by Rebecca Deel
“What should we do now?” Grace asked Trent. “Do we need to find another hotel?”
“We should be safe enough for tonight. If we have to stay another night in Dumas, we’ll move to another hotel further out, maybe in the next town.” Trent sighed. “All of you should sit down. We need to talk.”
“Bad news?” Adam asked.
“Someone is going to a lot of trouble to set up Grace and Nicole.” When the others were seated, Trent summarized the information Zane had provided.
“A house?” Grace’s voice soared. “That’s ridiculous. I can’t afford to buy a house, especially not one that large.”
Trent raised his eyebrow.
“Well, all right, I can afford it now, but I couldn’t two days ago. I haven’t thought about buying or building a house.”
“I like the idea of traveling around the world.” Nicole smiled. “I might do that when I retire. If you need it confirmed, Trent, I haven’t been looking into the travel possibility, either.”
“There’s more, isn’t there?” Adam glanced over his shoulder from where he been keeping watch out the French doors.
“We need to unravel this mess, fast. Not only does Devin have insurance policies on Grace and Nicole, they have one on him. If he dies, they get the Bowen estate plus the money from their birth mother, and the insurance pays $2 million to each of the sisters.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Grace pressed her hands to her cheeks. “This is crazy. How do we confirm or deny any of this? The Dynamic Duo won’t believe anything we say. They already decided we’re guilty.”
“We need to talk to Devin.” Nicole’s expression said more than her words. Grim determination showed on her face. “If he’s not behind this, then he’s in as much danger as we are. I don’t like him, but I don’t wish him ill, either.”
“Wonder how he feels about jail.” Grace spun to face Trent. “Is it safe enough for us to go to the hospital to see him?”
Trent’s resistance to the idea was obvious based on the lack of expression on her boyfriend’s face. Instead of disagreeing, Trent rubbed his bristled jaw and said, “I don’t like the risk, but any hope of talking to him will come through you and Nicole.”
“He might know something that helps. At the very least, we can warn him about the real possibility of recuperating in jail. The detectives are convinced of our guilt. Sooner or later, they’ll turn questioning eyes toward Devin and wonder if he’s in cahoots with someone else to knock us off.”
“You’re saying he poisoned himself?” Mason asked, sounding skeptical.
Considering that possibility made Grace’s stomach churn. If he had, Devin was lucky she’d insisted he go to the hospital instead of assuming his illness was a stomach bug. Then again, he may have convinced Clarice to take him before it was too late. “Something to consider.”
“Stupid thing to do. Wouldn’t take much to miscalculate and kill yourself by accident.” Adam stretched out in the recliner, a grimace on his face.
Grace observed his stiff movements. “Back?” she guessed.
“Leg. Tweaked a hamstring yesterday. Durango doesn’t hold back for themselves or anyone else.”
She could imagine. Those men were in top physical shape and ran the bodyguard recruits into the ground to improve their stamina in case the worst possible circumstances occurred.
Grace found her bottle of pain reliever and shook a couple into her palm for the hurting operative. “I’ll get water for you.”
He waved that aside. “Don’t bother.” Adam tossed the pills into his mouth and swallowed them dry.
Trent pulled out his keys. “Are you staying here, Nicole, or going to the hospital as well?”
She snatched up her purse. “Going. I want to hear what Devin has to say for himself.”
Adam straightened in the chair. “I’ll drive my vehicle, watch your six.”
Within minutes, the two-vehicle caravan began the drive to the hospital. Trent glanced in the rearview mirror at Mason. “Time to check in with Ethan. If I use my cell, the call will go through the audio system.”
“That’s fine. It’s not like I have any secrets.”
A moment later, Ethan Blackhawk’s voice filled the cab of the SUV. “Sit rep.”
“You’re on speaker with Grace, Nicole, and Mason. We’re on the way to the hospital to see Devin Bowen.”
“Something new there?”
“You could say that.” Trent updated the police chief, making sure he knew Mason was out of the loop on questionable activities.
“Mason, how do you feel after that truck sideswiped you?” Ethan asked.
“Sore, stiff. Glad to be alive.”
A baby cried in the background and Grace’s heart melted. Ethan must be at home with his son. “How is Lucas?” she asked.
A chuckle. “In fine form. He has a great pair of lungs. We’re having a male bonding hour because Serena is delivering baked goods to the bookstore.”
“We won’t keep you,” Trent said. “What time do you want Mason’s next check in?”
“Six tomorrow morning unless something happens I need to know about. Mason, watch your back. The detectives would love to pin something on you and toss you behind bars.”
“They made that clear.”
“Don’t give them anything to use. My wife likes you and I hate to see her cry.”
Trent ended the call with Ethan as he turned into the parking lot of the hospital. Grace was surprised the lot was full. She was used to Otter Creek’s rhythm. At this time of evening, Memorial’s parking lot had plenty of empty places available. This lot, though, was still full. Trent found a place in the corner. Adam parked a short distance away and jogged to their SUV.
“Anything?” Trent asked.
“Nope. I’ll stay out here, make sure no one messes with your ride.”
Grace breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they were catching a break. Suited her. They were due for one. Inside the hospital, she crossed the ER lobby to the desk and asked about Devin.
“He’s still in critical care, Ms. Rutledge.” The woman glanced at Nicole. “You and your sister can see him with your husbands. One couple at a time, though.”
Grace’s cheeks burned, but she didn’t correct the woman’s incorrect assumption. One day soon, if she had her way, Trent would be her husband. She had waited what seemed like a lifetime. She wanted to marry that man.
They rode the elevator to the fifth floor and passed the nurses’ desk. Grace waved at the woman on duty, one she recognized from the night they’d brought in Devin. She inclined her head toward the open doorway to their right. “Nic, do you and Mason want to sit in the waiting room?”
She shook her head. “I want to hear what he says.”
“Sweetheart, you and Nicole go in. Mason and I will stand outside his room where we can hear what he says.” Trent brushed his lips over hers. “See what you can find out.”
When Grace walked into the small room with Nicole a step behind, she pulled up short at the sight of the scrub-clad man hovering near the IV stand, syringe in hand. He turned as they entered, capped the needle of the full syringe, and shoved it into his pocket. Behind his surgical mask, he mumbled something Grace didn’t catch and left the room.
She frowned, watching him leave. That was strange. Why hadn’t he administered the meds or asked them to wait until he finished?
Grace continued across the room. She and Nic stopped at their brother’s bedside. “Devin?”
He stirred, his lips curving. “Clarice. I knew you would come.” Devin slowly lifted his eyelids. When his eyes focused on Grace, the smile morphed into a frown. “What are you doing here?”
“Checking on you. You were so sick.”
“Thanks to you,” he muttered.
“Hey,” Nicole snapped. “You’re lucky Grace insisted we take you to the hospital. She saved your life, Devin.”
“Right. Guess that’s the least she could do since she tried to kill me.”
Grace frowned. “Who told you that?”
“Clarice. Where is she? Did you hurt her, too?”
“Your wife is wrong. If I was guilty of trying to kill you, I would have let you go home to die.”
“There’s no evidence we tried to kill you.” Nic sat in the chair beside his bed. “The detectives have been trying to pin everything on us and can’t.”
“Devin, do you know any reason someone would hurt you?” Grace asked.
“Besides you, no.”
“We didn’t try to kill you, but someone is going to a lot of trouble to make it seem that way.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because the same person is trying to make you appear guilty as well.”
Devin frowned. “What are you talking about? I’m not guilty of anything.”
“Won’t look that way to the police. In fact,” Grace said, “I’m surprised they haven’t already been by to ask more questions.”
“About what?”
“The life insurance policy you took out on us.”
“I didn’t take a policy out on you two. How could I? I didn’t know you existed until Monday.”
“We only have your word for that,” Nic pointed out. “What if you did know? Would have been easy to arrange the policies.”
“We seem to have taken a life insurance policy on you, too.” Grace watched Devin carefully for any signs that he already knew the information. His shock convinced her Devin wasn’t the one behind the attacks.
“This doesn’t make sense. I’m not guilty of anything.”
“Neither are we. Somebody is trying to frame all three of us. He also attempted to kill Trent and Mason in the past twelve hours. So you need to think hard, Devin. Who has reason to want you dead?”
Grace noted his heart rate spike on the monitor. She clasped his hand. “Devin, look at me.” When he focused on her face, she said, “We’ll figure it out and stop them. Trent won’t rest until he’s uncovered the culprit.”
“He doesn’t know me. Why would he help?”
“He hates injustice.” That truth was why Trent continued to fight against terrorists. Sure, the Navy had trained him well to do his job, spending a ton of money on the training. He could have walked away from that life to do something else. Instead, he chose to stay and continue to wage war on those who preyed on the innocent.
“Where is Clarice?” His gaze flicked to the open doorway, locking on Trent and Mason. “I thought she would be here.”
Grace and Nic exchanged glances. Oh, boy. Did they tell him his wife was missing? She looked at Trent and saw an almost imperceptible head shake. Deflect, then. She didn’t have a choice. “We haven’t seen her since we brought you to the hospital.” She smiled. “She doesn’t like us much so you shouldn’t be surprised we haven’t spoken to her.”
“She doesn’t mean anything by it, you know.”
Could have fooled her. If she had to guess, Grace would say Devin’s wife hated her and Nicole. “Why do you say that?”
“Clarice grew up on welfare. She worries about not having enough money.”
“Understandable.” Didn’t excuse her rude behavior, but at least it made sense. “She doesn’t have anything to worry about from us, Devin.”
He snorted. “How can you say that? The Bowen estate is on the table.”
“That’s your inheritance. Your mother wanted you to have control of the company. If she’d meant for Nic and I to share in the estate, she would have said so in her letters to us.”
Devin was silent a moment. “She named the company after you two,” he said softly. “G & N Chemicals stands for Grace and Nicole.”
“I think it was her way of acknowledging our existence,” Nic said. “But we weren’t part of your family. We’ll be forever grateful that she chose such good families for us, Devin. We grew up loved. Our families dote on us, treat us as though we were blood kin. We couldn’t ask for more than that.”
He studied each of them in turn. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“Absolutely. We were two of the lucky ones. We didn’t grow up in foster care.”
Time to wrap this up, Grace thought. Devin looked tired. “Do you need anything before we leave you to rest?”
“I would kill for a soft drink. Something with caffeine. I have a massive headache from not drinking enough coffee.”
Grace smiled. “You probably don’t want too much coffee right now. Your system won’t like it. I’ll see if I can find you something. Is it all right if Trent and Mason visit with you for a minute?”
He looked resigned. “Sure.”
The two women left the room. “Trent, I need to find him a soft drink.”
“I saw a vending machine in the hall near the waiting room,” Mason said. “It’s around the corner.”
“I’ll go, Grace,” Nicole said. “I could use some caffeine myself. Stay and talk to the nursing staff. Find out how Devin’s really doing and when he’ll be able to go home.”
“I can get it,” Mason said.
“You should talk to Devin. I’ll be gone for a minute. Besides, you might find out more than we did.”
“Go easy, though,” Grace said. “He’s getting tired.”
When Mason hesitated, Nicole clasped his hand briefly. “Go on. I’ll be fine. I promise. I’ll be gone for a minute, tops.” With that, she strode through the doorway and turned the corner.
“I’ll wait for her,” Mason murmured to Trent. “See what information you can learn from Devin.”
Grace walked to the desk to talk to Candy, the nurse she’d become friends with. “How’s it going, Candy?”
“Kind of dull, I’m happy to say.” A broad smile curved the woman’s lips. “Your brother is doing much better this evening.”
“He looks good. Any word on when he’ll be released?”
“He’ll go to a private room tomorrow morning. If he continues to improve, I heard the doctor say Mr. Bowen might go home the day after tomorrow.”
“Devin will be happy to hear that.”
A blood-curdling scream ripped through the quiet of the critical care unit.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Trent glanced up in time to see Mason sprint through the doorway Nicole had passed minutes before. He raced from Devin’s room and followed Mason, Grace a few steps behind Trent.
Mason turned the corner. “Nicole?” He skidded to a stop, looked over his shoulder, panic in his eyes. “She’s not at the vending machine.”
Though no one else was in the hall, a door slammed nearby, the sound echoing. Trent scanned the corridor, saw the sign indicating the stairwell. “Stairs.” He prayed they were in time, that she was still in the building. Grace’s sister had only been out of their sight for maybe two minutes. Unfortunately, a lot of bad things could happen in two minutes or less.
The construction worker shoved opened the door before Trent could stop him. “Nicole!” He ran into the stairwell and out of sight.
Trent made sure Grace was behind him as they approached the stairwell. “Wait until I tell you it’s safe, baby.” He was grateful she didn’t argue with him. He cleared the threshold and peered down the stairs, his hand hovering near the Sig secured in his mid-back holster.
His stomach knotted. Nicole lay crumpled at the bottom of a flight of stairs, unmoving. A quick scan assured him no one else was in the vicinity. “Grace, Nicole’s hurt.”
“Nicole? Talk to me, sweetheart.” Mason dropped to his knees beside her, brushing her hair from her face. “Where do you hurt?”
No response. Surprised Grace hadn’t already shoved past him, Trent looked back. His heart skipped a beat when he realized she wasn’t there. She’d been right behind him. Had someone grabbed her while his attention had been on Nicole? He spun on his heel to retrace his steps when she darted into the stairwell again.
She ran past him. “I told Candy to find a couple orderlies with a stretcher. They should be here soon.”
Smart lady.
He followed her down the stairs, on alert in case there was another problem or an attempt to grab Grace. On the landing below, Nicole moaned, stirred.
“Nicole?” Mason covered her hand with his without moving her arm. “Come on, baby. Wake up.”
“Nic? It’s Grace. Where do you hurt?”
“Arm. Hurts bad enough I want to throw up. Massive headache.”
Trent looked at the arm near Mason. Looked normal to him. When he checked the other one, he winced. Trent wasn’t a medic, but even he couldn’t miss the fact her arm was broken.
Grace checked both arms. Nicole hissed when Grace touched the broken one. “Sorry. Anything else hurt, Nic?”
“Left ankle.”
A moment later, Grace said, “Looks like a sprain. What about your back or hips?”
“They ache, but nothing like the arm.”
“At least you can feel them. Did you hit your head when you fell?”
She shook her head, winced. “I don’t remember. I think I blacked out for a minute or two.”
“What were you doing in the stairwell?” Trent asked.
“Some guy dressed in scrubs and a mask grabbed me at the vending machine. He dragged me into the stairwell. I fought him off, but lost my footing and tumbled down the stairs.”
He heard footsteps running their direction and figured he had only a few more seconds to find out what he could. “Did he say anything to you?”
“Does ‘Come with me now or you die’ count?”
Trent grinned. Hurting or not, she still had that snarky sense of humor. “Did you recognize his voice?”
“The creep whispered. It could have been my father and I wouldn’t have recognized his voice.”
The orderlies appeared on the landing above them and started down the stairs with the gurney.
“Nic, the orderlies are going to use a backboard to lift you onto the gurney. Don’t try to help. Let them do the work.” Grace moved out of the way. “Broken right arm and left ankle sprain. Not sure if she has any other injuries.”
