The Rescuer (20 page)

Meghan gently raised Neil's head. If he came through this, he'd probably need to be on oxygen ful time. Just another tug- of-war she'd have with him when he started to feel better. She adjusted the mask for him.

"JoAnne wil make sure everything's locked up here, and the deputy wil watch the place while you're gone.

We'l make sure everything is as you left it."

His hand tightened on hers. She couldn't do much, but she could ensure he didn't have to worry about his business. She heard people near the doorway shuffle back.

"JoAnne, ask around. Let's get vehicles parked at the street moved so the ambulance crew has easier access." Meghan turned her head, hearing Stephen's voice, intensely relieved. Moments

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later a hand squeezed her shoulder. "How you doing here?"

"Glad you're around. 1 cal ed dispatch, and the ambulance is on its way."

"Good. Bil , you ready for me to brace his knee?"

"Yes. He's got as much painkil er in him as he can handle."

"Meg, Neil twisted his left knee when he fel . It's swel ing fast," Stephen said. "I need some scissors."

She reached for the blue case and found them by touch.

"Got it; thanks. Find me something we can use to immobilize the leg."

She heard fabric tear. "There are col apsible splints in the bottom of the red case."

"Neil, how bad is the burn in your knee?" Stephen asked.

"Bad," he gasped from under the oxygen mask.

"You may have dislocated part of your kneecap. Hold on; this wil make it better. Meg, hold here." Her hands were pressed into position below the knee injury. She could feel the muscle and bone and the heat of the swel ing above her hands.

"I'm going to splint above your hands."

She nodded and Stephen leaned past her to get supplies. She used her fingers to hold the edge of the brace as he put it in position. The heart monitor printer hummed as a strip of paper was pushed out. "What's it look like, Dad?"

"Decent. Neil, you're doing fine."

She turned her head. "EMS is here; 1 hear the sirens coming."

"About time. You were right, Bil ," Stephen said.

"Twenty minutes from the page."

"Let's get him ready to transport."

Meghan moved out of the way as two paramedics came in. She listened to Stephen working with them and her dad, fitting in as if he had been part of the team for years. Neil was moved to a stretcher.

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"Would you ride along with him, Stephen? I'l fol ow in a car with Meghan."

"Sure."

"Neil, just relax and let the drugs work," her dad encouraged.

"Better already."

"I'l get you there comfortably," Stephen promised.

Meghan started as Stephen's hand squeezdfl her shoulder. "I'l see you there." She nodded, and he moved past her. Moments later she heard doors slam and the ambulance pul away.

Meghan helped her father repack the two cases. "What do you think, Dad?"

"His color is bad. He was down for at least half an hour before he got help. There's going to be some lasting heart damage from this one."

"Wil he make it?"

"He's a tough man. He's got a good chance." Her dad dropped his arm around her shoulders. "There was nothing more you could have done to prevent this. Neil has to stop smoking if he wants to have a chance."

"Maybe this time he'l listen."

"I hope so. Come on; my car's at the clinic."

Meghan paced the hospital hal way, one finger running along the wal to keep her place. She hated that she wasn't able to bring Blackie to this floor. Neil had been at the hospital for over two hours now, and stil there wasn't word from Stephen or her dad about Neil's prognosis. She reached the elevator and turned, then retraced her steps. The cane felt odd in her hand, but it was better than nothing.

"Meghan."

She turned at Stephen's voice and knew what he was going

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to say just by the tone of his voice. His hand settled on her shoulder and the warmth of it relaxed her muscles.]j

"I'm sorry. They were setting him up for an emergency angioplasty when he had another heart attack. It was massive."

"Oh no." Neil had been a friend despite the gruff personality that didn't let someone get close. And he'd liked her too; she knew it from the treats he always had for Blackie when she stopped by.

Elevator doors opened and the hal fil ed with the noise of other conversations, making her wish Blackie were with her now. The situation was disheartening. She wanted to lean against Stephen but used the wal instead. "He'd done so wel surviving the chal enge of losing his wife and his first heart attack."

"This was sudden. Maybe for him that was best. He wouldn't have enjoyed living with the restrictions that would have been inevitable."

"Did you see my father?"

"I'm right here, Meg." Her dad's voice came from her right. "Stephen is correct. Nothing else could have been done to pul him out of this one." His hand touched her arm. "There's nothing more we can do here. Let's go home. Stephen, can we give you a ride back to Silverton?"

"I'l help Joseph get the ambulance restocked and stay in town for the evening to see family. Jack wil give me a lift out tomorrow with more stuff from my place here."

Meghan wished he would come with them, but she understood his desire to stay and see family while he was in town. If they were more than just friends, maybe he'd invite her to join him... She pushed aside the disquieting thought and forced herself to smile.

"Thanks for what you did, Stephen. It helped having you there."

"Anytime. See you around, Meg."

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CSSO

Stephen asked around the police central building until someone could direct him to the robbery and fraud group. He final y located Kate's new office on the third floor down the hal from the water fountain.

Stephen paused at a door that had Kates name stenciled on the glass and smiled. His sister had arrived. He knew she must already hate the bureaucracy of it. He tapped on the door and opened it. She looked up from some paperwork. Her concentration turned into an instant grin. "This is a surprise."

The speed at which she dropped the papers had him laughing. "A pleasant one I hope."

"Always."

"You look real y good." He entered her office and did a 360- degree turn to study it. "I'm impressed. Four wal s with actual artwork and not a lot of paper clutter. A calendar turned to the correct month. And if I'm not mistaken, that plant is not plastic. Are you sure you're not borrowing someone else's office?"

"Dave helped me decorate. I drew the line at accepting an autographed footbal from Dave's famous brother-in-law for the credenza. What brings you back to town?

Not that I'm not thril ed, but I figured we would have to drag you back."

"Neil Coffer, the jeweler in Silverton, had a heart attack.

He died a short while ago at the hospital."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Stephen pushed his hands into his pockets, not sure what he thought about the loss other than disappointment that it happened. His first time back as a paramedic and his patient died after arriving at the hospital. At least the time away from his profession had given back a sense of perspective-he wasn't carrying the weight of this loss home with him. "He was a long-term smoker and had already had one heart attack last year. It wasn't likely that he'd die getting hit by a bus."

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"Without meaning to downplay his death, wil it complicate your life and the property sale?"

"It shouldn't. Al the paperwork is signed and the land sale is contingent only on the final loan approval, and that's in process with the bank." Stephen final y stopped walking and took a seat in the chair across from her. "You're looking good, Kate."

"I'm feeling better." She swiveled her chair back and forth with her foot as she studied him. "You didn't go to the trouble to find my office because you were at loose ends for the afternoon."

"No." Stephen thought about what it would mean for the reputation of a man not able to defend himself if he answered Kate's question. He sighed and did what he had to. He unzipped his jacket pocket and pul ed out the pouch. "I've got a mystery for you. I found this under a floorboard in the barn. Neil has owned that farm for over thirty years; he owns a jewelry store with a walk-in bank vault. Somehow I don't think this was in the barn by accident."

Kate took the pouch, opened it, and let the ring fal into her hand. She studied it and then looked back up at him. "Is it real?"

"You tel me. The man had a heart attack before I could even mention it to him."

"Did you find anything else?"

He started to say, "not so far" but stopped himself. "No.

As an honest jeweler, realizing someone he knew sold him something stolen, he hid it and hoped to bury the incident rather than report it. The man just died, Kate.

From everything I hear, he was a decent guy."

"Yet you didn't go to the local sheriff."

Stephen inclined his head, conceding. He wanted for now to keep this in the family. He had a suspicion he knew what would be found, and he didn't want the news spreading around Silverton until the implications were ful y understood. "I don't know him. I know you."

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"I'l look into it. Quietly," Kate promised.

"Thanks." He thought about staying to chat but his mission for the moment was over. Besides, Kate would start to look into that ring as soon as he left. He got to his feet.

"Are you in town for the evening?"

"I'm heading to the house to pack up another load. But I'l take an hour of your time tonight to look ovef some furniture sketches if you're free."

"I'm free. In this job the pager rarely goes off. Say about seven?"

"Perfect." He pul ed out his keys.

"Stephen."

He stopped at the door to look back at her.

"Neil just died. If this isn't a one-time innocent thing, if there are more pieces, someone else may know that and try to find them. Watch yourself, okay?"

"I don't like the way you think."

"Sometimes I don't either."

He jiggled his keys and nodded. "I'l take care."

Craig searched careful y through the desk drawers in Meghan's home and found many receipts but not what he sought. She kept a neat house. Where were her credit cards, her checkbook? She hadn't had a purse with her when she left with her father for the hospital-he'd slipped quickly into her office at the clinic, and it hadn't been there. She might not carry a purse because she wanted her hands free for the dog harness, but she would stil have the contents of a purse around.

He moved into the living room to check the path she would take when she came home, looking for the natural place she would set a bag. He found a large coin purse set beside the cookie jar on his second walk-through and unzipped it. Bingo.

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He sorted credit cards and chose the one with the longest expiration date. A stolen credit card would sel for some instant cash,| and he needed fast cash.

He'd lifted forty dol ars from the cash in the cigar box on her desk, and one of the two diamond earrings she left on the dresser. He had to be careful in his choices.

He couldn't risk taking something so obvious she noticed the theft right away, and he had to make sure she had reasonable doubt that there real y had been a theft. Having a blind lady move into town was a gift; he didn't want to spook her into instal ing an alarm. He plannedf j

to be back.i

Craig needed to get into Neil's store, but a cop was watching the place for the night. And Craig had to have a fix to calm the jitters before he tried to rob the place.

He didn't have long-a few days, a week-before Jonathan would hear that Neil was dead and came looking for jewels too. Craig would make sure he had them first.

Maybe during the funeral there would be a window of time to slip into the store. If the stones were in the vault, he was out of luck. But he suspected Neil had simply moved the hidden gems from his house to the second-floor apartment. The cop probably wouldn't think to check the apartment, so if Craig could get in, he'd find what he was after. With the number of gems stolen over the years, it would pile up into a fortune.

"Blackie, are you coming in?"

Craig froze. Meghan was home early. He looked toward the back door but couldn't get to it in time. He eased a step back toward the living room as the front door opened, reaching out for something to use as a weapon. His hand closed over a tal thin statue.

He hated dogs. He slid a hand across his mouth to quiet his breathing as she turned in the doorway less than twenty feet away and waved to someone at the street. She closed the door

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and moved into the room, humming softly. She paused at the closet to hang up her jacket and disappeared into the kitchen, sorting the mail she had carried in with her.

He took a breath. No dog-she'd left Blackie outside.

He relaxed his grip on the statue and placed it silently back on the piano. He eased toward the back door at a snails pace, wanting to run but not able to afford so much as a bolrd creaking.

She turned on the faucet, and he turned the doorknob and eased open the back door. He slipped through and closed it slowly. That had been too close. He took two steps away from the house and let himself breathe again.

He'd have his fix tonight, he'd plan the robbery, and in a few days he would leave this town rich, and set for years to come.

The pesky dog growled at him as he walked around the side of the house. It began barking furiously and lunging at the fence. Craig walked away Next time he'd bring something to handle the mutt.

Meghan opened her closet and sorted through her clothes to find the dress she would wear for Neil's funeral tomorrow at 10 a.m. She had a simple black dress that would be perfect with her pearls. She located the dress, relieved to find she had sent it to be dry cleaned before putting it away. She laid the dress out and looked for her shoes.

She picked up her pearls and felt around for her diamond earrings. She found one but as she kept searching she wasn't finding the second one. She knew she had put it here in the jewelry box. Meghan took the box over to the bed and careful y emptied it.