Rescue My Love

by Lynn Story

  I could see the panic in his eyes, and it broke my heart. “I’m so sorry, Oliver.” I felt the tears building. “I wish I could have done more to help you.”

  “It’s not your fault. You saved us. Because of you we didn’t end up in some torture chamber or worse.” Oliver smiled a weak smile.

  “I’ll fix this.” I promised.

  “What about you?” He wanted to know.

  “Oh, I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about me.” I assured him. It was tempting to tell him I was hurt too but he needed to be strong and didn’t need another sob story.

  “Is your arm the only thing they took?” I was afraid I already knew the answer.

  “No, they took part of my leg too.”

  I looked down the bed. I felt the anger rising in my chest. Why hadn’t Dr. Gordon told me? Why had they taken his leg and not mine? Dr. Klaus might have been able to help Oliver too.

  “Have you talked to your family?” I changed the subject before the tears escaped.

  “Yeah, mom and dad are flying over and they should be here tomorrow. They say I’ll be in rehab for a while though.”

  “Yeah, we all will. That is okay we will get through it together.” I patted his shoulder.

  “Will they let us go to the same hospital?” He asked.

  “I’ll do what I can to try and make that happen.” I promised him.

  He nodded and his head fell back on his pillow.

  “You get some rest okay? I’ll come back and see you again.” I whispered.

  “Promise?” His eyes refocused on me.

  “Promise.” I smiled and then nodded to the nurse.

  The nurse wheeled me down the hall. I visited Devon, Chris and Micah before returning to my room. Chris, Micah and Devon weren’t hurt as bad in that they hadn’t lost limbs, but they were still not going anywhere soon.

  “Please tell Dr. Gordon I really need to see him as soon as he can spare me a minute.” I told the nurse once I was settled back in my bed. She nodded and left.

  I was more exhausted than I thought I would be. Without the fog of the morphine my mind was free to wonder. I had two choices; I could lay here and get angry about what had happened to our unit or I could try to think of something else. I needed to think about anything else and the only thing my mind would settle on was Ethan. I fell asleep thinking about his smile and the way he looked in the moonlight along the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

  Chapter Seven

  Kay

  When I woke up I again, Michael was sitting next to my bed typing furiously on his laptop.

  “Hey.” I said my voice hoarse.

  He immediately put his laptop down and came over to the bed. “Ms. Dandridge, how are you? What can I get you?”

  I smiled and looked over at the table next to the bed.

  “What? What do you need?”

  “Ice chips.” I pointed. He smiled and handed me a cup.

  “Thanks.” I croaked. For a moment when I first woke up, I thought it was Ethan sitting there. That he had come to rescue me. I took a few ice chips and Michael put the cup back on the table.

  “This okay?” He indicated the location.

  I nodded.

  “I brought you a laptop as well.” He gave me a small smile.

  “Thank you.” My voice was still hoarse.

  “If you don’t mind my asking,” He looked uncomfortable. “Why did you want me to come here?”

  I smiled. “In case I die, we have to make sure the business is taken care of.”

  “Oh.” He looked surprised then shook his head. “I never met your father; from what I hear you are a lot like him.”

  “You never met him?” I was confused. Maybe it was the medication.

  “No, your mother hired me. She didn’t like Elliott.” Michael laughed a little.

  I nodded. “He has his own way of looking at things.” I wondered why my mother kept Elliott if she didn’t like him.

  Michael nodded. I thought for the first time that things may not be easy for him at the company. I had no idea if he and Elliott got along but if I had to guess based on this new information I’d say not.

  “Does he give you a hard time?” I wondered out loud.

  “No, not really. I can and have learned a lot from him I still have my own way of doing things.”

  “Listen, thank you so much for coming all the way over here. I know it must be a burden on your schedule and your family. Honestly, I didn’t know who else to call.”

  He smiled.

  “I don’t trust many people.” I admitted.

  “I gathered that. And I am honored that you called me and asked for my help.” He sat down and picked up the laptop. “What should we work on first?”

  Ethan

  I went home dog-tired from the day; I was too tired to sleep. I poured a bourbon and glanced at the mail. A heavy cream envelope slipped out of the stack and onto the kitchen counter.

  I set the rest aside to examine the envelop. It was a good quality stationary. And it was addressed to me in an elegant font. I was both suspicious and intrigued. I opened it carefully.

  Inside was a matching folded invitation with the same elegant font.

  You are cordially invited to the Mayor’s Dinner

  to honor this year’s Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Businesses of the Year

  A kind reply would be appreciated by April 15th.

  I must have been on some list from when Diane and I were still together. I checked the address again. No, it was addressed to only me. I had the urge to toss the thing in the garbage but instead I removed the RSVP card, checked the box that I would attend and slid it into the return envelope. I had a feeling my friend Vice Mayor John St. Clair had something to do with this. But, why not see where this was leading. It was three weeks away that gave me a little time to investigate it further.

  ◆◆◆

  “I’m out of here tonight, see you all in the morning.” I announced to the team as I left the office.

  Every one of them looked up surprised. “Leaving early?” Stephanie asked.

  “Yeah.” I left them hanging.

  “Everything alright?” Jared asked.

  “Sure. Why wouldn’t it be, Jared?”

  “I don’t know you’re always the last to leave.”

  “Leave the man alone, maybe he has a hot date.” Logan joked.

  “Maybe I do.” They all stopped laughing and stared at me. I smiled and left.

  I went home and showered, shaved and changed. The Mayors dinner was a formal so I had to dust off my tuxedo. It has been at least six years since I had worn it and I was pleased with myself that it still fit. I drove to the Boxwood and let the valet park my car. He was young and looked at my Dodge Hellcat with envy.

  “Son, you see this badge?”

  “Yes, sir.” He replied.

  “You know what it means?”

  “It means if I scratch your car you can kill me?” He stammered.

  “Exactly.” I leveled a stare at him.

  “Yes, sir.”

  I let my stare burn into his brain as he slid behind the wheel and slowly drove away. I stepped into the lobby where a young lady sat with a list.

  “Good Evening.” She smiled.

  “Evening, Ethan Craddock.”

  The young lady checked her guest list.

  “Yes, sir. Right through there.”

  I followed her gaze to a crowd of people. I was having serious second thoughts. Maybe I should just ditch this thing and head downtown for a soft-shell crab and some music.

  “Ethan! So glad you came!” The vice mayor called to me with an outstretched hand.

  “John, good to see you.” I shook his hand.

  “I’m pleasantly surprised to see you. I wasn’t sure you would come. Are you alone?” He looked around for my plus one.

  “I’m a little surprised myself. Uptown isn’t normally my thing and no; I didn’t bring a date.”

  “Good for you!” He slapped me o
n the back and guided me to the bar. “What’ll ya have?” John asked.

  “Bourbon.” I told him.

  John was pleased once I had a drink in my hand. He started steering me back towards the crowd. “Come on over and let me introduce you to some people.”

  Great. Just what I had hoped to avoid, a lot of hand shaking and smiling at people I didn’t know. I followed John counting the minutes that I could duck out. This was really not my thing. I shook hands with various members of the business community and I even knew a few having been a customer at some point. There was going to be dinner, a presentation and then a reception to follow.

  They called for everyone to take their seats and John had managed to seat me at his table.

  The Mayor leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Good job on that terrorist case.”

  I smiled and nodded. It had been about ten months since we had taken down a terrorist cell. Which was less a terrorist cell and more of one-man wanting revenge for the loss of a large government contract at the shipyard. I hoped Mike Russo rotted in jail for the rest of his life. The Mayor slapped me on the back and went back to the other guests at the table.

  I surveyed the room; it was large, and it was so packed it was hard to see all the faces. I got a brief glimpse of a face that caught my attention. But, it was gone in an instant. There was something about it, something familiar. Before I could think about it, the food began to be served and I was distracted by the dinner conversation.

  Finally, the dinner and dessert had been served, speeches had been made and people recognized. It was time for the reception. We all got up and moved to another room. I thought about ducking out, having made my appearance and shaken enough hands to run for office. John was having none of it.

  “Come on, this is the best part. There’s music. He knew my weaknesses. I cursed and followed him. He pushed a fresh bourbon in my hand and offered me a cigar. I refused the stogie but took the drink. John immediately saw a friend and was off, leaving me to drift to the edge of the crowd.

  I was scanning the room. There was certainly enough security here that my services were not needed. Still it was a hard habit to break.

  Something to my left caught my attention. I turned to see the back of a gorgeous woman. I couldn’t see her face; her dress was open all the way to her lower back. It was an emerald green with pearls along the edges. She had short dark hair slicked back. If only I could see her face. What I could see was exceptional. I tried to pull my eyes away. I began circling around trying to find a better position to observe her.

  It was odd as I had no interest in another woman. Kay had done it for me six years ago. I hadn’t looked or thought about another woman since then. The divorce hadn’t helped either. This woman had me drawn in and I hadn’t even seen her face, this was crazy. Why was I even doing this? I needed to call it a night. We had a missing persons case to work and I needed to be in the office early. I started to turn away as the woman tossed her head back and laughed. I knew that laugh. It was like a crystal wind chime. It was light and floated on air. I spun back around in her direction. It had to be her.

  She had broken away from the trio she had been talking to and was walking away from me. I wanted to call out her name and run to her. I didn’t imagine pushing people to the ground at a black-tie event with the mayor was going to do much for my social standing, not that I cared. But I hadn’t found out why I had been invited to this shindig yet, so I didn’t want to blow it before I solved that mystery.

  “Ethan!” John appeared in front of me and cut me off. He’d had a few more drinks since dinner.

  “John.”

  “You enjoying the party?” His speech was slightly slurred.

  “Yeah, I am but I think I might need to call it a night soon. I need to be in the office early. You know how it is.” I was looking over his shoulder trying to track the green dress. She was gone.

  “Sure, I understand. Got to keep Gates Point safe, right?”

  “Right.” I didn’t think it was the time to split hairs and remind him of the chief of police had that honor.

  “We’ll get together again soon.” John slapped me on the back and moved on.

  I looked around the room and the woman in the green dress was gone. I went in the direction I had last seen her which led out into the lobby of the hotel. She could have gone anywhere from there. I stood staring the ceiling. I needed to go home and get some sleep. I had too much bourbon and too little sleep and was probably chasing ghosts of my past. I knew I shouldn’t drive, and I wasn’t sure where my car was parked. I walked out to the valet stand and gave the attendant my ticket. He brought the car around. The office was closer than my house, so I drove very slowly and parked the car in the parking lot. I would walk home from here. The fresh air would do me good anyway.

  I had a place on Third Street. I walked past the cemetery and thought about the night Kay and I went to the guest house she was staying in that weekend. It as part of one of the statelier homes and out of my price range. I hadn’t thought about why she was staying there at the time. Did she know the people who owned the larger house? She said she was home visiting for family business so was it the family home? I was surprised I never thought of that before. The night air had cleared my head a little. I started walking in the direction she and I had gone that night six years ago. Was I crazy? Had the bourbon made me see things that weren’t there? I still had to know. I continued walking questioning my sanity with every step.

  I found the house and stood across the street. There were lights on inside. Was it occupied by the same people six years ago? I couldn’t see the guest house from the street. It was obscured by hedges. I stood there long enough that I started to feel like a stalker. I turned and walked home. I had the feeling that I had lost her all over again.

  Chapter Eight

  Ethan

  “Morning…., damn boss that must have been some party last night you look like death warmed over.” Jared greeted me as I walked into the office.

  “Thanks.” I headed for the coffee pot. “You find anything more on our missing schoolteacher?” We had a local schoolteacher and her child that had gone missing and we hadn’t heard from the kidnappers, which had me worried.

  “Not really. What I have found is nothing so that is something.” Jared smiled.

  “Jared, man I can’t do riddles this morning.” I sat down on the edge of my desk ready to taste the coffee.

  “Sorry.” He tapped on his keyboard.

  “Angela Posten hasn’t touched her bank account since the day before she went missing.”

  “Okay”

  “So, if she left on her own, she would probably have withdrawn a large amount of cash or used an ATM card in the past week or something.” Jared explained.

  I turned to Logan and began questioning him as well. “Has her cell phone been equally as quiet?”

  “Yes, at least in the city. It must be turned off or destroyed because I can’t get a location off the GPS in the phone.”

  “Okay, we’ll keep on that.” I instructed Logan and turned back to Jared. “So, if her bank account hasn’t been touched the motive isn’t likely money.”

  “No, she isn’t rich, but she isn’t poor either. She has about twenty thousand and change in the bank.”

  “She have any other sources of income?” A theory was staring to form at the end of my mind.

  Jared began checking. “Not that I can see. Nothing coming into this account.”

  “Check and see if she had any other accounts.”

  “On it.” He continued searching.

  I sat down and started combing through the tips we had received on her sighting. The family was wanting to put out a reward and I knew that would bring in more tips and some of them would be people just seeking the money. I wanted to get through as many of the tips we had already before the onslaught of new ones came with the promise of a reward. We were going to have to route some of them to other offices as we weren’t going to have th
e ability to go through them all.

  Stephanie came in all smiles. Stephanie was cursed with the morning person gene.

  “You look extra happy this morning.” Logan teased.

  “Have you seen the paper this morning?”

  “No, why?” Jared looked up.

  “There a very dashing man on the society page.”

  Logan frowned. “So, what else is new?”

  “What is new is that this dashing man is one we know!” Stephanie pulled a copy of the paper from her bag.

  “Really? Who?” Jared asked.

  I suddenly had a feeling I didn’t want to know. I concentrated on the computer screen.

  “Whoa! Is that you with the Vice Mayor?” Jared looked up from Stephanie’s paper.

  “Probably.” I still stared at my screen. I was struck with a thought, what if the picture caught the woman, I was chasing last night.

  “Can I see that?” I asked.

  Jared and Stephanie exchanged looks.

  “Sure.” Stephanie handed me the paper.

  I looked at it carefully. “Is this the only picture?”

  “No, there are a few more on the next page.” Stephanie looked at me curiously.

  I flipped the pages quickly. I scanned the pictures. I saw nothing. No beauty in the green dress.

  Jared came over and leaned on my desk.

  “You were working a case, weren’t you? Looking for someone?” He turned to Stephanie and Logan. “I knew you wouldn’t just go to some fancy party for the heck of it. You were working.”

  “Something like that.” I nodded at Jared.

  “I knew it!” Jared pleased with himself punched the air.

  “Does it have something to do with our current case?” Stephanie asked.

  “No, it’s a cold case from a long time ago.” I lied. I didn’t want to explain Kay to them.

  “Oh.” She looked slightly disappointed.

  The room went quiet and I handed Stephanie her paper.

  Maybe I had imagined it all. Maybe that bourbon was stronger than I thought but I didn’t think I was that drunk. I was just over worked. I’d hadn’t taken in vacation in over ten years. Maybe I should take some time off.