The Best of Us

by Ursula Gorman

  Stone couldn’t reach Daniel or Carly. He was starting to become very concerned. One of them should be answering their phone. He headed to the Wayne home to find Daniel.

  Daniel came out of the hospital room and stood in the doorway of the waiting room. He looked over at his brother’s and knew they looked as bad as he felt. He needed Carly. Realizing she wasn’t there, he asked, “Where’s Carly? Did she go for coffee?”

  “Haven’t seen her.”

  “Me either.”

  Daniel looked at his watch. He’d been in with his dad for almost an hour, Carly should be there by now. He turned his phone back on to see if she’d called or texted him. Nothing. But he had missed three calls from a number he didn’t recognize.

  Daniel called the number on his caller id.

  “Stone.”

  Daniel’s panic set in. “This is Daniel Wayne. You called me?”

  “Yes, where are you? I haven’t been able to reach you or Carly.”

  “I’m at the hospital with my dad, he had a heart attack. My phone’s been off.” Daniel was grabbing his jacket as he was talking and headed for the elevators. Harm and Carter were right behind him.

  “Trent has been cleared of the murder. He has an alibi. We were on our way to your house since we couldn’t reach you by phone.”

  Daniel felt dread settle in his stomach. Carly was alone and not answering her phone. She was in danger and he wasn’t there for her. He told Stone that she was supposed to be at the hospital but hadn’t made it yet. He was heading to her place. Stone agreed to meet him there.

  “Get in, let’s go. You can fill us in on the way.” Harm said to Daniel. Daniel had forgotten he hadn’t driven. It’s a good thing his brothers were watching out for him. On the drive to the apartment, Daniel filled them in.

  Carly had managed to get the towel bar off the wall and was beating the door handle with it. It was almost completely broken off, but she knew it wasn’t locked, so she wasn’t sure if that was going to help. The door opened inward, and could be unlocked and locked only from the inside. The door knob finally came apart and the door was now ajar. Smoke was billowing into the bathroom, but there was no fire to be seen. Carly dropped to the ground, grabbed her wet towel from her shower and put it over her mouth and nose. The rest of the door knob lay in the hallway, a rope was tied to it and the other end was tied to the door knob on the closet directly across the hall. Effectively holding the door shut.

  Carly started toward the stairs, but couldn’t see anything. The smoke was everywhere. She had expected to be able to see the bottom of the stairs, since smoke went up, but the stairwell was full of smoke.

  “The fire is in the store, not in here.” Carly finally realized.

  It was getting harder and harder to breath. Carly lay down on the floor, exhausted from a coughing fit. Tears streamed down her face, her eyes burning.

  Carly couldn’t move. She’d been breathing in smoke in small amounts while she had still been locked in the bathroom. Now, she felt her lungs about to burst with need. They needed oxygen. She didn’t have anything left to fight with. She lay down, accepting she was about to die.

  “Call nine one one!” Daniel shouted as they pulled up to the store. Flames illuminated the windows of the store and, even though the windows hadn’t shattered yet, the heat on the sidewalk had them backing away.

  Normally Daniel would be able to rush into the fire, but he didn’t have any protective gear with him. He took off running around the corner, headed to the alley and the fire escape.

  Just then, Stone and Wright arrived. Stone saw where they were headed and pulled his truck into the alley. He parked directly under the fire escape. Daniel didn’t miss a beat. He jumped into the back of the truck. He still couldn’t quite reach the bottom rung of the ladder. Stone, who was getting out of the truck, saw the problem. He got back in and backed up slightly. Daniel jumped onto the cab of the truck and could easily reach the last rung. Pulling himself up, he raced up the ladder and onto the balcony.

  Stone was right behind him. The door was locked and wasn’t budging. The men looked at each other, Daniel with panic in his eyes and Stone with urgency. An unspoken agreement was made; they both turned sideways and put everything they had into ramming their shoulders into the door. It shook, but didn’t budge. Pain shot through both men’s shoulders but didn’t even slow them down. They both turned, placing their upper thighs against the railing, supporting their weight with their hands on the railing and kicked in unison. The door splintered. They kicked again, and again, and again.

  Smoke was now billowing out of the door. Thankfully the smoke went straight up and they only got a small dose, which was enough to have them coughing. Daniel put everything he had into shoving his shoulder into the door again, splintered wood digging into his shoulder. He pulled back and slammed into it again. This time he fell on through the door.

  The smoke was so thick, he couldn’t see anything. Stone, who couldn’t get in yet due to Daniel being half in and half out of the busted door, started calling Carly’s name. Daniel heard a slight moan. He blindly crawled toward it. He stopped when he came upon a warm body. He started dragging her toward the balcony. Stone was suddenly there, helping pull her toward the only light source, the busted door. When they got to the opening, hands reached in and pulled Carly into the somewhat fresh air. Harm and Wright were there, knowing that Daniel and Stone would be overcome with smoke inhalation and would need help. Harm got on the ladder and Wright helped him put Carly on his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Harm started slowly down the ladder and carefully lowered Carly down to Carter, who was standing on the cab of the truck. He was able to safely lay her on the cab on the truck, then jumped down into the bed of the truck and picked Carly up and laid her in the bed.

  Harm joined him in the bed and started checking for a pulse. It was there, but faint. The rest of the men joined them, Daniel coming down by Carly’s face, calling her name.

  She didn’t respond. Stone and Daniel both were coughing uncontrollably and they’d only been subjected to the smoke for a short time. Daniel couldn’t lose Carly. Between coughs, he kept calling her name.

  The fire department arrived, along with an ambulance and more police officers. Daniel didn’t care what was going on around him; he never left Carly’s side. He rode in the ambulance, with a still unconscious Carly to the hospital his dad was at. The EM insisted Daniel hold an oxygen mask to his face during the ride. Daniel did so without thought. All of his concentration was on Carly.

  Stone came by the hospital the next morning to check on Carly. She was in bad shape. The smoke had done serious damage, but they felt she’d pull through, although her voice might never be the same.

  Daniel reeked of smoke and still had a black face. It looked like at some point someone brought him a washcloth. The once white cloth was now black from where Daniel absently, halfheartedly swiped at his face. The light tan blanket that covered Carly also had a black spot on it from Daniel resting his head while he slept beside her. He’d refused to leave her side so he’d pulled a chair up to the edge of the bed, held her hand, laid his head on the bed beside her sleeping body and spent the night like that. No one tried, after the second attempt, to get him to take a shower and stretch out on the cot they brought in.

  Harm had come in moments before Stone arrived. He’d gone to see his dad and to fill his mom in on what had happened. She made them promise not to mention it to their father. She was afraid it’d do him in. Harm and Carter agreed. Carter stayed there with his mom and dad and Harm headed down to check on Carly and Daniel.

  When Stone got there, since Harm was with her, Daniel would go as far as the hallway outside of Carly’s room. “What happened?” Daniel asked immediately. “Was it an electrical fire?”

  “No, it was set. We also found evidence that someone had intentionally trapped Carly in the bathroom. Since the fire never reached the apartment, the evidence of it was still there. They’d used a rope to tie the two doors
together. Carly somehow busted the door handle off. Possible with the towel rod we found on the floor.”

  “That explains the scrapes on her hands. Some of them were deep.” Daniel was at a loss. What was going on?

  “Probably. The ends of the bar were sharp.” Stone shook his head. “We have the arson investigator there along with our forensic team. Hopefully they will come up with something. We’ve made two arrests in this case. Both of them are being charged, but not for the murder. And since they were all in custody, they aren’t responsible for the attack last night.”

  Daniel leaned against the wall, bent forward and rested his hands on his knees. Stone couldn’t help but notice the black smudge he’d left on the wall. The man really needed a shower. The smell of smoke was almost overpowering, and he said as much. Daniel didn’t respond, and Stone hadn’t really expected him to.

  “I’ll be in touch. Let me know when Carly wakes up.” Stone patted Daniel’s back and headed to the station. “What now,” he thought, “we are fresh out of suspects.”

  Carly woke up later that morning. Her wonderful blue eyes, even though they were red from all the smoke irritation, were the most beautiful thing Daniel had ever seem. Her weak smile was another gift from heaven.

  “Hey beautiful!” Daniel said softly.

  Carly let out a dry and painful laugh. She cringed from the pain and her hand shot up to her throat. She closed her eyes and tears escaped from the corners and ran toward her pillow.

  “Easy honey. Your throat will be sore for a while. There was some damage done to your throat and your lungs, but the doctors expect a full recovery.” Daniel hoped he wasn’t lying to her.

  Carly’s eyes opened and were even redder than before. Daniel pushed the call button. He gently wiped away the tears that kept falling. A nurse came in and noticed Carly was awake. She came over and checked her pulse and examined her eyes.

  “I bet your eyes could use some relief.”

  Daniel thought that that was the stupidest thing to say, but looking at Carly, he saw her nodding to the nurse.

  The nurse smiled, went to the bedside table and picked up a bottle of eye drops. “These will be very cold at first, almost too cold. Just give it a second and they will start soothing your eyes.” Carly nodded.

  When the drops hit her eyes, she cringed and sucked in a breath, which caused her throat and lungs to hurt.

  “I’m sorry. I know it hurts. But give it a second,” before she could finish, Carly nodded and opened her eyes and Daniel could see the relief there. The drops were working.

  “I’ll let the doctor know you are awake.” She turned and left the room

  They sat there in silence, Daniel at a loss as how to comfort her and Carly in too much pain to talk. The doctor came in and examined her; he didn’t even try to get Daniel to leave the room during the examination as he normally would have.

  After explaining that she should remain quiet for several days to allow healing, and giving her additional information and instructions, he left them alone. Carly pantomimed pen and paper. Daniel grabbed the pad and pen that hospital puts beside the phones.

  ‘How bad?’

  “We don’t know yet. I’d say the store is a total loss, but there wasn’t much there to salvage. It would have been a lot worse if most of the clean-up hadn’t gotten rid of the bulk of the items that would have acted as kindling.”

  ‘Apartment?’

  “Smoke damage. Damage to the fire escape door from us breaking in. Damage to the bathroom door where you managed to free yourself” Daniel saw her shudder at the mention of the bathroom door.

  ‘Who?’

  “We don’t know.”

  Carly closed her eyes for a moment. She seemed to be gathering her thoughts. ‘How’d I get out?’

  “Det. Stone and I got you to the escape, Harm and Det. Wright got you down the ladder and Carter took over from there.”

  ‘My heroes!’

  “Carly, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there. I was so afraid I’d be too late. I’ve never felt such fear.”

  ‘You saved me! It’ll be okay. You were with your family. How is your dad?’ The sudden realization she hadn’t thought of his dad had her feeling horrible.

  “He’s a little better today. We aren’t telling him about last night. They aren’t sure he could take it right now.”

  ‘One more thing…’

  “Anything for you honey! Just name it!”

  ‘Take a shower!’ Carly softened the note with a smile.

  Daniel laughed. “Okay, I got it! But I won’t be far. I’ll use the showers they have here for the staff and borrow a pair of scrubs. I’m not leaving you!” He leaned down and kissed her tenderly on her swollen lips. He started to ease up when she flinched, but she grabbed hold of his shirt and held him in place.

  He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers, “Be back in a jiffy!”

  The nurses were more than happy to escort him to the showers and supply a set of scrubs. They even had a male nurse go in for his clothes and send them to the laundry. No one was happier to get that man clean than the nurses.

  The story of the fire, and the survival was on the news all that day. Landon Falls wasn’t a big town, so news like that went through town like wild fire. There was one person in particular that paid special attention, and wasn’t happy about the survival of Carly, a problem he planned to soon remedy. He had some planning to do. It was going to take something drastic and daring. He was tired of having to deal with Jenna, the store and everything that is associated with the store, and since Carly was the new owner, she was his focus.

  “Come on man, she’s sleeping and you need to eat.” Harm said to Daniel.

  Since taking his shower, Daniel had stayed by Carly’s side, leaving only once to go check on his dad. And then, only because Carter came to sit with Carly. Carly had slept most of the day. It hurt her to breath, and since you breathe shallower while you are sleeping, the doctor had ok’d a light sleep aid. It had to be inserted via IV, since the only thing Carly had managed so far was sucking on ice. She tried jello, but it didn’t make it past the first swallow. So, she was sucking on ice to keep her mouth moist and being feed through an IV.

  Daniel felt helpless, but he was so thankful she was alive. He still had an occasional cough and the nurse had insisted he do some breathing treatments. He finally agreed when the nurse promised he could stay in the room with Carly while they did the treatments.

  “Yeah, alright. I guess it won’t hurt to go grab a bite. I am a bit hungry. But I want to stay in the hospital, so let’s go to the cafeteria.”

  “No can do brother! The cafeteria is closed. Have you looked at the time? It’s after nine. Don’t worry; there is an IHOP across the street. You can sit, relax and have a decent meal!”

  Daniel was about to protest, but his stomach growling stopped him. Carter chuckled, “Let’s go man!”

  Daniel stood up, gave Carly a kiss on her forehead and couldn’t help but marvel at the peaceful look on her face as she slept. “How could I have been so blind?” He muttered to himself.

  As he and Carter walked down the hall, they didn’t notice a man in an orderly’s uniform paying a little too much attention. The elevator arrived, they got in, talking about their dad and feeling that things had to get better soon!

  “So, no suspects at all?” Rissa asked Stone. They had just finished cleaning the kitchen after dinner. Rissa was getting some magazines out to show Stone some places she’d picked out as possible honeymoon spots.

  “No. It’s frustrating. I just…” Stone’s phone rang. Looking at the caller id, he saw it was the station. “Stone.” He answered. He stood listening for a couple of minutes. “You’re sure?” Pause. “Yeah. I’ll swing by and get Wright, then head over to the hospital.” Stone hung up without saying goodbye.

  He turned to look at Rissa, to apologize for ditching her for the evening. He turned to find her smiling at him and holding out his jacket. “Be careful!”
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br />   “I don’t know how I lucked out to get someone as wonderful and understanding as you!” He leaned down and gave her a warm kiss. Then he was out the door and was on his phone with Wright before backing out of the driveway.

  “We’ve got him!” Stone said.

  Chapter Seven

  Carly wasn’t sure what had awakened her. She had been able to sleep in bliss most of the day. Whatever they were giving her was wonderful. She didn’t feel groggy when she did wake up, but it allowed her to sleep peacefully for a couple hours at a time.

  She started to close her eyes again when she noticed movement by the door. The blinds where closed and the only light was in the bathroom, and the door had been almost completely closed. With the eye irritation, she was still seeing a little blurry. The shadow moved again. This time she could make out a shape. She smiled. Daniel must be coming back in and doesn’t want to wake me.

  She reached for the bed controls to elevate the bed but she couldn’t find it. Actually, she couldn’t find anything. The pull for the light above her bed wasn’t where it always was, the bed controls that had the nurse call button wasn’t there either.

  “Daniel…” She tried to talk, but it came out sounding more like a croak.

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk…” An unfamiliar voice whispered. “I bet it hurts to talk. My guess is that you’ve been told not to. Shame on you for not listening to the doctors.” The shadow moved to the side of the bed. She could make out some of his features, but there were still some shadows obscuring his details. All she knew was she didn’t know him. She had no clue who this man was.”

  “Who…”

  “Now, now…don’t try to talk. No need for you to suffer any more. I think you’ve suffered enough by now, all that’s left is for you to die.” His cold, quiet, hate filled voice caused chills to run up and down Carly’s arms. “I wanted the store, along with Jenna, destroyed. But you had to go an open it back up. If you hadn’t, this would have all been over. You can only imagine my surprise and anger when I saw that the store was back open. I didn’t know who had opened it at first, but all I had to do was following that one woman that came by almost every day. She is, what my mom would have called, a tramp.” He started pulling something out of his pocket as he spoke. Carly knew she couldn’t yell for help and he was between her and the door. She just prayed someone would come in before long. Her eyes kept darting between this strange man and the doorway.