“I don’t think she has any family left. You see, they were killed this morning in a shootout that resulted in my daughter being taken. Cait saved her and I—”
“Yeah, doc, this is her husband. That’s their little girl. He’s a little stressed out, as you can imagine. Poor guy, yeah, these people have been through a lot,” Tucker said. When Spencer started to correct him, the doctor put his hand up and glared at Spencer. He shut up.
The doctor shook his head and sat down with them. He nodded when Captain Tucker sat down too.
“And I suppose you’re what, the long lost uncle? Whatever. Detective...Grant is going to be fine. She will need a lot of physical therapy and quite a bit of rest. I would suggest that you set up an in-house nurse to stay with her. She should be ready to go home in a week.”
“A week? Are you sure? She looked really bad when I saw her before she went into surgery. I’m sorry; doc, but I’d like a second opinion. My brother, Damon Grant, would you care if he looked her over? I love this woman and I don’t...she can’t be, that is to say…”
“Yes, of course. I’m familiar with Damon. Most of her wounds were deep bruises. Yes, her leg and her hand are going to be the most painful, but the only thing we can do for her here is med her. She’ll heal much faster at home surrounded by her family. Sometimes family...O’Malley? You mean she’s Paddy O’Malley’s niece? Hell!”
“What is it? What’s wrong? You remembered something?” Spencer stood up, ready to go and save her.
“No, no nothing like that. A few weeks ago she was a patient here and Oscar Patterson, a doctor here, saw her. I guess she ripped into him so bad that he went to the Hospital head. When Montgomery came down to question her about it, your wife ripped into him too. Threatened to file discrimination charges against him and the hospital if Montgomery didn’t make him retire or apologize, and right quick too. He retired Friday. Left so quick his desk still has stuff in the drawers—the pull out sort, not the wearing sort. You don’t worry about your wife, Mr. Grant. There isn’t a person in this hospital that wouldn’t fall over backwards for her. Damn, wish I had been here that day. I heard that Patterson sputtered all the way back to his office.”
Spencer smiled again. The fact that she had taken on a doctor did not surprise him, not in the least bit. She was a fighter. He turned toward the door when it opened and Donald came in with an officer Spencer had never seen before.
“Can I have a word with you? Out here in the hall?” Spencer frowned, but went into the hall with him. He was confused when the officer came out with him.
“She made me promise. I’m sorry, but this is the first opportunity I’ve had to look at the envelope she gave me. Cait has requested that I put a guard on her door until I can have her moved to another facility.”
“What do you mean moved? Moved where? I’m going to go back in there and wait for her. I’d like to see you stop me.” His heart was pounding; she was locking him out.
“I’m sorry, Spencer, but she gave me this in the event of anything happening to her and what I was to do. She gave it to me a few days ago. All officers have these arrangements. Mostly it’s to save the family from having to make hard decisions. She won’t be...she’s already gone, left the hospital.” Spencer leaned heavily against the wall. She was gone? How? She was still in recovery. She was… He looked at Tucker.
“You have to tell me where she is. I love her and I can’t...I won’t live without her. Where is she, Donald?”
“I’m sorry.”
~CHAPTER 23~
Cait woke up to the sound of squeaky steps. She knew she was in a hospital; the issue was, where at? She could not tell from the equipment in the room. It looked like any other hospital room she had been in. The small ball chain attached to her gown took some maneuvering, but she was finally able to get it between her fingers and pull it.
“Yes, Miss O’Malley, what can I do for you?” the voice asked and was still no help to Cait.
“I was wondering if...could you come in here, please? I want to ask you some things, please?” After she agreed, Cait waited. She started thinking how to ask where she was without sounding like she was off her rocker when the woman walked in.
“How long have I been here, please? I know that I was hurt on Sunday, but I don’t remember much after that.”
“You arrived here on Monday afternoon and its Wednesday afternoon. I believe they transported you from the airport to here around shift change, so that’d be around three. We’ve never had an American transported here before; usually Americans want to leave. Is there anything else? The doctor said you could have some light foods, maybe some broth, and we can see how that goes?” Cait didn’t really want anything to eat, but she nodded and the nurse left.
Ireland. She was in Ireland just like she had asked Captain Tucker to send her.
She lay back on the bed.
If he managed this, then she knew that the rest had also been taken care of.
Closing her eyes, she remembered her Uncle Paddy and how she had gotten him killed, her Aunt Dee too. Meggie had been hurt and her father...Spencer hated her for it. Cait’s heart ached, wishing not for the first time that she had just died the night that Toby and his gang had tried to kill her.
When the nurse, Nurse Kiley, came back in thirty minutes later, she had a large tray. Cait knew that she needed to eat to regain her strength, but the smell made her a little queasy. Before she could ask if she had a message, Kiley handed her a large envelope.
“We were told to give this to you when you first woke up. I know that your eye is still very swollen, so if you need me to read it to you, it would be my pleasure.”
Cait shook her head. Her eyesight was a little off, but she didn’t want to share the news in the envelope with anyone.
After she left, Cait opened the envelope with shaky hands and pulled out the neatly typed note. She was terrified at what it might contain, but couldn’t bring herself to not read it. Adjusting the letter back and forth in front of her to get the best angle for her eyes, she began to read.
“O’Malley,
This is a mistake. You and I both know it, but I’ve done what you’ve asked.
There are no charges being brought against you, in neither the shootout at the mansion nor at the house. You’re aunt Dee’s body has been shipped to Ireland and I’m arranging a full honor funeral for your uncle—the city is picking up the tab in gratitude for what you all did.
Meggie is fine, but her father is going to be pissed. I won’t tell him anything when I tell him you’re gone, but as I’ve said, this is a mistake.
Live your life to the fullest,
Donald”
Tears streamed down her face. This was not a mistake no matter what Donald thought. And Spencer was only going to be pissed because he could not carry through on his threat to harm her because she hadn’t protected Meggie enough. This was the best course of action, not only for them, but for herself.
The nurse came in sometime later to take the tray away and she mumbled something about Caitlynne not eating enough, but didn’t offer to bring something else. Cait was hurting, bleeding in a place where her heart was, and she didn’t care if she ever ate again.
The doctor came in the next morning and examined her. She told him that she was ready to go home and he disagreed. Cait knew he was probably right, but that did not stop her from threatening him with just leaving.
“You stay two more days and I’ll let you go. Provided no infections and you have no fever. I don’t want you back in here with an infection on top of everything else. You look as if whoever you’re hiding from beat you well enough and I can understand you being afraid, but honey, I won’t let anyone near you.
You just rest and get well.”
She let him think that was why she was here. There was no point in telling him that she was only hiding from herself. She told him that in two days she was going anyway and he just laughed at her.
The next two days went by slowly for her. She watched television and stared out the window. It was a beautiful view, the heather in full bloom and the trees swaying gently. She could see several mountain ranges beyond where she was and when she had gotten up the few times, she could see the horses in the paddock beyond.
She was released without much in the way of restrictions, other than to move slowly and rest a great deal. The doctor wanted to set up physical therapy for her, but she told him that she wanted to go to her aunt’s home and rest and forget for a few days first. He kindly told her that she didn’t want to wait too long, that she needed to get her leg loosened up again. Smiling back, she promised she would not.
The ride to the house was torturous and long. It really had only taken fifty minutes, but it seemed much longer. The driver, she swore, had hit every bump, every rock, and every single rut in every rode they used. By the time he had helped her up the stairs to the house, she was in near tears from the pain. She went inside and fell into the bed after taking a pain pill.
It was dark when she woke up. She had only been to this house three other times over the years, but could remember every nook and cranny in the place.
Turning on a few lamps, she lit a fire in the huge gas powered fireplace and sat on one of the chairs. She had contacted the caretaker on Thursday and had asked that the house be ready for today and that some food, mostly easy to cook things, be delivered. Looking around the room, she knew that her wishes had been seen to.
She loved this house, a cottage really. There were only four rooms counting the bath. Several years ago, her aunt had had one of the bedrooms changed into a bathroom and indoor plumbing put in. The bathroom was huge.
The room had not been cut down when the bath was installed, but had used all the space for comfort. The outer wall, the one that faced the back of the house, was a bank of windows that reached from floor to ceiling. Shutters covered the lower half of them to allow the morning sun to shine through the upper half. The next outer wall held the white stone double sink and counter that filled the entire wall. There were drawers under it that Aunt Dee had kept her under things in, or delicates, as she had called them. The upper half was a mirror that was bracketed on both sides with more windows. These were high enough that they didn’t need the privacy of shutters to keep anyone from looking in. The wall closest to the bedroom was narrow. It had a dresser at the back and as far back as Cait could remember, had held night gowns and a few robes. Also, it held the extra towels, and other linens. The white commode was right inside the door from the small hall. But the center of the room held the tub. It was a doublewide claw footed one that had a shower curtain that surrounded the tub. Cait had never known anyone to use the bath as a shower, but it was there all the same.
The bedroom was about the same size as the bath with the only difference being the closet. This room had a very large one that, when they came to visit, would fill with things Aunt Dee would purchase to take back with them at the end of her stay. The bed had been her mother’s mother’s and she’d had to have a mattress made for it when it had needed replacing since it was so big. The four posters and the small stairs used to get into it were made of mahogany and the wood shone with the love and pride that had been lovingly stroked into it with each polishing. There was no other furniture in the room aside from the rocking chair that sat next to the fireplace and the huge cabinet that held her aunt’s dolls.
There were hundreds of them, from a very small two inches high to about three feet. She had told Cait once that she hadn’t brought them to the United States with her because she wanted to leave them in their home and she had family there when she came to visit.
The kitchen was smallish, not having the need to cook for many people; Aunt Dee had never seen a reason to expand the little room. It did have modern fixtures, a microwave and convection oven. The window over the double sink looked over the back yard and a massive herb garden. When Cait had gone into the kitchen for a glass of water, she noticed that the garden had been well maintained while they had been away. There was a small table in the kitchen and around it were three chairs. The cabinets, all glass fronted, were a beautiful oak and carried the same stamp of love the rest of the house did.
The living room, the room where Cait sat, was the best room in the house.
There wasn’t a couch, but four overstuffed chairs that faced the fireplace.
Between each chair there was a tall reading lamp that stood next to a table. On either side of the fireplace were bookcases filled with an eclectic amount of books, paperback and hard back both. This room, like all the others, had hardwood floors made of parquet, even the bath. The walls were white in here, which was good as the rooms colors were tossed about the room like a painter’s palate, mostly earth tones, but with an occasional bright green or pink too. She was just getting up to turn down the flames when someone knocked at her door.
“Hello, missus. I’m Shamus Flanagan from town. My wife and I take care of the house for you whilst you and your’n are away. I was wondering if everything was to suit you? The missus and I, we’ve been wondering also how yer holding up. We was powerful sorry to hear about Deidra. She was a wonderment, she was.”
“Yes. Yes, Mr. Flanagan, everything is fine. I thank you for...my aunt always said she never had to concern herself about the house knowing that you were here. I thank you for it. She left the house...she left it to me when she was...when she passed. I sent her here, did you know?”
“Aye, we all turned out for her funeral. Too bad you couldn’t attend.
Beautiful, it was. I hear tell you’ve been...if you don’t mind my saying, you look a little worn out yourself. You sure you should be out and about?” Cait smiled. She was sure she had horrified the man when she opened the door for him. “Yes. I’m fine. I’ve come to...I have to clean things up and I’m...do you know of a family that might need somewhere to live? It would have to be a small family, of course.”
“You were planning to rent it out? Well, my youngest, he is wedding soon.