mitch Peterson—who’d been adopted as an infant by the Peterson family who lived not too far upriver from Fortis Landing.
When Alfie had been diagnosed with his illness, Dara and her sister, Mariam, had begun to untangle the story of Mitch’s adoption. They’d backtracked, just as I had done, to the birth of twins in a Tishomingo County hospital. Their quest for an organ donor had taken them to Will and Clara Falcon. Will had been agreeable, but Clara had set a high price for a portion of Will’s liver. Her hatred of Eve and Cece had dovetailed with her greed, and the scheme to “abduct” Eve and get Cece to pay the ransom had been born. Carla had insisted on the ploy. Her goal had been not only monetary, but a chance to punish everyone. She’d succeeded, but not in the way she’d expected. Everyone had suffered at her hand, but now, she was about to pay the piper.
Will had volunteered his liver—and was being prepped for surgery—for little Alfie, but the child was so sick the odds were fifty-fifty that he would survive the operation. In the waiting room, the seconds ticked by with the creep of cold cane syrup.
Christmas Eve had given way to Christmas Day, and when I went to the window of the waiting room and looked out, the sun on the new snow was a dazzling gold.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and Cece drew me into a hug. “Thank you, Sarah Booth. Thank you.”
“Sorry about your aunt,” I said. “Wait, that’s a lie. I’m not sorry. I
hope Carla never sees the light of day again.” Carla Falcon was in the Sunflower County jail charged with a number of illegal acts. Will Falcon was in surgery, waiting to donate a portion of his liver to the grandson he’d never been allowed to know. If Alfie’s little body could accept the transplant and he was treated for the blood disorder that had caused the damage to his own liver, he stood a chance of having a long, complete life. If the surgery worked. And if the damage to the little boy wasn’t too great already.
This was why Eve needed $150,000. Not for the surgery, but to pay Carla Falcon so that she would allow Will to donate a part of his organ. I was still reeling from this revelation.
“I’m glad Carla is in jail,” Cece said. “I hope she rots there. All she had to do was ask for the money. I would have gotten it. She’s a vile human being.”
“Is Will going to be charged, too?” Cece and Coleman had been in a huge confab, and no one had had time to tell me the results.
“I don’t know.” Cece rubbed the deep furrow between her eyebrows. “I just can’t believe he’d let Carla keep him from helping his own grandson. Coleman is also talking to the Tishomingo County authorities. He wants Joanne Woodcock’s suicide investigated. And I think he may be on to something. Coleman talked to the nurse who knew Joanne. Yes, Joanne was depressed, but she also said that she believed Will would leave Carla. She was expecting him to visit to see his children. Then suddenly Joanne was dead.” Cece shook her head slowly. “Carla is capable of anything.”
“Greedy, evil witch.” I had no need to mince words.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to see that the prosecutor throws the book at her. If Will goes down with her, so be it.” Cece had taken the one big step toward adulthood—she wasn’t responsible for the actions of her crazy relatives.
I nodded toward the little group clustered together. “Have you had a chance to talk to Mitch?”
“Not really. He feels terrible about the plot Carla cooked up but he didn’t know what else to do.”
“He wasn’t really in control of that. And I understand, in a way. Carla took control of the situation and manipulated things to suit her. Maybe Mitch should have come to talk to you.”
Cece studied the ground for a moment before she settled a clear stare on me. “He didn’t think I’d believe him—that he was Eve’s brother. He was desperate, Sarah Booth. His baby was going to die, and he had to have that liver. He’d tried to get birth records to prove who he was, but he ran into the same thing we did. There are no records. He figured we’d all assume he was lying, and there wasn’t time to get DNA testing done. Alfie was in real danger. He needed that liver yesterday.” She turned wistful. “He’s such a delicate little boy.”
“And Eve’s baby is robust and very healthy.” I’d seen the little baby—all eight pounds and twenty-three inches of him. She’d named him Jasper, which tickled me.
“Jasper is healthy. He didn’t inherit whatever genetic thing made Alfie so sick.”
“Thank goodness. And I understand Mitch and Dara’s plight, but you have to keep in mind that if Eve had been in real danger out there in the swamp, she might not have made it. Or the baby.”
“I know.” Cece put her arm around me. “Thank goodness you called Coleman and the cavalry.”
“I’m sorry I betrayed your trust.”
“You saved us all, Sarah Booth. The only thing I cared about was making sure Eve and her baby were safe. And you did that by following your gut.”
I kissed her cheek and turned to the sound of Jaytee calling her name. She ran across the waiting room and into his arms, where she finally allowed herself to really cry.
The worst was over. No one was dead. Carla was in the Sunflower County jail. Will was in surgery giving the gift of life to his grandchild. Eve and Jasper were fine. The Bromleys were down the hall in a waiting room with DeWayne and Budgie watching them until Coleman could assess what charges he’d level. Dara and Mitch were desperately waiting for the outcome of the surgery that could save their son.
I had a few questions for Eve, now that the trauma of childbirth was behind her, and I wanted to ask without Cece in tow. I slipped out of the waiting room and went to her room, my feet dragging with weariness. This was not the Christmas Eve or morning I’d envisioned. Coleman and I had not had a moment alone. Soon, though. Very soon we were going to Dahlia House, my pets, and my bed.
When I tapped on Eve’s door, she invited me in. She was a beautiful young woman. Even after the rigors of childbirth, she was still lovely. Almost ethereal. I couldn’t help but think of paintings of the Madonna. Eve was nursing a red-faced baby that shook his fists in what I could only assume was eagerness.
“He’s perfect,” I said.
“He is. And I thought I was having a little girl.” She grinned. “Doc Sawyer says he’s one hundred percent healthy.” She pressed her lips together for a moment. “My brother wasn’t so lucky. Alfie wasn’t born healthy.”
“I know.”
“He didn’t really kidnap me. If I have to face charges for what I did, I won’t fight it. But Mitch doesn’t deserve to be punished. He’s struggled so hard to provide for Alfie and Dara. When he realized Alfie was so sick, he did everything he knew to do, but there were no matching donors. Then he got the idea that maybe his real father was a match. Sure enough, Dad … Will was.”
“And Carla intended to charge Mitch for a piece of Will’s liver?” She was an awful woman, but could she be that completely soulless? I still had trouble believing it.
“Yes. She did some research and said that $130,000 was the going price. Then she upped it to $150,000.”
“And what did Will say?”
Eve blinked back tears. “Nothing. Just like always. Nothing. I don’t know if he’s afraid of her or if she crushed him so many times he simply quit trying to stand up for himself.”
“And it doesn’t matter. Alfie is getting the liver.”
“And what will happen to Da … Will?”
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t know. Or the Bromleys. Or Dara and Mitch.” I had to say it. “Or you, Eve. You were blackmailing your own cousin. Why didn’t you just ask her?”
“It’s a long story and I am a fool. I knew Carla hated Cece and wanted to punish her, but…”
I suddenly knew the answer. “Carla told you awful things about Cecil, or Cece as she is known now. She made you believe Cece would never willingly pay the ransom. She made you doubt who Cece really was.”
“That’s it in a nutshell. Why would I ever believe such things about someone I knew to be kind and generous and loving? How could I have betrayed Cece by thinking such horrible things? She’d never given me cause to doubt her. I was just as bad as Carla.”
I sat down on the edge of the bed and patted her leg. “No, you weren’t. You were a child, Eve. Folks around here have strong opinions about things they know nothing about. Carla played on your lack of experience and also your lack of self-esteem.”
“And I was just as bad, willing to believe the worst about Cece.” She cried quietly, sending the squirming baby into a spasm of crying. She held the child out to me and I had no choice but to take the baby and do my best to comfort him.
Eve slipped out of the bed and went to the bathroom for some tissue to blow her nose. “I was as low and base as Carla ever dared to be. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. I wasn’t Carla’s blood but I was a product of her raising.”
“And yet you had enough conscience not to ask Cece for money.”
She scoffed bitterly. “Yeah, bully for me. I didn’t ask outright, I just decided to help Mitch by extorting the money from her. If it matters, I would have paid her back. I was getting a promotion at the bank with a pay increase, and I would have saved every week until I could give every penny back to her.”
Whatever sentence was imposed on Eve for her part in the scheme, she would punish herself far worse. I adjusted Jasper in my arms and began the age-old remedy for a cranky baby—walking
and gentle rocking motions. To my amazement he quieted and yawned, then reached a tiny baby fist up to touch my cheek. I felt a strange and powerful throb right around my heart.
“Talk to Cece.” That was my best bit of advice. “Tell her all of this. We make mistakes, Eve. Every single one of us, every day. The hard thing is to recognize them and learn. I think you’ve done that.”
She reached out for the baby and I returned little Jasper into her arms. “Thank you for understanding. You’re a good friend to Cece. She had an awful family, but she’s lucky in her friends.”
“I think you’ll find she wants family. She’s beating herself up for not hunting harder for you when you first disappeared. You both carry a lot of unnecessary guilt. Let it go. Live for the moment and don’t drag around what you can’t change.” If only I were smart enough, or strong enough, to live by my own words.
“Merry Christmas, Sarah Booth,” Eve said, waving Jasper’s little fist at me.
“And you, too, Eve. I’ll be in touch.” I hesitated. “Who is little Jasper’s father?” I asked.
“He’s a good man, Sarah Booth. He never knew I was pregnant, and I was never going to tell him, but I’ve changed my mind. Jasper deserves to know his father, on whatever level of relationship they decide to have. But I’m not telling anyone until I tell him.”
“Good plan.” I leaned and kissed her forehead. “A very good plan.”
* * *
It was time for me to go home. It had been a helluva holiday, and I wanted only to light a fire and curl up in front of it with Coleman. When I returned to the waiting room, Tinkie and Oscar had gone home. Coleman had Mitch and Dara’s word that they would turn themselves in as soon as the baby’s surgery was over—they were huddled in a corner waiting on results. Though Coleman didn’t say it, I knew DeWayne and Budgie would stay close.
A Gift of Bones--A Sarah Booth Delaney Mystery Page 20