Town Darling (9 page)

“He should have left me
die!”

Both men stared at her with
surprise.  Casey was almost surprised by her own outburst.  She’d meant it
too.  Grey’s eyes slowly rolled open to his sister’s shouts.

“What’s happening?” Grey
asked in a groggy tone from his nearby bed.

“Did you hear that, Grey?”
Casey demanded while gripping the bedrails.

“The part where the killer
got away?” Grey said softly.  “Yeah, I heard that.”

Casey shot up straight in
bed despite the pain it caused her and glared at Vaughn with a vengeful look in
her eyes.  “This is all your fault!  If you hadn’t kept me in the back of your
cruiser the whole night, I would have been there,” she lashed out.  “I could
have stopped it!

Vaughn stared at her with a
look of guilt.  He appeared unable to respond.  He knew he had screwed up and
nothing he could say would fix it.  Wiley again attempted to calm her.

“If he would have taken you
home when he should have, you’d be dead, Casey,” Wiley gently informed her. 
“The killer entered through your bedroom window.  Deputy Holt saved you and
your brother.”

Casey didn’t care.  She
just wanted to jump out of her bed and hurt Vaughn.  The pain in her abdomen
was finally getting the better of her.  She clutched her lower abdomen and
cringed with pain while maintaining her venomous glare. 

“Get him out of here!” she
shouted.

Grey was already out
again.  The nurse and doctor hurried into the room, looked at Casey, and
appeared alarmed.  Blood seeped through the sheets and between Casey’s fingers
from her abdomen.  She’d almost certainly torn her stitches. 

“I’m sorry, you have to
leave,” the furious doctor informed them.

Vaughn stared at the blood
and appeared momentarily traumatized.  He turned and left the room without
another word.  Vaughn hurried into the hallway and leaned against the wall just
outside the door.  Wiley appeared from Casey’s room, paused before him, and
patted his shoulder while giving him a reassuring look.

“You did the right thing,
Vaughn,” he announced firmly.  “You’re a hero.  She’ll eventually see that.”

Vaughn stared up at the
ceiling tiles and groaned softly while shaking his head with disgust.  “I did
everything wrong last night,” he remarked softly with the hurt evident in his
voice.  “I should have shot him in the leg, but I went for the kill shot.  If I
hadn’t let my emotions take over, he’d be in custody.”

“The man had just stabbed
Casey,” Wiley informed him with an odd look of mayhem in his eyes.  “He was
holding a knife.  Anyone would have done the same thing.  I want a piece of
that bastard, and I wasn’t even there to see what he’d done.”

Vaughn rolled his eyes shut
and allowed his head to fall into his hands with a groan.  “I’ll never get over
the sight of her bleeding like that.”  He lifted his head and looked at his
trembling hands.  “I had her blood all over me.”  He groaned softly and allowed
his head to hit the wall behind him as his eyes closed.  “I don’t even remember
pulling the trigger.”

Wiley gently rubbed
Vaughn’s shoulders.  “Go home, Vaughn,” he said gently.  “You were up all night
chasing her horse.  You need some sleep.”

Vaughn’s eyes suddenly
opened and he glared at Sheriff Wiley.  His look was vengeful.  “I’ll sleep
after I catch the killer.”

V
aughn slept restlessly in
the chair behind his desk within the police station bullpen.  He twitched in his
sleep, gasped, and suddenly woke.  He looked around the nearly silent, mostly
empty bullpen.  He groaned softly, placed his feet on the floor, and half
collapsed on his desk while rubbing his eyes.  He was obviously exhausted,
despite his freshly showered appearance.  As he looked across the bullpen, he
saw the Harford boys leaving the station.  Tucker and Mitchell stood in the
interrogation room doorway and silently watched the four leave.  Vaughn quickly
stood and had to catch himself from falling back down.  He caught his balance
and hurried to his fellow deputies.

“What’s going on?” Vaughn
demanded to know.  “Why are the Harford boys leaving?”

“We finished questioning
them,” Tucker replied while looking over Vaughn’s appearance with concern. 
“Shouldn’t you be at home getting some rest?”

“I wanted to be there when
you questioned them,” Vaughn said firmly.  “Wiley told you that.”

“All four have airtight
alibis,” Tucker replied.  “There was no reason to wake you.”

“Vouching for one another
isn’t airtight,” Vaughn snarled in protest.

“All four boys returned
home an hour after the tavern brawl a little after midnight,” Tucker
announced.  “Wayne’s girlfriend showed up a few minutes later and spent the
entire night with him.  Both she and Ernest swore none of them left all night.”

“As if they couldn’t have
slipped out unnoticed,” Vaughn remarked.  “And a girlfriend and father aren’t
exactly credible alibis either.”

“Yes, they could have
slipped out unnoticed,” Tucker agreed.  “But her car blocked theirs in the
driveway, and she insists none of the cars were moved the next morning.  I went
by that way myself around two in the morning.”  He fidgeted at his own comment
and gently cleared his throat.  “Their cars were there just like she said.”

“You were out that way
around two?” Vaughn asked.

Tucker remained tense then
timidly smiled.  “Mel got off work at the tavern around two,” he announced.  “I
just stopped by her place to make sure she got home okay, that’s all.”

Mitchell snorted a devious
laugh.  Tucker glared at him, causing him to flinch.  Vaughn frowned with
disgust.  It wouldn’t be the first time Tucker saw a little
action
during
the line of duty.

“I get it,” Vaughn
muttered, not needing to hear the intimate details of his rendezvous with
Melanie.  “Did you happen to notice if their cars were still there when you
left Melanie’s house?”

Tucker frowned, having been
caught slipping out to sneak one in with his girlfriend, and nodded.  “Yeah,
they were still there when I left around three.”

“It couldn’t have been
them,” Mitchell informed Vaughn.  “Why are you so convinced it wasn’t just some
drifter or a random home invasion?”

“Because the killer wore a
bulletproof vest,” Vaughn remarked sternly to Mitchell.  “He wore a vest,
because he knew Brandon Remington was armed.  Our killer broke into that house
with the sole intent to kill everyone inside.  That means it was personal and
premeditated.”

“And I’m telling you,”
Tucker assured him, “it couldn’t have been any of the Harford boys.”

Vaughn frowned and returned
to his desk.  He collapsed behind it with disgust.

†

I
t was later that evening
when Dina entered Casey’s hospital room with some fresh flowers in a vase. 
Casey sat up in bed while holding her lower abdomen.  She stared blankly at the
sheets and didn’t acknowledge Dina.  Grey was now awake and alert.  He played
with the remote for the bed and simulated sounds while raising and lowering his
head.  He was obviously still on the good painkillers, and they worked, because
he certainly wasn’t feeling any pain.  He immediately noticed Dina entering the
room and appeared a little too enthusiastic.

“Hey!  It’s Dina!  Hi,
Dina!” Grey announced excitedly and waved at her.

Dina eyed him and appeared
surprised by his jovial condition.  “Looks like someone’s on the good stuff,”
she replied.

“Oh, yeah.  I’m loving this
spaceship,” Grey informed her then patted the bed alongside him while
grinning.  “Come fly with me.”

“Maybe later,” Dina
informed him while returning the smile then approached Casey, who hadn’t even
looked up when she entered.  “Hey, how are you feeling?”

Casey finally looked up
with a hardened expression.  “Like someone ripped my insides out with a butcher
knife.”  She wasn’t inaccurate with her description either.

Dina immediately frowned
and became tense as if harboring some terrible secret from her friend.  “I
guess they told you,” she said softly.

“Yeah,” she grumbled under
her breath.  “They told me about the hysterectomy.”

Dina sat on the edge of the
bed and hugged Casey while fighting her emotions.  “I’m so sorry, Casey.”

“It’s okay,” Casey said
with a sniff and wiped her tears.  “I wasn’t sure if I wanted children anyway,
so that’s one less thing to worry about.”

Dina frowned while holding
her and rubbed her back.  For some reason, Dina’s coddling wasn’t making her
feel any better.  Casey just wanted to be left alone in her misery, but
everyone kept trying to cheer her up.  Dina pulled back far enough to look at
Casey and attempted a more cheerful conversation to get her friend’s mind off
the hysterectomy.

“The doctor said if I get a
visiting nurse, I can take you home in a couple of days,” Dina announced.  “I
have a company cleaning the house--”

Casey felt alarm sweep
through her.  She pulled away from Dina and stared at her with horror.  “I
can’t go back there!”  She couldn’t believe her friend was even suggesting it.

“My apartment is too
small,” Dina gently replied.  “Staying at your house is the only way I can take
care of you and Grey.”

Grey grinned and chuckled
from his own bed across the room.  “Oh, yeah.  Dina running around in her
lacy
panties--”

Casey appeared defeated and
once again looked down at her covers.  She was stranded in her own, personal
hell.  She didn’t know how to free herself from the haunting memories of her
parents’ murder, and her and Grey’s near death experience.  Her mind was filled
with every conceivable emotion all of which were playing tug-o-war with her
sanity.  She wanted to lash out at someone.  She wanted to
hurt
someone.  She wanted someone to be accountable, but she didn’t know whom to
blame.  It seemed a long time had passed since either of them had spoken.  Dina
was content to just sit with her and be comforting.  Casey didn’t want
comforting.  She wanted revenge.  She knew she couldn’t say those feelings
aloud.  They had to be suppressed.  She had to bury those emotions.  She
finally allowed sorrow to fill the void. 

“I heard the rumors around
town,” Casey said softly. 

“Small people with small
minds,” Dina assured her without even knowing to which rumors she referred.

“I heard everything from
them blaming the murders on my father’s boldness; my mother being too pretty;
to me being a tease.”

“And
none
of them
are true,” Dina firmly announced.  “Most people around here know that.  You
know how people like to gossip.”

Casey continued to stare at
the covers while her mind again raced.  Feelings of revenge once again filled
her head.  Although her voice was soft, her tone was harsh.  “I heard it going
around that the killer sexually assaulted me.”

Dina suddenly tensed and
uncertainly looked at Casey.  She seemed surprised at what she was hearing. 
“That’s not true,” she firmly insisted then appeared concerned and sought
reassurance.  “Right?”

Casey snorted a laugh,
glanced at Dina, and now wore a twisted smile.  “No, I wasn’t worth the
effort.”  She hesitated only a moment.  “I didn’t tell anyone about it, since
nothing actually happened.  Deputy Holt must have witnessed the attempt and put
it in his report.  I guess the story grew into something far worse as it spread
around.”  She shook her head with disgust.  “Why the hell would he report
that?  I mean, if I didn’t feel the need to mention it, why would he?”

“Maybe we should stay off
the subject of certain deputies,” Dina suggested. 

Casey’s disgust quickly
turned hostile.  She could feel herself slipping into a dark place.  Her anger
was becoming harder to control with each passing hour, but she feared admitting
it to anyone.  She feared mind-altering medications and the dreaded
psychological evaluations.  If she could just hit something or break something,
she was sure she’d feel much better. 

“I just can’t believe this
town actually thinks we somehow brought this heinous act down upon ourselves,”
she lashed out with bitterness in her tone.  “That we stirred the pot and got
burnt because of it.”

“No one thinks that,” Dina
quickly interjected in a quick attempt to keep Casey’s anger from rising.

Casey eyed her friend and
raised a cocky brow in response.  “I hear them at the nurse’s station, Dina. 
All day I’ve heard things from around town coming out of that nurse’s station,”
she hissed.  “I know what’s being said.”

“Well, I haven’t heard
anyone blaming any of this on you or your family, and I work in gossip
central,” Dina said firmly.  “Sure, people are talking about it.  Nothing like
this ever happened around here before.  They’re going to talk, but no one’s
blaming your family that I’ve heard.”

“These people were supposed
to be my parents’ friends.  It’s very disrespectful to them and their memory,”
Casey said lowly while staring into Dina’s eyes.

Dina saw the look in
Casey’s eyes and tensed.  There was something frightening and unfamiliar about
Casey.  She brushed it off.  “Those are just words from the small-minded
people; not the ones who really matter.  In fact, the town is having a memorial
for your parents on opening day of the fair,” she announced, managing to
swiftly change the subject.  “Any relatives you want me to contact?”

Casey felt her body once
again sag with exhaustion.  There were too many drugs coursing through her
system.  She speculated the nurses were giving her more than the standard
painkillers that she had requested.  Despite the sore subject of relatives,
Casey maintained a more sedate state.

“No, my uncle is a lush and
hasn’t been around since I was born,” Casey replied and once again felt
defeated.  The anger was gone and depression was quickly taking its place.  It
was a vicious, never-ending circle.

“Oh--”  Dina continued to
maintain the lighter mood.  “You and Grey will attend, right?”

Casey drifted out a
moment.  Her mind was everywhere but on the current conversation.  She snapped
out of her trance and realized Dina was still waiting for a response. 

“When Grey comes down from
his high, we’ll discuss it,” Casey replied without enthusiasm.

†

I
t was two days later.  The
town was going about business as usual while preparing for the upcoming town
fair.  Dina stood outside the antique shop with a stack of memorial fliers
clutched in her hands.  She stared at the building with a look of confusion. 
Boards covered the door and windows.  They hadn’t been there yesterday, and how
they got there so fast was a mystery.  Mayor Lance approached Dina on the
sidewalk, appeared bewildered, and stared as well.

“Are Grey and Casey selling
the shop?” Mayor Lance asked with a look of surprise on his face.

Dina uncertainly shook her
head and appeared unable to take her eyes off the boarded up antique shop.  “I
don’t know,” she replied.  “I went by their house to inspect it after the
cleaning crew had been through.  The house is boarded up too.”  She remained
stunned and continued to stare at the building.  “Casey called me last night
and said something about her uncle visiting them in the hospital.  She said
they were moving in with him.”

“And he had the house and
shop boarded up that fast?” Lance asked with surprise.

“I assume so,” she replied
softly.  “Her horses are gone and the barn’s been cleaned out.”

“That’s strange.”

“Yeah, especially since
she’d never met this uncle of hers,” she informed him.  Dina slowly shook her
head and fought her tears.  “I just get this bad feeling that I’m never going
to see her again.”

“Casey and Grey were put
through hell only a few days ago,” Lance said to Dina.  “She’s dealing with a
lot right now.  She probably just needs time to sort through it.  Maybe a few
weeks away from here is what she needs.”

“Maybe,” Dina muttered then
looked at the memorial fliers in her hand.  “I just wish she’d confided in me,
that’s all.  She didn’t even leave a forwarding number or address.  She just
said she’d let me know when she was settled.”

“I know you’re worried
about her,” Lance said gently.  “You just work on posting those memorial
fliers.  She’ll attend; you’ll see.”