Page 31 of Operation: Unify

“Ma’am, can I ask you a few questions?”

“Will I need a lawyer?” She didn’t want to hurt Melinda by saying something that could be twisted.

“You probably don’t need one.”

Which meant she absolutely needed one. “I want Connor with me.”

“Is he an attorney?” the officer asked.

“No, but he knows the system better than anyone I know. We can stand right here, I’ve got nothing to hide.”

He nodded and took out some paper. “Do you know of anyone who wanted to harm Melinda McFarland?”

“The only one she told me about was her husband, Tod. Though his brother may be part of it too. Tod threatened me when I arrived in town, so he is capable.”

The officer jotted down a few things. “And where were you for the last twenty-four hours?”

She squinted at him in the dark, trying to read his expression. “I was here for the last fifteen or so hours. Before that, I was at the hotel with Melinda. We saw you after that though.”

He nodded as if he remembered her. “How well do you know Melinda?”

“We weren’t in contact for years. After she married, she left town, and no one heard from her. Before that, we were very good friends since we attended the same small-town church and were close to the same age.”

He wrote down more information. “Is there anyone else locally who might have more information about her?”

“Her aunt would have, if someone hadn’t murdered her.” How convenient. The more Lacy thought about it, the more she was sure the insurance policy Randy had mentioned was a life insurance policy on Melinda. That was the only way all of this made sense. It explained why they’d targeted her right away. Lacy was trying to take away their get rich quick scheme.

“If you’re looking for a motive, you might want to look into insurance policies taken out by Tod or Cal McFarland with them as beneficiaries.”

The slam of the ambulance door made her jump, and she watched as the driver quickly climbed in and drove off with sirens screaming.Lord, please let her be okay.She turned back to the officer. “Is there anything else you need from me? I want to go to the hospital so I can be there when she wakes up.”

He sighed and frowned at the same time. “If she wakes up. It didn’t look good.”

Connor drovethe quiet group to the hospital after the police had told him where to find it. Randy had called his father to come and board up the front window. He’d been angry at Randy over the phone for waking him and even less happy about the task. Connor had made sure they left before he could arrive. That stress was the last thing Lacy needed right now.

She sat tucked between him and Randy in the truck as they drove down quiet streets. She hadn’t said much of anything since they’d finished talking to the police. He couldn’t blame her. The cop hadn’t given her much hope. He’d wanted to remind her that no one was there to give her that, she needed to look to God.

He parked the truck and Lacy waited while Randy climbed down, then got out on the passenger side. She waited for him while he came around the front, then took her hand. The report Randy had made to the ambulance and what she’d said to the officer would help establish an alibi. One Tod would have difficulty disputing.

The Emergency Department waiting room was the only one open at that hour. The rest of the hospital seemed dim and even more unwelcoming than usual. No one was in the halls and only one person sat at the registration desks in the front.

After spending a month in the hospital, even the smell of the building made his stomach churn. What was it about that particular disinfectant that made every single hospital smell the same? He sat in a chair next to Lacy and took out his phone. If they were safe anywhere, it was there.

Lacy sat staring at the door to the Emergency Department as though she could make the door open with news just by thinking about it. He leaned closer to her, letting her know he was there. She would be too jumpy for any contact to make her feel better. Lacy would want to be able to stand and walk around. If he offered to hold her hand, she’d just get up soon anyway.

“I hope we get word soon.” She glanced at Connor. “The waiting is awful.”

She’d told the front desk that they were here to see Melinda, so hopefully they would come out with news when they had any. Just as he suspected, Lacy stood and paced back and forth in the waiting room. Her anxiousness seemed to have no effect on Randy, which was proof that he’d told the truth about his feelings for Lacy. There was nothing growing between them, even from his side.

A doctor came out of the locked door, pulling her mask down as she did. She looked at all three of them, then turned to Lacy.“Why don’t you have a seat, and I can tell you what’s going on with your friend, at least what I can.”

Lacy sat and this time, Connor threaded his fingers through hers as a show of support. “What can you tell us?”

The doctor sat on the edge of the chair and took a moment to look each of them in the eyes. “I can tell you that she is touch and go right now. She has a pretty serious head injury, and she has only been stable for a short time. She is still critical. The issue I have is that she has a health directive on file from a little over a year ago and it states no resuscitation. We hadn’t looked at that before we started working.”

Lacy shook her head slowly. “That doesn’t sound like her at all.”

Connor hated to look at it from a victim’s perspective, but he had to. “It’s possible she did if she knew that it was a way out of her situation.”

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