His Case, Her Baby

by Cassidy, Carla

  She tried to crawl away from him. She was lightheaded and felt as if she were going to throw up. Still he kicked at her, as if she were a soccer ball he was trying to get through a goal.

  “Please,” she managed to gasp as her vision blurred and the dark edges of unconsciousness crept closer. Somebody help me, she mentally cried, just before the world turned black.

  Tom rose from his chair in his office and stretched with his arms overhead. He checked his watch and wondered how long it would be before Peyton called to tell him she was home.

  There were moments when he wondered if he were over-reacting to an imagined threat against Peyton. The only person who had hurt her was India, and she was dead. But the fact that there was still a killer out there, a killer who might be connected to Peyton, kept Tom from letting his guard down where she was concerned.

  The last three days had yielded no more information on Cliff Gunther, and Tom wondered if maybe the man had been upset that Peyton had begun to date Rick, if perhaps he’d seen Lilly as the final straw?

  Since Sunday night with Peyton he’d thrown himself into work. First thing Monday morning he’d gone to the farm where Dr. Larry Norwood, the new vet in town, was now living.

  Larry was an affable man, and his wife, Tracy, was just as friendly. They had two beautiful little girls, and it was impossible to imagine Larry risking it all for a woman like India.

  They were from Kansas City, and Larry explained that they had been looking for some time to move to a small town where he could focus his practice on farm animals.

  He and Dr. Johnson, the man who had been the town vet for the last forty years, had begun to correspond through a Web site. And after months of corresponding, Hank, who was getting ready to retire, encouraged Larry to move to Black Rock and take over his practice.

  Although Tom hadn’t seriously entertained the thought that somehow the vet might have something to do with India’s death and Lilly’s kidnapping, he left the farm feeling that the vet and his family were a nice addition to the town.

  He had spent much of the last two days on the phone, working with the Wichita Police Department to investigate some of the people India had associated with while living there.

  Along with the growing list of names of lowlifes who had been in India’s life before she’d moved to Black Rock, he also was trying to figure out if there was somebody here in town who might have been ripe for an affair, somebody who was capable of murder.

  As he shut off the light in his office, his cell phone rang. “Sheriff Grayson,” he answered.

  “In the park, they’re in the park! You need to come right away.”

  Even though the voice was excited and higher pitched than usual, Tom recognized Walt Toliver. Just what he needed to round out the day—a call from the local eccentric.

  “Walt, calm down,” Tom said. “What’s in the park?”

  “It was an alien, and he hurt a woman. You got to get out here, Sheriff, she’s hurt bad, and the baby won’t stop crying.”

  A burst of adrenaline shot through Tom. Walt called on a regular basis to talk about the alien invasion he thought was taking place in and around the Black Rock area, but Peyton had been in the park with Lilly.

  “Is the alien still there?” he asked as he left his office.

  “No, I chased him off, but the woman is on the ground and somebody needs to do something about that poor baby. Just listen to that crying.” Walt must have held out the phone, for in the background Tom could hear the faint cries of an infant.

  “Walt, I’m on my way.” Tom clicked off and looked at Sam and Benjamin, who were sitting at their desks. “Benjamin, come with me. That was Walt, and he said somebody needs help in the park. Peyton was there earlier. I think she’s in trouble.” His heart crashed with rapid beats as he raced out of the office.

  Within minutes they were in Tom’s car and headed to the park. As he drove, Tom quickly filled Benjamin in on what Walt had said.

  As the park came into sight and Tom saw the familiar car parked in the lot, his heart felt as if it had exploded in his chest.

  Peyton!

  He pulled the car to a halt several yards away from hers and jumped out of it with his heart pumping frantically.

  Walt was pacing at the back of the vehicle, where Tom could see Peyton crumpled on the ground. The sound of Lilly’s wails filled the air.

  “I was afraid to move her,” Walt said as Tom raced to her side.

  “Benjamin, get Lilly and call for an ambulance,” he said as he knelt down beside Peyton. “Peyton, can you hear me?” Oh, God, she looked so small, so utterly broken.

  Her eyelids fluttered and opened. She stared up at him for a moment with bewilderment, then her eyes filled with horror. “Lilly!” she cried and tried to rise, but she groaned with the movement and collapsed back on the ground.

  “Don’t try to move,” Tom said quickly. “Lilly is fine. Benjamin is getting her out of her car seat. We’ll take care of her.” She closed her eyes and for a moment he thought she’d lost consciousness again.

  “He was kicking her, the alien was,” Walt exclaimed. “I thought they might be landing in the park tonight so I came out here to check it out, and that’s when I saw him attacking her.”

  Benjamin had Lilly in his arms and was walking with her. She’d stopped crying so the only sounds were those of Peyton’s labored breathing and Walt’s footsteps as he paced in the dry grass.

  “I was putting the stroller in the trunk,” Peyton said, her voice achingly weak. “He came up behind me and hit me in the back.”

  “Did you recognize him?” Tom asked.

  “He had no face,” Walt said, obviously overexcited. “He was one of those outer-space creatures without any features.”

  “He had on a ski mask,” Peyton said. “I don’t know who it was. I don’t know what he wanted.” A sob escaped her and she reached for Tom’s hand. “I think he meant to kill me. He just kept kicking and kicking.”

  “Shh, don’t try to talk,” Tom said, his heart breaking as he saw the pain she was in. There would be questions for her later, after she’d been treated.

  He released her hand and stood as the ambulance arrived. Thankfully they hadn’t used the siren, which probably would have traumatized Lilly.

  As the paramedics loaded Peyton, Tom assured her that he’d be at the hospital with Lilly as soon as possible. As the ambulance drove away he picked up her purse, which she’d dropped in the attack, detached the baby seat from the back and installed it in his car, then locked her vehicle.

  “Benjamin, take a statement from Walt and call Sam and Caleb to start canvassing the area. I’ll take the baby and head over to the hospital.”

  As he took Lilly from Benjamin, he tried to ignore the sweet memory of another baby in his arms. He quickly fastened her into the car seat, then got in behind the steering wheel.

  What in the hell was going on in his town? He clenched the steering wheel hard as he headed to the small local hospital. Who had attacked Peyton, and why? Was there something about her past that she hadn’t told him? Beneath the questions lingered a killing guilt. Why had he allowed her to go to the park? Why hadn’t he stayed with her?

  A million questions flew through his head as he parked the car and got Lilly out of the backseat. The baby had fallen asleep, and for that Tom was grateful.

  The loudest question that pounded in his head was about Peyton’s condition. She hadn’t been able to move without groaning. What kind of internal damage had been done?

  The idea of any man laying his hands or his feet on her filled him with rage. She was so small, so fragile. And why would anyone want to hurt her?

  He walked through the emergency room door, but before he could get much farther, he was stopped by Loretta McCain, Sam’s wife.

  “Whoa,” she said as she stepped between him and the door leading to the exam rooms. “Where do you think you’re going, and where did you get that precious bundle of love?”

  “I n
eed to check in on Peyton Wilkerson. She was just brought in, and this is Lilly, her daughter.”

  “You know you can’t go back there right now. The doctor is with her. I’m sure he’ll come out to speak to you after he’s had a chance to check her out.” She smiled at the sleeping baby, her chocolate eyes twinkling with a maternal light. “You want me to take that little bundle from you? I can put her in one of our bassinettes until we figure out what’s going on.”

  “That’s a great idea,” he said, eager to relinquish the baby, who smelled of baby powder and innocence and a million old memories.

  As Loretta disappeared with Lilly, Tom sank down on one of the molded plastic chairs to wait for an update from the doctor. He knew Benjamin and Caleb would be taking care of the investigation, which was good, because all Tom could think about at the moment was Peyton’s well-being.

  Every time he thought of her on the ground at the back of her car he felt sick to his stomach. He wanted to hurt somebody. He wanted to find the man responsible and smash in his face. It was definitely not the thoughts of a sheriff, but rather those of a man whose woman had been hurt.

  It felt as if hours passed before Dr. Ryan Attenburg came into the waiting room. Tom leapt out of his chair. “How is she?”

  “Two cracked ribs and a multitude of bruises, but other than that she’s okay.”

  Tom inwardly cringed as he imagined the power of the kicks that had cracked her ribs. “You’re releasing her?”

  “I’ve got her bound up and with a prescription for some pain meds. There isn’t much more I can do for her. She’s going to feel like hell for a while, but it’s just going to take time to heal.”

  “Can I go back and see her?”

  “While you do that, I’ll just get her discharge papers ready.”

  There were only three examining rooms in the emergency area, and she was in the first. He pushed the curtain back to see her seated on the table, her arms wrapped around her midsection and her face as pale as the bleached cotton gown she wore.

  She looked up at him and her eyes widened. “Lilly? Where’s Lilly?”

  “It’s okay. She’s with one of the nurses.”

  “Oh, God, was she hurt?” Tears instantly jumped into her eyes.

  “No, no. She’s fine,” Tom hurriedly assured her. “She fell asleep, so one of the nurses put her in one of the cribs in the nursery.”

  She released a small sigh. “What’s going on, Tom? Why would somebody do this to me? It wasn’t a robbery attempt. I dropped my purse the minute he struck me from behind.”

  “I don’t know, but I swear I’m going to find who did this to you.” He would move heaven and earth to put the guilty behind bars. It was all connected, the kidnapping of Lilly and this assault on Peyton. Somebody was after Peyton, and that somebody had killed India.

  A young nurse’s aide appeared in the doorway. “I’m here to help you get dressed, Ms. Wilkerson.”

  “I’ll just wait outside. I’ll take you home when you’re ready.” Tom left and returned to the waiting room, where he called Benjamin for an update.

  Unfortunately, he had nothing to report. He could get nothing out of Walt except that it had been a tall alien with no face. The assailant had run down the street when Walt had hollered at him, but there was no sign of anyone in or around the area. They had knocked on the doors of the houses in the vicinity, but nobody had seen or heard anything.

  So Tom was left with nothing but an eyewitness who watched the heavens for alien spaceships and believed an invasion from outer space was imminent.

  Loretta appeared with a still-sleeping Lilly in her arms. “You best be carrying this one out. Her mama isn’t going to feel like lifting anything for a couple of days.”

  As Tom took the infant into his arms, Peyton walked through the double doors with the doctor. She walked with tiny steps, as if every bone in her body hurt.

  Once again a slow, seething rage built up inside Tom. He wanted to envelop her in bubble wrap, lock her in a padded room, do whatever it took to make sure nobody and nothing could hurt her again.

  “I’ve given her some samples of pain meds since the drugstore is closed for the night. She has enough to last until tomorrow,” Dr. Attenburg said. He turned and offered a sympathetic smile to Peyton. “I have a feeling you’re going to feel like you’ve been run over by a truck when you wake up in the morning.”

  “What I’d like more than anything right now is my bed and a handful of those pain pills,” she said.

  “Let’s get you home,” Tom said.

  It took several minutes to get Lilly back into the infant car seat and Peyton loaded into the passenger side. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes as Tom got into the car and started the engine.

  “Can you talk about it?” he asked as they left the hospital parking lot. She opened her eyes and nodded.

  “I had trouble unfastening the clasp on the stroller. By the time I got it unhooked and got Lilly into the car, the other women had left. I had just put the stroller in the trunk when I was hit from behind. Then it all happened so fast. I was on the ground and he was kicking me over and over again.”

  “Did he say anything to you?”

  “No…oh wait, yes. He called me a bitch, but it was a deep snarl. I didn’t recognize the voice. All I could think about was that he was going to kill me and take Lilly.”

  Guilt ripped through him. “Is that what you think it was about? He wanted to get Lilly?”

  “I can’t imagine what it was about. All I know is that if Walt hadn’t been in that park, I’d be dead.” She wrapped her arms around her middle as if seeking warmth.

  Tom pulled into her driveway and cut the engine. As she got out of the car he pulled Lilly from her car seat. She was awake and her big blue eyes met his and a smile curved her little lips.

  Tom steeled his heart against that baby smile as he and Peyton walked to the front door. Peyton carried the purse Tom had retrieved from the scene and she dug into it to find her keys.

  “You need to go directly to bed,” Tom said once they were inside the house.

  “I need to give Lilly a bottle before I do anything,” she replied. She moved slowly toward the kitchen, and Tom followed just behind her with Lilly still in his arms.

  “She can sleep with me tonight,” Peyton said as she fixed a bottle. “That way if she wakes up for any reason I don’t have to get out of bed.”

  “She can sleep in her own bed,” Tom said. “If she wakes up or needs anything, I’ll be here. What you need most is uninterrupted rest, and if I know you, you won’t take those pain pills because you’re afraid Lilly might need you in the night.”

  “You shouldn’t have to stay and babysit me through the night,” she protested, but he thought he saw a hint of relief in her eyes.

  “I’m not just staying through the night,” Tom said. “I’m staying here until we figure out exactly what’s going on.” He hesitated a moment, then decided to give it to her straight. She’d proven herself to be a strong individual, and he needed her to be aware of just what was at stake here.

  “If what you said was true, and you really believe that man’s intention tonight was to kill you, then he was unsuccessful,” he said.

  She looked at him for a long moment, and the relief that had momentarily lit her eyes was replaced with a tinge of fear. “You think he’ll be back.”

  It was a statement, not a question, and Tom simply nodded his head as Lilly began to cry in his arms.

  Chapter 10

  When Peyton awakened the next morning she didn’t feel as if she’d been hit by a truck. She felt as if a hundred trucks had smashed into her.

  A glance at her clock let her know it was just after six. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, and she knew Lilly would probably sleep for another hour or so.

  She closed her eyes again, not wanting to move, not wanting to breathe as each and every inch of her body ached.

  He had wanted her dead. She’d
felt it in the fierceness of the attack, in the hatred that had oozed from him. Why? That was the single question that kept replaying in her mind.

  Why would somebody want her dead? Who hated her so much to do something like this to her? A week ago she would have said she had no enemies, but if that were the case, then what had the attack been about? It had felt personal. The way he had growled “bitch” had definitely felt personal.

  She shut her eyes and tried to think of somebody, anybody close to her who might harbor that kind of hatred. Rick? Impossible. They had moved on with their lives without any real entanglements, without any bitterness.

  She’d worked a lot of jobs, met a lot of people before moving to Black Rock. Had there been somebody she’d angered?

  Buck Harmon. The name jumped into her mind. Had he been more angry than she thought when she’d bumped his truck with her shopping cart? It seemed crazy to think that an incident like that could result in the vicious attack on her.

  And then there was Cliff. She’d been dating him, although not seriously, when she’d met Rick. Had Cliff been more serious about her than she’d thought? Serious enough that he’d gone off the deep end and now wanted to hurt her?

  With her thoughts making her head pound, she decided it was counterproductive to stay in bed and worry about questions with no answers.

  Gingerly, she sat up, stifling a moan. A hot shower. Maybe that would help ease the bumps and bruises that covered her body.

  She eased her feet over the edge of the bed and stood, slowly making her way into the adjoining bathroom. She unwrapped the loose binding that the doctor had wrapped around her and gasped as she saw the black-and-blue marks that mottled her torso.

  A few minutes later as she stood beneath a hot spray of water she thought about the fact that apparently Tom was going to be her houseguest for a while. She’d wanted to spend more time with him, but certainly not under these circumstances.

  She’d hoped he’d want to spend more time with her, but it was duty and responsibility and not desire and attraction that had him back in her life.