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“Stay with me, Bess,” Grady said, scanning the room as well as he could from his vantage point. “The ambulance is almost here; I need you to stay awake.”
I crawled over to them, not caring about taking cover anymore. Bess and I drove each other crazy sometimes, but she was my family now. I took her hand in mine.
“Bess, stay awake,” I pleaded. “I need you. You’re way too stubborn to go out like this.”
Her head slumped to the side and I cried out, “Bess!”
Her eyelids fluttered again. Voices filled the room then, officers yelling out commands and paramedics running to us with a stretcher. I had to let go of Bess’s hand, and I wept as Grady dragged me away from her.
“Let them help her,” he said softly.
“I’m not leaving her,” I said fiercely. “Don’t you dare ask me to leave her.”
“I won’t. But we need to stay calm and you need to call Harry and tell him to meet us at the hospital. Can you do that, or do you want me to?”
“I don’t have his number,” I said numbly.
“I have it,” Sam said from behind me.
Bess was being loaded onto a stretcher. Sam passed me his phone and I mustered all my strength to tell Harry what was going on without breaking down.
“Not my Bess,” he said mournfully. “I’m leaving right now for the hospital.”
“I’ll meet you there,” I said.
Grady walked me to the ambulance, his arm around me.
“We’re riding in the rig with you,” he told one of the paramedics.
The medic shook his head. “We’ve only got room for one in back.”
“I’ll ride up front, then,” he said.
“Chief, what do you need from me?” Grady’s friend Coulter asked.
“Take lead on this. Pull surveillance, get a vehicle description, secure the area.”
“You got it,” Coulter said. “City Hall is locked down.”
The paramedics wheeled Bess’s stretcher into the back of the ambulance and Grady supported my arm so I could step in after them.
“You can have that seat,” a medic said, pointing to a little metal platform next to her stretcher.
“Bess, I’m here,” I said as I sat down. “I’m with you; don’t be scared. We’re going to the hospital and Harry is meeting us there.”
I met Grady’s gaze, seeing concern and helplessness swirling in his eyes. The medic pulled one of the big doors closed and then the other.
“I think we’ve got a collapsed lung,” a medic said.
Hanging my head, I folded my hands together and prayed that Bess could hang on. She’d taken a bullet that was meant for me. All the pride I’d felt in this week’s paper was replaced by worry for her. If this was the price, it wasn’t worth it.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Grady
Avon held Harry’s hand, her skin smooth while his was speckled with age spots and lined with wrinkles. She pursed her lips as a surgeon approached.
The hospital waiting room was full, every Chronicle employee here and around a dozen people from Bess’s church. It was hard to be here instead of working on the investigation, but I wasn’t letting Avon out of my sight.
Coulter and one of our detectives had gotten a vehicle description and license plate number that was already circulating statewide. Now we just had to hope for a sighting of the white van or its driver, a known associate of Leo Bardot.
“Mr. Hinshaw, can we speak privately?” the surgeon asked.
Harry’s eyes flooded with tears. “Just tell me here. Is she okay?”
All the oxygen seemed to leave the room as we waited.
“Your wife lost a lot of blood, but she’s stable now. She’ll likely have limited use of her left arm and shoulder, but rehab will certainly help.”
“She’s okay?” Harry asked, his tears spilling over.
The surgeon nodded, looking around the room. “She’ll be asleep for a while, but she’s going to be okay. We’ll need to keep her here for a few days because of the blood loss. We want to keep a close eye on her. But you’re welcome to stay with her in her room. We have cots and there’s a recliner in the room, too.”
Harry turned to Avon and they embraced, both of them crying now. A woman came over to hug Harry, and Avon got up and walked over to me, her gait slow, probably from the adrenaline crash.
I stood and wrapped her in my arms, relief coursing through me. Bess was important to Avon, and I knew Avon felt responsible for what had happened to her.
“I feel like I can breathe again,” she said softly.
My stomach rumbled with hunger after missing both lunch and dinner. I cringed inwardly at the impeccable timing. Avon smiled up at me.
“I think you may need to go get some dinner?”
“Come with me,” I said. “We’ll see what they have in the cafeteria.”
She looked over at Harry, her expression wary.
“They said she’ll be asleep for a while,” I reminded her.
