***
Chuck lay in bed staring out the hospital window. He had been awake for some time before realizing it. From the looks of the sun outside it was late afternoon, but the afternoon of which day? His head throbbed and he wanted to be up and moving about. After all, someone had tried to kill him and Edie Pary had been the bait. So why didn’t they finish the job?”
The memories of the incident were still vague and foggy. Had someone been in the car with him when Brooks ran him off the road? The dreams, were they real dreams or warnings? “I just hope Gail, Blake, Bill and Catfish got that safe and the papers were inside.”
Loud, angry, voices were now coming from outside in the hall. They grew louder and louder until the door to his room burst open and in walked two men arguing with one another. The first man wore a police uniform, the second was Doctor Marks, and he was livid with anger.
The officer thrust and pushed his way around the Doctor then approached the edge of Chuck’s hospital bed. One of the shirt patches on the uniform read, “Sheriff West Creek County.”
The doctor, seeing Chuck awake and clear-eyed, released his grip from the Sheriff’s arm and said, “I tried to stop this bull headed mule. You don’t have to say a thing if you don’t feel up to it, Mr. Veal.”
“Okay, Veal. You are under arrest. Now you have the right to remain silent….”
Chuck had no intentions of speaking and simply lay there letting the Sheriff finish his display of legal jargon. Most people know the Miranda reading by heart anyway. Every cop show on TV does it at least once a week.
The Sheriff finished, and then waited for a moment. “Do you understand those rights as I’ve explained them to you?”
Chuck lay staring at the man’s darting and beady eyes but said nothing. Brooks reached for the front of the Chuck’s simple hospital gown but something in Chuck’s cold, hard stare warned him away. The look told Brooks that Veal was daring him to keep going. The Sheriff’s hands wavered inches away but never moved any closer. Matt could stare someone down the same way and was hell on wheels in a poker game.
Doctor Marks pointed at Brooks and said harshly, “If you lay one hand on him, Brooks, so help me I’ll stick a needle right through that fat skull of yours. I mean it.”
“This man was drunk last night. He was all over the road. I almost had to ram him one time head on to stop him from killing somebody. There was somebody else in the car with him and I want to know who and I want to know right now.”
“So,” Chuck realized. “There had been someone in the car with him? Who? He could not remember anything beyond bits and flashes after someone hit him over the head on the logging road.
Doctor Marks laughed. “Drunk? Would you care to see the blood tests I ran last night including the blood alcohol tests? It hardly reads because he was not drunk, not even drinking. This man wasn’t any drunker than I am right now when Deputy Jacobs brought him to the emergency room.”
Marks cried with emphasis on the last word, “But he was darn near beat to death by someone.”
Sheriff Brooks turned on Marks and snarled, “Beat to death? I only hit him once or twice. You can’t call that beat to death?”
Chuck rose up quickly. He did not remember seeing the Sheriff last night.
The doctor screamed, “What? You mean to tell me you hit this man? He's got a concussion, Walt. You could have killed him and why? All because you thought he was drunk?”
Brooks snapped, “I used reasonable force. He was fighting at me and trying to escape.”
Marks cried, “Yea? Just like you beat the brains out of Bud Morrison’s boy last year just because he was a fighting drunk?”
Brooks shrugged, “I do my job, my way, Marks. You can do yours anyway you please.”
Turning back to Chuck, he spat, “So who beat you up, Veal? Your buddy, Blake Squires?”
Chuck shook his head, raised his hand and pointed a finger directly at the shiny badge on Brooks’ chest. He wasn’t sure, why he did it, only that he wanted an edge of some kind in case things got worse. Brooks paled.
Doctor Marks, as they say, went ballistic. His feet left the floor as he screamed, “Brooks? I have had it with you. I am ordering you out of this room and out of this hospital. If you do not go then I will call the state patrol and have them drag you out. This man is my patient and he is under my orders and care. Now get out...right now.”
Brooks pointed at Chuck and said, “I’ll be back, Veal, and you’ll tell the truth before this is over. Do you hear me? You are under official arrest as of now so if you go to the bathroom without my permission you will be treated as an escaped prisoner.”
Chuck smiled and waved as the doctor pushed the larger man out of the room. Once they were gone, he tried to sit up. “I’ve got to do something.” He said and reached for the phone beside the bed. He dialed a number and waited until a deep voice answered, “Timber Mill, Squires speaking.”
“Blake? It’s me.”
“Hey Chuck. I gather you are alive and kicking at the hospital?”
“Yeah, I’m here. Where is Gail? “
“Jacobs made her go somewhere and get some sleep. She’s safe and fine with Catfish on guard.”
“Good, thanks. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“We got it. She opened right up. We got what we needed and then tucked her back where we found her.”
“Good Blake.”
“I got them and a judge in Macon got a copy that Clark hand delivered his morning. Chuck? What happened to you last night?”
“I don’t know. I met Edie and we were talking. The next thing I know somebody hiding in the bushes jumped me. I can’t understand why they left without finishing the job.”
Blake’s voice lowered, “Maybe it was just a warning.”
“They warned me, Blake. They warned me about three or four times with a board or something.”
“Yeah, that’s what Jacobs told me. We found something else, a diary that belonged to Claudia Pary.”
“You mean, the woman who…?”
“Yes, the woman who was supposed to have killed your grandfather.”
“Supposed to have? I don’t follow you and why was that in Matt’s safe?”
“I figure he must have gotten it from Edie. Maybe that is what she wanted to see you about last night. She wanted that diary back.”
“I don’t think so, Blake, but we better watch her, not because she is a danger but I think she is in danger.”
“I don’t know, Chuck. I do know she was getting sweet on Matt and the feeling was mutual. I think they were a lot more of an item than we realized. She had to be the one who gave him the diary. There’s no other way he could have gotten it.”
Chuck thought for a second and asked, “Well what’s so important about the diary?”
Blake said, “I’m not going to explain it all over the phone, but Claudia’s last, handwritten entry said that she and your grandfather, Tom were running off to Charleston to get married the next day.”
He had to hold on to keep from jumping off the bed. “Do what? Why would she write that?”
“Who knows?” Blake said. “But that’s what she wrote. It sounds somewhat crazy. Doesn’t it?”
“It sounds a lot more than crazy, Blake. Like you said, that book might be why somebody was after Matt and if it wasn’t Edie....”
Blake finished the sentence. “Then it was Max Pary, her brother. That’s what Gail, Bill, and I think.”
Chuck’s head was swimming. He said, “Look, Blake. Come get me out of this place, will you?”
“Better not. Old doc will let you go soon enough so just sit tight. Jacobs is out at the Pary place right now and I should hear from him pretty soon.”
“Whispering Pines, what is Bill doing out there?”
“Said he was going to talk with Edie so maybe she can help us put everything in perspective but for now, you just rest and we’ll take care of things, and by the way. What were you doing on the wrong road last nigh
t? Did you get lost or something?”
“No. I think I drove out across the old bridge.”
“Ain’t no way, Chuck That thing would fall if a fly landed on it.”
“Well, that’s how I got out of there I’m pretty sure. I remember a tree had blown down during the storm and blocked my way out from the east. I had to lay there and die or get up and get going but the only way out was to drive across the bridge.”
“Lordy. That wasn’t much of a choice. Okay, you take it easy and I’ll pick you up when the doc says you can go but not a second before.”
He shook his head. “No Blake. Now, right now. Call Gail and tell her to come get me if you don’t have time.”
“No, Chuck. It’s too dangerous. We don’t know who is who right now so it’s better if she stays out of sight and you stay put right where you are. Good bye, Chuck, rest easy.”
The Beginning (Whispering Pines Book 1) Page 36