Chapter 29
“You asshole.” I shove Cade as we exit the bakery and make our way back to the station.
“You’ve really been ordering coffee every day?” He laughs deeply. “Man. You have it bad.”
“Shut up,” I grumble.
“She’s good for you, brother. And I really appreciate what she did for Maysie. What’s her story?”
I rub the back of my neck as my eyes pull together, because the truth is, I don’t know it.
“I’m not really sure. All I know is that she lost her family in some kind of accident.”
“Wow. Poor girl.” He shakes his head, and at this moment, I’m hit with the realization that I still don’t really know her. Only the little pieces she’s given me. Which now that I think about it, isn’t a whole lot.
The sound of someone moaning for help perks my ears and pulls me from my thoughts. Putting my hand out to stop Cade, I halt and try to focus on the sound.
“Did you hear that?” I ask my brother.
He shakes his head. “Hear what?”
The moan comes again.
“Shh.”
“Help,” someone groans a little louder.
“I think it’s coming from Small Town Stories,” Cade says.
We step closer to the shop, ears on alert.
The shop door is propped open to let in the warm summer air, and at first glance, the shop looks like a mess.
Books are scattered everywhere, and a couple shelves are knocked over.
Cade and I share a look before stepping inside, and when we hear the soft cry for help again, this time coming from inside the store, we bolt in.
“Over here!” Cade yells.
I run to where he is and stop in my tracks when I spot Harper on the ground. She’s curled in a ball, her blonde hair matted with blood and when she looks up, my heart sinks when I see bruising around her neck, a split lip and two black eyes.
“Cade, call for an ambulance. Harper, Can you tell me what happened?” I ask, getting down to her level. When I place a hand on her arm, she winces in pain, and the wince makes her cry out.
“I fell,”
“You fell?” I say in disbelief, because there is no way a fall caused this.
“I can be a kelutz.” She tries to shrug and laugh the whole thing off, but the jolt makes her cry.
I’m scared things could be broken, so I don’t want to move her. Instead, Cade and I take a seat next to her as we wait for the ambulance to come.
“Harper, the ambulance will be here shortly. Can you tell us how you fell?” my brother asks her, looking at me.
“Um, I tripped over some books?” she mumbles, more of a question than a statement, and it’s all the proof we need. Some fucker did this, and I know exactly who.
“Harper. If someone hurt you, you need to report them,” I say.
“It was an accident,” she says quietly through muffled sobs.
“Did Jep do this, Harper?”
“He didn’t mean to.” She cries.
This poor girl. I don’t want her to feel embarrassed or ashamed, but she needs to hear the truth.
“I worked on a case once. I was about your age, new to the job, and I’ll never forget it.
We’d been called in a few times about suspected domestic abuse.
The wife always insisted she was clumsy, until one day it was obvious someone hurt her.
She wouldn’t press charges. Just said her husband didn’t mean to do it.
Smiled about it the whole damn time too.
She was good at pretending. Husband eventually went to jail for unrelated crimes, and I thought, good, she’s safe now.
But as soon as he got out, she took him back.
A week later we were investigating her murder. ”
Harper’s shoulders shake as she cries. “I’m scared.”
“Leaving an abuser can be really scary, I get that. But if you let us, we would really like to help you.”
The paramedics take over, and when they finish up, we learn that along with every physical thing we can see, Harper has a dislocated shoulder and suspected broken ribs.
I follow them out the door as they load her into the back of the ambulance, and when she meets my eyes, I can tell she’s ready for this next step.
“Say the words and we will arrest him right now,” I tell her.
“I want to press charges,” she says, with courage.
The doors slam shut, locking her in, and as soon as they take off, I help Cade shoo away all the nosy bystanders and then we run back to the station, jump into my cruiser, and take off for Jep Shepard’s house.
An hour later, Jep booked in and locked up, I walk out into the front lobby and see a frantic crowd around Beatrice’s desk.
“What’s going on?” I ask, sauntering up to the desk.
“It’s Natalie,” Ian says in shock. “She’s been found.”
My eyes go wide, and my pulse beats with hope. “Alive?”
“Barley. She’s en route to the hospital right now.”
“What do we know?” I bark at the gathering crowd.
Beatrice shakes her head. “Not much. A young woman and her kids stumbled upon her down at the day area off the river. She thought she was dead at first until Natalie groaned. Lady immediately called 911. It sounds like this could be our guy, though. According to the woman who called, Natalie had been stabbed.”
A spark of hope flares through me. If Natalie survives, she may be able to help us solve this case.
“Garrett, Ian, I want you two to go to the scene. Cade and I will head to the hospital.”
“You got it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Beatrice, call Ms. Tizzy,” I order.
“Yes, Sheriff.”
Everyone disperses and gets to work. Lavender Falls Hospital is only a short distance away, so we make it there in under ten minutes.
I run up to the front desk, pulling out my badge.
“Natalie Abbot.”
The nurse looks at my credentials and checks her chart. “She was just rushed into surgery. Down the hall, second left.”
I nod my head in thanks, and Cade and I take off for the surgery wing.
Repeating the same process of showing credentials, we are taken to a private area to wait where a nurse fills us in on what she knows.
By the time the medics arrived, Natalie was unconscious but still had a faint pulse.
Four stab wounds to the abdomen and a gash to the side of her head.
It was touch and go due to hemorrhaging, and the doctors are trying everything they can to stabilize it. All we can do is wait.
Ms. Tizzy arrives and is given the same information. It’s been half an hour and we still don’t know much.
“Is there anything I can do for you, Ms. Tizzy?” I crouch down in front of her, handing her another tissue.
“Just find the monster who did this.” She sniffs, and I reach out to squeeze her knee.
“I promise I won’t stop until he is behind bars.”
An hour goes past. And then another. Ms. Tizzy is a mess, and Cade and I pace back and forth.
Finally the doors swing open and a man in a white jacket steps out.
“Family of Natalie Abbot?”
Ms. Tizzy raises her hand and pushes up from the waiting room chair. Cade and I both display our badges as we follow her to the doctor.
“How is she?” Ms. Tizzy asks with hope.
“She’s stable.” He nods. “It was pretty touch and go. We lost her for about five minutes at one point, but we have an amazing team and were able to bring her back. We had to do two blood transfusions due to the amount she lost. Lacerations were deep, one missed her kidney by about an inch, but there were no extreme internal damages. She’s very lucky.
Right now, we have her in an induced coma until her body heals some.
If you are ready, I’ll walk you down to her. ”
“Oh, thank you, Doctor,” Ms. Tizzy wails, throwing herself into his arms.
“Anything I can do for you, officers?” he asks while comforting Ms. Tizzy.
I shake my head and hand him my card. “Not yet. Can you call when Natalie wakes up? We would like to speak with her.”
“Absolutely.”
The doctor leads Ms. Tizzy down a corridor, and I finally let out a sigh of relief. On our way to the parking lot, my phone rings.
I hit answer, bringing it to my ear. “Donovan.”
“Hey, Donovan. It’s Rossi. I got something for you.”
My pulse beats with anticipation.
“I have an identification on one of your Jane Does. Name’s Rachel Murphy. I’ll have everything faxed over to you.”
“Thanks, Rossi.”
I end the call and get into the cruiser. “We have ID on one of the Jane Does,” I tell Cade with excitement. Finally, another step in the right direction.
“Name?”
“Rachel Murphy. Rossi is going to fax everything over. It should be there by the time we get back to the station.”
“We’re going to catch this guy,” Cade says confidentially, and for the first time since we were called out to the first victim, I feel it too. We’re getting close. Once Natalie wakes up, we will get a good description and possibly even a name.
On the drive back to the station, something about Rachel’s name grates on me, but I can’t figure out what it is.