Sucking in a sob, she went back to him and
laid over his chest gently this time and kissed him. "What did the
doctor say?"
"They gave me twelve stitches and said I
have a cracked rib. The bullet just grazed me darlin',,,like I
said." His words were slightly slurred, and he gave her a wobbly
smile then kissed her head. "But they're going to make me stay in
this damned hospital tonight to watch me."
"I've got to call Cole, before he books that
flight..." Cassie dug around in her purse and pulled out her cell,
quickly dialing Cole's number. He didn't answer, and she sighed and
left a message for him.
She'd barely ended her message, when her
phone rang in her hand. Looking at the display, she saw it was
Cole. "Hello--Cole?"
"Is Luke ok?" There was an wary edge to his
voice.
"Yes...twelve stitches and a cracked rib.
The bullet just grazed his side."
She heard Cole inhale deeply then exhale.
"Thank, god," he said, his voice shaky with relief.
The relief in Cole's voice made guilt flood
Cassie. She'd gotten Luke into trouble yet again...this was her
fault for bringing him here. In a voice much higher-pitch than
usual, Cassie asked him, "You want to talk to him?"
Cole said he did and she handed the phone to
Luke without looking at him, then stepped out into the hall, as
relief and numerous other emotions threatened to overwhelm her.
They swirled inside of her head like clothes in the spin cycle of a
washing machine, guilt, anger, fear, relief and resignation. Back
and forth they went, taunting her, torturing her, making her think
about what could have happened to the man she loved if James had
been a better shot.
And it was all her fault. Cole had said it
was his, but he was wrong. She was the one always causing Luke
problems...trouble. If she'd just come back to Phoenix alone like
she'd planned, Luke wouldn't have gotten hurt. She didn't want to
mess up his life with her drama. Maybe she just needed to end
things now...make him go back to Bowie without her.
But the promise she made him to talk about
things rather than running, or doing something hasty, because she
was emotional or confused came back to taunt her. Luke had done his
best today to keep his promise to her, and she needed to make the
first step toward fulfilling hers to him. Changing her standard
mode of operation, by talking to Luke about what was going on in
her head instead of hauling tail. She pushed off the wall and
walked back into his room.
Luke was off the phone and held it loosely
in his hand, while he just stared at her in the door, something
like fear shining from his eyes, his jaw tight. "Thanks for not
running off."
"How did you--"
"Your eyes, cupcake...they always get this
panicked look in them before you take off...like a scared horse.
I'm starting to recognize the signs," his voice was low, gravelly
and intense. "My getting hurt was not your fault...wasn't Cole's
either. That blame lays only on James Barton."
"But I brought you here. If you weren't with
me, you--"
"Would still be a cop and probably have a
bullet in my head instead, killed doing a job I didn't even like.
And I'd be miserable as hell without you."
Tears stung her eyes and Cassie swallowed
hard against the emotion flooding her. "I don't want to be without
you either...but I don't want my selfishness or drama to get you
hurt."
"I couldn't imagine a better way to die,
darlin'. I'd at least be in your arms when I did."
She gave him a watery smile and walked over
to gently kiss his lips. Luke's arms wrapped around her and she
sighed letting go of all her misgivings. He loved her, and wanted
to be with her no matter what. The feeling was mutual.
"That's more like it," he said and kissed
the top of her head. "Now, go call the police and have them come
here to take my statement. I have a helluva lot to say."
"Luke, you're hurt. You need to rest," she
said looking seriously into his dark eyes.
"I want to get this wrapped up quickly, so
we can get back home."
Home. Bowie. That never sounded so good to
her, because Luke was going to be there with her. They'd raise
horses and babies, and be happy...finally. She found his business
card and dialed Officer Melton and related Luke wanted to give a
statement.
"Did you convince Cole not to come?" she
asked him curiously, hoping he had talked some sense into his
friend.
"Nah, he's pretty damned hardheaded, he
thinks he can help us. He'll be here first thing tomorrow. I won't
get out of here til around noon...can you go pick him up at the
airport at ten?
"Sure, no problem...Luke, I have to tell you
something." she told him gnawing her lower lip.
Worry came into his eyes, and his lips flat
lined. "What now?"
She couldn't blame him for expecting the
worst...more trouble. It's all he'd gotten since he'd been with her
again. She laughed and his eyebrows raised. "It's not bad..."
"What is it?" his voice was short and
impatient.
"I kind of stole James' car to get here. You
had the truck keys, and I needed to get here fast...so I thought
about that car he was trying to get to when you tackled him, and
saw the keys were in the ignition..."
"Jesus, Cassie!" he yelled and sat up
grimaced then laid back down. "That car might have been stolen by
him! The police probably need it for evidence. You could've been
arrested!"
"Well, here's the thing..."
"What else?" he asked and groaned.
"I found a long flat metal box with a lot of
money in it under the seat."
A smile crept over his face and his eyes
danced. "Oh, yeah? How much money?"
"Looks like it could be all that's missing.
It was all banded together--large bills."
Luke whooped and pumped his fist, which
brought a nurse running into the room. Cassie stepped aside as the
woman ran over to the bed and started checking machines and making
sure his wires were still affixed. "Sir, you're going to have to
stay calm. You set our monitors off, not to mention you're
disturbing our other patients."
"Sorry..." he said sheepishly and let her
check him out. The nurse shot him one more warning look, then left
them alone again.
"See, I'm always getting you into trouble,"
she said with a brittle little laugh.
"You're the kind of trouble I like,
darlin'...the best kind," he told her with sincerity sparkling in
his eyes. "The kind I'd gladly welcome for the rest of my
life."
She almost believed him.
Walking back to him, she took his hand,
"What do you think I should do about the money?"
"Give it to the cops, and get a receipt.
Once the case is settled, they'll return it to you...
probably."
"I can't do probably...I need that money,
it's mine."
"You know any good attorneys here?"
"Yeah, I know a few, what kind?"
"Criminal, Civil...either one would probably
work."
"I think I'll just deposit it back in my
account then tell the cops," she told him petulantly.
"You could be charged with tampering with
evidence, darlin'...or maybe even obstruction. Hell, they might
even charge you as an accomplice."
"I'll get the attorney if and when that
happens. I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission. I need my
accounts unfrozen." She needed to get her business settled so they
could get out of this godforsaken state, and away from James.
"Don't even think that, honey. I need you
with me,
not
in jail. Just do it the right way...we'll deal
with the money issue when it comes up."
She dropped her chin to her chest. "How the
hell could I have so stupid to not see what James was doing?"
"This isn't your fault either, so stop
blaming yourself and stiffen up your backbone. We're in this
together, baby," he reassured her with a squeeze of her hand.
She sat on the beside him and leaned her
head on his chest again. "I'm so glad."
A few minutes later, Officer Melton walked
into the room followed by a pretty female officer in a black skirt
suit. Cassie stood up, but didn't let go of Luke's hand.
"Hello Miss Bellamy, Mr. Matthews..." he
nodded at them then turned to the petite dark-haired woman with
him, "This is Detective Sabrina Roberts from our vice division.
She's been assigned to your case, and has some questions for both
of you."
Sabrina Roberts walked over and shook each
of their hands and then pulled a chair up beside the bed. She
pulled a small notepad from her purse and a pen, then flipped it
open. Officer Melton stood over at the other side of the room
observing. The friendly, but professional, woman asked them a
succession of questions about James, Cassie's business and how he
was involved and what they believed he'd done, and then she took
detailed notes on Luke's statement regarding the shooting.
When she was done, and was about to shut the
pad, Cassie piped up. "There's one more thing you need to
know..."
"What's that?" the detective asked and
reopened her pad.
Cassie's eyes moved to Luke and he
encouraged her with a squeeze of her hand and his eyes. Looking
back at the detective, she said, "When Luke tackled James, he was
trying to get to a black car he had parked down the street at the
curb. After the ambulance took off, I realized Luke had the keys to
his truck, so I took that car to get here..."
"You stole a car?" The other woman's deep
blue eyes widened and her shoulders tensed.
"Not exactly...I borrowed it. I didn't have
any other transportation, and didn't think James would mind
considering he stole thirty thousand dollars from me."
A wry grin kicked up one side of the woman's
full lips. "And?"
"Well, when I got here and went to get out,
and a metal box slid from under the driver's seat. I looked inside
and I think it might be the money he stole from me. There's a lot
of large bills in there."
The detective shut the notebook and shoved
it and the pen in her purse, then stood and smiled at her. "Let's
go have a look."
Cassie led her out of the room and down to
the parking lot, then went to where she'd parked the black sedan in
the emergency room lot earlier. She fished around in her purse and
pulled out the keys handing them to the detective, before stepping
back.
The woman took the keys, but didn't open the
door. She reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of blue
latex gloves and put them on, before she opened the door. Cassie
gulped and said, "I guess my fingerprints are in the car now, since
I drove it here."
That could be a problem, if they wanted to
make it one, Cassie thought, as she ran over the possible
implications in her head. Thank god Luke had talked her out of
depositing the money in her account. Thinking about the
implications of
that
now, made shivers run down her spine.
It could have looked like she had stolen the money, instead of
James, or that they were in cahoots to defraud their clients.
"I don't think you'd be giving back thirty
thousand dollars in cash, or giving us this car instead of just
wiping it down and dumping it, if you were involved, Miss Bellamy.
I think you're smarter than that, even though your ex-fiancé
isn't," Sabrina said then she assured her, "I'll have the techs
take your fingerprints for exclusion."
Walking around the back of the car, she
jotted down the license plate number. "Todd, can you call in this
plate and see what you get?" She looked over at Officer Melton
who'd followed them outside, but had remained silent.
"Sure, Bri..." he said with a smile, then
walked behind the car. Detective Roberts walked to the driver's
door and opened it, leaning inside to look around. She pulled out
her phone and took several pictures then reached under the seat and
pulled out the metal box and snapped a photo of it. She pulled it
out of the car and put it on the hood, where she opened it then
whistled. "Wow...you may be right, Miss Bellamy. This is a lot of
money," she agreed then leaned in and took more photos of the
banded money.
Officer Melton walked up beside them and
whistled too, putting his hands on his hips he said, "Car's stolen,
Bri."
"This gets better and better..." Cassie said
with a groan.
"Well, the good thing is Miss Bellamy...I
think your ex-fiancé' doesn't have much wiggle room now. We'll
probably get him to plead, which will get this money back to you
much sooner than if we had to go to trial."
"He's a lying weasel, so he might not,"
Cassie informed her.
"Oh, he'll plead. All of these charges
combined could mean thirty years or more in prison for him, unless
he does. We also found out he has a prior record for embezzlement
in New Mexico, which won't look good in court, if it's
admissible."
Cassie gasped, she really hadn't known James
at all. And she felt like ten times the fool, for not checking him
out better before she went into business with him. "If he pleads,
how fast will I be able to get the money back, so I can straighten
out my business?"