Deadly Escape_A Shelby Nichols Adventure

by Colleen Helme

  As he turned my way, our gazes met, and anguish filled his eyes. He blinked, pushing his distress away, and then opened his arms. I rushed into them, and he held me close, both of us locked in the same agony. Both of us fearing for the people we loved. Fearing that, the next time we saw them, they would be dead.

  Then Uncle Joey gathered strength from somewhere deep inside of him. I felt a growing conviction flowing from him that Jackie and Chris were going to be fine. I held onto that strength until I began to feel it myself. I took a deep breath and let it out, releasing my fear along with it.

  “They’re going to be fine,” Uncle Joey said. “They’re both strong. We need to be strong, too.”

  I nodded and pulled away. A nurse urged us toward the waiting room, and another woman approached with two clipboards. She explained that we needed to fill out the paperwork, for insurance purposes, so our spouses could be admitted.

  We followed her through the double-doors and back into the lobby. To our left, a room with couches and comfortable chairs held only one person. Ramos jumped to his feet and hurried toward us.

  “How are they doing?” Ramos asked.

  “They’re going to be here for a while,” Uncle Joey said. “The next few hours are critical, but they both have a good chance of making it.”

  “Do they know what kind of poison it was?”

  “Yes,” I said. “They’re pretty sure it’s strychnine.”

  Ramos glanced at me. What he knew about strychnine wasn’t good. He pushed those thoughts away and smoothed his features. “Come over here and sit down. You both look exhausted.” He led us to a quiet corner of the room, and I sank onto the couch and closed my eyes. How did this happen? How could I be sitting here in the hospital wondering if my husband was going to live or die, when just a few hours ago he was in perfect health?

  “Neither of them took very much,” Uncle Joey said. “Otherwise they’d be dead.” He said that to reassure both of us, but he thought he should have been more careful. Why had he let Jackie come?

  “I guess we need to fill this paperwork out,” I said, hoping to distract him from the guilt that swallowed him. He let out a breath and nodded, relieved to have something else to occupy his mind.

  We both bent to the task. A few minutes later, I took Uncle Joey’s clipboard with mine and gave them to the woman sitting behind the admittance desk.

  As I returned to my seat, the outside doors slid open. Deputy Gerard came in with two of his men. I recognized both of them from the restaurant. He spotted us and hurried over. “How are they doing?” he asked.

  He felt sorry for me, but it was my fault if I was involved with Manetto. It still surprised him that I’d been there, but Detective Harris had explained that I sometimes worked for Manetto. That’s when it all clicked for him. And he had to consider the possibilities.

  What did he mean by that?

  “We think they’ll pull through,” I answered. “But we won’t know for sure until morning.”

  “Did you catch him?” Uncle Joey asked, his fierce gaze dark and deadly.

  “Not yet,” Gerard said. “But it’s only a matter of time.” He was thinking that they’d managed to follow the van, but Leo wasn’t in it, and they were back to checking surveillance footage to see what had gone wrong. With that disappointment, he’d come up with a different scenario that included me. It was a long shot, but what did he have to lose? “Can I borrow Shelby for a few minutes?”

  It was on the tip of Uncle Joey’s tongue to tell him off, but I quickly spoke. “We can talk over there.” I motioned toward the opposite side of the room and headed that way, apprehensive about what he had to say. Did he really think I was involved? Gerard followed and took the chair beside me.

  He slipped a peppermint into his mouth and placed his elbows onto his legs. Then he leaned toward me, like we were sharing a secret. “I was told you warned everyone at the table that it was poison. How did you know?”

  “My premonitions. Remember?”

  He remembered, but he didn’t believe in things like that. Since I was right about the poison, there had to be another explanation. He hated that Leo had been there, right under their noses, and they’d missed him. Now two more people were dead, with my husband and Manetto’s wife in the hospital.

  My breath caught. “Who else…uh…did someone die?”

  His eyes narrowed and he nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid so. It wasn’t anyone at your table, but one of the cooks. He must have eaten some of that chocolate sauce in the kitchen. He died pretty quick. The other person was one of the kitchen staff. We found him in the staff restroom. His apron and name tag were gone, and he’d been choked to death. That’s where Leo got his uniform.”

  I shook my head in shock. How had this happened? Weren’t Gerard’s people watching?

  Gerard glanced down at his shoes, still trying to figure out how I knew about the poison. He didn’t believe in psychic abilities, so I must have been tipped off. In fact, I must be working with Leo. He reasoned that, if I worked for Manetto’s outfit, it was most likely under duress. That meant Leo had something to offer me.

  What if Leo had contacted me and offered to get rid of Manetto? It would help me out, and it would answer the question of how I’d known about the poison. I might have thought it was only Manetto’s food that would be poisoned. After my husband began to show symptoms, I’d realized my mistake and shouted my warning.

  “We’d find Leo faster if you told us where he went. He’s not going to help you again.”

  Astonishment, followed by anger, burned a hole in my chest. How dare he even suggest that I’d help Leo? I stood and glared down at him. “Help me? Are you out of your mind? I’m not his accomplice. Don’t you know my husband is fighting for his life? He could still die.” My whole body tightened like a coiled spring, and I had shouted that last little bit.

  “What’s going on here?” Uncle Joey asked, coming to my side, Ramos right behind him.

  The cold stare Uncle Joey leveled at Gerard caught him off-guard. He turned to me, unsure of his hypothesis. But what else could it be? “We’re going to catch him,” he said. “And he’ll tell me everything, so I hope you’re wrong.”

  “What are you talking about?” Uncle Joey asked, a dangerous edge to his voice.

  “That’s something you should ask her.” Frowning with disgust, Gerard shook his head and signaled to his men. They left without a backward glance.

  Hot fury flooded over me, and I clenched my fists, wishing I could punch someone. My breath came in short bursts, and my eyes filled with tears.

  “Shelby?” Uncle Joey stood in front of me and began to rub my arms, his brow puckered in concern. “What did he say? Come and sit down.” His soft touch brought me back to my senses, and I closed my eyes before following him back to the couch, where I sank down beside him.

  Uncle Joey took my hand and waited for me to talk. After several deep breaths, I calmed down enough to speak. “He doesn’t believe I have premonitions, so he thought I was in on the whole thing. That I helped Leo.”

  “That’s insane. Why would he think that?”

  “To get out from under you.”

  Uncle Joey gasped, then swore a blue streak in his mind. His jaw clenched, and his eyes turned to ice. I’d never seen him so angry. He was thinking that Gerard was going to die. No one did that to his family and lived. It might take time, but it would happen. He’d see to it if it was the last thing he did.

  Alarm shot through me. That was not what I wanted to happen. “No. You can’t do that. It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it. The truth will come out. Once they catch Leo, they’ll know I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  “Are they getting close?” Ramos asked, hoping to distract Uncle Joey. He had a pretty good idea about what I’d heard from Uncle Joey’s thoughts, and if anyone was going to kill Gerard, it would be him.

  My eyes widened. “Not you too.” I glanced between them. “Both of you need to stop this. It’s not h
elping. This is what I know about Leo. They found the van, but he wasn’t in it. Gerard was scraping the bottom of the barrel with his hypotheses about me. Now they’re looking through all the video surveillance for clues about where he went.”

  Ramos nodded, but his mind closed up tight, so I didn’t know what he thought about that. Uncle Joey let out a breath. “So he got away. That’s not what I wanted to hear.” Then his thoughts turned to how he could use this to his advantage. He’d go after Leo himself and put an end to his sorry life.

  I shook my head. “This is so discouraging. It’s like we’re back to square one.”

  Uncle Joey smiled at me, but without the sparkle that was normally there. “We’ll get through this. Chris and Jackie will be fine. And Leo will be dead.” He slid his arm around me and gave me a much-needed hug.

  “When do you think they’ll come and get us?” I asked, anxious about Chris.

  Uncle Joey checked his watch. “It’s nearly ten, so it should be any time now.”

  “Oh no! I didn’t know it was so late. I need to call my kids.”

  “Oh yeah.” Uncle Joey hadn’t thought of that, and he felt guilty all over again. “You’d better do that. We’ll be right here if you need us.”

  I nodded and let out my breath. I hated to call them with bad news, and my stomach churned with dread. What should I tell them? Maybe not the whole truth? And as long as I sounded calm and collected, they wouldn’t pick up on how bad it really was. Pulling my phone from my purse, I found a quiet corner to talk. Josh answered right away.

  “Hey Mom, what’s up?”

  “Hey Josh. Um…I’m at the hospital with your dad. He’s got a bad case of food poisoning, so I decided to bring him here to be on the safe side. It looks like they’re going to keep him overnight, so I thought I’d let you know what’s going on. They’re just getting him into a room now, so I probably won’t be home for another hour or so. Will you guys be all right?”

  “Whoa. That’s not good. Will he be okay?”

  “Oh yeah. He’ll be fine. They just want to monitor him for a while and keep an IV going. I’ll call if I’m going to be later than eleven-thirty.”

  “Okay,” he said. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. It was a little scary, but I’m okay. I’ve got to go, but I’ll be home soon.”

  “We’ll wait up for you.”

  “Thanks sweetie. That would be nice. I’ll see you soon.” We disconnected, and my throat got tight. I hated what this would do to my kids. What if Chris didn’t make it? It was my fault for letting him come. I should have insisted he stay home.

  I turned to rejoin Uncle Joey, and the hospital doors slid open. Dimples rushed in, caught sight of me, and hurried to my side.

  “Shelby. I heard what happened. Is Chris all right?”

  “For now.” I hated how distraught I sounded, but his concern weakened my already fraught nerves, and I blinked back the tears that flooded my eyes.

  He pulled me into his arms for a quick hug, then released me. “Is it that bad?”

  “No. I’m just…it’s been awful.” I quickly told him what had happened, and that there was a good chance that Chris would be fine in a few hours. “It just scared me, that’s all.”

  “I can’t imagine.” He glanced across the room to see Uncle Joey and Ramos huddled together, and his shoulders tensed. Why couldn’t they have been the ones who’d been poisoned? Anger simmered that it never turned out that way. The innocent always seemed to get hurt instead of the bad guys. It wasn’t right.

  “Drew,” I said, using his name to get through to him. “Leo did this.”

  “Uh…yeah. Of course.”

  “And now Gerard thinks I helped him.”

  “What?” Dimples’s eyes widened with surprise.

  “He came in a few minutes ago and accused me of being Leo’s accomplice.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  “He doesn’t believe in my premonitions, so that’s the only way he can explain how I knew about the poison. Are they any closer to catching Leo?”

  “Dammit Shelby. I’m so sorry.”

  “Gerard was thinking that Leo got away tonight. I want to help you find him, so keep me in the loop, okay?”

  Before he could answer, a nurse entered the room and called my name. I turned to Dimples with my hand on his arm. “I’ve got to go, but promise me you’ll let me help you catch Leo. Please.”

  His lips thinned, then he nodded. “Sure. I’ll be in touch.”

  “Thanks.” I turned away. Uncle Joey stood beside the nurse, waiting for me. Taking those few steps toward them, my heart fluttered with trepidation. What would I find once I got to Chris’s room? Was he going to make it? I glanced at Ramos and caught his thoughts that he’d wait there and take me home when I was ready.

  I sent him a tremulous smile of thanks and followed the nurse through the double-doors. She took us up the elevator to the third floor and down a quiet hall past the nurses’ station. On the way, she explained that Chris and Jackie were in separate rooms, but right next to each other because they were receiving the same treatment.

  “You’re both family?” she asked, thinking that she needed to speak to us separately otherwise.

  “Yes,” Uncle Joey said. “What’s going on? How are they doing?”

  “They’re both resting comfortably. The doctor will be here shortly to explain, but you can go inside their rooms; just make sure you’re quiet. Part of the treatment protocol is to keep the lights low and the noise levels down.”

  Chris’s room came first, so I squeezed Uncle Joey’s arm and left him to open the door. Chris lay peacefully in the bed, hooked up to a few machines, with an IV in his arm. It broke my heart to see the strong man I loved so much looking helpless and vulnerable.

  Instead of the clothes he’d come in wearing, he was now in a hospital gown. A small oxygen tube wrapped around his face and into his nose, and a larger tube came out of his mouth. A machine kept track of his heartbeat, and it held steady at sixty-five beats a minute.

  As I studied him, my mouth went dry with worry. I pulled a chair beside his bed and took his hand, then opened my mind to his thoughts. He was sound asleep, and I couldn’t pick up a thing. I’d never tried to listen to a sleeping mind before, and it scared me that I couldn’t hear anything, not even his dreams.

  I sat beside his bed for several minutes, watching him take steady breaths. His color looked good and, without all the tubes, I would have thought he was sleeping peacefully. At least he wasn’t in pain or suffering from those horrible convulsions. But when would I know he’d be okay? Could he still die?

  The door opened, and the doctor peeked inside. He motioned me into the hall, and I quickly followed him out.

  “Everything looks good,” he began.

  “Really?” I let out pent-up breath.

  “Yes. We’re following the protocol for strychnine poisoning, and it seems to be working. His pulse and respiration are steady. We’ve given him a muscle relaxant for the convulsions, which is also keeping him in a relaxed state. By morning, he should be over the worst of it and ready to wake up.”

  “So does that mean he’ll be all right?”

  “I think the odds are really good that he’ll completely recover. He’s healthy and strong, and he received the treatment quickly, which can make all the difference.”

  “Why does he have a tube in his mouth?”

  “It’s a breathing tube. That’s to make sure his airway is open and he’s getting enough oxygen. Once he’s out of the woods, we’ll take it out. I’m pleased with his progress, and I don’t expect any trouble. We’ll be monitoring him closely all night, just to make sure.”

  “Good…thanks.”

  “Did the nurse tell you his clothes are in a bag in the closet? You might want to check them and make sure everything’s there. Do you have family at home?”

  “Yes. I’ve got two kids.”

  “There’s nothing you can do here toni
ght. Why don’t you go home and come back in the morning. If all goes well, you can probably take him home tomorrow.”

  “Really? That soon?” He nodded, and a dark burden lifted from my shoulders. If he thought Chris could come home tomorrow, it couldn’t be so bad. “Thanks so much. I think I will go home. How’s my aunt doing? Have you spoken with my uncle?”

  “Yes. Your aunt is doing much the same as your husband. Things look good for both of them. I think your uncle is still in her room if you want to speak with him.”

  “Okay, thanks. Once I leave, you’ll call me at home if anything changes?”

  “Yes, of course.” The doctor sent me a reassuring smile. “Just let the nurses know when you’re leaving.”

  After he left, I quietly opened the door to Jackie’s room. Uncle Joey sat in the chair beside her bed and glanced up. Seeing me, he came around the bed, and we both went into the hall where we could talk without disturbing her.

  “How’s she doing?” I asked.

  “Good. I think she’ll come through this. How about Chris?”

  “Yeah, the doctor thinks he’s doing well.”

  “What a relief,” Uncle Joey said. “I’m sorry this happened. I never thought…but that’s neither here nor there. It did. If Gerard doesn’t find Leo, I will.” He was thinking that Leo would pay for this, and it wouldn’t be pretty.

  “And I’ll help you,” I said, surprised at how much I wanted to hurt Leo. It came over me like a physical ache to pound the hell out of him. Then I realized that I’d picked up most of those feelings from Uncle Joey, and they had magnified my own anger. It came as a relief to know I wasn’t that bloodthirsty. At least I hoped not.

  “We’ll find him,” I said. “One way or another.”

  Uncle Joey nodded, grateful I was there, and confident that Leo’s days were numbered. “Thanks, Shelby.”

  “Sure. Hey…the doctor told me there wasn’t much I could do here, so I think I’ll go home to my kids. Are you staying?”

  “Yes…at least for a while longer. Ramos can take you home. He can come back for me later. I want to make sure these people are doing their jobs.”