Chapter 21
Julian was just about to lose his mind.
Petula had spent the night in the hospital, with him on one side and Statler on the other, and now it was taking a ridiculous amount of time for her paperwork to be completed so they could get her the hell out of here.
Unfortunately, it had been a no-brainer that Petula would be going back to the house she shared with Statler.
If Julian already owned his home, he would have insisted she stay with him.
But it was piss-poor timing. The papers wouldn’t be signed until tomorrow.
Even then, Julian’s new digs would only have a bed and a couple dressers for furniture…
Oh, and thanks to Petula, a lot of the small, necessary stuff to move in.
But if he were going to offer his place up as a safe haven for her in the long run, he’d need a lot more, including a state-of-the-art security system.
Statler already had a really good one. Another plus for Petula staying there. In addition to that, each of his crew would be taking turns doing nightly perimeter security
Julian was going to have to up his game to lure Petula away from that kind of dedicated surveillance.
But he was determined.
He’d get on all those house-particulars, right away. His brothers would help with the security system, and he had no doubt Ellen Sothard, heading up the pack of the younger, married Sothard women, would have his house full of furniture in no time.
Of course…Petula would need to have a say in that, since he hoped she’d be staying, long term. He’d have to make sure no interior purchases were made before they were all thoroughly vetted through her.
Now that he and Petula had agreed to forge ahead with their relationship, Julian was champing at the bit. He couldn’t wait to have a place where they could be together without prying ears or eyes, and they could explore the “L” word they’d danced around.
Wanting to get things rolling right away, he needed to call Tabitha.
She’d rally the troops, contact his mother, and between all of them, they’d purchase everything that was needed.
All he had to do was drop off his keys and his credit card to one of the ladies tomorrow after the paper-signing, and he wouldn’t have to think about it again.
He could glue himself to Petula for however long it took to convince her she shouldn’t hunker down in her own house for very long.
The doctors had already told Petula she needed to take a few days off; make sure she had no worrying, lingering symptoms from her dip in the frigid waters. But they didn’t expect anything to pop up, and she’d been cleared to return to work on Friday, barring anything unforeseen.
It was too soon.
He and Statler were on the same page about that. They were already planning that one or the other of them would call her boss on Thursday and demand she be given the extra day before the weekend to fully recover.
If Julian was the one calling, and got the chance, he wanted to talk to this supervisor who didn’t seem to get along with Petula. He thought that was pretty strange, since his girl…
Wow. Julian liked the sound of that, even if it were only in his head.
His girl.
It felt good. It felt right. And Julian was going to do everything in his power to prove he was worthy of her sticking around.
A nurse poked her head through the door and spoke directly to Petula. “The doctor will be in shortly. He has one more patient to see before he gives you a final exam and signs the discharge papers.”
Having been badgered numerous times over the past hour as to when Petula would be sprung, the nurse would probably be damned glad when they finally cleared out.
“Thank you,” Petula remembered to say, just before the door closed.
She looked at Julian and Statler. “You guys are real pains in the asses. You know that?” She said it affectionately, but there was an underlying note of truth to her assertion.
Yeah. Neither he nor Statler had been long on patience this morning. Probably because they hadn’t gotten much sleep.
“Well, this pain in the ass is going to go warm up the truck,” Statler said, standing and stretching. “I might get us some coffees, too, while I’m out.”
“Sounds good,” Julian replied. “Espresso mocha-latté, with—”
“—cinnamon and brown sugar sprinkles,” Statler finished for him.
Julian laughed. It was a definite positive, that Petula’s brother already had his order down pat.
“Tea, for me,” Petula requested. “But if you see anything sugary that looks good, I’ll have one of whatever that is, too. I seem to be ravenous.”
“Which is normal,” Julian told her.
He’d done a lot of reading up on hypothermia while sitting in that damned uncomfortable chair.
“Apparently, your body consumed massive amounts of calories attempting to right your metabolism, so your energy stores are depleted and still trying to make up for lost time,” he schooled.
Petula grinned at him, then gave Statler a thumbs up. “Then make it two,” she informed him sassily.
“You got it.” Stat headed toward the door.
“I’ll get dressed while you’re gone.” Petula swung her bare legs out of bed. She’d been itching to get out of her hospital gown, and it looked like she wasn’t wasting an opportunity to do just that.
Since she’d probably relish some privacy, Julian decided to follow Statler out of the room, and make his phone call to Tabbi in the hallway.
“I’m going to touch base with my office,” he told Petula. “I’ll be right outside if you need anything.”
She rolled her eyes. “Like what? For you to undo the ties on this johnny?”
He chuckled. “Okay. You got me. There’s nothing much I can do here. Give me a shout when it’s safe to come back in.” Julian winked for Petula alone, and was pleased to see her normal blush return.
He’d missed that.
He and Statler walked out.
“I’ll be back as soon as possible,” Statler told him, digging in his coat pocket to extract his truck keys.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Julian assured him, and pointed to a spot between two windows in the hallway that was directly across from Petula’s room. “I’ll be right there.”
Statler gave him a satisfied nod, then jogged off down the hall.
Julian relaxed against the wall and dialed his phone, then turned his body to gaze out one of the windows.
It looked like a nice day. Finally. The rain had stopped, the sun was out, and if they were lucky, it would be warm.
That would make Petula’s walk from the ubiquitous wheelchair to Stat’s truck, easier and more comfortable.
His call connected.
“Diver Downeast. Sheila speaking.”
“Hi Sheils. This is Julian.”
“I know. Caller ID. I know who it is. It’s Julian. What do you want?”
Julian held back a snicker. Sheila was always direct and to the point.
“Is Tabbi there? I’d like to speak with her.”
Clunk.
The phone hit the desk before he heard…
“Tabbi. Julian is on the phone.”
Now Julian did chuckle. He was used to Sheila’s ways, but her abruptness still amused the hell out of him.
“Hey Jules. What’s up?” Tabitha questioned, not five seconds later. “How’s Petula doing?”
“She’s good,” Julian confirmed. “We’re waiting for her discharge papers to be signed, then I’ll be accompanying her back to Statler’s house. I hope I’m not needed for anything there?”
He’d go in if he had to, but he preferred being by Petula’s side, at least for the rest of the day, and the balance of the following, after his closing.
His skin still crawled, thinking of what had happened to her.
Being within touching distance for a while was the only thing that would assuage his anxiety.
“Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered,” Tabitha told him. “We haven’t had any call-outs this morning, unless you count the one we received a few minutes ago. Mrs. Jenks’ cat, Nippers, is out in the middle of her pond again.”
“Don’t tell me,” Julian chuckled. “The little rascal swam to that beaver damn for the second time, and she’s refusing to budge.”
“Got it in one,” Tabitha confirmed. “Buck’s taking the call. He’s going to try out the new Zodiac.”
Damn. Julian had hoped to christen the craft, but it had only been delivered late yesterday afternoon, but he’d been a little busy since then.
“This time, however,” Tabitha continued, “Buck will be wearing protective gloves and a helmet shield so the little terror won’t dig the hell out of him like last time.”
“Swear jar!” Julian heard in the background, and laughed at Sheila’s demand while recalling the incident between Buck and the cat.
A few weeks ago, the tiny furball—while being “rescued” by Buck who was in his drysuit at the time, had scratched the begeezus out of his brother’s chin, and ruined the sleeves of what had been a perfectly good piece of equipment.
“I hope it goes better for him, this time.”
“Yeah. You and me both. But to be prepared, he’s also bringing a cage, so we have high hopes.”
And were probably taking bets.
He wanted in on that.
“Ten bucks says Buck makes it back, unscathed.”
Tabitha laughed. “Ooh. Nothing gets by you. And the pot’s getting more and more interesting by the minute. Five of us, so far, think he’ll survive unscratched. Three believe he’ll see damage, and I haven’t even called the rest of your brothers yet.”
Julian laughed. “I—”
The words died in his throat as he caught sight of a reflection in the window.
Someone was heading into Petula’s room.
Julian turned, thinking it must be the doctor, but instead he noted the back of Statler’s blond head as he walked through the door.
What the…?
Why would Stat be back so—?
Fuck! That wasn’t Statler.
Petula’s brother had been wearing a green coat and khakis. Whoever had just gone into Petula’s room was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt.
“Red alert,” he barked into the phone.
It was all Julian had time to impart before he raced across the hall.
He rushed through the door, and…
Three steps in, Julian noted that whoever was impersonating Statler had spooked at his entrance, picked up a chair and was smashing through the window.
Julian dove across the floor and caught the man’s ankle, but the perp was slippery, and before Julian could get up from the linoleum, the intruder had kicked out of his grasp and dived outside.
Julian found his feet, but knew he had no chance of catching the intruder, who immediately hauled ass across the parking lot.
Julian turned to Petula, stripping off his coat and draping it around her shoulders. She was dressed, but only in a t-shirt and jeans, and now there was cold air coming in through the window.
“Are you okay?”
Petula looked shocked and pale, but she nodded. “Fine,” she told him mutedly.
Julian would check her out more thoroughly later, but for now he’d take her word for it. He leaned down and retrieved his phone from where it had landed on the floor, and dialed Statler.
“Are you in the parking lot?” he barked.
“Down the street at the coffee shop. Why?” Statler snapped back, clearly hearing the urgency in Julian’s voice.
“Someone was just in Petula’s room. Someone who looked an awful lot like you.”
“It was Jefferson,” Petula spoke up quietly from where she sat perched on the side of the bed.
Julian glared toward the broken window and cursed. “Fuck. She says it was Jefferson. And he got away. Last known 20, he was on foot, headed east from the hospital.”
“I’m on my way.” Statler replied tightly. “I’ll find the bastard.”
Julian nodded, even though Statler couldn’t see. “My brothers from the shop are probably nearly here, but I’ll call Mason and make sure he puts out an APB, stat.”
“He didn’t hurt me,” Petula interjected. This time her voice sounded stronger. “He…looks so much like Stat now, and he was…nice.”
Julian punched the button on his phone so Statler could hear what Petula was saying.
“What do you mean, he was nice?” Julian glowered.
“He… We didn’t have much time before you burst in. Maybe only seconds. But he said how sorry he is for what he did, and that…he missed me terribly.”
Some of the starch went out of Julian’s backbone, but still… “He didn’t have a weapon?”
“No. At least not that I could see. And he was…so sincere.”
Petula wrapped her arms around her waist and rocked as she continued.
“It didn’t seem like he was here to hurt me. I may be wrong, but—”
“He killed our parents, Petti,” Statler interjected. “I don’t care how he appeared to you; he can’t be trusted. What if Julian hadn’t come in? What if Jefferson had managed to grab you and take you away?”
“I…” Petula deflated and shook her head, looking close to tears. “Listen. Can we save this discussion for later? I just want to go home.”
She’d been through so much in the last twenty-four hours, clearly she’d reached the end of her rope.
Statler gave in, but not happily. “Fine. But our brother has a target on his back, now. He’s not getting away with this.”
He hung up.
Julian walked over and put his arm around Petula’s shoulders, but before he could ease her into giving him any additional details about anything she might have forgotten to tell him, his brothers stormed in.
“You said ‘red al—‘,” Spencer’s voice halted when he saw the broken window. “What the hell happened?”
Julian was about to fill him in when the door opened again.
It was Petula’s doctor, adding one more body to the mix.
As if the room didn’t already seem small enough.
The doc looked around at all the large men, then at the shattered glass. To give him props, he shuffled forward, albeit nervously, and handed Petula her paperwork.
“I’m, uh, sure there’s a good explanation for this?” he squeaked, clearly uneasy that trouble might still be in attendance.
Julian took charge. “Petula’s brother who recently got out of prison,” he told everyone grimly, “decided to pay her a visit.”
“Oh, shit,” Trask swore.
Julian nodded. “My sentiments, exactly.”