Under the Aspens (The Aspen Series) (6 page)

She dropped down, as if she fainted, and brought her elbow back at the same time.  Her aim was a little off, but it was enough that her attacker pushed her forward, away from him. That’s when Glen shot.  The shots fired, just as Sher fell on top of Glen. He was afraid he shot her instead of the thug.  

“Sher, Honey, are you ok?  Please open your eyes.  Talk to me,” Glen panicked.

Glen looked up to see the guy took off, but red drops had fallen on the pavement.  Good, he hit the guy, but apparently not bad enough.  A moment later, he heard an engine start and it peeled out of the parking garage.  He stood up and made sure the guy was truly gone. The abandoned vehicle was gone when he checked.  He pulled his phone from his jacket pocket, he dialed 911.

After he shoved his phone back in his pocket, he held Sher’s hand. Glen begged her to wake up. He was elated when he finally saw her eyes flutter, and then opened.

“Thank God.  Are you alright?  Where does it hurt?”Glen checked her for wounds as he waited for her to speak.

“I’m fine.  I think I fainted.  I never faint.  Did we get him?” As she spoke, she nervously glanced all around.

“He’s gone, but he’s injured.  Stay there, the paramedics will be here in a second,” He heard the sirens as they got closer.

“I don’t need medical attention. I said I’m fine. I just want to go home,” Her head hurt, but she didn’t want to worry him. From the look on Glen’s face, he had worried enough.

“They need to check you over.  You hit the ground a little too hard, and I didn’t get you to respond to me for over five minutes.  You might have a concussion.  Please, to play it safe, let them check you,” he said.

“Why is it you get to have all the fun?”  Officer David demanded, as he walked in front of the paramedic, “We haven’t had this much excitement since you and I partnered up.”

Glen helped Sher stand, and handed Sher over to the medics, “She possibly hit her head.  Please make sure she is as fine as she claims.”

“I’m not sure what’s going down, but that guy was after something he says William gave to Sher.  But he’s not working alone.  He says his
Boss
wants it back,” Glen told his partner as he watched the paramedics work on Sher. He almost lost her today.

“Did he happen to say what
it
is?” David knew he hadn’t ever seen his partner look so distraught.

“No, just seems desperate to get it.  Did you go to Estes Park?” Glen asked, hoping to hear some good news.

“Now, I tell you, that was a strange trip.  We did find the brother’s car, with four flat tires, along with his smashed cell phone.  The campsite is torn apart, as if a bear visited.  And there is blood on the ground. But we can’t find the brother.  The blood isn’t a significant amount, but something did happen at that campsite,” David hated adding to the tension he already felt radiating from his partner.

“Damn.  I keep thinking you’d find Brad with a couple of scrapped knees, where he tripped over a log or something.  This doesn’t sound good.  Don’t mention any of this in front of Sher.  I want to know more before I upset her.  She’s going through quite an ordeal, just today alone.  I’m not sure how much more she can handle,” As Glen talked to his partner, his thoughts were still on Sher.

“No problem, partner.  You know me.  I can keep my mouth shut.  Just please promise me, you’ll call, if you need back up.  I’d like to catch the scum who’s behind all this,” Officer David really itched for a fight.

“You got it.  Now I need to get back to Sher and see if she’s up to leaving this place.  Check hospitals, doctors offices, anywhere that guy can go for medical attention.  I’m not sure how badly he’s hurt, but he will need some kind of patching up.  And follow up on William.  He’s up to his neck in this.  Check his shady friends, his past, whatever rock you need to look under.  We have to figure out who’s behind this, and why,” Glen needed answers, now.

“Gotcha.  You’ll hear from me soon.  Take care of her.  I get the feeling she’s important to you again,” With that, David walked away, and Glen went toward the ambulance, where Sher sat in the back.

“How is she, boys?” Without knowing, Glen had his fingers crossed.

“She’ll be fine, a little bump on the side of the head, but no concussion.   She might have a bad headache for a few hours, but some aspirin will help. The worse of it is a badly scrapped elbow.  But she’s all patched up and rearing to go.”

“Take me home, please, Glen.  I just want to go home,” She knew she couldn’t hold the tears back for long.

“Sure Sweetheart.  Let’s get out of here,” he said, as he guided her back to the jeep.

Sher held it together till they reached his jeep, then she fell apart.  The sobs came louder and louder.  He gathered her tightly to him and held her.  It tore him up as he listened to her cry.  He never wanted her hurt in any way. Kissing the top of her head, while he stroked her back, he finally noticed the sobs quiet down.  He didn’t blame her for losing it.  No one should have to go through what she had today. 

If he got his hands on that ex-husband of hers, he’d be surprised if he didn’t choke the life out of him.  It would be worth the consequences if only he knew the man couldn’t hurt her ever again.

He lifted her chin and kissed the tears off her face, “Shush. We’ll get through this.  It will end, I promise you.  Let me help you in the jeep, then we’ll go back to your house, and while you rest, I’ll make some calls.  Someone knows something.  And I’m going to find out what,” When he set his mind on something, nothing could stop him from accomplishing that act.

When she woke, Sher’s first thought was for aspirin. After she took a couple, she felt almost human again. She was confused about what happened, and why.  She decided, after another cup of coffee, to try calling Brad again, and then she would search through the garage for anything that didn’t belong to her.  She headed to the kitchen and coffee.  If she hadn’t gotten enough caffeine, she knew the headache would return in full force.

“Hhhmmmm, something smells wonderful. What are you doing up so early?”Sher said before she kissed the back of Glen’s neck.

“I decided to let you sleep while I make these delicious gluten-free crepes you love so much. I hope I remember how. It’s with ham, Swiss cheese, and grape jelly, right?  And I also decided to throw together some hash browns to go with them.  But you can’t spoil the surprise.  You are going to get served in bed.” He already put everything on the tray.

“Yummy.  You are such a romantic, and I am so lucky. I just want to call Brad, again, first.  He’s supposed to return home today. Give me a minute, and then I will jump back in bed, and we can eat.”

He hadn’t told her yet about what David found at the campsite.  He knew he shouldn’t keep it from her, but it wasn’t going to be easy letting her know her brother was missing. Although they both had their own lives, and grew apart some, Brad was the only family she had now.  He decided he would have to tell her after breakfast.  Maybe they both needed to go to Brad’s apartment and look around, because it seemed like everything that happened to Sher, connected to Brad and William.

“There’s still no answer on Brad’s phone.  It keeps going straight to voice mail.  I want to go to his apartment this morning and check on him.  He might be sick or hurt.  I am really getting worried.”

“Eat.  Then we’ll get dressed and go, after you do as promised, and jump back into the bed and eat,” he replied.

She patted her stomach a few minutes later, and moaned, “I am so stuffed.  You did a perfect job with the crepes.  I can’t believe I ate so much.”

“You need fuel.  A body can go only so long without proper nutrition. Trust me, I’m a cop,” He laughed softly.

She reached for his plate, to clean up, but he stopped her, “Sit for a moment.  I need to talk to you.”

“You look worried.  What’s wrong?  Has something else happened?”  Her hand now shook, and her breath came in fast gasps, but she sat back down and crossed her arms in front of herself.  He recognized the move as part of her defense.

“I’m a little worried myself about your brother.  Yesterday, while you were being checked by the medics, David informed me of something I think you should know.  I asked him Saturday to go to Estes Park and find Brad.  He found Brad’s car, phone, campsite, but no Brad. There are signs of a struggle and some blood by your brother’s car.  Not a lot of blood, but enough to worry me,” As he related his conversation with David, he waited for the tears to start.

She sat as though she in shock.  No words, no movement, she just stared at him.  Then he saw that tears filled her eyes.  He moved then, just as the first tear spilled and rolled down her check.  He lifted her onto his lap, and held her tight.  She didn’t sob, just cried silently, which scared him more than the sobbing she had done before. He vowed, when all this is done, she would never cry again.  It hurt too much to see her hurt.

Sitting up now, she searched Glen’s face for some sign that he hadn’t told her everything.  All she saw was love and worry.

“What do you think could have happened to Brad?” she asked Glen.

“We can’t go there.  We can’t think of all the worse scenarios.  We have to believe he is alright. Maybe we can get some answers at his place. Feel like getting dressed and taking a drive?”

“Yes.  And if I haven’t told you today how wonderful you are, I’m saying it now. You didn’t have to stand by me through all this, but you have.  I don’t know what I would’ve done without you these past few days. And I don’t want to do without you anymore.”

Leaning forward, she touched her lips to his, in a soft peck, and then left her bed. Deciding on jeans and shirt, she was dressed and ready in five minutes. She almost forgot to brush her teeth, she was so anxious to go. After brushing her teeth, she brushed her hair, put it in a ponytail, and then she found Glen, and they were off.

“I need to call Cathy.  I don’t think I should go to the shop for a few days, and I need her to call Robin to work part-time this week.” Funny, Sher now thought about the deli. Too many awful things have happened to take her mind off her business. The deli was her whole life, or used to be.

Robin had worked on and off part time for the Deli since Sher opened it.  She filled in when needed.  Hopefully she was available now.  Sher didn’t want to involve anyone else in this mess.  Things were too dangerous.  It’s best if she stayed away from work.

The drive to Brad’s apartment took almost an hour.  He didn’t live in Northglenn.  His apartment was in Aurora, close to his construction office.  Funny how Brad and William, owned the same type of business, yet they were such different businessmen.  William built businesses for the highest bidder, while, Brad built homes for families.

After they arrived in front of Brad’s apartment building, Glen reached over and retrieved his gun from the glove box. He had his secondary gun in his ankle holster, but you can’t be too careful. He learned the past few days, you couldn’t be unprepared.  Anything could happen, and usually did.

Sher reached up to knock on the door, when they heard noises which came from inside. No normal, everyday noise.  This sounded like a tornado was inside the apartment. Glen pulled her away from the door and said, “Stay behind me.  If I say run, you run and lock yourself in the jeep and call 911.”

Nodding her head, she agreed.

Glen tried the door handle, and wasn’t surprised that he found the door unlocked.  Slowly he pushed the door open and he aimed his gun straight ahead, then left, and right.  No one was in the living room. But they left signs that they were there not too long ago. The sofa was ripped apart, book shelves upturned.  Even the computer was in pieces on the floor.

The noise now came from Brad’s bedroom.  Glen slowly walked down the hall, with Sher close behind.  Looking in the bedroom, Glen saw the back of a man.  He was the same man from the parking garage.  The guy didn’t know he had company yet.  He made too much noise to have heard them behind him.

Glen got close enough to put his gun to the back of the guy’s head. “Down on the floor. NOW!  And don’t move.”

Surprised, the guy dropped to the floor.  He turned his head to the side and saw Sher, “You better give the Boss what he’s looking for, or you won’t be so pretty when he gets done with you.”

“Shut up.  No one told you to talk,” Glen said, as he tied the guy’s hands behind his back with an extension cord he found next to the bed. He, then ripped some cord from the window shade, and tied the man’s feet together.  Pulling his phone from his coat pocket, he dialed his partner, giving him the address. He hung up the phone and searched the man’s pockets, while he still sat on the guy’s back.  Finding a wallet, he saw the man’s name was Sam Bellows, of Denver. Also in the wallet was a release form from a California prison.  He was released two months ago. Might be interesting to find out on what charges he was jailed for, Glen thought.

Glen busied himself going through the wallet, and barely noticed Sher when she sat down next to the guy.

“Where’s my brother?  What did you do to him?”Knowing this is probably useless, she still had to try.

“I didn’t touch your brother. I don’t know anything about your brother.  I was told to go to this address and do a search.  I don’t even know who lives here. It’s you I am after.  You have what the Boss wants.  If your crazy husband kept his word, none of this would’ve happened.”