by Marla Monroe
Chapter Eleven
“Okay, we’ve got it,” the sheriff told Kyle and West. “He has an old cabin left to him by his grandfather outside of town. We’re on our way.”
“We’re going with you. No way you’re going without us.” Kyle grabbed his helmet and climbed on the bike. West was right beside him.
They pulled out onto the main road then turned down a blacktop road about five miles later. Kyle felt as if they were driving out into nowhere. A few minutes later, they hit a gravel road. Here, they had to slow down, as dust from the two vehicles ahead of them cut visibility way down.
After about three minutes the brake lights went on ahead, and they had to stop hard to keep from hitting them. Kyle climbed off his bike and raced up to see what was going on. West made it there before he did, and he heard a roar from his best friend.
“I’ll fucking kill you.”
The sheriff and a deputy were holding him back.
“You need to see about her. We have him.” The sheriff jerked West back from Jim, who was cowering next to the deputy holding him.
“Brandy, fuck. Brandy!” West ran over to where she lay crumpled in the grass like a rag doll.
“I’ve called for an ambulance. Don’t you boys go moving her.”
“What the hell happened?” Kyle demanded.
“He hit her with the truck,” West managed to get out. They knelt next to her, afraid to touch her.
“How bad?” Kyle demanded.
“I don’t know. I didn’t see him. I just saw her fly off to the side.”
“Brandy, baby. Can you hear us? We’re here, baby. We’ll take care of you.” Kyle could feel the tears in his eyes. He could see them in West’s eyes as well. They gently touched her face. She opened her eyes and moaned before trying to sit up.
“Don’t move, baby. You’re hurt. We don’t know how bad.” Kyle gently pushed her back down.
“He just grazed my hip is all. I think I turned my ankle, though, when I fell.”
They continued to talk to her and touch her while they waited for the ambulance to arrive. One of the deputies brought over a blanket and laid it over her to keep her warm.
Kyle prayed that she would be okay. He couldn’t lose her when he’d just found her. He and West had so many things to show her. They wanted to take her to the Grand Canyon and to see the ocean. He just couldn’t lose her now.
The ambulance finally pulled up after what seemed like hours. The paramedics rolled her onto a backboard and put a collar around her neck before carting her to the ambulance. They wouldn’t let either man ride with her, so they followed the ambulance to the hospital.
Once there, they wouldn’t let them back with her. No matter how much they begged or threatened, they were made to wait in the outside waiting room.
“We’ll come and get you once the doctor’s finished with his exam and all the tests. You would only get in the way. I know you don’t want to be in the way,” a nurse told them.
Kyle growled at her, and West scowled, but there wasn’t much they could do. She just shook her head and disappeared through the emergency room doors.
“She’s going to be all right, West. We just found her.” Kyle was telling himself more than his friend.
“I can’t stand the idea of being without her,” West confessed.
“We need to call Cole and let him know what has happened,” Kyle realized.
He pulled out his phone and dialed Cole’s number. The other man answered on the third ring.
“Yeah?”
“We have her back. She’s in the emergency room. The bastard hit her with his truck.”
“Fuck, how bad?” Cole asked.
“We don’t know, but she was conscious when they brought her in. Her hands and arms were covered with blood. I don’t know anything more.” Kyle sighed.
“We’re pulling for her. Don’t worry about anything but her. We’ve gotten back on track since the men realize the law is in on this now. They evidently don’t want to lose their jobs or go to jail.”
“I’ll keep you informed, but so far, we don’t know a damn thing. You be careful. Someone is awful serious about that hotel not getting finished on time. You don’t know what else they might try,” Kyle warned Cole.
“I’ll be listening for you to tell me how she’s doing.” Cole hung up
Kyle paced one side of the waiting room while West paced the other.
Neither man could be still. Every time someone came through the ER doors, both men stood up to see if it was for them. The longer they waited for someone to come tell them something, the more serious they thought it was.
Finally, the sheriff walked out. He’d been allowed to go in because he was law enforcement. He had a grim expression on his face. Kyle felt his heart sink. She wasn’t doing well.
“What is it? How is she?” West beat him to the question.
“She’s conscious and wanting to get up. I kept waiting for them to let me talk to her, but they won’t let me until they finish all their tests. I know she has some pretty deep cuts on her hands and right arm, and has a badly sprained ankle. Her hip is bruised where the truck struck her, but I don’t know about any broken bones. I just overheard that much.” The sheriff sighed and shook his head.
“What?” Kyle demanded.
“She’s going to be sore all over from this. They plan on sedating her so she’ll rest. Right now she’s fighting them, wanting to go home. They want to keep her overnight just to be safe.”
“She can’t have a head injury, then, because they wouldn’t do that.” West had one about two years prior, and they wouldn’t give him anything but Tylenol for pain for twenty-four hours in case he had complications.
“That’s something, anyway.” West sighed and stuck his hands in his pockets.
“Thanks for telling us what you know. We’re dying out here not knowing what is going on back there with her.” Kyle shook the sheriff’s hand.
West pulled his hand out of his pocket and did the same thing. “Thanks.”
“They’re supposed to call me the minute she wakes up from the sedation, so I can interview her. I don’t want any problems with you two about that. I have to know as soon as possible what happened, or I’ll end up letting the bastard go.”
“The hell you will.” Kyle took a step forward.
“I need her statement to hold him longer than the twenty-four the law allows me without charging him. I can charge him with failing to yield for a pedestrian as it is. He’d be out on bail by the time she wakes up.”
“You keep that son of a bitch in jail, or he’ll deal with us,” West promised.
The sheriff sighed and shook his head. “I’ll be going now before I hear something I don’t need to hear.” He turned and walked toward the outside door.
“If Jim ends up out on the street, he’s mine.” West looked Kyle in the eyes.
“He’s ours, West. We’re in this together.”
“No, if I go to jail, you need to take care of Brandy. He isn’t going to walk away without paying for what he did to her.”
“It’s not going to come down to that, West. She’s going to tell the sheriff everything he needs to know to put Jim down for a long time.” Kyle drew in a deep breath. “Besides, we’re taking her away from here. She won’t be anywhere around that bastard again.”
“What if she doesn’t trust us to take care of her now? I mean, we weren’t there for her.” West’s expression was one of anguish.
“She’ll know we couldn’t do anything until we found out what happened to her. We came for her, West. She’ll understand. She’s not going to change her mind.”
Kyle hoped he was telling his best friend the truth. He’d worried a little about that as well. She’d been attacked before, and then there was the incident with Jim when they’d first met her. They hadn’t been in her life for the first one, but they should have stopped Jim from ever laying a hand on her the second time. They’d been trying to keep out of the way until she was alone to appro
ach her. It was too late by the time they realized Jim was manhandling her.
He could still see her body on the ground with all the blood on her hands and arms. She had been soaked with sweat, and her clothes were covered in briars and dirt. It looked as if she’d been running for her life. Kyle had little doubt she had been doing just that,. God, the fear she must have had knowing Jim was looking for her. How had she gotten away from him in the first place?
“I can’t take much more of this waiting, Kyle. I’m going to go crazy.” West was clenching and unclenching his hands now.
“It shouldn’t be long now. They’ll be out soon to tell us what is going on.”
Another thirty minutes went by, and finally, a man in green scrubs stepped through the door and focused his attention on them.
“Kyle and West? The sheriff said you would be this woman’s next of kin to talk to.”
“That’s us. I’m Kyle, and this is West.” Kyle introduced them.
“I’m Dr. Ken Strong. Let’s sit over here so I can tell you what is going on right now.” He indicated a set of chairs away from the others in the waiting room.
“Brandy has multiple lacerations to her hands and left arm. We’ve sewed them up, but she had a lot of dirt and debris in them. I’m worried about them getting infected.” He stopped and let that sink in.
“Next, she has a badly sprained ankle, but it will heal fine, I’m sure. We have a wrist brace on her because of the cuts we need to watch on her hands and arm. As long as she keeps the brace on and doesn’t attempt to do anything with that hand, it will be fine.”
Kyle looked over at West. He knew the worst was yet to come.
“What else?” West asked him, nodding at Kyle.
“She has a bruised hip, but it’s not broken. All in all, she’s a very lucky young lady.”
“When can we see her?” West asked.
“They’re moving her to a room right now. As soon as she’s settled in, a nurse will come get you and take you to her room. She was awake and answering questions before I left. I’m sure you know the sheriff will be back to talk to her before long.”
“We know. So she’s awake?” Kyle asked.
“She was when I left, but we are keeping her pretty sedated to help her with the pain. She might be asleep when you see her. Let her rest as much as she can. She’s been through a major trauma.”
“But she’s going to be okay.” Kyle made it a statement. He wanted affirmation.
“Yes, barring the infection I’m worried about with her hands and arm, she’s going to be fine. We have her on some heavy antibiotics.”
The doctor got up and turned to go but stopped and turned back around. “I’m sure you want to know and just haven’t asked. She wasn’t raped, that we can tell.
“Thanks, Doc. We really appreciate you’re coming out to talk to us. We’ve been imagining the worst.”
He just nodded and returned to the back.
Kyle sighed in relief. He looked over and found West with his hands covering his face, and bent over as if in prayer. Maybe he was praying. Maybe he should be thanking the good Lord himself.
“She’s going to be fine, West.”
“Yeah. I feel like I’ve been through a stampede. I’m all washed out now that I know she’s going to be okay.
“Remember, the sheriff is going to be coming back to ask her questions. We have to let him talk to her. He’ll let her rest if she needs to. He’s not insensitive.” Kyle wanted to get back there to see her before he showed up, though. He wanted, no, needed to see her for himself.
Nearly an hour went by before a nurse came out to get them. She introduced herself as Clara and walked them around the emergency room to a bank of elevators. They went to the second floor and down a hall where she stopped outside of room two-twenty-three.
“She’s in there. She’s probably sleeping, so let her sleep. She’ll wake up off and on, so you can talk to her when she does.”
They thanked her and eased into the room, careful not to make any noise. At first, Kyle almost didn’t recognize her. She was white as the sheet on the bed, so that her dirty, matted hair looked bright in comparison. There were dark circles around her eyes making them look sunken and black. Her left arm was in a brace and there were bandages covering both hands.
West crossed over and laid a hand against her cheek, then stepped back and sat down in one of the chairs.
Kyle pulled another one closer to the bed and sat next to her as well. She was so still, and the sight of the tube running to her right arm reminded him that she needed medication to keep away the infection.
“She looks so bad, Kyle.” West spoke first in a soft whisper.
“I know. But she’s alive, and nothing major is wrong. She’ll be over the soreness and sprained ankle in no time. That’s all that matters at this point.”
“Do you think it would be okay to kiss her? I want to kiss, let her know I’m here even if she is asleep.” West looked back at her.
“Yeah, I think we can kiss her as long as we don’t touch her anywhere else. I don’t know what is hurt and what isn’t.”
West stood up and leaned over the bed and placed a soft kiss on her lips. He smoothed back her hair and whispered something in her ear. When he sat down again, Kyle stood up and crossed to the head of the bed.
He leaned over and kissed her gently, wishing she were awake to know he was there. He ended the kiss and bent to her ear to whisper in it how much he loved her.
“Brandy, baby. It’s Kyle. I’m here, too. We won’t leave you alone. One of us will be here with you until you’re well enough to go home. Then we’re taking you away from here. I love you, baby.” He stood up and looked down at her pale face.
With a sigh, he returned to his chair and sank down feeling depressed, though thankful that she was going to be all right.
Silence took over the room as he and West remained quiet and watchful. Several times, West got up and walked around the room, then settled back down in the chair. Kyle knew West was used to doing things and not waiting. He was showing a huge amount of restraint.
“West, why don’t you go phone Cole and let him know how she is doing. We haven’t talk to him since we’ve gotten her report. I’ll sit by the bed with her until you get back.”
West winced then nodded. Kyle knew he needed to get out of the room and walk off some of his anxiety before he accidently woke Brandy up.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Walk it out, West. We’ve probably got a long night ahead of us.” He checked his watch and grimaced. “Well. It’s nearly ten thirty. Go ahead and call Cole. He’ll be getting up soon anyway.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.” West stood up. H reached over the rail and rubbed his fingers gently over her cheek before stepping outside.
Kyle sighed and waited for something to happen. At this point, her moving in her sleep would be better than this deathly stillness.
He had nearly dozed off when West returned with the sheriff in tow.
“She hasn’t woken up yet?” West asked.
“No, not yet.”
“I guess I’m going to be waking her, then. We’ve got to have something to keep our guest in jail. You know I’ll make it quick so she can go back to sleep.”
“Just take it easy on her. She’s going to be upset,” Kyle reminded him.
“I will. Don’t worry. Now move back or I’ll make you leave the room while I talk to her. No interfering, either.” The sheriff gave them both a stern look before turning back to the bed where Brandy lay still as death.
“Brandy, this is the sheriff. I need you to wake up and talk to me, honey. I need to know what happened to you.”
Kyle held his breath as her eyelids fluttered, opened, and then closed again. The sheriff bent down and spoke in a low voice.
“Brandy, wake up. I need to talk to you. Wake up, now.”
“Sheriff,” West began.
“West,” Kyle said in warning. “He said he would
be careful of her, but he has to talk to her.”
“What–what is going on?” Brandy’s weak voice grabbed his attention.
Chapter Twelve
“Hey, Brandy.” The sheriff pulled West’s chair up to the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore. My hip hurts.”
“I’m sure it does. You’ve been through a lot. Why don’t you tell me what happened. Start from when you got off work.” The sheriff pulled out his pad and pen, ready to take notes.
“I remember thinking that I was getting off early for once, and would beat the guys home. We’d closed a little early since no one had been there in over an hour. I walked out to my car and couldn’t get my key to go in the lock. I don’t know why I couldn’t.” She looked up at him.
“He’d put something in your keyhole to keep you from being able to unlock your door,” the sheriff explained to her.
“It was Jim! Did you get him? He grabbed me and taped my hands behind my back and my legs together and put a gag in my mouth. I couldn’t get away.” She began to get agitated.
Kyle stepped up to calm her down. “Easy, baby. It’s all over with now. You’re safe.”
“Kyle. Let her talk,” the sheriff said in warning.
Brandy looked over at Kyle with tears in her eyes then searched to find West on the other side of the room. He looked ready to kill someone. She smiled the best that she could for him.
“So he used tape on you and had you tied up. What happened next?” The sheriff pulled her attention back to her story.
“He put me in a van. I don’t know where he got it ’cause Jim’s never had a van before that I knew about.”
“Do you remember what color the van was?”
“It was a light blue color. It didn’t have any windows in it except the back window, and it was painted over so I couldn’t have seen out.” Brandy stopped and licked her lips.
“Can I have something to drink?”
West hurried over to her and poured her some water, then held the cup up so she could suck from the straw. The head of her bed was elevated enough she thought she could swallow without choking. Her throat felt so dry. She was thirsty.
