Chapter Eleven #2
Rush was the one person Raine knew was committed to saving her leg.
He was willing to put the time and energy into her aftercare.
Harlow hadn’t considered Raine would be terrified until that very moment.
Raine had been independent. She was very much a loner, but everything had changed in an instant.
She’d suffered for well over a year in an effort to save her leg, and she must have been terrified the entire time.
She’d had to lean heavily on Rush with this fresh break, and it was natural that Raine still leaned on him.
It was just that that vulnerability was so unlike Raine that it came as a shock.
“I’ll be close,” Rush reiterated. He turned, his eyes meeting Harlow’s. He gave the slightest jerk of his chin, and as he walked from the room, Harlow trailed after him. She had a bad taste in her mouth. Guilt was very hard to swallow.
“I never should have agreed to go climbing with her,” she said when Rush paused in the hallway.
“Actually, it was a good thing she went climbing and fell,” Rush said.
“She had a major infection once again, and it would have eaten the bone from the inside. I should have been far more aggressive with my aftercare instead of leaving it to others. That’s not going to happen this time.
We came too close to losing her. It wouldn’t have just been her leg; we would have lost Raine.
She has a difficult time being so fragile.
I’ll watch her closely from the security room, but you’re going to be right there with her.
Pay close attention and watch for signs of sudden exhaustion.
It comes on fast. One minute she’ll be fine and the next she can barely move. That’s going to embarrass her.”
“We’re her friends,” Harlow pointed out. “We love her, Rush.”
“She doesn’t think of herself as the same person. She’s a little lost right now. She thinks you love who she used to be, not who she is now.”
“That’s silly.”
“Nevertheless, it’s true. When people suffer brain injuries, it changes them. Athletes, singers, actors, people living their lives in the spotlight, suddenly losing a part of themselves, often lose who they are. Raine expects to be rejected, and this is a major crisis for her.”
Harlow understood what he was saying. “Raine has always stood with us, no matter how bad it got. We’ll do the same for her.” She loved Raine and thought of her as a sister. Maybe she wasn’t blood, but she was a sister of the heart. For Harlow, those ties were as binding or more so.
Rush nodded and continued down the hall toward the security room.
No doubt Rainier was already there. Harlow turned back toward the great room.
She could see Daisy settling on Raine’s lap, something that made her a little nervous.
Rush hadn’t said anything about the dog stepping on Raine’s injured leg.
Harlow knew the little Jack Russell had very small paws, and when she pressed her weight into you, those paws could hurt.
She entered the room, deliberately looking at her watch. “Guadalupe will be here in a few minutes. Raine put in time trying to find out as much as she could about her. Thank you so much, Raine. I know you weren’t feeling good, and you still went out of your way to help me.”
Raine sent her a tentative smile. “I was very happy to have something to occupy my time. In any case, I was able to get my laptop back. I felt helpless without it, although in the beginning, I mostly slept.”
“Sleep is the best thing for you,” Vienna chimed in as she seated herself in one of the cuddle chairs facing Raine.
“Have you heard from Zale?” Zahra asked.
“He’s in the field,” Vienna said, her voice a little tight.
“Considering what we heard Blom saying about Wilder and the others, admitting that he believed his men should be disposed of once they were about to retire, perhaps Sam or Rainier should contact him and tell him to watch his back,” Stella said.
“I don’t want to alarm you, but I think all of these men are at risk. ”
“Don’t scare her, Stella,” Zahra cautioned.
“When it comes to Zale’s safety, I always act. I contacted Rainier right away and asked him to get word to Zale. He’d already done it. I should have known,” Vienna said.
“I can’t believe it was Blom who set up his own agents in Vegas,” Harlow said. “That’s terrifying to think that their own boss, a man in a huge position of power and authority, would decide the men working for him should be murdered if they want to retire.”
“I can believe it,” Vienna said. “Look at the way he treated my birth mother and me. His career was far more important to him. In other words, he was the important one.”
“Do they have physical proof that can ensure he will be arrested and charged with murder?” Stella asked Raine. “Did you follow up on that?”
Harlow couldn’t imagine that even as ill as she was, Raine hadn’t done her research the moment she had her laptop back.
Raine was silent for a moment, and then she sighed. “Unfortunately, I don’t think the problem will be able to be handled so easily as to have him arrested, charged and convicted.”
The women exchanged long looks as the reality of that sank in. Harlow wondered how she had gotten to a stage where she believed that, sometimes, sending men like Rainier and Wilder out to quietly take care of a problem that couldn’t be resolved any other way was acceptable to her.
“Do you believe Wilder is dead?” Stella asked Raine.
Raine carefully avoided looking at Harlow. “He’s reputed to be one of the best in his field. I have serious doubts.”
Harlow felt as guilty as she could see Raine felt for keeping the truth from their friends.
She told herself it was for Wilder. Blom couldn’t know where he was.
He had all but admitted he had sent Wilder into an ambush and acted as though if he found him, he would again.
That terrified her. Her father wielded power, but not in the same way as Blom.
Blom seemed untouchable. She had believed her father to be, but Blom was a different monster altogether.
“What do you have on Guadalupe?” Stella asked. “We don’t have a lot of time before she gets here, and we’ll need a plan of action.”
“She’s a bit of a mystery,” Raine admitted.
“I have no information prior to her marrying Benedict Brown. He is a Texan, was born and raised in Texas, and had a small ranch near the border. From what I understand, Guadalupe met him at a dance she had attended with some friends. She was part of a circle of friends learning, teaching or tutoring English. They all attended the dance together. Benedict was there, and they hit it off, beginning their relationship. She appears to have been living in Mexico at that time, but worked at the small school teaching English or Spanish. Spanish was taught to businessmen and women who wanted to be bilingual. The school was located quite close to Benedict’s ranch. ”
“How old was she?” Harlow asked.
“According to her date of birth on the marriage certificate, she would have been nineteen.” Raine frowned and gave a little shake of her head. “When I first looked at all this, it appeared to be on the up and up. All of it. Even the school. The chance meeting at a dance with all of her friends.”
“But?” Harlow prompted.
“There were a few red flags. Enough that I started following them. She was nineteen. He was fifty.”
“What?” Shabina’s head snapped up. “He was that much older than she was?”
“It does happen that there is a big age difference, and it can be real love,” Vienna pointed out. “She lived in a very isolated community, and she was very young. She might have been looking for stability.”
“It seemed on the surface that was the case,” Raine agreed, “but there were several reports to the police that Benedict mistreated her. Guadalupe denied it every time and made excuses for black eyes and broken wrists. These incidents happened regularly after parties Benedict would throw.”
The women exchanged looks. That didn’t sound good at all.
“She made frequent trips back to Mexico, and each time she returned, there seemed to be an incident report of Guadalupe injured in some way,” Raine continued.
“I couldn’t find any evidence of her parents living in that village.
I couldn’t find a single living relative that would take her back to that village, yet she visited on a regular basis, and it appeared to cost her.
Benedict never accompanied her. According to the few reports I could gather where the police were called, the incidents coincided with her return from Mexico. ”
“You’re saying you believe her husband beat her when she returned,” Harlow said. “But despite that, she always returned.”
Raine nodded slowly. “I didn’t have much time, but I followed enough threads to believe that’s true. She was able to get her US citizenship far faster than most others. Benedict seemed to have a tremendous amount of influence on politicians, and he often called in favors.”
“Did that influence extend to local law enforcement?” Stella asked.
“No doubt,” Raine affirmed. “Benedict threw a huge celebration party for her when she became a citizen. That night, everything went very wrong. The party was held in the largest barn on Benedict’s property.
Outside the barn, several firepits were blazing.
The wind came up, and the barn ignited. It went up fast, trapping several people inside. Benedict was one of them.”
“How terrible,” Zahra said, her breath coming out in a rush of sympathy.
“It was. Fifteen people were burned, six severely. Three died in the fire. The thing is this: Benedict had a head injury they attributed to falling beams, and his death was ruled an accident.”
“You’re not so sure.”