Page 85 of Every Deadly Suspicion

He radioed to Hanna. “I’m down safe. Tell Fire we’ll need a basket for Braden and a backboard and splints for Sharp.”

“I got it.” Jared recognized the voice of Fire Captain Darling. “Is the boy injured?”

Braden sat a few feet away from Nathan. He still had a cast on his wrist. It was dirty but intact.

Jared knelt. “Hey, buddy, are you okay?”

He nodded. “I’m afraid of the dark.” He was shaking. It was dank and cold in the tight space.

Jared smiled, took his backpack off. “Me too.” He handed Braden his flashlight and pulled out another from his bag. “Youhold on to the light. They’re going to send a ride down for the two of you, okay?”

Braden nodded. “Where is Papa Everett?”

“Up there somewhere. You’ll see him soon.”

“Braden and the dog are not injured,” Jared told Darling before he turned his attention to Nathan. Why were they so far apart? When his light hit Nathan, he saw why.

Moving to Nathan, keeping his back to Braden, his light picked up the bones, the remains of someone or something just beyond Nathan.

Jared knelt in front of Nathan. “The kid looks fine. What happened to you?” He ran his light over the detective. His face was bruised. Tomorrow he’d have a wicked black eye.

“Chase, he let me down on a rope, then cut it about halfway down. I fell the rest of the way.” Nathan winced. “When he lowered Braden, he did it slowly. I heard him tell the boy that he was protecting him.”

Jared shone his light on the bent leg. “I’m going to have to splint that to get you out of here.”

Nathan nodded, groaning some. “My wrist too. Do what you have to do. Just get me out of here.”

Jared moved the light across Nathan’s body and saw that the wrist was busted too. “We’ll get you something for the pain. You didn’t hit you head or hurt your back?”

“No, my leg and my arm took the brunt of the fall. I had a flashlight; the battery died. There are other guests down here.”

“I see that. Let me tell them what we need and get Braden out of here. Hang on, okay?”

Nathan gave a weak nod.

Jared stood and let Darling know the situation. The first thing they lowered were more lights, then a basket for Braden and the dogwith splints and pain medication for Nathan. Jared hurried to get Braden set. The light illuminated a lot of unpleasantness in the shaft.

“Keep your eyes closed and hold on to the dog,” Jared told Braden. The boy nodded, hugged the dog, and the men above drew the basket up and out. Jared turned his attention to Nathan. He had medication and splints, so he went to work. Nathan was going into shock, and he needed to get out of this damp hole.

Once he was medicated and splinted, Jared laid out the backboard. “I’ve got to strap you down on here. You good to go?”

“Yeah, I feel a lot better now.”

Jared pulled as Nathan slid and lay on the board. Carefully, Jared secured his head and neck, belted him down, wanting to make it as secure as possible because any jerky movement would be agony for Nathan on the way up.

As he was double-checking the belts, Nathan tried to grab his arm.

“What, too tight?”

“No. I need to know. Do you love Hanna?”

Taken aback, Jared rocked back on his heels. “We don’t need to talk about this now.”

“We do. I think she loves you. Before I back off, I want to make sure you won’t hurt her again. If you do, you’ll answer to me.”

“I think that’s the medication talking.” Jared jerked the rope, which was the signal for the guys above to bring Nathan up.

Jared stood, staring up at the backboard ascending the shaft.

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