Rocky Mountain Revenge

by Rhonda Starnes

  Evan squeezed her hand and guided her to the security checkpoint. He flashed his badge and explained the situation to the guard. Once they had passes, a nurse escorted them past the main waiting area, through a maze of hallways and into what Grace assumed was the trauma section of the ER.

  A man with short black hair, wearing square-framed, black-rimmed glasses, sat in a chair outside Room 13A. Ryan? Bridget had been easily recognizable, but Grace would not have recognized Ryan. It wasn’t that his appearance had changed much, but more that he had an air of seriousness and no-nonsense.

  How he had gotten permission to stay in this area and guard her sister’s door, Grace may never know, but she would be eternally grateful. He stood, shook Evan’s hand and then gave her a hug like she was a cousin he hadn’t seen in a while.

  “I’m sorry this happened.” He pulled back and looked her in the eyes, his hands on her shoulders. “But she’s in the best place for the best care. We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but Bridget and I will help coordinate around-the-clock guard protection until they catch her attacker.”

  Words failed her, so Grace simply nodded.

  A tall, silver-haired, tanned gentleman wearing scrubs and a white lab coat came out of Chloe’s room.

  “Grace, this is Dr. Carson.” Ryan made introductions. “Sir, this is Chloe’s sister, Dr. Grace Porter. And Police Chief Evan Bradshaw.”

  “Dr. Porter.”

  “DVM not MD.” She hurriedly shook the offered hand. “How’s my sister? Is she awake?”

  “No. Not yet.” Dr. Carson moved aside and motioned for her to enter the room ahead of him. “Let’s step inside.”

  She looked to Evan. Would he come with her?

  “I need to talk to Ryan. I’ll be in soon.”

  Grace nodded, took a deep breath and went into the room where heart rate monitors and numerous other machines beeped and flashed. Chloe had been intubated, a breathing tube down her throat. She lay perfectly still. Her skin was pasty and there was an ugly bluish-purple bruise on the side of her face. At least she didn’t appear to be in distress.

  “Is she in pain?” Grace whispered.

  “No.” Dr. Carson walked over to the monitors and checked the readings before turning back to face her. “We’ve placed your sister in a medically induced coma. She suffered a brain hemorrhage.”

  Grace gasped, and he rushed on. “There’s a good deal of swelling because of inflammation from the broken vessels, but all scans indicate the bleeding has stopped. Other than that, she has three cracked ribs and a broken wrist. All in all, I’d say Chloe is a very fortunate lady.”

  “Fortunate? She almost died, and now she’s in a coma.” The smell of antiseptic mingled with the sharp, stabbing pain behind Grace’s left eye, and her vision blurred. This migraine was gearing up to be a doozy. She gripped the bed rail as she fought nausea.

  “Medically induced. Once the swelling goes down, we’ll wake her up.” The doctor touched Grace’s arm and searched her face. “Dr. Porter, are you sick?”

  “A headache.” She puffed out a breath and forced a smile. “I’ll be fine. Once I’m sure Chloe’s okay. Will she make a full recovery?”

  “I can’t guarantee anything, but if all goes as planned, then yes.”

  “And if it doesn’t?” Grace questioned, not wanting the answer but needing to know. Bile burning the back of her throat, she rode the wave of pain assailing her.

  The doctor hesitated, and she met his gaze. “Please, I need to know.”

  He gave a nod of agreement. “If the swelling continues, we’ll do surgery to relieve the pressure, but she could suffer permanent brain damage.”

  “And that would mean?”

  “At the very least, problems with her fine motor skills and her speech.”

  Please, Lord, don’t let him say it.

  “Worst case scenario, she would be in a vegetative state. But I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening.” He pulled a chair up closer to the bed, and she sank into it. “Be sure to take something for that headache. I need to go see how much longer it will be until we have a bed for Chloe in the Neuro ICU. You can stay with her until she’s moved.”

  She gasped. “Dr. Carson, the person who attacked my sister is still on the loose. I know ICU staff monitors patients closely, but she can’t be unattended at any time.”

  He squeezed her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’m not sure how he did it, but the young bodyguard out there secured permission from the chief of staff to have a guard stationed outside her room at all times, even in the ICU.”

  He pulled a peppermint out of his coat pocket and dropped it into her hand. “Maybe this will help until you can eat and take some meds.” Dr. Carson gave her a grandfatherly smile and walked out of the room.

  Grace scooted closer to Chloe’s bed and wrapped her hand around her sister’s cold one. “Oh, Chloe. Please wake up soon and tell us who did this to you. I don’t know who I can trust—other than Evan—and I can’t keep leaning on him. It would be too easy to fall into old habits, and that wouldn’t be good for either of us. He thrives in small town America. You know me, Chloe. Have I ever enjoyed living where I have to wonder who’s gossiping about me? Nope.” She caressed her sister’s hand, wishing she could laugh with her. “You remember the time—”

  A creak sounded behind her, and she whirled around. How long had Evan been there? What had he heard?

  * * *

  Evan paced the length of the waiting area and back again. Bits and pieces of Grace’s one-sided conversation with Chloe tumbled around in his brain. Why did she always have to see their hometown through such a narrow lens?

  His phone vibrated. Lieutenant Johnson’s name flashed on the screen.

  “Bradshaw here.” He spoke in a hushed tone.

  “Chief, I wanted to let you know we finished interviewing Dr. James Osborne.”

  “And?”

  “At the time of the attack, he was eating dinner at Aunt Bea’s Diner on Highway 9. The owner has been very cooperative and shared the video footage. Osborne arrived at 8:17 p.m. Sat in a booth at the back of the restaurant. Approximately ten minutes later, a brunette in her early-to mid-twenties joined him. She looked familiar, but I’ve not been able to ID her yet. And Osborne is refusing to give her name.”

  “Marcia O’Neal.”

  “Sir?”

  “There’s a very good chance the woman is a vet tech that the doctor was seeing on the side. Her name is Marcia O’Neal.”

  “I’ll try to verify that information. But, sir, this means his alibi checks out.”

  “I’m not surprised. Grace saw the attacker’s face, so we know it wasn’t him. Doesn’t mean he isn’t behind the attack, though.”

  “Agreed.”

  “What do your instincts tell you?” A body language expert, Johnson had an uncanny ability to read people, and Evan trusted his instincts.

  “Dr. Osborne seemed genuinely upset about the attack.”

  “But?”

  “I couldn’t get a clear sense of his guilt or innocence. He’s hiding something. If he’s not behind the attack, I suspect he has a good idea who is.”

  As small as his police force was, Evan didn’t have the manpower to assign officers to watch James Osborne 24/7. He loved being the police chief in a small town, but there were drawbacks, especially when it came to funding. “Okay. Fill the other officers in on what we know so far and make sure they ‘unofficially’ keep track of the doctor’s whereabouts.”

  “Will do. Anything else?” the lieutenant asked.

  “Hold down the fort until I get back.”

  “When will that be?”

  A soft snore pulled his attention back to the room.

  Grace had fallen asleep, twisted sideways in a lime-green, vinyl chair, her legs draped across the arm and her head tilted
awkwardly against the wall. He knew exhaustion had claimed her soon after her sister had been moved to a room in Neuro ICU. Earlier, she’d downed two pain pills and guzzled a vending machine coffee. He hoped her headache was gone when she woke but was afraid it would be replaced with a crick in her neck. Sitting beside Grace, Bridget flipped through a magazine, lifting her gaze to the door every few seconds, always on alert.

  “Chief? Are you still there?” Johnson’s voice sounded in his ear.

  “Yeah. My goal is to be back by three so I can pick Camden up from school.” He looked out the bank of windows on the east-facing wall of the waiting room. The sun had risen, and traffic was increasing. The morning rush hour would soon be in full swing. “I still need to finalize a plan to provide around-the-clock guards for Chloe.”

  “About that. The patrol officers and I have decided we’ll take care of guard duty.”

  “I wish it were that easy.” Evan sighed. “Not only can I not afford to pay overtime for you guys to serve as guards, but it’s over a two-hour drive, one-way.”

  “No, you don’t understand. We’re volunteering our time on our days off.”

  “What? Are you serious? I can’t ask you to do that.”

  “You’re not asking.”

  “But—”

  “No, sir.” Johnson cut him off. “We’ve made our minds up. Chloe Osborne is one of our own. Most of us have known her since grade school. A few of us even took her out a time or two in high school, myself included. Blackberry Falls is about community and family. We take care of both.”

  Can’t argue with his logic.

  To be honest, Evan was relieved he wouldn’t have to approach the Denver chief to ask for assistance. They’d had words the night Lisa had been killed in a drive-by shooting a block from the hotel where they were staying. Granted, Evan bore most of the responsibility for agreeing to walk back to the hotel following the play instead of insisting on taking a cab. He had known the streets could be dangerous at that time of night, but Lisa had wanted to enjoy the evening a little longer. The hotel had been less than two blocks away, and she could be very persuasive when she wanted to be. He’d been happy to see her smile again.

  “All right, then. Text me a schedule of the rotation. I’ll pass it along to Ryan, so he can notify the hospital staff. He and Bridget will also fill in any gaps in the schedule as needed. Oh—and, Johnson, make sure the officers know if their relief is late arriving, they are not to leave their post, even if it means they’re late for work. We’ll cover for them, and their pay won’t be docked.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Disconnecting the call, Evan slipped the phone into his pocket. An elderly man with a walker entered the waiting area, followed by a blue-haired woman of similar age and a dark-haired girl who looked to be in her early twenties. The hospital buzzed with morning activity. As much as he’d like to let Grace sleep a little longer, he needed to wake her and find a more private area for them to discuss a plan to keep her safe after he headed home.

  Home. Growing up moving from one military base to the other, Blackberry Falls had felt like home from the moment his family had settled there following his father’s retirement from the Air Force. The moment he’d first seen the town—its Main Street decorated with American flags for Memorial Day, the large park at the center of the town square, and the endless hiking trails into the Rocky Mountains with one leading to the waterfall the town had been named for—he had known he never wanted to leave.

  Just one of the reasons he would never understand why Grace had been in such a hurry to leave the only home she’d ever known.

  * * *

  Grace’s migraine had lessened, but her senses remained on hyper alert—even the roots of her hair ached. She rubbed her temples and tried to focus on Evan’s words.

  “I’ve worked everything out. You can be in the comfort of your own home and be here for your sister. Bridget will stay with you at night and bring you back to the hospital each morning.”

  He wanted her to stay in Denver? She had felt certain he’d insist on her returning to Blackberry Falls where he could keep an eye on her.

  “One of my off-duty officers will be here, stationed right outside Chloe’s door.” Evan looked at her, then continued in a rush. “You’ll have to stay in Chloe’s room, only stepping out and staying with the guard when the doctors or nurses ask you to. At the end of the day, Ryan or Bridget will pick you up and escort you home. No venturing out, because I won’t have a guard who can go with you. Do you understand?”

  Relief flooded through her. She’d stay by her sister’s bedside and watch over her, ensuring her safety. Then a niggle of doubt worked its way into her brain. The doctors and nurses were the people her sister needed to take care of her, not Grace. They were the ones who could make her comfortable. And the off-duty police officers who—for whatever reason she could not imagine—were volunteering time away from their own families, were the ones who could protect her. There wasn’t much Grace could do here.

  She bit her lower lip. Staying at the hospital would be selfish. Grace would be hiding out. She’d be a bigger help to her sister if she went back to Blackberry Falls, took care of the clinic and looked for clues as to who wanted them both dead. “No. I mean yes, I understand. No, I won’t stay here.”

  “Don’t be stubborn, Gracie.” Evan dragged a hand over his face where stubble had transformed his normally clean-cut, guy-next-door look into one of a rugged outdoorsman. “I knew you wouldn’t enjoy having to stay in one place all day, but it’s the best I can do.”

  “It’s not that. I need to take care of things at the clinic.”

  If she couldn’t make him understand, he’d insist she stay here, under lock and key. “James is scheduled to leave at the end of next week, after they finalize the divorce. In the meantime, I need him to go over the patient files with me and fill me in on the ins and outs of his caseload. I also need to start interviewing for a new vet. Besides, I also have Barkley to consider. He’ll be sad his owner is missing and will need extra attention.”

  “Be reasonable.” His voice boomed in the small walk-in-closet-size room where they waited to talk with Dr. Carson and receive an update on Chloe. Lowering his voice, Evan added, “I don’t have the manpower to protect you at the clinic.”

  “I’ll be fine at the clinic. I won’t be alone. There are always a lot of people around.”

  “What about after work? Who will guard you then? Am I going to have to spend the nights in my car outside the farmhouse waiting for the man to come back to try to kill you?”

  “No. You have a child who needs you at home. Look. I know you’d prefer to keep me under twenty-four-hour security, miles away from Blackberry Falls, but do you think that will stop someone who wants me dead?”

  He paled, as if she’d slapped him. She’d heard he’d been walking right beside his wife when she was shot and hadn’t been able to stop it from happening. Knowing him as well as she did, she knew he blamed himself. He needn’t worry. Grace had lived on her own for almost half her life. She knew how to be cautious and wouldn’t take unnecessary risks.

  “I’ll stay in the apartment above the clinic. It’s only a few miles from the police station, and I’ll set the alarm system the second the last employee leaves.”

  “What if the last employee to leave is James? We’ve not ruled him out as a suspect yet.”

  “I’ll make sure he isn’t the last one.”

  “How can you guarantee that?”

  “I’ll come up with some excuse for him to leave early, an errand or something. If that fails, I’ll leave with the other employees. I’m sure Valerie would be happy to drive me to the police station.”

  Valerie had been an employee at the clinic longer than anyone else, starting as a part-time employee in high school and later becoming a veterinary technician. She had become a close family friend. Grace knew she’d do
as asked without question.

  “Once you get off work, you can take me back to the clinic, check everything out, and make sure things are locked up tight.”

  Evan still looked doubtful, so she added, “I promise to be careful, but if these attacks are connected to whatever Chloe discovered at the clinic, you’ll need someone on the inside looking for clues.”

  “I think you’ve been watching too many whodunit movies.”

  “No, but I enjoy true crime shows. Do you have enough info to secure a search warrant at the clinic?”

  “No. However, as co-owner, you can give us permission without a warrant.”

  “I can give you access to general information, like billing and drug supplies, not patient records. That would be unethical. If you found something in the records I gave you access to, James would probably be long gone before you could secure a search warrant for his files. Admit it, you need my help.”

  He shoved his hand through his hair. “If I go along with this, you must promise not to take any risks. I have to know your whereabouts at all times.”

  She’d never liked having her every move analyzed, but if that’s what it took to get him to let her go back to help look for the person wanting her and Chloe dead, then so be it.

  FIVE

  Evan was late. He turned onto the road that circled around to the back of Blackberry Falls Elementary School and pulled into the car-rider pickup line, nodding a return greeting to parents who waved as they drove past. There were a dozen or so cars ahead of him in line. Hopefully, Camden hadn’t become apprehensive. The anxiety attacks had started the second month of kindergarten, when Evan had been late because he’d stopped to offer aid to a stranded motorist. The counselor had told him the attacks were a result of Camden’s fear of something happening to his only living parent.