Equal Access (23 page)

The first time they were thrown out of the
room, Maddie borrowed Karl’s cell phone and tried to call Shad
again. And again it went straight to voice mail. So Maddie borrowed
a phone book from the nurse’s station and got the number to the
motel in Linn. When she called there, the front desk confirmed that
Shad was checked in, but when they forwarded her call to his room
Maddie still received no answer.

What the devil was going on with Shad? Paxton
knew his son wasn’t involved in any wrongdoing, but right now the
evidence was stacked against him. There was obviously something
going on between Shad and Dulsie. Jill had been quick to point out
how Dulsie asked about the baby, and then about the
dog
.
Paxton tried to tell her it was just the effect of the pain killers
muddling her mind. He remembered how they had messed up his own
thinking, and because the doctors had just drilled into his head
Paxton had been half afraid he’d be goofy like that the rest of his
life.

The deputies came out of Dulsie’s room. Yep,
it had only taken a little over ten minutes.

After the deputies confirmed with the family
that Dulsie hadn’t revealed anything differently from what she’d
told them, the officers left. The family returned to the room, but
a nurse was starting to tell them that Dulsie needed rest. The
group should go get some breakfast for a while. Jill asked if at
least she could just sit in the room while Dulsie slept.

Maddie suddenly gasped, “Shad!”

All eyes turned to the doorway.

The only respectable appearance about Shad
was the fact he was wearing suit slacks and dress shoes. His shirt
was untucked, his dark hair was tousled, and there was a hint of
stubble on his chin. But what Paxton noticed most was the haunted
expression in Shad’s eyes.

Shad glanced at the family, and as he stepped
into the room Maddie strode to him and placed her hands on his arms
as she gazed into his face.

Shad raised his own hands to her elbows, but
he immediately asked, “How’s Dulsie?”

“She’s awake,” Maddie murmured and stepped to
one side.

Shad strode to Dulsie’s bed. The nurse seemed
flustered to have yet another intruder in the crowded room.

Shad stood with his thighs pressed against
the side of the bed, and he placed a hand on his wife’s right arm.
“Dulsie?”

She looked at him, and there was something
strangely ... distant ... in her eyes.

Shad leaned forward and placed his other hand
on the top of Dulsie’s head. When he spoke again, his voice was
hoarse.

“I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

The nurse scowled slightly. “You’re Shad
Delaney?”

“Yes.” He never removed his gaze from
Dulsie.

The nurse left the room without another
word.

Paxton glanced at Jill. She was staring at
Shad, and her eyes were smoldering.

But when Paxton looked at Shad he wondered
how Jill could be so angry. As Shad gazed down at Dulsie his
expression was part adoring, part heartbroken. His left hand began
to slowly, gently stroke his fingers through Dulsie’s hair.

“I can’t lose you.” Shad’s voice cracked.

Dulsie slowly blinked, but perhaps because of
the pain killers, that distant look was still in her eyes.

“But I don’t even deserve you.” His voice was
still hoarse.

Dulsie still didn’t say anything, and Shad
seemed at a loss for any more words. Then Jill spoke up.

“What are you doing here, anyway?”

Shad froze. He even stopped stroking Dulsie’s
hair. His gaze never left Dulsie’s face.

Karl looked a bit exasperated at Jill. “He’s
the father of her child, remember?”

With a hint of panic, Shad suddenly turned
toward the family. “How is the baby?”

“The baby’s fine,” both Paxton and Maddie
assured him.

Jill frowned. “So you did already know she
was pregnant.”

Shad returned his attention to Dulsie.

Jill took a step toward them. “Why weren’t
you home last night?”

“Not now, Jill,” Karl muttered.

Shad gazed at Dulsie and didn’t answer.

“Still working out your alibi?” Jill
growled.

Shad’s attention was affixed to Dulsie, but
his voice was still hoarse. “I wasn’t home because I’m a lowlife
scum.”

Jill initially seemed to be a little
surprised by his answer, but she quickly overcame it. “And what
lowlife scum activities were you involved with?”

“No.” Maddie stepped forward and placed
herself between Jill and Shad. “You can leave this room if you
can’t hold your tongue, but I’m not gonna stand by and let you
needle him.”

Jill folded her arms and calmly returned her
sister’s gaze. “How much longer are you gonna make yourself blind
to his faults?”

Maddie’s eyes narrowed. “Remove the plank
from your own eye, first.”

“Stop it!” Shad’s voice cracked again as he
turned toward the elder women. That haunted look in his eyes had
only grown wilder. “I’m not worth tearing this family apart over.
The last thing I want to do –” His voice cracked again. “– is tear
my family apart.”

“You’re a few years too late,” Jill
grumbled.

Maddie’s eyes flared.

Paxton started to step between the two
sisters.

“Shad Delaney?” Both of the deputies were
back, and all attention was diverted to them.

Shad stared at them for a couple of seconds.
“Yes?”

For an instant Paxton was astonished they had
returned. Then he remembered how the nurse confirmed Shad’s
identity before leaving the room.

“Would you come with us, please? We need to
ask you a few questions.”

Shad stared a while longer, and the wilder
expression in his eyes subsided. He took a noticeably deep breath,
nodded, and turned his attention back to Dulsie.

“I’m so sorry.”

Without another word or even glance toward
their way, Shad walked past the family and followed the deputies
into the hall.

Paxton’s heart sank. Somebody had almost
killed Dulsie. And because he was her husband, Shad was the prime
suspect.

The difference between a stumbling block and a
stepping stone is the way you approach it.

--Anonymous

Shad decided that “We need to ask you a few
questions” qualified as the understatement of the year.

The interrogation was somewhat sympathetic
but quite thorough. Shad was cooperative with all the questions
except
why
was he staying at the motel. Still unwilling to
reveal his disorder to public light, Shad maintained his right to
remain silent until consulting his own counsel, even though he
really had no plans for such an arrangement. Shad also consented to
search of his motel room, truck, and self. To his surprise the
immediate search involved removing his clothes for a fairly cursory
examination, but since the police didn’t press Shad on why he
wasn’t home, Shad didn’t press for why they needed to see his
skin.

The one thing Shad didn’t give them
permission to search was his computer. There was incriminating
evidence of a totally unrelated activity in its files, but it was
an illegal activity just the same. He didn’t need yet another
problem added to his growing list, although Shad suspected he was
probably only delaying the inevitable. Odds were the sheriff would
try to obtain a search warrant even though Shad used client
confidentiality as his reason for refusing them access.

When the deputies released him, Shad was lost
about where to go next, except he did finally call the office to
notify Francine that he wouldn’t be coming in that day. Shad wanted
to go back to the hospital and be with Dulsie, but after having
seen how his presence affected the rest of the family Shad decided
against it. When he noticed it was after nine o’clock, Shad
realized that nobody had been home to feed the turkeys and Sadie.
And he knew Dulsie would want them taken care of.

As he drove to the house, Shad was almost
relieved to have something normal to do in the midst of all this
destruction and chaos. In the last week and a half or so, he had
discovered the identity of the man who molested him but couldn’t
file charges against; experienced a relapse of the disorder he
thought was eradicated; decided not to have children just before
Dulsie told him she was pregnant; was facing the possible end of a
marriage he’d always believed was secure; was suspected of a crime
he didn’t commit; and in spite of his inclination to embrace death,
had just missed out on the chance to be outright murdered.

Was God finding any of this funny yet?

When Shad neared the house he recognized
Karl’s gray pickup parked in the driveway. His stomach knotted and
fluttered, and for a split second Shad considered driving past the
home. His reaction was inappropriate, Shad tried to tell himself.
Karl had never done a thing to him to elicit such trepidation. Then
again, this was just the sort of incident that might get Karl
sufficiently provoked.

As Shad steered his truck into the driveway
to park it behind the Wekenheiser pickup, he saw Karl standing on
the porch. The man seemed to be watching him, and he also looked as
though he might be talking on his cell phone. When Shad stepped out
of the truck he saw Karl lower the phone and clip it back to his
belt. The two men approached each other.

“Glad to see you here, Shad.” Karl smiled as
he descended the porch steps.

Shad still wasn’t sure if he should take
Karl’s greeting at face value, even though his uncle/father-in-law
had never done a single unkind thing to Shad before.

“I’m ... surprised to see you here.” Shad
glanced around, half expecting to discover that Karl kept a spare
bratwurst in his pocket in conjunction with a secret army of
starving dachshunds.

The two men came to a stop to face each other
just a few yards away from the steps of the porch.

“You can’t go in the house.” Karl looked more
solemn. “The sheriff still has it taped off.”

“I came to feed the turkeys and Sadie.”

“Beatcha to the turkeys, Bub.” Karl frowned
slightly. “You don’t know about Sadie, do you?”

Shad regarded him with a sense of both
inquiry and frustration. “All the police did was ask me questions.
They didn’t tell me a single thing about what happened here.”

“Of course they didn’t.” Karl nodded. “Wanted
to see if you’d let a detail slip that only somebody who’d been
here last night would know.”

“So ... you don’t think ... I had something
to do with last night?”

Karl smirked. “Of course I don’t. That’s the
whole reason you aren’t swinging upside and naked from a honey
locust tree about now.”

Shad drew a deep breath inspired by both
relief and the need to calm his nerves. “What happened to
Sadie?”

“She was shot, too. And it killed her.”

Shad felt a welling of yet more sadness
inside him. He lowered his head and stared at the ground.

“Sheriff hauled her off for evidence,” Karl
continued. “Luckily I got here just as they were finishing up their
investigation of the crime scene. I told the sheriff I wanted her
body back after they got what they needed. I’m gonna bury her on
the farm.” Karl’s voice momentarily became just a little hoarse.
“She might’ve saved Dulsie’s life.”

Shad looked back up at Karl, his gaze meeting
the man’s eyes for a few seconds. He didn’t think he had ever heard
Dulsie’s father get choked up before.

“Saved her life?”

Karl nodded, and took a deep breath himself
before continuing in a normal voice. “Dulsie said she heard the dog
barking, so she went out on the stoop back there with the rifle.
Then Sadie suddenly became ferocious and started charging whoever
was down there near the road.” Karl nodded toward the front corner
of their yard. “That’s when he shot Sadie. Now, that right there
tells me you weren’t the one skulking around with a gun.”

Shad was appreciative for the information,
especially from someone as astute as Karl. “How so?”

“That dog was damn smart. She not only
recognized people, she recognized vehicles. She never barked at
anybody who wasn’t a stranger. So that means she wouldn’t bark at
you.” Karl looked more pensive. “In a way, Sadie wound up being too
smart for her own good. She was barking at a stranger, and Dulsie
came out ... that must be when he aimed for her. The dog recognized
an aggressive move on his part, so that’s when
she
got
aggressive.”

A chill settled over Shad. “So he shot Sadie
instead.”

Karl nodded again. “Dulsie acted
instinctively. She told me she could remember swinging her rifle
toward the flashpoint, but couldn’t remember if she got off a shot
because ... that’s when she got shot.” A rueful smile curved his
lips. “Well, I know for a fact she did.”

“How?”

“The advantage of being a distraught father
is the sheriff was willing to share some information with me. They
found a blood trail in your yard.”

Shad’s eyes widened.

“It’s just a few drops, but they led back to
the end of your driveway. Apparently the bottom-feeder parked
there, and the barking dog was causing him to approach the house
with care.” A hint of pleasure crept into Karl’s smile. “Dulsie
winged him. So he oozed back to his car and got out of here.”

That would explain the strip search. But Shad
knew the fact he didn’t have a gunshot wound didn’t release him
from suspicion. He wasn’t the trigger man, but the police knew he
could have arranged for somebody else to do the job. But if Dulsie
had wounded her attacker....

“Then the sheriff should catch him.” Shad
felt an almost forgotten flicker of hope. “Medical institutions
have to report all gunshot wounds to the police.”

“Assuming he goes to a doctor.” Karl shook
his head. “It could be minor enough a wound he might reckon on
patching it up himself. With any luck he’ll get an infection and
die anyway. I just wouldn’t have the satisfaction of knowing he’d
become maggot food.”