Page 31 of Burke (The Haven #2)

B urke had been close enough to listen to the conversation, not surprised when he realized Silvia was literally just trying to get money out of her sister, but, when the gun appeared, pointed at Shirley, his heart froze.

To think that Silva was to the point of using a weapon against her own sister was just shocking.

He watched in fear as Shirley moved toward her vehicle.

When the shot rang out, he couldn’t believe it, but he was already moving quickly, and Silvia was running toward her own vehicle.

He knew he could count on the other guys to stop her, but the fact that she’d pulled the trigger was a shock that he might never get over.

He reached Shirley’s side, as she collapsed beside her car. “Oh God,” he whispered, as he watched the blood well out of her shoulder.

She stared up at him, bewildered. “Was that really my sister?” she asked in tears. “Did she really just shoot me?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “It’s a flesh wound, so you’ll be fine. I only heard one shot.”

She nodded at that and then whispered, “Is it bad?”

She didn’t say anything more, but such pain filled her words that he wasn’t at all sure she was cognizant.

“No, it’s not bad. It’s okay. It’ll be just fine.

” Shock had already set in, and that in itself was a sign of rapid deterioration.

He moved her gently into the vehicle, then quickly raced around to the driver’s side and headed out at top speed.

Jaxon was calling him, and he picked up his cell, while driving.

“She’s been shot in the shoulder,” he told him. “Did you get Silvia?”

“Yeah, we’ve got her. And the cops are also here.”

“Good, hopefully they were close enough to hear and to see what went down.”

“I don’t know if they heard, but they certainly saw, so that’s one good thing.”

“Okay, I’m taking Shirley to the hospital, and, if the cops need to talk to her, that’s where we’ll be.” He asked, “Any sign of the boyfriend?”

“No, not yet, but, if he was here, he would have seen us grab her, so he probably took off on his own.”

“Yeah, he would have,” Burke agreed. “Okay, I’ll let you know more from the hospital.” And, with that, he ended that call and drove as fast as he could. When he pulled up outside the emergency entrance, he helped her out of her car, then carried her inside, calling out, “Gun shot.”

The emergency team sprang into action and quickly had her on a gurney, where they checked her over.

He was led outside, where one of the attendants asked him questions about what happened.

He gave her a brief explanation, and she just stared at him and then turned and walked back into the emergency room, as if not quite understanding, but then, what the hell?

How anybody could not understand this, he didn’t know.

As he sat here and waited, he realized he needed to update Timber. Calling Timber was easier, but the explanation was a whole lot worse.

“Silvia shot her, a flesh wound in her shoulder, but I don’t know yet how bad it is. None of us expected that,” he said, “but Silvia came prepared with the gun.”

“Will Shirley be okay?”

“Yes, physically she will,… but it’s been a huge shock.”

“Yeah, no doubt,” Timber noted. “Nothing quite like betrayal to mess with your head, and then when it’s a betrayal from somebody really close,… Jesus. She really thought her sister needed help, didn’t she?”

“Yes, that’s the thing. As far as Shirley was concerned, we were slowing her down in getting to her sister, and her sister could be in major trauma.

She was even a little bit afraid we would find her dead.

Instead her sister was lying through her teeth and pulled a weapon, trying to get the money she’s been after all along. ”

“Damn it,” Timber muttered. “People really suck.”

“I know. Anyway I’m here, and I’ll check in when I know more. Oh, according to the guys, they grabbed Silvia, and the cops were there, but I don’t know anything beyond that.”

“I’ll contact them and see,” Timber replied, “I want to confirm that they’ve got Silvia in custody and keep her there.”

“Yeah, I agree with that.”

“But you know what the law is like.”

“If they have no money, nobody will bail her out.”

“Maybe not, yet Silvia could come up with all kinds of stories to set herself free.”

“Like what?” Timber asked. “She shot her sister while she was walking away. It’s that walking away part that gets me too. Yet Silvia will quite likely say she had to do something to preserve her own life, otherwise this boyfriend would have come in and taken care of her too.”

“There’s been no sign of him, according to Jaxon,” Timber shared.

“No, but I’m not sure I believe that he wasn’t around there somewhere.”

Timber sighed. “Yeah,… good call. I’m not sure either.” And, with that, he rang off.

Burke sat here and waited. When the doctor came out to talk to him, he was smiling and said, “She’ll be okay.”

“Thank God. I’m sure glad to hear that.”

“I don’t quite understand what happened, but, because it’s a gunshot, we have to call the cops.”

“Absolutely,” Burke agreed. “My understanding is the authorities already have the shooter in custody, but I don’t know that for sure. I just grabbed Shirley and ran.”

The doctor added, “This will take a bit of time to heal. Shoulder injuries aren’t necessarily fun.”

“Right. I know that,” Burke acknowledged. “It depends on how bad the wound site is.”

“It’s not bad, and, if you have a shoulder injury, this is one of the easiest to recover from,” he explained, “but it still won’t be a walk in the park.” Then he saw the prosthetic on Burke’s leg, and he nodded. “But I guess you know about that already, don’t you?”

“I sure do,” he stated calmly. “May I see her?”

“Sure,” he agreed, “but she’s pretty groggy right now. We’re prepping her for surgery.”

Burke stared at the doctor in shock.

“The bullet’s got to come out.”

“Right,” he muttered, scrubbing his face. “Don’t know why I didn’t even consider that.”

“Shock,” the doc said. “It gets to all of us when it’s somebody we care about.” With that, he added, “You can stay with her until we take her up.”

Burke nodded and he headed to her room, where she stared up at him, groggy but awake. “Hey,” he said, “you’re heading up for surgery to get the bullet out.”

She winced and nodded. “That sounds like a lot of fun afterward.”

“Nope, but apparently,… as far as shoulder injuries go, that is the one you want to have.”

“I didn’t want to have any,” she muttered, her voice thin and pained.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” She nodded, and he saw the hot tears in her eyes. He wiped them away. “And I don’t know if this news will be a relief or will just be more pain, but the police have picked up your sister.”

She blinked and then nodded. “I guess… I just… don’t even know what to say.”

“Then you don’t need to say anything,” he suggested. “You’ve already had more than enough for the day.”

She gave a broken laugh. “Isn’t that the truth?” she muttered. “How,… how do you recover from this?”

“One day at a time, that’s what you do,” he suggested, with a smile. “You come back to the Haven, and you recover,… one day at a time.”

More tears were in her eyes when she looked at him. “But you don’t know that I can go back to the Haven.… Does Timber even want this kind of a nightmare at his place?”

“What nightmare?” Burke asked, with a note of humor. “Silvia’s already been picked up.”

She frowned at that and then slowly nodded. “Honestly, I’m not so sure that this will be the end of it.”

He hesitated, eyed her carefully, and asked, “Do you want to explain that?”

“I’m not sure I can. I just feel as if Frankie is waiting in the background.”

“He wasn’t seen at the park.”

She nodded, but then frowned. “I still feel like he was there.”

“Maybe he was,” Burke conceded cautiously. “I don’t have any way to know.”

“No, it’s okay,” she muttered.

“The surgery will be minor, so keep that in mind,” he shared. “Afterward you’ll be stiff and sore, but you should come home pretty quickly.”

“Now, that would be nice,” she whispered, clearly getting drowsier by the minute.

The nurses came in and announced, “We’re taking her up now.”

“Fine,” he said. He stepped back and watched as she was rolled up to surgery on the bed. He followed and was given a space where he could sit and wait. He settled in and sent Timber a text about the surgery. Then he sat down to wait some more.

When the police arrived a little later, he looked up and nodded, as they came over to talk to him. “How is she?” one man asked.

“In surgery, getting the bullet out,” he murmured. “Did you pick up the sister?”

He nodded. “We did, and she’s spitting mad. She seems to think her sister set her up, and she should have shot to kill her instead of just trying to wound her.”

“Did she say why she shot her?”

“She just said she was mad,” he replied, looking over at him. “She was just so mad that her sister wouldn’t help her. I gather there’s quite a history.”

“Do you know Detective Martin?” he asked.

“Yeah, I sure do. Why?”

“He’s dealing with a fraud case, and this irate woman you’ve got is the one who’s been stealing credit card accounts and using them until they get canceled. Then she turns around and does it again.”

“Oh, nice,” he muttered, as he picked up his phone. “I’ll contact him.”

“Please do.”

“So, is it all part of the same thing?”

“Yeah, that would make sense.” Burke nodded. “Another thing, just before she went under, Shirley insisted that Silvia’s boyfriend wasn’t likely to have given up on pursuing access to Shirley’s assets.”

“Boyfriend? Who’s that?”