Chapter 45
Gunshots jolted Ben.
Who was shooting?
Was Lainie okay?
Part of him wanted to open the bedroom door and run toward the shots, but the other part knew he needed to get the boys far away from the house to safety.
They took priority. First things first, he exited the window and helped Sara get them over the fence to officers waiting to grab them.
Then he and Sara hopped back over the fence.
“What do you think is going on in there?” Sara asked.
Ben saw fear in her eyes. “I can’t guess. All I know is, Lainie is smart and resilient.” His words seemed to calm her, and the optimism in them helped him as well.
Sara stepped forward to shepherd the boys to a waiting paramedic. “We need to get them checked out,” Sara said, and Ben agreed. Their wrists were red, one was bleeding because the tape had been applied quite tightly. Both boys seemed in shock.
He followed Sara but kept his attention on the house, praying fervently that Lainie was okay. One of the boys whimpered when the medic took his hand. Ben bent down and picked him up.
“You’ll be okay,” Ben told him as the medic removed all the tape from his small hand. The boy was shaking. “What’s your name?”
“O-O-Owen.”
“Owen, I’m Ben.”
“Will you stay with me?”
He wanted to say no, he wanted to go back to the house and find out what was going on with Lainie. But seeing the little boy and knowing how much he’d been through in the last few days made Ben say yes.
He’d have to kick back and let the uniformed officers handle the situation.
“Let the medics examine your hands,” Sara said to the boy she had. He was quiet and seemed more affected by the situation than Owen.
While the boys were tended to, Ben took in the situation on the street now. LBPD blocked off most of the street. A lot more officers were here now than when he’d gone over the fence. The sergeant gave a blast of a siren and then got on the PA.
He tensed with fear and apprehension, praying that Lainie was okay.
As soon as she felt everything in the house was under control, Lainie hurried out toward the paramedic van to check on Owen and Evan. Ben sat on the back of the rig with Owen in his arms.
The boy saw her. “Aunt Lainie.”
Ben let him down and Owen ran toward her. She picked him up and held him tight for a moment. Evan’s hand and wrist were being treated. She turned to Ben. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “Glad I could help. Are you okay?”
She nodded, then turned her attention to her brother. Archie held an ice pack on his face.
“Tell me what happened, Archie.”
“They pushed their way into the house a little while ago.”
“What were they after?”
“They said that they wanted the ledger.”
She frowned. “What ledger?”
“That’s what I asked. I hoped maybe you knew. They were certain we had a ledger, and they tore the house apart for it.”
Lainie looked back toward the house. The second team of medics was just now wheeling out a gurney with the man she’d shot. There was an O2 mask on his face, so Lainie knew that he was still alive.
She put Owen down and he grabbed Archie’s hand. It not only broke her heart what had happened to her nephews, it made her angry.
“Are you really okay, Arch?”
“Yeah, I am. Glad you showed up when you did.”
“Did they say anything else, mention any names, anything?”
“No, they just wanted the ledger.”
She turned to Ben. “What do you make of this? What is the ledger?”
“I don’t know, but for some reason Vine thinks that your family has it. You heard about your house?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to your house, Lainie?” Archie asked.
“It’s burning down as we speak.”
“They also torched Evangeline’s house,” Ben said.
“You’re kidding.” Lainie was smacked with another burst of shock.
“No, that’s why I’m here. When I heard about both houses, I figured something big was happening.”
Lainie leaned against the closest black-and-white, unable to fight the feeling of defeat she felt. “Vine needs to go down. I can’t believe all the destruction he’s caused.”
Her thoughts were still haunted by Vine’s voice saying, “I’m bulletproof.” With all the devastation today, Lainie feared that he was.