by Kris Calvert
I rushed to Ginny’s side as the EMT’s dropped the gurney from the wagon. I picked up her hand and gave it a squeeze. “How’s the love of my life doing?”
She was unresponsive.
“Her vitals are okay, but we need to get her in for a CAT scan to make sure there’s no intracranial injury. She’s been in and out of consciousness, and her vision is blurred,” the EMT explained to the ER doctor.
“Get her to trauma one. Start an IV, type and cross-check. I’ll call radiology to let them know she’s coming.”
“Can I stay with her?” I asked the doctor.
“Who are you?”
“Win?” Lena called to me after walking through the automatic doors.
“We’re taking her to Exam three, sir.”
I held up my hand to Lena, silently asking the nurse to wait. “I’m Agent Win Holloway with the FBI,” I said to the doctor, pulling my badge from my pocket. “Ginny is my ah…my…my. Well, she’s the woman I want to marry, sir. I don’t want to leave her alone.”
“Wait here, I’ll have the nurse come for you.”
“Win!” Lena shouted as they walked her to the exam room.
“That’s my sister. I’m pretty sure she’s in shock.”
The doctor gave Lena the once over and knitted his brow. “You can see her in a bit, too.”
He looked back to me. “You injured as well?” he asked sarcastically.
“No. Just concerned.”
“Wait here.”
Turning, I found a seat in the empty waiting room. I hoped the lack of patients was a good indication Ginny and Lena would get extra care.
Slipping my phone from my pocket, I dialed Cee Cee’s cell phone. I knew he didn’t keep it with him often, and when he did have it on, the volume was so loud it would wake the dead. He answered on the first ring.
“Where the hell are you?” he groused. “The house is crawling with police and agents.”
“Where the hell am I? Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to find you everywhere.”
“I was planting flowers with Vernon down by the chapel when the storm sirens went off. We went straight down into the cellar of the church to ride it out.”
“I’m at the hospital. Ginny was hit over the head and Lena’s in shock. Piper’s dead in the office and Magnus is dead in the library.”
“What the hell?”
“I know, I know. I can explain. Magnus killed Dad and then Piper and John Lee. Cee Cee, it’s just one huge cluster fuck.”
“Who killed Magnus?” he asked, his voice sounding tired.
“Lena.”
“Hmmm…are you okay, son?”
“I’m rattled. I need to talk to you.”
“About?”
“Everything.”
“That’s a pretty wide swath of subject matter. Think you can narrow it down a little for me?”
“Not over the phone.”
“I’m going to keep out of the way here at the house. I doubt they needed anything from an old fart like me tonight.”
“Cee Cee?”
“Yes.”
“I am proud to be a Winterbourne and I promise to carry on the family legacy with grace and dignity. I just wanted to say that.” I hung up and stood to pace the floor. Making my first turn around the waiting room, a nurse stepped into view.
“Mr. Holloway?”
“Yes.”
“You can see Miss Grace now.”
“Is she okay?”
“We’re still wait for CT, but you can visit with her for a moment.”
Quickly I fell into step with the nurse, following her through the automatic doors and into a large area where the beds were sectioned off by curtains.
“She’s right in here,” she said, pulling the industrial blue fabric that hung from the ceiling. “Only a moment, okay?”
Stepping inside, I found Ginny. An IV in her arm, oxygen mask on her face. Her eyes were closed, and she wore a hospital gown. Suddenly the tough woman I loved seemed more like a little girl.
“Ginny?” I whispered, taking her hand in mind. “Can you hear me? You’re going to be okay,” I said, bringing her hand to my lips and kissing her knuckles. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
Her eyes fluttered open. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. She was awake.
“Win,” she gasped through the oxygen mask. “Win, your sister. Lena.”
An orderly threw back the curtain, exposing me as I leaned over Ginny to kiss her forehead. “Sorry sir. I need to take her up to radiology.”
“Can I wait here?”
“Suit yourself,” he replied with a shrug.
I kissed her once more, her eyes tearing up as she left me. “I’ll be right here when you come back. I’ll be right here.”
I swallowed hard as they wheeled her away from me. Turning, I needed to check on Lena.
Sitting in a room with a nurse checking her vital signs, I knocked on the open door. “May I come in?”
“This is my big brother,” Lena told the nurse calmly.
She smiled at me and picked up Lena’s wrist to take her pulse. “Your vitals look good and you’re not showing any signs of shock, Miss Holloway. There’s no reason to keep you here, but the doctor will be in one more time to talk with you before he signs the discharge papers. You can follow up with your family doctor tomorrow.”
Lena nodded. “Okay.”
I walked to my sister, the front of her pink cotton dress now stained with Magnus’ blood. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She nodded. “I just want to go home. Do you care if I take the car out there?”
“I’ll have someone come get you. You’re not authorized to drive that car. Besides, you don’t need to be behind the wheel tonight.”
“Don’t call anyone. I’ll just catch a cab. It’ll be fine.”
I twisted my head, unsure of whether I should consent to her wish. A cab would get her home faster and I didn’t want to leave Ginny. “Let me call Teller.”
She shook her head. “I’d have to wait for him to get here. There will be cabs in front of the hospital. I don’t like hospitals Win,” she said as the tears began to flow. “Too many bad memories.”
I nodded pulling her close to me and kissing her on the head. “You’ve been a real trouper through all of this, sis.”
“Thanks, butthole.”
I started my usual sarcastic retort, but pulled back. “You’re welcome.”
My phone rang out and I waved to Lena as she walked the hallway. I knew I couldn’t have my cell phone on inside the ER, so I slipped out the side door to answer. “Holloway.”
“Agent Holloway, this is Knotts.”
“Yes.”
“Just want to give you an update, or maybe I should say a body count.”
I didn’t want to hear it, but I knew I needed to. “I’m listening.”
“Piper Presley has been taken to the morgue along with Magnus Page. Both of those bodies were on the Winter Haven property. And then there’s John Lee.”
“Yes.”
“He was found dead in his home tonight as well.”
“Have the next of kin been notified?”
“Presley’s parents have been told. Magnus Page didn’t have any living relatives and unfortunately, neither did John Lee.”
“I see.”
“I know this is difficult. You just buried your father and now his best friend and your employees are dead, but I’m gonna need to take your statement as well as your sister’s.”
“I understand. I’ll make sure Lena speaks with you tomorrow.”
“What’s the word on Agent Grace, if you don’t mind me askin’?”
“No. She’s getting a CAT scan. She took a pretty hard blow to the head. They’re checking for skull fractures and bleeding on her brain.”
“Let me know when you hear something?” he asked sincerely. “She’s an excellent agent and an even better person, sir.”
“I agree with yo
u whole-heartedly Agent Knotts, and I know she’d appreciate you asking about her.”
“Yes sir. There is one more thing.”
“Shoot.”
“The knife Miss Holloway used to kill Magnus Page.”
“What about it.”
“The coroner just came and went. The knife isn’t here, sir.”
“Well find it, goddammit!”
30
WIN
I hung my head in my hands, waiting to hear something—anything from the doctor about Ginny’s condition.
“Fancy seeing you here.”
Bringing my gaze from my own shoes, I looked into the bright eyes of Cee Cee. Instinctively, I stood, wrapping him up in my arms. His presence was like a security blanket for me—always had been. “What are you doing here?”
Pulling away from me, he shook his head back and forth. It was his tell-tale sign he wanted to talk. It was as if all those years of experience and know-how couldn’t stay locked away in his mind any longer and he had to set at least some of it free. “I didn’t like the sound of your voice over the phone. So I hopped in Ethel and drove on over.”
“You know you can’t see at night.”
“Hell, I can’t see worth a damn in the daytime either, but when family needs you—you go.”
I looked around the ER waiting area and saw a dark room marked, consultation. “Let’s go in here. I need to talk to you.”
“Miss?” I waved down the receptionists’ attention. “We’re going to be in this room if there’s any news on Virginia Grace.”
She nodded and I ushered Cee Cee in front of me, flipping on the overhead fluorescent lights, casting a green shadow across the room. I didn’t even wait for him to sit before I said it. “I found the safe room today. I found it during the storm. It was a complete accident.”
Cee Cee filled his lungs with air, letting out a long sigh. “Well, you were due.”
“You mean because I’m almost thirty-three? Is that when you take someone to the room?”
Cee Cee knitted his brow and began to rub his hands together over and over in a rolling motion as if he was scheming a plan. I knew the plans were made long ago—he was merely carrying out the mission. “Your father was supposed to let you know—”
“My father called me home last week and informed me that on my birthday I would come into my inheritance. That my trust fund would be released and I would have full voting rights and responsibilities for the future of the distillery. He said nothing about what I saw today.”
Cee Cee closed one eye and cocked his head to look at me. “And?”
“And what? That was it. He also told me how disappointed he was in me for not being a participating member of the family.”
“Whadya say to that?”
“I told him to fuck off. He’s the reason I never wanted to come home, Cee Cee. He forbid me to marry Ginny, calling her that girl. He was cheating on Mom. If he’d only stayed home that night—”
“What? You think if Robert hadn’t run off to have relations with his mistress in town nothing would’ve happened to your mother?”
“Yes.”
Cee Cee shook his head.
“Why? Because she was having an affair with Magnus?”
He didn’t say anything, but looked away. I suppose it’s a hard thing to think of your daughter as an adulterer, especially when you only want to hold them in a saintly light so many years after their death. Still, my father’s transgressions bothered me more. “Did Magnus kill my mother Cee Cee?”
Bringing his eyes back to meet mine he sighed. “No. Your father took care of that. When he discovered she was having an affair with Magnus, he panicked—thought she was going to serve him with divorce papers. He would be left high and dry with nothing. As long as he was living and a widower, he was part of our family—for better or worse.”
“Why would Magnus stay around after Dad killed the love of his life?”
“Magnus held the keys to your father’s conviction. All the evidence—everything needed to lock him up for life. They struck a deal. Magnus could stay and run the company if he didn’t rat out his best friend for killing his lover.”
I ran my hands through my hair, trying to wrap my head around everything Cee Cee was telling me. “Why didn’t you turn both of them in?
“I wanted to—believe me I did—but I thought you and your sister had been through enough. Instead, I kept an eye on him. He knew I knew the truth, and I liked keeping him in my back pocket that way. One false move on his part and the jig was up. He ran the business the way I told him to. Magnus did the heavy lifting for him. He never married, he never had a woman in the house ever again. Oh, I knew he had women, I knew he was screwing Piper down in the office sometimes, and I’m sure there were floozies on the side, but for the most part, he stayed on the straight and narrow. He didn’t have a choice.”
“That’s why no matter how much I told him I hated him and pushed him away, he still came back for more,” I mumbled.
“You got it. I held him to his obligations. Listen Win, your mother was beautiful, but she wasn’t a dummy either. She knew your dad was cattin’ around. I always thought it was part of the reason she took up with Magnus—well, that and the fact Magnus had loved her his entire life.”
“So he killed my mother because he didn’t want a divorce? And Magnus covered it up to keep his job?”
“Money does strange things to people, Son. Your great-great-grandfather knew that. It’s why he made the rule of thirty-three.”
“Did mom know about it—the rule?”
“She did. She also knew even if she did leave your father and marry Magnus, he’d never have a voting right in the business. It’s just not the way it works.”
“And now he weaseled his way into Lena’s life, hoping to finally marry in.”
Cee Cee nodded. “It’s a lot to take in, I’ll give you that. But this family has survived a lot. I’m only here for a few more years to make sure I pass it all on to you in correct and true form.”
I stood to pace the room. I couldn’t process all he was trying to tell me. “What does that even mean, Cee Cee? I mean really?”
“It means that when the shit hits the fan son, you rise to the occasion. There’s nothing more important than family—nothing.”
“Jesus,” I sighed pacing frantically, finally stopping to hang my hands on my hips. “So now what?”
“Now you have to take care of what needs to be taken care of.”
“All the deaths?” I asked. “I need to take care of all the people Dad and Magnus left behind in their wake.”
Cee Cee gripped the sides of the chair, pushing himself up to a standing position. He was slow and deliberate and watching him struggle with his age, I knew he was right. He would only be around for a few more years. “You need to take care of the woman you love,” he said poking his finger into the center of my chest. “Do you love her?”
I nodded. “But how do I ask her to join this family? Especially now?”
“Wake up, son. There’s nothing wrong with this family. There was only something wrong with those who tried to join this family. Generations of Winterbournes in the same home working the same land and making the same bourbon for over a hundred and forty-three years? Marshall Winterbourne started a legacy—a legacy you should be proud to be a part of. Your mother certainly was.”
“But—”
“Aw, hell. But what, Win? If you love Virginia, then for God’s sake do something about it. She’s one in a million, that one.”
I let out a small laugh. “How do you figure?”
“She ridiculed your manhood—told you your Johnson was small. That’s not the kind of woman who’s gonna lie to you and tell you everything’s gonna be okay when it’s not. She’s a straight shooter. Ginny Grace has moxie—spunk.”
“Well, Cee Cee…she was kidding. I’m not…you know…”
“Say what you will, son. Perception is reality.”
I laughed. I laug
hed hard and Cee Cee laughed with me, giving me his signature firm handshake that could take a man off guard to his knees. It felt good. It felt right to be with him and it felt right to be a Winterbourne.
“I guess I’ll be needing a ring. Are there any diamonds lying around the house?” I joked.
Cee Cee gave me a sly smile and a hard pat on the back that nearly knocked the breath out of me. “I might be able to help you out with that one.”
31
GINNY
I rolled my head to the side, the throbbing stiffness in my neck too much to bear. My eyes still shut, I could hear bustling around me. I fluttered my eyelashes as if I needed to wake them first before opening my eyes completely, and squinted at the dimly lit lamp over the bed. I moved my arms, only to feel the pull of the surgical tape against my skin. Dropping my chin, I could see the IV in the crux of my arm and winced when I couldn’t bend it at the elbow.
Reaching for the call button, I wondered how long I’d been in here. What was happening at my crime scene?
“Look who’s awake.” The perky nurse pushed the curtain back from my bed, allowing even more light into my line of sight.
“Ugh.” I held the arm that wasn’t attached to everything but the kitchen sink over my eyes to block the glare. My head pounded and my muscles ached from my head down to my hips. “The light. Please,” I begged.
“How are you feeling?” the nurse asked.
“Like I’ve been hit by a truck.”
“How’s your vision?”
“Okay I guess, why?”
“You were unconscious when you got here.”
“Where’s here?”
“The hospital, honey.”
“How long have I been here?”
She looked to her watch and noted my blood pressure as the cuff on my arm began to inflate automatically. “A couple of hours. You have a concussion and fifteen stiches in your scalp. You’re very lucky.”
“Seriously?” I asked, trying to sit up. “How does that make me lucky?”
She dropped the three ring binder in her hands to her side. “Are you alive?”
“Barely.”
“Then you’re lucky,” she said with a wink. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake.”
