Page 88 of Fatal Vision

The doctor pulled his glove back on and resumed stitching. “I’ll have Mr. Bells cleaned up here in a minute. He could use some x-rays, though.”

“Can you keep him overnight?” Jack asked, hope clearly evident in his voice.

“I’m not staying.” Colton glanced over to see Shelby staring at him while her mother hovered around her. “I need to get Shelby somewhere safe.”

Jack planted his feet and crossed his arms over his massive chest. “We’re taking her home.”

The needle smarted as it bit into his skin. He took his gaze off Shelby to look her father in the eye. “Your home isn’t safe.”

“The hell it isn’t.”

The nurse, unwrapping the gauze from Colton’s head while the doctor sewed on his eyebrow, frowned at Jack.

The man was no stranger to cussing. Claimed it was his one and only vice.

Colton was pretty sure ol’ Jack had more than one.

But he did love his daughter.

Colton loved her too.

He was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. If he left her, she’d be easy pickins for the killer. On the other hand, it was probably Colton’s presence that had drawn the killer to her in the first place.

Nobody messes with my family.

Shelby might be his ex, but she was still the only family he had. Her, Connor, and the other SFI team members. He owed them all.

“She needs 24/7 security, Jack. You can’t provide that. I was wrong to let her go home, that’s on me. But now,”—he shook his head and Dr. Allen balked—“I’m taking her to a safe house and assigning a security detail.”

Of course, exactly who was going to be on the detail was a mystery. Connor needed to stay with Sabrina. There was no one else Colton trusted within spitting distance. His phone had been buzzing with calls and texts from Beatrice since he’d arrived at the hospital, but he had yet to answer them.

He’d already asked for a team of five of her best to fly to Oklahoma and do what he hadn’t been able to—protect Shelby.

“Security detail?” Jack scoffed. “Do you know how many parishioners I have in Good Hope? Pert near the whole damn town. All I have to do is say the word and I’ll have dozens of people watching after her, right along with her mother and I. We don’t need your security detail. We have God.”

Colton started to jump off the gurney but the nurse grabbed his arm. “You stay right where you are, sugarbeet,” she said low near his ear, “or you’ll have more to worry about than this cut in your skull.”

“Daddy,” Shelby said, wheeling herself toward the door. “Why don’t we discuss this outside while the doctor finishes sewing up Colton?”

“No,” Colton growled. “You’re not leaving my sight.”

“There are two detectives outside, waiting to talk to me.” She patted his leg before rolling on by. “Theo and a couple others from my office are here too. I’ll be fine. Especially once I get out of this damn wheelchair. I need a walker, Momma.”

Martha said she’d find one as she held the door for Shelby.

Colton didn’t care if the entire Okie National Guard was out there. “Shelby…”

Shelby wheeled herself out. Through the open door, Colton saw Daniel standing by, Bible in hand. His face lit up when he saw Shelby.

Jack leaned forward to get in Colton’s face. “You stay away from my daughter, now, y’hear?”

Colton felt the nurse press her fingers into his sore back, a quiet but effective rebuke not to attack the minister or say anything he was going to regret.

Too late. “Shelby knows the killer, Jack. I’m sure of it. Did you ever stop to think it might be one of your parishioners?”

The thought actually struck home and genuine surprise showed on the man’s face. “How dare you.”

Oh, he dared all right. As Jack spun on his heel to leave, Colton grabbed his arm and stopped him. “You take her to the parish and anything happens to her, I’ll be coming for your ass, Reverend.Y’hear?”