A cop shouted at her and she yelled back, "I have a medical background! Perhaps I can help…"
Behind the policeman emerged the accident, the smashed truck cab pinning a vehicle to the ground. Blinking rain from her eyes, Leah moved toward the scene, glass shards crunching under her feet, the squawk of walkie-talkies and the shouts of paramedics assaulting her ears. Sirens shrieked as another ambulance eased through the growing crowd and headed for town.
"No, no," she said aloud, shaking her head as her heart crawled out of her chest and up her throat, each beat as deafening as the thunder crashing overhead. A pressure centered behind her eyes, and she could not blink, or breathe, or move as she focused on the crushed and twisted remains of a school bus.
"That's my son's bus," she choked, pointing to the crumpled mass and turning to the officer who walked toward her through the rain. "That's… Oh, God. Oh my God."
Ed stood by his car near the runway as Johnny and Savanah walked away from the Cessna.
"You both look like hell," Ed remarked as Johnny opened the passenger door.
"That good, huh?" Johnny dropped into the front seat as Savanah crawled into the back. She lay down on the seat with a groan.
"Don't anyone wake me until this time tomorrow," Savanah said as she closed her eyes.
"So are either of you going to let me in on where you've been and what you were doing? Mind telling me why I've had to make up excuses why you could not or would not take or return phone calls? All hell has broken loose while you've been off gallivanting around the country."
Johnny reached into his pocket and pulled out a candy bar. He glanced back at Savanah, who appeared to be sleeping already, then ripped open the Butterfinger and began to eat.
"I haven't eaten since yesterday at
. Stop at the first drive-through you come to," Johnny replied.
Ed rolled his eyes. "The senator has publicly challenged you, Johnny. He went on the
news last night and confronted you, the district attorney's office, and the police department to put up or shut up. Why, you ask? Because the word has finally come down from
Washington
: an investigation of the good senator and Formation Media is being launched. The district attorney finally admitted too that they believe the senator and Formation Media might have links to the accident that killed Dolores. Why, the media asked? Because, according to Johnny Whitehorse, at the time of Dolores's death she had evidence of Foster's affiliation with Formation Media, thereby establishing motive for the senator and/or Formation to kill you both."
"What about Leah? How is she taking it?"
Ed eased his foot off the gas and looked at Johnny, his normally ruddy complexion drained of color. "Oh, man. I forgot. You don't know. There was an accident yesterday. I would have called you but I didn't know how to reach you. I thought you might have heard about it on the news or something."
"What accident?" Johnny crushed the Butterfinger in his hand as he stared at Ed, waiting.
"Val's bus was hit by a truck yesterday afternoon during a storm. Five were killed, Johnny: the driver, a Sandra Howard, and three kids. The driver lived long enough to tell authorities that the brakes went out on the bus and he couldn't stop. They ran through a stop sign, directly in front of an eighteen-wheeler. No way could the truck's driver avoid hitting them. Val is critical, Johnny. According to Shamika, the doctors don't offer much hope."
A slender blond man with a deep tan stood outside Val's hospital room door, smoking a cigarette and staring at his feet. He looked up and frowned at Johnny as Johnny moved by him, headed for Val's room.
The man grabbed Johnny's arm. "Hey, buddy, where the hell do you think you're going?"
Once Johnny had believed Val to have his mother's eyes, but looking down into Richard Starr's eyes, he realized he had been wrong. He bit back his urge to wrap his hands around Val's father's throat and crush it, not just because he had abandoned Leah and Val, but because he'd married Leah in the first place.
"Nobody goes in there except family," Starr said.
Johnny jerked his arm away and turned for the door.
Richard grabbed him again. "I know who you are,
Whitehorse
. You might muscle your way around
Hollywood
or
Washington
, but not here. You're going to leave my kid and my wife alone."
"Ex-wife."
"My
kid."
Johnny replied with a short laugh, put his hand on Richard's chest, and shoved him against the wall. He then pointed his finger in Starr's face. "Be nice. Be very nice, Dickie, or I'm liable to do something I'll later regret. I'm in a particularly sore mood right now, and anyone who has known me for any length of time knows my patience has its endurance. Backed into a corner, I come out swinging."
"Are you threatening me,
Whitehorse
?"
"Definitely."
"I'll get the cops."
"You do that." Twisting his fingers in Richard's shirt, Johnny pushed him toward a nurse and orderly, who caught him before he fell on his face. The pair stared at Johnny as if a unicorn had suddenly materialized before them.
Johnny eased open the door.
Leah sat at Val's bedside, her head resting on the bed, eyes closed, her hand holding her son's as the monitors beeped frighteningly weakly in the quiet.
Johnny sank against the wall, unable to speak.
First Dolores. Now this. But this was worse, so much worse. This was a child. A very special child. Who might have, if things had gone differently those years ago, been his and Leah's. A young soul, a broken spirit that ached to fly. Johnny had wanted so desperately to teach him how.
Leah opened her swollen red eyes and raised her head slowly. For the briefest instant a look of desperate relief wiped the lines from her brow, and her lips trembled. Then, just as swiftly, it was gone, replaced by an outrage that hit Johnny with a sickening punch.
"Get out," her lips whispered.
"Please—"
"How dare you."
"Don't do this, Leah."
"If you don't leave this minute—"
"I have to see him."
"Haven't you done enough? You've destroyed my father and, thanks to your subterfuge regarding your feelings for us, you've broken Val's heart. If you don't leave here now I'm calling the police. I'll file charges on you for harassment."
"I love you. I love Val."
Looking as if she might crumble into a thousand pieces, Leah sagged against the bed. "I so wanted it to be true. That you loved us. I can't tell you how often I fantasized of our finding one another again, of your coming to love my son like I do.
"I think, if I really want to be honest with myself for a change, that my real reason for returning to Ruidoso was in hopes of your forgiving me for my stupidity years ago. How infantile to believe you would come to care for us more than you care to remedy an injustice perpetrated against your people. Very selfish on my part to think you would give up half a lifetime of struggle for love. Johnny Whitehorse never turned his back on a fight. He always saw his obligations through. Funny. One of the very attributes that made me fall in love with you in the first place is the same one that breaks my heart now."
Johnny shoved away from the wall. This time as he moved toward the bed Leah did not stop him.
Johnny touched Val's cold brow. "Hey, pal. It's Johnny. I've brought you something." Reaching into his shirt pocket, he withdrew the small trinket that had been carved into the shape of a human form. "It's called a
tzi-daltai.
A very long time ago I made it for your mother. I never got around to giving it to her. The
tzi-daltai
is carved of wood that has been struck by lightning, and therefore considered powerful and with much energy to ward off evil and illness. My grandfather gave me this wood when I was your age. Now I give it to you." He laid the talisman on Val's chest over his heart.
Turning again to Leah, he did his best to smile as he touched her face. "
Sons-ee-ah-ray
. My morning star. I told you once that I would not lose you again. I meant it."
Pressing a kiss to her brow, Johnny held Leah briefly before turning for the door.
Richard Starr stood with Shamika in the waiting area outside Val's room. Shamika hurried over to Johnny and threw her arms around him. He hugged her close as she wept against his shoulder.
"Where is her father?" Johnny asked.
"With his attorneys," she replied, wiping her face with a tissue. "Would you believe he hasn't even been up here yet? Sent word last night that as soon as his meetings were over he'd come up."
"Call me if anything changes. I'll be at the ranch."
She nodded as Johnny walked over to Richard, who ground out his cigarette in an ashtray.
"You and I will meet again," Johnny told him, the tone of his voice enough threat that Richard looked nervously toward the nearest exit.
Searching his pocket for coins, Johnny moved to a pay phone on the wall. He punched in the ranch number and waited as the phone rang. Ed answered.
"Is the meeting arranged?" Johnny asked.
"One hour from now."
"Did you reach Inspector Parker?"
"Everything's arranged. How's Val?"
"He's going to be fine," Johnny replied in as strong and positive a voice as he could manage, then he added, "But I'm not so sure about his mother."