Chapter 14 #3
“It doesn’t matter what you call it, we’re happy to have any ideas.” He lifted one of the highchairs and plunked it down beside the table. “I’ll put this little lady in here. You can keep an eye on her while I go get Anderson and the other two,” he offered.
She smiled as he very efficiently, with the same level of efficiency as Anderson had with the babies, put one in the highchair. “I’m absolutely amazed at how quickly you guys have adjusted to this.”
He looked at her in surprise, then down at one baby in one highchair and admitted, “If I were to say that the training we’ve had in the military helped, would you believe me?”
She frowned and said, “No. Absolutely no way.”
His grin flashed again. “It wouldn’t necessarily be wrong,” he countered, “because, once we’ve assessed a situation, and we’ve learned how to handle it, then competency comes next. I would say that we got there pretty quickly with these three little ones.”
And then, with that, he left, leaving her staring open-mouthed behind him.
Over the meal—salmon and pasta with cream sauce and a salad, which was fabulous—Burton remembered to ask Anderson about the jail visit. “How is Timothy?”
“Useless,” Anderson replied. “Absolutely useless. He doesn’t want to talk, doesn’t want to say anything. He doesn’t know anything. Apparently he’s also not asking to be released anymore.”
“Ah, now that is interesting,” Burton muttered, with a smile.
“Why is that interesting?” she asked curiously.
“He probably feels like he’s in more danger out of jail than in.”
She pondered that and then nodded. “I can see that.”
“He’s protected where he is,” Burton noted.
“Only to a certain extent though,” Anderson pointed out. “He’s not got that many friends left to bail him out. So it’ll be a question of whether these guys care enough to kill him in the jail cell.”
She winced at such a thought. “It’s kind of heartbreaking, even though Tim is no saint,” she shared.
“It is a scary thought,” he added, with a smile, “but that doesn’t change the reality.”
She winced and nodded. “I guess not. It just seems like nobody cares as long as they get the information.”
Surprised, Anderson studied her quietly and nodded.
“Personally I find it very difficult to move past him throwing my sister to the wolves and then taking off on these babies,” he explained.
“It’s a level of deception and betrayal that’s just not acceptable.
And Tim … hit that threshold very, very quickly. ”
“Right,” she muttered. “I agree with you. I’m not letting him off the hook. I would just prefer, as somebody who works in the medical profession, that everything wasn’t about killing.”
He nodded. “You’re right, and we would prefer that too. … Still, the fact of the matter is, violence is likely to happen in this case.”
“They haven’t killed anybody though,” she pointed out. “So, I’m not sure that the law is necessarily going to care too much.”
“Meaning that, if my sister were dead, it would be a bigger issue?”
She winced. “I don’t mean it that way,” she said hurriedly. “It just seems so often that nothing is ever resolved because it’s not classified as bad enough.”
“I understand what you’re saying, and you’re right. It’s just not something I’m prepared to let go of in Talia’s instance,” Anderson declared, as he looked over at Burton.
Burton nodded. “Absolutely. Not something we’ll allow. What we want,” he explained, “is to get her home, to keep her safe, and to figure out what the hell’s going on.”
“I agree,” she muttered, “and it’s not fair.
I feel like I’m apologizing constantly to you guys, and I don’t like that either.
I guess I’m just worried. What happens if you don’t solve this?
” She looked from one to the other. “What realistically happens then? What if the killer has taken off? I mean, there are just so many lines to tug, and yet none of the lines seemingly make a damn bit of difference.”
Burton’s phone went off just then. He picked it up, realized it was Leland, and stepped away from the table for a minute. In the home office, he answered the phone. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“She’s woken up several more times,” Leland replied, “and she very much wants to talk to Anderson.”
“I can arrange that,” Burton stated, relief in his tone. “I can send him right now.”
“Fine, but she’s gone back to sleep. Of course that’s part of the problem. We need him to be here when she’s awake. Send him as soon as you can and have him prepared to stay for a few hours in the hopes that she wakes up again.”
When he hesitated then, Burton knew something was up. “What else?”
“I’m not sure, but somebody stepped into the ward, took one look at me, and left again. I couldn’t leave my post because of her, but it sure as hell looked like the photo I’ve seen of Timothy.”
“You haven’t actually seen him in person, have you?”
“No, I haven’t, but I do know that this was a furtive movement. As soon as he saw me, he was gone again.”
“Which means that somebody is still trying to get access to her in that hospital room.”
“Whether it is somebody who’s trying to kill her or not, I don’t know.”
“Did you see if he had any weapon or anything?”
“I couldn’t see anything,” Leland said in frustration. “He took one look and booked it.”
“Fine. We will send Anderson up, prepped and ready.”
“I might stay for a little bit while he’s here too,” he added. “You know, … just in case.”
“Right. That whole just in case.”
“I know we’re a little thin on the ground, but I want to be here if anything goes wrong. Did you hear if Gunner got the message?”
“I did. He’s still in the field on a mission, and he’ll come as soon as he can.”
“I guess that’s the best we can hope for at this time. It’s about all we can hope for right now. There are three of us, at least.”
“I know. We completely understand,” Burton replied, laughing. “It’s just amazing how much more it takes because there are two places to protect, one with triplets.”
“I agree,” he murmured. “Anyway, send Anderson when you can. I am literally just sitting here, keeping an eye on things to make sure all is well.”
“Good enough,” he said, ending the call.
He stepped back into the eat-in dining area of the kitchen and looked over at Anderson. “Leland wants you at the hospital. Talia’s been awake a couple times. She’s spoken to him, and she wants to talk to you.”
“Your expression says there’s more.”
“He also mentioned that Talia had another visitor. Some man—who looked a lot like Timothy’s picture—stepped into the ward, took one look at him, and booked it.
Leland tried to call out and talk to him, but, of course, he left.
He couldn’t say the man was there for nefarious reasons, but he didn’t stick around to talk either. ”
Anderson quickly finished his food, then asked him, “Are you okay to stay here?”
“Absolutely,” he murmured quietly. “I can take care of the babies. Go. Go talk to your sister. Maybe we can finally get confirmation about what the hell is going on here.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping for.” He got up and looked over at Sammy. “That was an excellent meal, thank you.”
Burton watched as she nodded but didn’t say anything, as Anderson was already flying out the front door. He looked at her and added, “This food was excellent, really.”
She laughed. “Well, I’m glad because I don’t cook very much, and, when I do, I tend to rotate between about six dishes,” she admitted. “This is just one of them.”
“And it’s a damn-good one,” he replied. “We really appreciate it.”
She shrugged. “Honestly, it’s kind of nice to cook for somebody else for a change. I usually just cook for myself.”