Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
“Do you mind waiting out here for me?” Emma asked Matthias when the Emergency Department receptionist agreed to let her go back to Nell’s treatment room.
He didn’t question her request, simply nodded, leading Emma to love him even more.
When she stepped through the privacy curtain, she was relieved to find Nell looking alert, albeit pale. And in pain.
Before Emma could ask, Nell said, “I already told them I’m an addict. No opioids for this girl. Just extra-strength Tylenol.”
“Good.” Emma rolled a wheeled stool to her sister’s bedside and sat. “What did the doctor say?”
“Nothing yet. I’ve had X-rays and a CT scan. Now I’m waiting to learn the results.” Nell reached out to Emma, who took her hand. “How about you? Are you hurt?”
“Just rattled. Speaking of CT scans, Matthias may be out there demanding one for me, too.”
“Matthias is here?”
“He came and got me.”
“All the way to Akron?”
Emma eyed her, worried about a potential head injury. “You don’t know where we are?”
“No one told me. What happened? I remember falling asleep. The next thing I knew, I felt like we were on one of those Tilt-A-Whirl amusement rides.”
Relieved, Emma told her about the drive and the crash.
“Was the guy drunk?” Nell asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Then why did he hit us?”
“I think it may have been intentional.” Emma squeezed her hand. “You mentioned talking to Zeke’s brother in Cleveland.”
“Levi. Yeah.”
Levi. Emma filed the name away. “You said he threatened to kill you.”
Nell appeared puzzled. “If I ever come near his family again, yeah, but I have no plans to do that.”
“You said something else. About him wanting to see you pay.”
Nell scowled. Then her eyes widened as she comprehended Emma’s meaning. “Yeah. In a court of law.”
“But he threatened your life.”
“You can’t think the guy who hit us was—” Nell pushed herself up in the bed and winced. “You said we’re in East Liverpool, and the wreck happened near Calcutta. Zeke’s family, including Levi, are in Cleveland. Calcutta’s like, what, a hundred miles away from Cleveland?”
“About that, yeah.” Normally, Emma would agree it was a huge leap in logic except… She told Nell about the car that followed them from the convenience store.
Nell fell silent. Emma could tell she was mulling over the chances of Zeke’s brother being responsible for the collision.
“I can’t imagine,” Nell said. “I mean, why would anyone tail us all that way? If it was Levi, it means first he followed me to the motel. He could have tried something before then. Or even run us off the road right outside of Akron.”
Emma didn’t have an answer. “You’re right, I’m sure.”
Footfalls approached, and the curtain parted to reveal a young woman in a white lab coat. “Miss Anderson?”
Both Nell and Emma responded with, “Yes.”
The doctor looked from the patient to Emma and smiled. “You must be the sister listed as her emergency contact.”
“Guilty as charged,” Emma said.
“Dr. Jefferson.” She extended a hand, which Emma shook.
To Nell, the doctor said, “X-rays confirm you have a fracture of the right tibia. The better news is that your CT scan looks good. No brain bleed. No concussion.”
“So you can put her in a cast and send her home?” Emma asked hopefully.
“Afraid it’s not that simple. We’d like her to be seen by an orthopedic surgeon.”
Nell gave Emma a worried look. “Surgery?”
“We won’t know if surgery is required until after his examination, but I fear it’s likely,” Dr. Jefferson said.
Nell’s gaze shifted from Emma to the doctor. “Does it have to be done here? I’d rather be closer to home.”
“No problem. Tell me where you want to go, and we’ll arrange transport.”
* * *
Matthias pulled out his phone the moment Emma disappeared into the ER.
“Now what?” Cassie muttered. “I just got home from your last long-distance request.”
“Emma and Nell didn’t make it home. Someone ran them off the road.”
Cassie’s voice grew sharp. “Are they all right?”
“Emma is. Nell’s being checked out in the ER.”
“Where are you?”
“In the waiting room. Emma’s back there with her.”
“Good.” Cassie sounded relieved.
“I need another favor. It’s possible the collision was no accident.” He told her about Zeke’s brother. “But Emma can’t remember his name.”
“Not to worry. I’m on it. Anything else?”
“I think that’s all. For now.”
“I’ll get back to you in a bit.” Cassie disconnected without saying goodbye.
About half an hour passed before he spotted Emma exit the treatment area, her gaze sweeping the nearly empty waiting room. Locating him, she strode his way.
“How’s Nell?” he asked when Emma flopped into the seat next to his.
“Good. She refused opioids for pain.” Emma went on to tell him about the fractured leg and the plan to move her by ambulance to Washington Hospital for an orthopedic consult and possible surgery.
“Both the doctor and Nell agree that it makes no sense for us to wait around. I called Eric, and after he got to hear her voice, he gave me his blessing to let her out of my sight, so we can go back to the hotel and get some rest. They’ll keep me updated about her surgery.
” Emma looked at the clock on the wall and slumped.
“I have a feeling I’ll be lucky if I can get two hours of sleep, though. ”
“Did you happen to ask her about Zeke’s brother?”
“I did. She doesn’t think it could be him. Oh, his name’s Levi, by the way.”
Matthias tapped out Levi in a text to Cassie before pocketing his phone. He rose and held out a hand. “Let’s get going.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, they were in the Jeep, and Emma navigated him out of East Liverpool toward West Virginia and Pennsylvania. “We’ll stay on this road for quite a while,” she said.
He thought she might close her eyes and nap, but instead she fidgeted, alternating between watching the road ahead, staring out the passenger window as the first gray light of dawn illuminated the landscape, and checking behind them.
He wondered if she was still concerned about the car that ran her and Nell into a tree.
A bump in the rutted road jarred the Jeep, and an unfamiliar metallic clink made Matthias fear they were about to have more automotive problems.
Emma heard it, too, bent down, and reached beneath her seat. She came up, holding something in her hands. “I forgot about this stuff.”
“What is it?”
“The junk Fran found on my farm. When she snuck me in to see Eric, she asked about it.”
Matthias’s phone buzzed before he had a chance to comment. “It’s Fergusson,” he muttered when he saw the caller ID. He thumbed the green icon. “If you’re trying to pay me back for waking you up early yesterday, the joke’s on you. I’ve been up for hours.”
“This isn’t payback,” the trooper said, his voice noticeably tight. “We’ve had a development I thought would interest you.”
Matthias was aware of Emma turning to look at him. “What kind of development?” he asked.
“There was a fire overnight at the construction site.”
Matthias needed a moment to process the news. “The Powell farm construction site?” He thought, but didn’t ask, The one he’d been sneaking around only hours ago?
“Yep. That one.” Fergusson’s voice grew muffled as if he had put a hand over the phone’s speaker and was talking to someone else. Then the line cleared. “The house where you pulled the plywood from the window? Torched.”
Matthias didn’t respond, wondering if Fergusson was about to accuse him of arson.
“That’s not all. There was a body inside.”
Dammit. Fergusson wasn’t merely going to accuse him of arson. He was going to accuse him of murder. “Whose body?”
“Patrick Winslow.”
Matthias gripped the steering wheel tighter and could feel Emma’s eyes on him.
“I don’t suppose you went to see him after you left the site last night? No, make that earlier this morning.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“I figured, but you know how it is. I had to ask.”
“Before you ask anything more, I can account for my time all night long. Most of it was spent in Ohio. Emma and Nell were in a collision on their way home from Akron. Nell’s in the East Liverpool Hospital with a broken leg.
Emma’s with me. And if you plan to accuse Eric Baker, Emma was driving his car, so he’s stuck at his house without transportation.
Unless you’re going to suggest he used an Uber to go commit murder and arson. ”
Emma put a hand on his arm, but he kept his gaze on the road.
“Relax, Honeywell,” Fergusson said. “I’m only calling you as a courtesy. I know you wanted to question Winslow. Hell, I had a lot more questions for him myself. Get in touch with me later. I’d like to compare notes. I might have the fire marshal’s preliminary report by then, too.”
While the trooper sounded sincere, Matthias knew him too well. Courtesy? No way. “Thanks for the call.” Matthias didn’t even attempt to keep the sarcasm from his voice. He disconnected and stuffed the phone in his pocket.
“What on earth is going on?” Emma asked. “They found another body at the Powell farm?”
“Yeah. Patrick Winslow was found dead inside one of the houses, which had been burned down.”
“Good lord,” she breathed. “Is Fergusson accusing us?”
“Not yet. Not officially. I think his call was a fishing expedition.”
She sunk back into the seat and gave a short laugh. “At least we all have our phones on us. They can track the GPS.”
He grunted.
She shot another look at him. “What? You don’t sound convinced.”
He exhaled and reminded her about his midnight recon mission to the site. “The house I technically broke into is the one that burned.”
“But the cops saw you drive away after they busted you, right?”
Matthias thought back a few hours. Yes, they’d witnessed him walk off the site. He’d gone back to his Jeep… but then he’d sat there, talking to Cassie on the phone.
He’d watched the troopers leave, not the other way around, and their headlights had fallen on him as they’d passed.
“Matthias?”
“Not exactly,” he admitted. “But, as you pointed out, I had my phone on me, and I didn’t go back to the property. I drove straight to our hotel and stayed there until you called.”
“So we’re all good.” She turned toward him. “We are, right?”
“We’re fine. Like I said, Fergusson’s fishing, but we’re not taking his bait.” Matthias brushed aside his thoughts of proving their whereabouts for the night and settled on the next big question. “I was all but certain that Winslow killed Jones.”
Emma appeared to think about it. “He still might have. Either way, who killed Winslow?”
“That’s exactly what I want to know.” And what he intended to find out.