“Summer, there’s a blanket inside a package in the kit. Could you get it out?”
Both worked on their tasks while tears slid down their cheeks. Casey heard a siren in the distance.
“I called you a couple of times over the past hour,” Casey said, glancing at Rhonda. “Where were you?”
“Picking up Summer from her friend’s place. The mother wanted to chat, and Summer insisted on playing with their new dog a few more minutes.”
Lou opened his mouth and tried to speak.
“No! Don’t talk, just lie still.” Casey’s hands shook as she taped plastic wrap over the wound.
Summer draped the blanket over Lou’s legs while he closed his eyes.
“I can hear the ambulance.” Rhonda placed her hand on Lou’s forehead and looked at Casey. “He’s clammy.”
“It’s shock. We need to prop him up a little so he can breathe easier.”
The ambulance arrived. Before Casey could move him, foamy blood oozed from Lou’s mouth. His breathing became more labored.
“Lou!” Casey squeezed his hand. Sweat poured out of her and her own shallow breaths sped up. “Don’t you dare leave me!” Paramedics rushed to her side. “He has a sucking chest wound and can’t breathe!”
As the paramedics worked, Casey told them what she knew about his condition and medical history. She also provided the name of his mother’s work place. She’d barely finished when a hand touched her shoulder and Detective Lalonde asked her to step back.
“Darcy did this, and you let him go!? What the hell kind of cop are you?” Casey hadn’t realized how hard she was shaking until Rhonda put her arm around her.
“Mrs. Stubbs, did you see the shooting?” Lalonde asked.
“No, I was picking Summer up from a friend’s house. We’d just got home when I heard shouting out front and went to see what was going on.”
No one spoke while the paramedics worked. When they finally wheeled Lou to the ambulance, Casey followed until Lalonde stepped in front of her. “You can do more for him by talking to me.”
“No, I have to be with him. It’s my fault!”
Again, she started for the ambulance, and Lalonde gripped her arm. Casey tried to break free, but he was too strong. Collapsing against him, she began to sob.
“He’ll be all right,” Rhonda said, coming forward to hold Casey in her arms. “You can see him later.”
Casey forced herself to calm down. She had to stay strong for Lou. After he was lifted into the ambulance, she glanced at Darcy’s belongings on the sidewalk.
“That’s Darcy’s stuff. Shouldn’t you be searching it?”
While Lalonde called to Krueger, Casey felt herself growing light-headed. Black dots blinked in front of her eyes. Lalonde mumbled something she couldn’t hear. He was escorting her toward the house when the strength left Casey’s legs and she stumbled. He and Rhonda helped her to the stairs. Casey glimpsed Summer in the doorway, wiping tears from her face. Once they’d sat her on the bottom step, Lalonde said, “Thank you, Mrs. Stubbs. Would you wait inside, please?”
She frowned and then sighed. “I’ll make some tea.”
“I have to call Lou’s mom.” Casey propped her elbows on her knees and let the tears spill.
“First, tell me what happened.”
She took long deep breaths and tried to concentrate. Slowly, she sat upright and described events, including how Lou and Theo had arrived together.
“How is Ziegler connected to Mr. Sheckter?”
“He isn’t.”
“Then why was Mr. Sheckter in Ziegler’s car?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t have time to ask. I gather Theo took off?”
“Neither he nor the Saab were around when we arrived. I’m waiting for a report from the officer who was posted here.”
Rhonda reappeared and handed Casey a mug.
“Thanks.” She sipped the tea.
“Thank you, Mrs. Stubbs,” Lalonde said. “That’ll be all.”
“I doubt it.” She shut the door.
“Something’s been bothering me about Churcott’s relationship with Mrs. Stubbs,” Lalonde said.
Casey glared at him. “My best friend’s been shot and that’s what’s worrying you?”
“If Churcott thought you were the one with access to three million dollars, why did he spend so much time with her?”
“To see if Rhonda knew about the missing money. He knew I wouldn’t tell him much.” She sipped the tea. “Or maybe Mother put him up to it for her own amusement.”
“Why would she do that?”
Casey explained the relationship between Darcy and Mother, and Mother and Rhonda, and how hurtful Mother could be. She told Lalonde about Mother’s numerous affairs, and how Rhonda had covered for her until her own husband became one of Mother’s lovers. When Casey told him about Mother’s appeals to renew her friendship with Rhonda, Lalonde asked, “Why would your mother pursue a friendship with a woman engaged to her ex-husband?”
Hadn’t he been listening? “To intervene, manipulate, and destroy.” Casey slowly rose. “I need to call Lou’s mom.”
As she climbed the steps, Lalonde said, “Do you always run without thinking?”
Casey stopped. “What are you talking about?”
“The first time we met, you ran out of the morgue. The second time, you ran after Ziegler in the cemetery. Next was Europe, then you were running off to see Simone Archambault, and finally pursuing Churcott on your own.”
“Better than living with helplessness and self-pity for months on end.”
“There is a middle ground, you know.”
“When you’ve been raised by Lillian and Marcus Holland, there is no middle ground, Detective.”
“Or maybe you’ve simply inherited your parents’ knack for doing what you want without considering the consequences.”
She stepped inside and slammed the door.
In her apartment, Casey googled the name of the dental office where Lou’s mom, Barb, worked as a hygienist. A minute later, she learned that Barb had already left for the hospital. Casey was about to follow suit when she noticed Lou’s blood on her shirt. She yanked the shirt over her head, grabbed a clean one, and then headed for her car.
At the hospital, Lou’s siblings were crowded into a small, private waiting room designated for families. The door was open, a sign marked “Scheckter” and “Occupied” posted beside it. As Casey stood in the doorway, Lou’s mother rushed over and embraced her.
“The doctors are working on him,” Barb said. “His right lung collapsed.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“I don’t know if they’ve taken the bullet out yet.” Barb’s hand fluttered over her silver heart pendant. “I don’t understand how this happened.”
“I was the target, Barb. Lou was protecting me.” Casey tried to tell her why but, judging from the confusion on Barb’s face, she wasn’t making much sense.
“Go home and rest, Casey. We’re here, and Lou’s dad is flying in from Winnipeg.”
Leaving wasn’t an option. Casey walked past more waiting rooms until she came to an alcove containing half a dozen chairs. She plunked into the first one and looked at the dark carpet until her vision blurred. Lalonde might have had a point about running without thinking. Wasn’t she just as likely to run from relationships as she was to run into trouble? She’d run from Lou. She saw that now. And he knew it. But he’d waited . . . If he died . . . There was a special kind of hell for her type of cowardice. It consumed spirit the way quicksand consumed bodies. She could almost feel the suffocation starting.
Casey had no idea how long she’d been staring at the floor when she realized she wasn’t alone. She looked up and saw Theo. The guy might not be a killer, but Darcy sure in hell was and he might be on Theo’s payroll.