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Murdoch cursed. Those were names he recognized.
“I need to get there to my family,” George said bluntly. “But I caught a ride over here with the sheriff and Veronica’s SUV is blocked in.”
“I’ll get you there. Let’s roll.” He wasn’t going to check in, or pass go, or any of that bullshit. He’d get George to Ronnie, and then he was going to find Zoey. Make sure she was ok.
Some storm was circling around that woman. He could feel the rain on the wind already. He just didn’t know what to do to stop it.
George filled him on what he knew as they drove the five minutes between the school and the Barratt County General Hospital. It wasn’t much. Murdoch battled back the anger.
George led the way inside. George’s brother and sister worked here, Murdoch thought. That might come in handy for getting answers.
“Daddy! Uncle Murdoch!” A childish voice had him stopping. He turned.
To see his nine-year-old niece Marnie standing there in the hospital lobby with a female deputy. He could see his sister just a few yards away, her second daughter, Marlie, all of seven years old, in front of her, and her two younger daughters, four-year-old Maggie and almost three-year-old Mari Lynn, in her arms.
Murdoch scooped Marnie up and hugged her. He just hugged the kid close for a moment.
“Sir?” the deputy said. “May I ask who you are?”
Murdoch wasn’t going anywhere now. He flashed his badge after handing his niece to her daddy. “That’s my kid sister right there. I was driving through when an all-hands call went out.”
“Mrs. Hiller and her daughters were witnesses. The second girl got a good look at the attacker’s face,” she told him quietly as George went to Ronnie’s side and pulled Ronnie and his girls closer. “The man with a knife almost tripped over her. She looked right at him, enough to see he had short red hair and bright blue eyes.”
A cold chill went right up Murdoch’s spine, knowing some bastard with a knife had been that close to Ronnie’s baby. “What was the attacker doing here? Who was he after?”
“They. Two or more. Governor’s sister-in-law or niece. Dark-haired girl, around sixteen or so. Blue streaks in her hair. I saw her. She was pretty shaken up.”
Enough said.
No. He wasn’t about to go anywhere now. “Thanks. I’ll take it from here. That blue-haired girl? The sister who raised her is TSP. She’s one of us.”
Ronnie was just outside the waiting room, in George’s arms now. She saw him coming. So did the girls. He scooped Marlie up, after looking at the deputy—Miller, if he recalled correctly—and nodding.
“Yes, sir.”
Marlie’s little arms went around his neck. “The bad guy stuck a knife in Miss Sydney’s belly. There was lots and lots of blood on Miss Sydney’s shirt. I thought he killed her.”
Words no child who still lisped should ever say. Murdoch did his best to keep his fury in check. He just held her closer. “I see. We’ll talk in a minute, punkin. I promise.”
Her arms tightened around his neck. “I’m glad you’re here. You’ll get the bad guys and put them in jail forever. I know you will.”
Get the bad guys. They were still out there, then.
Ronnie came to him. He put Marlie on her feet and then hugged his sister. She was shaking. He just rocked. He hadn’t seen her in a few weeks. He stepped back and looked at her now. Her stomach was gently rounded, from her fifth pregnancy. The idea that she’d been that close—he forced the fury back again.
Anger helped nothing.
That was a lesson he was still working on learning.
“We still have to give our statements to Major Crimes,” Ronnie said. “But George can take the younger two home now.”
“Not a chance. I’ve called Gunn and Grady. They’re coming to get the younger girls,” George said. “I’m not leaving here until I can take you as well.”
He kissed Ronnie on the temple and pulled her close.
George adored Murdoch’s sister. Practically breathed her. That made him a good guy in Murdoch’s book. And earned his loyalty through and through. “Ron, what happened exactly?”
“Genny and I were two cars behind Sydney and Penelope. We were all headed to the music hall in Finley Creek for choir practice. These two men, they were in a dark-brown van. There was some lettering on the side, but I didn’t see what it said. They just pulled up and blocked Sydney’s car in. Sydney and Penelope got out and started heading toward Keller. And then those men were reaching for Keller or Penelope. Sydney kicked one and yelled. Genny and I pulled the kids back, up against the side of the building. Those monsters were near the kids. Right next to the kids. Just going to take Pen and little Keller.”
