After All These Years (35 page)

The nightmare dragged on for Lia. Anne massaged her shoulders. Isabel brought tea. The group grew larger. Celeste
and Britte arrived with sandwiches for everyone. Conversations floated around her, as if part of a dream.

And Tammy came with Dot. They sat on the other side of a magazine-strewn table, across from Lia.

Tammy's eyes were red rimmed and mascara streaked, though her blouse and blue jeans were neatly pressed, her lipstick in place, her blonde hair cascading in fresh curls. “Lee, what was Cal doing there?”

Isabel leaned forward, intervening. “Working.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“It's his job and it's dangerous.”

“I know that!”

Dot patted her hand. “It'll be all right, dear. Lia, you probably can't open the store right away, but I don't see how I'm going to make it without working. My husband's laid off.”

Isabel said, “There's cleanup duty. Maybe moving inventory.”

Dot sniggered. “I'm a pharmacist's technician. I don't do cleanup. There's a special service that does that. They come in after a fire and take care of everything. Your insurance will probably pay for some of that.”

Lia tuned them out.

Cal hadn't had time to tell Tammy, of course. Did he even have something to tell her? He indicated so, hadn't he? He wanted a relationship with Lia, didn't he? That's what he had said. Not in so many words, but that's what he meant.
Didn't he?

Isabel was speaking. “Lia saved Cal's life.”

Dot turned to talk to someone else. Tammy dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “Cal means the world to me.”

Isabel squeezed Lia's hand.

Lia set down the styrofoam cup. Tea was spilling over the edges.

A nurse in aqua-colored scrubs appeared in the middle of the hovering group. “Who belongs to Mr. Huntington's family?”

Isabel replied, “He doesn't have any relatives locally. We're all his friends, from Valley Oaks, just like family. How is he?”

“He's out of surgery.”

Isabel hugged Lia. “Thank You, Jesus.”

“The doctor wants to talk to the family or, I guess in this case, those closest to Mr. Huntington. This is too many people.”

Isabel stood, pulling Lia up with her. “The three of us are close friends. She pulled him from the fire, and I live next door to him.”

Tammy stood. “I'm engaged to him. Practically.”

“I'm his pastor.”

Brady spoke over Peter's shoulder, “I've been his best friend since sixth grade.”

The nurse shook her head. “All right. You.” She pointed. “One, two, three, four, five. No more. We'll go to a conference room.”

She led them down a hall and into a small room with four padded chairs. Brady and Peter remained standing as the nurse shut the door.

The doctor entered a few moments later. He introduced himself to everyone, shook hands all around. “Young lady, that was quite a feat you managed. He wouldn't be with us right now if you hadn't found him when you did. The knife wound itself wasn't seriously deep, probably due to the muscle it encountered on its way in. However, the smoke inhalation and blood loss did a lot of damage. And he's experiencing some swelling in the brain. There's a goose egg of a bump on the back of his head.”

Nausea swept over Lia.

The doctor continued. “He's in critical condition in intensive care.”

“Can we see him?” Brady asked.

“No, not just yet. He's not conscious. I can't give you a timetable, but he's in excellent,
excellent
shape. The next 24 hours are crucial, but I'm certain as I can be that he has a good chance of pulling through.”

A collective murmur of relief and thanksgiving went round the room.

“He needs to rest now.” He glanced at the wall clock. “Perhaps later this morning his fiancée can see him.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Tammy gushed. “I can't tell you how happy this makes me! He doesn't know it yet, but I'm carrying his child.”

Sitting on her living room floor, Isabel played with Nutmeg and Soot while inconspicuously keeping an eye on Lia.

Her friend sat primly on the rocker, her hair pulled back in its usual, albeit shorter, ponytail. She wore a long denim skirt that belonged to Anne and a forest green sweater of Gina's. In a little over 72 hours Isabel had witnessed Lia emerge from a zombie-like condition and slip once more into her familiar big-city-style persona.

Before daybreak Monday at the hospital, Lia finally succumbed to shock. It happened almost simultaneously with Tammy's announcement. The surgeon who had apprised them of Cal's situation noticed Lia's unresponsiveness and shallow breathing and quickly took charge. She didn't protest when they put her in a room and offered sedation.

Isabel brought her home Monday night. Because of the damage to the stairwell, Lia wasn't allowed up into her apartment. A fireman brought her handbag over so she had her wallet at least. Friends generously shared clothes and personal items.

By Wednesday afternoon Lia had arranged for a cleanup company to begin working Thursday. Area pharmacists had dug into their inventories, organizing enough supplies to get her started. Aaron Thompson had offered an unused space attached to his medical office. She would open up temporary shop on Saturday.

Isabel wanted to give credit to Lia's strong faith, but she suspected the source of her courage to move on had more to do with Tammy's news than faith. It hardened something in Lia, pushing her a step beyond confident assertiveness. Isabel surmised this because Lia refused to visit Cal. The last she had seen them together they were snuggling. Since then Cal had put his life on the line to protect Lia and Lia had saved his life, endangering her own in the process. The natural progression here was not to ignore the man.

Not that Cal would have noticed. He still remained unconscious.

Benny Richards was sitting on the couch. He wasn't nearly as large as Cal, but he still occupied a lot of space in his brown uniform with his gun, radio, handcuffs, and other thingamajigs hanging about. Their paths had never crossed until the other night at the pharmacy. That afternoon he was decidedly kinder in tone. She was glad he was finally addressing them by their first names rather than “Ms.” He told them to call him Benny. He had even thanked Lia three times for saving Cal.

“Lia,” he said, “I have to say I toyed with the idea that you knifed Cal. If you were strong enough to pull him out, you were strong enough to stab him.”

“But why would I do that?”

“Cover up the fire you set. Then you got cold feet about committing murder, so you dragged him out. You needed the insurance money. Everyone knows you're hurting with the Agstar program pulling out.”

Lia stared at him for a moment, expressionless. “So what changed your mind?”

“The general consensus in Valley Oaks is you're the greatest thing to come along since peanut butter and jelly.”

She only blinked in reply. “About the officer sitting outside Isabel's house here all night… I appreciate it, but I really
don't think anyone is out to hurt me any more than they already have.”

Isabel shuddered. “I, on the other hand, invited the guy to spend the night inside.”

“Well, he's staying put,” Benny pronounced without reservation. “Somebody tried to kill Cal, and since you all made it look as if you were home alone, Lia, they obviously didn't have any compunction about taking you out with him.”

Isabel asked, “The guard will stay put at the hospital, too, won't he?”

“Yeah.” He raked his fingers through graying hair. “We may have found what Cal was after. The fire inspector let me climb down into the basement this morning. What do you know about that door down there?”

“Door?” Lia frowned. “Oh, I've seen it. I never bothered to open it. I hate spiders and it was covered in webs. I figure it leads to a closet or a—What are they called? Where people store potatoes.”

“Root cellar. No. It was locked from the other side. I suspect it leads into the video store basement.”

Isabel gasped. “Then—”

“That's how someone got inside!” Lia completed the thought.

“Right. How's your relationship been with Mitch Conway?”

“Fine. I mean, he doesn't shop in the pharmacy, but he's polite enough when Chloe and I rent videos. Oh.” She frowned. “There was a thing with his son, Damon. He brought in a prescription for codeine cough medication. A week later he wanted a refill. I said I had to call the doctor, and if he approved it, Damon could pick it up later. The doctor didn't okay it, and the boy never came back. But—but he's just a kid. Maybe 12?”

“Thirteen. And his friends are 19. He's bad news, though I didn't think he was this bad.” Benny's pager beeped. “Isabel, may I use your phone?”

“Sure. There's one in the kitchen.” She stood, moving out of his way. “Lia, remember when Cal said someone wanted to discredit you? What would that have to do with kids stealing drugs?”

Lia shrugged. “It doesn't make any sense. I can't figure it out. I'm just trying to remember why it was I wanted to move to a small town and open my own business.”

“You will get through this, Lia. And then you'll remember.”

Benny returned. “Ladies, that was the hospital. Cal just woke up.”

Cal fought back the grogginess with every ounce of strength he could muster. He was convinced that lead weights sat on his eyelids.

Tammy's tears weren't helping. “Oh, Calhoun Huntington, what am I going to do with you?” She clung to his shoulder, the only spot on his body that didn't seem to be hooked up to something.

Monitors beeped. Wires and tubes hung all over the place. Every breath he took felt like a knife piercing into his ribs.

There had been a knife. That much he remembered. And smoke. And crawling up the steps.

Benny Richards walked in. “Hey, welcome back.”

“Thanks.”

“Tammy, we need to talk business before he goes nighty-night again. Mind stepping out?”

She pouted and then she bent over and kissed his cheek. “Ooh. When are you going to shave that thing off? I'll be right outside the door. With that nice policeman.
He
doesn't have a beard.”

Benny shut the door behind her. “Feel like talking? I'm only supposed to stay for three minutes.”

“Is Lia all right?”

“Sure.”

“Did she get hurt in the fire?”

“Not a scratch—Man, didn't you hear?”

“Hear what? I just woke up, and Tammy's been bawling the whole time. She did tell me today is Thursday.”

“She didn't give you the scoop, huh?” He shook his head slightly. “Cal, Lia saved your life.”

“What?”

“Yep. She woke up and smelled the smoke. Found you, rolled you right out into the alley before the firemen got there. Good thing, too. That back room was in flames when they arrived.”

Cal closed his eyes.
Lia saved my life? Pulled me outside?

“Don't go to sleep! I've got two minutes left. Tell me what happened before you got hit on the head. We found the door in the basement. I take it that's what you were checking out. Does it lead into the video store basement?”

“Yeah. I went through it.”

“Huntington! What a bonehead thing to do! You almost got yourself killed.”

He didn't have the energy to defend himself. “I stepped just inside. Didn't hear a thing. Noticed a movement when something hit me on the back of the head. I vaguely remember a knife being shoved into my side. I do remember waking up and smelling smoke. I could see the steps. Last I remember was hauling myself up them…”
Praying for Lia.

“That's attempted murder. Who do you figure?”

“It's Conway's property. He's always hated me but I didn't think enough to kill me.”

“I don't know. If he knew he was looking at a stiff sentence for stealing drugs, he might choose getting rid of you over prison.”