“Do it, you asshole,” Maggie challenged him. “I’ve faced bigger bullies than you before. Do your worst,” she invited, holding her arms out.
“No, stop,” Honor yelled as Bree tried to staunch the bleeding from Zeke’s arm. “Just give me a second to say goodbye,” she begged the man holding the gun.
“What?” Maggie balked, horrified. “No! You aren’t going anywhere with this asshole, Honor.”
Looking up from Zeke’s wound, Bree shook her head. “Maggie is right. You absolutely cannot leave here with him. David, I’m begging you. Stop this. I’m your doctor. I’ve been seeing you for months. At heart, I know you are a good person that doesn’t want to do any more wrong in your life, and taking Honor or anyone else from my office would be wrong.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” David denied, shaking his head.
“I know I’ve been seeing you twice a week for eight months, and for that entire time, I’ve watched as something in your past tortured you. Something truly awful. I suspected some form of abuse, but I was wrong. That wasn’t it, was it? It’s the fact that you participated in the kidnapping and violation of a young girl. I can see in your eyes that you desperately want to make things right, but I also know that this isn’t the way to make amends.”
Wiping the sweat from his brow, David shook his head. “I made myself a promise that I’d keep you safe from him this time,” he explained. “I’m gonna keep that vow.”
“We can still keep Honor safe,” Maggie replied, “Just tell us the name of who’s trying to hurt her.”
“Shut up and stop trying to confuse me,” David roared, grabbing his head with the hand not holding the gun. “Or I swear to God, I’ll shut you up, lady. Permanently.”
“Please, don’t,” Honor whispered. Touching Zeke’s cheek lightly, she leaned forward to press a gentle kiss to his lips. “I love you. I’ll always love you,” she breathed. “Ever and always,” she whispered, her breath hitching as she slowly got to her feet. Meeting Bree’s eyes, she swallowed painfully. “When he wakes up, you tell him that I love him and I’ll be waiting.”
“Honor,” Bree replied, her usually implacable voice shaking slightly. “There’s got to be another way.”
“You heard him,” Honor whispered. “He’s getting desperate. When he feels cornered, he does things like this,” she said, nodded down to Zeke’s prone body. “I can’t let another person get hurt because of me. Tell Zeke and my family I love them,” she requested as she slowly got to her feet.
“I knew you were reasonable,” David said with a relieved smile. “It’s for the best, Honor. I won’t let my brother hurt you. He thinks because he’s so rich and well known that he’s so smart, but I can be smart, too. He’ll be sorry he didn’t pay more attention to me.”
“Your brother?” Honor echoed, staring at the young, obviously deranged man in horror. “Who is your brother?” Honor asked with a sinking stomach.
“Henry. Henry Watson.”
All three women stared at the man in shock. “Henry Watson, the man that’s been eating lunch in my café every day for the last several years? The one that wheels and deals in real estate? The one that’s pestered me to go on a date with him since I turned eighteen,” Honor questioned, her voice rising with every question as she stared with horrified bewilderment at the man in front of her. “You’re his brother? He’s the other man who raped me?” she screamed.
David nodded.
“I didn’t even know Henry Watson had a brother, and we’ve travelled in the same circles for years,” Maggie breathed.
“Henry doesn’t talk about me much because he thinks I’m a retard,” David explained, tapping his head. “Says he can’t afford for people to know he’s got a brother who’s fucked up in the head, but I’m not. Or, I wasn’t before he made me do that stuff to her,” he said, gesturing at Honor. “Believe me, he’s the one that has the truly twisted mind. And he wants you, Honor. And he’s willing to kill whoever he needs to kill in order to have you. So, we need to go. NOW!”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Friday, September 5, 2016 – 1:15 pm
Paradise County Hospital
Zeke
“Get the fuck off me, Cain,” Zeke growled as he struggled to sit up on the examination table in the Emergency Room of the local hospital. Shoving the physician away from him, he groaned. “I need to go.” Minutes were quickly ticking by and they were minutes that he couldn’t afford to lose. God, how long had he been here already, he asked himself as he looked around frantically, trying to find a clock. How much time had he wasted already by letting these fools poke on him? “How long have I been here? How long has that bastard had my woman? For God’s sake, just slap a bandage on me and let me go.”
Restraining the determined man with a hand on his chest, Cain shook his head. “Lock your shit down, Sheriff. We need to patch up that gunshot wound in your arm and put a few stitches in your head where you nailed it on the fall down, Zeke. You won’t do Honor any good if you pass out from blood loss. You’ve only been here about twenty minutes, and we’re moving as fast as two doctors humanly can, brother. C’mon, be reasonable.”
“Would you feel real fuckin’ reasonable if it was Faith that had been taken from you, Cain,” Zeke growled, wincing as a needle pierced his skin as Mack began sewing the jagged flesh together. “What about you, Mack? You think you’d be calm if it was Millie some psycho had taken?”
Pressing his lips together, Mack shook his head. “Can’t say I would be feeling too sane, Sheriff, but I also know there’s a whole town full of folks that are on the case right now. As soon as Cain and I get you fixed up, you can join them. Until then, try to bear with us.”
Tilting his head to stare at the ceiling, Zeke fought a howl of rage. Why couldn’t they see that there wasn’t any time to lose? Honor was out there, somewhere, with one of the men that had viciously raped her. Not only that, but Maggie was, too, because in that woman’s infinite stubbornness (or stupidity – Zeke wasn’t sure which), she’d demanded he take her, too. Could these men see that they only had a limited amount of time to get the girls back before this David character thought they were more trouble than they were worth? Closing his eyes for a second, he struggled for patience. “Can you at least get your sister in here, Mack? I can at least get some details from her about this dickhead that took my woman while I wait for you two to finish using me as a pin cushion.” He ground out.
“She’ll be in here in a second, Zeke. She needed to wash up and change her clothes” Cain informed his patient as he irrigated the wound on Zeke’s head.
“Why?” Zeke growled.
“She had your blood all over her,” Mack returned, his own voice clipped and curt. “Since my sister isn’t real good with the bloodier side of medicine, it’s taking her a hot minute to get her composure back. There’s a good reason why she went into psychiatry instead of surgery. Plus, she feels guilty that she couldn’t talk this guy out of taking Honor and Maggie. I’d appreciate if you didn’t add on to my baby sister’s guilt, man.”
Just as Zeke opened his mouth to assure Mack that he didn’t blame Bree for anything regarding this clusterfuck of a morning, the door opened behind them. Craning his neck to look over his shoulder, he saw the red-haired doctor slide into the room. Dressed in scrubs two sizes too big for her, the blue material swamped her tiny frame. “Good! You’re awake!” he heard her say as she moved quickly to stand beside him. “Zeke, I am so sorry,” she apologized as she grabbed his hand and squeezed. “If I’d known that David Watson was one of the men that hurt, Honor… if I’d even suspected, I would have contacted you. I’d have been bound by not only my conscience but by law to do so since it was a crime committed against a child, but he never said anything”
Zeke nodded, grimacing as the movement caused his skin on his temple to pull where Cain was suturing it back together. “I know you wouldn’t have withheld information, Bree. I don’t blame you for any of this, but I do need your help
.”
“Anything,” she offered immediately. “Whatever I can do to help, I’ll do it.”
“Tell me about this guy, David Watson. What’s his story?” he asked bluntly, shifting as Mack prodded the wound on his arm. The fuckin’ injury stung like a nest of hornets had attacked his arm, but he didn’t have time to dwell on that pain. He needed to find this David guy because where he was, Honor and Maggie would be, too.
“I’ve got it all right here,” Bree said, holding up the file in her hand. “Cheyenne followed us to the hospital with his records.” Peering down into the folder to refresh her memory, she scanned the pages. “It looks like David Watson contacted my office approximately eight months ago for what appeared at the time to be classic anger management issues. He said he was having uncontrollable bouts of rage that would be followed by severe depression that sometimes lasted for days. After a few sessions, it was clear that David had trouble connecting with people. He’s learning disabled and emotionally delayed. Honestly, he’s thirty years old, but I estimate his mental capacity is probably that of about a twelve year old. His mother and father both passed when he was young. They died in a car accident when he was eleven, and at that point his older brother, Henry, finished raising him, choosing to hire a tutor and pull David from the public school system. He never mentioned the brother in any session by name. In fact, any time I attempted to discuss his brother, David would become belligerent and severely agitated. I suspected…and truthfully still suspect that my patient suffered abuse under his brother’s care. At least verbal abuse… and sexual, too, if David was coerced into raping Honor.”
“Nobody made that man force himself on my woman, Bree. That little prick did that all on his own,” Zeke growled.
“Zeke, I’m sorry, but, respectfully, you’re wrong. As I said earlier, no matter how old he actually was at the time, David has the mentality of a pre-pubescent child. He could very well have been intimidated into performing these acts by his brother. Fear of consequences is a powerful motivator, and if he’d experienced his brother’s wrath in the past, he’d be terrified to disobey a direct command. And honestly, from what Honor described to me during her sessions with me, that sounds like exactly what happened. You heard that man in my office. He was expressing remorse for his actions. I honestly don’t think he’ll hurt Honor, Maggie, or anyone else if he can avoid it. He only wants to protect Honor from the threat of his brother.”
“Sis, I don’t wanna sound like an asshole here, but your patient shot the fucking Sheriff. Literally. I’m thinkin’ that he might not care too much who he hurts as long as he gets Honor to himself.”
“He was sorry for that, Mack. You weren’t there, and Zeke, you were unconscious, but David panicked the moment he realized that he’d shot you. He clearly didn’t mean to do it. This man/child believes that he’s saving Honor from his brother. And I believe him. The things that Honor’s been experiencing these past few months… the cryptic notes… the menacing phone calls…the video… … my patient isn’t sophisticated enough to pull those things off. The brother, Henry, had to have been responsible for it. David was watching his brother escalate and felt he had to act. In my professional opinion, that’s what happened this morning.”
“Where do we find this David Watson? Where does he live?”
“His address is listed as 320 Sugar Hill Road,” Bree said, reading from her file.
Recognizing the address, Zeke’s shoulders tightened. “That’s his brother’s place. Look, you guys need to hurry the fuck up. I need to get units to Henry Watson’s estate and get my deputies swarming over it with a fine-toothed comb.”
“David won’t be there,” Bree denied. “He wants to keep Honor safe. He’s not going to take her into the lion’s den where his brother is. He’s going to try and hide her.”
“I got fifty bucks that says we find he’s taken her somewhere up in the mountains,” a deep voice offered from the doorway of the treatment room Zeke was in.
Turning to stare at his older brother’s solemn face, Zeke grunted, “How’d you know I was here?”
“Man, half the town knows what went down. You know better than anybody that word travels fast in a small town. Especially when the sheriff gets shot. When I heard this fucker had Honor and Maggie, I hightailed it over here.” Jerking his chin toward Cain, he asked, “How is he?”
“I’m fine,” Zeke snapped before Cain could open his mouth. “My woman and Mags, though, are probably scared out of their fuckin’ minds right now, and that is a far cry from okay with me.”
“Honor might be scared, but I can guarantee you that the red-haired ball of fury is in all likelihood pissed as hell and plotting the Watson boys’ demise,” Ice replied with a cold, bloodthirsty smile. “Hopefully, she’ll let me help her with that.”
Zeke could tell that the fact that Maggie was being held by this whack job, too, was fucking with his older brother. “Zach, you solid, man?” he asked his sibling, using his Christian name.
“Ice fuckin’ cold, brother. I just want some vengeance for all this fucker’s done,” Ice returned, his voice frigid and hard.
Zeke nodded. If his brother said he was fine, he had to believe him. Right now, Zeke needed every single man he could trust to join the hunt for the women. “Tell me what’s happening out there,” he demanded, nodding his head toward the front of the hospital.
“Faith is in the waiting room with Mr. Seth, Mr. Jethro and Ms. Orla. They’re waiting to hear how you’re doing. I’ve called in reinforcements and that Deputy Hightower that you like so much is getting everybody organized. The Sheriff’s station is command central. I’ll drive you over there, but before you go barreling out of here, though, you need to have a word with Miss Orla. Zeke, she ain’t holdin’ up too well. Neither is Mr. Seth.”
“Daddy loves Maggie like the daughter he and my momma never had,” Cain said softly, speaking of his father, Seth. “She and Honor might not be my blood, but they’re my sisters. Abel’s, too. We need y’all to find ‘em, Zeke,” he urged, tying off the string and dropping his tools back to the instrument tray. “You’re done on my side.”
“Mine, too,” Mack remarked as he placed the last piece of medical tape on the bandage on Zeke’s arm. “You know the drill. Keep it clean and dry and watch for signs of infection. And you best talk to Orla for a moment before she follows through on her threat to castrate the entire lot of us if we keep her from “that lawman” for one second longer than necessary.”
Hopping off the table, Zeke reached for the spare shirt Ice held out to him. “I’ll have a quick word with Miss Orla and the family, then I’m out of here to find a way to get my woman back,” he said as he shrugged the shirt on over his shoulders and buttoned it quickly before striding out the door and down the hallway to the waiting room.
He found the elderly trio sitting with Faith, each one looking as though the end of the world was nigh. “Miss Orla,” he said as he headed toward her chair.
“Ezekiel, they said you were shot,” Orla sniffled, wiping her cheeks as she stood from her chair to embrace him.
Hugging her one-armed, Zeke pressed his lips to her temple. “Just a flesh wound, Miss Orla.”
“That man has our girls,” Orla whispered into his chest.
“I know,” he replied heavily. “But believe me, I’m gonna get our girl and bring her back where she belongs. Here. With us. Swear to God, I won’t rest until I’ve got her back in my arms. I waited my whole life to have a special woman like your niece. I won’t turn loose of what I’ve found. And I’ll find Maggie, too, Mr. Seth. I’ll tear this county apart until I locate both of them,” Zeke promised, squeezing the elderly woman gently as he exchanged looks with Jethro and Seth over her head.
Orla lifted her head and firmed her jaw, taking a step back into her husband’s waiting arms. “Is it true that this was the Watson boys’ doing? That they were the ones… the ones that…”
“It looks like it,” Zeke informed them all quietly. “Bree seem
s to think the younger boy was coerced into his part in it, but yes, they were both involved.”
“Always knew the eldest Watson boy was trouble,” Jethro snarled. “Boy had dead eyes… no soul shining in them.”
“So, what’s happening right now?” Faith asked worriedly, wringing her hands as Cain joined their group in the waiting room and wrapped his arms around her.
“Right now, roadblocks are going up all over town and we’re getting our resources mobilized. I’m going back to the station now and I’ll be able to tell you more in an hour. But, you’ve all got my word, I’ll find them.”
“We know you will, son,” Jethro acknowledged as Seth nodded beside him.
“Just find her quick, Lawman. Find my baby girl and Maggie and end this nightmare once and for all,” Aunt Orla begged him shakily before she broke into tears again.
“You read my mind, Miss Orla, because that’s exactly what I intend to do,” Zeke returned, leaning in to kiss her cheek before he looked at his brother and jerked his head toward the door. “Let’s move.”
Paradise Sheriff’s Station – 1:30 pm
Jake & Harmony
“We appreciate any help you can offer us, ma’am,” Jake Stone said gratefully, shaking the representative that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had sent to meet with them. “I know as soon as the sheriff arrives, he’ll be just as grateful as we are for any help you can provide. These women are important not only to us, but to the entire town.”
The woman in the fitted black suit nodded. “I’ll call and get some extra manpower headed this way in the next hour, Mr. Stone. Hopefully by then, we’ll have a lead on where to direct our search. Try not to worry. Either of you,” she said, lifting a hand to squeeze a worried Harmony McKinnon Stone’s shoulder. “We’re going to find your sister and her friend, Mrs. Stone.”
Harmony nodded silently, her chin trembling as she tried to control her emotions.
Man of Honor (Passion in Paradise Book 4) Page 54
