“Mom!” Jacob yelled. “Hayley’s hurt, too.”
Hayley tried to tell him she was fine, but her lungs wouldn’t cooperate. They were busy trying to purge the smoke she’d inhaled.
“What’s wrong with that stupid woman?” Eden snarled as she hurried over to them.
Hayley realized Eden was talking about Paula Kerstairs, not Hayley herself. The thin, bony woman stood there wringing her hands, looking scared to death.
“I told her to run down and open the gate,” Eden continued in exasperation.
“I’ll do it,” Jacob offered. “Just take care of Hayley.”
“Let’s see where you’re hurt, girl,” Eden demanded as Jacob sprinted away. “How’d you get all scraped up like that? Burned off half your hair, too. Don’t see any burns on your skin. Where’s Odette? I told her to fetch the first-aid kit from the barn.”
Flames burst through the barred window of the office, shattering the glass. The fire department appeared a few minutes later, sirens screaming up the driveway. And the morning became filled with shouted orders.
“I’m a doctor,” Hayley heard Marcus snap at one of the paramedics. “This man has a concussion. Get that oxygen over here. He’s got a nasty scalp wound. There may be pressure on the brain. The cuts and burns appear minor, but I haven’t rolled him over yet to see what other damage he’s done. One of you better see to the girl, as well.”
Pressure on the brain.
Horrified, Hayley allowed an oxygen mask to be clamped over her face while she watched the paramedics and Marcus minister to Bram’s injuries. This was a side of Marcus she’d never seen before, but her attention remained on Bram. He could have permanent brain damage, and it was all her fault! If she’d listened to him—
“Never mind whose fault it is,” Eden snapped, abruptly filling her vision. “You just answer the man’s questions. Where are you hurt?”
Hayley stared at her blankly. She tried to tell Eden she was fine, that it was Bram who mattered, but she began to shake. Her body felt so cold that she knew she’d never be warm again.
“Shock,” she heard someone say.
Another voice yelled that they needed to move these people back. It all seemed far away, like a bad dream. Everything except Bram lying motionless in the grass.
“Oh, God, please!”
A soothing voice tried to assure her he was going to be okay. That she needed to calm down and breathe slowly. Hayley ignored the voice and closed her eyes.
She remembered little of the trip to the hospital, but she finally pulled herself together enough to realize they wouldn’t let her see Bram unless they were related. She told the attendant she was his fiancée, hoping the lie would work as it had in an old movie she’d seen. It didn’t. They wheeled Bram down one hall and her to a bank of cubicles in a different hall.
Time had little meaning. No one around her seemed to feel the same sense of urgency she did. She answered a million questions, but no one would tell her about Bram’s condition. All she got were empty promises to check on him. She’d been sitting there fretting alone forever, it seemed. She didn’t care what anyone said, she was going to find Bram. That was when Dr. Ravens had appeared.
“Where’s Bram? Is he okay?” A fit of coughing stopped her flood of questions. The doctor came over and firmly but kindly replaced the oxygen mask.
“Mr. Myers is going to be fine,” the doctor assured her. “He’s conscious and equally concerned about you.”
Relief left Hayley weak and shaken. “Thank God.”
“Yes. You should. From what I understand, you were both very fortunate in many ways. Do you know what could have happened if the fire department hadn’t been so close by, finishing an earlier call?”
Hayley didn’t care. “I need to see Bram.”
Dr. Ravens nodded. “Mr. Myers is also quite agitated over your condition. If you’re feeling well enough, you can come with me and reassure him that you’re all right.”
Hayley was off the gurney so fast the doctor had to steady her.
“A bit slower, if you please. Would you like a wheelchair?”
“No. I don’t need a wheelchair. I just moved too fast.”
“Are you sure? I need you to reassure him, not scare him by passing out in front of him,” Dr. Ravens scolded. “We have every reason to believe Mr. Myers will be fine. However, anytime someone is unconscious for several minutes after a serious head trauma, it’s best to take precautions.”
“Oh, my God.”
“Ms. Thomas, you really do need to calm down,” the doctor said sternly. “I can’t let you in to see him if you’re going to be this agitated.”
“All right. Okay. I’m all right. I just want to see him. Please.”
The woman pursed her lips, but finally resumed leading her down the hall. “Your fiancé is refusing to let us take him down for X rays. He insists on leaving right away. We can’t force him to cooperate, so I’m hoping you can convince him to let us do our job.”
“But you said he’ll be okay.”
“I believe so. A CT scan is precautionary, but highly advisable. We put thirteen stitches in his scalp. The wound was deep and located close to his temple. Do you know specifically what caused the injury?”
“I didn’t see him get hurt,” Hayley replied honestly, but in her mind, she saw the bloody hammer lying on the carpet. “We were trapped by the fire. Bram had to kick through two walls to get us out.” She stopped as another bout of coughing overtook her.
“Go ahead and cough. I know it hurts, but coughing is the body’s way of expunging the smoke from your lungs. I’ll have the nurse bring you both something to ease it a bit.”
Hayley nodded her thanks, too out of breath to respond. Then she heard the reassuring rumble of Bram’s voice. He sounded as hoarse and scratchy as she did. He also sounded determined to get his way.
“Try to convince him to let us run the CT scan,” Dr. Ravens urged.
“I will,” she promised. “It may take chains and a unit of marines, but I’ll see to it he does whatever is necessary.”
Dr. Ravens smiled and patted her shoulder. “Good luck. I’ll give you a few minutes to talk alone.”
“Thank you.”
“Go ahead and get up again, Mr. Myers,” a nurse was saying. “I’ll just have the orderly put you back in bed after you pass out.”
“I am not—”
A fit of coughing choked off his protest. Hayley squared her shoulders and stepped into the room.
“Don’t worry about, Bram,” she told the nurse, trying to sound jaunty. “He thinks he’s a superhero.”
The older woman clamped an oxygen mask over his face and winked at Hayley. “Does he now? I’ll bet he looks real cute in a pair of blue tights. But even a superhero should know enough to accept help when he needs it. Now you just keep that oxygen on your face for a few minutes,” she admonished Bram. “You’ve got yourself a live one here,” she told Hayley as she left.
“Are you all right?” Bram demanded, reaching up to pull off the mask.
Hayley covered his hand. “Leave it there. It really does help. I’m fine, thanks to you. You made a great superhero.” She tried to sound light and upbeat when what she wanted to do was burst into tears.
Pain had etched tired lines around his eyes. A stark white bandage covered one side of his face. They’d cleaned the area to stitch his wound, but smoke and dried blood were still in evidence. His bare chest was more dirty than clean.
“I was coming to find you,” Bram said.
“Well, here I am, so sit back.”
“We need to go.”
“After you let them take a CT scan,” she told him firmly.
Bram shook his head, winced and raised his hand to the bandaged area. His hands were cleaner than the rest of him because several clearly visible burns and cuts had been treated there. She wanted to cry for his pain, but Bram needed strength from her now, not pity.
“What do you have against CT scans?”
He yanked off the oxygen mask. “I don’t have insurance, Hayley,” he told her frankly. “I can’t afford a huge hospital bill.”
“Well, fortunately, I can. And before you pitch a fit based on pride, let’s get something clear here. You just saved my life. I owe you.”
“Hayley—”
“No, darn it. I’ve got pride, too, you know. And I’ve got plenty of money. I can afford to pay your hospital bill. This is not charity, you stubborn fool, so let’s not waste time arguing about this, all right?”
Laying her hand on his grimy chest, she blinked back the tears that were scalding her eyes. “Please, Bram. I was so damn scared. Please let them make sure you’re okay. Do it for me, please.”
Another dose of coughing punctuated her plea, choking off the rest of her words. When she finished, Bram reached for her, pulling her against him in a tight, reassuring hug. “Don’t cry. I’m okay.”
She swallowed hard.
“It’s you I’m worried about,” he said against her hair. “That fire was set deliberately. I don’t know what the accelerant was, but I should have realized that something was wrong when we first went in and smelled that odor.”
He let her go and coughed, pressing his hand to the bandage until the spasm passed.
“I was there, too, remember?” she said. “I thought it was insecticide. Why should you have known what it was?”
“Someone tried to kill you,” he said.
Her heart raced. “Not really. The accelerant was already there before we got there.”
“A technicality. The person who hit me knew we were in there. He locked us in and lit the fire. We were supposed to die.”
The fear that never seemed to be far away rushed back. “Who?”
“I don’t know. I was looking in the closet when I heard a noise behind me. I thought it was you. I started to turn my head and it felt like it exploded.”
Dr. Ravens cleared her throat, moving to stand in the doorway. “Well, Mr. Myers? Do you want the release forms, or are you willing to let us make sure your brains haven’t all leaked out?”
“According to my fiancée, I don’t have a say in the matter.”
He coughed, and cringing at the word fiancée, Hayley covered his mouth and nose with the oxygen mask.
“I’ll have an orderly wheel him down to X-ray before he changes his mind,” the doctor told Hayley.
“Could we have a few more minutes, please?”
“It will take me a few minutes to locate an orderly,” she said. “If you wouldn’t mind filling out the paperwork? And I’m afraid there’s an officer waiting to ask you both some questions about the fire.”
Bram tensed. Hayley covered his hand with hers, then quickly let go when he winced. She’d touched an angry burn whose blister was starting to seep. “Shouldn’t this be bandaged?” she asked the doctor.
Dr. Ravens nodded. “Mr. Myers hasn’t exactly been cooperative since he woke up.”
“He will be now,” she promised.
Once again Bram pulled off the oxygen mask, looking fierce.
“I’ll send the nurse back in to tend to those burns while I call down to X-ray,” the doctor said as she disappeared.
“Hayley—”
Lightly, she stroked his face and touched the stark white bandage. “They said it took thirteen stitches to close this.”
“My lucky number.”
“Bram, please let them take the scan. You could have swelling of the brain. I…I couldn’t stand it if—”
“I’ve got a hard head.”
“Thick,” she said, holding fresh tears at bay with an effort. He cupped her face so tenderly, two tears escaped. Bram brushed them away with his thumbs.
“That, too. But I’m not leaving you alone again. Not for a minute.”
“We’re in a hospital full of people, so I don’t think it’s an issue. Besides,” she added quickly, “as soon as they take you to X-ray I’m going to call the Walkens and ask them to come pick us up. I’ll ask them to stay with me. You know they will. Please, Bram.”
“You promise you’ll stay with them?”
“If you’ll go have your hard head x-rayed, I’ll promise you anything you like.”
“Now, there’s an offer,” he said with a crooked smile. “To be honest, my head isn’t feeling all that hard at the moment. Whoever slugged me did a good job. The blow must have scrambled my brains. I don’t even remember getting engaged to you.”
Hayley felt her face flame. “I can explain that.”
He looked toward the open door. Hayley heard someone approaching.
“I’ll look forward to that—later,” he told her. “Call the Walkens right away, Hayley. I don’t want you to be alone for even a second.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
He studied her face. “You aren’t to blame for what happened, Hayley.”
“Not for the fire, maybe, but if I hadn’t insisted on going there this morning—”
“He might have burned down the entire house instead of just that wing. Whoever it was must have been inside one of the exam rooms when we got there. He was probably getting ready to torch the place when we interrupted.”
“He?”
“A generic he.”
“He hit you with your own hammer,” Hayley told Bram. “I saw it on the floor right before the fireball exploded. You even told me to leave it.”
Her heart raced in remembered horror.
“I don’t recall that.”
“Excuse me,” a voice said from the doorway. “Mr. Myers? I’m here to take you down to X-ray, sir.”
“I’ll be here when you get back,” Hayley promised. “And I’ll call the Walkens right away. Is there a telephone I can use?” she asked the orderly.
“Right over there, miss.” He indicated a bank of pay phones across from them.
“Oh! I don’t have any—”
Bram was already digging through his pocket. He handed her his wallet and some change. From another pocket, he retrieved the bag containing the evidence he’d taken from the lab. Hayley had forgotten all about it. Her body blocked the orderly’s view as she took the plastic bag and held it against her hospital gown.
Hayley signed her discharge papers and filled out the paperwork for Bram, listing herself as the person responsible for his bills. He would probably argue with her once he was back in fighting form, but she looked forward to that. It would mean he was feeling better.
The police officer was too young to have been on the force when her mother disappeared, but Hayley kept her answers simple, anyhow. She and Bram had gone into the office to look for something she’d misplaced. They had smelled something right away, but they hadn’t realized what it meant. She didn’t know who had started the fire or what had happened to Bram’s head. She had no idea why anyone would want to do such an awful thing. She didn’t actually live at Heartskeep any longer.
Hayley couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but caution kept her from showing him the bag of evidence or giving him any details. Her distrust of the local police ran deep.
It was a relief to see Emily and George striding toward her as the police officer left. They hugged her tightly.
“I thought you might be needing these,” Emily said, holding out a plastic sack. “We aren’t exactly the same size, but the blouse was too big on me, so I’m thinking it might fit you. And the shorts have an elastic waist. Would you like some help?”
Hayley gave her another hug. “Please. I don’t know why I’m feeling so teary.”
“It’s perfectly understandable after what you’ve been through.”
Hayley pulled out the bag she’d hidden beneath her ruined blouse and handed it to George Walken. “Bram took this from Marcus’s lab before the fire. He wants Rhea Levinson to test the contents of the one syringe. It may be whatever was in the water. He took the other one to see if the size matched the hole in the bottle he gave her.”
George and Emily exchanged looks. “I’ll take
care of it,” George promised.
“Why don’t we go find a rest room? Come on, Hayley,” Mrs. Walken said, leading her to the bathroom next to the bank of pay phones.
With most of the smoke and grit washed off her skin, and dressed in clean clothing, Hayley felt marginally better. The T-shirt was a bit tighter than she would have liked, considering she still didn’t have a bra to wear underneath, but the shorts were a good fit, and Emily Walken had even included a pair of sandals.
“Much better,” she said. “It’s a shame about your hair.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Walken. My hair’s the least of my worries right now.”
“Good girl. I think you should call me Emily, don’t you? Would you like me to help you pin your hair up for now?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Her husband was coming down the hall when they left the ladies’ room.
“I wandered down to X-ray,” George told them. “They’re running Bram through the scanner now. The waiting room is empty at the moment, so why don’t we go down there and wait for him?”
Sitting in the smaller, more private waiting room, George told Hayley what Rhea had learned about the water she’d already tested.
“The bottle had been doctored, all right, but it wasn’t a standard drug. Someone with a knowledge of chemistry created whatever was in there. Rhea doesn’t think it will cause any lasting effects, but the symptoms you described were consistent with her findings.”
“Eden thought Marcus was suffering from dementia, but it’s really just due to being drugged, isn’t it?” Hayley asked.
“Sounds that way,” George agreed.
“Did you have a chance to tell Bram?” Hayley asked.
“Yes, while I was waiting for you and Emily. Bram and I agree it’s time to turn all this information over to the police. I know how you feel, Hayley, but there isn’t much choice now. The person nearly killed the two of you. The police will have to investigate.”
“Like they investigated my mother’s disappearance?”
“It won’t be like that this time,” he promised. “We’ve got hard evidence of a crime now.”
“I wish I had your faith.”
The Firstborn Page 19
