Page 14

M issy texted Trey when he didn’t return after taking Schooner out. In fact nobody came back. She’d been sitting here, waiting for what seemed like forever, trying to figure out if anybody had gotten any information.

Trey responded immediately to her text with a phone call.

She asked, “I shouldn’t bug you, but did anybody find anything? Everybody took off, especially you,” she noted in confusion. “I wasn’t sure what was going on.”

“I’m almost to your room again. Give me a minute.”

She ended the call, and, sure enough, a moment later Trey popped through the door.

He smiled at her, then walked over to Silas’s bedside. Looking down at the patient, Trey asked, “How’s he doing?”

“He’s doing fine,” she replied, “at least as far as we know.”

He nodded. “As for whatever happened, we did see somebody coming into this room just after we left. Whether his arrival was good luck on his part, or he was more or less waiting, or he just didn’t care if he got caught, I don’t know.”

She asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“We watched the security videos, and he came from the stairwell almost immediately after we left the room, goes inside here, then goes right back outside, having changed out of the outfit that he wore inside here. He dropped the lab coat, took off the wig, and walked outside, carrying a bag.”

“Jesus,” she muttered, staring at him in shock. “So, not only was this an attack that I need to be concerned about, this was preplanned.”

He stared at her and nodded slowly. “That’s exactly what it was, an attempted hit.”

She stared down at her father, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

“I’m sorry. There wasn’t an easy way to say it.”

She brushed it off. “I’m not interested in easy. I just want to keep Dad safe, and apparently that’s something I can’t even do here,” she wailed, looking around helplessly. “Dear God, what is going on that this is even happening?”

“That’s what I’m trying to get to the bottom of,” Trey declared, “and again I have to apologize. We haven’t gotten very far.”

She stared at him, then shook her head. “This isn’t your fault,” she said immediately. “I’m the one who sat in the middle of nowhere, wondering what I could do and how to get him back here. Still, even now that we’re here, look at the shit we’re dealing with.” She shook her head. “This isn’t about you. This is about somebody who is after my father. It’s one thing for us to wonder if this truly was what was happening, but another thing entirely to know for sure.”

“I guess that is the one thing we can count on now,” he pointed out. “I hate to say it, but now that we know your father was attacked again, then somebody did target the two of you.”

She winced. “You still think it’s both of us?” she asked cautiously.

He hesitated and then slowly nodded. “I don’t know what to say about the two of you versus one of you,” he clarified, “but, if you had still been here, alone with your father, I don’t know what the stranger’s reaction would have been.”

She stared at him in shock and then swallowed. “Meaning that, if he had come in here and found me too, he might have done something to both of us?”

“It’s quite possible, yes. Maybe he was planning on taking out two birds with one stone.… That would explain why he came here dressed as a doctor. He didn’t care whether anybody was here or not, or whether you were here or your father was alone. Or maybe he came on impulse and lucked out to find Silas alone.”

She just nodded but stared at Trey. “This is incredibly unnerving,” she murmured. “I don’t even know what else to say.”

“Of course you don’t.” He walked closer and sat down beside her. “However, it reaffirms the fact that you can’t be alone.”

“And neither can Dad,” she pointed out quickly.

Trey nodded. “I know. And I doubt that the sheriff has any interest in putting security in place for Silas. Of course the hospital will only allow for liability of a certain amount, so they can’t just pay for a security guard either.”

“Of course not,” she muttered. “That would be too expensive, wouldn’t it?”

Hearing the disdain and the anger in her tone, Trey smiled and nodded. “It’s also the facts of life.”

She let out her breath slowly. “I guess it is. I’m just not used to dealing with this side of life. Who the hell is?”

“We’ll deal with it. You being here obviously won’t be enough now.”

“I’m not leaving him again,” she snapped. “You can count that out.”

“I know that’s how you feel,” he replied. “I want to take over some of these shifts, so that you can go get some rest. Of course Schooner would be with you all the time that I’m not with you.”

She stared at him blindly. “What?”

He reached out a hand and squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll relieve you of half your shifts here. So long as somebody is here at all times with Silas, we have a better chance of keeping your father alive.”

“You don’t have to do that,” she said immediately.

“No, I don’t have to,” he agreed, with a smile. “I want to. I’ve also known your father for a long time.”

“I didn’t know you very well back then.”

He waved a hand. “Because we were always out fishing. I don’t think you were into it much back then.”

She winced. “I was into my friends at the time,… but, hell, all of that just seems so frivolous now.”

“That’s not what you’ll focus on now,” he stated. “None of that has anything to do with what’s going on right now.”

“Are you sure about that?” She stood up and started to pace the small room. “I still can’t get past the idea that maybe this all has something to do with a friend or somebody who had an argument with Dad that involved me somehow. I can’t even think of anything that would cause all this, but the guilt is eating me up.”

“It’s not guilt. You’re just worried,… worried that something you did caused all this to happen. It’s the very idea that all this trouble could be something you’re somehow responsible for. Remember that, whoever tried to kill you is responsible, not you. You can take on as much guilt as you want, but that doesn’t change the fact that somebody out there is targeting Silas and may be targeting you.”

“I think I’m just collateral damage then…” She stopped, shook her head. “That completely eradicates what I was saying a minute ago.”

He smiled. “You’re grasping at straws right now, trying to make anything make sense, but the trouble is, nothing is making sense, which just makes it all that much harder.”

She blew a strand of hair off her face and stared at him.

He nodded. “I get it, and I’m sorry that this has become such an issue. What we never really expected was that somebody would come here to the hospital to go after your father.”

“No, God no. How could that possibly have crossed anybody’s mind?” she asked in a whisper. “Of all the things I might wonder about, that’s what I end up with?” She shook her head. “My father was so well loved.”

“ Is so well loved,” Trey corrected.

She flushed, then walked over and sat down beside her father on the bed. “ Is so well loved,” she whispered. “I just can’t imagine why somebody is doing this.”

“Does he have any business partnerships?”

She looked over at him. “I have no idea. Why?”

He frowned. “I’m just tossing this out there, but, if your father did die, I wonder what would happen to his assets.”

“They would come to me,” she said, “at least that’s what I assume. But have I seen a will? No.”

“A business relationship can be different. If it’s not specifically stated in the will, the business partner could end up getting everything based on a separate business contract. Plus, if there is life insurance of the business-related kind, the partner could get that too.”

She sat back and stared at him. “What?”

He nodded. “Certain things are a little bit more delicate when it comes to death, and that might be something we need to look into to understand better.”

She swallowed. “You’re thinking about Dr. Bill, his assistant who runs the clinic?”

“My understanding was that Bill wasn’t a full partner but was just an assistant, correct?”

“Yes, he’s not. My dad had the business himself, with the idea that, at some point, it would become mine.”

“But did he always have the business himself? Is there any chance that some old business partner is around who maybe wants to come back into the business, but your father was against it?”

She stared at him, then slowly shook her head. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. It’s possible, I suppose. I don’t quite know when or how he started the clinic. He’s been a veterinarian forever, but, along the way, who’s to say that things didn’t change at some point or go in another unexpected way.”

“Exactly. I’ll get some friends of mine to do some digging to see if we could come up with some answers.”

When a sharp bark came at the door, Trey turned to see Schooner standing there, glaring up at somebody in a white coat at the door.

“If this dog can’t be controlled,” the doctor snapped, “he’s not staying here.”

“He’s staying,” Trey snapped right back. “If he’d been here before, her father wouldn’t have been attacked.”

“We don’t know that he was attacked,” the doctor retorted in a testy voice.

“Then you haven’t seen the security video, have you?” Missy snapped.

He froze, frowning at her. “Seriously?”

“Yes,” she exclaimed loudly. “Somebody in a white lab coat came into this room as soon as we left, was here for all of a minute, left, took off a wig and the lab coat, then quickly disappeared out the rear parking lot.”

The air left the doctor’s lungs immediately, as he blinked several times. “Wow, that is not a good thought.”

“No, it absolutely is not a good thought,” Trey declared. “So the dog stays, and I will be staying from now on too.”

The doctor glared at him, and Trey glared right back. “Whatever,” the doc muttered. “It’s not as if you’ll listen to me anyway.”

“No, I sure won’t,” he muttered cheerfully. “I’m all about keeping Silas safe. He’s been to hell and back already, and that somebody is still trying to kill him in this hospital is absolutely ludicrous.”

“Still?” the doctor repeated, confused.

Trey nodded, not sure that he should say anything more, but they had to share their thoughts with some people. “We believe that their boat was sabotaged, and that’s why they were marooned out in the middle of nowhere.”

He stared at them for a long moment. “Jesus. I’ve been in this town for a very long time, and I sure as hell hope you’re wrong.”

“So do we,” she declared, as she stepped up beside Trey. “So do we.” She reached out, placing her fingers in his, and squeezed his hand. “It’s been a rough time. My father told me that the boat had been sabotaged long before he went unconscious. I didn’t tell anybody but Trey. However, now, with another attack on Dad, right here inside this hospital, that says it all.”

“You’ll have to get official hospital approval to keep the dog here,” the doctor, a different one than before warned. “I’m not against it, if it keeps my patient safe. It’s hard enough dealing with these cases, without having somebody mess up my patient’s recovery.” He glared at them both.

“Agreed,” both of them replied immediately.

He looked from one to the other and frowned.

“I’ll arrange clearance for the dog,” Trey clarified.

“Yeah, good luck with that,” the doctor muttered, rolling his eyes. “The hospital will be all about legal BS and avoiding lawsuits.”

“Yeah, they sure will,” Trey agreed, with a wry smile, “but, with the lax or failed security around here, they may very well be involved already.”

The doctor stared at him and then nodded. “Understood, but just remember that the hospital isn’t actively trying to harm him.”

“No, but they’re not doing anything to actively protect him either,” he pointed out.

“I’m not going there,” the doctor admitted. “I just want to keep my patient safe.”

“Understood, and, as soon as we get some clarity as to what’s going on, we’ll let you know.”

“Do that,” he stated, glaring at them. “It’s complete BS that this is happening.”

Trey smiled. “You won’t get any argument on that point, and we’re doing all we can to not cause any trouble. We just want to keep Silas safe, when the hospital alone can’t seem to do that.”

The doctor sighed. “I do have some good news for you on that end. It seems as if he’s slowly starting to come around. Now that he’s stable again, we’ll continue to lighten up the dosage on the meds and see if we can get him to wake up.”

A gasp came from Missy, and she looked at the doc so hopefully. “Do you really think that’s possible?”

“Yes, I do think so,” he confirmed, with a smile. “I didn’t want to say anything until I could see the latest results, but it seems he’s potentially taken a turn for the better.” He turned and glared at Trey. “All the more reason for you to ensure nobody’s in here messing things up.”

Trey agreed, but he also found it interesting that he was now marked as the person in charge. Not something he thought the doctor would have done, but what did Trey know? He waited for the doctor to complete his exam, and, when he turned to walk out, he gave Trey a warning look because Schooner still sat at the doorway, glaring at the doc again.

“It’s okay, buddy,” Trey said to Schooner, refusing to go quite so far as to say the doctor was a friend because, at this point, Trey had no idea who their friends were and were not. Still, as long as Silas was here, Schooner needed to let in the medical personnel. Schooner stepped back and let the doctor out. The doctor shot the War Dog a hard look as he disappeared down the hallway.

“Oh my God,” Missy gasped, as she walked over to her father, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. “This is the best news.”

“It’s great news for sure,” Trey agreed, “but we’ve got to figure out the rest.”

She turned and looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“I want to know that he’ll be safe when he comes out of it,” Trey explained. “I don’t want him to get this far, only to be in even more danger the minute he wakes up again.”