Chapter 16
16
H eath’s heart raced faster than his speeding tires as he rushed toward the county hospital. Each mile that brought him closer to his mom took him farther from Clara, causing his anxiety to spike so high he thought it’d shoot through the top of his head.
A quick call to Owen had reassured him that Tommy would swing by his mom’s house and keep an eye on things while he was gone. And as much as he appreciated the extra set of eyes, it wasn’t the same as being there to protect her himself.
But he had to get to the hospital. Mila hadn’t told him much. Just that his mom had been unconscious when the ambulance arrived and took her away. He tightened his fists around the firm leather of the steering wheel and forced the tears to stay away. His mom had to be okay. No way he could imagine a world without her.
In record time, the gridded streets of downtown were behind him, and the country road sprawled ahead of him. He pressed his foot harder against the gas pedal, and a tiny sliver or relief pushed through the fear as he pulled into the parking lot and found the nearest spot to the emergency room entrance.
Jumping out of the vehicle, he ran through the automatic doors to the woman sitting behind a desk. She stared up from a computer monitor with a pleasant smile and kind eyes, her blond hair tied back in a low ponytail. He couldn’t recall her name, but he’d made enough visits to the hospital while on duty to recognize her.
“I’m Heath Sterling. I’m here to see my mom.” His throat tightened around the last word.
“Hi, deputy. If you’ll have a seat in the waiting room, a doctor will come out to see you as soon as possible.”
“Thanks.”
Unspent adrenaline pushed through his veins, leaving him shaky. He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure if he could sit still. He made his way to the waiting area but skipped the cluster of empty chairs to stand in the corner of the room. News played quietly on a mounted television and an empty coffee pot was the centerpiece of the messy refreshment station.
Needing to use his hands, he made quick work of tossing empty sugar packets and wiping away stray crumbs. A memory of the mess he’d cleaned up earlier came to mind and he’d give anything to go back there, to be back in that moment with the people who meant the most to him in this world—his mom, Clara, and the kids.
“Heath?”
He turned at the sound of Mila’s voice.
She stood with her arms crossed around her middle. Stitches on the side of her forehead and red puffy eyes announced her trials.
“Are you okay?”
Sniffling, she shrugged. “I guess. Just shaken up. And being here,” she swept a hand through the air. “Brings back a whole host of bad memories.”
He winced, recalling the horrible ordeal Mila had survived not long ago. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry.” She pressed a hand to her heart. “It was my job to get your mom to her appointment safely. I swear, the truck came out of nowhere.”
He opened his mouth to ask more questions, when a doctor rounded the corner, his gaze searching the room until it latched onto Heath. “Mr. Sterling?”
“Yes.”
Mila shifted to stand beside him, both facing the doctor in blue scrubs with tired eyes.
“Your mother is about to go into surgery,” he said. “She has a collapsed lung we need to take care of.”
“Is she awake?” he asked.
“She woke momentarily. She hit her head on the passenger window of the vehicle. She sustained some small injuries on her face, but we aren’t worried about those. I’ll come back out and let you know as soon as we’re done.”
“Thanks,” he said. His stomach sunk to the scuffed linoleum floor as the doctor hurried away. He scrubbed his hand over his face and lowered himself onto the edge of a chair. “I didn’t think I’d be back here waiting for her to get out of surgery. Seems like we were just here.”
Mila sat beside him and squeezed his arm. “She’s strong and feisty. No way she’ll let this get her down.”
Clearing the emotion from his throat, he slumped against the chair. “Do you have anyone coming to pick you up?”
“Elsie’s on the way. I hated calling her. She’s done so much for me and getting a call I was in the hospital sent her into a tizzy. She’s determined to find the asshole who ran us off the road. The driver better hope he’s already out of town. I wouldn’t put it past her to track him down.”
A tingle of intuition stirred in his gut. “You said the truck came out of nowhere. Was he behind you, or did he hit you from head on?”
A shiver shook her shoulders. “Behind. One second no one was there, the next he was on my tail. He just kept edging closer and closer until his front bumper touched the back of my car. I tried to speed up, slow down, do whatever I could think of to shake him, but it didn’t work. Then all of a sudden, I was slamming into a tree, and he was gone.”
Visualizing the trauma of what Mila and his mom had been put through turned his stomach, and he struggled to keep his composure. “Do you remember what the truck looked like? What about the driver? You said it was a man, but can you give a description?”
“The man was wearing a baseball hat, so I didn’t get a good luck at his face, but the truck I’ll never forget. It was a large silver truck with an extended cab. Looked newer. No rust or scratches or anything I could make out.”
An image of a similar truck struck a chord in his memory.
A truck parked outside of Bob’s Auto Shop when he’d gone to deliver the protection order to Mitch.
Rage shook his hand as he grabbed his phone and called the sheriff’s station.
“Afternoon, this is Page at the county sheriff’s department, how may I direct your call?”
“Hi, Page. It’s Heath. Anyone in that I can get to run down some information for me?”
“Sure, I’ll transfer you over to Sadie.”
He tapped his toe against the ground, waiting for Sadie to pick up the line.
“Hey, Heath. Heard about your mom,” Sadie said. “Hope she’s okay. What can I do for you?”
“I need you to pull up the vehicle registration for Mitch Parson. Find out what he’s driving.”
The sound of clacking keys reached his ears, but a few seconds later Sadie returned to line. “Chevy Colorado. Silver. Why?”
“I think that sonofabitch ran my mother off the road. I know it was him. Give me a second.” He lowered his phone. “Mila, did you tell the police all this?”
“Yes. Do you really think it was Mitch?”
“I do. Sadie, make sure whoever was on the scene is given a heads-up. This wasn’t an accident or a coincidence. Mitch did this on purpose.”
“Why would he go after your mom and Mila?” Sadie asked.
Heath’s heart sank. “To make it easier to get to Clara.”
* * *
Gentle hands skimmed over Clara’s skin, but no matter how lightly those hands touched her, it brought sharp stabs of pain though her body. She struggled to open her eyes, but the bright light streaking through the window ignited agony in her head.
“Clara,” a soft voice cooed. “Can you open your eyes?”
She groaned and curled into herself on the hard floor. She didn’t want to open her eyes, didn’t want to crawl out of the darkness and face whatever had put her in this place.
“It’s Tommy, Clara. I really need you to wake up if you can.” More touching. More soft words and gently coaxing.
Confusion scrambled her thoughts. Tommy? Why was she with Tommy?
“Clara, do you know where Davey and Avery are? I’ve searched the house and they aren’t here.”
The question pierced through her muddled mind and panic clutched her heart. Her eyes flew open on a gasp, and she struggled to sit up right. “Mitch. He was here. He took the kids. Oh my God.” The last word came out on a wail as her very soul cried out for her children.
Tommy knelt on the floor beside her and grabbed her hand. “We’re going to find them, but first we need to make sure you’re okay. Paramedics just got here, and they’ll want to examine you. You’re in rough shape.”
She shook her head and staggered to her feet. Nausea surged to life like an angry storm in the pit of her stomach. Her side screamed in protest, and she doubled over, pressing a shaking hand to the ribs she was certain were cracked in two. “It doesn’t matter. Don’t waste time on me. I’m fine. You need to go out there and find my babies.”
Tommy stood and dipped his chin, forcing her to look at him. “Calls are already out. Deputies and policemen all over this damn county searching for them. I’m here with you in case he comes back.”
“No,” she said, the movement enough to bring back memories of a fist slamming against her face, her head being shoved against the ground. She braced her hand on Tommy’s forearm to keep herself upright. “Go find them. Please.”
A knock sounded on the front door before it swung open, and two emergency medics strode inside.
“Clara, you’re hurt,” Tommy said, “We need to make sure you don’t have to go to the hospital.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said through gritted teeth. “Except pounding the pavement of every square inch in this town until I find my kids.”
The older of the two EMTs, a middle-aged woman with sandy blond hair pulled into a bun at the nape of her neck, gave Clara a knowing look. Her name, Maggie, was sewn onto the upper corner of her navy-blue shirt. She crossed the room and cupped her strong hand over Clara’s bicep. “Honey, I know the last thing you want to do is think about yourself right now. But trust me, that’s the best thing you can do for those kids. You can’t search for them—heck, even use that brain of yours to help find them—while you’re in this much pain. And trust me, I know you’re in a world of hurt right now. Let us help you so you can help them.”
Tears filled Clara’s eyes, but she didn’t have the energy to hold them back. She was terrified and angry and every damn bone in her body hurt.
Hurried footsteps reached her ears before she could respond, and Heath stormed into the house. His gaze found hers, and anger pinched his face as he rushed to her side and gathered her in his arms.
She melted against him, not caring that his touch set her body on fire. Sobs shook her shoulders, and she let herself fall apart for a few moments. Because Heath would put her back together. He’d let her cry and scream and shout then he’d move heaven and hell to find her kids.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, pressing his lips to the top of her head. “I should have been here. I never should have left you alone.” Emotion cut off his voice. His words barely a whisper.
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t know. Neither of us did. But now—” she couldn’t finish her statement, couldn’t do anything but drown in her misery.
“Deputy Sterling,” Maggie interrupted. “I was just telling Clara that we need to examine her now.”
Heath unwound his arms from around her back and cradled her jaw in his palm.
She winced but didn’t pull away from his touch.
His frown deepened, his gaze intense on her face. “I’ll kill him. But Maggie’s right. We need to make sure you’re all right. That bastard did a number on you.”
With a hand on her elbow, he led her to the couch then sat beside her.
Tommy hovered in the corner. “I want to join the search for Mitch, but I need to take Clara’s statement.”
“You can’t wait for that?” Heath snapped.
Clara rested a hand on his knee. “It’s fine. Let’s get this over with so he can put his time to better use.”
She sucked in a breath, grimacing at the ache in her ribs, then relayed the entire horrible experience. By the time she finished, tears ran down her face, and the faces staring back at her held every emotion from pity to sadness to rage.
“I’m so sorry, Clara,” Tommy said. “Know we’re doing everything we can to get them back.”
Maggie offered her a small smile that increased the laugh lines around her mouth. “Our turn,” she said, and hiked a thumb toward the young man waiting in the wings. “I need to check your vitals and take a look at your injuries.”
The other medic, Everett by the name on his uniform, handed her a medical bag.
Maggie searched inside and found what she needed to check Clara’s blood pressure and heart rate. “Everything’s good there,” she said as she worked. She stared into Clara’s eyes as she used her gloved hand to gently touch the back of her head.
Clara hissed in pain.
“My biggest concern as of now is a mild concussion. You have a nasty bump on your head but not much swelling. The cuts on your mouth need cleaning but no stitches. Can I check your ribs?”
Clara inched up her shirt.
“No bruising yet so that’s good, but that doesn’t mean they won’t hurt for a while. If you start experiencing shortness of breath or the pain gets worse, call your doctor. For now, I don’t see any reason why you need to go to the hospital. I’d tell you to take it easy, but I don’t see that happening.”
“No way.” Clara hiked up her chin. “No amount of pain will keep me in this house.”
“I figured, so deputy, keep an eye on her. Over the counter medication to help manage the pain, off her feet as much as possible, and stay hydrated. Your body’s been through one hell of a trauma. I understand your need to put yourself last, but if you don’t take care of you, you’re useless to your children.”
A lump formed in her throat as she watched Maggie pack up her things and the two medics leave the house. When she was alone with Heath, a stillness fell over the room. She reached for his hand and squeezed it like a lifeline. “I always pray for a little peace and quiet. For a moment to myself to think or God forbid watch a show without cartoon animals singing silly songs. But sitting here now without the sound of giggling or crying or even screaming, I’ll never take another loud and crazy moment for granted. Because I have to believe I’ll get them back. Have to believe the chaos will return and the giggling and crying and screaming will fill my ears again. It has to, Heath. I can’t live without them.”
Heath wrapped his arms around her once more and she cried.