Splinters (12 page)

Duke leans a little against me, like a heavy blanket. “If they thought she was that bad off, they’d have scooped her up and drove off already. They’d have called for a helicopter. But they haven’t.”

Okay, that makes some sense, actually. I can feel his chest and stomach move against my back as he breathes, so I attempt to make my breathing match his. “That’s it,” he says, and it is working. I’ve got a handle on this now.

I stand up and grip his arm around me so he’ll leave it there. When he embraces me fully, notching us together back-to-front and pressing his cheek to mine, I feel so much steadier. I lean back on him and close my eyes. His hand lightly rubs my T-shirt against my belly. The shivery twitch in my every muscle slowly stops. I turn my head enough to press a kiss to his scruffy cheek. “Thank you.”

He gives me a squeeze, and then eases back. “You alright?”

I take a deep breath and nod. Duke takes my hand, and we walk into the parlor.

It’s a little less terrifying to see Elsie up on the gurney thing, wrapped in blankets, and ready to go. One EMT waits while the other swings a boxy bag over his shoulder. Various tubes and wires protrude from my girl, but everything’s very contained for the next part of this horrible adventure.

“Someone riding with her?” the man with the bag asks while looking at us.

“Yes.” I step forward, but glance back at Duke.

He nods. “Go on. I’ll follow. If you want.”

“I want.” I lean in and peck his lips before hurrying to the ambulance.

Elsie’s clearly asleep more than unconscious now because she’s doing the tiny, snuffling snore I’ve teased her about in the past. She thinks it’s hideous. I think it’s cute. And now it lets me know she’s okay.

She’s been in and out of consciousness, and I’ve made sure I’m right up in her face when she wakes each time. I don’t want her to be afraid. She’s not like me; waking up in a strange place would greatly alarm her. Both times she’s woken up, she’s smiled at me before fading again, despite my requests that she has to wake up now.

The medical staff at this little hospital have been very patient and supportive. More things than I will ever remember have been explained to me like I’m the one the staff needs to tell. Could they think I’m her husband? Whatever, until Elsie’s mother arrives from Colorado, I’ll claim the right to know what’s going on.

Which basically amounts to waiting for her to wake up now.

Down the hall in a waiting area, Smoot is talking to Duke. They’ve been down there for a while and, though I’m curious, I don’t want to leave Elsie’s side. I honestly would’ve thought Smoot would head to the ranch house and investigate, but maybe he sent Vaughn there instead.

Was it really just yesterday that they came to see me? So much has happened, it’s difficult to believe it has only been twenty-four hours. I feel like my entire life has changed in just a day.

I stand and the plastic chair gives a startling squeal with the removal of my weight. I flinch, and Elsie does the same on the bed. Though I didn’t mean to wake her, I’m anxious to explain what’s happened, so I sit by her knee and take her hand.

She looks around, and then frowns at me. Before she can ask, I begin. It’s all I’ve thought of saying since getting in the ambulance, so I cover everything in the kindest words I know. Doesn’t help. Her beautiful face pales and flushes, tears and sobs and shaking come next. She squeezes my hand, grinding the bones, until she pulls me closer. Thinking my weight and warmth might comfort her as Duke’s did me, I lean gently against her and tuck my arms under her back. It feels like she hides beneath me, her fingers gripping my shirt.

While we each sniff and hold on, the heart monitor counts out each of Elsie’s beats as they come down again. I’m glad no one interrupted when they were faster, letting her get through this with the minimum of exposure.

“You’re going to be fine,” I finally whisper. “They’ve said so. They think you had a higher dosage or that it was administered more recently. You just need to work it out of your system.”

I feel her nod and move back enough to see her face. I take a moment to wipe away her tears even as I admire the brightness of her grass green eyes.

“Why would someone do that to me?” She inhales and sort of hiccups. “What did I do?”

“No, don’t think like that.” I rest my hand on her cheek to keep her looking at me. “
You
didn’t do anything. It’s not about something
you
might’ve done.”

“But why me?”

I’ve never seen her look so lost and young. I wish I could give her more than saying, “I don’t know, but it was
not
your fault.”

She nods and wiggles deeper into her soft, cotton blankets. “I wanna go home.”

I sit back. “Yeah. We’ll go home.” Damn, that sounded regretful.

“You can stay.”

“No, no. We’ll go together. Bros before hos.”

She huffs a laugh and wipes at her cheeks as her eyes flick all over my face. “That’s some impressive beard burn all over your face.”

I fight back a smile. “It’s not
all
over. Just certain spots.”

“You looked?” She grins. “Of course, you did. You like being marked.”

I didn’t look; I can feel it. “Oh, shut up, Miss Know-it-all.” But I’m grinning, too, since she’s right.

“Did you let him spank you?”

“I did
not
.” I don’t need to fake looking affronted. “That is not first time behavior.”

Her eyes widen. “You managed to find the last virgin cowboy?”

I snort and roll my eyes. “Not that kind of first time.”

“Oh, I see. Your first time together makin’ wub.”

Okay, now I glare at her. “Be nice.”

“Al,” she whispers. “Really?”

I can feel a blush blooming and look down at my hands on her blankets. My fingers are twining around each other like some kind of worm sign language. I force myself still.

“Maybe.”

“Aw, honey-bee.”

And I smile now, since she gets that this could be a big thing for me, finding Duke. It’s extraordinary and exciting and right in a destiny sort of way.

I mean, except for the renewal of this whole terrifying kidnapping and bondage mystery hanging over all our heads, of course.

She bites her lip, looking wicked. “What did you wear to bed?”

“Oh, hush.”

“Come on.” She wiggles her leg against my hip. “Satin or silk, and did anything have a ruffle?”

I groan and give up. “The white satin set, thank you.”

She hums in appreciation and nods, but her gaze slips away until she’s staring at the door. Her eyelids slip down to halfway, and I wonder if she’s heading back to sleep. Then she asks in a soft tone, “Are you here alone?”

“Smoot is down the hall talking to Duke. If you’re feeling up to it, he’d like to talk to you, too.”

She nods, those eyelids dropping completely. “Tell him I said to take good care of you…or else.” She sighs, sinking back against her pillow. It’s rather cute she thought I meant Duke was the one who wanted to talk to her and it’s marvelous that she’s given me and Duke her best friend blessing.

I caress the back of her relaxed hand before standing up to go find the boys. It is important Smoot speak to Elsie, glean whatever he can from what she might remember—though I know it won’t be much, if anything at all. If she’s just taking catnaps now, it’s a good time to move things along.

Which makes me wonder, what now? I can’t go back to the ranch. Even though I don’t know what happened to Elsie exactly, someone’s out there stalking and abducting people. It might not be safe for anyone to be out there. I hope Mia knows her way around a shotgun or can swing that cast iron frying pan like a ninja’s katana. Hopefully Ray and Toby ride around with revolvers strapped to their hips.

Not going back to the ranch, though… I sigh as I spot Duke and Smoot coming down the hall. Duke’s expression goes from grim to glad as soon as he sees me. I don’t want to give him up. There’s something grand and glorious happening between us. I can’t abandon that.

So Smoot needs to up his game. If he catches the bad guy, I can keep Duke.

“Learn anything helpful to the case?” I ask as we converge in the hallway.

Smoot waves his hat a bit down by his leg like a shrug. “Vaughn’s at the ranch with a couple tech folks collecting evidence. The hands said your Miz Moreland was with ’em after dark, but I’d like her word on it. How’s she doin’?”

“She woke up long enough for us to talk. I explained what happened, we cried, but then she fell asleep again.”

It doesn’t surprise me she visited the boys after we all parted. She’d been working on Ray hard. I just wish she’d stayed over with him so that this couldn’t have happened to her. Unless… Could Ray be the one doing all this? Another reason not to go back there.

“Do you have a suspect?” I ask.

Smoot shakes his head. “Nothin’ concrete.” He clears his throat. “Let’s head in and see if she’s up to havin’ a chat.”

Nothing concrete? I turn and walk with them back toward Elsie’s room. Does he mean he has a suspect but needs more evidence to arrest them?
Oh, thank God
. Maybe this nightmare is nearly over. I feel a lot more relaxed as I share a smile with Duke.

Elsie’s awake and with a nurse when I poke my head in. We wait in the hall.

“Did you call Mia?” I ask Duke. “Update her?”

He nods. “She was relieved.”

We share some eye contact and, though I want to be closer, Smoot’s right there. Knowing is different than seeing, so I bide my time.

I’m also holding off on discussing with Duke where we stand and what we’ll do. I can’t help nibbling my lip and staring at my shoes while insecurities ooze into my mind. If he doesn’t want an effort made to keep us going, see what happens, it will be a very brief conversation with only a single option. I brush a hand over my bristly head and realize I might be willing to fight for him.

The door opens and the nurse comes out with a smile. “You can come on in now.”

“Everything okay, sweetie?” I ask as we troop inside.

Elsie gives me a lopsided grin. “Mmm-hmm. She wanted vitals and didn’t believe me when I said you’d already woken me up once.” Her eyes widen when she sees Smoot come in and some of her sleepiness vanishes.

I walk to the far side of the bed and take her hand. “Elsie, this is Sheriff Smoot.”

I can see her sizing him up, while he stands waiting patiently. When she takes her hand from mine to shake his, it seems to ease something in the room around us. Smoot asks if it’s all right to have a chat now, and she agrees and asks for me to stay. Accepting that easily, Duke gives a nod and leaves, closing the door behind him.

Smoot sits down in the chair I’d used earlier. It protests, but holds. “How was your flight out here yesterday?”

Elsie and I cock our heads. Chitchat? But I say nothing, and she answers after a moment. Turns out it’s a clever tactic on his part because he soon has her relaxed and rambling about touring the ranch and the joking around after dinner. He nods along, smiling and encouraging, right up to the time when we all separated for bed.

“I heard some people moving around—” She flicks a glance at me. “—and I…I didn’t want to be alone.” She sits up a little straighter. “So I went downstairs and saw the light was on in that little cabin. I thought I’d flirt with the boys for a while more. We had a few drinks, but then they said they needed to get up early and, since neither gave me any indication I was welcome to…stay, I came back to the house.”

She frowns, and I bet that’s about when her memory gets as fuzzy as mine was about my evening. Was it Ray who was doing this? Had he put something in her drink? I take her hand again.

Smoot shifts in his chair, no doubt as uncomfortable as I was in it. “How were you feeling by then?”

Elsie waves her free hand. “I admit I was a touch tipsy, but I know I set the bottle down in my room before going into the bathroom.” She looks to me and smiles a little. “I was going to share it with you since there was an actual worm in the bottom.”

I roll my eyes and don’t bother trying to curb a shudder. I can just imagine her plopping that thing down on the breakfast table merely to giggle at my disgust.

Smoot gives an amused grunt. “Had some mescal then?”

“I thought it was tequila.” She frowns like she’s disappointed. “Really bad, throat-ruining tequila, of course, but still…”

“It’s a cheap variety. Gag gift sort of thing.”

“Oh, I see.”

I touch my throat in sympathy for what she did to hers drinking that awful stuff. It was so like her, jumping in to try something fun, even if she’d likely regret it in the— I close my eyes briefly, silently scolding myself for that line of thinking given the circumstances.

“Passed the bottle around between you?”

“Yes, we did.” She shrugs. “I realize it wasn’t the most sanitary—”

“Not that, ma’am.” His smile is kind as he says, “If one of ’em roofied your drink, he wouldn’t’ve shared it with you.”

“Oh.” She gulps and squeezes my hand. “Yes, of course.”

“Said you left it in your room after you got back to the house? Did you go out again?”