Chapter 9
NINE
Jesslyn had been otherwise occupied when she’d received word that Nathan had tried to leap a tall building in a single bound—and was on his way to the hospital. As soon as the ambulance left, she’d done what she needed at the site and informed Chief Laramie she’d be back once the fire was out at the gym. Then she climbed into her rental and headed to the hospital. She had to see for herself that Nathan was all right.
She entered the main emergency department doors and was taken aback by the absolute chaos. People and hospital workers everywhere. People in the hallways, and every possible spot. “What in the world?”
She spotted several people she and Nathan both knew, but no Lainie. Well, Nathan might not even be her patient. Then again, if she’d had a heads-up he was coming, she’d arrange for it to happen.
Where was everyone?
James and Cole had probably taken the suspect to the station for booking and questioning—assuming he didn’t need medical attention—but Andrew would have come to the hospital with Nathan. She assumed.
Jesslyn walked to the triage station. “Carly, have you seen Nathan? He was brought in a few minutes ago.”
“He’s back there, but we’re so busy, I think he’s actually in one of the storage rooms.”
“The stor—seriously?”
“I know. It happens sometimes and most people prefer it to have a modicum of privacy.”
“Unbelievable. What happened? Where’d all these people come from?”
“Tour bus heading to Asheville crashed with an eighteen-wheeler, which caused a twenty-car pileup. You didn’t hear it on the radio?”
Jesslyn rubbed her forehead. “No. I’ve been busy with a fire.” And other stuff.
“We’ve pulled in everyone off duty including paramedics and EMTs to help triage people. On that note, I’ve got to go, but from what I understand, Nathan’s not hurt too bad.”
Relief flowed. “Thanks.” Jesslyn started checking rooms and finally saw Andrew in the hallway. “How is he?” she asked, hurrying to his side.
“He’s okay. Lainie’s been with him. When he saw all the people needing help, he tried to walk back out the door, but Lainie convinced him to let her clear him. He’s had X-rays, just waiting for the results. For what it’s worth, Lainie doesn’t think his hip is broken.”
More relief. “Pain level?”
“Manageable. He let them give him something nonnarcotic and said it was helping. I stepped out while they did their thing.”
“That was fast work on Lainie’s part.”
“Once he said he’d stay, she double-timed it.”
Jesslyn huffed. “Afraid he’d back out and leave.”
“I’m sure. We’re both anxious to question the suspect, but he was calling his lawyer. He’ll keep for a few hours. Oh, I called Nathan’s parents to let them know and I think they’re on the way.”
Uh-oh. “Um, okay.”
Andrew stilled and frowned. “What? Should I not have done that?”
“Guess we’ll see. From what I understand, his relationship with his family is good for the most part, but ... also complicated.”
“Complicated how?”
“Not for me to say.”
Andrew held up a hand. “I got it. I’ll go tell him and hope I still have my head if I messed up.”
“Maybe try groveling?” He grimaced and Jesslyn took pity on him. “It’ll be all right.”
“Guess we’ll find out.” He paused. “You want to go in first?”
“Get the lay of the land, so to speak?”
“Am I a coward?”
“Either that or just smart.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “It’s fine. I got this.”
“How about I go with you?”
“God bless you.”
He led the way to Nathan’s makeshift room and rapped his knuckles on the door.
“Come in.”
Jesslyn followed Andrew inside and let the door shut behind her. The space was bigger than she’d anticipated. And organized well.
Nathan was lying on a gurney on his right side, facing the door. He cracked his eyes open at their entrance. “Hi,” he said.
Jesslyn gave a sympathetic smile. “How’s the hip?”
“Fine. They gave me a muscle relaxer too. Forgot how dopey those things make me feel. I should have refused.”
“Right. Well, while you’re dopey and in no shape to kill me if I messed up...” Andrew cleared his throat. “I have a confession to make.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “Okay.”
“I ... uh ... called your parents and told them you were here.”
“Oh.”
Jesslyn raised a brow at Andrew’s questioning look.
“Wait. You what?” Nathan popped into alertness, the fog in his eyes clearing.
“You gave me their contact info in case anything happened. Something happened.”
“Dude, I meant if I died. Not if I bruised a hip.”
“Oh, right. Sorry about that.”
“’S’okay.” He closed his eyes again. “Parents are good people. Eli’s the one I gotta watch out for. No idea what his problem is, but...” He mumbled something she couldn’t catch.
It was Andrew’s turn to raise a brow at Jesslyn. “How much of that stuff did they give him?”
“Beats me.”
A knock on the door sounded and Jesslyn opened it to find a couple in their late fifties. “Hi.” She introduced herself and Andrew. “I’m guessing you’re Nathan’s parents?”
“We are,” the man said and held out a hand. “I’m Blake and this is Connie.”
“Nice to meet you.” Connie’s slightly furrowed brow clued Jesslyn in to the woman’s worry despite the smile on her face. “He’s fine. Come on in.”
Blake turned to look behind him. “This is Eli, his brother, and Carly, his sister.”
Carly, who looked very much like a feminine version of Nathan, rushed past them all and beelined for her brother. He’d rolled to his back. “Nathan, are you all right?” Carly leaned over and kissed his cheek.
“I’m fine, sis. Just a bruise.”
His parents greeted Nathan with pats and his mother held his hand with no clear intention of ever letting go. Eli hung back near the door and shuffled his feet, his ill-at-ease hovering painful to watch.
Jesslyn’s attention switched back to the parents. They looked younger than she knew them to be, and Nathan favored his mother but got his smile from his father.
She switched back to study Eli. The brother Nathan avoided. He looked like a slightly older version of Nathan. Anyone looking at them would pick them out as siblings.
She smiled at Eli, and he returned it while raking a hand over his head. He nodded and stepped into Nathan’s view.
She thought she might have heard Nathan bite off a low groan.
“Glad you’re okay, Natty,” Eli said.
Natty?
She caught Nathan’s glare at the nickname and vowed never to use it. Then wondered why Eli would. Sibling stuff or something more? It was awfully crowded and her earlier assessment of the room’s size changed. It was getting smaller by the moment, and now was a good time to make her exit. She backed toward the door, not wanting to make a production of leaving. She gave Andrew a small wave and slipped out of the room.
He caught up with her seconds later. “Hey, you think it’s okay to leave him alone with them?”
She smiled. “Yes, he’s a big boy, he can handle it.”
“No conviction to rescue him?”
“Nothing wrong with his voice. He can holler for help if he needs to. Besides, I’m not the one who invited them.”
“Man, you’re cold.”
The words froze her for a brief moment. Was she? She’d really been teasing and hoped Andrew was as well. She just didn’t know him well enough to read him like she could the others.
Before she could find an answer, Lainie appeared and hurried over. “Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just here to check on Nathan. Speaking of checking in, I need to call the chief and see if there’s anything I can do when I return to the scene.” She turned to Andrew. “Can you let me know when you head to the station to question the guy? I’d like to listen in if possible.”
“I don’t mind.”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
A door slammed behind her and she spun to see Eli exit Nathan’s room and lean against the wall, head back, eyes closed, pulling in measured breaths while he clenched and unclenched his fists. Carly stepped out next to him and placed a hand on his arm. He pulled away and walked toward the watercooler at the nurses’ station. She followed, brows pulled in concern.
NATHAN LOCKED HIS JAW against the words he wanted to say and the pain shooting through his hip. Carefully, he leaned back and swallowed. Why did Eli continue to set him off every single time they were together? It was like his brother had suddenly made it his mission in life to be as obnoxious as possible.
He looked at his parents. His father’s tight jaw and narrowed eyes and his mother’s tear-filled ones sent remorse racing through him. Eli and he needed to keep their ... argument? spat? whatever ... to themselves and not stress their parents out over it. “Guys, thanks for coming, but it looks like Eli and I have a few things to settle before we’re going to be able to be civil. Can you tell him to come back in here, then go get some coffee or something and let us talk?”
“Are you sure you can without...” His father didn’t have to finish the sentence.
Nathan took a breath and shifted, then winced before he could stop it. Thankfully, the pain settled fairly quickly. “I don’t know, to be honest,” he said, “but I guess I have to try.”
His mother nodded and took his dad by the arm. “Come on, hon.”
He followed her out of the room, and Eli stepped in seconds later, arms crossed, eyes blazing. Nathan bit his tongue and willed his thoughts to settle down. It was not a great choice to do this while the muscle relaxant was still coursing through his veins. It might relax his filters too much.
Eli took a deep breath and pressed a hand to his lips as though physically restraining his words. Seeing his brother make that effort had a calming effect, and Nathan gathered his composure. “What is it with us?” he asked, his voice low.
“I ... just ... I worry about you. I love you and I worry about you. And while I know everything I say is going to rub you the wrong way, even with all my training, I can’t seem to not say it.”
Nathan nodded. He could appreciate that. “Eli, you keep saying I need counseling, that I need to deal with the ... incident. I had counseling.”
“As a child, not an adult.” Eli looked at his hands, then back to Nathan. “Do you still blame yourself for the fire?”
“Of course I do. The whole thing was my idea! I wanted the s’mores, I wanted to do what I wanted to do. And I wanted to hide so no one would find us and stop us. I stole the lighter and I got us trapped in a shed with a door that often got stuck.” Eli flinched, but Nathan ignored him. “So, yeah, Eli. I still blame myself. I thought I’d left the door cracked, but I didn’t, and as a result, Danny died. It’s on me. I’ve learned to live with it. I’ve learned that kids do dumb stuff and sometimes that can have tragic consequences. I’ve learned not to hate myself anymore. But does it still haunt me? Do I still wake up with dreams of Danny’s screams echoing in my ears? Yes. Will that ever stop? I don’t know. Will I ever be able to move past that and allow myself grace? Again, I don’t know. All I know is I’m sick of you bringing it up, so if there’s any hope at all of us having a relationship, you need to let it go.”
The rant had exhausted him, his hip throbbed, and he wanted nothing more than for Eli to leave before he puked. His brother stood there looking like he wanted to say something else, then tears flooded his eyes and his throat worked. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Then we have nothing more to say to each other. Get out.”
“I was ... I need—I—could we—”
“What, Eli? Why is this about what you need? It’s always about what you want, what you need, isn’t it? Nothing’s changed in that regard, has it? Drop it, man. You weren’t even there!”
His brother’s face went concrete hard. “Right. Exactly. I wasn’t there.” He opened the door and disappeared.
Nathan stifled the yell he wanted to release and settled for a combination of a low growl and harsh groan instead. He pressed a hand to his pounding head. It almost hurt worse than his hip. He swallowed hard, dragging in ragged breaths, ordering the contents of his stomach to stay put.
The door creaked open. What now? Couldn’t everyone just leave him alone for five seconds?
Jesslyn’s head appeared. Okay, everyone except her.
“You okay?” she asked.
“How much did you hear?”
“Not enough to really understand what it was all about. You weren’t shouting.”
“This time.”
“You said things were strained between you and your brother. Did he have something to do with the fire you mentioned? When you were a kid?”
He frowned. “No. It was all me. I was the one who...” Something blipped at the edges of his memory. Eli shouting at him and Danny. It faded as quickly as it appeared. What was that? Where had Eli been? “I mean, maybe he was inside the house? Or with a friend? He was sixteen when it happened, so he would have been driving.” He leaned back and crossed his arms. “I don’t know. I’m not sure it matters.”
“So your parents left you alone at the age of eleven?”
Nathan thought about that. “I guess they must have.” Why didn’t he remember? Did it matter? Another something flickered in the back of his mind and he swiped a hand down the side of his face and froze. “Wait.”
“What?”
“I just remembered that Eli was supposed to be watching us.” Nathan swallowed hard. Where had that memory come from? “Yeah. He told us to go upstairs and play video games. I decided to disobey and the results were tragic.”
“You were kids, Nathan.”
“I know.”
His phone buzzed and he glanced at it. “It’s Lindsay.”
“Go ahead.”
He swiped the screen. “What’s up?”
“I hear you’re channeling Superman.”
Nathan worked hard not to growl. “Haha. I assume you have something helpful to share with me?”
“Lots. But, seriously, are you okay?”
“I’m in one piece, which is something like a miracle, but yeah, so please go for it.”
“Right. So here we are. The gun from the attack at the restaurant is registered to a George Harlow. He reported it stolen about two weeks ago. I had ballistics test-fire it and compare bullets, and there aren’t any known crimes where this gun has been used in the system. Not to say they haven’t been committed, they’re just not in the system. I ran a background check on Harlow and he came back squeaky clean. He owns several other weapons and they’re all accounted for. This one was stolen out of his car.”
“That’s good to know. Frustrating, but good to know.” Another dead end, but ... “I’ll talk to Andrew and we’ll see if we can run down Harlow’s acquaintances. Close friends, but also people maybe not so close? His yard guy, cleaning lady, pool boy, whoever. Even the person who cleans his workspace. I want to find out who knew he had a weapon in his car.”
“You think the person who stole it knew him?”
“Maybe. I’m not ruling it out. Might have just been a guy looking for a gun and got lucky. Or it could be someone who knew Harlow kept one in his car and acted on it. Where was the car parked when the gun was taken?”
“At the guy’s office. He’s a financial adviser with an office on North Main.”
“Thanks, Lindsay. If you don’t mind, pull footage of the parking lot from when he says the gun was stolen. I’m curious to see if there’s anything there. Like a dark blue sedan.”
“Sure thing. I’ll be in touch if I find out anything else. Bye.”
Nathan hung up.
A knock preceded the door opening and the doctor stepped into the room. Jesslyn rose. “I’ll just wait outside.”
“No, it’s all right. You can stay.”
The doc nodded and she settled back into the chair. “Just here to give you the results of your X-rays,” the man said, “and let you know for sure nothing’s broken or even fractured. You have a pretty massive bruise, though, that probably feels like it goes to the bone.”
“Yep.” Before everyone had arrived, he’d taken a look at the area that had gone from red to deep red and was no doubt heading toward a lovely shade of dark purple.
“So there aren’t any physical limitations really other than to do your best not to injure the area again.” He cleared his throat. “I saw the news footage of you jumping off the building. That was intense.”
“A bit.” Was there anyone who hadn’t seen it?
“Take it easy, all right? When it hurts, take the meds. There are two different kinds. One for daytime that won’t make you sleepy, but the other will. It’s a mild narcotic.”
“No narcotics.”
“Fill it, and if you need it, you have it.”
Nathan suppressed a grumble. “Fine.” He’d say anything at this point just to get going.
“And, uh ... you might want to put your cape away for a while. You’re going to be sore for a good long time. Running and jumping, falling? Not a good idea. Let someone else chase the bad guys.”
“I got it. Thank you.” He paused. “But I’m not on desk duty, right?” His SSA would be here to talk to the doc to determine exactly what Nathan could and couldn’t do. He’d require authorization from the doctor for Nathan to resume full duty.
The doctor hesitated. “It’s just a bruise and you’re going to be sore, but there’s no reason to ride a desk if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t.”
He nodded. “I thought that might be the way you’d lean. I’ll sign off that you’re fit for duty, but if you find that’s not the case or you develop any other symptoms, let me know.”
“I will.”
The man left and Nathan groaned, then gathered the strength he was going to need to get off the bed. His next stop was going to be the interrogation room at the station—after he hugged his parents and Carly and thanked them for coming. Hopefully Eli had made himself scarce.
Jesslyn eyed him. “I’ll wait for you outside.”
“Thanks.” He swung his legs over the bed, then got to his feet and simply stood there.
“You okay?”
“I will be. Just gonna be moving slow for a bit.”
“Right. Do you need—Never mind. I’ll just be outside.”
Nathan raised a brow, curious as to what she’d been about to say, but the door shut, cutting off his question.