Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Sam found it hard to get the rest her body needed when people kept coming and going. Two different nurses had already been in to check on her, and it hadn’t been all that long ago that Liam and the girls had left.
Pain thrummed through her head. She picked up her phone and checked the time. An hour and a half, to be exact. Glover had been nice enough to plug in Sam’s phone and set it on the rolling table while it charged. Then she’d excused herself to stand guard outside.
The hospital room was quiet, other than the annoying beeping coming from the machine to her right. She’d tried to sleep but hadn’t had any luck yet, so she turned on the television. Nothing tickled her fancy, so she shut it off.
She’d thought about trying to read an ebook, but focusing on the small screen made her head hurt worse. Sam was half tempted to call Liam just so she could hear his voice.
There were so many conflicting emotions running through her body.
Fear about what could happen next. Anger over being attacked.
Giddiness that Liam’s face had been the first one she’d seen, besides the nurse.
How did that even make the top of the list?
That should be the farthest thing from her mind.
But here she was, wanting to hear his voice.
She should call Cass. Surely she’d be able to talk her through this. But it was late, and she had the boys to take care of.
Maybe Glover would want to come in and chat for a while.
She seemed like a nice enough woman. Maybe she would do that.
Pick the marshal’s brain about everything that’d been happening.
It wasn’t like she didn’t trust Liam. She did.
With her life and Isabella’s life. But maybe Glover knew something Liam didn’t.
Sam moved to stand up and got tangled in the wires. If she was going to get up, she might as well make a pit stop in the restroom. She pressed the nurse call button and waited for someone to answer.
“Can I help you?” A tinny voice sounded from the speaker on the bed rail.
“Yes. I need to use the restroom, but I’m kinda tied to the bed.”
“I’ll have someone come help you.”
“Thank you.”
A few minutes passed before there was a knock on the door and a petite woman in scrubs walked in, followed by Glover.
“Good evening. My name is Sara. I’m the CNA for tonight, and I’m here to help you to the bathroom.” The woman walked around to the right side of the bed and started to remove the blood pressure cuff and pulse oximeter.
“Thank you.”
“Everything still okay?” Glover asked.
“Yes, but if you have a minute, I’d like to talk to you when I’m done.”
“Sure thing. I’ll wait out here.”
Sara lowered the bedrails. “Carefully turn your body and let your feet hang off the side, but don’t stand yet.”
Sam’s muscles protested as she sat up, her head wobbly. A nurse named Nathan entered, performed a quick neuro check, and nodded for Sara to help her to the bathroom—an odd reversal for Sam, who was used to being the one helping others.
She shuffled to the bathroom with her entourage. Sara pushed the IV pole into the bathroom. “I’ll let you take it from here, but holler if you need help.” Then she shut the door.
Sam did her business, flushed the toilet, and washed her hands. She opened the door and found Sara standing right there, ready to jump in if she needed.
“While you’re here, can I put on some pants?”
“Of course.” Sara helped her put on the pants and then left the room. Glover entered before the door could shut all the way.
“Feeling better?”
“Not quite as groggy, but definitely still sore.” Sam adjusted the blanket over her legs and torso.
Glover stood against the door, propping it open. She split her attention between Sam and the hallway. “You wanted to talk to me?”
“Yeah. I wanted to ask you about my case. I know Liam is handling it, but I thought you might have an opinion or know something maybe I don’t yet.” She shrugged.
Glover’s face softened. “We have had reasons to talk about your case, yes. As a matter of fact, we learned something this afternoon that Liam was going to talk to you about, but he had the call about the accident.” Glover was quiet for a moment, like she was weighing what to say.
“You’re familiar with the arsons going on around Renegade? ”
Sam nodded.
“Well, it turns out that every building that was burned down belonged to a limited liability company that was connected to your landlord, Dr. Torres.” Glover watched her, probably wanting to know if this was news to Sam.
She blinked a few times. “Really?”
Glover nodded. “And then he was killed in a house that he owned under his real name. Your house. We’re still putting the pieces together.” Glover folded her arms over her chest. “Do you know anything about Dr. Torres’s business dealings?”
“No. We never talked outside of the typical landlord-tenant talk. I rarely saw or talked to him.” Sam fidgeted with the blanket in her lap. “I can’t believe it happened at my house. It makes no sense.”
The phone in Glover’s pocket rang. She pulled it out. “Give me a sec.” She swiped the screen and put the phone to her ear as she stepped out the door. “Liam?”
Sam sat up straighter. Why would he be calling? Had he found something new?
A flicker of warmth stirred in her stomach. Maybe he was just checking on her.
She shook her head. Wishful thinking. If that were the case, he could’ve called her directly—unless he thought she was asleep.
“No, the girls haven’t called.”
Sam sat straight up and grabbed her phone. Nothing new in her notifications. What was going on?
“Are you okay?” Glover listened for a minute. “Okay. I’ll keep my eyes peeled. Keep me updated.”
Glover walked back into the room. “That was Liam. He was attacked at his house.”
Sam’s stomach fell. “Is he okay? Are the girls okay?”
“The man that attacked him is in custody. Liam said he’s going to need some stitches. He also said the girls took off while he was being checked by paramedics.”
Sam threw the covers off her lap and started tugging the tape holding the IV in. The world swam around her, and everything started to tip sideways.
“Whoa, wait a minute.” Glover raced to her side.
Adrenaline coursed through her veins, clearing her head enough to say, “I have to go find them. Get me some toilet paper for the blood.”
“You were in a serious accident, and you have a concussion. You need to lie back down and let Liam handle this.”
Sam deftly pulled the IV from her vein, used the hospital gown to put pressure on the puncture wound, and stood up to face Glover. “You cannot keep me here.”
“I could handcuff you to the bed.”
“I’m not under arrest, so that would violate my rights.” Sam stomped around the woman, grabbed some toilet paper from the bathroom.
“I have to strongly advise against this.”
“Look, I understand. Do everything you can to cover your butt and the department. Just know that I am leaving with or without you.” She turned around and looked for the T-shirt that Greer had left.
“I’m not the only one who needs to cover my butt.” Glover folded her arms. “I’ll help you, but only because I would do the same thing if it were me.” Glover shut the door, grabbed the shirt from the couch, handed it to Sam, and turned around. “I’ll be right outside.”
Sam took off the hospital gown and slid the shirt on.
Shoes. No one had brought her shoes, and she couldn’t run around barefoot.
She opened a cabinet, hoping to find some house shoes or something, and found the next best thing.
Her work boots. She slid her feet into them and went to open the door when her cell phone rang on the table.
She grabbed it. Unknown caller.
With shaky fingers, she slid the answer button. “Hello?”
Sobbing sounded on the other end.
Was that Bella?
“Hello?”
“Sam.” Her sister cried into the phone. “I’m sorry.”
There was a man’s voice in the background.
“What’s going on?” Sam gripped the phone. “Isabella?”
“He said to meet us at the old slaughterhouse on the Ashbend River.” A strangled cry echoed across the line. “He said you need to come alone and no one will get hurt.”
The line went dead.
Sam stared at the phone. What was she supposed to do?
The smart thing to do was to tell Glover, let her alert the cavalry, and let them do their jobs. Except Liam had been attacked, and now the girls had been kidnapped. It would take too long for them to make a plan and execute it. Time she didn’t know if they had.
But it would be completely stupid to go alone. She chewed on her lip. She’d give Glover the location, but she wouldn’t let Glover slow her down. She had to go. She couldn’t sit around and wait helplessly while the seconds ticked down and something happened to Bella.
“Glover!” Sam yelled.
Glover burst into the room. “Are you okay?”
“No. Bella just called. Someone has taken them.” She raced around the bed. “We have to go now.”
Glover snapped to attention. “Where are they?”
“The slaughterhouse at Ashbend Industrial Park.”
“Let’s go.”
The two walked down the hall. The nurse who had performed the neuro exam on her stepped out of the nurses’ station. “You can’t leave.”
“Watch me.” Sam didn’t even stop to talk to the man.
“Ms. Williams, I have to insist that you stay.”
“I’m leaving AMA. You’re absolved of any responsibility.” She kept walking.
There wasn’t much a nurse could do to keep a patient in the hospital.
“Okay.” Disapproval filled the nurse’s tone.
They made it to the elevator bay, and she jammed the button a few times. The doors slid open, and they loaded onto the elevator.
Sam needed to think of a way to ditch her chaperone. How could she distract her long enough to slip away? The marshal was highly trained and would see through just about anything she tried.