Love of a Lifetime (11 page)

“Where am I?”  Her mouth and throat were so dry her voice came out as a croak.

“University Hospital.
  Do remember anything that happened?”

Carla licked her dry lips and tried to focus her gaze on the man in front of her. 

“Truck.”

“That’s right.”  The man nodded.  “You were in a motor vehicle accident. 
Any nausea, dizziness?
  Do you hurt anywhere besides your head?”

“No.”  Carla shook her head then groaned in pain.  “Truck…hit…me.”

“Yes, the police are looking in to it.  They want to speak with you, but not until you are ready.  Once I feel it is acceptable, I will call and let them know.  In the meantime I want you to relax and heal from your ordeal.”

“Billy…”

“Your husband?”
  He cocked a questioning brow at her.

Closing her eyes, unable to stand the pain inside her head any longer, she answered. 

“Yeah.”

“He is on his way here.  I’ll send him back here to you once he arrives.”

Carla allowed herself to succumb to darkness once more.

The next time Carla became aware of her surroundings she smelled her husband’s cologne and felt his lips on her forehead.   Wetness dripped onto her temple and ran down the side of her face.  Was she bleeding?

“How is she?”  Not bleeding.  She didn’t need to see Billy to know he was crying.  She could hear it in his voice.

“Good.  The air bag saved her from a concussion.  Other than a severe headache and few bumps and bruises she is just fine.”

“When can I take her home?”

“Tomorrow.
  I want to keep her overnight for observation.  The CT of her head showed no trauma, but better safe than sorry.”  The doctor patted Bill’s shoulder then left the room.

Looking back down at his wife, Bill saw her gorgeous green eyes staring up at him in confusion.  His heart leapt, the fear he felt dissipating since she had woken up.

“Hey, sweetheart.
  How are you feeling?”

“Drink.”
  She licked her dry, cracked lips.

“Here” 

Bill grabbed the plastic cup of water sitting on the bedside table.  He helped her to sit up then placed the straw in her mouth so she could take a drink.  She finished off the water and settled back in the bed.

“Did they find him?”

“Who, baby?  There wasn’t anyone else around when they found you.  Do you know who it was?”

Carla shook her head. 
“Dark truck.
  Like the one you looked at last year.  There was a man driving, a big man with wide shoulders.  He had sun glasses on.”  She reached up and wiped the tears from his cheeks.  “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Oh, God.”
  Bill grabbed her and hugged her to him.  He trembled as she wrapped her arms around him.  He had thought that he lost her.  That she had died in the accident.  He snorted. 
Accident
.
  This was no accident and when he found out who was behind this he would make sure he paid for it for the rest of his life.

Easing back, Bill kissed her soundly on the mouth.  “I don’t ever want to go through that again.”

“Me neither.”  She assured him.

A knock on the door startled her.  They both turned to see a middle-aged man in a suit walk into her hospital room.  He flashed them his badge and introduced himself.

“Sorry to intrude.  I’m Detective Larkin.  I was hoping you would be up to answering a few questions for me.”

Carla nodded and squeezed Bill’s hand and told the detective everything that she told Bill a few minutes ago.

“That’s great.  Now, I want you to tell me everywhere you went today, including those you spoke to and anyone who might have seen anything.”

Carla retraced her steps for the day starting with dropping Bill of at the office, through her errands, her call to Bill, and finally waking up in the hospital.

“You didn’t see this truck prior to the hit and run?”  Detective Larkin questioned.

She shook her head.  “If I did, I didn’t notice it.”

The detective nodded.  “Carla, we found the truck a few miles up the road from where you wrecked.  There was extensive damage to the vehicle, enough to force the man to abandon it.”

Bill gave the man a knowing look and acknowledged the unspoken threat.  If he was still on the loose then he could try to finish what he started.

“The thing is
,
I’m not sure if he was after you or your husband.”

Carla gasped.  “What do you mean?”  She looked to Bill who seemed awful stoic for having just learned he could have possibly been the target.  “Billy?”

“Think about it, sweetheart.  I’m an attorney.  I piss people off all the time.  It makes more sense that someone was after me.  Plus, you were driving my SUV…”

Detective Larkin cut him off.  “There was a sheet of paper found inside the truck.  Written on it was a description of your vehicle and license plate number.  No names.  No physical description of you or your wife. 
Just the SUV.
  It is quite possible the man didn’t know who the intended target was.” 

Bill blew out a breath of frustration.  “What do we do now?”

“Wait.”  He said easily.  “There were several fingerprints recovered from the truck.  We will work through them as we identify them.”  He looked back to Carla.  “Thank you for speaking to me.  You have been very helpful.”  With that he left the room.

Bill grasped Carla’s hand and brought it to his lips.  “Don’t worry.  I’ll keep you safe.  No one is going to hurt you again.”  Not if he had anything to say about.

Chapter Nine

Atayla burst into Bill’s office.  Her cheeks were flushed and her big green eyes were wide as saucers.  He jumped to his feet and immediately went on the defensive thinking something must have happened to Carla.

“What the hell is going on?”

“
Marg
just called.  The police arrested Patricia for conspiracy to commit murder.  I don’t know all the specifics.  She said it all happened so fast that she didn’t have time to process all they were saying.”

“When did this happen?”

“About half an hour ago.
  They stormed into her office, informed her she was under arrest and read her rights.  She barked orders for Margaret to call Bernie Lloyd to meet her downtown.”

“Do you think…?”

“Mr. Bradshaw?  There is a Detective Larkin here to see you.”  His office secretary stated from the doorway behind Atayla.

“Please show him in.”

Bill frowned at Atayla as she rushed to take a seat in the corner.  She arched a brow in return and dared him to make her leave.  Heaving a sigh, he went to the door to greet his visitor.  Detective Larkin looked much as he did the other day only there was a light in his eyes that wasn’t there before.

Detective Larkin shook the proffered hand.  “Mr. Bradshaw.  It’s good to see you again.”

“Please come in.  Have a seat.”  He waved to the two chairs sitting in front of his desk.

The detective hesitated once he saw Atayla and raised a questioning brow at Bill.

“This is Atayla Parker.  She is my assistant and a good friend of Carla’s.  You can speak freely in front of her.  Besides, the only way to get her out of here would be to pick her up and physically remove her.”  Then muttered to
himself
.  “And I value my nuts too much to try.”

The detective chuckled and Atayla just looked smug.

“So what brings you here today, Detective?  Hopefully you have some good news for me.”  Bill stated as he walked around desk to take a seat.

Detective Larkin followed suit and sat in one of the chairs reserved for clients.

“I do.  I stopped by your house and spoke to Carla already.  She asked me to come by here on my way back to the precinct and speak to you.”

Bill’s posture stiffened as he wondered why she hadn’t called, but he nodded his head for the detective to continue.

“The man who was driving the truck is Larry Gaby.  He’s local and has a record, mainly petty theft and domestic violence.  We picked him up this morning after getting a hit on his fingerprints from the truck’s steering wheel.  After some extensive questioning he made a full confession.  He claimed he was hired by Patricia Wilson.  She paid him to cause the accident, but only gave him the description of your vehicle.  Her instructions did not dictate the circumstances of the accident, only that the occupant didn’t survive.”

Bill growled menacingly.

“Luckily the guy wasn’t a professional and your wife walked away relatively unscathed.  What we need to know now is what Patricia’s motives were.  Your wife was very helpful, but she believed you could provide more insight than she was able to.”

Detective Larkin listened as Bill told him all the details of the situation as he knew them.  It became obvious that Patricia had set out to discredit Bill and when that didn’t work, eliminate him.  He was the biggest threat to her career. 

She wanted the position of District Attorney, but didn’t have any big wins under her belt. 
State vs. Weinstein
would be that career changing win.  Bill, however, was damn good at what he did and she knew it.  Patricia knew the odds of defeating Bill were slim so she set out with this alternative plan. 

“Thanks for all your help.”  Bill shook the detective’s hand.  “Keep me updated on the situation.”

“I’m heading back to the precinct to question her now.  She lawyered up as soon as we read her the Miranda warning.”  He snickered.  “Care to represent her?”

The smile he gave the detective was purely predatory.  “I would
love
to be her attorney.  Life without the possibility of parole sounds like a hell of a deal to me.”

They shook hands and Bill walked him out of the office and to the front door.  After a final goodbye, Bill walked back in and slumped in a chair at the reception desk.  Both Atayla and Ashley regarded him carefully, not knowing how he was going to react to this new information.

Finally he looked up at them.  His sorrow
glistening
his eyes.

“This is
all my
fault.”

“How do you figure?”  Ashley cocked her head in question.

“Carla would never have been hurt if it wasn’t for me.”

“Bullshit!”  Atayla admonished.  “The only person to blame for this mess is Patricia.  The woman is obviously insane!  She hired someone to kill you!  It’s not your fault, Carla just happened to be the one driving at the time he decided to make good on his part of the bargain.”

“She didn’t call me.”  He whispered

“Who?”
  Ashley inquired.

“Carla.”

Atayla growled out an impatient sound.  “What are you talking about?”

“After Detective
Larkin
spoke to her.  She didn’t call me, didn’t want to talk to me.  Obviously she blames me as well.”

“Lord, spare me from dense men!”  Atayla looked up at the ceiling and prayed.  Blowing out a breath of frustration, she implored Bill to listen to reason.  “I’m sure the only reason she didn’t call was because she knew how you would react.  By the time Detective Larkin got here you would have had yourself in such a tizzy that you wouldn’t have been helpful at all.  You haven’t exactly been rational when it comes to Carla’s role in this nightmare.”

“I hope you are right.  I can’t bear to lose her again.”

He strode into his office and collected his jacket and briefcase.  As he walked towards the back door, shoulders slumped, he murmured, “Atayla, handle the appointments that you can and reschedule the rest.  I’m going home to talk to my wife.”

By the time Bill arrived home he was ready to just throw himself at her mercy.  If he thought it would do any good he would crawl to her on his knees, groveling for her to still love him.  He wouldn’t blame her for leaving again.  He was, after all, the reason she was attacked in the first place.

He walked into the house and found her sitting meekly on the couch, hands in her lap, staring out the window.  It was like she didn’t even notice his arrival, though she had to have watched him pull in. 

Quietly, he walked over to the couch and crouched in front of her.  Clasping her hands, he brought both to his lips for a kiss.

“Will you not even look at me?”  His voice was tortured.

At the sound of his voice, the tears she had fought valiantly to hold back spilled forth.  He wiped them away and kissed her softly on the lips.  She looked close to her breaking point.