Page 21 of Left Behind

Johnny shrugged off the concern. “I know how to hurt. I just don’t know how to live without her. Hurry back.”

***

Wiley had been back at work for days, but he was riding a desk, which only exacerbated the funk he was in. He’d hoped for a positive response back from Linette Elgin about going on another date, but heard nothing. The going phrase for being dumped was being ghosted, and that’s how he felt. He didn’t blame her. Their first attempt at dating had been sabotaged by two of his ex-acquaintances, and it had hurt her. Coming out on the good side of being shot had given him a whole new aspect of life. It was short. And it mattered. People mattered. And if paperwork was part of being a cop, then he could do it with his chin up and his mouth shut, which was what he was doing, when the phone rang at his desk.

“Jubilee PD. Officer Pope speaking.”

“Hi, Wiley, it’s me, Cecily. I wanted you to know how sorry I was about the bank thingy. I tried to call you at home, but the calls never went through.”

Wiley frowned. Bank thingy? “That’s because I deleted and blocked you and the other clown you hang out with. I consider the brief acquaintances I had with both of you to be severe lapses of moral judgment on my part,” he said and hung up in her ear.

He was still muttering beneath his breath when the chief walked in and paused at his desk.

“Morning, Wiley. How are you feeling?” Sonny Warren asked.

“Good, sir.”

“Good enough to make a run to the hospital for me?” Sonny asked.

Hot damn! Wiley stood. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Do you know about the woman your cousin Cameron found this morning?”

“I heard,” Wiley said.

“Well, it turns out she’s a witness to her brother’s murder, and it appears the killer chased her down to silence her. Only she’s still alive. Sheriff Woodley asked us not to advertise the fact, and I’d like for you to swing by the hospital and let the nurses’ station know the situation. I think it’s prudent that we have someone on duty.”

“Absolutely,” Wiley said. “How do we know the killer was a man?” he asked.

“Because she left a message on her fiancé’s phone about what had happened. What I can’t figure out is how the shooter trailed her from the east side of Bowling Green all the way to Pope Mountain in the dark and in that storm.”

“If the shooter had her brother’s phone, there’s a good chance he was using the GPS on it to track her,” Wiley said.

Sonny blinked. “There are days when I think I’m aging out of this job.”

“Sean keeps us all up-to-date on tech stuff,” Wiley said.

“Right,” Sonny said. “This isn’t going to be a simple job, because the hospital isn’t going to let us into the ICU to guard her bed, so you’re going to be outside of the ICU, checking off the people who do go in. Get a list of patients in the ICU and then a list of people allowed to visit those patients, and if somebody’s not on the list, they don’t get in.”

“So, since her brother’s dead, who’s on Carey Eggers’s list?” Wiley asked.

“I checked with Woodley. There’s a fiancé named Johnny Knight and Tom Wheaton, a cop from Bowling Green, who’s likely bringing Johnny here.”

Wiley frowned. “Knight can’t bring himself?”

“He was a lineman for an electric company. He fell off a high-line pole about six weeks back and shattered his leg. It’s being held together with rods and screws, so he’s not driving or walking right now.”

Wiley frowned. “That’s tough. He probably feels like the whole damn world is falling down around him. Text me photos of both of them from the DMV. Do you want me there now?”

“Yes. I’ll have someone from the hospital get the patient names and visitor list to you,” Sonny said.

“Do I stay, or are you spelling me off?” Wiley asked.

“I’ll send someone to relieve you in the morning.”

Wiley looked up. “What if she doesn’t make it?”

Sonny nodded. “It’s a possibility. She was already injured from the wreck before she got shot. She must be a tough little thing to have run that far through the woods in that storm before he ran her down.”

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