Tom spoke directly to Sarah. “How long has he been in surgery?”
She looked at the clock on the wall. “Two hours and thirteen minutes.” She swiped tears from her eyes. “I wish they would tell us something. Anything.”
The group fell silent. Tom wanted to say something encouraging but was at a loss. His best friend was facing surgery twice in a week’s time. That couldn’t be good. God, it’s up to You. It always has been, but there’s not a thing any of us could do or could have done.
A small hand reached into his and squeezed. He opened his eyes to see Lucy’s head bowed and her eyes closed as his had been. A smile reached his lips as emotion welled in his chest. He squeezed her hand back.
Footsteps coming down the hallway made them all look up. It was the surgeon. Everyone stood, and the doctor waved them back down and pulled an extra chair over so he could sit.
“Have a seat. Jared’s good. The surgery went well. It was a tiny bleed we missed. We’ve drained off the excess blood, and there doesn’t seem to be any inflammation. That’s what we were worried about. We took our time, and he should be waking up in an hour or so. We’ll keep him in recovery for a while for observation. He should be back in ICU tonight and maybe to a regular room by tomorrow, depending on how alert he is.”
Tom observed Sarah through the explanation. She visibly relaxed, as did he and the rest of the group.
Sarah spoke up. “Is there . . . any sign of brain damage?”
“Shouldn’t be, but until he’s awake for an extended amount of time, we won’t know for sure. Any kind of brain injury, even mild traumatic brain injury, can cause damage, but not necessarily permanent. Considering this is at least his second TBI, not counting football injuries.” The doctor grinned up at Tom. “Memory loss, trouble finding words, being emotional at weird times; those kinds of things are common even a year after the injury.” He chuckled. “Or, as my wife would say, being a man could also have something to do with that.”
Sarah smiled. “I’ve already noticed that.”
Tom raised his hand. “I do want to say, when Jared took me out in a tackle the first time I met him, he did have a helmet on.”
Conrad Benton guffawed at that. “Son, I have a feeling you’ve kept him alive a lot of times and not only on the football field.”
“You’re probably right.” Tom was glad that he and the doctor were able to lessen the serious mood. “There are only two things we can do now. Wait, and pray.”
The doctor nodded. “Yes. Time is a healer in all things, and God’s time is always better than ours.” He stood up and shook Sarah’s hand, squeezing it between both of his. “I’ll keep you posted.” He nodded and turned back toward the surgical suite.
They heard the elevator ding, and out came the pastor and his wife. As they approached, Tom greeted them and left them to Sarah and the parents. He looked at Lucy, much calmer than she had been earlier, and gestured with his head to follow him, which she did.
“Are we still on for roofing 101 on Friday?” He absent-mindedly reached for her hand, and when she squeezed his, he realized what he had done. Being on a roof with her was going to be murder. For one thing, he would worry about her falling and getting hurt. For another thing, he couldn’t reach out and touch her any time he wanted. That would be difficult. He smiled at the thought.
“Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. Or in this case, the ocean.” Lucy’s tear-streaked face grinned up at him. She was flushed as well. Maybe she didn’t mind him taking her hand.
Lucy and Tom both turned when they heard the elevator again. It was getting past visiting hours, so there hadn’t been much elevator activity in the last hour except for hospital staff and the pastor and his wife.
She closed her eyes in frustration. “I forgot to call Sam.” She looked up at Tom when she felt him squeeze her hand tightly and then let it go. “What’s wrong?” She was confused. Did he not want Sam to know about . . . well, about what?
“Sam.” Tom’s unsmiling face greeted him.
This wasn’t like Tom. She had never seen him antagonistic toward a fellow officer. She kept looking from one man to the other. They both seemed to stand up straighter. Was this a competition? Why did the thought of Tom being jealous make her want to smile? Because you love him, you silly girl. She straightened her face and waved a greeting to Sam.
“Hi, Sam. Sorry I didn’t call you. The doctor was here, and right after that, the pastor came. It’s been pretty crazy.” She had to be careful or she would start babbling with nervousness.
“What do you need, Sam?” Tom seemed to be working under the assumption that Sam wouldn’t be here unless it were official business.
“I was checking on Lucy. We had a date tonight, and she had to cancel to come and be with Sarah.” He looked over toward Sarah, as if measuring the distance between Tom and Lucy, and Lucy and Sarah. “I’m assuming she’s fine?”
“No, she’s worried and scared. Thanks for understanding, Sam.” Lucy looked at him and then anxiously at Tom. She had a bad feeling.
“And Jared made it through surgery. He’ll be in recovery for a few hours.” Tom was staring a hole through Sam, underlining the fact that he hadn’t asked about the patient.
“I’m glad to hear it.” Sam focused on Lucy. “Could we talk for a minute?” He glanced at Tom. “In private?”
She glanced back and forth between the men once more. “Sure. How about I walk you down to the lobby?” Anything to get rid of him. She didn’t want Sarah to know there was anything going on.
“Fine.”
He held his arm out for her to take, but she smiled and clasped her hands in front of her. No need leading him to think there might be something between them. And no need for Tom to think that, either.
When they reached the elevator and entered the cubicle, Lucy broached the question. “What was so important that couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” Business. All business.
“I didn’t want to bring this up. Me working for state and Tom working for county has made this a little uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable, how?” What was he insinuating?
“I had a buddy to look up the account for the relief fund.”
“And? Is there a problem?”
“There is money missing.”
“What? It can’t be! I made most of those deposits myself.” What in the world was going on?
“I know, and I know you couldn’t have done anything wrong. Do you have the checkbook and ledger?”
“Not here. They’re at Sarah’s house. I’ve been going over them to get ready for the meeting with the mayor and county judge tomorrow.”
“Okay. Bring them and come a little early tomorrow, and I’ll show you what we found. Have you looked at the online statement?” His face was flushed. Odd.
“No, I haven’t been on the online account.” Not that she couldn’t. She hadn’t had a reason to before now.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll explain it all tomorrow.” They had arrived at the lobby. “Don’t mention this to Tom, okay?”
“Are you accusing him of something?” She narrowed her eyes but tried to look vague. It wasn’t easy. Vague wasn’t in her DNA.
“No, not at all. I’ll . . . I’ll show you tomorrow.” He kept looking at the elevator, as if he thought Tom would follow them down. “I’ve got to go. I know you want to get back upstairs . . . to Sarah.”
She would not blush. She was starting to get angry, but she would not let him see it. “Yes, I need to get back to the family.” There. She underscored that Tom was part of her family, and he was not. “See you in the morning, 8:30 sharp.”
Sam nodded. He reached out for her hand, but she was already turning back toward the elevator. When she reached the metal doors, she looked back to see him exiting through the automatic doors. Good riddance.
What in the world?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tom got to his desk by 7:30 the next morning, still divided between being angry
at Sam for showing up at the hospital, and worrying about Jared. All he could do for Jared was pray, but Sam? He would get to the bottom of it.
They didn’t know each other well. Sam was a few years younger than he, and they hadn’t gone to high school together. He and Jared went to Waccamaw High, and Sam went to Georgetown High. Two schools in close proximity were bound to have rivalries. He pulled up the database of state and county employees. Wait a minute. Sam transferred to Waccamaw his senior year. He didn’t go to the police academy with Sam, but maybe he was behind him and he missed him.
There he was. Graduated from Waccamaw High in 2006. No wonder he didn’t know him from sports. Sam was a freshman when he was a senior. Graduated from Clemson in 2010. Go Tigers. What was his degree? There it was. Computer technology. Really? He was a computer guy? Minor in counseling. Interesting.
He was so intent on his research that he was startled to hear a familiar voice in the hallway. Was that Lucy? He looked at the clock. He had burned a good hour on his research-slash-stalking session. It wasn’t stalking if you were a police officer. At least that’s what he told himself.
He couldn’t understand everything she was saying, but when he walked to the door of the squad room and looked down the hall, there she was. She looked angry, but her voice was well-modulated. Sam didn’t look as if he noticed anything amiss. She glanced at Tom in the doorway. Her eyes widened, and she nodded. What was that about? He tilted his head in question, and she looked back at Sam with a sweet smile.
“Sam, if you’ll excuse me for a few minutes, I need to touch base with Tom about a project we’re working on for his mother. I’ll meet you in the conference room, okay?”
Sam glanced over at Tom with a raised eyebrow. “Fine. I’ll meet you in the conference room.” He walked away.
“Lucy, what’s going on?” She was upset. When Lucy came back last night after walking Sam out, he could tell something wasn’t right. She was quiet, and that was not like Lucy. Now there was a sparkle in her eyes that wasn’t there when she was talking to Sam. That was a nice thought. He smiled at her, and she smiled back then frowned.
“Oh, don’t do that. Don’t smile at me, because when you do, I lose all the thoughts in my head.” She closed her eyes and flushed bright red. “Did I say that out loud?” She slowly opened her eyes and grimaced at the huge grin on his face.
“Yep. You did. I’ll try to contain myself.”
“Thank you. Because I need your level, organized head for a few minutes before I have to meet Sam, the mayor, and the judge.” She glanced up at the ceiling. “Oh, Lord, why did this have to come up now?”
He walked her over to his desk and offered her a seat. “You are every bit as organized as I, so what’s the problem?” He was beginning to get concerned.
“Someone has been fiddling with the relief effort money.” She sat there, staring at him.
“How? I thought everything was locked tight with security?”
“I thought so, too, until I looked at the online bank activity. According to that, there have been several withdrawals from the account with a police department debit card.” Her pointed look said it all. “Yours.”
“That’s impossible. I don’t even use the department card for cash advances.” He got his wallet out and started looking through the cards. “I haven’t even had it out in over a month.” He dumped the ones in the larger part of his wallet on the desk. He looked up at her. “It’s gone.”
“What is?” Lucy looked confused.
“My debit card. Also my personal debit card isn’t in the right slot. Who could have done this?” He had his suspicions, but he wouldn’t say until he had more proof.
“The only other person with access is Sam. Why would he implicate you? You’re not even on the signature card.”
“I don’t know, but I will find out.” He looked up into Lucy’s worried face. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out. Are you up for a little investigative work?”
“You’d better believe it. Try to keep me away. According to this, about ten thousand dollars has gone missing. That’s too much not to miss, which I’m sure is why Sam pointed it out before this meeting.”
“Go to your meeting. When you’re done, send me a text. I’ll leave, and you can meet me at the bank. I’d like to see those signature cards and the online account info.”
“And, we won’t be seen leaving together. What can I say at the meeting? What if he brings it up?”
“If he does, go along with whatever he says. Say it’s being looked into, and that you have no idea how this could have happened.” He took her hand. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I’ll be fine. He doesn’t know how much I know. Last night I hadn’t looked at the online account.”
“Huh. He was a computer major in college.” Tom twisted his lips.
Lucy’s mouth dropped open. “Really? How do you know that?”
“I may have looked at his employment records after last night.” His sheepish look made her smile.
“I was that transparent, huh?”
“I knew something wasn’t right, so I wanted to look a little deeper.” He looked at the clock. She would be late if she weren’t careful, and that wouldn’t look good. “You go on to your meeting, and I’ll keep digging.”
“Yes, sir.” She gave him a salute. “See you in a bit.”
“Looking forward to it.” He leaned back in his chair and watched as she walked out of his office and down the hall. She was well worth watching.
Done.
That was the text she sent. It didn’t seem like enough, but it was unobtrusive, and Sam never saw her send it.
“Uh, Lucy?”
“Sam?”
“Would you like to grab lunch, since we missed our date last night?” Sam was smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary.
She swallowed the bile rising in her throat and smiled. “I’m sorry, I’ve got errands to run, and then I’m heading to the hospital to check on Jared.”
“How’s he doing?”
“Much better. He’s still in and out, but a lot of that is medication.” At least he asked about Jared. It was odd how he very seldom did.
He nodded. “Thanks for not bringing up the discrepancy in the account. I’d rather have more evidence before we bring it to light.”
“I agree.” She scrutinized his expression, looking for a "tell." “I’ll check on it this afternoon. I didn’t have time to do all I wanted to last night.” Should she play the dumb blonde card? This one time, maybe?
“It can be pretty complicated. Online stuff, you know.” He was still looking pretty satisfied.
“Oh, I know. I get on the Internet and get lost sometimes. It’s difficult to navigate – especially the bank site. I’m no computer expert.” What would he say to that?
“It’s not hard once you get used to it, but I was a computer major in college.”
Did she imagine it, or did his chest puff out a little bit?
“Really? Wow. I don’t think I could have done that. Elementary Ed was difficult enough.” Lord, please forgive me for lying.
He laughed. “I’ll walk you out.”
“Thanks, Sam. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
They reached the door, and he held it for her to pass in front of him. “I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”
She waved her fingers and hurried to her car, wondering if she could walk a little faster to get away from him.
Tom got out of his unmarked car when Lucy pulled up beside him in the bank parking lot.
“Sorry. Sam was chatty on the walk out the door.” She grimaced a little. “I was glad he didn’t bring up the discrepancy. Said he wanted ‘more evidence’ before he brought it up.” She cut her eyes up at him.
“More evidence, huh? Let’s see if we can get more evidence.” He put his hand to the small of her back and ushered her into the bank.
“How can I help you today?” The teller gave them each a friendly smile.
&
nbsp; Tom pulled out his badge and laid it on the counter. “I’m hoping you can help us.”
“Is this a police matter?” The young woman looked nervous.
“Yes, I’m afraid so. I need to see the signature cards for the police relief fund account.”
He nodded at Lucy.
She pulled out the checkbook for the account as well as her I.D. “I’m one of the signatories on the account, and I noticed a few debits on the online statement that I do not have in my records.”
“Oh my. Let me get an accounts manager.” She looked across the lobby and waved at a middle-aged man in a bank-issue polo shirt. As soon as he saw her, he made his way to them.
“Tom! How are you? Something we can help you with?”
“Hey, Mason. Good to see you.” He shook hands and looked at Lucy, who was standing there beside him. “Mason Beckman and I go way back. His dad was my little league football coach. Mason, Lucy Dixon. Lucy is Sarah’s best friend, staying with her until the wedding.”
“You must be the maid of honor. Better watch out hanging out with Jared’s best man, unless you need help with a speeding ticket.”
“Nice to meet you, Mason. I forget that Tom seems to know people everywhere he goes.” She grinned, but still looked apprehensive.
“Mason, we may have a problem, and I’d like to keep it on the down-low if you don’t mind.”
Now it was Mason’s turn to look worried. “No problem, Tom. Tell me what you need, and we’ll take care of it in my office.”
The teller spoke up. “Mr. Beckman, they asked for the signature card for an account. Would you like me to bring it to your office?”
“Thank you, Nadine. I would appreciate it. Now, follow me and let’s see if we can get this figured out.” He led them across the shiny lobby to a glass-enclosed area where he invited them to sit down.
“It’s like this, Mason. Lucy checked the station’s relief fund account last night after someone tipped her off that there were funds missing. She checked, and sure enough, there are.”
“Let me pull up the account.” He took the card Nadine had brought to him and keyed in the numbers.
Carolina Mercy (A Southern Breeze Series Book 2) Page 14
