Thirteen
Cole
Now
* * *
I was early to the location Valerie handed me. I hadn’t slept. I didn’t even bother going to a hotel room. Once I climbed in my Tundra, I was unable to leave. Trina was so close to me after so many years, and it didn’t matter to me how beaten she was.
Strike that. That mattered a whole lot, and it was the worrying about the pain she was in, the recovery she would have ahead of her, and how in the hell Valerie and her husband were going to get her free that kept me rooted to hospital’s parking lot.
How did they plan on getting her out of that hospital without Jonathan knowing? And what were we supposed to do with her once I had her?
I’d do anything they asked, as long as it meant Trina came home with me, but her safety in all areas came first.
It was on that thought I picked up the phone. Despite the middle of the night hour, I called Deer Creek’s primary physician. Sheila McElroy had been a physician in town for as long as I could remember. With long, gray hair always wrapped in a low ponytail or bun, she was nearing retirement age and probably needed her sleep. However, there were many times we needed her in the middle of the night on cases, so she it wasn’t unusual for someone on the force to draw the short straw and wake her.
Considering this was about Trina, I had no doubt she’d want to hear what I had to say.
The phone rang twice before her groggy, but still alert, voice answered. “Detective Paxton. How can I help you this morning?”
“Sorry to call you so early, Sheila. This is personal, but I need you.”
“Your kids okay?”
“They’re fine. I’m actually in Atlanta.”
“Not sure I can help you from here. You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m good. It’s not me I’m calling about. It’s Trina. Trina Mills…well, Wolf, now, I guess.”
Just saying her last name had me grinding my teeth. She would never be a Wolf. Or at least she wouldn’t stay that way. I’d get her home and erase any memory she had of that man.
The grogginess evaporated as she asked, “Oh…well, this is a surprise. You saw her?”
“Yeah. I’m at Atlanta Community. Long story how I knew she was here, but she’s got a friend who’s working on getting her out.”
“If she’s in the hospital, Cole, that’s probably the best place for her.”
She chuckled like I was being ridiculous, but she’d change her tune soon enough.
“Not when it’s her husband who beat the shit out of her and put her there.”
Silence slammed into the phone with a heavy weight.
“I’m so sorry to hear this,”
Sheila whispered. Pain thickened her tone and then she was back to business. “What do you need from me?”
I explained what I knew, the minimal information I could give, along with Valerie’s mystical and vague plan, and finished with, “They said they can get her transport. But Deer Creek’s a long way away.”
“Let me make some calls,”
Sheila said. No hesitation, no worry. “I might have connections near there who wouldn’t be swayed by who her husband is, if you truly think that’s a concern.”
For the first time since I got the call from Valerie, I felt like I could breathe. Finally, someone I knew and trusted was helping. “Thanks, Sheila. I’d call officers down here, but if cops aren’t doing anything with the alleged break-in as he’s calling it…”
I liked to believe all cops were clean and honorable and joined their prospective forces to do a duty, but I also knew that wasn’t purely true. Some joined for power and could be swayed.
“Leave it to me. I’ll call as soon as I know more.”
“Thanks, Sheila.”
“Not a problem, for Trina, it’s absolutely an honor. Chin up, Cole. We’ll take care of her.”
With Sheila on my side, I had no doubt we would.
It was now six fifty-five, the hope of sunrise barely beginning to make an appearance beyond the horizon, and I was standing outside a two-story building that looked part storage or manufacturing, part business.
As the time ticked down on Valerie and Kip’s arrival, I was scanning the doorways and buildings and nearby light poles to ensure there weren’t cameras recording me.
I was putting my trust in people I didn’t know, and that could go either way, but I tried to trust Valerie had Trina’s best interests at heart.
Exactly five minutes later, two vehicles pulled up. I stood outside of my pickup with my hands on my hips. Hair unwashed and not giving a single crap about it, I’d stopped at a gas station on the way here, the most run-down one I could find in hopes their cameras wouldn’t be as high-tech as brightly lit chain stations. And that was assuming they had cameras in the first place. Using cash, I’d bought a Snickers bar and a bottle of water and then used that water to brush my teeth in the stained and rusty bathroom that reeked of filth. Once I reached this building, I’d changed into a fresh, simple gray T-shirt, as unremarkable as the other one, and tugged on a different ball cap. Anything to make myself as unrecognizable as possible. Couldn’t do much about my truck, but I’d parked and pulled out of the station in such a way my rear driver’s license plate could never be seen.
Both cars stopping in front of me were black Mercedes, the emblems on the front of both grills glowing.
Valerie stepped out of one first and then waited at the front of her car for her husband to meet her. Kip Sutton followed and went to his wife, sliding his hand to her lower back.
“Mr. Paxton,”
she started, but I immediately corrected her.
“Cole.”
“Right.”
Her lips pressed into a tense smile that had my fingers digging into my hips. “Cole. This is my husband, Kip.”
I nodded toward him but didn’t move a muscle until they were in front of me. He was exactly like his pictures. Slick-styled hair swept to the side. Only a small hint of gray at his temples and hair part that showed his forty-two years of age. I’d done my research, seen dozens of photos of him, and although he was thinner than I expected, he was still a man who clearly worked out and did it frequently. Matching my six-two height, I was broader and bulkier, probably enjoyed more heavy beers than this man did. If he was a threat to me, he’d be difficult to subdue.
“Mr. Sutton.”
“Kip.”
He smirked. “And it’s nice to meet someone else in Katrina’s corner.”
I thought of correcting him, but let it go. We’d played the name-correction game enough already.
He held out his hand, keeping his left on his wife’s back. “A pleasure, and I mean that genuinely.”
I reached out and shook his hand. His handshake was firm but respectful.
A small knot of tension at the back of my neck loosened. “What’s the plan? And how is she?”
I averted my gaze to Valerie.
“In pain. A lot of it, so she’s heavily medicated. She woke up, some, but not enough to speak to anyone really.”
“And Jonathan?”
“I convinced him I could take care of her. Played up the home invasion part of his story and insisted he needed to ensure it was cleaned up for when Katrina returned home.”
“He believe you?”
“We’ve worked hard to ensure he trusts us,”
Kip cut in. “And I assure you, he does.”
“So how do we get her out of there, ‘cause what I saw last night, that’s not going to be easy.”
“Easy is a matter of opinion,” Kip said.
I scowled at him. How dare he trivialize my comment or talk down to me. My chest expanded with a heavy, calming breath.
“I assume you know who my father is, as well as my great-grandfather.”
“I do.”
It was Kip’s great-grandfather that started Sutton Community Bank in Savannah decades ago.
“If you do, then you may know that many years ago, my grandmother had a stroke. Her rehabilitation needs at that time forced her to go to Tennessee and my grandfather didn’t like that very much. He also didn’t like that people without the means he had wouldn’t be able to send their loved ones all the way there, so he and my father donated money so Atlanta Community Hospital could create and build their own stroke rehabilitation center.”
I’d known that. Read about it at least but hadn’t made the connection.
“I’m following.”
“Good.”
Kip nodded and continued. “There are a lot of people at that hospital who know us. Know my family. My mother has been a frequent volunteer there and it’s a cause that’s important to my family.”
“Which means you know people inside who can help.”
“Precisely. As soon as I heard what happened, and I’m not only incredibly sorry it did, but furious I haven’t been able to help sooner, I made calls. In previous instances, Jonathan has sent Katrina away, more than once to Greece. He’s had the decency to wait until she’s healthy enough to travel, but considering the damage he’s done to her, I doubt he currently sees it as a requirement.”
“He needs her gone before she can talk.”
“Exactly. Which is why, at nine o’clock this morning, there will be a hospital lockdown training exercise. Two orderlies from the rehab facility will be there to get Katrina’s bed downstairs and into a van along with a nurse and everything she could possibly need. That vehicle will take her to my private jet, already waiting to go, and will take her wherever she needs to go to land somewhere safe.”
I glanced at my truck. I hadn’t considered how I’d get my truck back home because however Trina was getting to Deer Creek, I was going with her.
“You already have a place in mind?”
I asked him.
“My brother has a mountain home in Colorado. Was planning to send her there. He’d take care of her and his land is gated. Plus, Valerie and I go there often.”
Worry pinched Kip’s brows together, and I worked my jaw back and forth as I considered this option.
It’d be the best for her. Somewhere difficult to get to, nowhere near anyone she knew to give her time to heal. Maybe, if I was a better man, I’d let her do that.
But I wasn’t, and I knew exactly who to call.
“Give me two minutes,”
I told him.
I grabbed my phone and shot off a quick text to my mom.
Things are fine. Will give you an update soon. Need the number of Philip Scranton.
The seconds ticked by with every moment I had to wait. Time was ticking down. It was barely past seven, and in two hours Trina would be leaving the hospital. I still had no idea what was happening with Jonathan, or where he’d be. My gut said to trust the man in front of me, who was glancing at his phone, tapping on it. Valerie chewed her lip, nervous, and stared at my phone like it’d jump out and bite her.
My phone dinged, and I grinned as I saw the number.
I instantly dialed it and two rings later a sleepy and very unhappy voice came through the phone.
“Told you you don’t have any trouble with me.”
“Mornin’ Philip. Nice of you to have my name programmed.”
“Well I hear from you enough.”
Philip Scranton was old and crotchety. He also liked to play his jazz music and host parties that even more crotchety and old people across the lake from him hated. Which meant we spent a lot of time asking him to turn it down.
The small, gated lake community he lived in also happened to have its own private runway, and Philip’s own private plane sat in a hangar connected to his house. Part of the reason he had such large and loud parties. Pull the plane out and the hangar was one hell of a gathering area.
“I’m actually calling this morning because I need your help.”
He might not have known Trina well, but he was born and raised in Deer Creek and anyone who was from there was one of our own. Without bringing up her name, I explained the rest of the scenario and when it came time to figure out if his neighborhood’s private runway was long enough for Kip’s jet, I handed the phone over.
“You have your own connections,”
Valerie said softly, while I kept one ear on what Kip was saying.
“It’s a small town but it’s not an irrelevant or dying town like others.”
We were a large tourist area in both the summer and winter. And while many towns were dying, our ski slopes kept people coming back year after year. Not only did we have a small, private college in town that had seen an increase in enrollment, there was a growing university twenty minutes away. All that meant even our shopping had grown over the years. But the people who lived on that lake had either lived there for generations or bought their second homes out there for privacy—the private runway being one of the main enticing factors.
“Promise me you’ll keep her safe.”
Her tone had such a thickness, held such guilt and worry I looked her dead in the eyes. “To my dying breath.”
It was a vow. I’d swear it with my hand on the Bible if she requested. She must have understood how serious I was because she exhaled and went back to nibbling her bottom lip.
“I don’t mean to keep questioning you, but Katrina didn’t speak a lot about her past. And she only mentioned you a few times.”
“But she mentioned me.”
Valerie blinked slowly and nodded. “After I confronted her about Jonathan, the night she finally admitted to what he was doing to her. I kept giving her drinks and she kept talking.”
I chuckled. “Nice. Get her drunk to steal all her secrets.”
A quick flash of a grin appeared and then vanished. “She was a vault before then, one massive cement block that I’d been chipping away at for years. It didn’t take much to finally have her crumble.”
A 45mm bullet to the gut would be less painful than knowing how miserable she’d been for so long. Still, I forced myself to nod, like I knew.
I didn’t. I suspected there’d been a lot of traumas in Trina’s life since she left for New York. “It’s good she had you.”
“I know about the baby,”
she whispered on a hitched breath. “You should know that. She hates herself for it, you know. Despises that choice she made and telling you she’s still carrying guilt for it isn’t a heavy enough phrase to use.”
I’d despised her for it, too, for a while. And then I grew up. But I had a life to look forward to, a good one. And while it may have never been as full as I once wanted, I now had two little girls I couldn’t imagine a life without, and Trina was sitting in a hospital bed. Any lingering anger I’d had about Trina’s decision was gone years ago. I hated hearing she still hadn’t moved past that.
“Thank you for letting me know.”
“I figure you should. Just…go easy on her. I doubt the road ahead for either of you will be easy.”
“A road smoothly traveled isn’t one I have a lot of experience navigating,”
I assured her and cracked a smile.
It was small, but she grinned back.
Kip handed me my phone back. “It’ll work. Mr. Scranton says he’ll handle everything on his end.”
“Then let’s work out the details down to the second, shall we?”
Kip grinned. Valerie chewed on her lip.
And me? For the first time in a long time, I had an overwhelming sense of hope and peace that things were finally going to go exactly the way they should.