I gazed into my daughter’s eyes and smiled. “I love you too.”
Chapter Seventeen
Once I finished my video chat with my daughter, I was ready to relax in front of the TV the rest of the evening. It turned out that life had other plans. I had just grabbed the remote control and was flipping through channels on the TV when David came running into the room.
“Put the controller down,” he said.
I kept staring at the television as I replied, “What’s the matter? Are you worried that I’m going to put some home decorating show on?”
“Honey, I really need you to put the remote down. This is serious,” he said.
David’s voice cracked a little as he spoke. That was very telling, as he was usually able to keep calm regardless of the situation. As I turned to him, I saw that he was a wreck.
I squinted. “David, what’s wrong?”
David grabbed my purse from the coffee table and handed it to me. “Get up right now. We have to go.”
My forehead wrinkled. “Back up for a minute. Where are we going?” I asked. “And why do we need to leave in the first place?”
“There has been a shooting,” David said.
***
David didn’t know all of the details, but the ones he had were terrifying. Dispatch had received a call about a shot being fired. While a shooting was disturbing enough, the location of the incident really sent a shiver down my husband’s spine. The caller who had heard the shot was George Richards—one of Deputy Steven Wilson’s neighbors.
Even worse, George believed the shot had come from Steven’s house. That left two options. Either Steven had shot someone. Or someone had shot Steven. Once the dispatcher got off the phone with George, she called Steven’s cell phone, but he didn’t pick up. From there, the dispatcher radioed all police and emergency personnel.
When David told me the news, it took me a moment to pick my jaw up from the ground. What an insane development. A number of different questions immediately popped into my head. But I didn’t have time to linger on any of them.
David and I needed to get over to Deputy Wilson’s house as fast as possible. I turned off the TV and then ran out to the driveway with David. From there, we hopped into the car and sped over to State Street.
Since Wilson lived on the southeast end of town, it took about ten minutes to get there. As David pulled up to Wilson’s blue Victorian-style home, he saw that a squad car was already parked out front. In addition, an ambulance was in the driveway.
That wasn’t all. From the passenger seat of David’s car, I saw that two paramedics had loaded Wilson’s body onto a stretcher and were placing the deputy in the ambulance. What I couldn’t see was whether Wilson was breathing or not.
David parked his vehicle on the street, got out of the car, and rushed over to Deputy Christopher Manning, who stood beside the ambulance. I followed closely behind my husband as he looked on helplessly. Normally, David would have spoken with the paramedics directly, but they were so busy that my husband saved his questions for Deputy Manning.
“Manning,” David said. “Is Wilson…?” My husband had trouble finishing his sentence.
“He’s unconscious,” Deputy Manning said. “And he’s lost a lot of blood. The paramedics are going to rush him to the hospital.”
“At least he’s alive, though,” David said.
“For now,” Deputy Manning said.
“Did the paramedics tell you if they think he’s going to make it?” David asked.
Deputy Manning grimaced. “They weren’t sure.”
Just as the deputy finished his sentence, the ambulance backed out of the driveway and darted off.
David exhaled as he watched the ambulance go. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Neither can I,” Deputy Manning said. “I’m going to pray that Wilson pulls through.”
“Pray? But I thought you weren’t religious,” David asked.
“I’m not. At the same time, after seeing what rough shape is Wilson is in, it would be foolish of me not to pray,” Deputy Manning said.
If this situation wasn’t already depressing enough, the deputy’s statement managed to make things even worse.
I could tell that David felt the same way. He almost looked afraid to ask his next question. “When you got here, how bad did he look?
Deputy Manning winced. “Are you sure that you want to hear the truth?”
“It’s that bad, huh?”
Deputy Manning nodded. “Unfortunately.”
David lowered his head. After taking a deep breath, he replied, “Was Wilson still conscious when you got here?”
Deputy Manning shook his head. “No. That’s what worries me.”
David gritted his teeth. “Right now, that’s just one of many disturbing things that I’m wrestling with.”
“You’re right. This has been an absolutely dreadful week.”
“And it’s far from over,” David said.
“I know what you mean. After all, whoever shot Wilson is still out there,” I said.
David turned to the deputy. “When you arrived, did you happen to see anyone suspicious?”
Deputy Manning shook his head. “No.”
David groaned. “Of course not.”
Chapter Eighteen
Deputy Manning took David and me inside and showed us where he had found Wilson. Other than some blood on the floor of the entryway, nothing else stood out at the crime scene. Then again, we didn’t have the tools that the forensics team did. A few minutes later, a number of forensic specialists arrived at the house to go over the entire scene.
Knowing that it would take them a while to produce any results, David and I decided to speak with George Richards, the neighbor who had placed the 9-1-1 call.
Unfortunately, George was not able to provide very many details. He had heard a shot coming from Wilson’s house and called 9-1-1. That was it. He didn’t spot anyone coming out of Wilson’s house after the shooting. Nor did he see any unusual cars in the area.
That led me to believe that the shooter had left through the back door and had probably fled on foot. Or maybe they had parked their car on a side street. Either way, they were long gone now, and George couldn’t help us identity them.
Once David and I were done speaking with George, we headed over to the hospital in hopes of getting an update on Deputy Wilson’s condition.
***
David was quiet during the entire drive. Not that I had much to say either. I was still in shock.
Unfortunately, good news was not awaiting us when we arrived at the hospital. Instead, the nursing staff had no new information to share with us. Reluctantly, we were forced to wait around until an update became available. That was not an easy thing to do. Patience was something that I never had an abundance of.
As we sat uncomfortably in the waiting room, the only information that we were able to get out of the nurse at the front desk was that every effort was being made to save Deputy Wilson’s life. Only time would tell if those measures would be successful.
Before David was able to pray for the deputy, he had a phone call to make. Normally, my husband would have gotten in touch with all of Steven’s family members. In this case, he didn’t have many living relatives. After all, both of Steven’s parents had died a few years back. And he was also an only child, so there were no siblings to speak with. As a matter of fact, his sole living family member was his aunt, Nancy Milton, who lived in San Francisco. David gave Nancy a call to tell her what had occurred.
Nancy, of course, was shocked. It took her a number of seconds to untie her tongue. When she was finally able to string together a sentence, she told David that she was going to hop into her car and drive down to Treasure Cove. It would take about three hours for her to arrive in town. Hopefully, by then we would have more answers.
Once David got off the phone with Nancy, he placed one more call. This one was to Steven’s girlfriend, April Howard. Unfortunately,
April didn’t answer her phone. David hated sharing bad news over voice mail, but he didn’t see any other choice.
After leaving April a message and hanging up the phone, David turned his focus back to Steven. That said, there wasn’t anything David could do but wait for an update.
It was so difficult just sitting there idly, knowing that the deputy’s fate was out of our hands. In addition, with no guarantee of an update coming anytime soon, David and I were forced to muster all of the patience that we could.
As the minutes ticked by, however, David began to lose his grip on his emotions. He lowered his head to try to keep his pained expression from showing. But I saw how much he was suffering.
In an effort to comfort him, I reached over and took his hand. “The doctor is doing his best.”
“I know. But what if it’s too late? What if Steven can’t be saved?” David replied.
“Don’t think like that.”
David winced. “It’s hard not to.”
“I’m not going to pretend that it will be easy to do. I’ll just say this. At a time like this, it’s essential to keep your faith.”
David thought about my statement for a few seconds. He then nodded. “You’re right.”
“It’s also important to remain optimistic,” I said. “Hope has never been more necessary than at a time like this.”
“That’s so true.”
“Now I’ve been praying like crazy—”
He cut me off. “So have I. But we both know that not all prayers are answered in a way that we understand.”
“David, what did I just tell you about remaining hopeful?”
“You’re right. It’s just hard to keep negative thoughts from creeping in.”
“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we pray some more?”
Chapter Nineteen
David took my advice and prayed for the best. When he was done, he took a deep breath and turned to me.
“Do you feel a little better?” I asked.
“I wish I could say yes,” David replied.
“But you can’t?”
He shook his head. “No. Instead I’m trying to figure out who would do something like this.”
“You already know the answer to that,” I said.
“Well yeah. Clearly, a maniac was behind this. I was actually wondering more about specifics.”
“You mean, which crazy person in particular was responsible for this?”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t know.”
A fire came to David’s eyes. “Neither do I. But whoever it was is going to pay. I mean, if Steven doesn’t pull through—”
“Honey, have you already forgotten what we just talked about?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m trying to remain hopeful. I’m just really angry right now.”
“Of course you are. This is just absolute lunacy. I mean, for two officers, two of your good friends, to have been attacked in less than a week…it’s just—”
“Absolutely devastating.”
I lowered my head. “Exactly. I’m so sorry.”
“You know, during times like this, I can’t help but wonder what is going on with this town. It used to be so peaceful here. And now everything has gone haywire.”
“I know what you mean. Things like this, they don’t even happen in a big city all that often. So, for it to occur in Treasure Cove, a town of thirty-thousand people, it’s just unbelievable.”
“Yet, whether we believe it or not, it has happened—with disastrous results,” David said. “We need to put an end to this insanity.”
“It’s not like we aren’t trying. We’ve been working as hard as we can. And what do we have to show for our efforts?” I asked.
“A lot of grief. Not to mention an overwhelming amount of frustration.”
“Unfortunately, there is more.”
David squinted. “What do you mean?”
“I know this isn’t the best time to bring this up, but it has been on my mind ever since we arrived at the deputy’s house. So, I’ll just come out with it.”
“I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
“The terrifying possibility that someone in this town is targeting police officers.”
David grimaced. “Talk about a nightmare scenario.”
“Especially if it’s true. I mean, if that’s the case then it means you might be a target,” I said.
He gritted his teeth. “Just when you think that things can’t get worse.”
“Before you get too ahead of yourself. I’m not saying that’s what is happening here.”
“You can’t dismiss that theory, though,” he said. “And neither can I.”
“Exactly. Which is what makes this especially chilling.”
“I know it’s going to be hard, but let’s try to be rational about this. Do any of the suspects that we questioned have a connection to both Peterson and Wilson?”
I searched my mind. “I can’t think of any off the top of my head. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t one.”
“We’ll certainly have to look into it.”
“We sure will. At the same time, I can’t think that far ahead. Right now, finding out if Steven is going to make it is my top priority,” David said.
Chapter Twenty
After a few more minutes ticked by, David finally got an update. It just didn’t come from the source he thought it would. While my husband was deep in thought, he got a call over his police radio from a member of the forensics team.
It was bad news. After going over the scene, the team had not been able to discover any clues. In addition, no unusual fingerprints had been found. That was not what David wanted to hear. Mostly because it meant that we would have to figure out the shooter’s identity the hard way.
That wasn’t the only update we would get that evening. Just as we were grappling with the news that the forensics technician had shared, the emergency room doctor was finally ready to tell us about Steven’s condition.
A tall, goateed fifty-five-year-old man wearing scrubs came into the waiting room. An identification badge was clipped onto his scrubs that read: Gregory Kingston MD.
As Kingston approached, my husband got up from his chair with an equal mix of worry and optimism.
“Doctor, please tell me you have good news for us,” David said.
Kingston nodded. “I do.”
David’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“The deputy is going to pull through,” Kingston said.
“That’s incredible.”
“It certainly is. Especially since things looked rather dire there for a moment.”
“How dire?”
“When the paramedics first brought him in, I was worried that the bullet had hit one of his vital organs. Luckily, that was not the case.”
“Just how close did the bullet come to killing him?” David asked.
“It was a matter of inches,” Kingston said.
David’s eyebrows rose. “Wow. Talk about a close call.”
Kingston nodded. “Too close. After all, even though the bullet narrowly missed hitting any vital organs, the deputy had lost a lot of blood by the time he arrived here. Thankfully, we were able to take the bullet out of his body quickly and stop the bleeding before it was too late.”
“I’m so grateful for that,” David said.
“Me too,” I said.
“I can’t praise you enough for saving his life,” David said.
“I wish I could take credit,” Kingston said. “But we got lucky. It could have easily turned out much differently.”
David breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God it didn’t.”
“You’re right to thank the Lord. I think we had a little heavenly assistance in there,” Kingston said.
“That wouldn’t surprise me,” I said.
“Nor me,” David added. “But back to Steven, for a minute. When you say he is going to pull through, does that mean he’s going to make a full recovery? Or are
there some potential complications that we need to worry about?”
“You never know what might happen. That’s why we’re going to keep him here under close observation for the next few days,” Kingston said.
“And if all goes well?” David asked.
“He will be released in approximately seventy-two hours.”
“That soon?”
Kingston nodded. “Barring any complications.”
“That’s incredible news,” David said. “What a relief.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Kingston said.
“Just one more question. When can I see him?” David asked.
Chapter Twenty-One
Much to David’s surprise, the doctor allowed us to visit Deputy Wilson a few minutes later. Even though I entered the hospital room with my husband, I didn’t immediately walk up to Steven’s bed. Instead, I let David speak with his good friend first.
Steven was sitting up in his bed staring out the window as David greeted him.
“I’m so glad to hear that you’re going to be okay,” David said.
Steven pulled his head out of the clouds, turned to David, and replied, “You and me both. I thought I was a goner.”
“I’m sure the doctor already told you this, but things didn’t look all that great for you when you were transported here.”
“Trust me. I know just how lucky I am to be alive.”
“It’s also great to hear that you are expected to make a full recovery.”
“It sure is.”
“You have a lot to thank the doctor for.”
“And I have been thanking him—profusely. But he’s not the only recipient of my gratitude.”
“Did you thank all the nurses too?”
“Well, yeah. But I saved my biggest thank you for God,” Steven said. “I’m not sure why, but he decided that my time on Earth wasn’t over.”
Mysteries of Treasure Cove Cozy Mystery Boxed Set Page 60
