Chapter 3 A Time for Everything
A team of medical personnel converged on the room to take Ella’s vitals and remove her air tube. They replaced it with an oxygen line that they clipped beneath her nose.
“It’s a miracle,” one of the nurses breathed as she helped make Ella more comfortable.
More like a series of miracles. Everything about Ella Lawton’s sudden appearance in Heart Lake felt nothing short of miraculous to Gage. The better part of an hour passed before he was alone with her again.
She watched him shyly as he moved to the foot of the bed, strumming his fingers against the metal railing.
“Hey, you.” Something kept him from immediately confessing that he knew who she was.
“Hi, Gage.” She was looking better than she had at the diner —much better. For starters, she was awake and sitting up. Her white-blonde hair had been removed from her braids and was waving silkily against her shoulders. The color was back in her cheeks, too. “I don’t remember if I thanked you for jumping between me and that creep at the diner.” Her voice sounded a tad raspy, probably from the breathing tube that had previously been down her throat. “If you hadn’t come along when you did…” She shivered.
“But I did.” He liked the fact that she had a fresh bag of fluid dripping through her IV line. As the doctor had promised, the medical staff was doing everything they could to bolster her strength. “Do you know him?”
“No.” She shook her head, looking confused. “I feel like I should, though. There was something familiar about him. His eyes maybe?” Her voice rose to a questioning pitch.
Intensely intrigued, Gage gestured for her to continue.
“He acted like he knew me.” She shook her head again, growing visibly agitated. “Then he said something about being paid to deliver me to some people who wanted to talk to me.”
“Interesting.” It sounded like a borderline kidnapping attempt to him. “Did he say who these people are?”
“No. He only referred to them as they .” She raised her hands to make air quotes around the word. “It was all so weird. Really. I’ve never laid eyes on the guy before today.”
“You’ve never laid eyes on me before today, either,” Gage pointed out, “yet you called me by my name earlier.”
Unshed tears glinted in her eyes. “Only because my dad showed me pictures and told me all about you.”
The sight of her tears tore at his heart, but all he did was raise his eyebrows. “And your father is…?”
“Was,” she corrected in a trembly voice. “He died while I was, um...” She paused, fighting to regain control of her emotions. “You knew him as Colonel Lawton.”
He gazed down at her, utterly floored. It was one thing to hypothesize about her identity inside his head. It was another thing entirely to have her confirm his wildest hopes.
As she watched his response — or lack thereof, since he was purposely keeping his expression bland — she raised her chin defensively. “I’m not making this up. My father told me you have a crescent shaped birthmark on your left shoulder.”
Though it was true, he continued to keep his expression carefully schooled. Someone had murdered her father, possibly in front of her. Under the circumstances, it was better to keep her talking.
“He said you and your younger brother were adopted by an older couple. And after your adoptive dad died and your adoptive mom got sick, you managed to get guardianship of your brother and basically finished raising him.”
His jaw dropped open. Not because he was adopted, but because of the other things she’d said. Very few people knew he’d been officially granted guardianship of his brother. It hadn’t been easy for a soldier in his early twenties to be thrust so suddenly into single parenthood. He’d worked long hours, hired a lot of babysitters, and wasn’t much of a cook. Somehow, though, he and Rock had survived on macaroni and cheese, hotdogs, and what little quality time he could scrape together for stuff like homework and football practices. Looking back, he wasn’t sure he would’ve fared half as well without the fatherly guidance of his company commander, Mick Lawton —a man who’d also been a single parent.
“Your dad said all of that, eh?” Though Gage’s heart thumped at the memories, he fought to keep his voice neutral.
“That and more.” Ella gave him a piercing look, like she was trying to see inside his very soul. “He also said you were the one who provided security for my kidney donor on her way to the hospital. ”
Gage leaned forward on the bed, gripping the foot rail with both hands. Nobody was supposed to know that. Mick had sworn he would never tell anybody. Of the two people who knew what Gage had done that night, one was now dead and the identity of the other remained a mystery. All he knew was that the organ donor had met them at a private airstrip in Heart Lake. Mick had flown them from there to Corpus Christi.
Though it was obvious to Gage that Mick had known the woman, it was equally obvious that his friend had wanted to keep her name a secret. So had she. She’d worn one of those masquerade ball-type masks the whole time he’d been in the air with them.
Because he’d technically gone AWOL to perform such a last-minute favor for his friend, Gage had hightailed it to the bus station the moment the woman was in surgery. It was a decision he’d lived to regret. Since then, not a day had gone by that he didn’t ask himself if Mick would still be alive if he’d made a different decision. If he’d at least spent the rest of the night at the hospital.
“I never got to thank you for making sure my donor made it safely to Corpus Christi, whoever she is,” the lovely daughter of his beloved former company commander continued in the same lilting musical alto, “so I’m doing it now. What you did that night, well…it’s the only reason I’m still alive.” Her voice hitched with emotion. “And now you’ve done it again. According to the doctor, you saved my life today.”
He had to clear the lump of emotion from his throat before he could speak. “I’m just thankful I was there to lend a hand.” As the executor of Mick Lawton’s will, he would also be the one to distribute her inheritance. He’d almost given up hope that this day would ever come .
“So, you believe me?” The hope infusing Ella’s features nearly brought him to his knees.
“I do.” He cleared his throat again. “I figured it out before you woke up.” He straightened and tapped a finger against his right temple. “I saw your scars.”
Her eyes widened. “From the kidney transplant?”
“No.” He could understand her confusion, though. He probably wasn’t being very clear. “I was referring to the facelift you had, and um…” He ran a hand over his neck. “I’m guessing a chin tuck?”
“A chin tuck?” She gave a breathy expulsion of laughter. “Is that actually a thing?”
“You tell me.” He gestured at her with both hands, feeling awkward. “I’m no medical professional. Maybe the official name for the procedure is something else.”
She blinked at him. “The only procedure I know about is the kidney transplant I had a few days ago.” Her hands crept to her midsection. “I honestly can’t believe they took the bandages off so soon.”
“A few days ago?” He scowled in puzzlement at her. “More like five years ago!”
“Five years?” She squeaked out the words, palpating her belly with more fervor. “No! That’s not possible!” Whatever she felt beneath her fingertips, or didn’t feel, made her grow deathly pale. Her breathing disintegrated into short pants.
Feeling out of his element, Gage moved around the foot of her bed to sink back into the vinyl chair beside her. “Just breathe,” he commanded quietly.
“I’m trying,” she protested piteously. “It’ll help if you’ll tell me what’s going on.”
“I’m not sure.” It was possible she was experiencing some sort of amnesia related to the trauma of losing her father. Mick had been murdered in his daughter’s hospital room. According to the brief news release about it, the physician on duty claimed she’d been heavily sedated at the time. He further claimed it was unlikely she’d witnessed the horrific murder.
But what if she had?
“Just tell me what you’re thinking,” she pleaded.
“Okay.” Unsure how to proceed, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I’m not sure how to say this.”
“Say it anyway.” Her voice shook.
“So, uh…your surgery took place five years ago.” There. He’d said it. “You’ve been missing ever since.”
“Missing?” Ella looked so confused that his heart ached for her. “For five years? Isn’t that an awfully long time for someone to be missing?” She didn’t look convinced, and he didn’t blame her. It was a lot to absorb.
“Yeah, it’s a long time.” He was still absorbing it himself. He’d been expecting her to share some wild tale of where she’d spent the last five years and the lengths she’d gone to remain in hiding. Instead, it appeared that the last five years of her life were a blank to her.
“Why don’t I remember it?” She looked two snaps away from passing out again. “Any of it?”
“I don’t know.” She looked so lost and forlorn that he moved from the chair to the side of her bed, perching gingerly on the edge of her mattress. “But I intend to find out.” Almost without thinking, he reached for her hand.
To his relief, she didn’t act like he’d done anything weird. She gripped his hand like a lifeline, blinking rapidly and looking like she was trying not to dissolve into tears.
He cradled her hand between his, massaging the pressure points with his thumbs.
She watched him dazedly. “Guess that’s why my dad told me to find you. He must’ve known you would help me.” The tears she’d been struggling to hold back came gushing out from beneath her lashes. They rolled in rivulets down her cheeks.
“When did he tell you that?” Gage continued pressing his thumbs against each pressure point, grateful that she hadn’t passed out on him again. He could handle tears. He just needed her eyes open so they could keep talking.
“Right before he…” She stopped and gulped, then tried again. “It was the last thing he said to me before…” A harsh sob tore out of her.
Gage gripped her fingers tighter. “Ella, are you telling me you witnessed?—?”
“Yes!” She gasped out the word, turning as white as the sheet on her bed. “I saw it all.”
He sat there, stunned, for a moment. “Did you tell the police?”
“Of course! I told them everything.” Her voice rose in distress. “I wanted to help search for his killer, but they wouldn’t let me out of that stupid bed. The rest of the time I was too heavily sedated to argue the point.” She raised both hands to her head. “I was in bed a long time. Days, I think. Maybe weeks. That’s where my memories get really hazy.”
What she was saying didn’t sound right to Gage. None of it sounded right. From what little the police had been willing to share with the press, there was one thing they’d been crystal clear about. According to them, Ella Lawton was still missing.
His investigator’s instincts scrambled to explain the mystery by reviewing everything she’d revealed to him today. An eye witness account of her father’s murder. Days or weeks of sedation. Cosmetic surgeries she didn’t have any recollection of .
A whole new set of what ifs rose to the surface.
What if Ella hadn’t been telling her story to the police? What if she’d been telling her story to someone else instead? Someone who’d whisked her out of the hospital after her father had been murdered? Someone or several someones that, in her sedated state, she’d assumed were the police? Or was led to believe were the police?
Gage was starting to wonder if another call to Sheriff Luke Hawling was in order. He eyed the faint scars near Ella’s temples. “What can you tell me about the cosmetic surgeries you underwent?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” She shook her head helplessly at him, wiping at the dampness on her cheeks with the back of her hand. “How different do I look?” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“I didn’t recognize you at first,” he informed her cautiously. “Then again, I’ve only seen you in photos before today, so there’s that.”
If anything, she turned paler. “It’s that bad, huh?”
“I didn’t say that.” He rubbed her chilly fingers between his some more, sensing she needed reassurance. “If a non-biological older brother is allowed to have an opinion on the matter, you’re still beautiful.” He chose his words carefully, not wanting to make things awkward between them by making it sound like he was flirting with her.
She stared at him blankly for a moment. Then her lips parted with a humorless chuckle. “Believe me, I’m not fishing for compliments. I’m just um…” She broke off whatever else she was about to say, swallowing hard.
He didn’t rush to fill in the silence, instinctively knowing she needed time to just breathe and take it all in. She was handling things pretty well, everything considered. If he’d been in her shoes, he’d probably be having a hard time keeping it together, too.
“Can I see…me?” she finally asked. Her head swiveled around the room, presumably in search of a mirror. “Never mind,” she sighed, catching sight of the adjoining bathroom door. It was standing ajar. “Something tells me you probably don’t carry around a compact mirror, and I don’t feel like getting up.”
“You’re right.” His lips twitched. “I don’t wear a lot of makeup.” None, in fact. He’d been trying to figure out how to safely pick her up and carry her to the mirror in the bathroom without jostling her IV line too badly.
A bleating sound of distress escaped her as another thought struck her. “If everything you say is true, then I’m twenty-nine now.” She added in a whisper, “I’ve missed five whole birthdays.”
“You’re a very beautiful twenty-nine.” He vowed on the spot to keep telling her that until she believed him. Until she understood that he wasn’t going to run from the fact that she was missing five years of her life. Until she believed he was going to remain by her side every step of the way while she struggled to dredge up the blank spots in her memories. Or if she didn’t.
“That’s what your father would say if he were here.” Since Ella had given him such a blank look over calling himself her non-biological brother, it felt safer to remind her how much her father had loved her.
Her cheeks grew pink as she cocked her head at him. “What would my non-biological brother say?”
He gave a huff of humor. Apparently, there was nothing wrong with her short-term memory recall. “You’re not going to let me forget that, are you? ”
“Not a chance. Answer the question,” she commanded playfully.
“He would agree with your father.”
The pink in her cheeks blazed brighter. “As a point of reference, how much older than me is this newly acquired non-biological brother of mine?”
He chuckled, appreciating the fact that she’d managed to scrounge up a bit of humor to inject into the situation. “Thirty-eight.” He’d joined the military when he was seventeen, something his dirt-poor adoptive parents had all too willingly signed off on. He’d served twenty years in the Army and retired a year ago at the age of thirty-seven. He might’ve re-enlisted for another tour of duty if he hadn’t been so focused on seeking justice for Mick.
“That makes you nine years older than me.” Ella pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I hope you don’t intend to use that as an excuse to boss me around.”
Gage treated her to his most wicked smirk. “In my experience, older brothers don’t need much of an excuse. They come by their bossiness naturally.” He was twelve years older than his brother, Rock. To this day, he harassed him every chance he got, and Rock dished it right back — calling him dad and acting like a perennial brat. Unfortunately, Gage didn’t get the chance to harass him nearly often enough since he’d joined the Special Forces. Rock was currently deployed. It was anyone’s guess where.
“As experienced as you may be in the role, I’m not accustomed to being bossed around by anyone except….” Ella’s tears started to flow again. “My dad is really gone, isn’t he?” Her gaze went out of focus.
He dropped her hand and scooted closer to draw her into his embrace. “I’m sorry, Ella.” He was more sorry than she would ever know. “I miss him, too.” As she wept against his shoulder, it hit him that she was still living five years in the past inside her head, which meant her grief must still feel fresh to her. What a bizarre situation! She was going to need professional counseling, police protection, and goodness only knew what else during the coming days.
“I’m sad, but I’m also m-mad,” she quavered between sobs. “Mad that it happened. Mad at everyone who let it happen. Including God.”
That was a tough one. He cradled her against his chest, wishing he had the answers she was looking for, but he didn’t.
A nurse worriedly popped her head through the doorway, but Gage waved her away. A scripture from the Book of Ecclesiastes was running through his head — the one about how there was a time for everything. A time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance . At the moment, it felt like the time to weep and mourn.
While she continued to weep, he let his own tears flow, something he hadn’t allowed himself to do before today. It hadn’t felt right to unleash his grief and seek any sort of closure while Mick Lawton’s killer was still running around freely. It felt very appropriate, however, to mourn alongside Mick’s long-lost daughter.
They wept together until her tears dampened the front of his shirt. Since he was normally off work on Saturdays, he wasn’t in his Lonestar Security uniform today. Just a navy t-shirt, jeans, and boots. Even though the sheriff had put him back on guard duty, he liked the fact that he wasn’t dressed for work. He didn’t want the woman in his arms to feel like a duty. He wanted her to feel like…
Eh, he didn’t know what he wanted her to feel like. Not his sister, that was for sure. The moment the whole non-biological brother comment had slipped out of his mouth, he’d regretted it. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d called her beautiful. She radiated a natural form of beauty from the inside out that no amount of cosmetic surgery had been able to alter. The fact that her hair was tousled this evening and her accent had a hint of a twang in it only served to accentuate her appeal to him. Under different circumstances, he would’ve labeled her as smoking hot. Under different circumstances, he would’ve flirted with her in a heartbeat.
“You must’ve really cared for my dad.” She gave him a squeeze hug before letting him go, wincing in pain as she leaned back against the pillows. She shifted from one hip to the other, looking like she was trying to find a more comfortable position.
He swiped his face a few times to get rid of the dampness, then wiped his hands on his jeans. Once she got settled in, he reached for the box of tissues on a silver stand beside her bed and held it out to her. She gratefully pulled out a wad of fluffy white tissues and buried her drenched face in them.
“Your dad was my company commander.” He eagerly told her the story of how he’d met her father. “By the time he retired from the Army, he was one of my best friends.” He used that sidebar detail to transition into another necessary topic. “Since he didn’t have any other family besides you, he made me the executor of his will.” Any other family that acknowledged his existence, that is.
Ella’s face popped up from the wad of tissues. “My father had a will?”
“Every soldier has a will,” he explained soberly. “It’s standard procedure for us to sit down with a legal adviser and have one drawn up before we deploy. ”
“Oh.” It didn’t sound to him like it was something she and her father had discussed.
“You’re his sole heir, of course.” She had to be wondering.
She drew a deep, shuddery breath. “After I left home for college, he bounced around from apartment to apartment. I’m pretty sure he didn’t own much. Not even a car.” She gave him a tremulous smile. “He rode his bike for small errands, took the bus or a taxi for larger errands, and flew everywhere else. It helped that he had his pilot’s license.”
“You’re right. He didn’t own much outside of the bank.” Gage stressed the word outside to give her a moment to register what he was leading up to.
She scowled in puzzlement at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re about to inherit a nice chunk of change.” He quoted a figure that made her jaw drop. “That’s what’s in his savings and checking accounts after five additional years of accumulated interest. Then there are the proceeds from his life insurance policy.” He stated another number that for some reason made her teary-eyed again.
“He was worth so much more to me than that,” she choked. “It feels wrong to reduce a person’s life to a dollar amount.”
“I hear you.” It amazed Gage that she didn’t seem the least bit interested in hearing when and how the grand sum of a little over a million dollars would get transferred to her name.
“I would give it all back in a heartbeat,” Ella declared in the same fervent voice. “Every last penny of it if it would bring him back! ”
He believed her. “I’d gladly add every penny in my name to the cause.”
She gave him a watery smile. “I could kiss you for saying that.”
Really? He felt his face turn red. For the first time in a very long time, he was rendered speechless.
She burst out laughing, though her gaze was still glassy with unshed tears. She dabbed a tissue at the corner of each eye. “What’s wrong? You’re not into gals with red-rimmed eyes, snotty noses, and hospital gowns?”
“I didn’t say that.” His voice came out strangled. For the life of him, he couldn’t tell if she was flirting with him or simply having fun at his expense in the sisterly arena he’d introduced her to. Either way, his single and lonely guy brain was all tripped up over the thought of kissing her.
“You didn’t have to,” she sighed. “I can only imagine what I look like. I sure as all get out know what I feel like. Every inch of my body surface is screaming.” She shoved her right sleeve up and frowned at the ugly bruises rising on her upper arm.
“So help me,” Gage snarled, fisting his hands on his knees. His earlier embarrassment was gone. In its place was a feeling that bordered on murderous. “That was Billy Bob’s doing, wasn’t it?”
She blew out a breath instead of giving him a direct answer. “Believe it or not, my feet hurt worse than my arm. Ugh!” She dragged one knee up to her chest and slid her foot out from beneath the white blanket. A clean white bandage covered the entire back of her heel. “I must have walked my heels off in those old boots.”
She pulled the bandage back and shuddered at the sight of the festering blister beneath it .
He leaned closer for a quick peek and was relieved to see the residue of antibiotic ointment covering it.
She hurriedly smoothed the bandage back in place, looking so forlorn that he sensed what he said and did next would be doubly important.
He reached over to run his thumb around the edge of the bandage. “You’re on the homeward stretch, soldier.” She’d survived a horrific attack on her life. Now was the time to focus on healing and rebuilding her strength.
She made a face at him. “Most guys would be grossed out by what I just showed you.”
“I’m not most guys.” He winked at her.
She rolled her eyes at him. “Because of your combat experience?”
He snorted. “That, and the fact that I was raised with a younger brother. No sisters. We prided ourselves on trying to outdo each other on grossness.”
Ella wiggled some more against her pillows, emitting a groan of pain. She flapped a hand at him. “Is there any chance your royal grossness would help me roll my very sore and tired self to my side?”
Though he assisted her as gently as he could, she still had to stifle a gasp of pain as she rolled to her side. “Just let me die,” she sighed with her cheek against the sheet.
“Not a chance, beautiful.”
Though she smiled at his words, another tear dribbled over her nose and plopped onto the bed linens. It was a long time before she spoke again. “What if I don’t ever get the last five years back, Gage?”
“Then we’ll just have to make the next five years really epic.” The moment he spoke, he hoped she wouldn’t mistake his words for flippancy. He wasn’t trying to downplay her suffering. He’d only been trying to underscore the fact that he wasn’t going anywhere.
“You’d really stick around that long?” Her voice grew bitter.
“I can be stubborn like that,” he informed her lightly. “Just ask my brother.”
“You sound so stinking noble,” she muttered.
“I’ve been called worse.” He reached over to give a strand of her hair a playful tweak. “A lot worse.”
She swatted his hand away. “I’ve probably taken up enough of your time for one day. Don’t you have a wife or a girlfriend to go bother?”
He waggled his eyebrows at her. “Is that your way of asking if I’m single?”
“I thought I was being subtle.” Her voice was dry.
“Nope, you weren’t very subtle. Yep, I’m single. What about you?” He tossed the question back at her without thinking and instantly regretted it. She was missing five years of her memories, which meant she might have no idea if she was involved with anyone. Or had been. He was really hoping she wasn’t, though.
“Can I get back to you about that?” She fluttered her fingers wearily at him. “Right now, I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast.”
“Want me to order something?” he offered quickly. “Or go grab some takeout for us?”
She yawned. “Not a big fan of hospital food, are you?”
“Not really.” Since she had an IV going, he wondered if it would be better to simply let her rest. “I kinda had my heart set on pizza for dinner. That, and sticking to you like a cocklebur for the rest of the evening.” His stomach rumbled at the mere mention of dinner. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearly seven o’clock. The day had flown by. So had the lunch hour, which he’d missed entirely.
“I never say no to pizza.” Ella yawned again, and her eyelashes fluttered down against her cheeks.
“I also think we should call the local police.” He was careful to stress the local part, since he wasn’t confident her father’s case was being given much priority by the Corpus Christi police. “I’d like you to tell them everything you’ve told me.”
“Okay,” she mumbled and closed her eyes.
She was asleep long before the pizza arrived. Gage ate alone in the chair by her bed. Then he rang both Gil and Luke again to update them on Ella’s condition. Both calls rolled to voicemail, so he left them messages, letting them know they were no longer dealing with a Jane Doe.
Instead of calling him back, Luke showed up in person. He took note of Ella’s sleeping form and motioned Gage into the hallway.
Gage pulled the door to, without shutting it all the way, and leaned against the wall beside it. “Her name is Ella Lawton. Her dad grew up in this town.”
Luke frowned. “Are you sure about that?”
“Very sure.” Gage harbored no doubts whatsoever. “Why?”
Luke curled his thumbs through the loops of his jeans and rocked back on the heels of his boots. “The same Ella Lawton who’s been missing for the past five years?”
“The same Ella,” Gage affirmed, wondering where his questions were leading.
“She looks nothing like her,” Luke declared flatly. “Not that I’ve ever met her in person. I’ve only seen pictures of her in the news. ”
“That’s what I thought at first, too.” Gage wasn’t sure where to start with her story.
Luke abruptly removed his Stetson and slapped it against his knee. “It’s the cosmetic procedures that changed her appearance, isn’t it?”
“That’s my running theory.” Gage went on to explain the holes in her memories. Holes which included the cosmetic procedures to her face. “I don’t think she’s been on the road for long. Maybe a couple of weeks.”
Luke clapped his hat back on his head. “During her medical exam, they found no sign of sexual assault, so that’s one thing we can rule out.”
Gage was enormously thankful to hear it. He still had more questions than answers, though. “Who in the world would kidnap a woman right after she’d witnessed a gruesome murder, then put her through a bunch of cosmetic procedures?”
“I think it’s safe to say they didn’t want anyone to recognize her.” Luke rubbed a hand over the lower half of his face.
“Why?” Gage didn’t really expect an answer.
“I don’t know, but I’m getting the feeling it may have something to do with the fact that her father was raised at Bolander & Sons Ranch.”
Gage had been thinking the same thing. “Did you know him?”
“Nope.” Luke shook his head. “Everybody around here knows how he died, though. Since he was from this area, his murder made a big splash in the local news.”
“I bet.” Gage had been living in Heart Lake long enough to know that it didn’t take much to make headlines in a town this small. The murder of a hometown boy would’ve been news indeed .
“Mick Lawton was closer to Gil’s age,” Luke noted. “They might’ve gone to school together.”
“Makes sense.” Gage’s brain was still spinning from everything new he’d learned today. It was possible Mick was the same guy Gil Remington had been referring to earlier when Gage had asked him if he personally knew anyone who worked for the Bolanders. If the two men had known each other back in high school, Gil might remember something that would shed light on the case —starting with whether or not Mick had made any enemies in Heart Lake. It was worth asking, anyway.
Luke rubbed his hand over the lower half of his face again. “Now that we know our Jane Doe is Ella Lawton, this changes things.” He gave a low whistle as he mulled it over. “It changes everything. She’s gonna need round-the-clock protective custody until we figure out who poisoned her glass of water. Someone, and I’m not ready to name names yet,” he warned, “made an attempt on her life today. Then there’s the matter of how she went missing from the public eye for the past five years. I’ll reach out to the Corpus Christi police to find out what they?—”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Gage interrupted.
Luke looked taken aback. “Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?”
Maybe. Gage knew that what he was about to say was way out of line. “Listen, they’ve been stonewalling me for five straight years.”
Luke’s eyebrows shot sky high. “Why would they do that?”
“I, er…haven’t been as upfront with you about everything as I should have.” Gage averted his gaze as he confessed, “Mick is the biggest reason I relocated to Heart Lake.” It had never been just about launching a new career or his fascination with investigative techniques. “He was my company commander for a while. Then he became my friend. I also happen to be the executor of his will. Not that I had any hope of finding Ella alive this late in the game.”
“But you did.” Luke glanced down the hallway toward the elevators. “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that you’re wanting justice for both her and her father now.”
“Bingo.” The sheriff was taking his confession better than Gage had expected him to.
“Well, I’m not the one you need to do your biggest explaining to.” Luke looked amused. “Believe me, I do not envy your next conversation with Gil Remington.” A dry chuckle escaped him. “He’s your boss, isn’t he?”
“Something like that.” Gage wasn’t looking forward to their next conversation, either. “Assuming he doesn’t fire me on the spot.”
Luke was still chuckling as he turned to walk away. “I’ll ask the head nurse to notify me when Ella wakes up, so I can return to take her statement.” He didn’t say anything else about contacting the Corpus Christi police. Gage could only hope that meant he intended to think twice about doing so.
He returned to Ella’s bedside to keep vigil over her. One of the other Lonestar Security guards, a guy by the name of Johnny Cuba, showed up to relieve him at eight o’clock on the dot.
Gage pointed at the pizza box lying closed on the silver roller cart beside the bed. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m always hungry.” Johnny swaggered farther into the room, looking like G.I. Joe in his all-back Lonestar uniform. He had way more gadgets than necessary jammed into his cargo vest and pants. It was as if he was going out of his way to look tough. Either that, or he was trying to impress Ella.
It didn’t make Gage feel any better that Johnny looked a good five years younger than him. Maybe more. He also didn’t like the curious once-over Johnny gave Ella while she was sleeping. He liked the low whistle Johnny let out afterward even less.
He wracked his brain, trying to remember what he knew about the guy’s background. Unless he was getting him mixed up with someone else, Johnny had been a bull rider when he’d landed on the radar of the original owners, Josh Hawling and Decker Kingston. Josh and Deck had recently added retired Sheriff Gil Remington to their partnership, along with the town attorney, Dave Phillips, who also happened to be Gil’s best friend. He’d become the fourth and final partner in The Tetrad, as the four friends liked to call themselves.
“No wonder you took first shift.” Johnny sounded envious as he took an oversized bite of the two slices of pizza he’d smashed together like a sandwich. Whatever he said next was too muffled to understand.
“Ella and I go way back,” Gage announced vaguely. He didn’t care that he was stretching the truth a little. He just wanted the guy’s eyeballs off of her.
Johnny waved a finger between Gage and Ella. “So, you and she?—”
“Go way back,” Gage repeated testily.
Johnny took another bite that was even bigger than the last one. Then he pivoted toward the door. “I see.” He seemed to enjoy speaking with food in his mouth.
Gage tried to take comfort in the fact that the muscle-bound former bull rider sounded like he had more brawn than brains. Since Ella had mentioned going to college, maybe she’d find his poor table manners off putting.
Johnny poked his head around the door a half hour later without bothering to knock. “You going home anytime soon?” His question was accompanied by another curious glance toward the sleeping woman on the bed.
“Nope.” Gage settled deeper in his chair, wishing he had something to prop his feet on. It was going to be a long night.
“Visiting hours are almost over,” Johnny pointed out.
Gage was well aware of the posted schedule for guests, but he was more than a guest. “I’m staying until they kick me out.” To emphasize his point, he pulled off his boots and propped his sock feet on the edge of Ella’s bed.
“Suit yourself.” Johnny shrugged and backed into the hallway to resume his vigil.