Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
CASEY
Mickie rose from the edge of Casey’s bed when Gabe burst in—as much bursting as a hospital room door allowed anyway.
“Gabriel.” Casey breathed his name out on a sigh. The sight of his partner in the flesh gave him goose bumps, but that also could have been the receding hypothermia.
“Gabe,” Mickie said dryly. “Imagine my concern when I saw a call from the hospital come up on my screen earlier this afternoon.”
To his credit, Gabe’s eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks before reaching the bed.
“Fuck.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry. I’ve been in the thick of—I should’ve called you right away.”
“I’ll probably get that year of life back.
And I talked to Greta. She assured me the injuries will be more annoying than life-threatening.
” Mickie whacked Gabe on the shoulder. “I’ll just wait in the hall and let you two speak privately for a minute.
But don’t worry, little brother, I will be back. ”
“That sounded a bit ominous,” Gabe said, watching the door swing closed.
“I think he was waiting for you to get here. He wants to hear the full story.”
Casey stared Gabe, drinking him in. He had dark circles under his eyes, but at least he was in one piece, unlike Casey. The smudges would disappear soon enough with rest. Gabe wasn’t one not to bounce back quickly.
“I thought we weren’t doing this again,” Gabe said gently, taking Mickie’s place on the edge of the mattress and folding Casey’s free hand into his, squeezing it tight. “Disappearing, getting injured.”
“And I thought I told you no more bodies.”
Just minutes before Mickie had shown up, Greta had called, letting him know that Gabe hadn’t picked up Bowie yet but that there’d been police activity at the marina.
The Barbara was unscathed, she assured him.
All she had been able to tell him beyond that was that Gabe and Elton had been smack in the middle of the action.
Not a surprise.
At least they were alive, unlike Roy Wilson, and unhurt, unlike Knute Bakke and Emmett Spurring.
“There was a silver alert for Elton. He’s been found safe and sound,” she’d told him. “On the upside, Vicky says Raffi has done a wonderful job in the office today. If he keeps this up, we may want to hire him permanently if the budget allows.”
Then Mickie arrived and Casey ended Greta’s call. And now, finally, Gabriel was here. In his room. Next to him. Casey’s eyes started to well up. He blinked the wet away.
Gabriel smiled and cupped Casey’s chin, holding him still to drag his fingers through Casey’s beard.
“I never promised no bodies,” he said. “Damn, it’s good to see you, Ranger Man, even if you are covered with scrapes and bruises. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“Obviously, I wasn’t. Please don’t make me laugh.” Casey huffed, waving at Gabe’s chest. “I have a headache. Since when have you, Gabriel Karne, participated in a fun run?”
Gabe looked down at his borrowed shirt and chuckled. “Yeah, the only running I do is definitely not for fun.”
Gabe leaned in and gently brushed his lips across Casey’s, as if confirming to himself that Casey wasn’t a figment of his imagination. “I heard from Eagan that they’re keeping you overnight for observation.”
“It’s unnecessary.” Casey was close to pouting and maybe truly crying. All he wanted was Gabe, Bowie, Keith, and the peace and quiet of his own house. “I don’t have a concussion.”
“But you are, or were, hypothermic and exhausted, so maybe just let the docs do their jobs, huh? Home will still be there tomorrow.”
Casey ignored the comment. “You want to fill me in on what I don’t know?” He was tired, and his body ached all over, but pain meds were keeping most of his body’s complaints at bay.
“Not really.” Gabe shot him a sideways glance.
“But I suppose that’s not the right answer.
We might as well call Elton in from the hall since he’s gonna want to add his ten cents.
I imagine Knute would like to be here too, but they’re taking care of his shoulder wound in the ER, deciding if he’ll need surgery.
When I left, it looked like he might just need a hell of a lot of stitches.
Knute will be staying overnight too, I’d guess, so maybe you two can room together. ”
Gabe laughed too long and a bit hysterically before swiping his eyes, offering Casey a second lingering kiss, and rising to his feet.
“Mickie will want to hear this too,” Casey said.
“Yeah. Elton and I should take out an ad in the paper,” Gabe grumped as he crossed the room.
Mickie waited for Elton to clear the door and take the empty chair closest to Casey before coming to lurk at the end of the bed, arms crossed over his chest. Casey recognized the familiar stance and rolled his eyes.
Seeing the direction of Casey’s gaze, Gabe bit his lip and grinned before claiming the edge of the mattress again, which was good because Casey didn’t want him any further away.
A nurse hurried into the room, pausing when she saw Casey had three visitors. “Visiting hours are over at nine. If Casey doesn’t get rest, he won’t be able to go home tomorrow. And technically, there should only be two of you, as well, but you can have thirty minutes together.”
She bustled around and checked a few things, including his temperature.
“Almost back to normal. Nice work. It always helps to be young and healthy. By the way, your friend is out of the ER and resting in his room. I suggest you do the same. Or else,” she said threateningly, then left as quickly as she’d arrived.
Casey hoped being forced to stay longer was an empty threat. As it was, he wasn’t going to be able to sleep in this damn hospital room. He needed Gabriel and Bowie nearby. Maybe even Keith—who, remarkably, preferred Gabriel. This thought reminded Casey of the dog Mickie had spoken to him about.
“Did Casey tell you we have the perfect dog for you guys?” Mickie said, as if he read Casey’s mind.
“Another dog?” Gabe asked cautiously. But also a little too enthusiastically, clearly willing to be diverted by the topic.
Mickie shot him a sideways glance. “Always. Jessie is sweet and smart.”
“Aw, just like me! She’d have to meet Bowie first. And Keith. Although Keith does her own thing a lot.”
“Anyway,” Casey interrupted, “I’ll share how I ended up in a cave if you tell me how Elton’s friend Knute ended up in the ER.”
“Well.” Casey drew out the word when Gabe finished rehashing the events that had occurred since the morning before. “That’s twenty-four hours none of us will forget anytime soon.”
“Yeah,” agreed Gabe, squeezing his hand again. “Maybe we should time these better, alternate crises. Or maybe you shouldn’t go off spelunking on your own.”
Casey suppressed a sigh. He was going to hear about this for a long time.
“An interesting couple of days, for sure,” Elton said with a nod.
“FYI, I’m quitting Mondays altogether,” Gabe added. “They just don’t do it for me.”
Mickie didn’t seem amused. In fact, he looked pissed off.
“So, let me make sure I have all this straight. Monday, Gabe gets a sketchy call that leads to a DB. Who just happens to be my sperm donor. Tuesday, Casey gets curious about shit up The Valley.” He tapped his bottom lip and lifted an eyebrow.
“But he doesn’t tell anyone where he’s going—not his workmate, not his brother, not his partner. He ends up falling down a cave.”
Casey grimaced; Mickie wasn’t wrong.
“Also on Tuesday, Gabe rescues a damsel—for the purposes of this recap—in distress. Then he and Elton find another, not quite DB. Casey is rescued by Greta, et al., early this morning. I might not have events in the correct order. Remind me to send some of Pedro’s posole to Mountain Rescue, little brother. ”
From the expression on Mickie’s face, Casey wasn’t living this down, ever. He hoped maybe he’d get some of that posole. Hospital food wasn’t doing it for him.
Mickie continued. “The feds question Gabe over the guys who had distressed said damsel. Then Gabe, Elton, and Knute are held at gunpoint by a notorious regional criminal, who ultimately abducts Elton and shoots Knute in the process. Is this basically everything?”
“In my defense,” Casey said, “I remember speaking to cheerful Lawrence from Twana County Waste Management about heading up The Valley. And Lane Boyd called me on my drive up.” Feeble, but it was what it was.
“And were either of those people aware you didn’t come home?”
Mickie was glowering. And Casey had nothing to add, because no, neither Lawrence nor Boyd had enough of a connection to know he hadn’t come back down from The Valley.
“I’m sorry,” Casey muttered.
“I’d like to shoot Knute myself,” Elton said before Mickie could continue ripping into Casey. “He could’ve been killed!”
“I think the point to remember is that Knute was very concerned that you were the one who could have been killed,” Gabe pointed out. “He was protecting you, Elton. Petyr was getting away with, we thought, you in the boat.”
“Hmph. Ridiculous,” Elton muttered, then quickly changed the subject away from Knute. “Do we know anything more about Emmett Spurring?”
“Agent Weir and his Silent Partner are going to update me when they can,” Gabe told them. He’d reclaimed Casey’s hand and had a tight grip on him. Casey liked it.
“You think Spurring was involved in all of this, start to finish?” Casey asked.
Gabe nodded. “He worked with Wilson in some capacity. So far, the theory is that Petyr figured out he was the weak link and used Spurring to get to Roy.”
“Oh!” Casey sat up, jerking his hand out of Gabe’s. “One of you, hand me that box over by the sink, could you?”
Mickie collected the battered container and placed it in Casey’s lap.
“I found this in the cave.” He fiddled with the clasp and popped it open. “The contents suggest it may have been Calvin Perkins’s. No idea why he hid it there.”
Gabe, Mickie, and Elton gathered close, trying to see inside the box, and Casey plucked out the stack of snapshots.
“There was a memory card too, but Abby took it home with her. It was from a camera, had tons of pictures of the area. But what I want to know is”—he found the image he was looking for and held it up for his audience—“do any of you know who the woman with Calvin is?”
Mickie glanced at it and shrugged. “No idea.”
Gabe blinked and looked over at Elton. “Can I?” Gabe asked, holding his hand out for the print. He examined it for several minutes. “This here is Nicole Petyr.”
Elton moved around Mickie to take a closer look at it himself. He nodded. “Yep, sure is. Hair’s a different color, that’s all.”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Gabe asked.
“That Calvin Perkins was the father of Nicole’s child?
” Elton stared at the image of Calvin and a smiling young woman, their arms around each other’s shoulders.
“He was trying to clean himself up, maybe protect her. But Mikal Petyr got to him, maybe even provided the drugs that started him up again? That and the fact that he wasn’t the brightest bulb. ”
Gabe nodded. “Mikal is very possessive about family. Which… does this close the loop on Snowcap? Do we think Wilson was the con behind the development, and Mikal was the money? Those pamphlets at the Heron’s Roost do suggest Wilson had some real estate deals going on, and my ex never saw a deal he didn’t like. ”
“Wilson was in business with Petyr and cooked the books, but Petyr found out. Boom.” Elton pointed at Gabe with his index finger.
“This person’s name is Nicole?” Casey interrupted. “Kelly Perkins said she thought Calvin was seeing someone a few years ago. And Gordon mentioned a Nick. I assumed Nick was a male friend.” A yawn Casey been trying to resist broke free.
Gabe frowned. “Shit. I want you home asap. We need to leave, let you rest.”
“I don’t want to rest,” Casey said. But a second yawn betrayed him. Dammit.
“We need to poke our heads into Knute’s room anyway, reassure Elton he’ll survive to receive his own ass-kicking. Mickie, can you stick around and give us a ride to our house?” Gabe asked.
“Of course.”
“You.” Gabe turned back to Casey, squeezing his hand one last time. “Rest so you can come home tomorrow.”
Rest. As if he could get his brain to stop racing now.
Funny thing though. When he opened his eyes again, it was dark outside the window, and Casey didn’t remember the door shutting behind his visitors.