Page 20 of Left Behind

“Thanks,” Gardner said. “If we can find the shooter, we’ll let you know, and if she wakes up and is able to be interrogated, let me know.”

Chapter 4

Tom Wheaton had taken personal leave and was at Johnny’s house when his cell phone rang. His heart skipped as he glanced at caller ID. It was coming from the precinct. He’d left his number as contact for updated information regarding Carey’s disappearance.

“Hello, this is Tom.”

“Tom…Detective Gardner here. I have news. Eggers’s car was found early this morning, wrecked on Pope Mountain, and with the driver missing. A local resident found her in the woods. It’s Carey. She’d been shot in the back, which indicates she was running, and she had not regained consciousness before they took her to surgery. It’s not good, but last I heard, she’s still alive.”

“Oh my God,” Tom muttered. “Where is she? What hospital?”

“She’s in Jubilee. There’s only one hospital there,” Gardner added.

“Thanks for the update. She mentioned something about Billy arguing with someone called Gunny, or something about money in her text to Johnny. Did you get a hit on the alias?”

“Nothing as of yet, but they are still running tests on evidence from the crime scene. We’re hoping to get a hit on some prints. The living room was destroyed in the fight, so there should be prints all over the place, and hopefully we’ll pull some DNA from Eggers’s body to point us in the right direction.”

“Got it. Thanks again. Keep me updated,” Tom said, and breathed a sigh of relief as he hung up. This wasn’t the best news, but it also wasn’t the worst news. Carey was still alive.

He googled the number for the Jubilee Hospital, then asked for the nurses’ desk at the surgical wing and got the runaround about not giving out information to anyone but family, but he persisted.

“Yes, ma’am, I know that. But I’m a police officer with the Bowling Green PD. I gave you my name and badge number. You can confirm that with my commander. I gave you his name and number. Carey Eggers’s only family member was murdered last night, and I am standing in her house with her fiancé, who is recovering from very serious orthopedic surgery. So, at this moment, I’m the only upright and mobile person on this earth who gives a shit about what’s happening to her. All I need to know is if she’s still alive. Because if she’s not, I’m not driving a man on crutches all the way to Jubilee to look at her body.”

“Please hold,” the nurse said.

Tom took a breath and waited, and then waited, and finally, the nurse was back online.

“She is in the ICU. Her condition is grave. That is all I am allowed to tell you.”

“Thank you,” Tom said. “That’s all I needed to know. The next time you hear my voice, you’ll be looking at my face, and I’ll be pushing a man in a wheelchair. His name is John Knight. And don’t fuck with him like you just did with me. She is his world.”

He was shaking when he hung up. Now he had to tell Johnny, help him pack a bag, then go home and pack for himself and rent a wheelchair. The last time he and Johnny had gone on a trip together was their long fishing weekend just before his fall. And now this. Life had a way of lifting you up so high, just to see how well you fared after you were dropped.

And then Johnny hobbled into the living room. “What’s going on?”

“Sit down,” Tom said.

Johnny paled. “Just say it!”

“They found the car. It had been wrecked. They found Carey in the woods on Pope Mountain. She’d been shot in the back, which means she was running when it happened. She had not regained consciousness when they took her into surgery. She is out of surgery and in critical condition. That’s all I know.”

Now Johnny sat. “Where is she?”

“In the hospital in Jubilee.”

“The big tourist town?” Johnny asked.

“Yes. I know you want to go. I’ll take you. I’ll pack your bag; then you sit and wait while I go pack mine and rent a wheelchair. I’ll be back within a couple of hours. Okay?”

There was a muscle jerking at the side of Johnny’s jaw, but he was scary calm and quieter than Tom expected.

“You okay, buddy? She’s still alive. We have to hang on to that.”

“Just get my suitcase out of the back bedroom. It’s in the closet. I can pack it myself,” Johnny said.

Tom didn’t argue, and when he carried the suitcase back to their bedroom, Johnny was already stacking a few things on the bed. Tom opened the suitcase, then stepped aside.

“I’ll be back as soon as I run down a wheelchair and pack a few things,” he said. “Take a pain pill before we go. That’s a long ride and you’re gonna be hurting before we get there.”

---