Ring Around the Rosy (11 page)

Although right now, she wasn’t
sure she really cared. These were two people she cared about. That made her a
victim, too.

Was that the idea? To torture her?
What kind of sick game was this guy playing? Why single her out? Was it all
part of the plan? Was she an intended victim? Would she be next?

The thought terrified her. She had
to go home.

Exhausted and drained from the
emotions of the day, Susan accepted Ray’s offer of a ride home. She leaned back
against the seat. “You don’t mind if we don’t talk, do you?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I just don’t feel like
talking.” Okay, yeah, right. If she counted the pounding in her head as okay,
then she was fine.
 
To make matters
worse, her stomach grumbled. God, she hoped she didn’t throw up. At least, not
until she got home.

“Here we are.” Ray pulled up in
front of her apartment. “Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look so good. Do
you want me to walk you in?”

Susan got out of the car. “No.
I’ll be fine, thanks.”

“So do you want to go out Saturday
night? Take in a movie, maybe get some pizza?”

“I’m sorry, I’m involved with
someone.” She smiled to take the edge off her polite refusal. He appeared
disappointed, but took it like a good sport.

“Day late and a dollar short. My
loss.” He laughed at his own joke.

Susan thought it a strange remark,
but was too exhausted to dwell on it. She climbed the two flights of stairs to
her apartment, ignoring the elevator. She needed the exercise to release the
built-up anxiety.

Bella met her at the door of her
apartment.She picked up the cat, went straight to the bedroom, and plopped on
her bed, clothes and all. She curled into a ball and remembered she hadn’t
checked her machine.

“Tough,” she said as she rolled
over, gathered Bella close to her, and fell asleep.

Chapter Eight

The aroma of coffee brewing woke
her the next morning. Sitting up bewildered, she shook her hair out of her
eyes, got out of bed, and stumbled to the kitchen. Dave stood behind the
counter, his mouth in a wide smile. “Morning, Starshine. Coffee’s about ready,”
he said in a nonchalant way

“What? How?” Completely stymied as
to how he got in, she was at a loss for words.

“It was easy,” he answered. “You
forgot to lock the chain, and Horace was more than willing to let me in, once I
showed him my badge again.”

She sipped the coffee, allowing
the warmth and flavor to take over her being, slowly coming awake. She fingered
her hair, and her face grew hot as she realized how she must look. Dave seemed
unaware, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to be there.
She saw the desire in his eyes as he watched her.

“You’re not much of a morning
person, are you?”

She shrugged, shook her head, and
wiped the sleep from her eyes. “I’ll be right back.”

Good grief how could she let him
see her this way?

Showered, dressed, hair fixed, and
make up applied, she felt much more human and ready for a good cup of coffee.

“I like you better tousled,” Dave
said, when she rejoined him in the kitchen.

She walked into his outstretched
arms as if it were their morning routine. His arms came around her, and he
pulled her close and kissed her. Once again, the ringing of the phone separated
them.

“Damn,” he muttered at the
intrusion. He turned his attention to the machine.

“Susan,” her mother’s voice
sounded panicked. “Susan, honey, if you’re there, pick up. It’s an emergency.”

Susan flew to the phone and lifted
the receiver with shaky hands.

“Mom, I’m here. Mom, what’s
wrong?”

“Susan, it’s...its Dad. He-he’s
been shot.”

“Shot? When? Where?” Susan
couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She got the information from her mother
and hung up, grabbed her purse and car keys off the counter. “I have to go.”

“Whoa, hold on. Calm down a
minute. What’s going on? Who got shot?” Dave grabbed her arm. “I’m going with
you. You can explain on the way, and I’ll drive.”

“My father. He’s in the hospital.
Clare’s hysterical, and Kate is on her way, but she’s hours away.”

“Shoot,” Susan said on the way to
the hospital. “I have to call Ernie. I was supposed to cover a story this
afternoon.” She dug into her purse for her cell phone.

Dave handed her his. “Here, use
mine.”

Susan punched in the numbers and
waited.
 
For some reason, Gary answered.
“Where’s Ernie?

“Ernie just stepped out of the
office for a minute.”

“Shoot. Okay, tell him I can’t do
the story this afternoon. I’m on the way to the hospital. My dad… Just tell him
I can’t do it, okay?”

“I’ll make sure he gets the
message. You take care,” Gary said. “And, Susan, I hope your dad’s okay.”

“Thanks, Gary.”

A few minutes later, Dave dropped
Susan at the emergency room entrance. “Go on in, I’ll find a place to park and
meet you inside.”

She took a deep breath and hurried
to the information window. “Excuse me — I’m here to see Mr. Weston.”

The receptionist typed the name on
her computer. “Are you family?”

“I’m his daughter.”

“He’s in surgery. Go through those
doors to the elevator.
 
Second floor. The
waiting room is around the corner to the right.”

Susan got off the elevator, ran
down the hall, and around the corner. Dave caught up to her a few minutes
later.

When they arrived in the waiting
room, Dave immediately took control. He flashed his badge and obtained
information they weren’t privy to. “Apparently the bullet went through clearly,
no major organs were damaged.” Dave told her. “He’ll make a complete recovery.”
Susan introduced Dave to her mother, sister, and her niece and nephew. Johnny
and Katie clung to her when she hugged them. “Come on, it’s okay.” She
reassured them. “Everything’s going to be okay.

* * *

A few minutes later, the doctor
came out and confirmed what Dave had told them. “Why don’t you get something to
eat,” Doctor Mueller said. “It’s going to be a while before you can see him.”

Dave wandered toward two policemen
who were waiting to talk to Susan’s father. He motioned for Susan to join him.

She stood next to Dave and
listened as the policemen told the story of what had happened.

“Weston came out of the bank. The
witnesses said he turned as if he heard something or somebody, and the next
thing they knew, he fell to the ground. One of them called nine-one-one and
went to help him. They saw a man running toward the woods behind the bank. The
man hasn’t been identified yet. We’re waiting to question Weston as soon as he
can talk.”

Susan gasped. Dave put his arm
around her, thanked the cops, and led her to a chair.

“Just sit for a minute.” If they
weren’t in public, he’d take her in his arms and comfort her properly. Poor
thing was white as a ghost. Between calming her sister down and comforting her
niece and nephew she hadn’t had time to think how serious the situation was.
Obviously, she took after her mother. They both seemed to have an inner
strength.

Susan stood. “I’m okay now. I have
to find my family.”

“Okay, I’m going down to the
lobby. I’ll be there when you’re ready to leave.”

* * *

Susan decided to take a walk
outside after she drank a cup of coffee. She needed the fresh air, Needed to
think. She couldn’t believe everything that happened in such a short time.
Between the murders, phone calls, roses, and now this, it was no wonder she
fell apart.

Hopefully, the doctor was right
and her father would make a complete recovery. He had always been there for
her, for all of them. What would she do without him? What would any of them do?
She shivered at the thought that her father could have died. If the bullet had
hit a vital organ…

God, she didn’t even want to think
about that. She’d seen too much death already. Losing her friends was bad
enough. She couldn’t handle it if something happened to her family. She sat
down on a bench.
 
Life was suddenly
becoming too difficult. Maybe she should change careers, find something less
violent.

But, she loved her work, loved to
write. She couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Even writing the fluff pieces
excited her. She couldn’t imagine not writing. Maybe she ought to check into
writing for a magazine or something.

Susan shook her head. Like that
was going to happen, she couldn’t even imagine doing anything else. Ever since
she could remember, her dream was to be a journalist with a big newspaper. This
was her chance, her dream come true, but at what price? Was it worth it? She
leaned back and closed her eyes. If only she could make it all go away.
 

Finally, she stood. She had to get
back. Her mother was going to start worrying, and the poor woman had enough to
worry about.

When she came back inside, only
Johnny and Katie sat in the waiting room.

“Grandma and Mom are in the
recovery room with Grandpa. Through those doors and down the hall, the nurse
told Grandma,” Johnny said.

Susan snuck into the room and
stuck her head around the door. “Can I come in?”

Her mother put her fingers to her
lips and nodded.

Her father looked so pale. Wires
connected to a machine stretched from his body and monitored his vital signs.
Fear tore at Susan. She couldn’t understand what all the numbers meant.

Clare stood in the corner, shaking
and sobbing. Susan leaned down and kissed her father’s cheek. It felt waxy and
cold. Goose-bumps rose on her arms. He had to be okay. Parents lived forever,
didn’t they? She looked at her mother.

“He’ll be fine, Susan. He’ll have
limited use of his left hand for a while, but you heard the doctor — the
surgery went well.” Mrs. Weston nodded toward Clare. “Do something with your
sister.”

Susan nodded. Typical Clare.
Always fell apart in a crisis. Sometimes Susan wondered how her sister managed
to raise two kids. Thank God for Steve. Although with him traveling a lot
lately, Susan wondered how Clare got along. She walked toward her sister.

“I’m going to the cafeteria for a
pop. Do you want anything?”

Clare shook her head.

“Come with me, anyway. Let’s let
Mom have some private time with Dad.” She took Clare’s hand and pulled her to
her feet. “It’ll be okay, you’ll see,” Susan smoothed Clare’s hair while she
spoke.

* * *

When Kate arrived, Susan took
Clare to the waiting room to give Kate a chance to visit privately. Thank God,
their father was finally in his own room, sitting up in bed and even talked a
little.

A few minutes later, Kate joined
them in the waiting room. “Dad wanted to talk to Mom about something
privately.”

“So tell us about your boyfriend.”
Kate sat down next to Susan and nudged her.

Susan smiled. Thank goodness Kate
changed the subject.

“Yeah, fill us in,” Clare said
between hiccups.

Kate’s look told Susan to go with
it.

Susan stood and walked to the
window. “What’s to tell?

Kate gave her a look and Susan
cringed. Did her sister know more than she let on? But how could she? She
didn’t even live in town.

 
“Okay, so I like him, but we’re just friends.”
Was she reading more into Dave’s feelings than what was there? Maybe she
shouldn’t say any more, but she couldn’t help herself. Dave did that to her.

A nurse came in, smiled, checked
the coffeepot, and left without saying a word.

“Come on, Susan. How did you meet
him?” Kate hit Susan in the arm. “Don’t keep us in the dark.”

“Well, you’re not going to believe
me. I was a suspect in the first murder.”

Clare gasped. “What do you mean a
suspect?”

“Yeah,” Kate joined in. “What the
heck are you talking about?”

Susan sat down and told them the
whole gory story about finding the body, and Dave’s suspicion of her.

“Of course, after he saw me, and
we talked for a while, he realized there’s no way I could strangle someone as
big as the victim. Anyway, later he gave me the bracelet back, and we’ve been
together several times when other phone calls came.”

“Oh, my God.” Kate couldn’t seem
to hold in her thoughts. “Are you in danger?”

Clare looked at her with horror in
her eyes. “Please tell me they caught this guy.”

“I’m afraid not. And he’s
committed several murders since then. He calls me every time.” Susan closed her
eyes and tried to block out the vision of Jack and Jill.