Page 124 of Gunner

BREAKING NEWS: ANOTHER PREGNANT WOMAN ABDUCTED

Another shocking tragedy has unfolded in our community. In an alarming and heart-wrenching pattern, a second pregnant woman has been abducted in less than two weeks. This comes just three days after the discovery of the previous victim’s body, discarded in the woods after a crude C-section was performed to remove the baby.

The latest victim, Nancy Gardener, an African-American woman in her last trimester, was kidnapped from a parking lot immediately following her doctor’s appointment. The brazen nature of this crime has left the community in disbelief and the Gardener family in unimaginable distress.

Nancy’s husband, in a tearful plea, has urged the public for any information that could lead to the safe return of his wife and child. He described Nancy as a loving parent to their two-year-old, who doesn’t understand that her mother might not be returning to their family.

The police department, which is under intense pressure to resolve these harrowing cases, has yet to issue a statement. The investigation has been hampered by the recent attack on Acting Chief Witter, who is still recuperating after a violent incident at the hospital. This attack also resulted in the tragic loss of a key witness, further complicating the ongoing investigations.

As the community reels from these events, the police are calling on anyone with information to come forward. They assure the public that all tips will be thoroughly investigated in the hope of bringing Nancy Gardener back to her family safely.

Stay with us for more updates as this story develops. We return to the studio, where we continue the discussion of whether the mayor should announce an evacuation plan for all pregnant women who seem to be the target.

My stomach roiled as I listened to the news. I had to mute the television as the talk show turned into a conversation about pregnant women in Smoky Vale. They had a point. In the week and a half I’d been out of commission because of my wound, two more pregnant women had disappeared. I wouldn’t blame all women if they evacuated Smoky Vale at this point.

Never had I ever felt so useless in my life. How could someone get away with committing crimes of such magnitude? The man who’d killed Fox and had knifed me wasn’t talking. They’d allowed me to watch the interrogation. To his credit, Thoms had grilled him, but to no avail.

Someone had to have left clues, but I wouldn’t find any sitting around the house like this playing nurse/patient with Gunner. Over the past two weeks, he’d become damned good in that role, catering to my every whim and fancy. At first, I’d been tense, dreading he would use the opportunity to get me back into bed with him, but he hadn’t.

In the mornings, he walked Zeus and even made him breakfast. Then he walked with me so I could get some exercise in. We didn’t talk, but the uncomfortable silence had given way to familiarity. Sometimes he went away for a few hours in the afternoon to tend to his illegal club activities, but he would return in the evening with food. He was a lousy cook, so he brought food from various sources. Sometimes from a restaurant, but also from Jamie and the cook at the clubhouse.

He didn’t stay the night, which bothered me, but I would never admit it to him. If he found someone new, that would only be good news for me. Then he could leave me alone.

Images flashed on the screen, showing the spot in the woods where they’d found the last body. I jumped to my feet. I couldn’t listen to this anymore. I needed to get out there, find out where Thoms was in the investigation, call a meeting, and put our heads together to come up with something.

Anything was better than twiddling my thumbs in my house.

I grabbed my car keys and wallet and headed for the door. It opened from the outside, and Gunner walked in with Zeus. He took one look at the keys in my hand and frowned.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Another expecting mother was kidnapped.”

“And what do you think you can do? The doctor hasn’t okayed you to go back to work.”

“Because I had a stupid fever. It wasn’t even related to the wound.”

“Ben, you’re not going, and that’s final.”

“Are you going to stop me?”

“I will, but I don’t want to. I’m hoping you’ll listen to reason. You’re just a couple of days away from being approved for work. You want to jeopardize that?”

I shot him a glare, then turned on my heels, back to the living room. Zeus jumped onto the sofa, circled, and settled down, barking at the TV.

“All right, all right.” I changed the channel to a cooking show. “Are you satisfied now?”

Gunner chuckled. He looked sexy as sin in dusty, worn shoes, black jeans faded from too many wash cycles, a slate-gray tee, and his hair loose around his shoulders. If I’d learned anything over the past ten days, it was that my body and brain were not in sync.

“If you’re gonna let him watch all those cooking shows, the least you can do is make some of that for him. Poor Zeus is salivating. Aren’t you, boy?”

Gunner sat on the other side of the couch and bribed Zeus’s attention with belly rubs.

“Since you’ve become best friends, why don’t you cook for him?”

“Because I don’t want to burn your house down. Then you’d have to live with me at the clubhouse, and I prefer it over here with just the two of us.”

I swallowed at his soft words. He’d been doing this to me since I got out of the hospital. Making sweet comments that were at odds with his nature and in that matter-of-fact way, like the words were just effortless to say.

---