Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Seeing the blood running down Zeke’s arm spurred Sienna into action. She yanked on the limo car door and poked her head inside. The driver sat frozen behind the wheel. “Did you call 911?” she asked. When he shook his head, she sighed. “Get out of the car.”
“I—I’m not involved in this,” he sputtered, pushing his driver’s side door open.
“You didn’t step up to stop it either,” she said harshly. “And what would you have done if Alice pushed me into the car at gunpoint? Would you have driven away?”
“I don’t know anything about a gun!” The driver looked panicked now. As he should. She didn’t have time to get into the details surrounding Alice’s hiring him now. Zeke needed medical attention. And based on the way he was slumped against the side of the limo, he needed it fast!
“Give me your jacket.” She gestured for the black coat the driver wore. When he didn’t strip off the garment fast enough, she started to yank it off him.
“Okay, okay.” He shrugged out of the coat.
She quickly wrapped it around Zeke’s shoulders. Then she noticed Alice was moving away. “Oh no you don’t.” She grabbed the older woman by the back of her expensive blouse and yanked her back. “You shot a cop. You’re not going anywhere.”
As blood continued to run freely down Zeke’s arm, she glanced at the driver. “If you don’t want to be arrested as an accomplice, hold on to this woman for me.” She thrust Alice toward him. “Don’t let her go, understand?”
“Yeah, sure.” The driver did as she asked, grabbing Alice by the shoulders but holding her at arm’s length as if she might bite. And who knows? Maybe Alice would.
Satisfied her ex-mother-in-law wasn’t going to escape, she turned her attention back to Zeke. “Sit down.” She gently pushed him to the ground. “I need to look at your injury.”
“Call for help,” Zeke said in a raspy voice.
Before she could respond, she heard the wail of sirens. She had hoped someone had called in the shooting. “Help is on the way. Let me see your injury.”
“Left shoulder,” he said, leaning his head back against the side of the limo and closing his eyes.
Swallowing hard, she leaned in to examine the oozing wound located in the hollow of his shoulder. She was no nurse and only had normal first-aid experience born of being a mother, but it looked bad.
Very bad.
Remembering how Zeke had tried—and failed—to save Belinsky made her strip off her sweater, pressing it against his wound. Then she reached around him to feel along his back.
Her fingers found more blood. The bullet had gone all the way through!
Both the entry and exit wounds needed to be cared for. She pushed him against the frame of the limo with all her might, silently praying the ambulance and police officers would arrive soon.
Please, Lord Jesus, help me save Zeke’s life!
The sirens grew louder. She continued to pray as the squads came to a stop and officers emerged from the cars.
“This is MPD Officer Zeke Hawthorne,” she said. “He’s been shot by that woman over there. Her name is Alice Allenton.”
Thankfully, the officers didn’t quibble. One dropped to his knees beside her, while two others grabbed Alice from the limo driver.
Zeke groaned as the officer examined the wound.
“We need an ambulance,” Sienna said.
“That’s them now,” the officer said, nodding to the ambulance that pulled up alongside the squads. She was thankful to see two paramedics emerge from the vehicle. One had reddish hair but had similar facial features to Rhy.
When he came closer, she saw his name tag read Finnegan. So he was one of the siblings. She moved aside when the two paramedics brought their medical bag and gurney over.
“This is Zeke Hawthorne; he works for Rhy,” she said.
“Got it,” the red-haired guy said. “Hey, Zeke, it’s Colin. We’re going to get you to Trinity Medical Center, okay?”
Zeke opened his eyes, appearing confused for a moment. Then he nodded. “Make sure they arrest Alice Allenton,” he said.
“I’ve got her,” another officer said.
“Her gun.” Zeke struggled to sit up, but Colin and the other paramedic pushed him back down. “I have the gun she used to shoot me. In my back waistband.”
The officer reached behind him and pulled out the weapon. “We have it.”
“Good.” Zeke closed his eyes, and this time, his head slumped to the side. It was as if he’d used up every last bit of his strength to tie up the loose ends.
“Colin? Is he going to make it?” she asked.
“We’re going to do to everything possible,” Colin Finnegan assured her. “But I need you to move out of the way.”
She nodded, rose on shaky legs, and moved away to give them room. The two paramedics worked as an amazing team as they connected equipment to Zeke’s chest, started an IV, and dressed both wounds.
Moments later, they had Zeke on their gurney and were wheeling him to the waiting ambulance. She took a step toward them, intending to ask if she could ride along, when the officer who’d first responded to the scene caught her arm.
“Ma’am? I’m going to need your statement,” he said, his expression apologetic. “Don’t worry, Hawthorne is in good hands.”
Zeke was in God’s hands, but she still didn’t want him to be taken away without her. “Can’t you follow me to the hospital?”
“Sienna? What’s going on?” To her shock, Rhy Finnegan came striding toward her. “Where’s Zeke?”
“In the ambulance with Colin.” She gripped his arm. “I need to go to the hospital.”
Rhy nodded, then glanced at the officer. “You can take her statement but make it quick. When she’s finished, I’ll take her to Trinity Medical Center. If you have follow-up questions, you can contact me.”
“Sure thing, Captain Finnegan,” the officer said respectfully.
Knowing Rhy was there helped keep her calm. He remained at her side while she explained how her former mother-in-law, Alice Allenton, had surprised her inside the TV studio. And that she’d forced her to leave at gunpoint. When she described how she’d lied to Alice about making Zeke her daughter’s guardian, tears filled her eyes.
“It’s my fault she shot him,” Sienna whispered. “If I hadn’t made up that story about Zeke being Bailey’s legal guardian, she wouldn’t have tried to kill him.”
“Sounds like she would have killed you, Sienna,” Rhy said gently. “I know Zeke is glad things went this way instead.”
“I’m not.” She swiped at her eyes, anger flashing through her. “I should have suspected something the moment I saw her standing in the studio! I should have turned and run to find Zeke instead of going along with her.”
“Hey, don’t do that,” Rhy chided. “There’s no point in rehashing what you could have done. Knowing Zeke, he’ll shoulder the blame, thinking there was something he should have done differently too. All we can do is move forward from here.”
“This is all related to custody of your daughter?” the officer asked in confusion. “The woman with her wrists bound, Alice Allenton, shot a cop because she wanted full custody of your daughter?”
“Yes.” Hearing him say it so bluntly was horrifying. How anyone would take such drastic action to force a mother into giving up her only child was incomprehensible. She took a deep breath and continued with her statement. “She admitted to me that if my ex-husband was able to obtain custody, he would turn around and give my daughter to her. I had no idea she was the reason behind his sudden desire for custody. When I said Zeke would be named as Bailey’s guardian, she abruptly pointed the gun at him. I tried to grab the weapon from her, but she pulled the trigger. Zeke charged forward to help. We used the strap of my purse to tie her wrists. Then I told the limo driver to hold on to her until you arrived.”
The officer looked at her in admiration. “Smart thinking Ms. Reynolds. We’ll talk to the limo driver too. Other than that, I think I have enough for now.”
“I’d like Alice Allenton charged for kidnapping and threatening Sienna with a deadly weapon and the attempted murder of a police officer,” Rhy said. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to take Sienna to the hospital.”
“Of course, Captain.” The officer stepped back. “We’ll continue to process the scene. If I learn anything new, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.” Rhy took her arm, steering her away from the limo. “Let’s get out of here.”
She was more than ready to leave the scene. Glancing down at hands that were stained with Zeke’s blood, she prayed with every ounce of faith and hope in her body.
Please, Lord Jesus, spare Zeke’s life.
Zeke awoke to a throbbing pain that reverberated through his entire body. At first he didn’t understand, then slowly the events outside the TV studio formed in his mind.
Alice Allenton had shot him.
Now that he was more aware of his surroundings, he could pinpoint the source of the pain as his left shoulder. He lifted his right hand up and tried to touch the injury, but he must have jerked some wires because alarms began to beep loudly.
“Zeke?” Sienna’s concerned features swam into his line of sight. “You’re awake?”
“Kinda.” He looked around what was clearly a hospital room. “What happened? Is Alice in custody?”
“She is, yes. And you had surgery on your shoulder.” Sienna rested her hand on his arm as a nurse entered the room.
“Mr. Hawthorne, I’m Emily, your nurse for the evening.” Emily looked as if she might have graduated from high school yesterday, not college. “Would you like some ice chips?”
“Please.” His voice was hoarse, his mouth drier than the desert.
He would have taken the whole cup, but she didn’t give him that option. Setting the cup of ice chips aside, she smiled again. “I’m going to check your vital signs.”
Obviously, he didn’t have a choice. When the young Emily finished, she asked if he wanted something for pain.
“Not yet. Maybe in an hour,” he said. “I need to understand a few things first.” The pain was bad, but he couldn’t exist in a drug-induced fog either.
“Okay, I’ll be back in an hour,” Emily said cheerfully.
He scowled. Easy for her to be all smiley. She wasn’t hooked up to a bunch of monitors fantasizing about a cup of ice chips.
“Emily has been taking good care of you,” Sienna said, sensing his ire. She took his right hand in hers. “And the surgeon is very optimistic that you’ll regain full use of your left arm.”
The thought of not fully recovering hadn’t occurred to him. Swallowing against a surge of panic, he tried to nod. If the doctor was hopeful, then he would be too. Besides, a good attitude was half the battle. Or so he hoped. “Okay. What happened with Alice? Did she lawyer up? Did Gabe find anything connecting her to Toby Belinsky and Ken Holt?”
“I’m not sure,” Sienna said. “I haven’t left the hospital.”
That stunned him. “You need to head back to the safe house to be with your daughter.”
“Flynn brought Taylor and Bailey here for a few hours.” Her smile faded. “Flynn kept me company as we waited to hear about your surgery.”
He felt guilty for putting her through this. And for the first time since he’d awoken, he realized it was over. The danger, their fake engagement, her need to stay at the safe house.
Over.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. He turned his head to see Rhy entering the room. The look of satisfaction etched in his boss’s features made him sigh in relief. “You have the evidence we need to indict Alice.”
“We do,” Rhy agreed. “It helped that we found Alice’s burner phone. Gabe tracked that number to calls made to both Toby Belinsky and Ken Holt.” Rhy’s expression sobered. “The gun Belinsky used to shoot at Grayson matches the bullet taken from Ken Holt’s body. We believe Belinsky was told to kill Holt and to leave his body at the rental property.”
Zeke wasn’t surprised. As much as Alice hadn’t hesitated to fire at him, he didn’t see her shooting Holt and putting him in the White Gull Bay rental home. “How did Alice find Belinsky?”
“Gabe finally found that connection; turns out that Belinsky’s mother, Louise, once worked for Alice and Tom. They offered him a significant amount of money to take care of Sienna.”
He nodded slowly. “What about Sienna’s ex-husband? Is he involved?”
Rhy shrugged. “That is still an unknown. We asked the LAPD to pick him up and keep him for questioning as we spoke with his mother. So far, Josh is doing all the talking, while the old lady is keeping her mouth shut.”
He shifted on the bed, then grimaced when a flash of pain hit hard. Wow, who knew surgery hurt so much? “Figures Allenton threw his own mother under the bus,” Zeke said through gritted teeth.
“True that,” Rhy agreed. “Josh said he went along with the custody request because his mom was footing the legal fees. He claims he harbors no ill feelings toward Sienna.” Rhy shrugged, then added, “I will say Josh Allenton dropped the custody request faster than a hot potato once he knew we had his mommy in custody. And that she wasn’t getting out anytime soon.”
That made Zeke smile. “Yeah, but Mommy has money. I’m sure she’ll get out on bail.”
“Not necessarily,” Rhy said. “Attempted murder of a police officer is a hefty charge. As is kidnapping with a deadly weapon. I’ve spoken to my brother-in-law, Bax Scala, who is the ADA on the case. He plans to portray Mommy as a serious flight risk so that she won’t get out on bail.”
“I hope he’s successful.” All too often criminals he and other cops worked hard to toss behind bars ended up back on the streets.
But he trusted Bax Scala to do his best. Rhy and the rest of the tactical team would make sure to tie up all the loose ends in the case.
From here, justice would be at the hands of the legal system. All he could do was pray that Alice would be found guilty of her crimes.
“I guess I won’t be back to work for a few days,” he finally said.
Rhy barked out a laugh. “Try a couple of months. But don’t worry, your spot on the team is secure. Just make sure you follow doctor’s orders, understand?”
“Yeah. I understand.” He shifted again, then added, “Thanks, Rhy.”
“I’ll check in on you tomorrow.” Rhy turned away.
There was a long silence in the wake of Rhy’s absence. He glanced at Sienna. “You’re still going to perform this weekend?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “I feel like that’s what God wants me to do.”
“Good.” He tried to return her smile but was keenly aware that when the weekend was over, Sienna and Bailey would move on to the next show. Chicago, if he remembered correctly.
And then Louisville.
Then... he couldn’t remember. It didn’t really matter. He would miss her and Bailey like crazy. But he wouldn’t stand in her way either. She’d been through a lot and deserved to have the life she’d always dreamed of.
“I’ll be fine here,” he said. “I’m sure Rhy won’t mind if you use the safe house for a few more days. You need to rest up for three days of back-to-back concerts.”
“I almost lost you,” Sienna said in a low voice. “I never should have lied about granting you custody of Bailey. I should have known she’d try to eliminate you as a threat.”
“Hey, I thought that was brilliant,” he quickly protested. “Seriously, it was smart of you to throw a wrench in her plan. That information knocked her off balance. And I’m glad things worked out the way they did. It was worth getting shot to have her in custody.”
“I’ve been praying nonstop since you were injured, wishing there was more that I could do to make up for what happened,” she murmured. “I’m thankful God answered my prayers.”
“Hey, I’m fine.” The sheen of tears in her eyes hit him like a sledgehammer. “This isn’t your fault. I’m the idiot who left his weapon in the glove box of the vehicle. I shouldn’t have assumed the security of the TV studio was enough to cover you.”
A tremulous smile tugged at her lips. “Rhy said you would blame yourself.”
“The only person responsible for this is Alice herself. Not you. Not me.” He managed a more convincing smile. “God put us exactly where we needed to be to keep your daughter safe.”
“You’re right.” She nodded, then surprised him by bending over to kiss him. “I love you, Zeke.”
“I—uh.” He wasn’t sure what to say. She probably loved him like a brother. “I love you too,” he said. “And I wish I could be there to see your show. I’m sure you’ll bring the house down.”
She tipped her head to the side, regarding him thoughtfully. “I love you, and I was hoping I could convince you to travel with me while you’re recovering. If you’re not interested in traveling, then I’ll cancel the rest of my concerts and stay here in Milwaukee.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Had he missed something? Maybe the drugs had fried a few brain cells because he wasn’t following. “There’s no reason to cancel your tour now that we have Alice behind bars. Even if she gets out on bail, we’ll arrange for a no contact order to keep her from coming anywhere near you and Bailey.”
“I know I don’t have to cancel my tour, but I don’t want to leave you.” Now her expression was exasperated. “I love you, Zeke. I loved being engaged to you, and I want to see where our love might take us.”
“Love me? Are you sure?” He searched her gaze.
“Yes, I love you. And I want to spend more time with you. Time doing things other than dodging gunmen.” Her tone was light, but the expression in her blue eyes was intense. “I know you’ve always viewed me as a younger sister, but things have changed. I guess I’m hoping the attraction I feel for you isn’t one sided.”
A sense of relief washed over him. “It’s not,” he admitted. “I love you too.” He tugged on her hand. “Kiss me again.”
She laughed and obliged.
He didn’t want to let her go, but his young nurse poked her head into the room. “How are you feeling?”
“Great.” Well, his heart was great. His shoulder, not so much. “But I wouldn’t mind taking that pain pill now.”
“I’ll be right back,” Emily promised.
“I guess I should go,” Sienna said. “I feel guilty leaving Bailey with Taylor and Flynn for so long. I’ll check back with you tomorrow morning, okay?”
“That’s fine.” He didn’t blame her for wanting to be reunited with her daughter. “Don’t worry about me, knock them dead tomorrow night. Saturday and Sunday too.”
She smiled and kissed him again. Then she waited until the pain medicine lulled him to sleep before slipping away.
Despite basking in the glow of Sienna’s love, it was a long night. The nurses woke him up to take his vitals every few hours, and the pain in his shoulder was fierce. But by the morning, he was anxious to speak to the surgeon and to find a way to bust out of there.
Turns out, hospitals were not a good place to rest and recover.
The surgeon came by early and reiterated what Sienna had heard. He was confident that Zeke would regain full range of motion in his left arm as long as he followed through with his physical therapy and home exercises.
Then he agreed to let Zeke go home later that afternoon.
Sienna visited as promised but couldn’t linger too long as she and Bailey and Taylor were moving from the safe house to a hotel. “Not the Pfister,” she added with a smile, but they had a set of adjoining room at the American Lodge.
When Rhy showed up at nearly five o’clock in the afternoon, he was more than ready to go. But to his surprise, rather than taking him home, Rhy drove him to the homestead, the six-bedroom home in Brookland where Rhy and his eight siblings had grown up.
“You can’t be alone,” Rhy had said with a shrug. “Devon is happy to help. And we have a small outing planned tonight anyway.”
“I’m not sure I’m up for that,” he admitted.
“You will be. Trust me,” Rhy said.
After a short nap and a meal of toast and soup, he was surprised when Rhy insisted he dress in dress slacks and a polo shirt that was stretched over his sling. He felt like an idiot when Colin Finnegan and his wife, emergency department Dr. Faye Finnegan, came to pick him up from the homestead.
Then he understood. “We’re heading to the Sinatra Music Center?”
“Yep. Sienna wanted you to come to the show if you were able,” Colin said. “And we’re here to provide any medical care you might need.”
He was touched by Sienna’s thoughtfulness, although he was not happy to see someone coming toward the car with a wheelchair. “I can walk,” he said gruffly.
“Don’t argue. It’s going to be the best seat in the house,” Colin said.
His boss’s brother wasn’t lying. The music center usher pushed him up to the front of the stage, locked the wheels into place, then found two seats for Colin and Faye nearby.
Glancing behind him, he was in awe of the packed house. Amazing that this many people had come out to see Sienna.
At exactly eight o’clock, the curtain rose, and the music swelled. Sienna stepped out on stage, looked directly at him, then took the microphone in her hand. She was dressed in a modest gown, her hair down.
“This song is dedicated to the man I love, Zeke Hawthorne, who selfishly risked his life for mine.” She smiled at him. “I was given permission by the creators to perform one of my favorite songs called The Blessing . Because Zeke is a blessing to me.”
He felt his jaw drop with surprise, wondering if Rhy, Colin, and Faye had known she’d planned to kick off her tour this way.
When she began to sing, a hush fell over the crowd. The woman he loved sang her praise to the Lord, softly and poignantly at first, then with more feeling. As the crescendo grew, people surged from their seats, lifting their arms overhead and swaying along with the song. Many even sang along regardless of their ability to carry a tune.
Never in his life had he felt closer to God than in that moment.
And when the final notes drifted away, he wished he could join in the thundering applause.
Sienna was something special. And he knew he must have done something right in his life to have been blessed with her love.