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Prescott gave Wade a troubled look, but he ignored his brother and addressed the doctor. “Follow me.”
As they climbed the staircase, the doctor asked, “Is he still alive?”
Wade nodded and led him to his room at the back of the house. A frantic Prescott followed close behind. When they entered, she lay motionless in the same position as he had left her, and Wade tried to ignore the daunting feeling he felt at the sight of her lifeless body. He couldn’t allow himself to give up on her now.
“What exactly happened?” The doctor laid his black bag on the night table and removed a stethoscope which he put to his ears.
“Stab wound to the chest.” Wade simply told him.
Dr. Patterson lifted a brow but didn’t comment otherwise. Turning to Anna he lifted the blanket covering her and paused. His searching gaze shot toward the brothers. “This is not a boy.”
“We’re well aware of that,” Prescott stated. “Can you help her?”
Turning back to his patient, he made no other comment, but instead put the instrument to her chest and listened for a few minutes before lifting the towels covering the wound that Wade had applied. He put them gently back down and gave a nod. “She will need stitches and from the sight of that wound, it might take me well into several hours. But I can’t guarantee she’ll make it through the night. She’s lost a lot of blood.”
Wade’s jaw clenched and he forced himself to remain perfectly still. “Just make every effort to save her life.”
The physician’s eyes met Wade’s. “She’ll need a lot more than what I can offer. She needs a reason to come back.”
* * *
Down in the kitchen Prescott put on the kettle for coffee, but Wade definitely needed something stronger. He couldn’t erase the image of her lifeless body covered in blood. “Did you speak to the constable?”
“He wasn’t there, but I left a note. I also sent word to New Westminster. I thought Kathleen would like to know what happened.”
Wade nodded, then dropped his head into his hands, cursing silently to himself.
“Wade, what exactly did happen?”
Heaving a weary sigh, he went and filled a glass of bourbon then threw it back in one swift gulp. “There’s two dead men out by the river.”
Prescott’s face clearly reflected his shocked reaction. “How?”
“I shot them,” he stated matter-of-fact.
His brother’s face froze. “My God, Wade. What happened?”
The image of the scene he encountered down at the river came flooding back, and an inferno of hatred boiled to the surface. He got up angrily and went back to the cabinet. “They were after Anna.”
Prescott’s brow gathered in confusion. “Who were they?”
Wade shook his head and refilled his glass.
“I don’t understand. What could they possibly want with Anna?”
An image of her naked in the river came to mind. He closed his eyes and tried not to let the overwhelming rage that filled him consume him entirely. They both heard a horse pull up to the front of the house and when Wade went over to the window he saw the constable dismount from his horse. Opening the door, he greeted him on the p
orch.
“Is it true? Has the boy been stabbed?”
Wade nodded and gestured toward the river. “I left the bodies down by the river.”
“Bodies?”
Wade nodded. “There were two of them. One pulled a rifle on me. The other, a knife on the boy.”
The constable’s gaze narrowed. “And the boy?”
