Justice for Hope

by Susan Stoker

  She nodded but didn’t take her eyes off where the diner used to stand.

  “Hope,” he said, but she didn’t look at him.

  Calder moved until he was standing between her and the remains of the diner and put his finger under her chin. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move from here, okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  “Promise me,” Calder insisted. There were a ton of people milling around and the last thing he wanted was to lose her in the crowd.

  “Promise,” she said in that same whispered tone she’d used before.

  Calder knew she was in shock, but hoped she understood what she was saying.

  “Billy, stay with your mom. She needs you right now, okay?”

  The little boy nodded. He was fully awake now and, while he still looked confused, he got a determined look on his face when he realized Calder was asking him to take care of Hope.

  Calder kissed Hope quickly, assessing her with his gaze, before spinning and heading toward the diner. It took him five minutes or so, but he finally recognized Cade Turner.

  “Sledge!” he yelled, getting the man’s attention by using his nickname.

  Cade turned and said something to the firefighter next to him before coming over to Calder’s side.

  “I’m surprised to see you here,” Cade said in lieu of greeting. “The vic isn’t dead yet. Don’t you only get called for DBs?”

  “Someone was in there?” Calder asked sharply.

  Cade nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. The first firefighters on the scene entered the building and found him in the back. They had to break down the office door because there was a four-by-four piece of wood nailed across the outside. Old guy wouldn’t’ve had a chance if he’d been in there five more minutes.”

  “Arson?” Calder asked quickly. He had to get back to Hope and get to the hospital.

  “Definitely,” Cade told him. “The whole place smelled like gas. Was overpowering from the second I got out of the truck.”

  Calder nodded. “Thanks. One last thing, where’d they take the vic? What hospital?”

  Cade studied his friend. “You know him?”

  “Yeah. Long story. I found Hope…the homeless woman Blythe befriended. She’s been working here. The owner, Joseph, was probably the vic from tonight.”

  Cade whistled long and low. “She the waitress that won the million bucks from a tip someone left her at the diner?”

  Calder nodded.

  “Wow. I’m guessing he was taken to San Antonio Memorial. It’s the closest level-one trauma center near here.”

  “Yeah, they have the best burn center,” Calder agreed.

  Cade put his hand on Calder’s arm when he turned to rush away. “The vic wasn’t burned.”

  “What?”

  “The old man wasn’t burned. He was beaten to within an inch of his life. He’s got some smoke inhalation, but that’s minor compared to what was done to him. The guys on scene told me he had a few broken ribs and a ton of bruises and contusions. But worse, both his legs had been broken. Probably by a baseball bat or crowbar or something. Even if that door wasn’t barred, he wasn’t exactly going to walk out of there.”

  “Fuck,” Calder swore. “Thanks.”

  “You takin’ Hope to see him?”

  “Yeah. He doesn’t have any family that I know of and he’s as close to a father as she’s got right now.”

  “Make sure you warn her. He was pretty messed up, Calder.”

  “I will.” Calder shook Cade’s hand. “Tell Beth I said hello.”

  Cade nodded. “If I was a betting man, I’d say you’re going to have lots of company at the hospital once everyone hears.”

  Calder nodded absently. He had no doubt their friends would show up en masse the second they heard someone close to Hope was hurt. But at the moment, all he cared about was getting back to Hope and Billy. He started to head back to them but stopped and turned once more toward Cade. “They have anyone in custody?”

  His friend pressed his lips together and shook his head. “No. But…the first firefighters on scene found a message spray-painted on the front of the building before that wall collapsed.”

  Calder braced himself.

  “It said, ‘Mine,’” Cade informed him.

  Without a word, Calder spun and jogged back to where he’d left Hope.

  He didn’t know for a fact that the message was directed at her, but he had a pit in his stomach that wouldn’t go away. Her story had been plastered all over local media in the last couple days, and who knew how far it had spread.

  Someone could be pissed that she won the money, or Earle could’ve seen it and headed down to Texas to try to get Hope back. At the moment, he wasn’t going to try to guess what the mysterious message meant, but he wasn’t going to let Hope out of his sight until the cops figured it out. Unfortunately, since the diner had burned down, the message had been destroyed, but Calder hoped someone had taken a picture of the word on the wall beforehand.

  He scanned the crowd, thicker now, for Hope and Billy, panicking when he didn’t immediately see them where he’d left them. But then he sighed in relief when he saw they’d simply backed away from the middle of the sidewalk and were now huddled against the wall of a nearby business.

  He went straight to them and wrapped an arm around Hope’s waist. He hated to be the one to tell them about their friend, but it was better to just say it and get to the hospital than try to pretend nothing was wrong.

  “Did you find out what happened? Where’s Joseph?”

  “He was hurt, sweetheart,” Calder said gently. “He was taken to San Antonio Memorial.”

  Her eyes got big and he saw tears immediately forming.

  “He was in the building, but the firefighters got him out.”

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t know.” Calder decided to leave out the part about the threatening message on the front of the building for the time being. “It looks like it was arson though.”

  “Oh my God, seriously?”

  “Yeah,” he replied grimly. “Come on, we need to get to the hospital.”

  That seemed to get through. Hope nodded. “Yeah, he doesn’t have anyone else, really.”

  Billy pulled on his shirt and Calder looked down at the little boy. “Yeah, Bud?”

  The tears in his eyes spilled over and ran down his cheeks. His mouth opened, but no words came out.

  Calder leaned down and picked him up, holding him against his chest. Billy buried his face in Calder’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his neck. Calder could feel his little body shaking with sobs.

  Rubbing Billy’s back soothingly, he said to Hope, “Come on, honey, there’s nothing more we can do here.”

  Hope nodded but instead of heading for the truck, she stepped into Calder and put one arm around Billy’s back, and the other she wrapped around Calder.

  He closed his eyes in both tenderness and yearning. He hated that the two people who meant the most to him in the world were upset. Hated that they had to deal with this at all. But he couldn’t deny that they felt right in his arms.

  It took someone jostling them as they ran by to jolt Calder back to the present. If someone really was pissed at Hope, or if Earle was in town, he needed to get her off the streets and somewhere safe, where he could protect her better.

  “Come on,” he whispered. “Let’s go see Joseph.”

  Hope nodded and shifted next to him, and with their arms around each other’s waists, they headed for his truck and the hospital.

  Three hours later, they were sitting in Joseph’s room and the doctor was going over all of Joseph’s injuries. The older man was going to go to surgery within the hour to fix his broken legs and had agreed to let Hope and Calder stay in the room while the doctor went over his options.

  Calder had been appalled when he’d first seen Joseph. Cade hadn’t lied, someone had beaten the shit out of him. His face was black and blue with one eye swollen shut. The bloo
d from the cuts on his head had been cleaned up, and it was obvious the man was in a great deal of pain, but he was lucid enough to understand what was going on around him.

  “Joseph, who did this to you?” Calder asked.

  “Don’t know,” he mumbled.

  “Was it anyone you know?” Hope asked.

  Joseph’s eye opened slightly and he turned his head on the pillow so he could look at Hope while he answered her question. “I can’t remember. The last thing I remember is going into my office to do some paperwork. It’s all a blank after that until I woke up in the ambulance.”

  “It’s okay,” Hope whispered. “You just concentrate on getting better. The police will get to the bottom of it.”

  Joseph coughed then asked, “The diner?”

  Hope pressed her lips together and merely shook her head sadly.

  The older man closed his eyes and frowned.

  Several moments went by and Calder put his arm around Hope’s shoulders, feeling his heart melt when she gave him her body weight.

  “He’ll be here at least a week,” the doctor said quietly. “He’ll be immobile for a couple months after that. He said he doesn’t have any family, so after he’s discharged from here, we’ll arrange for him to go to a nursing home to be cared for.”

  Hope gasped. “What? No! He hates those places.”

  The doctor merely shrugged. “Can’t say I blame him, but he’s going to be bedridden and he’ll need help with everything. Bathing, using the restroom… Once he’s ready, they’ll start physical therapy so his muscles don’t atrophy. I understand he’s got insurance, so that won’t be an issue.”

  Calder didn’t need to see the tears coursing down Hope’s face to speak up. “Does he have to be in the nursing home for his health, or is that just because he doesn’t have any family?”

  The doctor shrugged. “If he had someone who could look after him, home health care could be arranged. But since he doesn’t—”

  “He can come live with me,” Calder said immediately. “I’ve got a large house and there’s an office on the main floor that can be converted to a bedroom.”

  The doctor stared at him in surprise, and Calder could feel Hope’s eyes on him too.

  “This isn’t something to be taken lightly,” the doctor scolded gently. “He’ll be laid up for at least two months, maybe longer depending on how his bones heal. He’ll—”

  Calder interrupted again. “I understand that. But what you don’t get is that this man saved my woman’s life. Out of the kindness of his heart, he gave her a job when no one else would take a chance on her. Not only that, but he had no problem allowing her son to stay at the diner while she worked. There’s no way I’d leave him to rot in a nursing home. He’d hate it there. He can come and recuperate in my house.”

  “My legs are broken, I’m not deaf,” Joseph mumbled from the bed. His voice was slurred and he sounded out of it, but he obviously was still aware of what was going on around him.

  “Sorry, man,” Calder said. “You understand what’s going on?”

  Joseph grunted. “Don’t wanna go to no old folks’ home. I’m not nearly old enough.”

  “So you’ll come to my house?”

  Joseph’s good eye opened and he peered up at Calder. Then he looked at Hope. “On one condition,” he said.

  “Anything,” Hope responded, squeezing his hand gently.

  “You and Billy come too,” Joseph said. “If I’m gonna be flat on my back, I’m gonna be bored. Gonna need someone to entertain me.”

  Calder blinked in surprise, then nodded. It was perfect. He honestly hadn’t thought much beyond making sure Joseph was safe and had a place he could recuperate. But having Hope there was a great solution. She could make sure all was well with Joseph when Calder was working and the home-health nurse could take care of the older man’s needs.

  And, of course, that meant Hope and Billy would be living with him—something he wanted more than anything.

  “Oh, uh…I don’t know,” Hope said, stumbling over her words.

  “That would be acceptable,” the doctor declared. “Now, if you folks would say your goodbyes, it’s time to get Mr. Roberts prepped for surgery.”

  Hope looked from Calder, to the doctor, to Joseph in consternation.

  “Come on, Hope,” Calder said softly. “We need to get Billy home.” They’d left the little boy sleeping in the nurses’ station. One of the nurses had procured a cot from somewhere and gotten him a blanket. Within seconds of lying down, he was out. It had been a long, stressful night for him, and for Hope.

  She kissed Joseph and said they’d see him after the surgery, and Calder led her out of the room. He stopped in the hallway and backed her up until they were chest to chest. He put his hands on her hips and held her still as he looked down at her.

  “Move in with me, Hope,” Calder said quietly. “Joseph needs someone to look after him. You can enroll Billy in the school nearby, the same one you’d have put him in if you’d rented one of those apartments. I’ve got plenty of space for all of you.”

  “You can’t— This is moving so fast,” she mumbled.

  “I can’t lie…I’m not thrilled about the reason,” Calder said honestly. “I’m not happy about the diner burning down or Joseph being hurt. Though now you don’t need to make the decision about whether or not to continue to work there. But…I actually dreaded you getting an apartment.”

  “But you said you wanted to date me. Wanted to pick me up at my apartment, kiss me at my door…you know…all that.”

  Calder could tell she was flustered, and tired, but he thought she was simply adorable. “Right. I did want that. I do. But the thought of waking up and seeing you sitting across from me as I eat breakfast is more alluring. Of helping Billy with his homework. Of watching movies with the two of you. Of being there when Billy finds his voice again. Of seeing you smile at me while we make dinner together. Of being able to touch and kiss you whenever the mood strikes…can’t deny, sweetheart, that I want that more than I want the other stuff. But make no mistake, I’ll still be wooing you. As much as I want you in my bed, under me, over me, in my shower…I’m willing to wait until we’re both ready.”

  He watched Hope swallow and when she gazed up at him, her green eyes held so much emotion, it almost brought him to his knees. “How’d I get so lucky?” she whispered.

  “Karma,” Calder said immediately. “Although, I’m hoping after you’re in my house for a while, you won’t decide I’m too messy, or anal, or annoying, or anything else to want to stay. I sometimes get called out in the middle of the night for my job and I do work long hours. When I go into autopsy, I lose track of time, and I’ll probably miss dinner a lot, and—”

  Hope reached up and put a finger over his lips, silencing him. “I don’t want to impose. It’s a lot, Calder. Not only with Joseph, but with me and Billy too. You’re going from being a bachelor living alone to having three other people in your space all the time. I know what it’s like to feel like you have no privacy.”

  Calder reached up and grabbed her hand, kissing the palm before intertwining his fingers with hers. “Sweetheart. I’m forty years old. I’ve lived by myself for more than twenty years. I’m looking forward to having someone to talk to, even if that someone is a seven-year-old kid who, at the moment, doesn’t talk back and a sixty-five-year-old man. I can’t deny it’ll take some getting used to on all our parts, but my house is big. There’s more than enough room for any of us to find privacy when we need or want it. Say yes. Please. I’ll beg if you want me to.”

  She chuckled, then quickly sobered. “I’m scared.”

  “I know. But, honey, this is a good thing. You’ve got plenty of money in the bank so you don’t have to worry about finding a job right away. You can concentrate on Joseph and Billy. You can be waiting for him when he gets home from school, and if you need to meet with his teacher and administrators about his special needs, since he isn’t speaking, you’ll be able to do that w
ithout having to worry about taking time off work. I don’t expect you to clean my house, do my laundry, or fix all my meals. I’ve been doing all that on my own for most of my life. I don’t want a housecleaner or maid. I simply want you.”

  “It sounds too good to be true,” she hedged.

  “Say yes,” Calder begged. “Please.”

  “Yes.” It came out as more a breath of air than an actual word, but it was loud and clear for Calder.

  He pulled her into his embrace, cradling her head with one of his hands as he held her to him. He wanted to reassure her. Wanted to tell her that everything would work out just fine. That he’d keep her and Billy safe. That whoever had burned down the diner wouldn’t ever get his hands on her…but he couldn’t say a word. His throat had closed up and it was taking all he had not to break down in tears right there in the hallway at the hospital.

  It was weird the way things turned out. When he’d been awakened by the phone call saying the diner was on fire, he thought it was the worst thing that could happen. And while it wasn’t exactly a good thing, by this time next week, he’d have the most important people in his life under his roof. He’d take that as a win.

  Chapter Eleven

  Hope looked around the living room and could hardly believe this was her life. It had been two months since the diner had burned to the ground and she, Joseph, and Billy had moved into Calder’s house. She thought it would be weird, that she and Calder would tiptoe around each other as they tried to figure out how to live with other people. But that hadn’t been what happened at all.

  Maybe it was because at first, they were occupied with making sure Joseph was settled, or maybe it was because they were both busy, but whatever it was, it worked. They worked.

  Billy had started school. He was placed in the second grade and even though he was slightly behind his peers, because of the work Joseph had done with him at the diner, he wasn’t too far behind. He still wasn’t speaking, but each day it seemed he was closer and closer to breaking whatever mental barrier had been put up after he’d been kidnapped and scared half to death.